Pantheon Online

Exile cursed as he slammed his shield against the snout of a Divine Wolf that lunged at him. \'These damn mobs! They\'re coming from all over the place! Do they all plan to break into the city?\' Exile glanced around at every player working together, no matter what side they were on in the civil war. 

Usually, he would have left this problem for the ruling faction to deal with. That way, it could further weaken his enemies. However, when the news came that the mobs had actually set foot within Valheim, he knew he had to act fast. Even now, the developers were still managing to surprise them!

\'If they get inside the city, it will be a nightmare to hunt them down. With their speed, it will be too easy for them to corner lone players and make short work of their hunts.\' Exile glanced to his left where his Pantheon had charged in to fill a gap in Kaleidoscope\'s defensive. Aeri frowned at that sight, but nodded her thanks towards him. 

After all, this was a crisis that could affect all of them. \'If these wolves can eat our orbs to get stronger, then did Nar\'Kozz eat Noslin\'s and my orb after killing us? If so... It was a good thing we got everyone out of there.\' Exile\'s frown deepened as he hacked down with his axe, finishing off a weakened wolf.

All sorts of spells flew through the air, striking at the wolf packs that had become one giant mass as they charged the line of players. \'Noslin is still offline right now, along with a number of our heavy hitters. I\'ve already had someone log off and send her a message, but with the time difference, who knows if she\'ll see it in time to come back. So it\'s up to me to hold the alliance together.\'

"Midas!" Exile roared as he turned to glance over his shoulder, allowing a few Ragnarok members to take his place on the front line. 

"Yes?" Midas quickly broke away from his own fight and jogged over to Exile while analysing the situation with a grim look on his face. 

"You know the Alliance\'s finances, so I\'ve got a job for you. Figure out a suitable reward for our players if they kill a certain amount of these wolves and make sure they know about it. They need an incentive to do better. You can see some of them shrinking back from their chances to counterattack from the fear of getting killed."

"Hm... In that case... How about offering something like contribution points?" Midas stroked his chin as he thought about it.

"Contribution points? How will that work?" Exile frowned as glared at Midas.

"Instead of kills, we\'ll offer points for every so many bundles of fur, claws etc that the wolves drop. These can then be exchanged for weapons, armour and orbs from the alliance\'s treasury. But as you know, not every wolf will drop something. So they\'ll have to kill more to seize these benefits. Then we can trade the goods they give us for gold. It will help to offset the cost of what the players buy with their points."

Exile\'s eyes went wide at that bold statement. It was a clever plan. Although they would still have to deal with the burden of some of the cost. It was not as bad as outright giving the players rewards for only kills in return.

"Get it done!" Exile chuckled as he rejoined the front line and left Midas to his devices. 

Soon, a roar went up from the alliance players as if they had found a second wind. The wolves attacking them began to get pushed back, causing the ruling faction players to look at them in wonder. It looked as though they had entered a frenzy as they deliberately threw themselves into dangerous situations to finish their enemies off.

Exile spotted Winter amongst the players on the front line, but she appeared to be struggling. \'Her authority really isn\'t suitable for an upfront battle like this, but we need everyone we can get.\' Exile shook his head slowly as the alliance members began to help out the other Pantheons more. 

But really, they were just interested in gaining more points. Exile chuckled at the various players from the opposing side who sent their thanks to him. \'It\'s not over yet.\' His eyes turned to the larger wolves that had gathered at the rear. There were five of them, and their fur had turned golden. 

\'I\'d say they are probably the ones spurring the packs to attack. They won\'t be simple adult wolves either, judging by the look of them.\' Exile frowned as he tried to understand the power that those wolves may have. But it was difficult to say.

Exile swung his shield to knock a wolf aside into a group of players. They did not miss the chance to gang up on the unsuspecting wolf, grateful that Exile had separated it from the rest for them. \'Hm... We should start rotating people out so they can head to the temple to recover. If we keep on like this, people will start dieing and they won\'t have anything left to fight those bosses.\'

Exile barked out the order to implement the rotation of players on the front line. The chaotic melee soon started to change shape into orderly lines, but the drive to kill the enemy was still there. The other Pantheons who saw this started to copy the alliance\'s approach. Quickly realising that Exile was thinking about the sustainability of that fight. 

Aeri\'s attention seemed to be focused on the wolves in the back, just like Exile. \'I\'m Tier 1... Exile is too... How many others?\' Her mind wandered as she tried to detect any other auras at their level. She found another two, but that might not be enough. She had a sinking feeling that those wolves were the equivalent of a Tier 1 mob....