Phila, the 13th, 10,391

The imperial soldiers slowly marched in, enduring the stares of the assembled forces of Mountain’s End. The officers led their people inside and Six watched them as

He could see their appraising gazes and subsequent amazement at the progress they had made thus far. The soldiers marveled at the well made buildings and the ubiquitous golems

Six addressed them, “Leoka and Charles will see to settling those you brought. I would like to ask a few more questions then get that report. If you intend to serve in a martial capacity follow me, otherwise talk to Leoka.”

No one objected and Six led them to the ley hall. They moved through the reviving industry and Six explained his current goals for the village. He took some time to periodically conjure a few ley workers and lay down a few Zephyr’s Embrace. When the leyhall came into view it was flanked by the crimson blood and the purple emperor trees. The group slowed and admired the innately magical plants. Six let these treasures speak for themselves. There was a moment of appreciation and contemplation before a question broke the quiet.

“What are the capabilities of these trees?” Irduth demanded.

Six waved it away. “We can talk about that later.” He didn’t want to share such things yet and his answer made that clear enough. He wasn’t able to hide these trees and provoking a response now, when everyone is gathered, would be preferred.

.

“They sure look nice,” Narhurin chuckled.

“Looks can be deceiving,” muttered Kali Kik with a disapproving glare at Six.

Six stopped and regarded the frilled lizard woman. “What’s the problem?”

She pointed at the blood tree with a talon. “Do you not understand what that tree is?”

“I do and I assure you, I have it under control. Thank you for voicing your concern, moving on.” He continued inside and brought them to a private meeting room. The townhall was simple, the bloodwood provided a certain aesthetic but no luxury really, thus their meeting was spartan, they sat on wooden stumps placed around a rough hewn table. The only luxury afforded Six was the warm raccoon curled up on his lap.

They looked at Six expectantly.

Six cleared his throat. “Yes, well. I find it easiest just to be direct. Why did you folks not join the loyalists?”

There was an awkward silence as Six scanned the faces that mostly avoided his gaze.

Keegan met his eyes and the man gave his answer. “The remaining generals and legions are loyal to a memory and know as such, they seek justice.”

“Revenge more like it,” Narhurin cut in.

“They say justice, for there is no leader for the loyal to rally under. I have no reason to pursue Juthe Wei at this point. I have no reason to join the coalition. I am from Vlehull and may ask to return home to aid my father but that is unlikely. I believe I will find adventure and excitement here, something to temper my muscles upon.”

That was in line with what little Six knew of Keegan. He looked to Narhurin.

Narhurin wore black forged fullplate stylized with dragon imagery. He smiled and explained, “I'm just following my buddies around. Training with Keegan, eating and gambling with Jebbedo.” He reached over and playfully ruffled Indigo's hair, eliciting an offended grumble from the younger man. “Messing with Indigo. I could go home and live with my mom but she lives under Juthe Wei’s rule, and well… well she's fine. So here I am.”

Narhurin’s affable and simple nature made him easy to trust. Six raised an eyebrow at Kali Kik.

Her eyes stared at him with lethargic calm. She knew they had already been accepted despite the questions. “I was never a loyalist, my people, the people of Arkojia, were imperial in name only. My life there was unappealing, I joined the army to build a new life. Now that it's gone, I will build a new one here.”

Simple stoic pragmatism.

Six looked between Indigo and Irduth. “I'm not exactly sure which one of you is the arrogant young master but either way, why are you guys roughing it out here?”

Irduth smiled and gripped his tome tightly. “I still believe in the empire, I will tenuously recognize your lordship over this region of it but I still believe in the empire. I would like to stay and provide guidance to the locals and the military. I am a priest and chaplain of Kynairos and I served the residents of this village in that capacity before.”

“I will only allow tolerance to be preached unless I deem otherwise. Many here sought freedom of belief and I agree with that, within limits.”

“You think you can guide society better than the law of Kynairos?”

“Perhaps.” Six shrugged. “Can you abide by the tolerance I set forth?”

Irduth hesitated.

“I will not accept you if you can’t. You can leave.”

