Upon returning to Winchester headquarters, Kati noticed that the place felt slightly empty in comparison to normal during this time of day. Several priests and creationists could be seen walking from one room to another, presumably working on projects they have been assigned to. However, there was not a single sign of the commanders from the paladin order, the arcane order, or the elite infantry units. After consulting several priests within the building, Kati discovered that the Lord Strusler and Lord Deoneir left the city with almost one-third of the army several hours ago this morning. However, the troop units they took with them included all of the Fist of Misalin, the elite infantry commando units, most of the mages of the Arcane Order, and a number of the Church of Misalin priests. The entire force was fully mounted. The objective was to storm Blackbog Keep, a military garrison within the Fens that was closest to the Misalin border. While the exact details are unknown, the priests heard that a hostile army forged by the barbarian tribes of the Fens are approaching Winchester and that Blackbog Keep is a strategic location that high command wishes to seize before the enemy forces arrive.
Exhausted from her last mission, Kati leaves XAT in the care of the creationists in the command center and headed off towards the barracks to take a rest. There she slept for several hours until the afternoon, when she awoke and went back out into the city. While walking about aimlessly, she talked to several infantry officers whom she had worked with before on the battlefield. Apparently the talk of the army is now focused on the details of the mission that caused high command to suddenly cross the border with one-third of the army. The officers heard that the hostile army is composed of warriors from a number of barbarian tribes from the Fens, and news just arrived yesterday that they were moving at full speed towards Blackbog Keep. It is because of this information that Strusler and Deoneir made hasty preparations overnight and left early this morning. Rumor has it that there’s something special about Blackbog Keep, something that makes it far more important than just a strategic location. Also, since the beginning of the war the garrison at Blackbog Keep has been reinforced by an elite Northend Necromancer unit. However, when the Black Lore Necromancers retreated, they took that garrison with them, significantly decreasing the Keep’s defenses. Everyone believes that taking the Keep should not be a problem. The challenge is whether they can take over the Keep and solidify their position before the enemy reinforcements arrive.
Kati tries to get information on any remaining high ranking officers within the city. One of the officers, a major of the Misalin Guard standard, told Kati that he believes most of the officers, including all of the Silver Knights, left with Strusler and Deoneir. Because of this, some serious gaps were left open in the command structure here at Winchester. However, he tells Kati that Lady Spekes is left in charge of the Winchester defense in the time being. He believes he saw her on the east wall earlier today, but then Spekes is well known for wondering around, especially to locations where troops are on duty. Kati then sent Cary a message using the communications ring. Ten minutes later, a reply message was received from Cary, asking Kati to meet her on the south wall.
Following the received directions, Kati found Cary on an empty guard tower in the south wall looking at the sunset. The two exchanged greetings and Cary thanked Kati for helping save her life. Kati asked her regarding her mission in the south and the explosion over the Whisperleaf Woods. Cary stated that the details regarding the mission are a long story. However during the time she was in those woods, a large black metallic object fell from the sky. The object was on fire and trailing smoke behind, and as soon as it impacted the forest floor it exploded in a massive burst of energy that obliterated the entire section of the forest she was in. Cary managed to survive the blast with the strongest of her defensive spells. However everyone in her mission team seems to have died as a result of the destruction. Cary also comments that her team was made of some of the strangest people: another elf from Airindale’s northern border, two pixie-ish creatures that are obviously out of this world, and a human of black skin color who has devastating destructive powers that wasn’t magical in nature. Kati questions if the black human was also the one rumored to have brought down the Durum Defender and Cary confirms this as a fact.
Due to the spell power required to maintain her defensive barrier, Cary was forced to lower it before long. By that time the destructive surge of energy has mostly dispersed, leaving the place a total wasteland. Cary tried to teleport directly into north Misalin but the attempt fails. Presuming that the northern Misalin dimensional lock as already been achieved, Cary decided to teleport close to the Ironpeak passage and make her way north from there. However, while she trekked north through the mountains, her physical condition began to rapidly deteriorate and none of her healing magic seems to help. It wasn’t long before she collapsed near the ruins of Ironpeaks and was found later by patrols from Kati’s forces.Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Sat Sep 09, 2006 12:44 am
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