Could be a couple things: multiple people refreshing or restarting often (sometimes demos will force reset if left unattended long enough, though idk if this ticks the counter or not), and people could’ve shared the link externally in chats.
I can’t believe it’s the 15th already.
some minor battle planning with a smart-ass MC
“Give me a bit of a head start,” you murmur. “I can skirt around here,” you wave to the arc of forest to the left of the clearing, “and flank them shortly after you engage the wolves. I can probably get a fatal hit on one if I can catch it off guard.”
Maymie taps her lower lip, her eyes taking your measure before flicking back to where the wolves are. “Yes, that could work. Actually, it’s a great idea and I’m mad you’re the one that came up with it.”
“Well,” you say, “I am a veritable genius.”
“Don’t speak.” Maymie pinches her fingers together in front of your face. “I’ll give you a twenty second head start. Jem, you’re with me since I’ll be the target.”
fight scene with a reluctant MC being used as a mana conduit
She stops to look at you, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Actually… I just had a better idea. Hero, how are your mana reserves right now?”
You take a moment to ‘look’ inwards at the threads of mana that flow through you, then another second to examine the mana strung around the forest like cobwebs in an abandoned house. “Good. I haven’t really used any in days, so I’m pretty much bursting — and there’s more than enough around here to draw from for a quick recovery… uh, why?”
“Because…” Maymie drawls, “you’re going to pump me up so full of mana I’ll take them both out in an obliterating storm I could’ve only dreamed about before!”
“Oh…” You look to Jem. “Please heal me if I pass out.”
He startles. “Uh… Yes. Of course! But I’d rather you didn’t. Pass out, that is.”
Based on the excited look on Maymie’s face and the way she’s sucking ambient mana into herself, you think there’s a pretty good chance you won’t be able to avoid overextending yourself.
You raise your staff into the air, swishing the branches around slightly as if it were a broom and you’re attempting to catch the cobwebs of mana in the bristles. You feed as much mana as you can into your staff, pleased with the amount it can hold in comparison to your old training staff, before taking a small thread and hooking it into Maymie’s distinctive mana aura.
“Ready?” she asks you.
You grimace with effort. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I think.”
“Great!” You can feel the mana crackling off of Maymie’s skin as she steps through the bushes and into the clearing.
You opt to stay in the undergrowth, Jem at your side but with an easy path straight to Maymie in case something goes wrong.
Maymie breathes in deep, puts her hands towards her knees and then pulls them up, as if picking up something large and heavy, her palms to the sky. “Time for a storm!” she shouts before the first bolt of lightning descends and strikes a Dire Wolf just as it stands, having noticed Maymie’s approach.
Three more bolts fall from the sky, striking wolf and ground alike, indiscriminate in their damage. Then four more strike, two more, five more…
“Send me more mana!” Maymie shouts, her short, red hair raising and falling in waves of static that roll off her attack.
You pluck the thread of mana that connects your reserves to Maymie’s and open the channel; creating something closer to a rope than a thread.
Maymie whoops with delight and power. At one point you can’t see anything but the white of the lightning before it all suddenly stops.
You sway on your feet, depleted, but conscious.
Jem catches you, his hands on your shoulders to keep you upright.
“Whew,” Maymie huffs out. She’s breathing heavily, but takes a few steps into the clearing that is now smoky and charred. She stops by two blackened lumps that used to be the Dire Wolves. “I might have gone overboard — just a teensy bit.”
“Just a little bit,” Jem says as he leads you over to a fallen log to sit on.
“Thanks,” you murmur, sinking onto the log gracelessly.
Even if they can literally eat each other.
What I mean is, when I have a character whose main goal is “you already killed me, now leave me alone”, how can I fault them for that? They don’t work as a primary antagonist anymore, at least not in the way I originally wrote them in. Without making the protagonists total jerks at least. So I get another primary antagonist and keep them as a secondary/wildcard one.
