The XP: Chapter 25

The arena was a complete mad house. Trart and Volnado still hadn’t made their way through the crowds to get back to the rest of the group. The rest of the end of the world club had done some cool stuff, but nothing that had made them the envy of the entire player base. Bob, Blackout, and Stygian watched in awe as the arena cheered for their achievement.

Sezario and The Matriarch flew down to the arena floor from their box seats. Sezario walked up to Torcano. “Congratulations on your victory.” He said holding out his hand to shake.

Torcano looks down at his feet. “I don’t feel like a winner.” He admitted.

Zezario gave a knowing smile. “Why? What ever could you mean?” He asked almost sarcastically.

The Matriarch hit him in the shoulder. “Don’t be mean.” She scolded.

Torcano looked up cluing into the oddness of the situation. “Wait, how did you get onto the arena floor?” He asked.

Sezario shrugged. “I created the game, I can pretty much go where ever I like.” He answered nonchalantly.

Bob and Blackout both dropped their jaws. “SPIRITWALKER!!!” They shouted practically into his face.

He nodded. “Durring working hours, speaking of working.” He turned his attention back to Torcano. “You want your job back kid?” He asked.

Torcano gave a bittersweet smile. “I appreciate the offer, and I genuinely don’t want to be rude, but no, thank you.” He replied.

Sezario nodded. “No worries, game was meant to be played, you know?” He smiled. Everyone nodded at this.

Trart and Volnado join the group. For a moment there is a dense, uncomfortable silence. No one in the group knows where to begin. Frustrated, Trart finally steps forward and does and impersonation of Volnado. “look bro, I’m sorry I was such a dick all those years.” Trart steps next to Torcano and impersonates him. “I’m sorry too, I should have let you know how much it bothered me a long time ago, and I’m sorry I turned into such a douche.” Another step over and he takes on Bob’s stance and voice. “Awwwwe, I apologize for snapping at you all the time Torcano and I apologise to the group for constantly leaving this ‘love/hate’ thing we're doing, in the air for so long.” Another step and he ends up next to Stygian and does his best impersonation “I missed you guy’s soooo much! I don’t have anything to apologize for I just wanted to be a part of the moment!” Finally he ends up next to Blackout. “Believe it or not, I’m perfectly comfortable with who I am. None of this was my fault and I’ll never let any of you forget it.” He then stepped back to his empty space in the circle. “Whelp, now that that’s out of the way lets go run The Sea of Ever Burning Fury, YAAAAAAAAAAAY!” He broke into a full run for the arena gate. The rest of the group looked around the circle at each other. Volnado shrugged and then broke off to follow Trart.

He was quickly followed by the rest of the End of the World Club.

The XP: Chapter 24

Volnado and Trart faded into the graveyard together. Volnado immediately exploded in rage, picking Trart up off his feet. Trart flailed his hands trying to break Volnado’s grip. “Woah, WOAH! Dude calm down! Your princess is in another castle man!”

The statement caught Volnado off guard, he blinked twice and lost sight of his blind rage, and set Trart down hard. “You are a very odd person.” He judged.

Trart shook his head. “Awesome, the word you were looking for is awesome.” He corrected.

Volnado shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.” He gave up.

Trart exploded with excitement. “WE GET BOATS?!” He shouted. Causing Volnado to lean back. Trart glanced over at him. “You ok?” He asked.

Volnado sat down and put his chin in his hands. “I don’t know anymore.”

Trart sat next to him. “Well the good news is, whatever’s ailing you can’t be fatal, this is just a game.” He offered.

Volnado looked over at him. “What are you going to do now?” He asked.

Trart thought about it for a second. “Like in five minutes or with the rest of my life?” He asked.

Volnado gestured to the virtual world around them. “In the game, what do you want to do next?” He asked.

Trart nodded. “I haven’t seen any of the end game, so I’d love to start playing through that. I wanna do the Sea of Ever Burning Fury at High Tide. I’d like to do the marathon of nightmares in less than half and hour, I actually have a huge list of stuff.” Trart admitted.

“And you are genuinely excited about that list?” Volnado asked.

Trart nodded. “Weren’t you when you first started playing?” He asked.

Volnado shook his head. “I don’t think so. I was always more interested in being the first to see or do something just so I could gloat or brag, it didn’t matter what it was.” He admitted.

Trart seemed confused. “If you don’t like the game, why play?” He asked.

Volnado looked at the computer generated sky. “I haven’t actually played any content since I became a Game Master.” He said.

Trart nodded. “Well you are supposed to be helping the players as a GM.” He replied.

Volnado shook his head. “I mean I haven’t done any game content at all in over two years. If I’m not logged in as a GM then I’m not logged in.” He clarified.

Trart lookd shocked. “You’ve done nothing but fix errors and punish players for over two years?” He asked. Volnado nodded. “All right then pick one.” Trart continued.

Volnado looked confused. “One what?” He asked.

Trart waved his hand at the game world. “An instance. It’s time to play the game for a change.” Trart said as he stood up.

Volnado shook his head. “But –“

Trart cut him off. “No but’s! Come on, we could run Oblivion Sanctuary, Caverns of Insanity, The Crystal Desert, Or the Twilight Mountains, And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.” Trart rambled.

Volnado stood up. “How can you have so much enthusiasm for the game?” He asked.

Trart shrugged his shoulders. “How can you not?” He asked in reply.

They made their way back to the tournament grounds. “You know Torcano is my brother right?” Volnado asked.

Trart shook his head. “Could not have guessed.” He replied.

Volnado rolled his eyes. “Smart ass.”

Trart smiled. “Beyond my cognitive powers to put that kind of thing together.” He continued.

Volnado put his hands in his pockets. “Not a big secret, I get it.” He replied.

Trart nodded. “That and he mentioned it.”

“You can stop now.” Volnado commanded.

“Several times.” Trart Continued.

“ANYWAY” Torcano forcefully continued. “We’ve shared everything for as far back as I can remember.” He explained.

Trart nodded. “You must have gotten your own tit at least.” He quipped.

Volnado tripped over the comment. “Excuse me?” He asked.

Trart shook his head. “Never mind, please continue.” Trart asked.

Volnado started moving through the crowd in the city. “I don’t even know why I applied for the job originally. I just wanted something of my own, I guess. Then Chad applied as well and I couldn’t think of anything else.” He explained.

Trart’s face lit up. “Torcano’s mundane name is Chad?” He asked with a huge smile on his face.

Volnado pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “worst confidant ever.” He grumbled.

Trart shook off his excitement. “Sorry I’m focused.” He swore.

Volnado continued. “Long story short, I was finally good at something Torcano –“

“Chad” Trart interrupted.

Volnado glared at him, “Wasn’t good at. And I swear if you tell him you know his real name he will kill us both.” Volnado warned.

Trart nodded. “Can I tell everyone BUT him?” He asked.

Volnado punched him in the shoulder. “I’m sorry I killed you.” He offered.

Trart shook his head. “All you did was fall into my clever trap. In truth, I killed you with my cunning ruse.” Trart corrected.

Volnado again rolled his eyes. “Dropping a thousand mines on the floor and waiting for someone to run over them is not a ‘ruse’ by any definition.” Volnado corrected.

Trart shrugged. “Agree to disagree.”

Volnado laughed. “I can see why they like having you around.” He complimented.

