Winter Ball I
((Recommended Songs for this Chapter: Epic Score – Vengeance, Two Steps From Hell – Eria, Jordy Chandra – Coffee Evening, Mozart – Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K. 525, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" Allegro))
30th, December
"Hurry it up." Luko watched with a rice bag under her arm as Miyuki struggled to lift another into the carriage. They had managed to gain passage north while helping the caravan load supplies and products to sell. For the most part, they were the hired hands to pay their way. The remaining coin they had would be needed to feed them once they got through the borders of their neighboring empire. It wasn't much, enough for a couple of weeks at best. They'd be stopping in a few towns along the way, tending the oxen while the merchant hocked his wares. It was the only way to get out of their country quietly without anyone really noticing, at least until they had disappeared into the crowds of another nation.
"Why am I lifting the bigger stuff?" the princess snapped as she tried to push another bag of rice over the back hatch. The thirteen-year-old had never needed to perform menial labor before. Her hands were struggling to keep whatever was picked up from flopping out onto the ground.
"You think that's big? I've been lifting the barrels, princess." The wolf woman sighed in annoyance and pushed at the corner of the bag, which threw the kitsune off-kilter, nearly making her trip on her own two feet. The package sunk past the door as the teenager regained her balance.
"Why are you so frustrated with me?" Miyuki questioned her. "You knew what would happen if I didn't leave."
"What I know right now is that I'm an outcast that would be tried for treason. I cannot go back to my family, with what little of them are still alive; I cannot step foot in my home without an order for my death. This is all because you wanted not to be married. I am branded."
The princess didn't realize the position she had put her bodyguard in, her friend. Luko just stood there with her hands on her hips, staring at her with one eye. The teenager averted her gaze, understanding now what she had just sacrificed. "I'm sorry…"
There was a huff that came from the swordswoman; she turned around, looking at the hills in the north. "It's not like I didn't have a choice in all of this… let's get the last of the supplies in, then let the caravan leader know we're ready." That response seemed to lighten the mood, letting the girl know that the royal protector had understood the risks and accepted the responsibility of continuing her duty to look after her. Their garb had changed somewhat, with a generic kimono and cloak for Miyuki followed by ordinary lamellar armor on top of linen. As long as no one pulled the hood back for either, the duo could slip by.
Once finished with packing, the two ladies climbed in and traveled on towards whatever destination they thought was in this new land that could provide a better life. Miyuki wasn't quite old enough to know the challenges she needed to face as an adult, though she was smarter than others her age. She understood that they would need to find jobs to continue fending for themselves; her hope was that there would be an open position for a bouncer at a tavern, with the princess able to hide out as a waitress or apothecary. Once they earned enough, they could try and buy a small shop where she could craft all sorts of alchemical mixtures to help the people, blending into society. Her dream was to be a musician, playing one of the seven zither instruments that the republic was known for. The alternative to this plan, unfortunately, was to use her tails for a small miracle.
Despite what many thought, her bloodline allowed slow growth of the extra appendages on her coccyx. With those furry parts of her body that usually helped with her balance, she could, in most cases, cast spells no one else could. Her casting capability would get stronger as she got older, eventually being able to use rituals and incantations that would be what many believed a god would use… though that was, for the most part, hyperbole. There was one caveat that the shoguns didn't understand, attempting to marry her to their sons in hopes of receiving unbridled power. The tails would halt growth for a decade if a spell of any magnitude that required her tails was cast. If too many were fired off, she'd never realize her true potential until she was a feeble old lady, incapable of ever staying young. Those greedy bastards would seal her fate for their own use.
Those 'gifts' got more powerful the more of these appendages that have grown, with stories of ancestors with as many as nine to cause incredible effects on the world. What most of the fables lost to time, sadly, was that these gifts granted were only so powerful. While there could be widespread destruction offered up against one's enemies, or incredible alteration of time or space in a location, there was no guarantee it would be equal to a cataclysmic event that spanned an entire continent, let alone a planet. With only three tails, she was mostly relegated to illusions, bright lights, charm and limited mind control on weak willed people.
For a request of riches and wealth, even with a sizeable number of tails in play, the range of the gold that would appear could only go as far as the eye could see for its maximum. These restrictions had been forgotten, with many expecting unparalleled reality warping. The question was always as such: to cast an incantation only she knew and halt the growth, taking ten years of her life before they would slowly start again, or to continue hardship while she got stronger, forever staying in her prime as fairy tales would tell of?
