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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6260351" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>As he was looking out, he said:</p><p> </p><p>“We will break this hanging sword! This devastation is what the Obelisk is capable of and this is why it must be destroyed! If we don’t succeed the first time, then we will take another thousand men and if those fail, then another thousand until this abomination faces all of the men and women of the Resistance! We will not be defeated!”</p><p> </p><p>The speech was very heartfelt and we joined Xavious at the window, curious to see what drove him to this rhetoric. What I saw outside left me speechless!</p><p> </p><p>Below, a large part of the newly rebuilt city had been flattened again, this time by huge blocks of ice. The destruction was devastating as were the casualties. I must have seen hundreds of men, women and children of all races either crushed beneath the ice or moving feebly, calling out for help. Screaming and wailing was already starting and people were rushing to help.</p><p> </p><p>Simeon had quietly behind us. He spoke softly:</p><p> </p><p>“This was magic augmented by the Obelisk. The devastation before you was caused by a spell which causes great shards of ice to fall; it is not a particularly powerful spell but with augmentation from the Obelisk it was just as bad as the wind storm summoned by Lee Sidoneth. Those two beings you faced were blizzard elementals; they are shy reclusive creatures, very much of their own inhospitable plane but they were obviously ripped out of it and perverted by the power of the Obelisk; as Faden knows, the spells that had been cast on them have been altered to become far more powerful; usually, they can be used only by the caster but it looks as if Kreven has found a way to cast them on other beings, again almost certainly with power from the Obelisk; now do you see why it is urgent that it has to be destroyed!”</p><p> </p><p>Victor spoke just as softly:</p><p> </p><p>“No one doubted you. Yes, we see why it has to be destroyed. However, we also need a plan. Xavious, I hope that despite your call for sacrifice, you do actually have a plan.”</p><p> </p><p>Xavious snorted:</p><p> </p><p>“Of course I have a plan. Come and see us tonight but be ready in two days. Now go; we have help the people below.”</p><p> </p><p>With that, we were dismissed.</p><p> </p><p>As we left the council chamber, I turned to the others:</p><p> </p><p>“So we have two days. I have to go back to the library and put the finishing touches to my new spell. I will look to do more spell research until we need to go. John, are you coming with me?”</p><p> </p><p>The rogue nodded and then Longhelim spoke:</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to go and help with the wounded. Faden, I know you and John need to learn your spells but I would ask everyone else to join me in whatever capacity you can.”</p><p> </p><p>The others all agreed to join and John and I hurried to the library as I had mentioned, where we stayed until that evening. I knew that because John came up to me and said it was time to go.</p><p> </p><p>This time, we went to Simeon’s study where there were far fewer people but several maps on the table. Mistress Larkins and Torrent were there, as well as Xavious, Simeon and Kiernan.</p><p> </p><p>Xavious began:</p><p> </p><p>“Right; down to the details. As I mentioned this morning, this Valley is about four miles across and sits on top of an ice sheet; this sheet is magical and is able to discern those who enter upon it. For this reason, it has been called “The Eye”. The Eye is controlled and surveyed from this small cave, which has an unknown number of defenders; there will also almost certainly be several powerful individuals there; we don’t know who or how many due to the wards against divinations but I cannot believe that Kreven would leave such a key location without a powerful defense.</p><p> </p><p>You must Blind the Eye; once that is done, you must go to the Fortress in the middle of the Valley and destroy the obelisk. You must also eliminate anyone who seems to be capable of repairing it. Finally, if possible, you should rescue as many of the spell casters held beneath the fortress as possible.</p><p> </p><p>That is the overview of the plan; now as for the method:</p><p> </p><p>Mistress Larkins, together with the help Longhelim and the Torch, will conjure a powerful transport spell which will allow us to take an army of the Resistance and land it a short distance away. Not close enough to trigger the defenses of the area yet close enough to constitute a genuine threat.</p><p> </p><p>The threat is the key. There is a sizeable enemy force in the valley but they will have a difficult choice once they realise that the army is nearby. The main entrance to this valley is guarded by the Needle, a fortress which has been heavily fortified and with hundreds of soldiers and inquisitors allotted to its defence; fortunately, you will be able to avoid it by flying and attack the Eye directly. The Needle will not be able to send reinforcements there because they will be aware of our army’s presence, and they will surmise, correctly, that if they weaken their position, we will attack; we will be also launching a series of spoiling raids; just to show them we mean business.</p><p> </p><p>The Fortress is too far away to reinforce the Eye meaningfully in a short time, so you have a unique opportunity to blind it and then continue your mission. However, it is certain that they will send a relief force as soon as they realise that the Eye is under attack; Master Pilus has offered to keep track of this force and guide you past them towards the bunker once you have succeeded at Blinding the Eye.