Surviving the Simulation: The Grand Crusade

Momentarily disoriented, Xander took a moment to remember where he was. Sleep had been a stranger for days, but last night had been the worst yet. He was plagued not just by exhaustion, but by guilt and gnawing fear. His dreams were cruel reruns: him running toward Jo, always too slow, always too late, as something monstrous cut her down. The scene would reset, looping endlessly, the horror swapping out but the helplessness staying the same.

Some part of him knew it wasn't real. The Simulation would've ended his quest if she were dead.

But knowing didn't stop the fear.

Because every nightmare still felt like a countdown.

Zoey, ever the early riser, must have found his hiding spot because there was a can of soda sitting on a chair next to his bedroll. Reaching over to pop the top of the can, he gave a silent prayer to the Simulation suggesting what it could do to itself and promising a world of pain should any of his nightmares be a premonition.

The Simulation's only response was the same one it had given every morning:

Greetings, players! Congratulations on making it through the fourth planetary cycle of the Simulation reboot. You will be happy to know that the level-zero protocols are working as intended and the global player population is adjusting toward the accepted upper limits of the Simulation. Previous player population: 1,948,487,136 Human. Current player population: 1,315,468,789 Human. No player data for additional player species is available.

"Piss off," Xander muttered under his breath to the Simulation before beginning to pack up his bedroll and head off to find breakfast.

Still groggy after breakfast and two cans of soda, Xander stumbled into the conference room. Placing his new helmet roughly on the table, causing a small gouge in the wood, he dropped into the closest chair. Mumbling a good morning to Rex and Victor, he closed his eyes and waited for everyone else to filter into the room.

"Clocks, hot showers, and my digital music collection. That's a short list of things I'm missing at the moment," Zoey commented to Xander as she took the chair next to him.

"Well, young lady, I really think humanity has better things to worry about than your music collection," huffed Cynthia, as she entered the room behind Zoey.

"Okay, it's too early for this," Xander gruffly said as he stood up, grabbing his helmet. "I'm not sure why your personality has taken a one eighty from the person I first met from the one quietly running the safe zone behind the scenes to the one I'm seeing today. But frankly, I'm missing one of my companions and have a goal of my own I'm trying to accomplish. If this is how this meeting is going to go, then I'll be happy to step out now so you can continue without me."

As he spoke, he caught the tightness in Cynthia's jaw, the way her eyes flicked toward Victor for half a second too long. Pressure did strange things to people. She wasn't the enemy, but it was clear the weight of leadership was grinding her down. And maybe someone else was whispering in her ear, shaping the tone she now wore like borrowed armor.

"Friends, let's not get off on the wrong foot," Victor interjected smoothly. "Mr. Kell, please sit back down. I assure you we will negotiate for you and Major Rex's help with the second part of the safe zone quest."

"I'm listening," Xander replied, still standing.

"We'd like for both of your groups, along with a five-member team of residents, to track down the source of these monsters. The remaining residents will be here building better defenses in case we have to fend off another attack. What we're offering is an equal share of loot for each person going out to locate the source. The safe zone would get two shares of the loot. That would be fourteen people plus two, so a sixteen way split. We'll give each person one healing potion and a restock of bandages." Victor offered.

"Make it two healing potions and first right of refusal on maximum of two magic items," Rex countered.

"Beat me too it, Rex, so I'll say second right of refusal on two magic items for my team," Xander added.

"Fine," Cynthia intoned in a voice that clearly said it wasn't fine.

"All right, let's get down to brass tacks," Victor said, rolling out a large map of the state onto the conference table. "Based on what several refugees told us before, we can make an educated guess that everything north of interstate seventy-four is undead and random mutated animals. Major Rex indicated it was gnolls from town all the way to the edge of Danville to the east. With Xander's information, we can make an educated guess that everything south of town is rodentia over to about the Homer Lake Forest Preserve. That leaves our target in this area."

"I can narrow that down further as the gnolls seemed to come from this direction when we were at that location. That cuts everything down to about this corridor," Rex added, drawing on the map with a grease pencil.