Trart nodded. “Like I said, the world you were looking for, was awesome.” He reiterated as they made their way through the crowd.

The XP: Chapter 23

Volnado began to rage. “You’re insects! Playing your little greedy games, trying to manipulate the loot tables and player economies!. I was always the best of us!” He began to grow significantly larger until he was three times the size of a normal player character.

Stygian looked past Volnado to Torcano who was still stuck to the wall. He then looked back to Trart. “He’s not mad at you.” Stygian said out loud.

Trart looked back at Stygian. “What?”

Stygian Threw a knife that Volnado stuck his hand out to block, the knife embedded itself in his hand. And Volnado instantly moved a less than half his normal speed. Stygian used the time to talk to Tart. “Volnado doesn’t hate you, he hates his brother and us. We need him so mad he won’t be able to think straight.” Stygian explained.

Trart looked over at Torcano still trapped on the wall. “You want me to try and free Torcano?” He asked.

Stygian nodded. “Ten or less bombs should take care of the thing holding him to the wall, and you’ll both be resurrected pretty quickly.” He explained.

Trart nodded. “So we free Torcano, then what?” He asked.

The poison of Crippled Time wore off Volnado. He and Trart Charged each other, Volnado batted Tart of out of the way like he was swatting a fly. He made a bee line for Stygian, bearing down on him, Stygian threw up his shield to protect himself from Volnado’s now giant, pounding fists. Impacting like a car being dropped on him, suddenly his shield cracked, breaking in half on the next blow.

Stygian stood tall and tossed the wasted shield aside. No sword or shield. Just his old black and blue armor. Volnado Turned to gloat to the assembled spectators but came chest to barrels of both Torcano’s pistols, from the look on his face it was pretty much the last thing he expected. Torcano pulled both triggers and for the first time Volnado’s health dropped significantly. “How!” Volnado gasped.

Torcano cocked his guns. “It’s been a while since you played a gunslinger brother. They have an ability called soul fire. Takes my base damage and multiplies it by the number of times I’ve died in an area or dungeon.” Normally the death rules keep it limited to double damage.”  He unloaded the last five bullets from each of his pistols.  “Apparently, the insects figured out a way around that limitation.” He reloaded his guns as Volnado got back to his feet.

When was back on his feet, Torcano had his hand out. “Let’s end this fight. I’m a dick and I’m sorry. I need to learn to share and treat you with you re –“ Volnado crushed Torcano's head in his giant hand. Then dropped his lifeless body to the ground. The move so infuriated Bob that she stopped her song of mana regeneration and unleashed a thunderous wave of force that blew past Stygian and hit Volnado like a hundred trucks knocking him back against the far wall of the Arena.

Once Tart had freed Torcano from his prison, he had quickly begun placing stacks of five mines while Volnado was distracted by his brother and the others. In the few minutes of freedom that he had he had placed almost five thousand mines.  Not paying attention to anything but placing as quickly as possible he had pretty much painted himself into a corner.

Volnado landed right in the middle of the giant half circle of death Trart had been laying out. Both of them had a split second of realization before the mines went off. Volnado looked at Trart with resigned annoyance. “Really?” was all he was able to say before they were enveloped in the expanding fire of Trart’s rainbow of death. The Arena went nuts as the explosions continued for almost ninety seconds.

As the mines exploded line after line the arena announcement board and all the screens outside the Area Brightly exclaimed that The End of the World Club had won.

The XP: Chapter 22

Game designers spend hundreds of hours designing bosses, the dungeons they wait in and the monsters that fill them. These challenges are giant, intricate puzzles, each with its own solution that can be discovered, practiced, and perfected.

Volnado was not a video game boss. He was a Game Master that had taken off his invulnerable armor and sacrificed his killing blade. Without his armor he had a finite amount of health which meant he could be killed, all the End of the World Club had to do was figure out how to get the job done. Luckily the End of the World Club had two huge advantages that Volnado had not considered. The first was that Volnado was a human, with human response times and a human attention span, the second was that he was really, REALLY pissed off and not very good at multi-tasking.  This was all the club needed to make a run at something no group of players had ever successfully done before. And the entire player base was watching them do it.

Their plan was simple enough on paper. Bob was playing Font of Wisdom which was refreshing Blackout’s mana pool allowing him to intertwine holy shell which was a spell that made him and anyone within three feet invulnerable to all forms of damage for five seconds. In that five second window he stopped casting the shell and would fire off a mass resurrect which would instantly revive and heal anyone on his team that had died. Without Bob’s song he could do each of these spells once before he ran out of mana.

Before the fight Stygian used three potions. Titan’s stance which made him immune to any game effect or damage that caused knock back. So he could take a hit and stay exactly where he was standing. If he died he died then and there. His second potion was blood syphon which allowed him to pick a player that agreed to give up their hit points to him, but any damage that he took would come from the other player’s life pool as long as they were alive. The third potion was Reapers Downfall which kept the other two potions in effect for a time limit of an hour no matter how many times he died.

Torcano Was stuck to the wall but had already consented to the Blood Syphon, so the first time Volnado killed Stygan he was actually killing Torcano, which gave Stygian a tiny window to hit Volnado again before Volnado hit Stygian a second time, killing him for a second or two before the mass resurrection him bringing him back to life potions and all. He was infuriating Volnado who was bound and determined to make him stay down.

Trart didn’t have any potions. All he had was a hundred thousand bombs. And every time he attached one or two stacks of ten to Volnado, he got killed by a massive blow from Volnado but the mass resurrection brought him back, he’d watch the bombs explode and he and Stygian continued their annoying dance of distraction and destruction.

High above the arena The Matriarch and Sezario watched the fight from their box. “They do know this is just a game, don’t they?” Sezario asked.

The Matriarch was watching the fight closer than he was. “You should know as well as anyone that games often represent an opportunity to settle feuds and conflicts without real physical violence.” She answered without taking her eyes off the fight below.

Sezario flinched as Volnado tossed Trart nearly the distance of the Arena, Tart Hit the arena wall and died before he was instantly resurrected and ran back into the fight. “Yeah but I don’t see these guys burying the hatchet so much as they are just digging a bigger trench.” He said as the fight raged on.

Volnado landed a massive kick straight to Stygian’s chest. He didn’t move an inch and slumped to the ground dead. He stepped over Stygian’s dead body and made his way toward Bob and Blackout. With a triumphant howl Volnado takes his first swing at Blackout, no quite processing that his fist flew straight through him as if Blackout were a Ghost. Volnado growled in anger and swung again. Before he could hit Blackout a mine attached to the back of his head. Volnado turned around just in time to catch Tart in mid leap with another mine which Trart slapped to Volnado’s face. Trart got his legs in-between him and Volnado and Pushes off hard trying to break Volnado’s grip. The mines on Volnado’s head go off launching him into the air. He lets go of Trart, Volnado flies back over Blackout and Bob, Tart flew in the other direction and landed hard.

Blackout finishes the resurrection wave and Stygian leapt through the air onto Volnado’s Chest swinging his massive sword as fast as he could before Volnado hit him once, and then twice killing him. He shoved Stygian’s body to the side and got to his feet. Another resurrection wave and Stygian grabed Volnado’s wrist. Volnado turned and mercilessly beat the life out of Stygian, blinded by his frustration and rage he wasted time killing Stygian three times in a row punching him to death.