Once she had grown all nine tails entirely, there would be no issues. The only thing that ever seemed to counter them, at any point, was something that showed high resistance to divine powers. There were beings out there that were rare but could be found that could ignore the effects of the spells. How they could do such a thing was never explained in any of the stories. She did remember reading two things about these beings, though; an ancient tome told of people called 'players,' with another an extra-dimensional being. One could assume that the latter was a god, unable to be toyed with by her supposed miracles cast. Unfortunately, the tomes she had read were always quite vague or partially water damaged, to make as many people turn the pages and be excited by these incredible adventures. They paid for a dream to sit back and wallow in for a time until they reached the end of that book. The word 'player' had no information on what to look for, just calling them as such. It also could have been a mistranslation.
There were artifacts in the world that could also restrict her alterations to the world, disregarding what she chose and merely acting as if nothing had happened. There was a small rumor of a faraway human kingdom having a few of these, one of which looked like a qipao dress. These items with worth beyond anything a nation could offer as a reward could, in fact, bypass the effects of her tails. An ancient alchemist, long dead, had theorized that her kind were living, breathing versions of these artifacts, or extensions of gods themselves acting as messengers. Of course, he also tended to eat things that were near poisonous to receive visions and was very idiosyncratic. He also stood on his head often, the blood flow most likely causing issues with his brain.
A bump rocked the carriage, then another, and another. "We should get some sleep while we can; I have a feeling they'll ask me to take watch when we stop for part of the night," Luko quietly told her.
"So… why should I rest? I'm not tired," Miyuki questioned her. The bodyguard sighed again in annoyance.
"Because you might be put on watch at some point as well. It's a rotating shift that might get picked at random. You keep your eyes open for two to four hours, and they better stay open, or bandits could attack… potentially worse." The fact that they would put a young teenager on watch meant there weren't very many escorts for this caravan. Luko had already realized that the reason behind so few guards to protect the carriages was supposedly the empire to the north was well defended; once past a certain point in the trip, they could rest without a care due to the army to the north. Getting there was the problem. The alternative was the caravan was stingy on paying for a hired sword. Luko was betting on the former.
"Worse? You don't think those assassins are… I mean, they couldn't be following us. We were careful, weren't we?" the princess asked, now worried about the situation. The royal guards didn't know where they were, but if those who wanted her father and her death were still skulking around and trying to find them, then they were in trouble. Their best bet was to just get lost in the civilization to the north.
"You didn't see the pairs of eyes watching us while we left, the suspicion in their gaze. A little coin here and there to grease their palms, then the group that was invading the Jade Palace would have a general idea of our direction. Luckily, we have a head start and wheels, and I took care to buy a few things to help us to elude trackers. That may not last long, depending on which direction this caravan goes later." Luko stared directly into Miyuki's golden-green orbs, forcing the teenager to look away. Even with only half the vision, the bodyguard's steel gaze always made her back down. The protector had far more worldly experience than she did; it was the reason there was only one eye, a story she didn't share.
"Alright…" the next in the royal line replied, settling in on the sack of rice, waiting for the convoy of carriages to eventually stop for the night.
2nd, January
Hrist sparred with Brynhildr in the gym, the walls specially hardened and reinforced to protect against any damage they could cause. The shields were activated, allowing them unparalleled movement as they bounced around and tried to get the upper hand against each other. If they really let loose, there would be a structural strain on the material, not quite high-end space-age metals just yet. The castle already needed a full upgrade, despite having so many advances in technology already. That was a test to the real strength of a Valkyrja that not even the hyper-advanced design of the gym was able to withstand the damage… yet. "You're loosening up your defenses!" Bryn laughed out as she dove and attacked, being twisted with a counter by her sister.
"Or maybe I let you see that opening!" the raven-haired woman responded, slamming the seven-foot-tall shield maiden into the ground with her hand pinned to her back. There was a massive thump heard from the impact, with the floor radiating an energy pulse outward to maintain integrity as it spread the force evenly, looking like a blue hexagonal lattice akin to a beehive. The blonde tapped the ground three times to be let go and was helped up as they both huffed and took a breath.