Looking at the map, Xander recognized the area. It was a densely wooded area that was also filled with flooded mines. There was also an old Junior Trailblazers campground in the area, too. Locals commonly called the entire area 'the Pollywogs,' partly because of its large frog population.

"There's some abandoned mines in the area that are likely locations if we're looking for an overflowing dungeon. If it's some kind of regional quest generated thing then this old private campground could be another possibility," Xander said, pointing out several locations on the map.

"If there is nothing else, I'd like to table any additional issues concerning Xander's team and mine until after this crisis has abated," Rex said. "Victor, are your people ready to go? I'd like to head out in the next thirty minutes."

As the meeting broke up, it didn't take long for urgency to collide with disorganization. Rex's people moved with military precision, but the safe zone team… didn't. Conflicting instructions, missing supplies, and a general lack of cohesion delayed departure well past Rex's target window. Xander paced near the entry, trying not to let his concern show. Zoey stood a few feet away, silent and simmering, arms crossed, jaw tight. She was still clearly fuming from Cynthia's attitude shift. And Alex? Still nowhere to be seen.

Forty-five minutes later, Xander and Zoey impatiently waited for the safe zone team to assemble. Zoey had said little since the meeting, but from the way her jaw clenched, Xander could tell she was still pretty upset at the Cynthia. Xander had let it go, but the personality change in the librarian confused him. Plus, where the hell was Alex? Xander wasn't worried before, but now he was getting concerned.

"You know who we didn't see today? The old faculty," Zoey said suddenly. "For being such vocal pains in the ass, I haven't seen them at all today."

"I'm actually more worried about Alex," Xander replied.

Zoey's expression tightened even further than it already had been. "Yeah… I checked with the captain of the guard earlier. He said Alex made it back late yesterday. Apparently, he was ok and already heading out again this morning on some new errand for Victor."

Xander frowned. "That's the second time Victor sent him off solo."

"I know," Zoey said.

"Without even telling us? I mean, I guess, but I would have thought he'd have at least said something. I don't like it. Keep your eyes open," Xander replied.

"Not to change the subject, but we've still got a bunch of loot from the rodentia crafter dungeon. I know we'd discussed trading it here, but I think I'd rather hold on to it."

"I agree. The sooner we're done with these people, the better. There's got to be better places. Hell, we can always make our way back to the Starlight. JT was already working on setting up craftspeople before we even left," Zoey growled out through clenched teeth.

"Did something else happen between you and the Cynthia?" Xander asked. "I get she was a bit of a horse's ass this morning, but you seem to hold a hard grudge."

"I'll tell you about it later; it looks like the safe zone squad finally got their shit together," Zoey said, turning toward the approaching group.

"All right, team, we're thirty minutes behind where we want to be, so we're going to need to set a brisk pace. We'll be following the highway instead of the interstate to recon a couple of small towns between here and our most likely search grid. While I'm sure no one is feeling lucky these days, hopefully we'll find supplies, survivors, or our objective sooner than we'd expected," Rex belted out. "Let's move out!"

Xander considered himself in decent shape, but wearing armor and carrying more gear than he probably should be, he dropped stamina pretty quickly. Even with traveler's resolve from his duster, he was getting winded. He didn't think this pace was a good idea given the danger, but he supposed Rex knew what he was doing.

The thirteen person party was spreading out in a long line when Rex finally called for a slower pace. Xander caught the look in Rex's eyes as he surveyed where everyone had ended up in the line. Xander and Zoey were just behind Rex's team while the safe zone group was lagging. Realization dawned on Xander as he finally got what Rex was doing, he needed a quick way of determine where the weak points in the party were. That it was the safe zone team did not surprise Xander; they were behind in levels and had extremely poor gear, though it was better than the gear they had worn the previous day.

"Well, it's not as bad as I feared, but I'm not sure the safe zone folks are going to keep up if this gets bad," Rex said, stepping in line with Xander. "What do you think? Are we going to be better off if it is a dungeon or some kind of encampment?"