He grabbed Stygian’s sword and stood up. The resurrection wave goes off bringing Stygian back to life. Volnado’s hands grew red hot. “Stygian you need new gear, this garbage you have now is so two expansions ago.” He said as the sword shattered into multiple pieces as his hands returned to their normal color. Stygian kicked up into Volnado’s crotch with both feet sending him flying back over Blackout and Bob. Volnado landed almost at Tart’s feet. Trart droped five stacks of ten bombs on Volnado’s body. The explosion litup the Arena and Trart took a moment to grandstand by the flame as the spectators lost their minds.

The crowd noise died instantly as Volnado walked out of the fire. “Are you kids done screwing around yet? Because I’m ready to fight!” Volnado yelled.

Tart turned to face Volnado. Stygian joined him shoulder to shoulder. “Got any other brilliant ideas?” Stygian asked.

Trart shook his head.

The XP: Chapter 21

In another private box on the opposite side of the Arena The Matriarch sits on the balcony overlooking the now empty arena. She has been working on her knitting and is almost done with an elbow high glove. Sezario comes out of the shadows and joins her on the balcony. “I was beginning to wonder if you would show up.” She said with a smile.

Sezario grabbed a chair to sit in. “Yeah, I’ve been around.” He said sitting down.

The Matriarch gave him a sidelong glance. “Around huh?” It wasn’t a question, but not an accusation either.

Sezario shrugged. “You know me.” He said with a blank face. Down in the Arena The End of the World Club returned from their ten minutes of preparation. Sezario was shocked. “I honestly didn’t think they were going to come back.” He said.

The Matriarch shook her head. “I never had a doubt in my mind.” She said.

Sezario looked at her. “You think they actually have a shot at beating Torcano?” he asked

She nodded. “ I think they have more than a shot.” She said not taking her eyes off her knitting.

Sezario looked back down at the group again. “You have anything to do with that?” He asked.

The Matriarch didn’t stop knitting. “You know me.” She parroted.

Sezario nodded as he watched Trart enter the Arena alone, running to catch up with the rest of the group.

Bob nodded at Trart as he rejoined the group. “You all set?” She asked. Trart Nodded. “Ok as this is officially the stupidest thing we have ever done.” She smiled.

“Hey at least we’re living up to our name.” Blackout Pointed out.

Bob nodded. “Well then, before we do this I only have one question.” Everyone looked at her. “Have you all figured out what class you’re going to start tomorrow?”

Trart fake coughed into his fist. “Later today.”

The others nodded, Bob included. “Fair enough, have you all figured out which class your going to start a half hour from now?” She asked, everyone nodded. “Well then there’s only one thing left to say. “Ladies and Gentlemen of The Almost Entirely Awesome Adventures of the End of the World Club it has been an absolute pleasure playing this game with you.” Bob threw her fist into the center of the group and the other four joined her in a five way fist bump.

The End of the World Club finished their huddle and Turned to face Torcano in a line. The Arena went crazy, the streets of spectators outside the Arena went Crazy and once the timer for the beginning of the match counted to down zero, the End of the World Club went crazy.

The XP: Chapter 20

The town around the arena is filed with players, all of them watching screens that have been placed in nearly every available space. The arena itself is overfilled with spectators, all of whom are cheering for The End of the World Club. Bob, Blackout, Stygian, Torcano, and Trart. The last team standing, the winners of the Tournament.

Up in his private box Volnado expands his voice again. “Congratulations are in order! The End of the World Club has emerged victorious from the most intense competition this game has ever seen!” The crowd goes even wilder, their cheers backed by the spectators in the streets. Volnado looks down on the group. “But to be truly legendary, there is one more challenge they must defeat.” The Arena of spectators and the streets outside go silent as if someone turned their sound off. The End of the World Club look up at Volnado in disbelief.

“What’s the Challenge?” Stygian yelled.

Volnado hopped over the railing of his balcony and effortlessly landed on the ground in a superhero crouch. As he stood to his full height they could see that he was smiling. “You’re looking at it.” Volnado growled.

Torcano shook his head. “You’re a GM, that’s not a challenge that’s suicide.” He said.

Volnado had landed roughly twenty feet from the group. As he walked toward them He took his clothing off. Starting with his suit jacket, followed by his shirt, exposing skin that looks like cracked lava, black with bright red lines separating the plating. He tossed his GM weapons and violently shook his head until his hair disappeared and his face matched the skin of his body. The Arena goes mad. Everyone in the group takes a slight step back. Volnado holds his hands out as if proving that he hides no threat. “I am no longer a GM, I am Volnado, the god of destruction. In this form, it is entirely possible to kill me, you only have to figure out how. Would you not agree little brother that this is a more than fair concession on my part?” He looked down at Torcano with glowing red eyes.

Torcano shook his head. “Onlly you would consider agreeing to a fair fight a ‘concession’” He spat.

Volnado smiled. “What can I say?” He smiled. “I’m magnanimous like that.” He gave an exaggerated bow. And the crowd laughed.

Torcano shook his head. “Yeah, our parents would be sooo proud.” He spat back.

Volnado glared at his brother. “You have ten minutes to prepare yourselves. You may leave the arena but if you do not return you forfeit the competition. Is that understood?” The End of the World club all nodded, turning to leave. “There’s one more thing you should know.” Volnado said, stopping the group. “If you return, this fight is Eternal Death. If you are dead for more than 30 seconds, your character is deleted.” Volnado had a predatory smile on his face. “How good are you Blackout?”

Blackout turned and walked out of the arena, he threw his middle finger up in the air. “You’ll see for yourself ten minutes from now.” His voice echoed off the walls. The rest of the club followed behind him. 

The XP: Chapter 19

The tournament started with two million nine hundred ninety four thousand six hundred and eight players making up five hundred twenty four thousand two hundred and eighty eight teams. With each team fighting a match a day the first week of fights saw the field reduced to thirty two thousand seven hundred sixty eight teams. Each member of each team got five thousand gold per victory.

So by Friday Trart had more money than he had ever seen in game, and he went a little nuts.

The rest of The Almost Entirely Awesome Adventures of the End of the World Club were at the closest bar to the area celebrating the return of Torcano. He had maxed out his Gunslinger and was going to take The Matriarch’s place in the rest of the matches.

The Matriarch raised her glass in a toast “To Torcano, for what has to be the slowest ‘quick’ grind of a toon I’ve ever seen.” She said with a smile as everyone else raised their glasses.

Torcano raised his glass as he answered. “What can I say, I was not prepared for the number of adoring fans I made while I was a GM that would be dedicated to finding and expressing their joy to me that I am now a regular player.” He explained.

Blackout pointed at Torcano, waving his finger sarcastically. “That’s code for laziness, pure and simple.” He accused with a smile on his face.

Torcano nodded swallowing another drink. “You got me. I had three squares a day, slept eight hours a night, and took long luxurious bubble baths every night. It was glorious.” He said unable to keep from laughing at himself.

Trart blew into the bar in a whirlwind, grabbed an empty seat from a different table and sat with the group at their table. “Hey Toracano, glad your back. What’s on my mind? Glad you asked, who wants to lend me six thousand gold? A thousand from each of you? That’s far to kind, I really appreciate this, you won’t regret it, in fact this is going to be one of the best things you or anyone else will ever see in game. I’ll take that money now.” He held out his hand and looked around the table. He got nothing but blank stares in response.

