Arathia Basin

Lieutenant-Commander Ironbark leaned to the side as the Rogue stabbed forward. Ironbark grabbed his arms while Wood-Elf was extended and dragging him forward biting into his neck. The Elf started screaming and calling for heals before Ironbark dug his tusks into the Elf's throat and jerked backward tearing the Rogues throat out. Over a dozen attackers were swarming around the outpost attacking various Legionnaires and soldiers from Ineford. The alarm bell was sounding and raising more troops by the second and someone else was calling for a general retreat for the attackers. It was pure madness and no real damage had been completed. The attackers had been spotted before they had even gotten off the wall.

Ironbark grabbed a nearby Sergeant, "Grab a squad and head toward where the supplies are stored." Ironbark commanded while he ran to where two Rogues were attacking one of the lookouts. The Orc grabbed the closest one and threw him over the wall, a scream followed him all the way to the ground where it abruptly cut off. Dead or just injured Ironbark didn't care as he turned to face the last Rogue who was trying to slip away in stealth but the archer hit him with a Hunters Mark. Ironbark snarled and rammed his short sword through the Rogues back, the blade ignited inside causing even more damage and causing the Rogue to scream in pain before the Orc kicked him off the blade and striding away.

Ironbark was looking for another fight, but all the enemy combatants were dead or had fled. Looking around he spotted one of his officers, "Lieutenant Cannon, I want a report in 10 minutes at the command tent. Understood." Ironbark barked out as he strode away. The Lieutenant saluted fist to the chest before continuing giving orders to the Corporal and Sergeant in front of him. 15 minutes later Lieutenant Cannon finally reported in, "Sir, we have 3 dead and 8 wounded. 3 seriously that will take at least 24 hours to stabilize. They were trying to set fire to the supplies as they were retreating, but Sergeant Bedford led a squad to where they were attempting to set the fire and drove them off. As far as the enemies are concerned, we have 6 confirmed kills, 3 possible, and at least 6 wounded that left when their forces retreated. We managed to capture 2 of their people, both are with the healers but under guard. The initially fled east, but then turned north toward their approaching army." the Lieutenant finished reporting.

Ironbark continued to study the map of the area, including the up-to-date information on the approaching army and their mobile forces there, "Where is Captain Strongarm?"

"He was one of the wounded. The initial assessment of his condition is that he will be back up on his feet within 24 to 48 hours." Lieutenant Cannon responded immediately.

"Understood Lieutenant, go get some sleep. Dismissed." Ironbark responded as before striding from the tent and heading for the small building that had been hardened against external attacks to protect any wounded within. 6 Legionnaires stood guard outside, a line of 20 soldiers and Legion men waited outside for the healers to get to them. Those with the most serious injuries had been rushed inside. The building was big enough to lay out a dozen cots on either side with room for people to move in-between. In the back, he noticed the last 4 armed and armored Legionnaires of the squad from outside with two bound captives. The Captain was about halfway back being attended by a Shaman and Druid.

After about 10 minutes the Human that was in charge finally broke away to report, "Everyone is stable and from what my people tell me we have about 27 people with superficial wounds. The 2 captives will be able to talk in about an hour. Anything else Lieutenant-Commander?"

"Those that are recovering, if they cannot fight within the next 12 hours they need to be sent through the portal. That does not include the captives. Is that understood?" Ironbark commanded and the human nodded before turning back to his patients.

Darren and the rest of his infiltration unit finally managed to make it back to the outpost. Based on a few scorch marks, and bits of blood, as well as the bandages they had been attacked he surmised as he made his way to the command tent. Darren made his way inside and saw a Legionnaire looking at a map of the outpost and talking to a few other officers and NCO's that were present. The Orc looked up to give Darren a dressing down but saw who he was and went back to his planning. Darren waited patiently for a few minutes until the Orc dismissed everyone before saying anything.

"So I see you guys were attacked, how bad was it?" Darren asked as he sipped the water the Orc offered, it had been a long 24 hours for him. Darren and his group had ran from and hid from 3 different groups before they had managed to lose all pursuit. Then finally getting back to the current state of the outpost had surprised some of them.

"Casualties were at a minimum surprisingly. Their infiltration team was discovered as soon as they hit the wall. We managed to capture two of their team though. What news do you bring?" The Orc responded as he sat down opposite.

"They will be here tomorrow at the latest, we managed to assassinate 12 primary targets and sabotaged both their water and food supplies and should in the next couple hours realize that. We managed to kill 10 Immortals on our way out though. My team is exhausted and with the sun coming up, those of us that are under the Curse will be vulnerable so we are going to ground immediately. As soon as the sun goes down I will question the captives if we are not under siege yet." Darren told the Orc who nodded as he stood to depart.