"I mean, who can really say for sure, but a dungeon might give us more control over the pacing of the battle. The really nasty part would be that we don't have a rogue, or whatever Alex actually, was to find and disarm the traps, and there will be traps," Xander said with certainty, though he had to chastise himself internally for making assumptions.

One dungeon does not an expert make, he thought. Don't get cocky.

"If I'm remembering the area correctly," Xander said, unfolding his map, "we should be about here on the map. There's a graveyard here. We could move around it, but this could also be an opportunity to see how these guys are going to do in a fight. Every cemetery Zoey and I have seen has had skeletons or zombies in it. We cleared one outside of Tolono, but all the ones we skipped around had them too."

"Let's see what's in the graveyard and then make the call, but I'm inclined to agree with you," Rex said, before moving over to the rest of his team to give them an update.

Zoey took Rex's place and whispered in Xander's ear, "You're just hoping for another quest to sanctify the cemetery, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Xander replied, grinning. The last graveyard had been a tough fight back before he had a class, but the quest at the end had been worth it. He figured the group could use a couple of smaller wins to build cohesion, especially the newer folks. Something manageable. And honestly, he wouldn't mind a quick, easy quest, either.

The group moved out with little fanfare, and Xander found himself watching Rex at work. He was steady and composed, giving just enough direction to keep people moving without micromanaging. It was leadership in motion, the kind that came from a command presence, not just competence.

Xander had led teams before. Hell, he'd been good at it. Project plans, status updates, crisis mitigation under tight deadlines. But that had been managing workflows and deliverables, not people watching their backs for gnoll ambushes. The battlefield didn't care about timelines or KPIs. Here, leadership was visceral. And Rex made it look natural.

Xander wasn't sure if that difference humbled or pissed him off. Maybe both, he thought as he chuckled to himself.

They crested a low hill and came upon a small, private cemetery. Overgrown brush and rusted fencing hid the quiet, unassuming cemetery. Xander counted maybe fifty to sixty headstones. That didn't mean there'd be that many undead, he reminded himself.

Approaching the cemetery with the rest of the team armed for battle, Xander got a much better look at the situation and was more than a little confused. There were no monsters, but there had been at one point. Several skeletons and even a gnoll, whose head someone had skewered onto the wrought-iron fence, littered the small area. He received no quest upon entering the graveyard proper, apparently because someone had already sanctified the cemetery.

"Well, this is certainly something," Rex said, looking around.

"I would have said gnolls at first, with the couple dead ones lying around, but skeletons aren't going to loot bodies and place a head on display. At least I wouldn't think they would. The low level ones seemed pretty mindless. Who knows what will happen at higher levels?"

"Someone has already sanctified this graveyard as well," Xander added. "Hate to speculate, but I think another party is a good educated guess."

"Would be nice to get some help from another experienced party," Rex mused.

"I wouldn't exactly call your group or mine experienced, but I get your point," Xander replied.

"Okay, we're moving out. Let's go, people, we've got monsters to kill!" Rex hollered.

The group pushed east, boots crunching through gravel and fallen branches as the woods gave way to scattered farmland. As they moved, more signs emerged as telltale footprints, stripped pharmacies, signs of makeshift camps. There was no denying it now: another group had come this way. Xander felt a flicker of hope. Maybe they weren't the only ones adapting. Maybe there was another safe zone nearby.

But the further east they went, the quieter things became. Fewer tracks. No more cleared campsites. No more looted buildings. Just overgrowth and silence.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Look here," Rex said, pointing at his map...

"Here is where my team ran into the safe zone folks, just north of where we're at, and more toward the interstate. Here is where we started seeing evidence of another group, and if we estimate that we're at the northern edge of where they're operating, we can estimate that if there is a safe zone, it's somewhere in this area further south. Do you know what's down that way?"

"Not really. There is a small town called Fairmount in that general area, but that's a good five miles with no really good travel routes. Could just be a random group not operating out of a safe zone. We have seen evidence of camping," Xander explained.

