Riverside Province

It is done.  We spoke to Old man Joness, and he has given us safe passage to our next mission.  We must eliminate the remainder of the White Mantle, and we must steal the sceptor back.  Through the boat ride, I saw much of scenery change until it was obvious we had returned to the lush tropic of Kryta.  We are within the jungle no more, and air blows sweet and cool off the sparkling waters.

I've upgraded my armour, and the weavers and merchants were glad of my business.  Seems they don't get many out in these parts. So isolated, yet peaceful.   Our mission is to occur at dusk.  we are to meet Saidra amongst the last of the White Mantle camps and smuggle their weaponry out to her.  We also must retrieve the sceptor of Orr.  It is dangerous in the hands of these murderous brutes, we must take it from Dinas.  Luckily, Dinas has had a change of heart.  His cowardice was the only thing keeping him in the White Mantle, now with them all but defeated he is ready to help us instead, so long as we keep him safe.

We took out the first watch tower and I thought surely by the gate we were seen, but it was Saidra in disguise.  She opens the gate for us, we must clear out the Mantle so they can bring in their weapons for our seige, otherwise she would be searched and surely our plan would be lost.

One... Two.. Three towers down.  We get mobbed every one we reach, and it is strange to me how they do not alert eachother.  We trudge through the waterlogged farmlands. They are swarming with the mantle, and they speak of the rumours that Confessor Dorian is to arrive at the temple soon.  He wants to see the Sceptor, he thinks it will be his only chance. 

We finally reach Dinas, and he hands us the sceptor of Orr.   We make a run for the bridge over the Ullen river to the safety of Sanctum Cay.  The backroads now swarm with the undead.  They sense the Sceptors powers.   We pass more towers and kill all those inside for Saidra.

 We arrive at the bridge to find it guarded by a necromancer brute general.  He is alone though, perhaps overconfident, perhaps just an idiot.   We don't wait to figure that out and he quickly goes over the side of the bridge and we across.  Upon the other side we cut the ropes and the bridge falls into the gully and the white mantle cannot pass. Evennia and Saidra greet us.  We are to give the sceptor to Vizier Khilbran.  He is the only man to survive the cataclysm that befell Orr, and he will help the Shining Blade be victorious. 

Saidra asks me of Markis.  Markis was unhappy that the Blade invited us in, jealous perhaps of our successes.  I have no word to tell her.  He did not meet us inside, she is convinced he was supposed to.  He was much absent from a lot of things she claims he should have been. I can see in her eyes her heart is confused.  This is a man she loved, and it makes me uneasy.  For what I think would be a very large betrayl, and for our sake at that. 



*** Obsidian armour in the first few pictures was courtesy of GwDressup. I couldn't help myself.