Although an entire town full of Moirai was a sight to behold, in a world big and vast it was nothing more than a shiny speck of dust.
This remote village was abandoned after each NPC, which had lived in it, had been enslaved by the player base. In the following times, there were no players left, that came into this town since everything precious in it was gone by then. This ghost town turned into the base of Moirai.
That is why such an attention raising event, the arrival of so many strong NPCs did go unnoticed. Everyone else had just been busy scouting the entire map for suitable candidates and no one bothered to search in a place, which was devoid of NPCs in their eyes.
Without a doubt would the status quo not last, should the players be aware of the current occurrence taking place at this spot. The resulting craze from the players would surely not pale in comparison to the chaos already present.
Though the recruitment process would be vastly different because their behaviour and attitude were based on the original. It would take a lot of convincing to reel in just one of them and that is if you are lucky enough to talk to a version, which is calm and collected.
Judging by the many brawls and battles it was more than a rarity to find something like that amidst this still growing group of NPCs. Some even had brought in monsters carcasses and then taunted others to hunt bigger prey.
Which prompted a chain reaction, that caused more and more monster carcasses to cramp up the already stuffed town even more. Like an angry swarm of locusts, they ran over the lands trying to search for prey and if they lacked in quality they started to aim for quantity.
Not only did these copies boast about their ability and taunt others to surpass them, but they also used several objects near them to prove their strength. Whether they destroyed houses, trees or bones was of no concern to them, as long as they others could witness their raw and brute power.
Everything in their close vicinity was bound to suffer as more and more Moirai came together. The ever-expanding red circle had yet to be noticed by anyone involved. Still, life had returned into the otherwise silent and calm town and brought with it many strange things.
Although it was up to debate, whether that sort of "life" could be considered a wonder or the byproduct of sheer chaos. Between the two it was hard to tell, which option was the correct label. Because in the end, no description was enough to detail all of the current madness.
The players who could follow this spectacle directly in its heart were helplessly overwhelmed by the multitude of different actions, all of which seemed crazy to them. They kept wondering where the purpose was in their presence.
There was no suitable answer to be found and this could be said about many of the questions that popped up in their minds. The behaviour of the first Moirai that came into their lives had already been mysterious and thought-provoking. Being confronted with an army of clones certainly did not make it any easier for them.
But while the tracks of one Moirai were hard to find especially if he tried his best to avoid leaving any, then the exact opposite applied to the horde of Moirai running in the wild. Something of this magnitude was bound to attract attention from just any player who lays his eyes on just one Moirai he sees.
The likelihood of encountering a player is especially high considering the current behaviour of those NPCs. Not only were they covering a wide area in search for their prey but also due to their appearance differing from the average NPC drawing even more attention towards them.
While flaming hair certainly was not a necessity to attract players like a fly it certainly did not hurt. If that was not enough, having such a huge frame would do the trick. While not every Moirai looked the same. they shared enough similarities which allowed others to draw the parallels to the original.
And with the current craze and the high demand for special NPCs, this was nothing more than a ticking time bomb, which would blow up sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before this already messy situation would escalate to a whole new level.
So it was no surprise when the first players caught sight of strange occurrences which took place in some distance to the city. The sorrowful cry of monsters caught their interest and they followed the noise until the stumbled upon the strange sight of seeing an NPC killing a monster gruesomely.
As logic dictates they did the only thing any sane normal person would do, they ran towards it and tried to hire it. The clone was rather unimpressed by this sheer display of courage and deemed it as an act of provocation much to the dismay of those players, which cost them their lives.
Since not bowing down in the face of the adversary was a trademark for the player base they began to try anew. They came to the conclusion, that the must prove themselves to the NPC, otherwise it would not have ended their lives in cold blood.
While they had never encountered Moirai personally, they had learned enough about him from second-hand information. When an NPC even refuses the noblest and strong players, then they must do something to convince him.
Since laying their lives down was not considered enough in the eye of the NPC, then they simply have to prove their mettle to the NPC. In a move, which was devoid of any reasonable decision making, they continued to spend their time with sacrificing themselves to Moirai, in the delusion, that they might obtain his approval.
Not only they were wrong in their thinking in the first place, but also they did not even meet the same Moirai again. In the time it took them to respawn and come back to the place, where they had met the object of their desires, it had already moved to another place and their search had to start again.
This development did not raise any suspicion in either party involved as both seemed to not mind it. The Moirais deemed this interference as a simple waste of time, which stood between them and showing off their prey to the rest. While the players saw in it the oppurturnity of a lifetime, which could not be obtained without investing a lot of time and effort into the matter.
Strangely enough, this was not limited to a select group of players, it happened quite a handful of players who tried to uphold the utmost secrecy about this, to not get any competition. They seemed to think that they had struck gold, though none of them seemed aware how much this was happening simultaneously.
Due to the absurd amount of Moirais running through the land finding one did not take a lot of time once the initial location had been found. Because of a lone wolf mentality players were only able to locate one Moirai at a time.
It came to no surprise, that they found themselves unable to recruit anyone of them, no matter what they did but that did not stop them from trying. Not at all, it rather fueled their determination. The pay-off must be worth it if its requirements are that high.