"Nothing? No business… a school of some kind? I know you Midwest folks like to put schools out in the middle of nowhere to service several towns," Rex continued.

Glancing at Rex to see if that last comment was a bit of a dig on Midwesterners, Xander offered more local knowledge. "No, the high school for this area is actually just about half a mile east of where we are, and if there was a safe zone there, we should have seen signs."

"All right, we'll chalk it up to one of life's great mysteries and leave it for the St. Joseph group to figure out later," Rex responded. "I prefer to continue toward our clear objective instead of seeking additional help. Knowing the way our luck seems to run, we'd find a safe zone in worse shape than the one we're already dealing with."

It was meant as a joke, but by the end of the day, no one was laughing.

Rex's offhand comment felt almost prophetic as the group pushed deeper into the countryside, with no luck. They found everything except the source of the gnoll horde. Stray patrols, scattered graveyards, even a festering spider nest tucked beneath an old overpass., but no camp or dungeon. No clue where the real threat was coming from.

Frustration simmered just beneath the surface. The Simulation's daily reminder about the next attack, and the steadily worsening state of the level-zero filter, kept the pressure dialed up. Camping in hostile terrain didn't help. Neither did the sense that they were running out of time.

Things came to a head directly after the morning Simulation update.

"To hell with this. We need to go back to the school and help set up the defenses. This is a waste of time!" argued one loudmouth member from the safe zone group.

"You men! Listen to me!" Rex responded, using what Xander was now calling his leadership voice. That voice in the storm, the one that said: by will alone, we stand. "You think going back to your safe zone is the right thing to do? What happens after you fight off the next attack? You don't think there'll be another and another? Think about the losses we took last time. How many more before you're ground to dust by a relentless enemy?"

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the group.

"If we can't find the source before the timer hits twelve hours, we'll fall back. But until then, I expect every one of you to perform at your best. No excuses. No shortcuts. There is no room for weakness in this unit."

"The Simulation doesn't care if we're tired. It doesn't care if we're scared. It only cares if we survive."

"All you men, do you hear me?" Rex demanded.

The response was not as sharp or as enthusiastic as Xander assumed Rex would expect from regular soldiers, but the morale boosting speech had a noticeable impact on everyone present. It wasn't until later that Xander wondered if Rex had triggered some kind of leadership related ability.

"Xander, a minute," Rex said, holding Xander back while the rest of the group moved off to the east.

"We may not get this taken care of in time. It's my hope that we find the source shortly and then it's all academic, but if we find the source but don't feel we have enough time, we'll mark the location and come back after the next wave."

Xander pondered. "It's a risk either way. Unless they got their shit together in the past couple of days, I doubt they'll stand up to another attack without all the help they can get."

The discussion gave way to another few hours of fruitless searching. Time bled away, and tension climbed with each tick of the Simulation's ever-present countdown. Then, with just fourteen hours left on the clock, the forest finally gave way to something that looked promising.

In a wide clearing south of Oakwood stood a small fortified structure with wooden palisades, crude towers, and gnoll guards patrolling the perimeter. From a higher ridge, members of both teams passed binoculars back and forth, scanning the encampment below.

"Look, there on the far side," Rex said, adjusting the focus. "Chain gangs. And cages. Looks like a mining operation, but I don't see any mine entrance here. Just wagons loaded down with ore."

Xander squinted. "Eh, the dungeon Zoey and I did in Sidney had some weird mash-up mechanics. Maybe this is another pre-reboot/post-reboot anomaly."

Rex muttered, "They're definitely using those people as workers."

He handed the binoculars to the representative from the safe zone, who gasped audibly.

"Hey! I know some of those people!"

"Quiet, idiot!" Xander hissed, eyes scanning for movement. "You'll get us all killed."

For a moment, no one said anything. The sound of chains below, faint but unmistakable, cut through the silence. This wasn't background set dressing. These were players. Survivors. People who'd lost their fight.

And if they didn't act carefully, they'd be next.

