Following his customers' wishes, Jin did indeed end up implementing several quick time events over the next few days, which would appear on their raid maps with a symbol of two Pandas wearing Viking helmets and raising their axes in unison. Each one would have a circular parameter around the location on the map and anyone inside would be able to receive participation points.
Usually, the objective of these Active Response Events would be accompanied by a simple narrative, with some of them being pretty whacky considering they were all generated by the System. (It's honest;y a side of the System which most users would never get to see.) Jin had allowed it mainly due to the fact that it had all the information about the current situation on the ground. Not to mention, the System seemed to have been having fun generating the narrative based on its info gathering.
One such example was about a Pandaren who had become too greedy with hoarding the furniture to the point his assigned ring had been filled to the brim. Apparently unhappy about not being able to take back everything at once, he had decided to carry just a few more things manually.
Alas, the mafia had spotted the hoarding Pandaren and rightfully believing he had valuable things on him they had annihilated him on his way to the nearest safe house. With the death of the ring holder, all items in the assigned storage ring had dispersed out in the open, filling the street.
This had prompted the Mafia gangsters to grab the valuables before they had promptly returned to their own base. Fortunately, those lost items had been geotagged by the System, allowing it to track where they had gone. Instead of getting away, the thieves were unknowingly leading the way to their den.
Such events prompted other Pandarens to join in the search. Not only were they able to take hold of the lost items for Raid Emblems but also earn extra Raid Points upon completion of these AREs.
However, to remain true to the idea of an 'Active Response', the System had also implemented timers attached to the events, causing customers to rush to the assigned location, thus indirectly ensuring a decent Pandaren presence within the current section of the battlefield. This also guaranteed that the fighting would be more intense and to a certain degree, memorable.
To foster a healthy sense of competition, the amount of participation would result in the Panderen's achieving a Bronze, Silver or Gold Tier rating, each one rewarding the participants a certain set of raid points and to make things easy for the System to track. (Especially when there were multiple AREs active within the Demopolis districts)
In order to achieve a Gold Tier, Pandarens would have to very actively participate within the diameter of the ARE, which depended on the mission, be it collecting the majority of the lost items or subduing most mafia gangsters.
As long as the Pandarens were performing something useful even by just aiding an injured Panadren to safety earns them points. These points would then be tabulated and the System would instantly create a list displaying who had scored the most number of points. Only once an event has concluded, would the System rank those Pandarens based on the Tier System.
Initially, Jin had intended to implement a flat points system, meaning as long as the Pandarens reached a certain number of points, they would be rewarded with a Gold tier reward. However, the System had refused the idea, arguing that those raid points would eventually be used to purchase items, so it would hurt his bottom line in the long run if he was too generous.
Ultimately, they compromised with a system that acted something like a bell curve. The top percentile would receive the Gold Tier, most people earning the middle Silver Tier, so only those who did the bare minimum got the Bronze Tier.
Such tactics forced the Pandarens to take more initiative in their game and after the first day, some had already compiled a list of do's and dont's in order to achieve a Gold Tier. (Eventually, the 'analysts' noticed that it was a bell curve and had placed a new disclaimer that the list only covered the basics.)
Still, all of this was merely distractions for the actual agenda.
Kraft's foxes and a few minions under Jin's command had stationed themselves outside of Demopolis to watch out for the real enemies. Without a doubt, the human armies were coming en mass and they were not hiding their firepower.
As Demopolis was situated in a peninsula, the Deep Ones were monitoring the sh.i.p.s' movements beneath the sea while Kraft's Night Foxes had noted that armies under different city banners were moving in from the top too. If anything, it was plainly obvious that they were aiming for a pincer movement based on the speed they were travelling.
"A pincer movement seems like an understatement." Moloch was standing at the side of the War Room Table and was taking note of the city banners that the scouts had reported. "It looks more like a 'You're surrounded, surrender now and we might give you a quick death!' "
"You believe they will grant you a quick death after all the raiding during King Baal's time?" Nubwort snorted and Moloch shrugged. "Besides, you guys can resurrect so if it was me, I would enslave you under the pretence of justice."
"You're not wrong on that. Lucky, we have a pair of new Goddesses who can protect us, right?" Moloch smiled as he looked at Jin.
"While I like to say that they are changing into their costumes right now, but I'm not sure how easy it will be for Peppers to convince the Mafias to switch sides. And that is assuming if they were not too lazy to come out. To be frank, I am still contemplating to use Rex instead." Jin wondered if it wouldn't have been wiser to use King Rex instead.
"After what Rex supposedly did, you think the Mafias would listen to him?" Qiu Yue questioned as she was already clearing a few backend issues for the incoming fight.
"I guess they'll have to. No matter what, the Mafia gangs should still fight for the city." Jin argued.
"What makes you so sure about this?" Qiu Yue stopped her work, curious for the answer.
"The fact that they stood their ground and fought against King Rex's hired soldiers shows that they still have loyalty towards this city. That alone should be enough to turn the tide later on. Besides, all we need is for them and the Pandarens to buy us some time." Jin remarked and suddenly he could hear the rumbling coming from the side of the War Room.
A black and elegant 'throne' emerged out of nowhere, decorated with foxes elaborately carved into the chair. It was clear that given its design it could only belong to a narcissistic certain someone, which caused everyone at the War Room table to collectively sigh.
"What's with this reaction? A little more respect to this El Presidente. After you all swear your allegiance, we're going to take all those cities!" Kraft announced as he emerged from thin air and comfortably sat down on his new 'chair'.
Nine magical tails shot out from the back of the throne and weaved around their local 'Usurper', making him more ominous than usual.
