The Road to Borlis

The more I travel, the more I realize that many people actually made it out of Ascalon.  Yak's Bend was full of travelers and craftsmen.  Even Captains of the kings army.  Captain Osiric holds a place by the fire where he teaches travellers new skills to protect themselves.  I was able to make a small fortune of some salvaged runes from my battle in Rin.   Rurik, former prince of Ascalon, has gone ahead to meet with our dwarven ally Jalis Ironhammer, King of the northern shiverpeaks.

If we thought our trip to Kryta would be uneventful after we escaped the infested Charrlands we were wrong.  Very wrong.  It seems unrest has spread through the Shiverpeaks, and possibly even to Kryta. The dwarves are amidst a civil revolution.  A group of dwarves, under the misguided malice of Maguuman Justiciars have decided to rebel against good King Jalis, and they plague his lands slaying innocents and former allies alike.  There are centaurs and rogues, heading in to the mountains where it was easier to pillage and thieve.  We must continue though.  As far as I know, Kryta is free still.  To the captial, Lions Arch, is where we aim to head.    Osiric warns us the way to Borlis is blocked by these rebel dwarves, the Stone Summit they call themselves, are murdering anyone who attempts to pass in to safety.  They are looking to succede Jalis and change the shiverpeak order.  They will fail, I know it. Unless they and their "power" Jusiticars can provide some foreign powers and enemies, they will never defeat Jalis.

I met Cynn along the way.  I remember her from my training before the searing.  Always sour-faced and jealous, her attitude much paralelled her specialty for fire magic, and burning passion.  She and Mhenlo, the monk from Cantha, are together I hear.  Oh to find love in such turmoil, they are truly blessed.  If only she didn't want to incinerate anyone he speaks to.

We arrive at Borlis Pass.  The dwarves here proved no match for my crew, and our new additions of Dunham, an enchanter, a very flamboyant and dramatic man, and Little Thom, a bearded barrel of a man.  He and Devona would make a perfect match I think.  I should introduce them should they survive long enough to be in the same place at the same time.

Ruins of Surmia

I arrived in Surmia with little trouble.  Just some hostile grawl which weren't a problem.  Captain Miken greets me at the gate and briefs me on the mission.  I am to meet the Prince inside, there we will fight together to the prisoner camps and free our people.  Once freed they will return to the gate, as we have cleared the way.  Sounds easy, assuredly it will not be.   We meet the Prince immediately and he puts me in lead.  It is an honour for me. Perhaps another promotion will come.  I get a chance atleast to take out my new smiting rod for a spin.

We are swarmed by mobs of devourers.  Where did they all come from? I see a mother devourer and my question is answered. They have set up camp and spawned on the steps of Surmia. Sohothin, the princes great fire sword, an Orrion relic whos sister sword is owned by his father, cuts through them like it would a moa breast fillet.

Then come the charr.  The vision of the charr throws Rurik in a rage. He screams at them, how he will dance on their corpses.  We reach the first gate, it is protected by Fling Bloodpelt.  A ranger boss.  He is no match for the great Prince, and his great Sohothin.  The second prison protected by Scaar Sternclaw, a monk.  We are quickly outnumbered by healers.  I have an ace up my sleeve.  I pop the stone I recieved long ago, before the searing. It still works. We free the next set of prisoners, but there are more.  We head to the third jail, and guarding it was a devourer.  If the charr and devourers are working together we are indeed in trouble.

Erol and Rurik

 Within the third jail we find Erol.  A flaming scepter mage.  He tells the Prince that there are more captives.  The remainder of his unit are in Drascir.  To Drascir we go.  It will be nightfall soon, but we agree with Rurik that they must not be left there. They have been imprisoned for over two years. We arrive at the gate, but the drawbridge is raised.  We must lower it, but in order to do so Rurik and Erol must wait at the other side of the chasm, while we trip the lever from the other side.

the Flame Altar

 On the way we find Breena Stavinson.  She warns us of the flame legion.  They march to the Flame corridor to light the effigy in praise. A small detour will not hurt.  We decide to follow the torch bearers, we will dampen their resolve.  As soon as they foolishly open the gate to their place of worship we kill them, then we kill all their priests. It is oddly unsatisfying.

Victory.

With that we must return to our task at hand.  We make our way to the lever across the chasm and open the path for our Prince. He leads us to Drascir and we find the mages are not captive as we thought, but sealed in safely withstanding the attacks.  Given courage by the site of Rurik they abandon their safe haven and take thier positions on the flaming mage podiums.  We are greeted with waves of charr, and we lay down waves of corpses.  We have won this day, but victory is short as a mob that outnumbers us greatly approaches.  we run to the mages safehold, and Rurik summons a magical doorway.  I knew not he had this power, it leaves me in awe.  Before we jump in to the portal, he is called by Erol.  We have the mouthpiece for Stormcaller.  This could be our salvation.  Atlast. I hope we are not too late.