Rock and a Hard Place Rescue
Quest Notification! You have discovered a small mining operation that is using captured players as forced labor. Free as many players as you can before the gnolls eliminate or escape with them.
Difficulty: Medium
Reward: Variable dependent on the number of freed miners. Experience, gold, information, and recruits for your safe zone.

Accept Quest? Yes/No

"The Simulation does like to have the finesse of a hammer, doesn't it? Looks like we have a mission," Rex said.

"Guys, I'm not trying to be difficult here, but those carts and the rest of those goods would be a boon to the safe zone. We have to clear out the gnolls and free the people, but whatever else we can salvage would be helpful," the leader of the safe zone group implored.

"I hear what you're saying. We'll do what we can, but we're not risking the real mission. The big question is if the gnolls will try to kill the miners or not once the fighting breaks out," Rex said, deep in thought.

"Here is what I'm thinking… We're not a sneaky bunch. Brute force is going to be the order of the day," Rex finally explained.

Moving back down to the rest of the group, Rex laid out the plan. It was a simple barroom brawl style fight given the lack of diversity in the classes they had available. Zoey and two other people with ranged weaponry would kick off the party by attempting to take down the gnolls guarding the gate. Everything hinged on making sure the melee crowd got through the gate before the enemy closed it. If they closed the gate, then it was all over.

The gnolls, hulking and fur-covered, patrolled the palisades with diligence. Inside the camp, the sounds of clinking chains and the desperate whispers of the enslaved workers echoed through the air.

Major Rex came to a stop and couched low at the edge of the clearing, the rest of the band following suit behind him.

"Remember, our goal is to breach the palisades before they shut the gate. From there it's a free-for-all. Once inside, target any gnolls attempting to kill the captives first," Major Rex whispered.

Raising his axe, Rex brought his arm down in a sharp chopping motion, signaling the archers to begin. The now familiar zip-thwap of Zoey's bow signaled the start of the battle. The group surged forward, crashing into the gnoll guards stationed at the gates.

Chaos erupted as blades clashed, and snarls filled the air. The gnolls, taken by surprise, fought ferociously to protect their ill-gotten gains. Arrows whizzed through the air as the attackers pressed forward, attempting to breach the wooden barrier in time.

The attackers continued to push forward, finally breaching the palisade gates. As they entered the camp, the genuine horror revealed itself.

The several gnolls had surrounded one chain gang of enslaved workers, using them as living shields. The battle's crossfire trapped the chained and beaten captives.

Major Rex waded through the chaos of battle, his axes a blur of deadly precision. By his side, Xander smashed any targets of opportunity with smite empowered swings of his mace. Radiant energy splashed off any gnoll foolhardy enough to get within range.

The group from the safe zone had no organization as they randomly rushed any gnoll that got too close to their mob. Instead of a quick victory within the larger engagement, the clash turned into a scrum.

One captive was unlucky enough to be caught between a pair of combatants trying to get to each other. With powerful claws, the gnoll raked the captive diagonally across the back, from shoulder to kidney, before delivering a powerful kick that snapped the captive's leg at the knee.

The captive was dead almost instantly and crumpled, opening a clear path between the combatants. Horrified and burning with indignation, the guardsman from the safe zone ran his sword deep into the gnoll's gut in a stabbing motion before redirecting momentum upward.

In a last act of defiance, the gnoll reached down to close its powerful jaws around the neck of its killer. All three beings lay collapsed in a heap of attacker, defender, and victim, their blood soaking the ground beneath them.

The tide of battle shifted as the attackers gained ground, pressing the gnolls back, but they lost more captives.

Xander's spectral sight activated, causing him to pause for a moment as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Wisps of energy crawled like fog along the blood-soaked grass wherever one captive had fallen. It had the same look to it as the wisps that perpetually spectral energy that flowed off Cabbot. As if sensing something was amiss, the spectral cat poked her head out of a pouch on Xander's bushcraft belt to hiss at the sight.

"Rex, I think something is happening!" Xander called out.

