Extraction Shooter: Escape from Sanctuary (4)
The alpha test via the Raiders went off without a hitch—super successfully.
We fixed a bug where the boss's pattern glitched out and shot at allies, and another where picking up a gun with the left arm after it got crippled caused the gun to launch straight into the sky.
The semi-auto shotgun was dropping way too often, so we dialed back the probability a bit.
I mean, come on—while everyone else is reloading shot by shot, unloading five rounds without a hitch is just broken performance, right?
After patching all those initial bugs,
"How's it looking?"
"...It's working way better than I even expected."
Project leads Eaton and Jacob nodded in satisfaction.
"The first two raids felt a bit sloppy, but from the third one on, the movements got way more aggressive. Combat's all about momentum in the end. Sure, caution matters, but you need that drive to act decisively the moment you decide."
"Couldn't agree more. Especially the leader—they knew exactly what to do. Field of view feels wider too."
"Perfect timing—the expedition HQ just sent over terrain recon data. Let's design the rest of the areas to match that terrain as closely as possible."
There were five new areas to add in total.
The empire's initial expedition plan called for about 34,000 troops: the Imperial Guard, Northern Defense Forces, and Central Field Army.
They'd push into the old Vulcanian Grand Duchy's territory, the main purification zone.
Of course, even the empire couldn't sweep the entire duchy in one go.
To make the purge more efficient, expedition HQ divided the theater into six sectors:
Vulcanian old garrison, Poeri Fortress, Great Forest, Lakeside Village, old Academy.
All the way to the Vulcanian capital center, matching the current Sanctuary commercial district.
Naturally, we'd have to expand the maps too.
We couldn't replicate at 1:1 scale given the constraints, but players needed to experience diverse battlefields.
What good is urban combat experience alone?
It's not like fights stay inside cities forever—even within one, terrain changes everything.
But luckily, some assets from Dead Wizard's City that I'd prepped "just in case" lined up pretty well.
"Poeri Fortress can use Sanctuary's old castle, and the garrison can pull from the ruined legion HQ we had ready."
"It's just recycling resources anyway, right? Lakeside and forest are the headaches..."
"No need to go far—tweak the stages from last time's Queen Maker a bit?"
Everyone's a full-fledged game dev now.
They were handling things on their own without me even asking.
I grabbed the planning docs from project leads Eaton and Jacob, then dove into crunch time with Wiki.
Meanwhile, boss monster placement and designs—centered on Rin Ashford and ex-adventurer Kairon—were progressing steadily.
"We need patrolling demons and monsters too. Reference these behavior patterns. I pulled strings with the chairman to get 'em."
A chunk of the academy report on demon and monster ecology that Rin brought back.
"Eugene, this is the intel report from the Investigation Bureau's spy division that you asked Pletta for. Recon's ongoing, so they'll send updates as new intel comes in."
Detailed theater info procured from chief investigator Pletta.
"Sir Eugene, our library has records from the Vulcanian Grand Duchy's fall, plus docs on demons that survived the last expedition. These should work."
Even Wiki's all-knowing "search" for anything we didn't have.
We nearly killed ourselves nailing the prelim work and details for max realism.
"Finally... it's... done. Wiki, you can drop the time acceleration in the Cube now. How much dev time did we burn?"
"About 840 hours elapsed. That's five straight weeks. Without our contract, you'd have keeled over from overwork ages ago."
Brutal truth, but facts don't care. As a contracted spiritist with Wiki, this madness was feasible. If my mana core flagged, I could just plug in Wiki. Eased the strain on body and mind for sure.
"Real-world time?"
"Fortunately, only two weeks passed."
"...Maybe prep stuff ahead next time? So I don't push like this."
"Excellent idea."
In the end, after grinding our flesh and bones to the bone,
we finally completed the pre-open beta for Escape from Sanctuary.
Old Downtown Commercial District (A) - Scavenger Subleader Lebanon - Street Gangster Scrooge
Old Legion Command (A) - Centurion Robinson - Death Knight
Old Castle (B) - Balrog - Gargoyle
Great Forest (B+) - Lycanthrope - Blind Wolf Pack Leader
Serene Blood Lake (B) - Succubus Princess - Harpy Flock Matriarch
Old Council Affiliated Academy (A+) - Ghoul Predator - Lich
"It's... all done."
I finally crashed into bed after uploading the report to expedition HQ.
Oh, right. PvP's still unfinished.
