[Bone Fortress, 0200 Ice Faction: 8,884 Undead: 412]

Nix stood in front of his Raven mount and waited as members of Alpha and Delta mounted up. He had been finalizing the last bit of their plans with Mtui, who was going to be the first on the ground.

Chupa has formed a Flight.

Chupa has shared the Shadow Element with you; this will continue for the duration of the raid.

You have gained Shadow Sight.

You have gained Essence Fade.

/Dawn Raid: Nix: Listen up. Each of you has ten teardrops. We'll strafe them with five and then come back around with the rest. We are going after personel. The supply tents aren't really important to us. We need to trim their numbers by quite a bit.

/Dawn Raid: Nix: Our first run will end at the edge of the Dawn/Misery border. We'll turn around and hit them a second time with the rest of our teardrops.

/Dawn Raid: Mtui: After the second run, we'll get our boots on the ground and start the operation. We'll stay on the outskirts of the fighting and use a quick strike strategy.

/Dawn Raid: Nix: Alpha and Delta groups will be running separately, but we'll keep in contact in case we need to join forces. If there are no further questions, we'll leave in ten minutes.

/Alpha: Semmi: Everyone is in Skelly form?

/Alpha: Nix: Yep. Mortimus said that using the Skelly form here will reap big gains when you leave the Bone Fortress.

/Alpha: Wind: Maybe it will stop Pon from dying so often.

/Alpha: Nix: Doubtful. Is Eron ready to go?

/Alpha: Fajii: Yes.

/Inferno: Nix: How's team Agony doing?

/Inferno: Sharl: All good here, ready to deploy.

/Inferno: Jun Li: Good luck, everyone. One minute and we are a go.

Nix slid easily into Chupa's saddle; immediately, he felt shadows swirling around him as he faded from view along with the rest of Alpha.

/Alpha: Semmi: Want to trade my Bone crow for that spiffy Raven?

/Alpha: Nix: Maybe after we leave Bone Fortress... but probably not.

Fajii's Bone Crow hopped closer to the Raven as Fajii leaned closer and lay a hand on Nix's shoulder. "I'll summon Eron when we hit the ground."

Nix nodded and squeezed her hand. "Call out if you get in trouble."

/Alpha: Nix: Let's stay close today!

/Dawn Raid: Nix: On me!

The Dawn Raid gained altitude slowly, then were less than twenty meters off the ground when they moved over the ocean and banked north.

Chupa has assumed control of the formation.

Nix glanced behind him as the rest of the raid eased into a tight formation.

/Alpha: Semmi: An auto-follow feature? Give me that damn bird!

/Alpha: Fajii: I like the feathers.

Nix didn't comment, his eyes glued to the coastline where Del was already making her way along the water's edge. The black feline was built for night raids, silent and nearly invisible, even without stealth. Coupled with Del's ranger abilities, it made the former Ain'Dhassi very formidable.

The raid continued north for a minute before turning west.

/Alpha: Pon: Wake up, Nix. We're supposed to go east.

/Alpha: Nix: Going to gain some altitude and then swoop in at high speed.

The group climbed for a few minutes before leveling off once again. A quick check showed that everyone was still tightly grouped.

/Inferno: Bali: This Burrough is claimed by me.

The Undead Faction has claimed the Honor Burrough.

/Alpha: Nix: Hold onto your lunch!

The Raven banked into a steep dive, forcing Nix to hold tighter as he tucked his head to avoid the sudden increase in wind shear. The Dawn's coastal region appeared in front of them as the group came in low and fast.

/Alpha: Nix: Scan for targets!

A long barricade had been built along the border separating Dawn and Honor. Hundreds of tents were set up in a make-shift tent city less than a hundred meters away. As the Dawn raid approached, the camp erupted in movement with loud alarms sounding off.

/Alpha: Semmi: It's a beehive!

Nix's mount passed over the beginning of the barricade just as troops were pushing forward to move into position. He picked a suitably crowded location and dropped the first teardrop. In quick succession, he managed to drop four more before they arrived at the Misery Burrough. Chupa started gaining altitude again, the sounds of explosions echoing in Nix's ears as the night sky lit up like a thousand flashbulbs going off at once.

/Alpha: Nix: One last pass, and we're boots on the ground! Get ready to jump!