Bob was the first to reply out loud. “You have at least thirty five thousand in your own account, what could you possibly be buying that you need an extra six?” She asked in shock.

Trart couldn’t contain the smile on his face. “There’s a junk dealer that has four hundred full stacks of Winter Man Detector Bombs for sale for forty two thousand gold. I’m six short.” He was practically vibrating and the sentence came out less like normal speech and more like a single word.

There was silence around the table until Blackout shrugged. “Ok that is pretty cool. You owe me.” He replied transferring a thousand gold into Trart’s account.

The Matriarch did some quick math in her head. “What do you need a hundred thousand bombs for?” She asked.

Trart looked around the room and seeing no other players closed still leaned in. “Blackout did this thing at Christmas where he mined the front entrance to a dungeon with these bombs and then used the remote control car toy to pull agro on everything in the dungeon to effortlessly collect an entire dungeon worth of loot.” He explained

The matriarch shook her head. “Yeah but the car doesn’t pull agro anymore they fixed that the day after Christmas.” She said.

Trart nodded. “Right but the Hall of the Gods doesn’t fill with mobs until you activate the summoning stone. So we can mine the entire hall with just enough mines to do lethal damage to everything the second they get summoned in.” He countered.

Bob’s eyes lit up. “Jesus Trart a full clear of the Hall of the Gods would net easily five hundred thousand gold in loot.” She was sold now.

Trart nodded. “Yeah, I did the damage math. A hundred thousand bombs placed correctly is enough to complete FOUR full clears of the hall.” He sat back with a cocky smile on his face.

Everyone else scrambled to transfer the money into his account.

The XP: Chapter 18

The Stadium surrounding the tournament grounds was filled with screaming spectators. The scoreboard on the wall of the arena was divided into two halves. ‘The End of the World Club’ had five boxes on their half and ‘Not the Clan you’re looking for’ Had five on their half. In the overseers private box Volnado got up out of his chair and stepped forward to the edge of the balcony. “Welcome to the tenth match of round one!” His voice echoed throughout the stadium. “This fight is between The End Of The World Club and Not The Clan You’re Looking For!”

The stadium goes crazy cheering. Wainwright leans over to Shizaboom and whispers. “You can go about your business.” He joked.

Shizaboom laughed. “Move along, Move along.” Was his reply.

Volnado glances over his shoulder at them. “I hate you both.” He growled before turning back to the crowd as ‘Not The Clan You’re Looking For entered the arena from gate on their side. Volnado looked to the gate on the other side and saw no one there. He smiled. “The End Of The World Club is called to the arena.” His voice boomed out across the entire zone now. The spectators went silent, everyone was staring at the open, empty gate. “The End Of the World Club must present themselves in the arena or be disqualified!” His voice echoed again across the entire zone. A predatory smile on his face. “Five.” The audience was on the edge of their seats. “Four” Shizaboom leaned over the railing to get a better look at the gate entrance. “Three.” Volnado gripped the railing hard enough to turn his knuckles white. “Two”

The End of The World Club practically exploded into the arena they were running so fast. “We’re here!” Stygian shouted, his voice echoing throughout the arena.

Blackout looked at the countdown timer under their clan name. He pointed at the ‘2’. “And we made it a whole second earlier than we planned.” He said with a smile.

Bob shook her head. “That’s not possible! Everything always stops at one second! We screwed up guys!” She threw her hands in the air in mock frustration.

The Matriarch shrugged her shoulders. “We could always go out and come back in.”she said.

Bob shook her head. “Noooo, what’s done is done.”

“ENOUGH!” Volnado shouted. The spectators and both teams looked up at Volnado in his private box. “This is a simple death match.” He growled. His voice echoing through the stadium only now. Last team with a living member moves on to round two. When the bell rings, the match begins.” He finished his speech and dropped angrily into his chair.

The two clans face off. All five members of Not the Clan You’re Looking For are staring at The Matriarch in disbelief. The bell rings out through the arena. No one moves, The Matriarch is single handedly staring the other clan down in a standoff. She glares down the line keeping each player frozen in fear, None of them wanting to be the first to die to the legendary warrior. The stands are dead silent as well, no one wants to miss the first move. Which happens to be Trart Mowing down the other team from right to left in one sweeping motion.

He lets the trigger go and the smoke clears he sees the rest of his team looking at him. “What?” He asks.

The signs all over the arena flash “THE END OF THE WORLD CLUB WINS!!!” in big block letters with colorful backgrounds.

Stygian points at the line of dead opposing players. “What the hell Trart!?” He nearly shouts.

Trart shrugged. “Volnado said ‘when the bell rings’. The bell rang, what’s the problem?” He asked.

Stygian shook his head. “That wasn’t exactly fair.” He chastised. As the group walked out of the arena.

“Fair?” Trart asked in confusion. “I don’t remember anything about ‘fair’ in the rules. All I remember was ‘everyone tries to kill each other like civilized people after the ding noise. Bob laughed. “Did a bell make a ding noise? Did everyone except me stand around like a brain dead moron? Did I win the match?” Trart asked. The Matriarch coughed suggestively. “With assistance from the Matriarch of course.” He amended his statement.

“Hey it’s our first win and that’s all that matters to me.” Bob said as they reached the end of the tunnel.

The XP: Chapter 17

The Plane of Judgement was made of an impossible number of tiny floating islands that stretched on as fa as the view distance would render. The sky was a wild ocean of bubbling clouds and constant lightening. Without warning a bolt of lightning came down and struck Bob. Her eyes turned a neon glowing white and she dew the sword from her Sabertar.

                          

“Come and receive your judgment!” She shouted at the others.

Trart looked at The Matriarch. “What’s going on?” He asked.

The Matriarch shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, the last time I was here we arrived on a different island and fought a giant earth elemental.” She admitted.

Stygian Drew his gigantic sword and shield. As Bob leapt through the air and brought her sword down to meet his shield as he threw it up reflexively. “I think it’s us or her guys!” He shouted shoving her back with a heavy swing of his shield arm.

Blackout and the others drew their weapons as Bob turned into a whirling storm of destruction. None of them knew if the lightening would leave Bob or if they would have to kill her. She launched herself at Trart and before he thought about who he was really shooting he unleashed a stream of firepower from his chain gun which hit Bob hard knocking her to the ground. Her eyes went dark.

The others gathered around her and Trart grimaced. “Well I’m a dead man when she gets back.” He lamented.

The light left her eyes. And Stygian pointed it out. “She’s not possessed anymore, I think you’ll be fine.”

Trart shook his head. “I meant the actual Bob was going to kill when she resurrected ten minutes from now.” He clarified.

The lightening jumped from Bob’s body to Blackout. His eyes went electric white just as Bob’s had. He turned to face the others and smiled. “Why wait?” he said Blasting the other three back with a force wall.

Trart got to his feet to see that Blackout had put himself inside a healing bubble and begun to meditate. He crawled over to Stygian. “That bubble has about what fifteen thousand hit points with seven fifty regenerating per second? I can’t lay down that much suppressing fire, but I can get it down to the red line and you can crack the shield.” Trart said.

Stygian nodded. “That gets us through the shield what do we do once its down?” He asked.

The Matriarch appeared over his shoulder. “Leave that to me.” She said with serious determination on her face.

