The following changes have taken place:
- A global clock has been added to your interface to replace the ineffective, time-zone specific measurement. It will run on a twenty-four hour count and will begin at 00:00 now.
- Monsters of The Culling have joined the world.
- Party and Raid Groups are now available.
- You may now 'Inspect' enemies and other humans to gain additional information.
- Items have been added to your inventory to assist you. These items are a one-time event gift for your attendance in the event: The Culling. Do not expect such generosity in the future.
- Combat log now available (to access, see Options partition)
- An Options partition has been added to your MENU to customize your interface.
Garath read over what looked vaguely like patch notes in a flash and dismissed the prompt. It was replaced immediately with another.
The Culling will continue for the next twenty-four hours, increasing in difficulty every three hours. Survivors will be judged, good luck.
The darkness and silence lingered for a moment of complete stillness. Garath thought over the recent changes again, cursing silently to himself yet again about the lack of details (the mention of “Monsters of The Culling” was especially vague, in his opinion) until, finally, the light returned in the same sudden manner that it had vanished scant moments before and a collective exhale was released across the planet.
The morning continued as if nothing at all had happened, even the shadows hadn't moved an inch during the light voiding anomaly. The pale lavender of early morning bathed the landscape once again and the sun continued its daily journey across the sky. The air was brisk with a chill wind and golden light spilled over the mountains. Almost everything was just how it was. But one significant difference was immediately apparent.
Innumerable black, basketball-sized orbs were hovering a few feet off the ground, each one only about five-feet from the next in any direction. They didn't seem to be moving and they didn't look like any monsters Garath had ever seen, so he (and just about everyone else on Earth) waited nervously for the other shoe to drop.
There were several orbs closely surrounding the company. Garath quickly spotted some of the mysterious orbs hovering a few feet over the tops of buildings and, in one case, even on top of a telephone pole. It seemed to Garath that, apart from where they were standing, the mysterious orbs were spaced in a perfect grid as far as the eye could see without exception.
Knowing what he would see before he even looked up, Garath cringed. One of the mysterious orbs was hovering motionless directly above his head. Even more to his chagrin, another handful more of the worrisome monster-balls hovered over the heads of the children standing with their backs against the wall.
"Fuck," he whispered to himself. G quickly opened his Menu panels and the orbs began to crackle and spark menacingly. He noticed the new ‘Options’ partition and scrolled past it as he located the new options for ‘Party and Raid Groups’. If standard gaming logic applied, a Party would only hold up to five people - so he focused on Raid and was presented with a prompt.
Would you like to form a Raid Group?
Yes or No
***For your information: A Raid Group may consist of individual members and Parties (maximum: 200 members). Being in a Raid Group allows for seamless communication with everyone in the group.
‘Convenient,’ Garath thought as he read the prompt, choosing ‘Yes’ instantly. He thought about how that was easily the most detailed prompt he had received yet and hoped that trend would continue, but it did still leave quite a bit to the imagination. For example, would he be able to organize Parties into fighters, support, and non-combatants? Or see the Health and Mana of everyone in the group even when he wasn't looking at them? Would he be able to control this, ‘seamless communication’ so that 31 panicking voices didn’t all express their concerns at the same time? This wasn't the time to internally complain about the vague prompts though, so he turned on his heel to face to the group. He started mentally firing Raid invitations to every one of the names he read on the nameplates in front of him as fast as he could. Athios was the first accept his invitation.
“Athios, report?” he said, hoping his voice would make it to her on the roof via the before mentioned 'seamless communication’.
“I think the buildings are safe,” said Athios from the rooftop. Garath heard her voice, but it seemed to be coming more from inside of his head than external sounds funneled through his ears to be processed by his brain. Apparently the seamless communication noted in the prompt was in reference to a Raid communication channel that seemed to connect the members telepathically.
“Okay. Get off the roof,” he told her, then raised his voice so everyone could hear him whether or not they had accepted his invitation. “Buildings are safe, get the kids inside now!”
People ran screaming through the streets between abandoned vehicles as the Raid invitations were accepted and Garath's group made their way to the doors. The mysterious orbs began to crackle with streaks of electric white energy dancing across their surface. Garath made it to the doors first and tugged on the handle - and his heart sank. It was fucking locked.
‘Of course it was locked,’ Garath thought. ‘Why wouldn't it have been locked?’
The Necrologist pulled on both handles with every bit of his five points of Strength to no avail. He stepped away and looked helplessly at the group. Right behind them, Garath caught sight of the orbs that had each swollen to the size of a beach ball and were still expanding.
An elementary school aged girl stepped in front of the group and yelled, “Blast!” as she shot a fireball from her hands, shattering
