Arms Slave and Paper Moon
Plus some other scrubs
Vs
Outlaws, Lvl 5 Dissolution, & Lvl 6 Dissolution
Arms Slave led the group out of the city using their War Machines to quickly put the walls behind them. Although fast and useful as cover, the vehiciles Arms Slave choose lacked weaponary to defend themselves, relying on the abilities of their occupants for self-defense. Fortunately, lacking weapons allowed them to carry multiple players and being fairly cheap, thus Arms Slave was able to field five of these APC's, filling each with five-to-six players a peice (There was a total of 30 in all). If they weren't nearly all level 1, they may have actually seemed like a powerful force. But even if Deep Ground claims that levels don't matter in PvP, the same could not be said of PvE. Deep Ground fancies itself as a MOBA, sure, but for newbies starting out they needed to grind countless Dissolution hordes if they wish to get strong enough to fight competively. At least that's the sort of advice Arm Salve gives.
Thus when Paper Moon alerted him of two Mid-level Dissolutions in the distance, Arms Slave had another scout confirm his findings: Two Massive Dissolutions, level 5 and six respectively. Even if they weren't boss level (And it was hard for any of them to get a reading on their specs from this distance), that was a hefty amount of EXP for the newbies. Some of them may even get to level up if they've been working hard. BUt that said... It was almost like the first siege of the Black City, but this time it was way more random. At least the first time everyone had an alert in the form of the beast coming in hot. But these guys just arrived out of nowhere...
"Yup. Looks like the work of CC. If I had to hazard a guess, those heat signatures aren't mobs, but other Outlaws. Hmm... Alright Paper Moon, this is what we'll have to do. No doubt the outlaws are going to find a way into the city, one way or another. I know we got some guys to man the walls, but they can't fight those two giants and the outlaws at the same time. Thus we're going to take out the two big ones while we'll let the Ebon Strykers deal with the Outlaws. The city's defenses aren't like before: this time it should hold even two of these big ass motherfuckers long enough for us to kill them. So pop the epic inspiration battle soundtrack. We ride!"Turning everyone around, Arms Slave lead his entourage to take on the Dissolutions from the rear. This way their forces, meager as it was, could sandwich the Dissolutions and Outlaws between a combined force of the Ebony Strykers and Arms Slave's Sweepers. Arms Slave of course took point riding in the Bone Yard, his weapons and shields out ready to intercept the enemy. He activated his Aura of Agony, causing him to glow red with an awesome power. Those who thought to take advantage of their clustered formation would be in for a surprise when their AoE's would only be half as effective, and Arms Slave himself looking no worse for wear. That was mostly because he filled his War Machine almost entirely of healers, who even at level 1 could keep him healthy under all but the most overpowered barrages.
"Jet Rhino, take the Yamato and head to that hill. Dig in and give us covering fire! Paper Moon, go with Strawberry Baby in the Hammer and give me an idea of how many outlaws we're dealing with and the abilities on those big-ass monsters. Figure out what their attacks are, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Come back alive or don't come back at all!"Arms Slave laughed as the War Machines split off to do their tasks, leaving three charging towards the large dissolutions. The Yamato had mostly rogues with a single warrior, Jet Rhino himself, who'd use their long-range weapons to soften up the Dissolutions and Outlaws. Jet Rhino would protect them, but once they dig themselves in they'll be unable to move along with the rest of the group, at least not quickly. Strawberry Baby had a few mages and rogues as well, and their task was Espionage and scouting. Strawberry Baby, a level three mage, specilized in illusions and could stealth as well as a rogue. Once they were within acceptable range she used an ability that made them invisible from the outside, though their War Machine could still be heard rumbling towards the enemy. She'd be able to maintain this illusion for about three minutes, but can't do anything else during that time.
"Roger that!" Paper Moon responded as he climbed onto the edge of the carrier, leaning in lieu of the The Rhino's movememnts. The two APCs veered from the main formation and set themselves a course for their individual designations. The rogue's hair blew uncontrollably in the wind as they courageously pressed on.
