Shenanigans with Randos

It’s always something. Whether it be on these Westerosian streets or the creep of real-life responsibilities. At times it can feel like the Universe is conspiring against us, while the old Gods laugh at the chaos. As Arena of Honor approached a raven came from Ary, our queen of the clan castle.

There were a number of real-life things happening and she would be unable to make this match. Byakuya, M1lf and I discussed what we should do. Should we bring in a visitor? Should we go in as is and pray we get some decent randos? Shall we just say buck it and go in solo…

There are benefits and issues with each path. With Siege of Winterfell, MOB, Lord of Lords, this new Fireworks thingie, and all the other events, mini events happening we were all pretty tired. We opted to take our chances with the randos for our last two spots. I prayed I would not live to regret that decision.

Coming off an expensive Siege of Winterfell match against WTF, I had no heals, no speeds and was dangerously low on diamonds. Don’t get me wrong, I would spend everything I had on the match if need be. Either way, the dice was rolled, there was no going back…

I ported in with my accounts and went about assigning the commander position to Byakuya, M1lf and our randos Total Wreck from FUK

and tranquilo from LgN

I figured since I was managing 3 accounts, I would leave the commandeering to the others lol. Based on merit alone, our randos didn’t seem that bad. The real question is would they be active and participate, or would they just port on the map and go AFK…

There were some decently strong factions on the map. The Lemons seemed the most stacked with HHH, Mbl and WTF. Including Supercell

who we had faced and been beaten by in a previous Arena of Honor. Hmmmm, I thought to myself, it may be hard to get the win but since when has that ever stopped me from trying. Lol The match started as they all did, with taking the clan castle and strongholds. That was going smoothly but points wise we were at the bottom of the list. As the second batch of strongholds opened along with the altars, we kept a good pace capturing our targets. The faction chat was too quiet, our randos didn’t speak, I was concerned… Maybe it is a language barrier, I pondered but that lil devil on the other shoulder whispered they are AFK.

The city opened and M1lf and I called up our rallies. I noticed the shenanigans squad reinforced quickly but the randos were missing in action. I check the leaderboard and saw both randos leading in elims so I knew they must be doing something, why weren’t they joining. I managed to secure the city with my rally

and tanked a couple hits

before getting unceremoniously removed by WTF’s SGT BEAR JEW.

M1lf, stepped in quickly and took the city back from SGT BEAR JEW,

Before being knocked out by our old friend Supercell lol (Told yall these streets are small)

I rallied Supercell, and despite our randos still not joining, managed to take the city again

The back and forth of owning the City of Glory was dizzying. Our placement was still hovering towards the bottom, and we were running out of time. I began grabbing mine shafts and alters that increase the points for trading posts in an attempt to improve our standing. No one was able to own the castle long enough to get it protected. My mind was beginning to wonder, would the results be different if the randos joined the rallies and reinforced the City of Glory when M1lf or I had held it. With about 10 minutes left to the match, TOTAL WRECK called a rally. I sent my troops happy to finally see what this person was made of (yall know I love pouring over battle reports lol). Once he launched his rally and hit the city we took it easily.

Them commanders tho….

TOTAL WRECK began tanking the solos and rallies trying to knock us out of the castle.

Winning each match vs opponents both M1lf and I had lost too. WTF, mentioned Byakuya, He could have saved us some grey hair and aging if he had just dome this earlier.

It was then I noticed the time…If we could get the protection bubble, we would lose it 20 seconds or so before the match ends. That could take us from the bottom of the scoreboard to the top. Thanks to our sleeping giant, TOTAL WRECK, that is exactly what happened.

The Shenanigans squad was energized by our comeback victory. I had enough points for the Glory King ranking, but lacked the placement of the top 100, a requirement for Glory King. Sigh next season maybe. I was a bit sad Ary couldn’t be here, this match would have gotten her the King ranking she needed. My alt and her husband became Kings together with this match also. I learned a lesson in not judging a book by its cover or even the first chapter. Lol. Sometimes you really do need to just be patient and let things play out. How was your Arena of Honor matches?