Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 12b – The Council’s Decree

Two more crossbow bolts thudded into Beldin. One of them lodged in his armor. The other struck him in the upper arm.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” shouted Beldin. He whirled, looking for the assassins.

He didn’t have to look for long. Three feminine forms, one swathed in black, one in dark brown, and the third in dark blue, all converged on him simultaneously. All of their faces were masked.

Beldin recognized one of the assassins. “Jesswin!”

The lead assassin who had fired the crossbow bolt at Sebastian made a feint with her knife, goading Beldin into making a mistake. “Close. We are all Jesswin.”

Marilise Maeorgan screamed for her coach. Other council members reached for weapons.

Her two companions struck simultaneously. Beldin was only able to block one with his shield as the other stabbed him in the arm.

Beldin made the woman flanking his left pay for the attack. He thwacked her hard with his shield, knocking her into the crowd. The orc mob engulfed her. Her flailing hand disappeared in a sea of green fists.

The second assassin back flipped past Beldin. She was making her way towards Emric.

The dwarf turned to stop the threat. He swung his axe, sweeping the woman’s legs out from under her as she stabbed at a stunned Emric. The blade swept past the boy, inches from his face.

Thralen took advantage of the momentary distraction and fired a pistol at point blank range into the woman before she could rise. She twitched once and lay still.

A cold blade pierced Beldin’s ribs. He whirled, face to face with the first assassin.

Her eyes looked familiar.

As blood leaked out of his armor, Beldin felt his strength fading. He grabbed her ponytail and pulled. Her mask fell away…

“Countess D’Ambrose?” he said, shocked. Beldin released her.

The Countess fell backwards, wheezing and pale. With her mask removed, he could see she was ill.

“The geas…” she slid to the ground. “Mentire forced us…”

Beldin leaned on his axe, wheezing. “You could have fooled me.”

“The boy would…” she turned her head as the council members loomed over her. “…be dead already…went after you…instead.”

“Mentire is dead! Who hired him to do this?” demanded Marilise.

“Arias,” she said, her eyes unfocused. “He’s got my girls…at Salon du Masque.”

Beldin pulled out a handful of potions. He forced the first down Sebastian’s throat.

“Get up,” he said.

The poison wore off quickly. “Where are we going?” Sebastian asked, still groggy from the effects of blue whinnis.

“We’re visiting a brothel.”

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 13 – Shattered Masques

The front double doors to the Salon du Masque were made of solid oak with metal bands reinforcing the wood, giving them a sturdy and utilitarian appearance. Sebastian rang his chime and they opened as if they had been invited guests.

Inside the doors was a beautiful entryway; a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and fine rugs gave the wooden floor a somewhat richly cluttered appearance. Off to the left, a stairwell ascended to the second floor, with common areas on either side of the entrance. It gave the impression that Salon du Masque was no mere brothel, but rather an upscale home for socialites.

Several tables and chairs were overturned, and elorii soldiers fired a volley of arrows as Sebastian entered. The projectiles stopped a few feet before him and fell to the ground. Beldin stepped out behind him, their roles reversed for once.

“Well, look ‘ew we ‘ave here!” came a familiar voice. “If it ain’t th’ Sea Lord o’ Freetown ‘imself!”

“Price,” said Sebastian. “I thought you were in prison.”

Price stood up from behind one of the tables, and it was clear that things had changed since he was incarcerated. He bore scars and marks all over his arms and face. He had short and unruly brown hair that stuck up at all angles. And somewhere along the line, Price had lost an eye and acquired an eye patch.

“Oh, right. Well, yah, I was afflicted wid a bad case ov incarceration, but I got better.” He swung two long clubs before him, one in each hand, striding towards Beldin.

Sebastian fired back at the elorii bowmen with closed fists, unleashing blast after blast of eldritch energy. One of them shrieked and fell backwards out of sight.

Beldin moved to meet Price, Windcutter at the ready. “There’s no way you’re competent enough to escape prison on your own.”

“Took a bit o’ convincing o’ the Commissioner, yew know, but ‘e got it once I stuck a shiv through ‘is throat.” Price laughed.

The elves fired another volley, concentrating on Sebastian. They were spread out around the room.

“So your own men broke you out,” stated Beldin.

