The phone in the Central Office rang, the receiver vibrating a little as the internal bell mechanism chimed on. The phone rang for about two minutes, the two-second ring repeating over and over, never missing its rhythmic pattern for a second. Slowly, quite slowly, Rene walked up to the desk on which the phone sat. A scowl crossed her face, the only visible feature of her hooded head; the rest of her face was covered in shadow from her hood. Her scowl was directed at Tylus, the Warrior Job Instructor; there he sat at the desk, feet propped up on the hard cherry-wood work-station, fast asleep as the phone rang quite loudly right next to him. Rene picked the receiver off of the antique-looking phone and said, in a surprisingly light-hearted yet firm tone "Hello? Chief's Residence, Central Office."
"You have to help us! Whoever this is, alert the Instructors that we have a situation on our hands, you have to help us! Please, help!" The voice on the other end did indeed sound distressed; it sounded as if the speaker on the other end of the line was in a crowd of people, with loud bangs and crashes going off. Still in her docile yet firm tone, Rene responded. "You will have to calm down if you want me to understand this 'situation' as you put it. Now tell me, slowly, what has happened to…" but she was interrupted by the other person. Screaming at the top of their lungs, the hysterical caller broke out. "Look, just send the Instructors to the outskirts of village! We don't have much time left! They are almost into the village!" Rene now seemed concerned; the outskirts of the village are usually well protected by Travelers and Adventurers entering and exiting the village-this couldn't be a raid by rogue Adventurers, could it? "I need more information. Please, who is almost in the village?" Suddenly the line went dead, and all of the candles that lit the Residence blew out. Static filled the phone and semi-darkness consumed the Residence.
"Hello? Hello…ugh, line's dead. Of all of the times for the lines to go dead, the candles' wicks to burn out, and the sun to be setting…there goes a perfectly good evening to do noth…" Her voice was interrupted by a loud explosion that seemed to come from just past the Frozen Gazebo near Scadur's home. A series of smaller, less rattling explosions followed the first one. Loud screams and yells could be heard breaking through the mysterious chaos and still-winter air. After about the fifth tremor Tylus finally awoke, a grumpy "Whatheheck is going on here?" escaping his throat. "I don't know," Rene said in earnest, "but I don't think it's good." She looked at Tylus and scowled again, a sinister air in her voice. "Oh, and this is for making me leave my bed!" She summoned her staff to her hand from the weapons rack and brought it down across Tylus's head. "OW! What did I do? I can't take a nap?!" He shot out of his seat, forgetting his feet were still on the table, and toppled backwards. Rene couldn't help but give a small smile at the self-inflicted punishment of his brash behavior.
As Tylus rose to his feet, unsheathing his sword and using it as a stabilizer so he could regain his footing, the door swung open to the residence. An unusually cold draft burst into the building, the fire in the fire place being extinguished. In rushed Arec, followed by Robeira and Alcaster trailing behind. Arec was the first to speak. "It's a mess out there! El Nath is being invaded by the area's local monsters, along with some old loathsome fiends! The monsters have already pushed past our outer ring and are pushing closer into the center of the town!" "They came out of no-where, just pushed past our Spell of Sealing perimeter as if it didn't exist!" Alcaster chimed in. Robeira looked detested at Tylus and Rene. "Did you not HEAR those explosions outside?! Why did you not go out and investigate these happenings? Did you not receive the call I instructed that villager to send you? Forget it! Just get out, we need help forcing these creatures back!"