/Alpha: Pon: The fuck you say? What's wrong with landing?

/Alpha: Nix: Heroes jump...

/Alpha: Wind: I'm jumping.

/Alpha: Fajii: Same here.

/Alpha: Semmi: You land somewhere, Pon. We'll wait, just don't tear your dress.

/Alpha: Nix: Nice...

Nix's laugh was lost in the wind as Chupa banked hard into another dive. The utter chaos that had been the Dawn Burrough was clearly visible below. The fifty teardrops had created dozens of small craters that were littered with bodies and equipment. Targets were more difficult to pick because their first run had been so devastating. The Inferno leader settled for groups of five or more and started tossing the rest of his ordinance.

/Alpha: Semmi: The Ice Faction numbers just plummeted by almost sixteen hundred.

/Alpha: Pon: That's way too high; there should only be a thousand or so in Dawn.

/Alpha: Nix: The Agony raid must have dropped their presents also. How many are left in Dawn?

Semmi scanned her hud as the group moved north away from the destruction.

/Alpha: Semmi: Less than two hundred.

Nix nodded to himself; the numbers were what they had been hoping for. Pon had spent several days increasing his stocks of teardrops. He kicked one foot free from Chupa's saddle and swung it over. The giant raven slowed down and stooped when it felt him standing up. "Smart bird. Thank's Chupa!"

Nix jumped from a height of around ten meters; his boots slammed into the ground as he rolled to lessen the impact. Immediately he slipped on his [Thine Enemy] ring and pushed black ice into his sword hilt.

Semmi and Fajii landed at nearly the same time, with Pon and Wind joining them in quick succession.

/Alpha: Nix: Rings on, we'll take down stragglers. Keep an eye out for elites and the Burrough Commander!

Nix ducked as the group formed around him; they landed in a small gulley that offered some cover by the thick brush that grew in bunches. He motioned for Wind and Semmi to take the lead.

/Alpha: Nix: Head straight into the shit. No need to tiptoe.

/Alpha: Fajii: We are going to be walking in shit?

Nix covered a laugh and fell in step beside the Aquarion. He had already expanded her knowledge of slang and curse words, but she was tentative about using them.

/Alpha: Nix: It means we'll be going into a dangerous area.

/Alpha: Fajii: To fuck shit down?

/Alpha: Nix: Up, these things always go up. You're starting to get it.

/Alpha: Semmi: Nix! Quit corrupting Fajii.

/Alpha: Nix: Huh? Too late for that.

/Alpha: Pon: Heh... I love it.

Pon, Nix, and Fajii ducked down behind a small stand of brush while the two Gemini thieves pushed forward. It was comparatively quiet given the fury that had been rained down on Dawn a few moments before.

/Alpha: Semmi: Small group, about five or so. Want to engage?

/Alpha: Wind: They are waiting behind some rocks. They look like prey to me.

/Alpha: Nix: We'll chat them up and then take them down.

/Alpha: Fajii: Not take them up?

/Alpha: Pon: The first up cancels out the second. Can't go up twice; it would sound bad.

/Alpha: Nix: Thanks for helping, old bastard.

/Alpha: Fajii: Thanks, Pon.

Nix dropped stealth and shouted at the group. "Special QRF team from the fortress, identify yourselves now!" The Inferno leader stabbed his black ice blade into the ground, flash freezing everything within two meters.

"QRF?" The only witch in the group spoke up; she had a leashed pet next to her. "Are you guys part of Trifecta?"

Semmi nodded. "Sandi figured out a way to send reinforcements; unfortunately, each Burrough is only receiving five of us."

/Alpha: Pon: I'll take down the witch and her dog thing.

The witch pulled back on her pet; the animal stared at Pon with a deep rumbling growl. "He doesn't like men."

Fajii moved away from the group, her alien eyes watching the enemy. "They didn't identify themselves. They could be imposters."

"They didn't," Nix agreed before motioning for his team to spread out.

"Wait! I'm Tabor Squad leader Lilac Rem, originally part of the Honor forces." The woman spoke quickly; her free hand held up in a gesture of peace. "I can prove it! We have the new comm devices!"

Semmi shook her head slightly. "I'm going to check, no sudden movements."