The ringing sound of clashing steel filled Ilya’s headphones as the gargantuan, armoured figure, clad in charred, dastardly hues of soot and ash, raced towards her character. Aptly named The Lord of Despair, this boss was known to be a challenging encounter, particularly because of his signature (and extremely lengthy) charge attack that, once completed, would culminate in several deadly strikes. It was nearly impossible to survive for those with full agency over their characters’ actions, let alone those without.
With a swift set of strikes, each trailing arcs of abyssal black, he sent her character tumbling across the battlefield, inflicting her with that stun debuff that relinquished her of any and all autonomy. She’d barely collided with the cragged wall at the far end of the arena before he began to charge that infamous ultimate attack: Conquest’s End.
“You have no place in my domain,” the beast roared with a guttural snarl — one that shook the very foundations of the ground beneath them. From his gaping, bestial maw jutted two monstrous fangs: cragged, and oblique, and razor sharp. His enormous, towering form obscured the battlefield around them. From this camera angle, Ilya could see very little of the arena that hosted this tense encounter. Instead, all was obscured by his hulking, monstrous frame, leaving only his dark, primal gaze for her to behold. “Pray to whichever god you believe in — your life ends here,” came the beast’s growl, seething with a pure, unadulterated rage.
Ilya hastily tapped away at her keyboard.
Ilya [party]: “I think this might be the end for me.”
Though communicated through a featureless medium bereft of emotion, the message somehow managed to reverberate with a sense of despair and resignation. To reach here, both she and Yara clawed their way through precarious jumping puzzles, unspeakably difficult boss encounters, and an everchanging, perilous environment that threatened to send them to their deaths at every twist and turn. For them to have ascended to the very top was no small accomplishment, not least because of the six or so hours they’d invested in their expedition through the dungeon. They had come much too far for it to amount to nothing — and yet that was precisely what was about to happen.
Yara had precious few resources to work with; she certainly couldn’t muster up the necessary damage to interrupt his attack and save her friend. All she could do was try her very best to survive as long as she could — but, with her health bar verging on empty, and her mana too, she felt as though she was nothing more than a helpless bystander.
Yara [party]: “Just hold on!”
Yara's message was fervent and encouraging, albeit riddled with the same-such hopelessness that Ilya felt. There was nothing to be done. It was over. In a crestfallen acquiescence to her fate, Ilya lifted her hands off her keyboard and shut her eyes tightly. The attack was nearly finished charging, and it was due to be over very, very soon. Bracing herself for the inevitable groan that would accompany her character’s death, she wrung her hands and winced. There were perhaps, at best, three fleeting seconds before the boss would rend her asunder. She counted silently in her head.
“One…”
“Two…”
“Death—”
And yet, no sound of an avatar’s passing came. Instead, a cacophony erupted in her headphones. First came the signature, metallic ringing that accompanied the unmistakable sound of a blade landing dozens of consecutive hits in impossibly quick and decisive bursts. Next, the ringing crash of steel against board, time and time again, which bemused Ilya tremendously, since neither her nor Yara had the necessary specialisations to equip shields. And finally — and this caused her eyes to fly open nigh instantaneously — a deep, bellowing howl that could only have meant one thing.
‘The Lord of Despair has been slain,’ appeared on the screen, much to her incredulity.
How did she?? Ilya thought as she stared at her screen, shocked and in utter disbelief at what had just transpired. Composing herself, she reached for her mouse and keyboard, panning the camera to get a better view of what was around her. There, lording over the beast’s fallen corpse, stood a stranger’s avatar. She squinted to better see the character through the haze of her clouded vision, as well as the username that floated above it.
Rob The Goat.
A message soon appeared in the chat:
Rob: “Hey, hope you don’t mind me stealing the kill 😉”
Barely able to hear her thoughts past the incessant thudding in her chest, Ilya watched as all sorts of rewards, from enchanted weapons and rare accessories to more gold pieces than she and Yara had ever dreamed of accumulating, appeared on her screen across a myriad of menus. Her fingers were now quaking. She wasn’t sure what miracle had just taken place, but thanked every deity under the stars that she wouldn’t have to traverse that dungeon from the beginning up ever again.