</p><p> </p><p>Now, I will hand you over to Simeon, who has some more details on the magical aspect of the mission.”</p><p> </p><p>Simeon stood up. He did not the worse for his brush with the blizzard elementals this morning:</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you Xavious. You sum up the situation very well. As you have been told, the whole area is warded against divinations; it is also warded against those who are not loyal to Leska and the Ragesian Empire. That takes the form of a divine magic which also prevents magical transport into the valley; it is a powerful spell against normal individuals but I think you have transcended normality. It will be a nuisance but not above your capabilities.</p><p> </p><p>The Obelisk will be very difficult to destroy. My recommendation, Faden, would be to learn a powerful arcane spell which destroys objects. There is one in our library; I don’t know if you already have it in your spell book but if you don’t, then I would suggest that that is an omission you should remedy immediately. We will also be able to provide you with certain spells before you embark on the mission, including the magical spell the Felix provides for you each morning as well as the ability to fly from the encampment to the Eye. Finally, some of you will be given the ability to talk magically back to Xavious at base camp from your positions.</p><p> </p><p>I have already given you what information we have on Kreven. Let me also re-iterate some of the things that Xavious has said. The Obelisk is the single most important strategic artifact in the hands of the enemy now that we have acquired the Torch; you have already seen its power. It must be destroyed. You have already done much so much more that has been asked of you; but please remember, there is no one else who has a better chance of success right now.”</p><p> </p><p>He said this last sentence so quietly that I almost did not hear him.</p><p> </p><p>He stopped speaking and Xavious continued with the plan:</p><p> </p><p>“As soon as you begin to fly to the Eye, we will make a series of spoiling attacks on the Needle; as mentioned previously, these are intended to announce our position to the enemy and make sure that he cannot afford to abandon his position and attempt to reinforce the defenders of the Eye. However, if you do not report back to me on a regular basis, I will assume you are lost and I will order a full assault on the Valley.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, as well as guiding you, Master Pilus will be in direct contact with you at all times and will keep you informed of any other movements or forces movements of the enemy from his wondrous sky ship.</p><p> </p><p>So, that is the plan. We will be ready to go the day after tomorrow. Please get ready yourselves. We will meet again at the departure point. There is only one other thing I have to say. Realistically, we only have one chance at this. Leska will be informed as soon as we appear and she will move heaven and earth to send reinforcements to the Valley as soon as she realizes that her secret weapon has been compromised. So, we either do it on our first try or we fail!</p><p> </p><p>Now, any questions?”</p><p> </p><p>We all looked at each other but did not say anything. Both Xavious and Simeon had covered the ground well.</p><p> </p><p>I did have some questions though: </p><p> </p><p>“When you were talking about those magical defenses, how far do they spread?”</p><p> </p><p>“It is difficult to know Faden; we know the nature of the spell but it may have been strengthened or altered by use of the Obelisk.”</p><p> </p><p>“Will Kreven have more exotic allies at his disposal in the Valley?”</p><p> </p><p>“Again, difficult to know but judging by his use of the elementals and the reports of devils doing his bidding, it is very likely.”</p><p> </p><p>Our questions took up a certain amount of time and they gleaned a little more information but it was obvious that after their plan, Xavious and Simeon had educated and logical guesses and deductions rather than hard information. That was still very useful though as even their guesses and deductions gave valuable insight as to what we might face. We had already faced elementals and devils had been mentioned; it was a given that there would be inquisitors but in the end Longhelim mentioned that one could over think these scenarios and while it was good to plan for enemy we were likely to meet, speculation could also be harmful.</p><p> </p><p>So, with that in mind, we bade farewell to Simeon and the others and retired to our chambers, bodyguards in tow.</p><p> </p><p>The next morning, I was up very early to study in the library. This was going to be the last day before the mission and I had a long and complicated spell to study. As suggested by Simeon, this was the spell that was capable of destroying the Obelisk. The others, with the exception of John, who was with me again, had gone and I assumed that they were in town, helping with the disaster. The work was hard and quite tense as I had a specific time limit; it was not helped when I was interrupted by a messenger from Simeon, who summoned both John and I.</p><p> </p><p>We arrived at Simeon’s study; everyone else was there already and the loremaster took us to another part of the Lyceum. We went through several rooms and long corridors before we arrived at a part of the building in which I had never been before. Simeon began a series of enchantments which I recognized as conjuration, divination and abjuration spells, designed to reveal, disable and open; moments later, several doors appeared in a wall and Simeon opened the middle of them. This door revealed a small room with several shelves; placed reverently on these were scrolls, a wand and potions. They were each lying on velvet cushions and labeled, specifying their function. The scrolls were in beautiful, embellished cases while the wand was amazingly carved and decorated with filigree silver and gold.