"Sure beats walking, eh?" He called out over the wind slamming against the APC, glancing over his shoulder back at the players who would be fighting alongside him. For those who were not wearing any form of facewear, their expressions for fairly barren. It wasn't like they were listless, they were only able to express determination. Hopefully Moon's laidback demeanor would be able to mesh with theirs, since teamwork was key.
"You know, I usually walk! Although I may have a skill that cuts down on travel time, these things really know how to cover ground! Hope they were cheap, really wouldn't want to fork over cash to Arms after this." The boy had to put warming up to his comrades on hold, as it was crucial that Stawberry Baby had the utmost concentration while ability. Paper Moon watched as his arms and hands progressively lost their pigmentation against the metal plating, which too soon followed suit. Even though the dissolutions were enormous, they moved at an alarming rate.
"Alright, cut the engine," He barked at the driver with an outstretched hand, albeit the fact that it was completely invisible, the driver seemed to pick up the sound of his hand slicing crisply through the air.
"We'll coast from here." When the engine cut out, the rogue slipped on his goggles with a childish grin,
"Scanning." Moon notified the others in a hushed tone. After he activated the ability Keen Eyes, his irises glowed with an extremely faint blue light.
He extended the upper half of his torse over the APC's sides. It would really suck if they were to fly past a tree right now. The rogue narrowed his eyes as they fell upon the two figures encompassed by all different types of hues. Past them were figures of a distinctly smaller size, now far more discernible at this distance. He shifted his gaze over to the mass of fodder and counted away.
"Twenty-five... twenty-six... twenty-sev- Holy shit she really is trying to storm the city." Moon clicked his tongue as the numbers conitnued. There were probably a handful beyond the range of his view, but gist is, they had quite the battle ahead of them. If they were succesful in clearing this stage's first wave of bosses. He swiftly returned his attention back to the two dissolutions and scrutinized the points where internal activity was most noticeable. Keen Eyes was an especially effective ability and making weak points apparent at closer ranges.
His collective opinion of the two mobs could be summarized in one phrase:
"Holy shit." Moon murmured as he tried to not only narrow down the weak points, but was unsettled by the grotesque characteristics of the two dissolutions. But seriously. Holy shit. The one in the backdrop accompanied by the outlaws wasn't dearly intimidating, but looks could be deceiving. It probably had abilities related to its element, and since rain always affected large areas, he could only go off of inference that it specialized in AoE. It was in a perfect position as a support unit to the more pressing threat, the glob of disorderly flesh and organs gravitating not far from them. Sure, the organs were screaming critical hit points, but the thing was probably loaded with a bunch of abilities to compensate for losses sustained in combat. The girl at its core was probably the final locus to hit, but he'd rather whittle down its assets before going in for the kill. After a shallow breath slipped out, he quietly ordered the driver,
"Get behind this outcrop. We'll send in a report there."Moon was the first to get out of the vehicle, instantly arcing his legs over its exterior as soon as it came to a complete stop.
"Disembark! Get into firing positions and get ready for combat!" Without a moment to lose he typed away and set a report to Arms.
To: Arms Slave, Jet Rhino, Junkyard Dog, Cerulean Knight, Ash Roller, Strawberry baby
From: Paper Moon
Subject: Scout Report
"Squad leaders, dispense the information to your squads. Counted thiry outlaws, en route to the city via horseback and dragon, all of which are currently surrounding one of the dissolutions. Farther dissolution probably has AoE abilities, and since it's essentially a cloud shaped like a human, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that bullets won't do jack to it. Mages, you've got your work cut out for you, but your squads' gunmen will have to cover you. Now here's where things really get ugly. The other one's more tricky, or rather, it's got a helluva lot more tricks up its sleeve. Jet Rhino, I'd advise that you have your squad's marksmen aim for its eyes, while any suppresive fighters go for its brain. Other squads split your firepower between either of these two targets, but remember to also have a few men focus fire on its heart. I haven't really deduced what it does for the dissolution, perhaps extra HP? Maintain your distance, and be ready for anything. Use the terrain to your advantage, but I'm sure you already know all of this~. Strawberry's squad is ready to mobilize. Scout report complete."
