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The Last Vanguard

by Steel Claw

"Valryn."
A sphere of raw destruction, of black nothingness, obscuring the horizon.

Captain Dathis made the decision to evacuate the remnants of Port Derrin. The Kinmiri Vale was the closest location that he considered safe and reachable, and therefore asked the vanguard to protect his people. "In a day's time, meet us at the gates."

In turn, Murg made preparations to host refugees in Bezia.

Words of Revelation

When asked by Captain Dathis, Dannerick explained his outburst: Valryn is his grandfather. This scared and angered the captain -- whom even Prince Steel could not placate. Dannerick continued: this "weapon" was a source of energy that his grandfather had discovered, and Valryn had broken his own body and mind to gain some control over it. Last Dannerick heard of this thing, the energy was contained and not of this plane. "So this means that Niverron has been able to control it."

It took Theobold to comment on the possibilites of the weave for Captain Dathis to lower his greatsword.

On Returning to Veradin and the Kinmiri Vale

Captain Garmr is our contact back in the Kinmiri Vale, and hopefully an ally for Captain Dathis with the people of Port Derrin.

Theo sent a message to Garmr, who "could not accept" the crisis but "would manage".

On Connections

Later, as the party conversed amongst themselves, Theobold held a small council with Dannerick and Varenmund -- introducing the two first.

Two names were mentioned in the subsequent conversation:

Asha Gild-String, an elf of Hallowfen who may have knowledge on the current situation. Theo was sure her mind and memory could be useful to us.

Valryn, whom we could seek out and converse with. He is currently somewhere on the Auren plane, a place too vast and chaotic for the vanguard to simply "search" through.

What is left of Port Derrin

That night, Captain Dathis regrouped with the vanguard in his temporary headquarters. He had busied himself with saving the last of the city's official documents: tax information, censes, and other landowning documentation.

He asked a favor of the vanguard: search outside the city's walls for two missing men, an orc and a dwarf who were assumed to have died in the fighting.

Murg could not scry either the orc, though his divination revealed the dwarf's existence: he had concealed himself and what looked to be the no longer living orc in a trench on the battlefield east of Port Derrin.

The vanguard rode out, with Theobold searching for the duo through Icarus' great eyes. The tressym beat the party to the missing soldiers, landing to meet them and offer a cure wounds of Theo's to each of the injured warriors. After the discovery, Icarus disappeared from existence and Theobold informed the party of the soldiers' whereabouts. Minutes later the vanguard arrived, incredulous at the Bezian standard. They explained that they had surged forwards to fight back the Eschatonians, and gotten lost in the fighting. There was some new, unexplainable foe: dark-eyed and with blades that felled all in their paths. They were not humanoid, not mortal, though they followed orders.

The dwarf spoke of three remaining Eschatonian battalions, with men numbering in the thousands. When he last saw them, the battalions were marching on the Valley of Spines -- which lies between the Bladelands and the Kinmiri Vale. The valley itself is a great point for defense: anyone marching on the location can shoot out the battalions with ease.

It is of the dwarf's intuition that the battalions are marching slowly as if to make a date at a location -- as if they are waiting for something.

A hollow chill seeped over the group as they returned westward. Uneasiness emanated from the very weave itself. Even a holy silence Murg besought from Abadar did nothing. Izol detected conjuration magics from where the two men had been hiding. And from their previous position, three hulking silhouettes appeared.

They cut through magic as if it were physical, rending it to pieces of once-weave. Arcane force had little effect as well.

It was Izol's attacks that reverated in the creature, its gears clanking and seizing. "Wèztuok. Gears!" Dannerick's next shot hit true, nearly felling one of the... things with a single shot.

With Izol at my side, I ordered a shatter bolt from the Sapphire claw to wreck its construction -- I was rattled enough from the swift sword strikes to only deal a minimum of damage.

One of the constructs opened up, as if to fall apart to pieces. A dark blue pulse threw shadows around the vanguard adjacent -- Theobold and Murg -- and all at once I could feel their magics fading; my Steelplate and enchantment on the divine gavel fading like a once-headache.

Another well-placed shot by Dannerick shattered the exposed anti-magic core. In the meantime I ran to Theo's defense -- having been flanked by one of the antimagic constructs -- and pulled Oviduin's dagger from beneath my cloak. A spark and it erupted in flame, though not yet enough.

We tried to finish out the fight as sounds came from beyond our vision: the fight had attracted watchers, though we were too focused to tell if they were from Derrin or Eschaton.

The solution hit me at once -- a flash of pure inspiration -- and I pounced on the last of the antimagic constructs. Between the rotating gears and bits, I ripped out the arcane-consuming core. The construct had the last laugh, sending me towards the veil unending as it sliced my back open. I could not see as Theo bent time around me and Izol, amplifying our warlock's pyrotechnics and saving my unconscious self from harm.

