Things were unfolding just as Flesh-Ripper had predicted: the Transians were advancing at a startling pace.
By the following morning, the vanguard squad of the fastest-moving student players had already appeared in the watchtower's line of sight. Those bastards, wrapped up like dumplings, swaggered around carrying the Blood Eagle Clan and Transian flags. Amid a raucous chorus of cheers and howls, they brazenly planted the banners on the hill opposite Plaguevenom Town, celebrating like battlefield campers who'd finally captured a point.
It was like a sign, a symbol that the players' forces had finally reached the final stage of the "Shadow of the Swamp" event. All that remained was to clear the dungeon cluster in front of them and bring the event to an end.
The student players' flag-planting had also earned them a hidden achievement in their campaign: "Victory Day."
Unfortunately, Lord Murphy had set the "Shadow of the Swamp" event to last forty days. Loyal Bro had spent nearly twenty of those just developing and producing incendiary bombs. After all the other preparations, only twelve days remained before the deadline.
To be honest, that wasn't nearly enough time.
"Holy crap, this terrain is a nightmare!"
Niu Niu had tied a ring of grass around his helmet as a completely pointless disguise.
He lay in the bushes, sweeping a monocular across the area around Plaguevenom Town. The thick war fog kept him from seeing anything useful, but at least it couldn't hide the problems with the terrain.
"Those damn gnolls had undead dig up the ground around the town and turn it into a wide moat. I don't know what's in that weird-colored water, but I'm sure as hell not jumping in to find out.
"The only way into town is across the bridges, and, of course, all three