While their motivation bordered on insanity, they still tried to act as nothing happened to them as they found excuses for every activity or promise, which would stand in their way. They would not let anyone or anything obstruct them from obtaining their well-deserved price.
Although Moirai could only be hired by a single person, they tolerated the competitors they knew off, rather than getting rid of them, otherwise, they would risk that the news would spread. Everyone was painfully aware, that they did not stand a chance should the people of the Church become aware of the sweet temptation that was Moirai.
Gritting their teeth, they had to give their all to win over Moirai before they had lost the chance at making an impact on the tournament. This was their one-way ticket to fame and they were unwilling to give up on it.
Despite all of this conviction, it did not seem to be of any effect to any Moirai whatsoever. They were just casually killed once they closed in on Moirai in hopes of winning him over. Since their target was always on the move, they had given up on trying to reason with him.
Leaving them with no other choice, then trying to leave a lasting impression on him by attacking him. No one thought about killing him, no with their lacking talents, this was an impossible matter for them. Their intention was to simply convince Moirai off their sincerity in hopes of winning him over.
Of course, the Moirai regardless of character trait was having none of it and took care of the flies, that kept on throwing themselves onto them. It was nothing more than a mere nuisance, that did not even take up a lot of time. All it took was one simple punch and the potential trouble was gone in an instant.
Even if the trouble came back once more, it would just lead to the same outcome. Moirai was way too eager to prove his superiority to the other Moirais then to pay any attention to the small fries which occasionally popped up in front of them.
Ascertaining who is superior was of much higher importance. No one would bother with something so insignificant. The horde of Moirais venturing out of the town on their path to supremacy was the foundation for the seemingly neverending motivation of those players.
Although their dedication and their unwavering will were bound to never work out for them. Especially since those players dropped everything left and right, which caused suspicions left and right.
It did not take much until people started to question the excuses the players had come up with. It also did not help, that some players decided to trade their knowledge in exchange for potential favours.
While no one would willingly throw away such an oppurturnity some were willing to settle for obtaining something good by sharing the news with influential people. Despite the vows of secrecy, it did not take long before nearly the entire server base had become aware of the precious NPC.
Although every party involved acted as if nothing had happened to prevent others from finding out about the secret news, it did not change the fact that it had become an open secret. Yet, due to the circumstances, everyone thought, that they were still the only one.
The status quo only remained due to the different locations where each informant claimed to have seen the previous NPC. That is why people from the Churches and the strongest players could arrive at the scene without coming into contact with one another.
But the entire situation was not meant to last, especially since an NPC of Moirais calibre was more than an enticing. After coming into contact with the specific group of players, which had found Moirai, they started to scout the area for tracks and traces of him. After the rest of the group had been reimbursed to keep quiet, the search for Moirai started.
This was not limited to a single place as more and more players had started their endeavour to locate Moirai. The treasure trove full of Moirais and the strong players was not something which would be able to mix well once the would come into contact with each other.
The first contact between those 2 parties ended in a heavy clash, which could not be compared to the previous bouts. It was not an easy task to take down a Moirai in a prime condition even if he was facing a small group of highly talented mages.
The groups the Moirais saw themselves confronted with consisted out of a select few mages. because no relevant party wanted to share their potential find with the competition. While every small-fry was quickly taken care of, the truly strong enemies were capable of fighting Moirai to a standstill.
This was possible due to their abundant fighting experiences or their general talent. Due to the versions of Moirai mimicking the behaviour and tactics of the original no one had noticed, that they were currently fighting a copy.
Battles like these were no rarity as they occurred all over the place. The people who had previously dreamed about convincing Moirai to join them could only curse at their lack of ability. They did not have the necessary qualifications to even think about contending against the truly strong.
But the multiple conflicts were nothing more than a prelude. As more and more Moirai approached the Ghost town coming from all directions. In return, this led to many skirmishes more as those cast aside players came into contact with the oppurturnity of a lifetime once more.
The clones were adamant on reaching their destination and they did not react too kindly on the obstruction they were currently facing. Using force to pass their way through was the logical consequence after being bombarded by magic spells.
This time around no one was holding back anymore, as this was their last shot at obtaining the rare and special NPC. Screams could be heard all over the place, as the NPCs collided with the player base over and over again.
Everyone had found the "real" Moirai and they would stop at nothing until someone got ahold of him. Nobody would have thought, that so much Chaos would be produced by a "single" Moirai, as the game developers could only watch on in horror as things started to spiral out of control more and more with each passing second.
The question of what was to happen should 2 players groups come too close to one another. is not something that requires much thinking. The moment those 2 groups come into contact with one another and once it has become clear what their aim is, then there is no turning back and the bloodshed shall begin.
Meanwhile, the real Moirai was still training totally unaware of what was happening on the Outside. Not knowing of the danger closing in on the city or the red circle which was enveloping more and more of the ground beneath the ghost town.
Nobody knew exactly what kind of trouble was looming over the small abandoned town. But so many Moirai and so many players was by no means a good combination. There was only one outcome, which would result in this situation.
It is going to be pure and utter mayhem and there is absolutely no alternative to this kind of development, it was predetermined. This is the path that can not be avoided.