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The World's Longest Egg Tug of War
by Xaaxacus
It started out just like any other towngame: we were bored, our towngame rank was down,
and we felt like letting the game give us something to do. We checked the location of the
catacombs, valued a few short trade runs, found a good zone in which to gain experience,
and sent in the towngame request. The minutes ticked by slowly, and finally the game began.
We thought we were in for a quick game of "tug of war", where the speed of our egg-gathering would decide the winner.
Several members of our town descended into the catacombs, gaining us an early lead.
We outnumbered the other town so badly that it didn't even seem like they were trying.
Lazily, we watched the metaphorical rope move closer and closer to our end of the field.
Victory was in sight. That's when everything started to fall apart.
"Ok guys, I've gotta head to work."
"I'm gonna go grab some food, I'll be back in a few hours."
"I think I'll go take a nap for a bit."
"Class time, be back later."
In the span of a few moments, nearly everyone (myself included) left, believing that the game was more or less over. With only one or two people collecting eggs for our side in hours-old catacombs, our progress slowed almost to a stop. Unfortunately, that was also when our opponents picked up the pace, calling in more of their clan members in a desperate attempt to save themselves.
We returned a few hours later to a startling sight-not only had the towngame not ended, but we were actually about to lose! We couldn't believe it. We'd been so close! There was only one thing left to do now: rush back to the catacombs and do everything we can to pick up the pieces. The odds and numbers were against us, but we pulled out every trick we could think of to catch up: forming on the bottom layer, making brief excursions into Hellripper's domain, and even killing blacknesses, of all things.
This became the pattern for the next hour...and the next...and the next. Eventually, even our lower-level townies began logging on their more powerful characters to help us find eggs. As the game entered it's seventh hour, we managed to pull up to about where the other town had reached, but we still had a lot of work ahead of us; now we weren't any better off than when the game had first started. It was too late to quit now, though. We'd put way too much time and effort into this to give up
easily.
Finally, the barren catacombs closed up, and a new entrance was found, where fresh eggs could easily be acquired. Both towns converged on the new location, making a valiant attempt to gain the lead. Three hours later, Altus Fidelitas won the game - just before it was about to enter it's 11th hour! It was an exhausting effort for all involved, but it was fun. This is what towngames are supposed to be like: evenly matched contests of skill and effort. The final score: 7308 - 5617, longer than most egg races!
Personally, though, I'd rather not see an egg again for a very long time. There's something called "too much of a good thing," and I think that 11 hours of crawling through the catacombs certainly falls under that category!
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