</p><p> </p><p>Looking at each item, I was struck by its obvious value; the scrolls were of very high level magic, including several of the same spell which I was just copying into my book. The wand was a very powerful divine wand, which facilitated the recovery of strength of body or soul; it also negated that most powerful of attack of undead, which drew energy from the very essence of the victim and could even potentially turn one into an undead. Other scrolls were the most powerful of healing scrolls; spells so complicated that even with the help of being recorded on scrolls, Felix was not completely sure of being able to cast them.</p><p> </p><p>Simeon gestured at them:</p><p> </p><p>“These are for you. They are pretty much the wealth that the Lyceum has managed to collect over the last few decades. These have been gathered painstakingly over all that time and kept for an occasion such as this. Hopefully, they will aid you in your mission.”</p><p> </p><p>Thereafter, he went through the function of each of the spells and items. It was indeed a treasure hall and another indication of the importance that the Lyceum placed on our mission.</p><p> </p><p>Once we gathered the pieces, we went back to our previous places; I still had a spell to finish!</p><p> </p><p>My sojourn in the library kept me late that night so I overslept the next morning. Although the mission would not leave until midnight the same day, timed so that we would make the attack in the early following morning, I had to spend most of the next day getting ready; gathering equipment, checking that things worked, talking to the others and making sure we were all prepared. As such, the day fairly flew by and before I knew it, we were all gathered and taken to a field outside Seaquen.</p><p> </p><p>There, I could see that the army had been gathered. Xavious had mentioned an army of around six thousand men, dwarves and even gnomes and halflings; the small folk were game; standing in one group, I also saw the small contingent of monks from the Monastery of the Two Winds; this gathering was big enough to frighten the Ragesian force in the valley, yet small enough to transport in several hours. The key was that Longhelim had to go first, with the Torch, to make sure that the passage was safe for everyone else.</p><p> </p><p>The mission was initiated by Mistress Larkins, who drew a magical circle, which would act as a focus for the transport magic; then Longhelim lit the Torch; there was a mighty cheer when that became apparent and the paladin stepped into the circle and disappeared; we followed immediately after him.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, there was no one at the other side; the destination had been chosen very carefully by Foebane and we quickly saw his wisdom. It was deserted, close enough to the valley to be within reach of our flying magic, yet far enough away that the army was not subjected to the magical defenses of the place.</p><p> </p><p>The next several hours were spent transferring the army through from Seaquen. Once that was done, the first phase of the plan began to be put into operation. A magical meal was conjured by one of the priests accompanying the army. It was the meal that Felix usually conjured for us, which had several protective and bolstering effects. Various other spells were cast on us both by casters with the army and ourselves until, finally, a flying spell was cast on all of us and with one farewell and another mighty cheer, we began flying towards the valley.</p><p> </p><p>As we approached, the first thing that happened was our breaching of the magical defences of the area; we had been warned about this and it happened as predicted. Suddenly, we were wracked with a jolt pain and nausea that shook our insides; blood spurted from our mouths and ears and in the case of Drudge, also his eyes. It felt as if we had been crushed between several large boulders and we had to land briefly while Felix, Longhelim, John and Drudge all healed us and each other; then we rose in the air again and sped towards the Eye.</p><p> </p><p>We came in from a different angle on purpose, so we did not see the Needle, but rather landed right on the path towards the Eye. It was rugged, icy terrain with snow that was either trampled down or hardened and slippy. The Eye was a cave that led into a small hill; it was placed on top of a gentle rise with shallow gradients; so shallow that the ground was flat as opposed to slanted dropping down in abrupt steps. Placed in front of the cave we could see the defenders of this strongpoint. It was a frightening order of battle:</p><p> </p><p>There were several ranks of Ragesian troops, all wearing their full armour, elite troops; there were also several archers placed above the cave, surveying the surrounding area; they were there as snipers and no doubt expert marksmen. I could also spot several inquisitors with their distinctive bear masks; there was also a huge animal there, a creature out of legend, which looked like an elephant but was so much bigger; it was covered in hair and had enormous curling tusks. It was turned in our direction and its trumpeting blast of challenge could be heard even from this distance.