"Your response to the empress's daughter was… odd when we came back," Bryn told her as they both walked over to pick up their towels and get a bottle of water.
"Was it?" Hrist replied, not meeting her sister's gaze.
"What are you thinking? She explained that Eve was secretly hidden away long ago to protect her, just now having a chance to bring her back home."
"I know, I just… it feels like a bit of a lie. Something isn't right with that story."
Her taller sister grumbled something under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Hrist, why would she lie to us? Besides, her daughter is adorable. Are you unhappy she lives in the castle?"
The battle maiden cocked her head back in shock as she met eyes with Brynhildr. "What? Of course not! I'm quite happy Selene has a daughter! It's great that she's got someone to come home to every time from some meeting in another nation. I just – this isn't a normal introduction."
"You don't trust Selene? We're friends now."
"I trust her implicitly, you know that. I just feel like we weren't told the truth due to… to…"
Brynhildr was silent as they stood there, almost staring at a blank wall together. It gave credence to the auburn-haired woman not being human. They both believed the princess wasn't born of natural means.
"She's protecting her daughter. Wouldn't you keep something a secret if it could somehow harm a child of your own?" the taller sister asked quietly. Hrist didn't answer, just staring at the wall for another minute as she sipped from the straw on her bottle, the paint altering and shifting like a watercolor mural in constant flow.
Meanwhile
Selene kept running on her treadmill, getting a workout while she could. She'd wake up at 4 am in the morning, like always, exercising while being limited by a new development created by herself, a spell to increase metabolism, and a restrictor effect in her character sheet disabling her bonus strength and speed attributes. Each time the combination was used, the dev would burn double the number of calories, which there seemed to be no immunity towards that she could gain. She was using it five times, multiplying the burn by 32 so that she only needed to have a harsh workout once a week. The setup was uncomfortable, to say the least, but all of it was made to speed the process up. Any defense attributes were left untouched, keeping any attempted assassinations from flying in from long range.
Once the workout was complete, all of the gear was taken off, a very awkward armored suit to inhibit rather than protect. The checkmark in her sheet couldn't be activated unless three things were put into effect: that no threats were detected by [Detect Hostiles] spell cast within a 25-mile radius, that an alarm was activated to disable the ability after so many minutes in case she forgot, and a calorie tally system activated in her Hud to reactivate all stats once she reached her goal. The dev stopped the machine and slowed down, her ponytail no longer bouncing behind her as she grabbed a towel and headed out, pressing the pop-up button on the chest and allowing the suit to collapse on the ground, wearing yoga pants and a tank top underneath. Her breathing went from strained to calm as everything in her Hud reverted to the increase of 500 points across the board, with a new line showing what her muscle strength was without the added bonuses. There was so much news in the past few days that she had to pour through, very little of it being minor.
The first notice was that the Churches were in an underground war, one which seemed a little lopsided. From what she could get intel on, the Church of the Clockwork Empress has been doing everything it could to bring more followers its way, in some cases poaching from other religions. This has caused the Church of the Golden Faith to attempt assassinations on critical leaders in retaliation. Few, if any of them, have succeeded, with any of the archbishops resurrected without much issue by their priests. The attacks haven't been reciprocated either. The view was that the followers had to hold fast until their goddess intervened. They were sticking to their tenets loyally, not once straying to fight back. It was both impressive and, at the same time, incredibly stupid for them to not defend themselves; instead, they put forth their efforts to help those who were having their money strained from their lives like water from a sponge by the Golden Faith.
The empress's actions to counter this were swift. Those who put the contracts out for the assassinations were caught and placed in prison faster than the police could even get warrants for arrests. The paid killers were eliminated quickly, with security teams sent in to capture them; the idea was floated by the dev on what to do with the prisoners, a new plan suggested by her ARC scientists of using those who couldn't be rehabilitated in a new creation called a Limbo Vat. The nervous system was forcibly removed from the body and emplaced in the machine, sustaining the mind in a virtual reality simulation. Data would be taken on what their actions were inside, and just as the criminals would reach their goals, the world would be reset, and they'd start from scratch, with new laws and restrictions in place to keep them from doing any harm. It rarely stopped them, with new ingenious ways of performing a murder, theft or attempting world domination. Still, it helped with new training protocols for police to catch future evildoers and understand how to keep the peace more efficiently. There wasn't a need to throw away the capability to protect the empire in new and interesting ways. The alternative, at least when the empress became angered, was permanent death.