"I will assign a squad of Legionnaires to ensure your teams' safety. We will make sure food and water are sent to your people as well." Ironbark replied causing Darren to smile and nod before leaving the tent. Aaron Swiftdeath watched as the camp came alive around him as the soldiers and mercs of Middlebrough readied to march. Those that had been dispatched to sabotage and kill had failed miserably, and the few survivors were back. Of the 10 Immortals and 8 Locals, only 3 Immortals and 2 Locals returned. All the others had died in the initial attack or of their wounds attempting to return. They had reportedly killed a dozen enemy officers and double that amount of regular soldiers, but Aaron doubted the veracity of the statement based on the losses they had received and the looks of shame on his people's faces.

"So did your team succeed?" The Captain asked as he strode up strapping his sword on.

Aaron shook his head, "The might have gotten some of the officers but I am betting their supplies will be intact. How are our people and supplies?"

The Captain spit in disgust, "The water is tainted, men are sick, and the food stores are infested with every type of critter from the wilds. If we do not take the outpost quickly we are going to have to fall back to Middlebrough just to get new supplies. I have dispatched a messenger informing Governor Parris that we need more supplies, but I do not know if he will make it back, nor do I know if the Governor will authorize re-supplying the army." The Captain cursed as he moved off while Aaron studied his clanmates that refused to look at him.

Unknown Location

The man walked, he never stopped and he never tired. He did what he was told without question. The few times he encountered other beings he would stop and eat or rest for a few hours, but then he would be driven to continue. Those few times he encountered those who would try to deter him from his mission, a great power welled up and lashed out at them for their impudence. The book had to get there...

Father Ignasio of the Inquisition looked at the blast marks on the ground and the remains of the body. The man and the nearby trees had been scorched badly as if Pyromancer had unleashed a large explosive force but the energy remnants he sensed said a brief but powerful burst of Holy energy had been used. He had never heard or seen of a spell or ability during his time in the Inquisition that affected the living in such a way.

He had followed these odd occurrences for more than a week, and all the locals remembered was an odd silent man that had one gold and one silver eye moving with a purpose that could not be denied. The few people that he stopped and conversed with usually ended up needing the man's help. Once the assistance was rendered, the man moved on. This was not the first display of odd Holy powers but it was the newest, only 3 to 4 days old. Ignasio checked his knives and hammer to make sure they were where he had left them before remounting his horse and continued on down the road.

Arathia Basin

Jacob watched as the sun slowly set and the Curse was lifted with it's setting, the camp was coming alive as the army roused itself. They were still two-night march from the outpost and Darren had already contacted him stating that the army of Middlebrough was only a day away. If they pressed hard tonight, they might be able to cut some travel time off for the next night. The standard rules were to block any incoming portals for outposts in contested territory, otherwise, Jacob would have led the army through the portal and cut the travel time out for the army. Time for another long march Jacob thought as Star walked up and nudged his shoulder.

Jacob could see as over 200 mounted soldiers already start to depart. The outer pickets that would watch for any forces or infiltration teams. Darren doubted that Middlebrough or Weighted Chance would send a force after them due to the fact they probably thought we were still scrambling to prepare.

Jacob could see the supply train with its escort already leaving camp. The 4 Catapults and 6 Ballista were packed away with them. Two batteries of siege engines with their accompanying Combat Engineers watching over them like precious babies. The remaining army units had slept later and would easily catch up and bypass the supply train even with its hour head start. Another two centuries of mounted troops would keep an eye on the vulnerable supplies to make sure nothing happened to it. Jacob turned back toward the camp when he heard High-Captain Gragerious started bellowing orders to his officers.

Slate Cavern Fortress

Great Forge

"Master Ironbreaker, Master Ironbreaker. A message has come for you." A child called out. The old Master-Smith looked up from inspecting the new bellows as the child ran up too him. It brought a smile to his face to see the child and once again he thanked whatever god or goddess had decided to intervene in his life when he had been taken away from his family.

"Relax lad, I am not going to run away from ya. Give it here." Glagor smiled as he waited for the child to hand over the paper and began to read the message. At first, the old Dwarf smiled but as he continued to read a scowl grew on his face. In the end, the Dwarf scowled and spit into the nearby open forge before he started cursing before throwing the message into the open flames. "Come on lad, we got to send a message back and quickly!!" The child smiled seeing the Master-Smiths ire was not aimed at him and followed the old Dwarf quickly out of the Great Forge.