“Nah, they’re much too busy getting’ revenge on th’ gangs t’ help me. Never liked ‘em much anyway.”

Beldin swung at Price with the full force of his axe. The human easily blocked the blow with crossed clubs.

“I got out ‘cause I made a deal wid th’ devil, matter o’ fact.” Price moved his arms apart in a scissoring gesture that seemed effortless. It hurled Beldin backwards. “I’m a bit stronger, as yew can see.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Sebastian. “Radius incendiaries!” Rays of flame spiraled towards Price.

The former guardsmen held up his hand and they dissipated. “Yew might call me a new man! Lemme show yew the tricks me master taught me.”

He pointed at Sebastian and a sickening green miasma boiled towards him. Sebastian dove through it and blasted more eldritch energy at the elves who peppered him with arrows.

Price blinked. “That’s odd. Yew should be screamin’ in pain right about now.” He turned and pointed at the advancing Beldin.

The mist engulfed the dwarf, who stumbled. “That’s more lahk it.” He leisurely made his way over to the helpless dwarf. “Mebbe Losknek’s right, mebbe yew are comin’ around!”

“Oh, I see things differently all right,” said Sebastian. “You sold your soul for power. And now you sell your services to traitors. Algor conus!”

The blast of freezing cold washed over the remaining elorii and Price, converting the room into a glacial wasteland. The elorii did not move from their hiding places, frozen where they crouched.

Beldin struck Price with Windcutter, shattering his left arm into bloody ice fragments.

Price’s legs gave out, cracking off beneath him. Helpless, he lay gasping.

Sebastian stood over Price, wings spread.

Beldin joined him. “Where’s Arias?”

Price laughed. “Yew ‘ave no idea, do yew?” He spat up blood.

“I will not ask again.” Sebastian pointed two fists at Price’s head. “Where is Arias?”

Price winked at him. “I’ll be seein’ ya soon.” With another gasp, he expired.

The sound of a woman moaning in pain on the second floor set them off in a run.

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 14 – The Baths

A favorite spot of the rich and busy, the baths at the Salon du Masque provided guests with a comfortable way to relax and relieve stress. Large bathtubs were laid out throughout the room, kept filled with hot water for any who needed a soak. The room was constantly filled with steam by an automatic system that ran water over hot coals. As a result, it was muggy and clouded.

Beldin opened the door and a bell rang above him. “Uh oh…”

A volley of arrows perforated Beldin’s shield as he ducked down just in time. The room was completely filled with mist.

“I’ll deal with this,” said Sebastian. “Incendiares globus!”

"lanc i dalaf." Came a male elorii’s voice.

A ball of flames engulfed the room. Several screams answered the spell’s explosion.

"Mathach vi geven?"

“That song sounds familiar…” began Beldin. But Sebastian was too busy to talk.

“Algor conus!”

The room was covered in ice. Bodies in pain from their burns were suddenly frozen in mid-writhe, a bizarre museum of horrors encased in ice.

They could hear someone singing, but his voice seemed to come from everywhere. Beldin crept cautiously into the room.

"Nostach vi 'wilith?"

Beldin swung clumsily. He yelped as a rapier pierced his flesh, easily avoiding his shield.

“It’s Arias!” shouted Beldin. “I can’t see him!”

Sebastian snarled. “I’ll fix that.”

"Máb le i nagor," sang Arias.

The song allowed Sebastian to pinpoint the area.

"Bád gurth vi ngalad firiel," sang Arias. Death moved in the fading light.

He launched eldritch energy with one fist, and suddenly Arias was visible, a rapier in one hand.

A woman’s scream echoed from a door on the far side.

“Who is that?” demanded Beldin with mounting dread.

Arias had a smirk on his face. He was about to answer when his eyes focused on an iced over window to their left.

The elorii stopped singing. “Osalian help us…” He turned and sprinted towards the door.

Beldin whirled to look. “What the hell was that all about?”

Out the window, visible in the distance, one of the magical cannons that defended Freeport was no longer in profile. They were staring right down its gigantic barrel. Energy pulsed around it, visible even miles away.

Sebastian was reaching into his cloak to draw the last charge from his wand of force. “CANNON!” was all he got out.