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge breathed several words, as if whispering to himself:</p><p> </p><p>“A mammoth! A bloody mammoth! Where did that come from?”</p><p> </p><p>Almost as an afterthought, I noticed that the mammoth had a rider; another figure in a bear mask.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, there were two figures mounted on wyverns already flying towards us.</p><p> </p><p>The whole contingent must have numbered over fifty troops, plus the inquisitors, the archers and of course, not forgetting the mammoth; and this was the gate guard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6260351, member: 6692807"] As he was looking out, he said: “We will break this hanging sword! This devastation is what the Obelisk is capable of and this is why it must be destroyed! If we don’t succeed the first time, then we will take another thousand men and if those fail, then another thousand until this abomination faces all of the men and women of the Resistance! We will not be defeated!” The speech was very heartfelt and we joined Xavious at the window, curious to see what drove him to this rhetoric. What I saw outside left me speechless! Below, a large part of the newly rebuilt city had been flattened again, this time by huge blocks of ice. The destruction was devastating as were the casualties. I must have seen hundreds of men, women and children of all races either crushed beneath the ice or moving feebly, calling out for help. Screaming and wailing was already starting and people were rushing to help. Simeon had quietly behind us. He spoke softly: “This was magic augmented by the Obelisk. The devastation before you was caused by a spell which causes great shards of ice to fall; it is not a particularly powerful spell but with augmentation from the Obelisk it was just as bad as the wind storm summoned by Lee Sidoneth. Those two beings you faced were blizzard elementals; they are shy reclusive creatures, very much of their own inhospitable plane but they were obviously ripped out of it and perverted by the power of the Obelisk; as Faden knows, the spells that had been cast on them have been altered to become far more powerful; usually, they can be used only by the caster but it looks as if Kreven has found a way to cast them on other beings, again almost certainly with power from the Obelisk; now do you see why it is urgent that it has to be destroyed!” Victor spoke just as softly: “No one doubted you. Yes, we see why it has to be destroyed. However, we also need a plan. Xavious, I hope that despite your call for sacrifice, you do actually have a plan.” Xavious snorted: “Of course I have a plan. Come and see us tonight but be ready in two days. Now go; we have help the people below.” With that, we were dismissed. As we left the council chamber, I turned to the others: “So we have two days. I have to go back to the library and put the finishing touches to my new spell. I will look to do more spell research until we need to go. John, are you coming with me?” The rogue nodded and then Longhelim spoke: “I’m going to go and help with the wounded. Faden, I know you and John need to learn your spells but I would ask everyone else to join me in whatever capacity you can.” The others all agreed to join and John and I hurried to the library as I had mentioned, where we stayed until that evening. I knew that because John came up to me and said it was time to go. This time, we went to Simeon’s study where there were far fewer people but several maps on the table. Mistress Larkins and Torrent were there, as well as Xavious, Simeon and Kiernan. Xavious began: “Right; down to the details. As I mentioned this morning, this Valley is about four miles across and sits on top of an ice sheet; this sheet is magical and is able to discern those who enter upon it. For this reason, it has been called “The Eye”. The Eye is controlled and surveyed from this small cave, which has an unknown number of defenders; there will also almost certainly be several powerful individuals there; we don’t know who or how many due to the wards against divinations but I cannot believe that Kreven would leave such a key location without a powerful defense. You must Blind the Eye; once that is done, you must go to the Fortress in the middle of the Valley and destroy the obelisk. You must also eliminate anyone who seems to be capable of repairing it. Finally, if possible, you should rescue as many of the spell casters held beneath the fortress as possible. That is the overview of the plan; now as for the method: Mistress Larkins, together with the help Longhelim and the Torch, will conjure a powerful transport spell which will allow us to take an army of the Resistance and land it a short distance away. Not close enough to trigger the defenses of the area yet close enough to constitute a genuine threat. The threat is the key. There is a sizeable enemy force in the valley but they will have a difficult choice once they realise that the army is nearby. The main entrance to this valley is guarded by the Needle, a fortress which has been heavily fortified and with hundreds of soldiers and inquisitors allotted to its defence; fortunately, you will be able to avoid it by flying and attack the Eye directly. The Needle will not be able to send reinforcements there because they will be aware of our army’s presence, and they will surmise, correctly, that if they weaken their position, we will attack; we will be also launching a series of spoiling raids; just to show them we mean business. The Fortress is too far away to reinforce the Eye meaningfully in a short time, so you have a unique opportunity to blind it and then continue your mission. However, it is certain that they will send a relief force as soon as