There were tier spells well above what the people knew that could restrict resurrection without cleansing it first, a curse upon the body, such as [True Death]. Dimensional magic had many forms of it, one of which was even for machines to keep them from being repaired. Very few of them could be cleansed without effort, one of which was to get a gamemaster to alter the data for the object or character. They were rare by far for players to use, only because it opened them up to a potential ban inquiry, and many were removed outright from Arcanic's Wizardry. The alternatives were always some quest by a player to gather resources just to bring back their main into the game. Anyone who was found griefing another in this regard had their accounts suspended for three months if not banned outright. Given subscriptions were connected to a biosignature due to the dive systems, it was near impossible to fake a new account to continue griefing.
Selene had found out how to cleanse the effect with a few tests on one civilian drone training dummy. The developers themselves had put in a hideous amount of other ways to remove the debuff from a body or object… players were just stupid and oblivious. Some of these were tutorial quests, which many didn't remember at all. There were so many whiners and complainers about how hard or easy some games became that there were constant patches to remove spells or abilities from many MMORPGs, all due to the player's not watching the signs. Luckily, the empress remembered most of them for dimensional magic.
The entire event had caused the money-hungry followers of the Golden Faith to go underground within the last twelve hours, a silent war they were attempting with little regard to public safety. Unfortunately, they didn't have much of a leg to stand on or sympathy, expected to eventually fade away as their faith dissolved into nothing. Discord was all but assured now with those worshipers until that happened, many of which were now hiding in plain sight, waiting for a chance to overthrow the government. They considered Selene a false goddess, but also Elesia and Gigsen clay deities as well. The only thing they believed in were gems and coin, piled high which bought their way into heaven upon their deaths. Their hypocritical views were so twisted from reality.
What she received was a grand ovation from hundreds who got an eyeful of the event, with word getting out that the Golden Faith could not do what they wished anymore. The laws were being upheld. Let others worship freely, even if that worship somehow changes, bar any harmful faith that required live sacrifices or pain to come to a person or animal. Men and women had equal rights, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender. Children were not to work, excluding work experience for a school course that provided protection management, which also helped the child reach a career. Animal cruelty was not allowed. A rumor was started with evidence that the empress's irises had a golden halo around them, glowing faintly inward as she became frustrated with the oblivious worshipers of the almighty coin… not gods. Both eyes eventually turned into just the left one, growing brighter… and blue. She never got a chance to see what that looked like, as by the time she reached a mirror, it was gone. Hrist had commented that it reminded her of someone, except that the dev still had both eyes, and the iris glowing was the opposite.
The second issue that appeared was a standoff with none other than the leviathan that caused the Great Battle of Sweet Water Harbor. It took an enormous amount of effort by Zaza and Nara to stop the 7th naval fleet from engaging the ocean-dwelling dragon, with a hostile entourage riled up around him by the aggression field preparing to attack. The fleet ready to engage had a brand-new battleship and carrier in the middle to fight back against large creatures, with small submarine fighters to win the engagement. They were eventually able to make him remember who he was and get some treatment offered up by the empire. It would take some time for his mind to go back to the way it was before late-stage dementia, but there was medical technology to ease him back to a functioning if old, dragon. Surprisingly, he disabled the field he was emitting, immediately having the small underwater army disperse back to their daily lives. His original reason for being near Sweet Water was finding something he dropped, not to bring a fight to their shores.
To Zaza's dismay, the effects were substantial in his life. The leviathan couldn't remember where he lived, most of his memories were a jumble, and the only two names he seemed to keep at the forefront of his mind were Zaza and a long-lost mate. The story behind the meeting of the younger wyrm and the massive underwater creature wasn't brought up. However, there were hints of knowing those in her lineage, possibly treating the gold wyrm as a grandchild. Until his mind was his own, he was a guest at the Dragon Aerie under constant watch by security. For the most part, "Galithos" was calm and somewhat friendly, if highly forgetful. There were times when he spoke in tongues, not realizing that the rest of the dragons couldn't even understand what he was saying. It wasn't another language being translated, he just mixed up his words. This was supposed to eventually go away in the next year or so. Until then, he would always ask when breakfast would be served… in the evening.