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 15 – Cannonfire!

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Through the open doorway, Sebastian could make out Ilmarė. The groans of the woman they had heard below were the exertions of childbirth. A newborn was in her arms.

Several elorii nursemaids stood protectively around her. Arias burst through the door and, touching Ilmarė and her child, disappeared.

Beldin jumped out the window. It was a twenty-foot drop, but it was better than the alternative.

Sebastian turned the wand on himself and an invisible bubble of force surrounded him. The elorii midwives suddenly understood what was happening. They stared at him, helpless and resigned to their fate.

Then the cannon blast hit. The explosion ripped through the entire second floor, incinerating everyone and everything.

The deafening boom that marked the cannon’s discharged echoed throughout the entire city.

Sebastian was helpless. Although protected inside the bubble, he couldn’t leave it without exposing himself to harm. Flaming wreckage burned all around him.

He could see Arias, Ilmarė and her child appear on the roof of a building across the street. After ensuring Ilmarė was safe, he turned and fled, attempting to leap the gap between two buildings. But he misjudged.

Arias fell to the street. Sebastian could hear the sickening crunch of his legs breaking when he hit the ground.

And yet the elorii struggled to rise.

Unfortunately for him, a crowd of angry orcs had gathered outside the brothel to await his arrest.

“There ‘e is!” shouted the angry mob. They converged on him like a pack of wild animals.

Sebastian looked away. Arias would not survive the bloody wrath of the angry orc populace.

When the fires finally died down, Sebastian dispelled the protective shield. He flew over to the elorii mother.

“Ilmarė!” he was relieved to see she was okay. Her baby squalled in her arms. If the orcs got to her… “Are you okay?”

She was exhausted from the childbirth. “We’ll live,” she croaked.

The baby’s crying increased as Sebastian came near. He took a few steps back and then walked right off the rooftop. “You’re safe now. I’ll get Beldin.”

“Not going to be safe…” she whispered, “…until we leave Freeport.”

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Conclusion

Beldin and Sebastian sat at the Last Resort, nursing their drinks. By now the other patrons knew to leave them alone, and the Brandydales had given them a private room; Sebastian was scaring the regulars.

“The guardsmen who fired the cannon at the Salon du Masque were hired by someone,” said Sebastian. “Someone who didn’t want Arias to talk.”

“The elorii?” asked Beldin.

Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t think so. But if Mentire was working for the Emperor, and he was controlling Persius, he needed a contact here. A wretch like that doesn’t make contacts easily. He was receiving his orders from a go-between. Someone who knows Freeport well.”

The dwarf slurped from his mug. “If the Emperor makes the elorii look like the enemy, Freeport won’t ally with them. Do we have any leads on that spy?”

”We have but one: Cunegunda.”

Beldin stared down into his ale. “How’d you come by that name?”

Sebastian looked up from his drink. “Do you really want to know?”

The dwarf grunted. “From what I hear, word got out on the streets. Everyone in Freeport and their mother is looking for her.”

In fact, a citywide manhunt had already begun. A few overzealous citizens strung up foreigners, while others organized mobs to scour the docks in search of Cunegunda’s refuge.

“With all the chaos, the Guard is spread too thinly to locate the spy.” Sebastian’s tail flicked in agitation. “She’s probably escaped.”

“And what of Ilmarė?”

“Safe, for now. I left her in the care of the Sanctum, but…” Sebastian trailed off. “I will not be returning there.”

“They threw you out.”

The dark-kin sniffed. “I left of my own accord,” was all he said.

Beldin finished his ale. “Now what?”

“Freeport will never ally with the elorii, so in that regard the Emperor is victorious. But Emric is on the Sea Lord’s throne, which makes Freeport all the stronger. We must ensure he stays safe until things settle down.”

Beldin eye his companion. “Since when do you care so much about Freeport?”

“I have sacrificed much for Freeport.” Sebastian sighed. “I was not able to save Canceri. Perhaps I can save this place.”

But Beldin wasn’t so sure.

“Let’s go,” said Sebastian, interrupting the dwarf’s musings. “We’re moving into our new home.”

“Where’s that?”

“The Sea Lord’s Palace.”