These are your expedition allies—can't have them backstabbing each other and spouting "This is Sanctuary" lines already.
"Right on time. Was sweating whether you'd beat the deadline."
"Time is money, after all."
The hot topic at the Central Magic Library—Eugene Paltrow crafting a "game" for the expedition—hit HQ fast.
But while Pavel Ishinkiore and Cassian Valerius were pretty positive on Cube-based training,
most top brass viewed it all negatively.
"You want our boys using this half-baked new weapon? It's not a crossbow, club, or staff—just some freakish contraption."
"Exactly! How's that effective against demons? Never even tested it once."
"Don't get me started—they're saying do training in that Cube thing now."
"...Ever since Cassian hit 8-circle, something's off with him. Hasn't decorated his office once since, but now it's plastered with pics of those weird kids, Mary and Lucy."
"That guy's always been odd. Wizards gonna wizard."
Expedition HQ's core split into three factions.
Cavalry Marshal Pavel Ishinkiore, with full authority over the Imperial Cavalry, handling expedition admin and logistics.
Cassian Valerius leading the mage-tech unit (outsiders in the legions), council mages, and the adventurer coalition legion.
The rest: the legion commanders' bloc.
Relations weren't exactly chummy.
Peacetime had arrived, but upward mobility had limits.
Inevitably bred "political soldiers."
They respected Pavel and Cassian, sure—but following their lead? Separate issue for most.
"It's optional anyway, right? Our legion'll stick to business as usual."
"Still, if it means decent training, why not? Vulcanian Grand Duchy was always infamous for tricky, dangerous terrain."
"Then let 8th Legion handle it."
"You're new to legion command, so maybe you don't get it—tangling with mages never ends well!"
Though called three factions, legion commanders dominated in size and clout.
Even the Iron Blood Emperor went easy on soldiers who'd fought beside him.
Of course, Pavel had seen this coming.
"Military grunts scheming behind the scenes? That's daily bread. If push comes to shove, I'll train my cavalry and logistics units at least."
"2nd Mage-Tech, 8th Legion, and 17th are in too."
Could this expedition take down the demon lord ruling Vulcanian Grand Duchy, the vampire lord?
Pavel didn't think so.
Like every annual expedition, it'd just thin the vampire's minions and curb demon population growth.
The real key wasn't expedition success—but preserving troops.
Crucial for Pavel Ishinkiore, logistics and supply head.
Proxying for absent Cassian, he proposed Cube rooms at mage-tech barracks and temp supply HQ.
Arkisiya and disciple Eugene Paltrow visited, installing Cube batches.
Soon enough, just like Queen of Maryland Maker sweeping magic tower boards,
odd chatter echoed through expedition HQ.
"No way—is Great Forest actually escapable?"
"Check the sun's set direction up top. But veer into dense swamp, and you're screwed."
"Battalion commander, sir—word is 17th Legion pulled off the first escape."
"That the ferry one? Ferry escapes don't count, ops officer—you know that."
"No, north exit. Broke through blind wolf pack..."
"What? Send a coop letter to 17th Legion now! We've got two battalions stuck there!"
From commanders and staff,
"Holy shit, seriously—is that Balrog in the castle meant to be killable? Ninth try today, still nada!"
"You guys wipe too? Guy I know in 2nd Mage-Tech says it's stronger than real Balrogs."
"Balrog's tame. Tried council academy? My old battalion was top dog—ghouls lopped our heads clean off."
"Burning to death's worse. Decap means instant, no pain. Armor under Magic Resist II and you get breath? Whole body itches. Even postmortem, you scratch till blood flows."
"Ever see a dead buddy rise and shoot? Ghouls aside, mess with that lich and you're done... Why's our CO obsessed with the academy tho?"
"Your CO's got the lowest rank—tailored difficulty to match."
"Fuck."
"Yo, you hit adventurer guild? Some Raiders party trades escape tips for a beer."
"Raiders? Yeah, famous. First library testers. Commercial district intel's library-level."
"What? Real? I dropped eight silvers at Whispering Branch!!"
"Hit the guild tonight if you got time."
Down to the grunts.
Escape from Sanctuary was pulling cult status, straight up.
Training like the real deal.
Real deal like training.
Unbeknownst to them, legion troops stacked experience through countless deaths and retries.
"Move the legions! Sound the trumpet of purification over filth-ridden soil!"
"Waaaaah!!"
Finally, the day of reckoning dawned.