The third issue, which seemed to be the most urgent, was her security being tipped off by the police in multiple cities that there were casks with crude magic imbued on the casings and invisibility enchanting on the space they were placed. They were filled with what appeared to be mind control liquid that would vaporize once the containment seals were punctured, a crude chemical bomb as it were. The mist would flow out and be inhaled by the surrounding population, turning them all into pliant living zombies that would acknowledge the first person who laid claim to them.
Unfortunately, they couldn't figure out who was creating the canisters. The advantage the empire had right now was the auto soldiers disabling each cache, and prepping aerosol dispersion medication and counter spells to remove the mind control if one detonated. There were no fingerprints, no DNA samples. Whoever was the culprit would be considered domestic terrorists and have all rights removed immediately, potentially shot on sight. What these people didn't understand, though, was the fact that the troops were getting faster and faster at finding them, using predictive analytics to locate each hideout and perform raids. Triangulation of the supply routes to deliver these chemical weapons was almost instant within a couple days, except the wagons carrying the casks were unmanned. They hadn't found anyone inside the buildings, and the ownership of each warehouse was different each time, with no knowledge by the owners of the barrel shipments. Whether that was because of not being informed or someone breaking in just to place these caches was unknown.
A fourth and final issue that made the empress express sympathy for them was the dwarves. They had sped up the creation of the golem due to multiple noble houses collapsing, a few of them loyal to the prince. The estimated completion date would be just after the ball. She hoped it would unify everyone without causing further trouble, showing the mountain dwellers just what they really were capable of. If not, and given the fact she now had over 30% of their population living within her borders as refugees, they could fall. This dwarven society seemed different from what Sultan Gazi had given her in history books, as other kingdoms across the seas were in far better shape. One, in particular, controlled multiple mountain ranges and was the primary defense against multiple other nations squabbling with each other, acting as the grown-ups between everyone else.
These events, along with the side notice that adventurers were trespassing in Tal Salunbal restricted areas without warning, had whittled down the empress's patience quite a bit. However, she never snapped at anyone in her inner circle, with Orlo acting as her shrink to get things off her chest. Gazi and his son would arrive a little earlier than expected before the winter ball to hash out details of controlling the movements of the independent explorers and monster hunters, as well as work out the transportation of medical supplies and pesticide sprays for a new disease infecting food growing near the undead city to the far north. In exchange, he had hinted that they may receive an early supply of the new steam engines Tal Salunbal now could make, albeit in an extremely small volume. They just did not have the infrastructure to make more than a dozen in a year, maybe two dozen. Those would be given to companies proving they took care of their employees as an incentive to progress.
"Ma'am, we detected a lowering of your heart rate, are you finished with your workout?" was heard over the intercom by Will. Plans were already set for both Selene and her daughter to stay for two nights on the Majesty's Grace during the ball, not really wanting to be in the White Palace for too long. Even with them cleansing the place from top to bottom, excluding the dungeon that Xaxara was still chained up inside, something about the building felt… uncomfortable. The only way that would go away was to have the place torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.
Juliet didn't exactly have time for at least another two weeks to take on the project, working hard with her teams to start new infrastructure throughout the empire as the 2nd royal home wasn't a big deal anyway. There were tunnels now dug through most of the mountain ranges to get from one city to the next via train or carriage, with some rumors floating around that the empress would help the people receive the new hot air balloons that Tal Salunbal was now testing openly. Installation of the teleportation pads for government transportation between major cities was already completed, rapidly moving entire armies to main staging areas.
On top of that, there were concepts drawn up for new city designs, complete with a much more modern infrastructure and green lifestyle. The goal was to make internal transportation relatively easy for all manners of travel, with teleportation or air balloon for long-distance movement, while also not affecting the environment. This would allow citizens to expand more in one area instead of taking up extra land by starting a new village somewhere in the boonies, requiring a new mayor and security in the area. Once the towns and cities became a decent size, they'd expand upwards versus outward. The idea of farms placed inside the boundaries of cities for fresh produce sold at nearby stores would become the next big thing.
