NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 713505" data-attributes="member: 5137">Beginning of the EndPeaceful DawnThe first dawn of summer saw the Tattered Tribe gathered about the base of the mountain. Theralis was prepared for a clever assault, and had spent weeks fashioning tactics and methods for dealing with them. Spies had reported on the composition of the Tattered Tribe, and specialized units put together to handle the various capabilities.Nor had Theralis' spell casters been idle in the intervening years. An illusionist had developed a spell to conceal an individual from sight, even in plain view, although the spell was still too fragile to remain standing if the individual took violent action (or cast a spell)... and by late winter, every illusionist in Theralis had learned the spell. An illusionist was assigned to each group of arcanists, to cover them from sight during the battle.Greppa was given a special mission by Captain Agina - now that he was Hurath's equal, he would remain high above the battle field, invisible and at the edge of fireballing range... when he saw the shamans cast a spell on the field, he would target them, then flee back to ground where he could be turned invisible again.The Theralis soldiers were excited and ready......and were almost disappointed when the orc drummers stopped mid-beat, and an old orc, flanked by a pair of others, began walking up the hill alone and unarmed.The Tattered Tribes did not care to go against the Theralis valleys again. It was too costly and, to their mind, unnecessary. Instead, they offered a deal - in exchange for a mutual promise of no attacks, and being allowed to set up just north of Eastpass, they would defend that direction from other tribes, and work with the Theralese to that end.It was a good deal, and a few esper spells of truth later, an acceptable one. The Tattered Tribe left Theralis Ridge, and runners were sent to help set everything up... and get rid of the orcs who were already there, trying to make war.Bloody EveningLess than a week later, the Tattered Tribe sent a runner, a slender young orc barely in his hunting years, to inform the Theralis military that they were leaving to head north. No, no, Theralis had done nothing wrong, but the Buhkruhk tribe was coming, and the Tattered Tribe intended to be far away by the time they arrived.With a thorough questioning, they learned this:The Buhkruhk tribe raised armorcats as companions, traded with giants, dealt death to all who opposed them. They were two thousand strong, but they had killed five times that many orcs in the past decade. Their leaders were strong, their shamans were many and powerful. None stood against them who lived. They were powerful, organized, swift, brutal. Why they would come here, some three hundred miles out of their way, was unknown... but coming they were, and the Tattered Tribe was leaving.They arrived within the week.Greppa had arranged for an illusionist all to himself, and he cast fly on both her and himself. He'd been instructed to stay closer, since there might be giants, and Greppa wanted him in range for his strength-sapping lesser shadow killer. The illusionist was to keep him and herself unseen, for as long as she could.Athan had been put in charge of a small band of "new Keraunesti", trainees who would be supporting the veterans, much like he had so long ago. Like the other Keraunesti, in anticipation of a grave battle, he had stripped to loincloth and spear, and had stained his scars with abrasives and grape juice to make them stand out.Merideth, standing amidst the Keraunesti, her esper and healer powers ready, simply waited.The Buhkruhk melted from the dense trees at the base of the slope without a word. No drums beat. Then, warband leaders at the front line began stamping their spears in unison. Bent down, they pounded the earth with all the great force their legs, backs, arms could muster.Their warbands joined in the beat a second or two later. The orcs behind them, then, joined in. A thousand spears. One beat.Then, and only then, the war drummers began the beat of war, matching the rhythm of the spears, dancing at the edges of the beat. The orcs roared, a cacophanous roar, and two dozen armorcats, burst from behind them, leaping over the bent over orcs, between the spears and clawing their way up the mountainside. As the Theralis troops tensed, the armorcats braked, skidding sideways, then loped lazily back to the orcs, heavy spiked tails flicking dismissively.Captain Agina strode to the front, grabbing a spear from one of the younger soldiers, and began rhythmically beating on the front shields. Others followed her example, and soon the entire front line was beating iron spearhead on iron shield.It wasn't unified. It wasn't particularly organized. But it didn't matter. The shields reverbrated with the beating, and a sound not unlike thunder rolled down the mountainside to the orcs.The show was over. It was time for battle.</blockquote>

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