they realise that the Eye is under attack; Master Pilus has offered to keep track of this force and guide you past them towards the bunker once you have succeeded at Blinding the Eye. Now, I will hand you over to Simeon, who has some more details on the magical aspect of the mission.” Simeon stood up. He did not the worse for his brush with the blizzard elementals this morning: “Thank you Xavious. You sum up the situation very well. As you have been told, the whole area is warded against divinations; it is also warded against those who are not loyal to Leska and the Ragesian Empire. That takes the form of a divine magic which also prevents magical transport into the valley; it is a powerful spell against normal individuals but I think you have transcended normality. It will be a nuisance but not above your capabilities. The Obelisk will be very difficult to destroy. My recommendation, Faden, would be to learn a powerful arcane spell which destroys objects. There is one in our library; I don’t know if you already have it in your spell book but if you don’t, then I would suggest that that is an omission you should remedy immediately. We will also be able to provide you with certain spells before you embark on the mission, including the magical spell the Felix provides for you each morning as well as the ability to fly from the encampment to the Eye. Finally, some of you will be given the ability to talk magically back to Xavious at base camp from your positions. I have already given you what information we have on Kreven. Let me also re-iterate some of the things that Xavious has said. The Obelisk is the single most important strategic artifact in the hands of the enemy now that we have acquired the Torch; you have already seen its power. It must be destroyed. You have already done much so much more that has been asked of you; but please remember, there is no one else who has a better chance of success right now.” He said this last sentence so quietly that I almost did not hear him. He stopped speaking and Xavious continued with the plan: “As soon as you begin to fly to the Eye, we will make a series of spoiling attacks on the Needle; as mentioned previously, these are intended to announce our position to the enemy and make sure that he cannot afford to abandon his position and attempt to reinforce the defenders of the Eye. However, if you do not report back to me on a regular basis, I will assume you are lost and I will order a full assault on the Valley. In addition, as well as guiding you, Master Pilus will be in direct contact with you at all times and will keep you informed of any other movements or forces movements of the enemy from his wondrous sky ship. So, that is the plan. We will be ready to go the day after tomorrow. Please get ready yourselves. We will meet again at the departure point. There is only one other thing I have to say. Realistically, we only have one chance at this. Leska will be informed as soon as we appear and she will move heaven and earth to send reinforcements to the Valley as soon as she realizes that her secret weapon has been compromised. So, we either do it on our first try or we fail! Now, any questions?” We all looked at each other but did not say anything. Both Xavious and Simeon had covered the ground well. I did have some questions though: “When you were talking about those magical defenses, how far do they spread?” “It is difficult to know Faden; we know the nature of the spell but it may have been strengthened or altered by use of the Obelisk.” “Will Kreven have more exotic allies at his disposal in the Valley?” “Again, difficult to know but judging by his use of the elementals and the reports of devils doing his bidding, it is very likely.” Our questions took up a certain amount of time and they gleaned a little more information but it was obvious that after their plan, Xavious and Simeon had educated and logical guesses and deductions rather than hard information. That was still very useful though as even their guesses and deductions gave valuable insight as to what we might face. We had already faced elementals and devils had been mentioned; it was a given that there would be inquisitors but in the end Longhelim mentioned that one could over think these scenarios and while it was good to plan for enemy we were likely to meet, speculation could also be harmful. So, with that in mind, we bade farewell to Simeon and the others and retired to our chambers, bodyguards in tow. The next morning, I was up very early to study in the library. This was going to be the last day before the mission and I had a long and complicated spell to study. As suggested by Simeon, this was the spell that was capable of destroying the Obelisk. The others, with the exception of John, who was with me again, had gone and I assumed that they were in town, helping with the disaster. The work was hard and quite tense as I had a specific time limit; it was not helped when I was interrupted by a messenger from Simeon, who summoned both John and I. We arrived at Simeon’s study; everyone else was there already and the loremaster took us to another part of the Lyceum. We went through several rooms and long corridors before we arrived at a part of the building in which I had never been before. Simeon began a series of enchantments which I recognized as conjuration, divination and abjuration spells, designed to reveal, disable and open; moments later, several doors appeared in a wall and Simeon opened the middle of them. This door revealed a small room with several shelves; placed reverently on these were scrolls, a wand and potions. They were each lying on velvet cushions and labeled, specifying their function. The