Road to Ruin

I would be nowhere, would it not be for friends.

I arrived at the Frontier Gate with my crew.  We rendezvous with Warmaster Riga.  Warmaster.  One day I will be one.  I will be a vigilant and just warmaster.  Not a puppet sent to ruin by a King with an agenda. Not like my father.  Chasing prophecies to appease the people, unprepared and badly trained.  No one knows how far he got, all we know is he never returned.  He was sent by good King Adelbern to end the flameseeker prophecy.  To my knowledge, that prophecy was only a story told to scare children in to eating their vegetables and doing their chores. "Eat your broccoli or the Lich will get you" my mother would say, "Clean the floors or we'll send the lich to take you at night".  We knew he was running in to a fools mission, even I knew as a small child that chasing imaginary monsters would only result in catching air.  And air cannot be caught.  He left us anyways.  A fools mission.   Only Meerak the Shouter, formerly the scribe, who became touched and unhinged during the searing, continues to believe in this prophecy. 

even now he screams of the prophecy.

We take our instruction, head to Surmia.  There is a camp at the ruins, we will be joined by the great Prince there and free our bretheren. Then we will head to the north, through the breach in to the shiverpeaks.  It will be peaceful there, our people will remain safe until we reach Kryta, and set up for a new life.  Dreams.  We will finally be at peace again.

Fort Ranik

Ruin, ruin.

I've been sent on another mission.  Fort Ranik needs to be cleansed.  I am to help push back the charr.  It amazes me sometimes, how much like us the charr are.  Atleast in what they carry.  Dyes, gold, materials.  Things I can use.  Though i'm not sure how good a charr would look in purple.  We massacre them as we go, mindsparks and martyrs, stalkers and bosses.  Grazz the Unforgiving, a corpse in our path. Klaww Featherstorm, may worms feast on him. Master Armin Saberlin stops us when we get to the gate.  His son has been taken captive.  I didn't think the charr took prisoners, but I guess we all change and adapt our ways.  I feel some hope knowing now the charr do take live prisoners.  Perhaps all our fallen are not infact fallen, just taken.  Maybe little Gwen the flutist is alive somewhere.  Perhaps it would be better if she were dead.

In the distance we see cages.  Could the charr possibly have left our people alive?  Trapped like animals?  We spray the charrs blood on the ground until we reach the first cage.  Trooper Deeter Saberlin is inside, son of Armin. He is alive, and he is clear to return to his father.  That is one victory won, atleast.  As we continue, a large healer charr, Rrrack Whitefire stands in our way. Stood in our way.  He is with grenth now.

We find our way to the catapult field. The charr have already set up camp. They've destroyed all our trebuchets, and slain all our engineers.  Standing amidst the wreakage, valiant and brave, is Siegemaster Lormar.  Brave he must be, as he is being charged by Roarst One Eye, master necromancer of the blood legion.  He must have been confused though, as he kept hexing me with a mark of pain, yet he had no team dealing the appropriate damage.  Stolen ascalonian ale perhaps? Whatever his issue was, we made quick work of it.

Siegemaster Lormar is convinced he can fix the trebuchet. We must make haste and find replacement pieces off the destroyed catapults. Seeing the extent of the damage, I am skeptical. This is an advantage we cannot give up though, and I run to being searching.  I find an arming crank, and a release lever. Last is the restraining bolt, and we find that a little to the north east.  It looks as if it will function.  Nothing left but  to test it.

It worked! The near charr camp is all but destroyed, all the charr dead.  A small success.  I see another trebuchet by the wall, where the larger charr camp stands. It seems to be in working order.  The charr are not within blasting range though. Live bait perhaps? Risky, but we must prevail.  I run in to the camp, they see me and come out.  I am too fast for them, I get back to the trebuchet while they stand confused by their crudely build burning effigy.  I hope they never unlock the magic to create moving effigies.

we pick off the smaller groups left and finally we arrive at the hole. Spar the Ravager, master warrior, stands there with only a troop of two.  He seems not to have heard the explosions from the trebuchet or even noticed we are standing behind him.

It is done.  The charr are pushed back.  A great victory for Ascalon.  The Prince joins us, but with a heavy heart.  It seems in the charrs hurry to flee they had taken several prisoners. The Prince is beside himself with grief.  He is done attempting to be diplomatic, we are to go to Surmia and retrieve our taken.  Then we are to go to Kryta.  With or without the Kings permission.  Pray he sees reason.

