Battle of The Crucible

The Battle of the Crucible was a vault attack carried out by NATO against Columbia's vault, The Crucible, as part of the Infinity War. The battle took place at the Crucible Vault in Valyria, Columbia on February 17th, 2020. The battle ultimately resulted in a victory for various World Police forces, and an embarrassing loss for NATO and its allies.

The Battle of The Crucible
The Mirian Navy arrives in Valyria City.
Date February 17th, 2020 Location Valyria, Columbia Result The Crucible Vault was successfully defended.
Belligerents
World Police Entente Hjaltland Nyasaland Gensokyo UDF Columbia Icenia Mir	NATO Hallow Holy Jaded Empire Polska
Commanders and leaders
World Police BennyZ jayms shadedoom S4NTA Ahrimanne	NATO HanTzu Robokaiser
Casualties and losses
1 Vault Mildly Griefed, Many Building Materials and Potions Destroyed	1 Fighter Pearled, Time and Resources Completely Wasted

Initial Events

In the early morning hours of Monday, February 17th, 2020, Columbian citizens awoke to find that their vault, The Crucible, had been griefed and that many of the supply chests in the vault, containing mostly building materials and potions, had been destroyed. It was quickly determined by YourAverageRick, a citizen of Columbia who first noticed the situation upon logging in to the vault, that the grief in the vault had to have been part of an inside job. Evidence began to accumulate very rapidly in support of this theory, and pointed to the long-time, on-and-off-again Valyrian citizen hollybell91 as the culprit. She had mistakenly been given moderator permissions to the doors and bastions group, enabling her to place blocks and /ctr certain aspects of the vault under the guidance of NATO. World Police forces were immediately alerted of the situation, and a team of six Entente and UDF personnel was dispatched to assess the damage and reestablish control over the vault. The block grief placed by hollybell91 was made up of significant amounts of IRO and DRO, and filled most of the ground and sky bunkers, as well as obstructed large sections of the rings. Many of the doors on the vault, particularly in the outer rings, had also been /ctr'd over to NATO-owned groups, making movement around the vault very difficult. Upon their arrival at the scene, the World Police forces set about securing the vault and bringing it to a state where it could be defended. They then prioritized freeing allied accounts that had previously logged out inside the newly block griefed sections of the vault.

The Initial NATO Assault

Gregy165, 60 seconds before NATO retreated.

Approximately two hours after World Police forces arrived, a contingent of over a dozen NATO combatants was spotted underground a few hundred blocks North of the Crucible Vault. After being spotted, the NATO force immediately charged into the vault hole through a small tunnel at bedrock on the Northwest side, and began the outermost vault bastions. The defenders, at this point numbering around eight, set to the vault's sky defences and began shooting the attackers to hinder their progress, while certified International Officer of the Law jayms harassed them outside the rings to buy time.

Within five minutes of the harassment by NATO, an elite group of Mirian operatives known as Mir Team 6 was dispatched to relieve the siege. Upon seeing the login messages of Mirians, the NATO force immediately retreated back to their forward operating bunker in the North to regroup. This would allow World Police forces vital time to reinforce the vault's defenses and rally more defenders to the cause.

The Climax

Bob_the_BuiIder, trapped behind World Police lines seconds before his pearling.

Mir Team 6 soon arrived in Valyria City, evening out the numerical disparity between the two forces. Soon thereafter, NATO fighters attempted a second push into the vault hole, but were quickly repulsed by the reorganized and more numerous defending force. World Police fighters soon teleported to the surface North of the vault hole to break several unmatured city bastions NATO had placed along their attack tunnel at bedrock, before entering it themselves. NATO forces responded to this incursion, meeting the defenders partway down the tunnel, where fighting broke out.

Following a couple close calls in which NATO fighters nearly got blocked in behind World Police grief, they pulled back from the frontline slightly. Certified International Officer of the Law BennyZ, while walking up to the block grief at the frontline to observe NATO forces, noticed Bob_the_BuiIder, one of NATO's log-on fighters from Geographica, crouching in a corner in the World Police side of the tunnel, separated from his compatriots and trapped behind opposing lines. Several World Police fighters immediately descended upon the defenseless construction worker, while others simultaneously prevented his escape and rescue by NATO by placing additional block grief.

After 58 seconds of fighting, Bob_the_BuiIder was pearled and taken back to The Crucible, with both sides disengaging and returning to their primary positions. A mere 30 seconds after the pearling of Bob_the_BuiIder, the server suffered a severe drop in TPS, causing immense lag and prompting rumours of foul play.

The Aftermath

Having lost one fighter, and failing to capture the vault or break even one bastion, the NATO force decided to retreat from the area. The World Police, having successfully defended the vault, were now left to repair the vault over the course of the following days.