"Buwa ha a ha! Thirty eh?! Thought they would be more imposing… Oh well. Maybe there'll be more.” Arms Slave shrugged his shoulders upon receiving Paper Moon’s report. By now everyone could see the two dissolutions. In the real world, monsters like these would send the kids running. But in Deep Ground they were braver than that. They fought monsters everyday. Some were monsters. Without a doubt many were unnerved at the sight of the massive dissolutions. But none would run away. Nope, the players charged onwards, taking on the massive enemies themselves.
Arms Slaves stopped momentary to reorganize his troops to something mor balanced. After all, he couldn't fight well on his own. So Arms Slave took a berserker, two healers, and a control specialist with him, dividing up the healers amongst the other raid leaders. While Paper Moon and Jet Rhino provided range support, Arms Slave would lead the charge straight to the big dissolutions. It may look foolish at first, but being targeted was the plan. Arms Slave was the tank after all. He needed to draw agro.
Jet Rhino waited for Arms Slave’s signal, but had his troopers get ready to line up their shots. The unspoken plan was an Alpha Strike: give it everything they got in one blow. Surely the monsters could handle a sustained barrage, most big types could. But to drop them with one combined attack usually did the trick. Of course while Arms Slave and his crew knew to do this, the defenders on the walls was unaware.
They did their best to repel the outlaws and dissolutions using whatever they had. Many chose to engage the outlaws directly in PvP, doing some damage but ultimately being too few and too weak to stop them. The best they could do was hold the gate, and that may soon be compromised by outlaws who managed to leak over the walls thanks to the flying dragons. If that wasn't bad enough there was also the matter of the siege rollers. Cheap cannons on wheels, hardly tough but carried enough fire power fast enough to be a massive threat even with am relatively few. And because they were because in backed up by far tankier dissolutions, even their fragility was hard to exploit with the monsters ensuring any kill shot got intercepted.
At least the Ebon Strykers had their wall rail cannons, but who knows for how long. As their name implies, these were cannons mounted onto rails that lined the upper walls, allowing them to move around the city walls to provide firIin g support. They qere strong enough to damage most vehiciles, be deadly against regular players, and could function as antiaircraft flak cannons as well. But even direct shots weren't going to be enough against the dissolutions. The cannons were made and brought for PvP. None of the Ebony Strykers thought they'd be dealing with more colossus monsters again.
Worse still was that the rail cannons were getting attacked. If not by the Wheel Cannons the Outlaws had, Then By They'd Cloud Giant Dissolutions, literally raining thunder and lightning onto the cannons and destroying them. Repairs would take precious few minutes the defenders didn't have, and even then they couldn't outpace the rate they're cannons were being destroyed. It got it the point they dream the cannons had to focus more on dodging attacks than actually shooting just to survive, thus allowing the outlaws more time to breach the gates.
And if that wasn't bad enough the dissolution with the eyes and gore spotted Arms Slave and his crew. Shouldn't be that surprising what with its many eyes looking in every direction. A few of those eyes glowed before shooting lasers at Arms Slave and his War machine, causing explosions were the lasers hit.
”Whoa! Evasive actions! We need to get close and keep its eyes on us!” Arms Slave shouted to his troops as they tried to get to the dissolution boss.
While impacts rang off on the battlefield, Moon and Strawberry Baby's squad set itself up along the outcropping, organizing themselves at a range for support combat, but in a formation that would allow them to go on the offensive when needed. Moon hoped that the squads under Arms' direct command could hold out. He quickly set himself down behind some rocky cover and scoped in on the dissolution currently engaging his comrades.
"Alright everybody, pick your targets! Call out the eye you plan on hitting, and get ready to take the shot on my mark! Better not miss, or you'll have to walk home!" That last comment was shouted with a tint of humor. Moon was always the one to brighten up a dreary situation. But the players didn't need to look at the glass half full. They knew it was in their full capacity to genuinely fuck up these baddies. Taking in a deep breath, the rogue leaned into the optic of his Harvest Carbine.