 

[talien]

Chapter 64: A City Under Siege - Introduction

This scenario is from the adventure “Black Sails Over Freeport” by Green Ronin, adapted to the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter/dwarven defender) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster

This is it, the final battle to end all battles, the War of the Gods (sort of), and the opportunity to wrap up the campaign with a bang. Kham’s player showed up, finally, but unfortunately Vlad couldn’t be there.

Which made sense, because Vlad would be fighting the war on behalf of Adolphos val’Tensen. Similarly, Quintus is in the service of General Menisis. But I didn’t want the total war on the Continent to get lost in the battle of Freeport. Thus, the attack by the Coryani Empire spy is directly tied to the events that took place in the Continental conflict.

That said, I never played the battle interactive, For the Glory of the Empire, and have only the summary to go by. I inserted characters and summarized as best I could. If there are inaccuracies, consider it artistic license. 

The final bad guy shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who know their Cthulhu mythology. Swapping out Yarash was simple. In fact, there’s a quote from the original inspiration for Yarash right in the adventure; I like to see the conclusion going back to Yarash’s roots.

The battle was long and bloody and not without casualties. But it was worth it. The campaign was a fun ride and I’m grateful I had the opportunity wrap it up with all my friends.

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Prologue

“You poisoned us!” shouted Gaius Phillipus. The legionnaire had been reinstated by the Emperor and assigned as a centurion. He stood on his mount, shouting down the circumvallation.

To guarantee a perfect blockade, the Emperor Calsestus val’Assante ordered the construction of an encircling set of fortifications around Enpebyn. Two miles long and twelve feet high, the fortifications were constructed in a record time of about three weeks. Wide, deep ditches flanked the fortification. The one nearest to the city was filled with water from the surrounding rivers. The fortifications were supplemented with mantraps and deep holes in front of the ditches, and regularly spaced watchtowers equipped with Coryani artillery.

Cunegunda, a Cadite, stood silently at Gaius’ side. She was a raven-haired wisp of a thing, no taller than five feet, with pretty features and a heart-shaped face.

Staring up from the ditch was a Beltinian Hospitaler. His armor was spattered with blood and mud from the thousands wailing for his healing touch.

“We did no such thing!”

“You switched the healing potion bandoliers with poison!” growled Gaius at the Hospitaler.

“What kind of poison?” asked the Hospitaler.

“They fell into a deep slumber,” said Gaius. “But that’s not the point—“

“Is it? We haven’t killed anyone. Have you?”

“What are you getting at?”

“We know of High General Dorjan val’Mehan’s punitive expedition to the Temple of Beltine,” said the Hospitaler. “Your men, impersonating members of the Legion of the Defiant Shield, slaughtered many defenseless priests who were tending the wounded.”

The living conditions in Enpebyn had becoming increasingly worse. With eighty thousand soldiers and the local population, too many people were crowded inside the city competing for too little food. Menisis had decided to release the women and children from the citadel, hoping to save food for the fighters and hoping that Calsestus would open a breach to let them go. But Calsestus issued orders that nothing should be done for these civilians and the women and children were left to starve in the no man's land between the city walls and the circumvallation. The Beltinian Hospitalers, struggling to remain neutral, took them in.

“Bah!” shouted Gaius. “You’ve no proof!”

Cunegunda spoke up. “Actually, they do.”

Gaius looked down at him from his mount. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I found evidence that you personally led the expedition,” said Cunegunda. “And I have provided that evidence to the Beltinians.”

Gaius drew his gladius. “You lying dog! I’ll gut you where you stand!”

The Hospitaler interrupted the attack with a shout. “Due to this outrage, we have officially abandoned our position of neutrality and are joining General Menisis’ forces. You can tell Emperor Calsestus that he will receive no further healing from us.”

“What?” snarled Gaius. “It was the Cadites who convinced the High General to send the expedition. Don’t you see that they have fooled us both?”

“Sometimes, to make a man see his enemies, his friend needs to slap him first,” said Cunegunda. “The Legion of the Watchful Hunter shall be avenged yet.”

“Traitorous dog!” Gaius swung his gladius at Cunegunda’s head, but she dissolved into shadow.

And as one, the Legions of Stalking Shadow and Sweet Sorrow shadow jumped into Enpebyn.

