Back in Empire Lands, her Broken Supply Lines went away. Though, she did gain Religious Suppression. Not surprising, considering she was now blessed by Khaine. Immediately after, she got a new ping that designated her as a walking temple or some such, and thus her religion could not be suppressed, and the debuff vanished. Which, was nice. And another nice, was when Filnon came out with an absolutely beautiful ring. Gromril and Obsidian worked together to give it a glorious shine on half the ring, and a deep black hue on the other half. The stone on top was small and unseeming compared to the material of the ring proper, but it was hard to really compete with that. Plus the Obsidian gave her a 10% chance of unbinding any spell that targeted her before her Wisdom would kick in to resist it. Save before a Save was good, even if it was slim. Of course, knowing that Obsidian was a magic repellant, made Estaria create the Black Aegis in the Workshop, an Orange-rank breastplate made out of Obsidian she had bought in the shop. Worn under her dress, it added an extra 20% to the magic resist. Having seen Filnon take out everyone with her Dhar, Estaria was enlightened to the dangers of magic, and decided she really needed to protect herself from hostile mages.

Pulling in at the cove, they were surprised to find it empty, abandoned. This was a popular cove, the Norscans who didn’t just raid for everything came here to trade, as did the Druchii, Pirates, and all manner of sea traders. Exploring the cove revealed that it had been empty for a few months now, and they didn’t simply move coves, as a lot of gear was still around. Rotten wood, rotten food, moth-eaten fabrics, rusted metal, broken carts and makeshift buildings filled the cove, stark evidence of their swift retreat and no return since then. Walking outside some, there were no bodies or signs of battle, which meant they just ditched it.

“How strange. Maybe the Empire was getting too close? Rival band perhaps? Not that we were really looking for the smugglers to begin with, but this is hardly a simple cove” Estaria commented, mostly to herself before finally looking up to her wife. “Come on. Middenheim is a few hours down the road for us. We can get there and finish your quest” Estaria said. Filnon nodded, and the two set off, leaving the Druchii to be sad that there were no smugglers to sell to and not even anything worth stealing in the den. The unnerving feeling increased as they ran down the great paved road. No traffic, no people, no sounds…There was a thought of what could have happened here, but it wasn’t one she wanted to entertain. It was a horrible thought, made worse by the idea that if Estaria were here, she would have had the power to stop it. Put her on top of a castle's walls and she would slaughter the entire army with her weapons. But, the feeling she had was confirmed like she had just swallowed a stone when they came up to Middenhiem. The great Fortress of the North was shattered, it’s walls pocked with holes, half-rotten skeletons littering the place in incredible number, and a mutated Giant stood, guarding the shattered gatehouse and twisted by the powers of Chaos.

This was the seat of her faith. Even though she was the daughter of Khaine, she still worshipped Ulric. The same as Filnon, would still worship Khaine long after her completion of Ulric’s quest. And so to see it debased filled her with such fury that she would blend all things in her city to a fine paste. A click of fingers saw the giant take a massive cannonball to the face, and a second to the throat. Imperial Great Cannons were tremendously powerful artillery, once decapitating a Dragon. So the Giant had no chance, and fell with a resounding thud.

“Es? Why-” Filnon didn’t get any further than that before Estaria was running in through the gates, Talon in hand. The noise had drawn some cultists out to see what the disturbance was, and Estaria stuck a bolt in their eye with her crossbow, drop-kicking the last one and putting her heel-blade through his head. Her damage was so high she could just shit on their Luck bar and wipe out their health in one shot.

Her Crossbow was reloaded and a second lot of cultists filled with bolts, before she was rushing onwards, towards the temple. She splattered cultists and marauders alike on her run, and once she arrived, she was shown the corpse of a massive creature. Thrice the size of a house, and just as wide, the thing had it’s skull caved in by a force like a dozen cannonballs. More cultists came, better skilled and better equipped, though they died just the same, and Estaria ran around the creature’s massive corpse, sticking a bolt in the back of one of the Cultists with a staff, channeling the Winds. Several others were also channeling the same, and got the same treatment, before a large, heavily armoured man turned around and looked to her.

“You lost, human! This is-” four bolts went into his face before he even got halfway through his monologue, and then she looked up at the temple. The Flame was still lit, and the body of the Sorcerer that had fallen back from the bolts was swiftly being covered in Horfrost. Walking slowly gently, she analysed the invisible border by how much of his body was getting frozen, and then stuck her hand through it.

She immediately drew it back and hissed in pain as her hand turned blue, ice already forming on it for being sat there less than a second. Something had happened here, and they had activated the final defense measure, to protect the holy relics within the Temple. Filnon arrived, catching up to Estaria, and saw her hand.

“Shit, what happened?” Filnon asked, frantic and worried.

“The Priests have activated Winter’s Bulwark. A dozen Priests of Ulric sacrificed themselves in the main chamber, and their blood awakened this barrier. Strong enough to freeze a giant in seconds, cold enough to hold back even a Dragon’s flames. The problem is, it doesn’t care if you are friend or foe. You freeze all the same” Estaria looked up at the temple, and closed her eyes. If this had been activated, there was more than just a horde. Archeon had truly descended upon Middenhiem for them to make this ultimate sacrifice.

“No more chill than Naggaroth” Filnon said. Estaria’s eyes snapped open and saw Filnon’s hand through the barrier, not suffering at all.

“I guess that proves who’s favour you have. Go on. I’ll clean house” Estaria had a furious flame burning in her eyes, and Filnon did not want to interfere, so kissed her lips and nodded, heading into the Temple, and climbing into the Great Flame where Estaria had given her first offering, so long ago. Knowing from experience that this would take a while, Estaria’s eyes turned back to Middenheim proper. It was time to purge Chaos from her City.