"Fire!"Six trails of light burned through the air and lodged themselves in their dedicated targets in perfect unison. Not one single bullet missed. The squad was smart enough to prioritize the eyes actively firing upon the offensive force, but the dissolution quickly switched off onto more operable eyes. Moon noticed that a few were looking their way, probably about to send a barrage that would surely cut through the rock formation like butter.
"C'mon Arms..." He thought to himself, counting down the seconds.
As Paper Moon shot at the giant diooslution, one of the eyes looked at the direction the gun fire was coming from. And then it dodged. it was alarmingly fast for a monster that size. before it was just slowly floating behind, almost lagging, but it was able to dodge out of Paper Moon's first volley and dividied it's attention to start firing lasers at the Sweeper's forces as well. Fortunately the blast dind't hit his forces directly. unfortuantely it did hit the hill, causing a massive cloud to be kicked up and removed visibility for a precious few minutes. Paper Moon and his forces would be shooting blind if they couldn't remove the dust cloud.
Arms Slave wasn't having much luck either. One of the War Machines lead by Cerulean Knight got blasted, each rider confirmed dead. That removed Arms Slave's right flank and would allow the big ass beast to focus more on his other forces. If Paper Moon didn't try to gun the beast down it may have wiped Arms Slave and his attacking force. While angry that Paper Moon or Strawberry Baby (Arms Slave wasn't sure which one was in charge) attacked too soon, this gave Arms Slave the opening he needed.
"Alright, jump on and let's do this!"Taking with him the berzerker and a healer, Arms Slave used his Chain Catch to latch onto the surface of the monster, using his extra arms to hold onto his fellow players. Once they landed Arms Slave let go of the berzker took out two serrated daggers and started stabbing and climbing onto the beast. it was unknown if he was doing any damage but the berzerker was climbing fast, so hopefully he'll be able to avoid any of the Dissolution's point defenses. Arms Slave in the mean time let the healer hang onto his back as he climbed up to the heart of the beast. All eyes were on him, literally: The eyeballs came out of the monster's body and started swinging at him. He wasn't in a good position to fight back and could only bring up his shields to defend himself and the healer, but their assault was vicious enough that he couldn't keep climbing on his own. At least, however, the big monster wasn't shooting it's lasers, giving Ash Roller a chance to get into position, along with the rest of his team.
As he was pinned down Arms Slave sent a message to Paper Moon. On accident however, he ended up sending his message to "All recent receivers", sending it to Abestine Blue as well.
To: Paper Moon, Abestine Blue
From: Arms Slave
Subject: Shoot the eyes so I can climb on top of this thing!
"Anybody got a spare gun!?" Paper Moon called out as dust settled on his goggles' lenses. He had already forseen this turn of events and was read to take the necessary course of action. The squad members were able to catch the faint outlines of each other through the cloud that refused to settle. The faint ignition of light signified that one of them had just spawned in a spare weapon, and was now holding it out in the direction of Moon's voice. He swiftly grabbed on and through coughs, finally found their War Machine.
The cloud began to dissipate after the engine roared to life, exhaust pouring out of the machine's pipes. Moon quickly shifted it into neutral, and ordered available hands to push the vehicle out from behind the outcrop with a collective effort. Once it was in park, they placed the gun on the gas, and piled some rocks onto it for good measure.
"Alright everybody, get back into firing positions!" He commanded, counting down a few moments under his breath as his comrades scurried back into cover.
"Provide covering fire for the War Machine! Aim for that bastard's eyes!" The rogue dove to the side as the APC sped off in the dissolution's direction. Hopefully Arms wouldn't peg him for using the product of his well-earned money as a decoy. Rounds flew through the air over the vehicle, escorting it to its demise. As soon as an eye attempted to focus on the War Machine, it was instantly met with a bullet carrying the Sweepers' hopes.
@Jedly@KoL