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 1a – Continental Influence

Sebastian woke up with a start. Someone was in his room.

“This is all wrong!” hissed a feminine voice. “I shouldn’t be here!”

The dark-kin roused himself from the bed, spreading his wings out before him. “You…you look familiar. Weren’t you Thralen’s maidservant?”

The woman glared at him. The whites of her eyes were showing.

“You recognize me, even in complete darkness?” She pointed at Sebastian’s eyes with forked fingers. “Then I’ve no choice: Cadic take your sight!”

Sebastian screamed and clutched his eyes. “It was you! You were the spy who directed Mentire! You were pulling the strings on behalf of the Emperor!”

“Yes, but…” she stuttered. “I was defecting. This wasn’t…I’m not supposed to be here!”

Kham appeared in a flash of light. He looked surprised. “What the hell?”

Before he could respond, Cunegunda pointed at him. “Cadic take your mind!”

Kham fell to his knees, clutching his head.

“Kham?” Sebastian tried to feel around him, unsure of what was going on. “What are you doing here?

“I was…on my ship…the Divine Fury.” He groaned. “In battle against barbarians…tried to… switch places with my…first mate. And ended up here!”

“The shadow-jump,” said Cunegunda. “It must have overwhelmed the Beltinian wards protecting Enpebyn.” She looked around. “It caused a rip between the fabric of Arcanis and the Plane of Shadow. That’s got to be the reason I was shunted here!”

Bledin burst into the room, wearing a chain shirt, slippers, and wielding Windcutter. “What’s going on?”

“Look out!” shouted Sebastian.

Beldin whirled just as the Cadite stabbed at him with her shortsword. He blocked it with Windcutter.

The dwarf advanced on the slight woman. “You’re the Censuri spy that framed Vlad! Come to finish what you started?”

Cunegunda dropped her sword. “You don’t understand,” she cried piteously. “I’m not supposed to be here. This was a mistake!”

“A mistake?” Beldin lowered his axe.

“This is all wrong!” shouted Cunegunda again. “This is…” She looked down at the floor beneath her. Pools of darkness were spreading wider and wider around her.

The black pools sprouted white teeth that formed a circular maw over ten-feet wide.

“Run,” she whispered. “RUN!”

With a yelp, the slanderer of Vlad, loyal Cadite, and Censuri spy, disappeared into the maw of the beast.

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 1b – Continental Influence

“Dis is intolerable,” echoed Zoltan’s voice in Kham’s mind.

“Shut up, Zoltan, I’ve got it under control.”

“Under control? Look at dem. Your bat friend is blind, your dwarf friend is wearing bunny slippers, and a giant worm is eating dem. Dis is what you call under control?”

A giant, tenebrous worm had torn through the portal. It was massive, smashing its head up against the twenty-foot high ceiling. Beldin gamely held the thing off by hacking at its maw every time it bit at him.

“You should have listened to me, my friend, and stayed in Altheria. De women. De wine! We could have had such happy days!”

“I wasn’t planning on coming back.” Kham felt as if he were floating over his body, observing it but not controlling it. “But now that my friends are in trouble…”

“You want to be de hero! I can get on board with dat. You seem to be having a bit of trouble, let me help you, no?”

“We should go!” Kham shouted to his companions. “I can get you all out of here!”

Semi-solid skeletons, dressed like pirates, slipped out of the rift. Beldin and Sebastian were surrounded.

“No!” Sebastian shouted back. “Emric is the Sea Lord now and we must protect him!”

“I’m not leaving,” said Beldin.

“They are stubborn, I admire dat! Dese powers I have given you, you do not know how to control dem yet. But I do. Let me show you.”

Kham felt Zoltan’s presence in his mind with razor-sharp focus. They concentrated…

And Kham was back on the Divine Fury.

“What ho, Captain?” shouted his first mate. He was on the ocean again. The pirates were routed, their ship naught but burning wreckage.

“Have we succeeded, den?”

The first mate stared quizzically at his captain. His accent was strange. But then, everything about Kham was strange. “Yes, sir. We did find tcho-tcho barbarians among them. It’s odd that they’re working together.”

Kham nodded. “Yes it is. But we don’t have time for dat. Right now, I need three men to fire our biggest cannon.”