The trio stood and Trart leveled his weapon at Blackout’s shield and pummeled it with suppressing fire. IT turned from a neon white to a dingy yellow then to a muted dirty orange. Stygian took a short three step hop into the air and brought his giant black and blue sword down on the damaged shield shattering it into a million shards of light. Blackout looked shocked but pointed a hand at Stygian ready to attack with another spell, which he never cast as his body was impaled with what appeared to be giant knitting needles. The first two caused him to step back. The next six forced him to stumble, the final six knocked him to the ground. Stygian finished him off with a definitive chop of his blade.

“Do you think it’s over?” He asked as Blackouts eyes returned to normal and the lightening jumped to him. Light poured out from the eye slits of his helmet. “I’m just getting started.”

The Matriarch launched herself into the air and summoned a hail storm of knitting needles bringing them down in a deathly rain as they each impaled Stygian. There were hundreds of them and as the storm exhausted itself she lowered back to the ground closed her fists and watched as Stygian’s absolutely destroyed body didn’t move in the least as it was held fast by the hundreds of giant bars of metal piercing through him and into the ground. She took a few steps ahead of Trart and the lighting jumped to her. She spun around to face Trart to find him holding four active grenades, two in each hand. He smiled at her. “We win.” The grenades went off and everything went white.

When the white light faded Tart realized he and the others were floating on the island as spirits. The lightening attempted to jump from The Matriarch’s body to Trart’s but could not make it. It hovered above him as a little electrical storm and became increasingly chaotic before it dissipated completely. Their ghostly forms faded as they all returned to their bodies. Trart and the Matriarch sat up first.

“You blew me up.” The Matriarch accused.

Trart nodded. “I wanted to win.” He said without guilt.

The Matriarch shook her head. “You blew me up with grenades and sacrificed yourself.” She said.

Trart shrugged “Are you mad that I blew you up, or that you’re not the one who thought of it first?” He asked.

“Hey I’ve thought about blowing you up loads of times.” Blackout said walking over and helps The Matriarch to her feet.

“I’m more concerned that you’re crazier than a wood watch.” The Matriarch commented.

Blackout rolled his eyes. “Now she notices.

Trart made a rude gesture. “Did we or did we not win because of me?” He asked as a huge ornate treasure chest appeared. “I mean if you guys are so mad that we all died, I guess I’ll just take this treasure and –“

“Over my dead body.” Bob snapped.

“Been there done that.” Trart laughed as he opened the treasure chest and they all looked inside to check out their loot. 

The XP: Chapter 16

Volnado and Shizaboom were sitting in private box in the audience area of the tournament grounds watching two teams fight each other in order to advance to the next round. Wainright teleported into the box and took his empty seat. “The End of the World club is on their way to the Planes of judgement and Torcano’s new toon is being griefed over in Spirit Flats.” He explained to Volnado.

Volnado watched with a smile on his face as the two teams fought bitterly against each other. “Set the Planes of Judgement to run Judgement of the Soul. I want them out of this competition.” He instructed.

Wainright nodded and then teleported away.

Torcano crawled on the ground, his legs below the knees were bloody stumps. His pistols no more than half a body length away. He scrambled as fast as he could before a shot rang out, the bullet knocking his pistols further away from him. He droped his face almost into the dirt.

“Man that’s gotta be getting frustrating huh?” Vrage asked sarcastically. You’re all super determined and your weapons are so close.” He crouched down by the pistols in the dirt. “Come on buddy, just a little bit further.” Vrage stood up as Torcano pulled himself forward a few more inches. He pulled his pistol and shot Torcano twice in the back. “But then disaster! You’re getting slower and slower, you haven’t gained any skill points in almost an hour Torcano, all that precious time, gone. And this is your second life this hour, if you die again you loose a half hour just waiting to re-spawn.” He crouched down, his shadow looming over Torcano. He stuck his gun in the gaping hole in Torcano’s back. “Aren’t you worried that you friends will think you’ve abandoned them?” Vrage asked.

Torcano looked bored. “Grief all you want Vrage, this is nothing more than a silly game.” Torcano admitted.

Vrage smiled. “Ahhh, the justification of the natural born looser. Destined to beg at the feet of winners for the remaining shreds of their pathetic little lives.” Vrange kicked dirt in Torcano’s face.

Torcano wiped the dirt out of his eyes. “You have serious issues dude.” He replied, pulling himself forward a few more inches. Vrage put his boot on the back of Torcano’s neck and does a little jump hop to kill him off.

Fifteen minutes later Torcano faded back to life. Vrage was leaning against the railing of the old man’s porch. “You’ve been able to re-spawn for five minutes now. D’j’ou make a sandwich or something?” Vrage asked casually.

Torcano nodded. “I had the time so I figured what the hell right?” He dropped his hand onto the handle of his pistol.

Vrage looked at him with a smile on his face. “What are you doing Torcano?”

Torcano tightened his grip. “Finishing this quest.” He replied with determination.

Vrage laughed. “Oh sure, but not till the Guild Wars are over.”

Torcano rolled his eyes. “Is that what this is about?” He asked.

Vrage nodded. “Come on man! You had to know I was being paid to babysit you like this.” He confirmed. Both of them drew their weapons Torcano’s pistols were shot out of is hands cleanly. He made a dash for them and Vrage caught him with a third shot in the shoulder, which knocked him on his back. Vrage sauntered over and looked down at Torcano. “All that time as  Game Master sure didn’t improve your play Style. Not going to be much help to your friends if you can’t keep hold of your guns Torcano.” Vrage leveled the barrel of his gun right between Torcano’s eyes. “Should remember something my daddy always used to say.” Vrage’s statement was interrupted when a bullet tore through his chest. Catching him completely by surprise and stunning him completely.

Sezario Stepped out of the heat waves in the distance and slung his rifle over his back with one hand and pulled a pistol from his side with the other. “A place for everything.” Sezario said now standing over Vrage stunned on the ground. “And everything in its place.” He finished while leveling his pistol at Vrage’s face.

“You’re dead meat noob!” Vrage yelled, still unable to move.

Sezario smiled. “That’s going to be a lot more threatening when I hear it again in ten minutes.” He pulled the trigger and Vrage disappeared. He then turned his attention to Torcano a held out his hand to help Torcano get to his feet.

Torcano took his hand and stood up. “Thanks, I owe you one.” He said.

Sezario smiled and shook his head. “No problem, I’m allergic to douche bags and he was messing with my sinuses something fierce. You need to be long gone by the time he gets back.” Sezario said nodding to the old man. Torcano nodded, picked up his guns, turned in the quest and headed off into the afternoon heat waves in the distance.

The XP: Chapter 15

The tournament colosseum is absolutely massive. Almost every player in the game is currently watching a match play out inside of it. The members of The End of The World Club however are loitering just outside the main entrance. Bob is pacing back and forth. The Matriarch is teaching Trart how to knit, Blackout is sitting against the building with his eyes closed trying to relax. Stygian is looking at the sky.

“What time is it?” Bob asked.

“Three minutes after the last time you asked.” Blackout replied without opening his eyes.

“So we have almost two hours till our first fight.” She said to herself. She notices Stygian looking at the sky. “Stygian what are you doing?” She asked.

“There’s a Shuster and Banes marathon on, they’re showing the arsonist cycle right now.” Stygian replies without moving.

Bob stops pacing. “You’re watching tv?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’ve got two hours to kill, so unless you want to run a dungeon or something I’ve got nothing better to do.” He replied.