"Yeah, it's called we're winning against these dog faced aberrations!" Rex called back as his axe sunk deep into another foe.

Echoes of the Innocent
Quest Notification! Two warring forces slaughtered innocent players who lacked the opportunity to defend themselves. The blood of the innocent, spilled in torment, awakens a specter of vengeance. The cries of the wronged have resonated through the fabric of the Simulation, summoning a Minor Harbinger of Retribution. Defeat the Harbinger before it slays friend, foe, and additional innocents alike.
Difficulty: Extremely Hard
Reward: Gold, Experience, Item reward to the top two contributors.

Accept Quest? Automatic Acceptance Override Applied.

"Regroup, regroup! Put the prisoners behind us. Corporal, break those chains so those people have some room to move," Rex barked out with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Zoey! We could use some help here!" Xander called out for his companion, hoping she'd understand and reposition to a better vantage point.

Xander had originally hoped that the enemy of my enemy is my friend would apply here and the gnolls would stop any engagement with the party, but just the opposite was the case. The gnolls doubled down on their attacks in what Xander felt was an attempt to battle their way to the gate and flee. But the majority of the gnolls were on the far side of the compound, with the Harbinger and the party blocking their escape. Snapping off an analyze, Xander felt a knot grow in the pit of his stomach.

[Analyze] Minor Harbinger of Retribution | Level: 15 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Spectral Monstrosity.

At fifteen feet tall, the Harbinger dwarfed the gnolls, making the humans seem laughably insignificant. Its skeletal form was a mockery of death. Wreathed in flickering blue spectral fire, it was massive and armored in an ethereal black plate. It didn't shamble or float. It strode forward as if it owned the land it walked on.

The sky darkened above it, clouds gathering unnaturally fast, as if pulled into orbit by the Harbinger's very existence. In seconds, the trees at the clearing's edge blackened and withered, their leaves crisping to ash, bark splitting as if consumed by a silent wildfire. The air warped around the monster, carrying with it a low, droning wail that pressed against the eardrums like the pressure before a migraine.

Its gaze swept the battlefield, and its soulless eyes sent shivers down spines of human and gnoll alike. One of the younger safe zone fighters near Xander visibly pissed himself, the front of his jeans darkening as he stood frozen in place. Another dropped their weapon with a clatter, mumbling something that was a prayer or gibberish.

Several gnolls near the front stumbled, ears pinning back, nostrils flaring as if they could smell the unnatural power bleeding into the clearing. Their line faltered. Not much, but enough to catch Xander's eye. Was that instinct? Pack fear? For a second, it looked like they might break and run.

But they didn't. Whether it was bloodlust, training, or the Simulation's influence, the gnolls surged forward again. Still, their rhythm was off, their formation ragged, and more than a few of them kept glancing toward the Harbinger, like animals suddenly unsure who sat at the top of the food chain.

Then the Harbinger raised one massive hand.

The ground trembled. Spectral tendrils erupted from beneath the dirt, lashing out with vicious speed. Half a dozen gnolls dropped without a sound. Their bodies pierced clean through, chests hollowed out in an instant. One of Rex's men wasn't so lucky either. The tendril struck him squarely in the face, and what remained collapsed into a heap, the corpse barely recognizable.

The Harbinger moved through the chaos like death incarnate. Its glaive carved arcs of violet energy, slicing through anything that approached. With terrifying efficiency, the Harbinger shredded any gnolls that approached, leaving the adventurers caught between panic, discipline, and the sheer overwhelming pressure of its arrival.

The battleground became a maelstrom of violence, with the fate of all three factions hanging in the balance. Each clash of weapons and burst of magic illuminated the encampment, casting long, twisted shadows that seemed to dance with impending doom. The Harbinger, an unstoppable force of retribution, pressed forward, its intent clear: to mete out punishment to all who stood in its way.

Xander focused primarily on the Harbinger, with Xander casting and recasting judgement every time the debuff wore off. He'd had to refresh his radiant shield three times.

This guy hits like a truck, Xander thought.

