While the Mafias had been shoring up defences in their territories, Jin's side had been doing the same. Kiyu's advertis.e.m.e.nt had been on point, garnering a high volume of responses by cleverly displaying how the new City Raid would work. Whereas Pandapolis had been all about defending the city to the very last man, Demopolis theme would be 'search and destroy'.
Kiyu had hyped it up to be one of the most dynamic raids ever, only second to the Pandapolis raid. With an entire city as their battlefield to fight, the urban landscape was theirs to destroy as they pleased. However, the objectives remained distinctively clear.
One – Search the city for any Mafia members to apprehend them.
Killing them was also a valid choice, yet capturing them alive would grant the Pandarens double the raid points. Escorting them to the police station might prove to be a hassle, yet the point difference was quite potent, especially for the higher value targets. (Mafia Boss Cold Stone had given them enough intel to make out the higher echelons of the three major Mafia factions.) Why Jin placed the capture first and kill later is mainly because capturing is a harder thing to do than killing. Hauling a demon alive would take a lot more work than letting them die on the floor meaninglessly.
Two – Save as many townsfolk as possible. Points wise, this offered most points for completing this task. One could render a person unconscious and capture someone, but escorting an innocent to the backlines safely? That would take more than just coordination from the team, the effort placed to rescue a kid or even an elderly was significantly more dangerous than capturing someone alive.
Also with the tweak from the System the visors were now colour coded to display IFF (Identification friend or foe), the Mafia groups who had been openly fortifying their defences had provided the surveillance goblin tech team with the information needed to tag the enemies. Still, it was not entirely a foolproof system and if necessary, the System would state a question mark in the visors for those not within its database, hence why Jin advocated capture over kill on sight.
The Pandarens praised this as just a part of the added realism of the raid. Unfortunately, saving townsfolk would not be an easy task as the Mafia members would be gunning down anyone not part of any of their factions. However, this could be overcome with the battle perks which would be explained later.
Three – Collect the rescued townsfolk possessions.
Each of the Pandarens would be given a standard storage ring meant to collect the Demon Citizens' valuables. From dungeon dollars to art decorations. With the exception of big furniture, everything could be collected even pets that were left behind as long as the storage ring had sufficient space in them. Else, they had to return to the police stations or outposts set up by the Demopolis Police to swap the rings for new ones.
With the objectives of the City Raids being straightforward this time around, Kiyu had also announced the use of the Demopolis points to redeem items such as the latest iterations of exclusive plushies as well as all the new cosmetic weapon inscriptions that could be used as glamour for their dull looking weapons. As the theme was Demopolis, the cosmetic weapon inscriptions were slightly demonic and would remain exclusive for the moment. (Eventually, they would be added to the possible price pool in the shop of Lynn's father)
Not to mention, the Demopolis points could also now be used to redeem other items that were previously locked since Jin had decided to make the raids seasonal. Nevertheless, those past raid items had their prices increased in order to give those who had played before the feeling of achieving something.
For Pandarens who had coins or points from the past raids, they could be used in conjunction with the Demopolis Raid Points, resulting in a slight discount compared to those who bought the past seasonal items with just Demopolis Raid Points. Else they could convert all of them into Demopolis Points. Naturally, the conversion would be subpar and Jin had also placed a disclaimer that the past raids could possibly return, rendering their current coins and points valid once again.
The change in the redemption system brought many smiles to both new and old Pandarens as they started chatting while setting groups within the New Panda Airport. As the Nian Instances were still ongoing till the end of the month, Jin did not wish to crowd the area too much and had suggested using the New Panda Airport as the rendezvous point. On the plus side, it was easier and more cost effective to teleport the Pandarens via the planes than teleporting each and every one of them individually into Demopolis.
Thus, Pandarens and Pandawans were recommended to create groups of eight and await further instructions via their Pandamonium App. Once they had formed into their respective groups and everyone had bought the Demopolis Pass, the app would give them their electronic ticket to participate in the raid. Like an electronic air ticket, a gate number was shown on their Pandamonium App where they were supposed to depart.
"First come, first serve!" The Panda Attendant loudly announced before allowing the groups of eight to board the planes and choose their own rooms. Unlike a standard travel aeroplane, the modified C-130 planes had been revamped for the teams to have their own rooms so that they could convene for a group meeting before the major sortie.
Once the previously agreed upon team leader enters, they would get to choose which 'room' they wished to occupy. In reality, not only was it similar to the cruise ship of the Nian Island, all their room settings had been imported the moment they chose a section of the plane to convene with a slight alteration in theme.
These compartmentalisations had been convenient not just for the users but for the System too. To top it off, the System was earning money for being cost effective in its partition of the rooms. To the System, it was merely coded data into physical items and the storing of the Pandarens' belongings. But such ease of convenience became a necessity for the Pandarens and many started to realise that it was a goal to reach or get when they found out that their rooms could be imported before the raid as advertised.
It became more important for the revered team of Pandawans who had started to find this store as their second home. (or third for some.) While it was true that this store was draining their money on a constant basis, there was this pull factor that would always make them come back for another fight even though they started to feel a sort of stagnation in their grades.
Naturally, this raid had attracted some of the prominent Pandawans.
Bin Yong, the Bombardier Beetle Cultivator who specialised in Sword and Buckler.
Jia Le, the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivator who used Kunai and used her magical cultivation.
Shi Zuo, the Mad Monkey Cultivator who used Axes of various sizes.
Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator who has Bow Arts that wowed the crowd previously.
Xiong Da, the Hungry Hippo Cultivator, the crowd's favourite and his jaw breaking War Club was nothing to be scoffed at.
Ruo Ying, the Esthetic Egret Cultivator who used her chains elegantly and had always kept up her support for Xiong Da's daring attacks
There were two other Pandarens that had joined them to form a team of eight because they finally had the time off from their busy work schedule. They were none other than Lee An, the Yondering Yak Cultivator that utilised Knuckle Knives and Xue Ping, the Prancing Puma Cultivator with her Power Fists.
But of course, all of the members of this 'All Stars Team' brought a number of weapons in their storage rings despite their weapon specialisations. After their experience fighting the Demon Army led by King Baal, they had acknowledged the need to get creative to survive and this had led them to over prepare for this raid.
From emergency medical kits to snack sized chi potions that could refresh their chi on the fly. Not to mention, the entire group of eight had enjoyed a hearty breakfast in Lynn's restaurant to buff themselves up before the raid. They were not taking any chances as they understood that this could be a protracted raid from the sounds of Kiyu's advertising.
They aimed to be the number one team in terms of points and get ALL THE PLUSHIES!!!