Bob perked up at the mention of a dungeon. “That’s not a bad idea.” She said and started pacing again.

“Oblivion Sanctuary?” Blackout asked.

“Too easy, Trart could run it alone with his eyes closed.” Bob pointed out.

Blackout nodded. “Yeah but it’s got no lockout timer, it’s short, we’re guaranteed not to die, and one of us might get lucky and loot the Oblivion Key.” He explained.

Bob stopped pacing. “I still don’t think it exists.” Bob replied.

“What’s the Oblivion Key?” Stygian asked.

Trart turned away from watching The Matriarch knit. “The last expansion to the game was called ‘Legends and nightmares.’ It added a ton of content for all levels that required players to collect and decipher stories, to interact with the narratives of the world in a way that no other MMO had ever done before. Of Course the Data miners dug through the source code and found the names of items and all kinds of graphical clues and hints, but while they knew what was in the expansion they couldn’t discern the relationships of the things they were seeing, there were thousands of new items and interaction pathways. Most of it has been figured out by the players at this point but there is one thing that is still unconfirmed.” He was talking like he was telling the beginning of a ghost story. “The Oblivion key supposedly drops off the Overseer of Time in the Oblivion Sanctuary. But it’s not in his loot table, and no player has ever actually been able to prove they have the item in their inventory.” Trart explained.

“What does it let us access?” Stygian asked.

Trart smiled. “The plane of Judgement.” Trart smiled. “A dungeon that exactly five players have ever been in.”

Bob “The online wiki shows that five players have been tagged to the dungeon. Those five were most likely Game Masters. This is all speculation.” Bob chimed in.

The Matriarch put her knitting down. “I have it.” She said bluntly.

Everyone looked at her, including Stygian.

Bob was shocked. “Have what?” She asked skeptically.

The Matriarch’s knitting disappeared. “I’m one of the five.” She answered

Blackout stood up. “Prove it.” He demanded.

The matriarch stood up herself. Reached for a cord around her neck and pulled it from under her tunic, revealing a black iron key filled with twinkling stars that reflected in the eyes of the others. “You guys have no clue what you’re about to experience." She smiled. 

The XP: Chapter 14

Spirit flats is one of the starting areas for new character. Based on the idea of an old west mining town that was deserted by most of its residents the zone is filled with low level thugs, wolves, and introductory quests to help new players get a handle on the way the game works. Most of the buildings have fallen apart due to neglect but the General Store Bank and Bar is nearly immaculate. The front of the building is a large covered porch where an older man sits in a rocking chair smoking his pipe. He lowers the pipe and squint into the heat of the late afternoon to see the outline of a new player walking into town. The old man waves a hand. “Over here sonny!” He shouts. The figure in the distance notices the old man and changes directions to head for him.

It has been years since Torcano started a new character and everything about the gunslinger class feels weird and slightly off. As he makes his way toward the old man on the porch a desperado steps out from the ruins of the old bank. Torcano pulls his pistol and guns the desperado down. He takes another step toward the General Store Bank and Bar and two more desperado’s appear from behind the half burned out apothecary shop. Torcano’s pistol nearly jumps from its holster, and he effortlessly spins the gun between his shots, dropping the desperado’s easily. He turns back to face the General Store to see Three new desperado’s standing between him and the old man. Each with rifles leveled at him. His hand hovers over his holster. The riflemen squint and adjust their grips. By the time the third riflemen would have re-seated the stock into his shoulder he and the other two are filled with bullet holes and dying on their knees.

The smoke cleared from Torcano’s pistol and he Holster’s it a third time. The old man is nothing but a smile behind his pipe. “Howdy pardner, can I trouble you for a favor?”

Torcano puts his right foot up on the porch. “S’why I’m here.” He replied.

“This little town has had more than it’s fair share of problems.” The old man gestured to the abandoned and burnt out buildings with his pipe. “A local gang of desperado’s has descended on the town and their burning everything not worth stealing. I’d be much obliged if you did whatever you could to get them to leave town.” The old man put his pipe back in his mouth.

Torcano nodded. “My pleasure.” He replied and turned around to face the ghost town. The six desperado’s had yet to despawn and didn’t count toward his quest completion. Exasperated Torcano took a seat on the steps of the porch. Sighing heavily as the Old man continued to rock in his chair. In the distance a tumble weed blew across the main road. “Beautiful day.” Torcano observed, accepting that he could do nothing but wait for more desperadoes.

The old man nodded from behind his pipe. “Yeeeeeap.”

Another outline of a player entering town appeared and Tocano stood up a it came toward the General Store with the speed of serious purpose. Torcano knew who it was long before the player was within targeting range. “Ooooof course.” Torcano grumbled to himself. Before he could reach for his pistol bullets tore through his legs just below the knees dropping him to the ground causing him to lose his grip on his gun as he fell. The new player kicked Torcano’s pistol well out of his reach and moved over to where he was laying on the ground. His shadow covered Torcano’s face as he looked up to see his attacker. “Vrage, took you less time to settle old scores than I expected.” Torcano admitted.

Vrage lifted his boot out of the dirt and dug his spurs into Torcano’s cheek. “Yeah? You gonna try and talk me into leaving you alone? Try to make me feel petty maybe? Convince me that we can settle this after you’ve dealt with your brother?” Vrage shoved his foot causing his spur to draw blood on Torcano’s face.

Torcano recoiled from the cut but then shook his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He wiped blood from his face. “Do what you came here to do.”

Vrage pulled a machete out from the back of his belt and inspected the blade. “You in a hurry Torcano? Got somewhere to be perhaps?” Vrage asked in a mocking tone.

Torcano squinted into the sun. “You always were a dick Vrage.”

Vrage looked down at Torcano and shook his head. “Now, now, that wasn’t very nice.” He clicked his tongue and went to work. 

The old man never moved from his rocking chair.

The XP: Chapter 13

The park had nearly cleared of players. After the event fireworks they had cleared out to go run content until their matches began, The End of the World Club was oblivious to the fact that they were standing in the middle of the empty area, desperately trying to come up with some kind of plan.

Blackout was pacing back and forth while talking to himself like a crazy person. “Hey Cypherion, it’s Blackout, it’s been a while, have an opportunity for you, hit me back when you get this.”

Stygian and Bob watched him pace back and forth. “Jesus Bob please tell me I wasn’t part of one of these desperate telethons.” He looked at her.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’d remember how eager you were to comeback before you define desperate for me.” She snapped, then caught herself. “Sorry, I’m sorry. That was really bitchy. “She turned to face Stygian. “We only ever thought of you, if you hadn’t come back it wouldn’t have been right to call anyone else.” She said in an awkward attempt at making amends.

Stygian looked down at her. “If that’s the case then why not call Torcano.” He asked.

She looked like she had been slapped and took a step back in shock. “I, He, That’s not the same thing.” She stuttered.

Blackout stopped pacing. “Cypherion isn’t answering his phone, Galtir is in the middle of a pretty nasty divorce and Vehbune is in prison for the next 15 to life, which makes us the mayors of scewedsville. Also when this is over, so like, right now, we should really re-evaluate our social connections.” Blackout looked around the empty park. “Where’d Trart go?” He asked, causing Bob and Stygian to look around as well.

Back at the Front entrance sign Trart approached The Matriarch who was alone now, still sitting and knitting. “Miss, uh, misses, um, The Matriarch?” He asked finally. “I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier.” He offered.