"Yes, I'm done for the day. What's the skinny? What needs to be fixed? It better not be something I did," she asked as she put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. "I hope it isn't something I did…" she mumbled to herself, having a low sense of confidence with their alterations to laws and regulations recently. The next list of chores to keep up with, even as the ruler of the Clockwork Empire, was now going to be laid on her shoulders for the day. The dev was now learning that nothing was going to be perfect, even what she put in place. Some systems or policies needed to be tweaked almost weekly due to the education of the people in the empire. Some things just didn't work yet; others were too strict and needed to be rebalanced. It was somewhat like doing game testing, checking what needed to be nerfed or buffed. The Clockwork Empire was in beta, perhaps even in alpha.
"We just wanted to inform you that your colleague, Ranger Dina, has been taking the failure of the tournament hard. Recordings of her responses via ornithopter have revealed she feels guilty for her actions against another team, disqualifying them before they could be in the next combat trial. Practice has been extensive to keep her busy."
The dev blew air out of her mouth and closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly. "That kid can't take being knocked down all that well… alright. How's her team?"
"Currently, all healthy. The warrior Pops, real name Philian Altor, has officially retired, heading back to Silvinholm to look into buying a home. Apparently, he's figured out that he doesn't need a reward from the tournament with the social security funds provided as well as the Silvinholm defense stipend. Dylan and Marv are both staying in the adventurer barracks, working on their team skills with the Paladin Piper, along with planning to complete a long-term quest near Paldos City; however, it appears that Dylan may be coerced into joining the police force in Aureos. Marv, real name Marvin De Estelon, has been offered a chance to rejoin the Wizard Academy. Piper is being requested to assist more with their faith in the church, now that the Golden Faith appear to have become suspiciously absent. Did you want a report on the secondary support crew, specifically the priest Ezra?"
"No, I already know what he's doing after the church event. That boy sure has some balls on him, standing up to a high priest and his lackeys without any backup just to defend someone who isn't of his faith… if that wasn't a confidence booster or shitting a brick, maybe both, I don't know what is. He grew up in the span of a few minutes – at least until his legs gave out when police and security arrived." The woman touched the wall, having it turn on with a built-in holographic viewscreen popping up with an aerial isometric view of Aureos; it quickly zoomed in with light-up wireframes surrounding hidden assets throughout each district. Androids were staying put where needed, ready to answer the call from their creator or one of her administration, with automatons available for military backup when less finesse was required. The screen landed on a group planning something in the guild barracks. "Have someone shadow their team, make sure they don't get into trouble."
"You aren't afraid she might push herself too far to make up for the failure?" Will asked.
"I'd like to say she has a good head on her shoulders, at least with the little time we worked together. Still, with one shadow watching them while they finish whatever this quest is, it should give her a chance to get out of the slump she put herself in. I figured the gift of the common tier armor we sent would cheer them up. There aren't any other teams trying to compete with them are there?"
"Hmm, define competition. An Adamantite rank party is training a brother and his platinum cohorts; I believe, were they knowledgeable of experience points, that this would be considered 'power leveling.' They'll be heading out to perform another contract in the area, something about an underground crime ring reported working out of the ruins of Paldos. They can't do anything near real civilization, so they set up shop in places they think we won't search."
Selene huffed. "Should just bulldoze that place right now, I thought Bryn did a number on the buildings already, guess there are some areas still habitable. Ugh… will their team's paths cross? Also, is this the same group that the altercation happened with?"
"It is ma'am. Let's see… the quest for the Orc Destroyers was to escort a trio of priests to determine if a mansion can be cleansed of a 'malicious' presence in tomorrow morning; the main issue was that spirits have apparently taken residence inside and guard the antiquities against being taken out, with a wealthy aristocrat donating quite a sum for the help in regaining family heirlooms and lost history. Mmm, there won't just be two teams either in the area, more like six; most of what they're doing is minor, at least from what we can see. A report of a dire Corby nest was sent in, considered very low threat priority. Dina's team will be clearing it as a secondary objective for extra coin at the edge of our borders."
"I would figure they'd be heading outside our borders, not having to continue doing stuff in any province. That tells me we haven't secured everything just yet," the dev questioned. Most of the territory was sterilized, with next to no chance of undead somehow appearing beyond a necromancer at work or unhappy family members refusing to let go. What did crop up were the unholy monster creations that the last of the demons on the continent would try to get crapped out of a spawner rift. It only took a few security teams to clean up a forest or mine; the problem was they still didn't have a way to close the rifts beyond collapsing the tunnels, or building encasement bunkers around the source surrounded with auto-turrets and minefields.