Later, my group recounted how Icarus fed me life-saving magic; how Dannerick was the next to see the other side of shadow; how I yelled as I felt his life-force pass like steeds in the night; how Izol descended onto the construct like a burning sun; how the skies opened up to cleanse the earth of battle; and how with my first renewed breath I called for the Sapphire Claw to sacrifice some of its reserves to keep Dannerick this side of the veil. Abadar's abacus finished the deal, under Murg's patient devotion.

Realization

Once I could think again, I inspected the remnants of the antimagic constructs. Each bore the three-taloned crest of Eschaton.

Izol later realized that the constructs leaked a blue fuel that was the source of the voices and cacophany from earlier. It was pure, liquid, broken souls -- somehow formed into a fuel source of magic. Definitely hailing from the blackest of the arcane arts.

Dathis connected these constructs with the arcane fuel, that the fuel was made of the nonhumans that the Bladelands despised so much. "Prince Henrik," the captain spat.

Unfortunately for all, the Eschatonian forces still marched north, and the likelihood of the Derrinian refugees surviving the march was low and grim. These antimagic constructs were too powerful for the vanguard to leave Bezia undefended.

Steel and Dannerick agreed to keep the fragmented antimagic core, and on the discussion of slayer's arrows. The construct "corpses" would stay with Captain Dathis.

From One Battle To Another

With Port Derrin (and its refugees) as best as we could leave them, Theo gathered the vanguard to teleport everyone back to the war camp at the Bezian front lines.

The camp seemed fine; the men, though some bloodied, were in good spirits.

However, none of the vanguard could throw off the feeling of... something. Dannerick knew it at once: the group was being watched. We did not have to wait long; a great orc appeared from beyond the treeline. Looking at once like a nobileman's chef and master assassin.

"Good to see you again, Danny-boy," he grinned. "And remind the furry one: I didn't kill his father."

"Zorzol!" Dannerick called gleefully.

Continue reading...

To Bezia: Dangerous & Familiar
10.22.19

To Waylay Arcadia
10.29.19

As the Gods Watch
11.12.19

Recap: Riding the River to Bezia
12.03.19

Honor Returns to the Redtails
12.03.19

Honor and Innocence
12.10.19

What Ends & What Begins
01.07.20

Night Before the Report
01.14.20

Adrenaline
01.28.20

Fairytale's End
02.11.20

CSI: Abominable Charges
02.25.20

Stones in the Basement
03.03.20

Saviors
03.17.20

A Night To Remember
03.24.20

The End Draws Near
03.31.20

Black Reckoning
04.07.20

Argyle's End
04.10.20

Two and Two
04.14.20

Concentration
04.21.20

The Magic in Winter
04.28.20

Real, Under, Dark: Indrada
05.12.20

Puzzling the Way Forward
05.19.20

The Cold Cases
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Band through the Woods
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Cold Claws of Death
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Another Shot in the Dark
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More To Learn
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The Heart of Varunmund
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Arcane Mishap
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The Treasure of Weave-Steel
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Rolling Bones
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A New Land
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Ice and Storm
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Up Rocks
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At the Top of the World
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Beware the Depths
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Granting Repose
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Trial by Crystal
09.22.20

Cries of the Pained
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Old Friends
10.06.20

Watch and Tower
10.13.20

The Death of a Gate and an Alhoon
10.20.20

Joy in Many a Reunion
10.27.20

A New Line of Questioning
01.05.20

Renewing the Offense
6th of February, 2022

The Last Vanguard
02.13.22

Portals
02.20.22

Heed the Changing Winds
03.13.22

Champions of the Winds
03.27.22

The Epicenter of Truth
04.03.22

It Begins Again
04.10.22

Stratagem to the Winds
04.24.22

Wet Cat
05.01.22

Another Hot Time
05.15.22

The Aegon Assault
07.31.22

Unfavorably Familiar
08.07.22

Cloaked in Red
09.11.22

Forged After War
09.18.22

Truthseeking
10.02.22

Two-Parters
11.12.22

Blade & Bow, Hammer & Axe
11.20.22

Faith, Truth, and Peace
11.27.22

Act as you know, and you will never shame me
12.04.22

The Stringing of the Bow
01.08.23

A Clashing of Fangs
01.15.23

Nleyke [v. To Wish]
01.29.23

The Last Vanguard

Words of Revelation

On Returning to Veradin and the Kinmiri Vale

On Connections

What is left of Port Derrin

Realization

From One Battle To Another

Continue reading...

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