She shook her head without taking her eyes off her knitting. “No worries.” She replied warmly.

Tart stood there in awkward silence, something on his mind. When she realized he was still there she smiled. “What’s on your mind son?” She asked.

“I have a question but I don’t want to sound rude.” He explained.

“Why did I choose to look like an an old woman?” She asked.

Trart looked even more embarrassed but nodded.

The Matriarch put her knitting away. “You ever seen a movie called “The Soalarbabies?” She asked. Trart shook his head. “Put in in your queue, you’ll like it. Basic idea is that if I look like this and can earn the reputation I have earned than everything I have done, I did because of my genuine skills and abilities. There is no intimidation factor to my avatar. I am an old, fat, woman. The only intimidation I possess is the power of my reputation.” She explained.

Trart nodded. “Then why not play in the games?” He asked.

She smiled sadly. “Because my reputation is powerful enough now that even in this avatar a fair fight is impossible. My name causes analysis paralysis even in the best of fighters. So after the games The Matriarch will disappear and I will be just another name in a sea of scrambling players. Free to once again to find the only real challenge that exists in any game, a fair and honest fight.”

“You’re trying to grab smoke.” Trart blurted out.

The Matriarch looked confused. “I’m what?” She asked.

Trart worked his way through an explanation. “You can do whatever you please, but changing your name and creating a new avatar won’t get you any closer to a ‘fair’ fight because you’re still the one at the computer. Changing your name isn’t going to magically increase the skill level of the player base, it will just convince people who never stood a chance against the real you in the first place to unknowingly feed your ego, what’s fair about that?” He asked. The Matriarch was stunned. Trart suddenly realized just how bluntly he had spoken his piece and it caused him to flinch. “Please don’t kill me, I’m pretty sure I’m soul bound like twenty five zones away.”

The Matriarch stood up. “With Torano gone your guild is short a member yeah?” She asked.

Trart dropped his pathetic defensive stance and stood upright again. “Um, yeah.” He replied.

She smiled. “You’re not short anymore.” She held out her hand. Trart looked at it and then smiled at the Matriarch as he eagerly shook her hand.

The XP: Chapter 12

Stygian, Bob and Blackout are farming mobs in a zone called the Volcanic Wastes. Blackout casts a spell that causes the three fire imps charging him to fade out of existence. “How come we’re farming for cash here instead of the Temple Flats?” He asked.

Stygian easily finished off the last group of enemies with a single swing of his absolutely massive sword. “Did you not read the patch notes?” Blackout shook his head. “From now on your first death has a ten minute re-spawn timer and starts a one hour clock. If you die again in that hour your re-spawn is a half hour and the clock resets back to an hour. Third death earns you a twenty four hour re-spawn delay.” Stygian explained.

Blackout grimaced. “Lemmie guess, the next day they hour timer resets and if you die a fourth time they send someone to your home to kick you in the balls?” He said as he and Stygian fist bumped.

Torcano appeared in the zone and ran over to his friends. “I made it! I’m a GM!” He shouted.

Blackout and Stygian met Torcano halfway. Bob finished off the mob’s she was fighting and joined them. “Grats. You’re ‘the man’ now dog.” She deadpanned.

Torcano looked a little down. “Come on Bob this is a good thing, don’t be like that. I’m gonna get paid to play the game!” Torcano leapt into the air, unable to control his excitement.

Bob was still unimpressed. “And police the player base.” She reminded him.

Torcano nodded. “You have to admit, most of the players could you some policing. If I see another 'SukmeyeByall’s' I’m gonna scream.”

Stygian pointed at Torcano while talking to Bob. “Man’s got a point.”

Bob shook her head. “Whatever.” She replied turning and walking away.

“When do you start?” She heard Stygian ask.

“And what do you do when you’re not actively helping players?” Blackout asked before she was out of earshot.

She looked around the empty Volcanic Wastelands waiting for a mob to spawn. Volnado appeared instead. “So your brother made it, he’s a full time tool now.” She nearly spat at him.

Volando looks out in the same direction as Bob. “Guess you wouldn’t be happy for me if I told you that I made it as well.” He replied.

Bob shrugged her shoulders “I should be happy for you, it’s what you both wanted.”

Volnado nodded. “And your only annoyed with Torcano, It’s totally fine if I become a tool?” He asked.

Bob sat down on the ground. “Yeah, no, I don’t know. Look, why don’t you go celebrate with the others?” She sighed.

Volnado shook his head. “We were supposed to tell everyone together, but he couldn’t wait.” Volnado looked back at his brother horsing around the Stygian and Blackout. “Just another example of him being an attention whore.”

Bob looked back over her shoulder at Torcano. “Don’t take it personally. His awareness of the world doesn’t extend much past his own nose.” She turned away from her friends.

Volnado nodded. “Trust me, I’ve noticed.”

“Go steal some of his thunder. You deserve to celebrate with them just as much as he does.” She said just before fading out of the game.

Volnado looked back at the trio in the distance. “Yeah, thanks.” He said to the wastes.

The XP: Chapter 11

Volnado is flanked by Wainwright and Shizaboom. Torcano moves to the front of the group. “I thought we were avoiding each other.” He asked.

Volnado smiled. ‘This is a special occasion.”

“Do tell.” Toracano requested.

“You violated the terms of your Game Master Employment contract.” Volnado accused. Torcano looks like he just got slapped. “You have repeatedly used your abilities and powers to grant advantages and favors to players that they haven’t earned. Mainly the players standing behind you.” 

Volnado gestured to the rest of the group.

Shizaboom took half a step forward. “After revie –“ Volnado held up his hand to silence Shizaboom. 

Shizaboom not only went silent but stepped back a full step.

Volnado waited a moment, dropped his hand and then continued. “After reviewing your activity logs the management team has decided to remove your status as a Game Master and deactivate your account.”

The entire group is shocked. Torcano moves to rebut but Volnado waves his hand and Torcano disappears. “Good bye brother.”

Bob gets into Volnado’s face. “What the hell is your problem Volnado?”

Volnado glares down at Bob. “Funny, I thought you of all people would have enjoyed watching that.”

“I didn’t want him turning into what you’ve clearly become.” Bob shot back.

The two groups have gathered a bit of a crowd. Volnado shook his head. “Torcano was never going to be as good at this as I am. It was only out of respect for our connection that I let him get away with as much as he did. He never really cared about the game, at least, not like we do Bob. He was always more concerned with Impressing his friends. And now without him I suspect your little club is lost, unable to compete. What will you do without a fifth member?”

A horn sounds and the crowd gathering turns their attention to the opening ceremonies of the clan wars. Volnado turns and moves forward through the crowd, the other two Game Master’s in tow. The gang looks at each other in complete shock.

Stygian clenches his fist. “Damn it.”

Blackout shakes his head. “There has to be someone who hasn’t joined a clan yet.”

“Any idea how we find them in the next ten minutes?” Bob asked.

The group watches the opening ceremonies, a huge digital fireworks show is lighting up the sky. The group is looking up and the light reflects off their faces.

“Well one thing is clear.” Trart says.

“What’s that?” Stygian asks?

“Begun the Clan Wars have.” Trart smiles at his own joke. Bob slaps him upside the back of his head. “Ow, right, sorry…sorry.” Trart apologized.

The XP: Chapter 10

Bob, Blackout, Stygian, Torcano, and Trart are wandering through a player run shopping district trying to come up with names.