“Fire it at what?”

“Just do it. Go!”

The crew scrabbled to do his bidding. In no time, three Altherians were loading and priming a huge cannon, its maw sculpted in the shape of a dragon just like Kham’s pistols.

“Let’s talk about dese women in your life,” said Zoltan in Kham’s mind. “You seem to be having difficulty settling down. You should pick one.”

“I don’t think now is the time,” thought Kham.

“I disagree. You need to find a good woman, like Black Jenny Ramsey. Now dat was a woman…”

“Yeah yeah, sweet as a peach, fiery as a brand, soft as silk, you talk about her all the time.”

“You have no such woman. What of de Countess?”

“Countess d’Ambose? Dead. Beldin killed her in an assassination attempt. I might have killed her myself if I caught up with her.”

“Oh, dat’s too bad. How about this Touldrix?”

“The undir? I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

“Maybe it’s time you reconnected, eh? Life is too short.”

“Aren’t we in the middle of trying to save my friends?”

“Oh, yes, right…” Zoltan turned his attention back to the events at hand. “Fire.”

“What?” asked the first mate. “But there’s nothing to fire at.”

“You heard me! Fire!”

The crew lit the fuse. Zoltan focused again and they were back in the hallway across from Sebastian’s room, the cannon aimed at the giant worm’s head.

“Cover your ears!” shouted Kham.

The four ghostly pirates and the giant worm that had slipped out of the shadow rift turned as one to look down the barrel of the smoking Altherian cannon. Then it fired, blasting a gaping wound through the worm. The cannon smashed backwards, tearing a hole through the doorway into Beldin’s room and slamming into the stone wall.

The worm let out a bloody roar and whipped around in pain. Then it retreated into the rift. The ghostly pirates faded away and the rift sealed.

“Dat’s too bad,” said Zoltan in Kham’s mind. “Dat Cunegunda was a looker.”

Kham rubbed his forehead.

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 1c – Continental Influence

Quintus Aurelius val’Emman stood flanked by the rest of contubernium: Hervius Flavinius Tranio, the legionnaire sorcerer with hair that fanned out behind like a centurion’s helmet; Oppius Camelius Rusticus, the best scout in the legions; Tertius Caprenius Augustalis, the horn blower responsible for drawing the attention of the men and issuing the audible commands of the officers; and four other milites gregarious, the foot soldiers who were vital to the contubernium.

“Hold the line!” he shouted.

The shadow creatures seethed all around them. Thousands of shadow creatures had poured through the rift, attacking both sides indiscriminately. They were no longer fighting for honor; they were fighting for their lives.

Hervius unleashed a blast of force, tearing through a group of the shadow beings. Tertius blew his horn, keeping their spirits high.

Quintus held up his signum. “In the name of Illir, go back to the pits from whence you came!”

Blinding light speared from the signum into the roiling mass of shadow beings. They disintegrated before it like so many seeds in a strong wind.

And still they came. “There’s too many!” Oppius’ arrows had little effect on the incorporeal things.

“Hold the line!” commanded Quintus again.

“Look!’ said Tertius.

A roiling mass of greenish-white spearmen marched forward, heading straight for the shadow portal.

“Their standard,” said Oppius, “but that’s impossible, that legion is long dead!”

“You are correct,” said Quintus, leaning on his signum. “Those are the ghosts of the Doom of Chendo legion.”

The disciplined legion, quite capable of affecting the shadow things, struck hard. It took a moment for the undisciplined shadow creatures to realize the true nature of the threat. They withdrew from conflict with the living beings on both Rebel and Loyalist lines, concentrating their efforts on the Doom of Chendo.

But it was too late. The legion’s discipline, coupled with their ability to harm the enemy, formed a wedge and sliced right through the heart of shadow army. They made it through to the center, losing men every step of the way.

“They’re going to make it!” shouted Hervius.

They entered the portal with a flash. The shadow creatures disappeared as abruptly as they came.

“They did it!” shouted Quintus. A cheer went up from both sides, but it was short lived.

Two looming shadows floating over Quintus’ contubernium. Unlike the things they had just fought, it was the shadow cast by something very large in the sky.

“Now what?” muttered Oppius.