Pausing to rub her face, Ilya then commanded her trembling fingers to fall to her keyboard. She wasn’t sure how exactly to react to his remark. Of course, she knew he was joking, but how should she reply? Should she thank him profusely? How much use of the caps lock key was acceptable for someone she barely knew? It took some time, much longer than she’d liked, but she eventually settled on a message: a calm, serene: ‘thank you so much’. Before she had the opportunity to press enter, however, she found that an exchange of messages had already taken place between Rob and Yara.
Yara: “THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
Yara: “Genuinely, I was probably gonna quit the game if I had to do all that again.” Perhaps an exaggeration, but she’d undoubtedly have been put off trying again for some time.
Rob: “No worries."
Rob: “Yeah, it’s not easy. First few times I came here, we wiped to that stupid stun mechanic. Luckily he drops boots that reduce stun duration — ironically, not many bosses use the mechanic, so you have to wonder why the devs included it AFTER this guy.”
Yara: “What’s your level? How did you manage to interrupt his stun attack?”
Rob: “I’m a bit higher than needed to be here, but the Paladin class also has an ability that interrupts charge attacks. Only class in the game that has it, super useful.”
Yara: “Damn, that’s cool. Hey, Ilya, you doing ok?”
When no response came, Yara typed again:
Yara: “Maybe she had a heart attack…or maybe she’s cheering. Idk.”
Ilya: “Sorry, I think the chat bar is disabled when you’re stunned.”
Ilya lied. She had just typed whilst stunned some thirty seconds ago.
Yara: “I guess she finally equipped the boots.”
Rob: “I had no idea being stunned did that lmao.”
Yara: “Yeah, that's super weird — I told Rob it was unlike you to say nothing, thought maybe the boss gave you a heart attack IRL.”
Ilya: “Sorry, it’s a weird mechanic. Thanks so much for saving us, though. I really thought it was over. I honestly don’t really have much to give you, but maybe I can send you an upgrade piece for one of your armour pieces? He dropped a bunch.”
Rob: “No need, I’m sure you’d have done the same in my position. I’m a beta player, so although they gave us character resets, I kinda know most of the game like the back of my hand.”
Yara: “A beta player? Damn, no wonder you’re so good. I have a question, though.”
Rob: “Go ahead.”
Yara: “Why is your name Rob the Goat?”
Rob: “Funny story.”
Rob: “When I created my character, I called him Rob The GOAT, but the game automatically replaced the capitals with lowercase letters AFTER I clicked create character. So now I’m stuck as Rob The Goat 🤣”
Yara: “LOL.”
Ilya: “That might be the funniest (and most tragic) character creation story I’ve ever heard.”
Soon thereafter, Yara sent Ilya a private message.
Yara [private]: “I just had an idea. Hey, Ilya. Remember that guild we’ve been thinking about creating?”
Ilya [private]: “Yeah?”
Yara [private]: “We could ask Rob the GOAT (not goat) if he wants to found it with us? We’d have such a good player on our team.”
Ilya [private]: “Omg, YES.”
Yara: “Hey, Rob. You can totally say no if you’re not interested, but Ilya and I wanted to ask.”
Rob: “What’s up?”
Yara: “Would you like to help us found our guild? We’d love to have someone like you as a part of it.”
Rob: “Never been in a guild before. What’s the guild gonna be called and what sort of things do you guys like doing?”
Ilya: “We already have one! Order of the Blue Phoenix. It’s inspired by first ever guild back in Everquest.”
Yara: “We’re probably gonna do some raiding, a bit of role-playing, maybe some open world content. Still figuring out the bits and bobs. But, we could assign you the rank The GOAT to make up for your unfortunate origin story. You can’t pass this offer up.”
Rob: “I mean, I was already interested, but now I have to say yes. You’ve literally fixed my backstory. Sign me up!”
And thus, the order of the Blue Phoenix, [ANEW], was born.