Blackout is flipping through cooking recipes and stops suddenly. “Ok, what about Eternal Damnation?” He asked.

Bob shakes her head as she picks up a Lute/flame thrower hybrid. “Too Goth.” She decrees, strumming the lute and causing a fairly large burst of flame to explode from its neck.

“The shadow Syndicate” Stygian offers setting an unimpressive chest plate back on the counter.

“Sounds like something out of an Asian B movie.” Blackout replies.

Trart is leaning against the wall of the shop just staring out the window. “What about –“

“No.” Bob interrupts him.

Trart stands up off the wall. “But –“

“I said no.” Bob glared at him.

By the afternoon they had made their way through the shopping district and were sitting together in a café. Still trying to come up with names.

“Oh!” Torcano said with excitement. “What about Blinding Might!” He held fist in the air.

Blackout rolled his eyes. “Oh sure, and we can all wear tights and do nothing but wrestling moves.”

“Imortalis Corporeal?” Stygian offered.

Trart let his head roll back onto his shoulders. “None of us glitter so enough with the Gothic names already.” He groaned.

Blackout tried to stand with a sense of imposing severity. “Thunderstar Imperium” He boomed.

Stygian nodded. “I’m down, but if we’re going to be an 80’s hair band I wanna be the drummer.” He did some air drumming for effect as blackout stuck his tongue out at him.

“Guy’s I really think I –“ Trart started but was quickly interrupted again.

“She meant ‘no’ as in ‘nuh uh’” Blackout clarified.

A week later and they still had not agreed on a name. The competition sign up closed in thirty minutes. The entire gang was standing in front of the sign up station.

“The Cult of Anarchy” Bob offered.

“I accept!” Torcano said with excitement. “Now lets go hang out in a graveyard and read Edgar Allen Poe Stories!” His joke earned him a rude gesture from Bob.

Blackout was next. “Prisoners of Fate?” He asked.

Trart held his hands over his heart. “A painfully emotional Hermione/Dobby Fan Fic.” Blackout shrugged his shoulders and nodded in agreement.

“All right then Trart, what have you been sitting on?” Stygian asked.

Trart smiled. “The Almost Entirely Awesome Adventures of the End of the World Club.” He finished.

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group thought it over.

“Why the hell didn’t you say something earlier?” Bob shouted and then took off running as Trart chased her to the sign up table.

Once they had finished signing up They turned to leave the table and came face to face with Wainwright, Shizaboom, and Volnado. All three of whom were well known Game Masters.

Volnado stepped to the table and looked at their clan information. “Oh Torcano, I knew you were pathetic but this is a new low even for you.” He moved back over to the other two Game Masters.

“Who the heck is this guy?” Trart asked.

Torcano’s shoulders slumped. “Trart, meet Wainwright, Shizaboom, and Volnado, my brother.”

The XP: Chapter 9

With the new year behind them the player base of Drainiverse looked forward to the fifteenth anniversary of the game. Every active player had received an email letting them know that the celebration would begin at six PM eastern standard time and would consist of an entire week’s worth of events. It was unlike any even the game had ever run. Which is why the login queue had over two thousand players waiting to sign in and see what the celebration was going to be like. Trart and the others were all waiting in the queue and chatting on their guild voice chat server. Trart was sitting at him computer keeping a lazy eye on the login queue while playing a game on the ancient console he had bought used. He was laughing at the playful banter the others were engaged in to pass the time. Suddenly the bell went off to signify a fifth players entering the chat.

“Are you all seriously waiting for the sever to calm down so you can play?” Torcano’s voice came through clearly.

“It’s the fifthteenth anniversary celebration event, who isn’t sitting by their computer waiting to play?” Stygian asked.

“Point taken.” Torcano admitted.

“Bragging because you are a GM and can skip the queue?” Bob asked.

“Nope, I’m offering to boot enough people to get you guys in, now.”

“Seriously?” Blackout asked.

“Why not?” Torcano replied.

“I thought you were like, our nemesis, or something?” Trart asked.

“If you guys would rather wait in line –“ Torcano started.

Bob sat up fast enough that Trart could hear her chair rebound over the chat channel. “No! Please do! It’s a very nice gesture.” She said excitedly.

Trart was the last one to fade into the game world. The population on the sever was as max capacity. Everyone was crowding around something not far from where the group materialized in. Torcano appeared next to Trart. Trart pointed at the massive gathering of people. “What’s that all about?” he asked Torcano.

Torcano smiles. “I don’t wanna ruin the surprise.” He said, making his way toward the group of players. The others followed him as he waded through the mob.

In the center of the massive group of players there was a sign that simply said Clan Wars: Champions of the Drainiverse! Next to the Sign sat an old woman, working on a knitting project.

Bob looked at the sign. ‘Clans? We already have guilds what’s the difference?” He asked to no one in particular.

Bob looked at the old woman. “Please tell me you are all here to slowly read this very simple sign and not because you are trying to get the matriarch to join your clan roster.” She yelled at the group of players. The player crowed loosened its density as many players shamefully left.

“She’s the Matriarch?” Trart pointed at the old woman. “You’ve got to be kidding me! She’s and old Lady, who would loose to her?” He asked.

Stygian is in shock. He clamps his hand over Trart’s mouth and pulls him away from the group. Uttering a simple “Sorry” as they leave.

She looked up from her project with a huge smile. “Bob! They added knitting to the game!”

Bob waved to what was left of the crowd. “How long have you been dealing with this?” She asked.

The matriarch answers without looking up from her project. “About an hour now. Soon as the announcement went up I was flooded with messages so I figured I would sit here and spam a polite “No, but thank you for asking” and get some crafting done.” She held up her sad looking knitted square of green and purple yarns. A huge smile on her face.

Blackout turns away from the sign. “So there’s more on the sign if you click on it. It’s a series of Player versus Player and Players versus Environment challenges. So it makes sense that the player base would be clamoring to get the Matriarch on their team. Let’s go get the others and decide if this is worth doing.” Blackout said, oddly taking charge.

Bob and the Matriarch said their goodbyes as Bob and Blackout left to join Stygian, Trart, and Torcano.

“Good news and bad news.” Bob started. “The good news is that the player base is gonna be wrapped up in this event for a while, the bad news is that the prize is the characters that win the tournament become NPC’s in the next expansion of the game, which sounds pretty awesome to me.” She explained

"Why is that bad news?" Trart asked in confusion.

"Because if we're trying to win the Clan War then we can't use the lack of GM attention on the rest of the world to our benefit." Blackout explained in a whisper. Trart nodded.

Clans are made up of five players, no more, no less.” Bob continued.

“So we’re one member short.” Stygian Interrupted.

Trart looked back at the group of people around the Matriarch. “Well we could –“

Bob shook her head. “No. She’s been harassed enough already. Let her enjoy her knitting.”

“I could use one of my non GM characters and be your fifth.” Torcano offered.

Bob shook her head again. “You’re already straddling the fence of violating the Terms Of Service as it is.”

“As long as I don’t play on your team during company time I can’t imagine it would be that big of a deal.” Torcano explained.

Blackout stepped in. “So that’s five then, what’s next?” He asked.

Bob smiled. “We need a kick ass name.” She said.

The group stood in silence, each of them waiting for one of the others to be struck by inspiration. After a moment it becomes clear that inspiration is going to take a while.