Rex and one of his tanks was right there by Xander's side as the three tried in vain to lock down the Harbinger.

Obviously having lost its patience with the insignificant pests standing in its way, the Harbinger delivered a backhanded blow to the tank's shield that sent him flying into a nearby tent. The Harbinger ended the movement with its hand raised in the air to summon another attack like it had in the opening moments of the battle. The groups were so intermixed by this point in the battle that it would be a devastating attack should it land, but neither Rex nor Xander could distract it.

"Xander, can you do the thing you do to the graveyards?" Zoey screamed as she recognized the danger.

Feeling he had no better plan, Xander triggered his sanctify ability. The spell description specifically mentioned sanctifying ground, so he wasn't sure how effective it would be against a monster, spectral or not. The Harbinger lost concentration on its ultimate attack when Xander's spell activated, shocking him.

I'm an idiot, Xander admonished himself. It's the blood-soaked ground of the innocents that attracted this thing's attention. Of course, sanctifying that ground would do something.

Momentarily stunned, Rex landed several blows to the Harbinger while the gnolls on the other side did the same. It wasn't enough damage to bring it down, but it had certainly put a dent in its health.

"Save any of your big abilities, I'm going to stun the boss again in two minutes," Xander said as he stepped back to trigger a heal on the tank that had gone flying moments ago.

"Zoey! Two minutes!"

"Two minutes, got it!" she replied.

The Harbinger had recovered, and Xander would have said it was extremely angry, but he wasn't even sure if the thing had any thoughts or feelings in its mind other than hate. Either way, it was intent on taking out that hatred on Xander while he waited for sanctify to come off cool down. Two minutes felt like an eternity.

"Five seconds. Here we go. Hit it hard when it's stunned," Xander said, refreshing his judgment debuff on the Harbinger before triggering sanctify. Once again stunned, Xander put every bit of strength he could into the swing of his smite infused mace.

Across the battlefield, players and gnolls alike had taken advantage of the Harbinger being stunned. The Harbinger of Retribution, now vulnerable and battered, let out a final, ominous wail as the combined efforts of the two factions pushed it to the brink. With a blinding burst of spectral energy, the monstrosity shattered into countless shadowy fragments, dissipating into the air.

As the echoes of the Harbinger's demise reverberated through the gnoll encampment, a momentary calm settled over the battlefield.

"Let's go, men! Finish the fight we started!" Rex commanded, snapping everyone back to the battle at hand.

The taste of copper in his mouth, Xander turned his head to the side to spit out a mouthful of blood from his split lip. Only half a dozen gnolls remained standing, and none appeared rare or named. He would let everyone else finish this off, instead he'd switch to support and start healing some of the injured and seeing what the butcher's bill would be.

Echoes of the Innocent
Quest Completion! Congratulations, you have successfully defeated the Minor Harbinger of Retribution. You were the top contributor in the fight; you have been awarded one item reward for your efforts.
Rewards: Experience Points, One Hundred Gold, Verdant Survival Belt.

Rock and a Hard Place Rescue
Quest Completion! Congratulations, you have rescued thirty-two player captives.
Rewards: Experience Points, Seventy-Five Gold. You are not a member of any safe zone and will not receive any citizens.

While the rewards were good, and saving these people was never up for debate, Xander immediately keyed into the fact that only two of the quests had completed. If this had been the source of the gnoll attacks, then the third one should have completed as well. Looking up at Zoey, who was still on the palisades, he could see the look on her face as well. They'd screwed up.

"Rex!" Xander called, rushing over.

"Yeah, we figured it out too." Rex grimaced. "Everyone listen up, this not, I repeat not, the source of the gnoll attacks. We have ten hours to get back to the St. Joseph safe zone and prepare. We are going to need to move at a quick pace! Pitch the cargo out of those wagons, hitch up the teams, and load everyone up. Double time, people, double time! We're on the clock and it's ticking fast."

Turning to Xander, Rex continued, "We better hope the council followed through on setting up better defenses, or we're boned."