scrolls were in beautiful, embellished cases while the wand was amazingly carved and decorated with filigree silver and gold. Looking at each item, I was struck by its obvious value; the scrolls were of very high level magic, including several of the same spell which I was just copying into my book. The wand was a very powerful divine wand, which facilitated the recovery of strength of body or soul; it also negated that most powerful of attack of undead, which drew energy from the very essence of the victim and could even potentially turn one into an undead. Other scrolls were the most powerful of healing scrolls; spells so complicated that even with the help of being recorded on scrolls, Felix was not completely sure of being able to cast them. Simeon gestured at them: “These are for you. They are pretty much the wealth that the Lyceum has managed to collect over the last few decades. These have been gathered painstakingly over all that time and kept for an occasion such as this. Hopefully, they will aid you in your mission.” Thereafter, he went through the function of each of the spells and items. It was indeed a treasure hall and another indication of the importance that the Lyceum placed on our mission. Once we gathered the pieces, we went back to our previous places; I still had a spell to finish! My sojourn in the library kept me late that night so I overslept the next morning. Although the mission would not leave until midnight the same day, timed so that we would make the attack in the early following morning, I had to spend most of the next day getting ready; gathering equipment, checking that things worked, talking to the others and making sure we were all prepared. As such, the day fairly flew by and before I knew it, we were all gathered and taken to a field outside Seaquen. There, I could see that the army had been gathered. Xavious had mentioned an army of around six thousand men, dwarves and even gnomes and halflings; the small folk were game; standing in one group, I also saw the small contingent of monks from the Monastery of the Two Winds; this gathering was big enough to frighten the Ragesian force in the valley, yet small enough to transport in several hours. The key was that Longhelim had to go first, with the Torch, to make sure that the passage was safe for everyone else. The mission was initiated by Mistress Larkins, who drew a magical circle, which would act as a focus for the transport magic; then Longhelim lit the Torch; there was a mighty cheer when that became apparent and the paladin stepped into the circle and disappeared; we followed immediately after him. Thankfully, there was no one at the other side; the destination had been chosen very carefully by Foebane and we quickly saw his wisdom. It was deserted, close enough to the valley to be within reach of our flying magic, yet far enough away that the army was not subjected to the magical defenses of the place. The next several hours were spent transferring the army through from Seaquen. Once that was done, the first phase of the plan began to be put into operation. A magical meal was conjured by one of the priests accompanying the army. It was the meal that Felix usually conjured for us, which had several protective and bolstering effects. Various other spells were cast on us both by casters with the army and ourselves until, finally, a flying spell was cast on all of us and with one farewell and another mighty cheer, we began flying towards the valley. As we approached, the first thing that happened was our breaching of the magical defences of the area; we had been warned about this and it happened as predicted. Suddenly, we were wracked with a jolt pain and nausea that shook our insides; blood spurted from our mouths and ears and in the case of Drudge, also his eyes. It felt as if we had been crushed between several large boulders and we had to land briefly while Felix, Longhelim, John and Drudge all healed us and each other; then we rose in the air again and sped towards the Eye. We came in from a different angle on purpose, so we did not see the Needle, but rather landed right on the path towards the Eye. It was rugged, icy terrain with snow that was either trampled down or hardened and slippy. The Eye was a cave that led into a small hill; it was placed on top of a gentle rise with shallow gradients; so shallow that the ground was flat as opposed to slanted dropping down in abrupt steps. Placed in front of the cave we could see the defenders of this strongpoint. It was a frightening order of battle: There were several ranks of Ragesian troops, all wearing their full armour, elite troops; there were also several archers placed above the cave, surveying the surrounding area; they were there as snipers and no doubt expert marksmen. I could also spot several inquisitors with their distinctive bear masks; there was also a huge animal there, a creature out of legend, which looked like an elephant but was so much bigger; it was covered in hair and had enormous curling tusks. It was turned in our direction and its trumpeting blast of challenge could be heard even from this distance. Drudge breathed several words, as if whispering to himself: “A mammoth! A bloody mammoth! Where did that come from?” Almost as an afterthought, I noticed that the mammoth had a rider; another figure in a bear mask. Finally, there were two figures mounted on wyverns already flying towards us. The whole contingent must have numbered over fifty troops, plus the inquisitors, the archers and of course, not forgetting the mammoth; and this was the gate guard. [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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