As they stepped outside, it was apparent that a battle was raging in the small, icy village. The air was heavy with smoke and the smell of metal, elemental magic and blood. The smoke was issuing from a small mill where hay, grain, and oil were being store-housed; when the monsters entered the town, they destroyed the mill, setting it on fire. This had caused the initial explosion that racked the whole town. All around there were Adventurers of all classes battling to save the town, skills flashing and banging as they and the monsters engaged in combat. Alcaster was told to retreat back into the center of the defense force, doing whatever he could to enhance everyone in range. Each instructor split off into a corner of the ever-tightening inner-circle of resistance; they bustled to the front lines and started hacking, shooting and casting away at the invasion force. Hundreds of Lightning Bolts and Lightning Spears filled the air with a tingle as they singed Yeti flesh; Fire Arrows burned Lycan fur and Poison filled the air; green light filled the bodies of those who were in range of the many clerics in the area; spears penetrated Werewolves as their tips became the bright blue heads of dragons, entering their lupine bodies in bursts of three; enormous bangs from small purses of trap-charged money filled the air, and shadow-quick slashes tore open the White Pangs; stars and arrows whizzed through the air, falling like rain and flowing like a stream of steel; sickening "thwack" sounds came from the blunt bludgeoning and smashing weapons of the White Knights, and swords sang in a high ring as they sliced into any and every thing within sight by sword-wielding warriors. The circle kept closing, but there was still enough room for the Instructors to move about quite freely to certain spots on the front line. As the spells and weapons of these Greats did their duty to defend the town, time passed by in seemingly unreal slowness. Hours passed, and more monsters kept pouring into the town from no-one know where.
The circle had not lost any footing for the past half hour, and many people had gone so far in slaying as to level up in that time span; but now elixirs and potions were depleted, many were at the breaking point of giving up and trying to escape, and now death started befalling the less advanced fighters. One after one, the repelling force fell victim to the massively overwhelming force that kept pressing in. No one could get to the potions shop, as it was crawling with beasts, though it had not been broken into. The town residents (aside from Vogen, Scadur, Mr. Mohammed, and Master Sergeant Fox) were advised to lock their shops and homes up or make it to the Chief's Residence if possible. Eureck had recently left for Victoria Island as she was called to Henesys by Chief Stan due to Maya's worsening condition (i.e. a persistant, non-threatening cold that was just really awful). This prevented all hope of any potions being produced, as not even Alcaster could produce such potions without ingredients. Just as all hope seemed lost, and more Maplers fell prey to the monsters, a loud, booming "CHAAARGE!" was heard from the north-eastern edge of the village. There, on the outskirts of town stood Jeff, a big, confident grin on his face. From just over the hill poured almost 200 Adventurers, surging around Jeff, all sooty and dirty, but 100 healthy none-the-less. Just behind the last person walked Glibber, holding his tray of potions. "I sell potions to them, huh? I think I'll turn over a massive profit!" He ran to the mass of people yelling "Potions? Potions? Potions!"
Within ten minutes the invasion had successfully been neutralized. Everyone in town (who was still able to move) threw their fists in the air and cheered, giving three cheers special to Jeff. Just as everyone was about to disband, a loud explosion was heard over-head, like an enormous gun firing. All heads craned upward to see what had caused the explosion.
As all focus was turned to the sky, a small, green, troll-like man poked his long-nosed head out of the Residence doorway. Shammos had waited for an opportunity like this for so long he couldn't even remember when it was he was first imprisoned. His long, spindly fingers curled out from behind the door frame, his eyes shooting back and forth. Slowly, he stuck one foot out into the ice snow, and scanned the area once again. He took his other foot, lifted it with strain, and lightly laid the ball and chain down before placing his foot down, to avoid making any rattling noises. He was about to move again when another loud explosion startled him, making him retreat a little into the doorway. After a few seconds, he felt placated enough that everyone was too in-awe to notice him. He took three steps, and broke into a frenzied run. He had gotten no further than four meters when a large, solid shadow shot past him and adamantly placed itself in front of him; Shammos crashed into it, cursed a few times, looked up and saw Arec, his frown the only thing visible under the shade of the hood. "And where does our guest think he is going, hmmm?" Shammos quivered violently, knowing what was about to happen all to well. "I…" was about all he could get out before Arec whirled around and landed a heavy kick to Shammoses face. As Shammos flew backward, and was just in front of the door once more, Arec moved at lightning speed next to the still air-borne Shammos, assaulted him with another blow, and knocked him into the residence. Shammos was dazed, and Arec entered the building. Picking him up by his neck, Arec threw Shammos back down into his holding area in the basement, and raided the ladder up to prevent further attempts. When he went back outside he stood next to Robeira. "Another escape attempt by Shammos, it seems. Did he REALLY think we did not notice him sneaking out?" She inquired. A simple "it seems that way" was all that Arec cared to say. Robeira sighed. "Pity."