Defend the Wall

I've been sent on a mission.  I'm to find the Squire Zachary by the Great Northern Wall.  I am to rally a party, and I am to go on a scouting mission.  Captain Calhaan is in charge, and he is a man that is to the point.  I am sure as soon as I see him he will send me directly in to danger.  Reyna, Alesia and Orion choose to join me.  We are fast becoming a regular group.  I make the decision to leave Alesia in charge of healing, so I can aide with the damage.

Captain Calhaan

 Captain Calhaan sends us after Bonfazz Burntfur, General of the Flame legion.  We are to scout only.  I suppose that is why we were chosen.  Some veterans help us leave the gates unseen, by charr that is.  The path to the lookout point is swarming with devourers, gargoyles and grawl.

I am lucky to have my team, my friends, even if they are hired help. Strangely on our way, I noticed small rock and wood formations.  They appear far too perfect to be laid there by destruction.  Upon closer inspection, they were hiding treasures.  Kilnns Testibrie's treasures. His entire armour set it appears.   Kilnn Testibrie was a champion of Surmia of old. He wanders what was the palace, looking for a worthy champion to retrieve and return his armour to him in death.  I put the treasures in my sack.

Luckily I picked up the pieces

We return his armour to him, he is greatful. We must be on our way though, and I know I am leading in the right direction because soon enough we come across small groups of charr.  In small groups, they are much more pleasant.

Bonfazz is where we thought he would be. It is bad. He is rallying hoardes of charr.  They see us.  We must warn Calhaan and our people.  We must run.

The Searing

We have been ruined by the charr.  So many dead, so many missing.  The King, Prince, and his men have survived.  I myself survived aswell, obviously, but a piece of me died.  Lush green fields lay in charred dusty ruin,  houses demolished, the kingdom at war not only with the charr, but with all kinds of Grenths own.  At war with ourselves.  Rurik believes we should make haste to Kryta, and uphold the ancient alliance but the King, his father, is far too stubborn.  He will not allow us to transport our dying population.  Instead he insists we stay in a dead land.   Over the last while, I have been sent on many messenger missions.  I think the king holds a grudge to us who were killing charr before the event we call the "searing".   Adelbarn believes us to blame.  The killing of Vatlaaw triggered the hellfire.  Now our lands lay scorched, our spirit maimed, and our king absolutely insane.

I recieved a promotion.  Bittersweet news admist the tragedy.  Virtually everyone recieved a promotion though, considering the state of our shambled city.   We need all the help we can get, and we all became greatly experienced in what seems overnight.  We had no choice.  No time for leisurely training.  Its more like a run for your life through fields of devourers.

Our enemies became more experienced aswell.  It was almost as if the crystal storm gave them power or security of being.  They multiplied in the hundreds. Guess there was nothing better for them to do with our soldiers having no time to control the populations.

Devourers

Warmaster Tydus, yes warmaster now, sent me with a message to the ambassador Zain of Kryta.  I took Alessia with me, a fellow monk in training.  She is more skilled than I, and I hope to learn from her.  Tydus is suspicious of the Krytans.  His mind has become suspicious of all, he holds a piece of the same madness afflicting the king.    Before I leave though, I take my advantages where I can.  The searing has driven most crafters and trainers to the far reaches of our continent, luckily, it drove some in to "Old Ascalon", as the king has dubbed it. Corwen will upgrade my armour to something more suitable to the new norm.  Perhaps I can muster a more powerful weapon.

When I arrive at Zain, the prince was there.  Ever the diplomat, he sees reason.  He is our forerunner for the push to Kryta and salvation. They discuss matters, and the prince runs back to the fallen palace to attempt to yet again persuade the King to move.  The message has been delivered.  It is time to gather some new skills and move on.

A Path to Glory

It has happened.  Though I am only the second tier of skill, I have been asked to go on assignment with the prince himself!  There has been a charr spotting within the gate.   I am to go with the Prince and some of the other chosen soldiers to locate and kill this charr before he can do any damage.  Wish me luck! I'm off to speak to Sir Tydus.

Prince Rurik says that I show great promise.  I am to aide him in defeating Vatlaaw Doomtooth, and whilst doing so the prince will evaluate my current skills.  Luckily, he has also chosen Orion (an elementalist), Reyna (an archer), and Stefan (a warrior), to help me on this mission.  I am the leader, he decided.  I am honoured.

the Prince and I

We arrive near the bunker to find it infested with Grawl.  Seems the grawl and charr have begun to work together.  They are no match for the Prince and I though. We make quick work of them.

Vatlaaw is no match for our glorious prince.

Before we can celebrate though, the sky turns red.  Crystal flames fall from the clouds.  It is our undoing, it is the dream.  Meerak had warned us, the apocalypse is upon us.  Instead of the four horsemen, it appears to be the four charr.   What is to become of us?