The imperious half orc tensed but eventually nodded his assent.

Six did not trust this man. He regarded the boy.

“Indigo?”

The young man cast his eyes to the ground, hesitating to explain. “I… I need to make it on my own.”

Six nodded in respect. “Aight.” He looked at Bark and Aclo.

Bark smiled and inclined his head in deference. “Well, I'm just looking to improve myself you know? I see your growth and it's looking promising to hitch my stag to yours.”

“Oh? My growth?”

“The fact I can't analyze you anymore is proof enough of your growth.”

Simple motivations like power were understandable and Six felt no malice in the aelf's words. Still power alone was a dangerous desire, that being said, danger itself was not a crime. Something to monitor.

“Hmm. Aclo?”

The tsunken aelf cringed and glared at Six. “There is no place for me with our people. No place for me in the coalition. This is the only place I could possibly ever redeem myself and my clan.”

Six was confused. “Redemption? No place?”

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Aclo looked at the human with an irritated sneer. “You do not know this but I am of the Yudinzo clan.”

Yudinzo? That meant…

Aclo confirmed it with a raspy confession. “I am the brother of Juthe-Wei Yudinzo.”

The implications were vast and Six dissembled while his mind worked on this information. “Oh shit, that's crazy... So, you're like a prince?”

“Hah, I am no prince, my family is not noble, nor honorable.”

Well that's pretty clear on how he feels. “You disagree with what Juthe-Wei did?”

“By Kynairos… Of course!” Aclo slapped the table. “He goes against everything we are.”

“And you cannot join the coalition because you are his brother.”

Aclo gave a curt nod and made a rude gesture at the air, venting his frustrations.

“There is no place for me except around the ones that know me best. One day I will leave to take account with my brother but until then, I will serve.”

“So be it. I understand your family history, resign officially and I won’t care.” Six turned to the group. “I see no reason to not accept you with your reasons and assurances, after the report talk to Charles and he’ll sort you out.”

“The boy is in charge of your militia?” Irduth asked with disdain.

“Yes.”

“And you think this is acceptable?”

“Yes. Report, now please.”

“But the boy can’t b-”

Six cut Irduth off with a curt gesture.

He let the silence sit, luxuriate and stew. Irduth’s face twinged in anger and offence, but the priest remained quiet.

Then Six spoke once more. “Anyways. Give me the report, please.”

There was a thick tension in the room but a peaceful forest song rose. It was the tsunken aelf Bark. The nature-covered man wore a cloak of moss and plucked the tune on a finely crafted lute. He spoke and stepped through that tension as if was not even there.

“Well, you see, the story begins when you last saw us leaving here, we left this wonderful place and traveled south through your fine forest. Travel was hard as the monsters have become quite thick in recent days with the broken patrols but we made it out and through the grasslands of Kharakt, a collection of imperial city states surrounded by various goblin tribes.”

The music grew darker and more punctuated.

“Chaos had become entrenched. A complete lack of imperial logistics has led to a collapse of imperial security and with that imperial power. Warlords are rising, bandit or noble, those who have combat classes are taking from those who don’t. Cities are protecting their own but the farms and communities furthest out are no longer safe and in some cases even cities are prey.

While passing through Kharstan we encountered a siege upon the greatest of all these states, the city of Ecury. We attempted to pass by on the imperial road but our small party was detained by who we soon learned was the dukeling of House Athak. He let us go easily enough despite expressing a clear disdain for the empire-”

Irduth growled and the music broke down. “We should have ended that treasonous dog right then.”

Bark cocked his head at Irduth, “well, uh, you know, he had an entire army watching us.”

“Quite high level too,” Indigo murmured.

“And he was peaceable enough to let us leave despite knowing we were imperial,” Kali Kik added.

“True. true!” Narhurin agreed with animated nods.

Keegan sat patiently, casting a questioning glance to Six.

Six waved it away. He tried to keep his expectations to a minimum and cut people slack when he thought appropriate.

These soldiers had been on the road for a while now, and it wasn’t a critical situation where perfection was needed. Yea, they might be wasting his time a bit but letting them relax and chill now was more important.

When the chatter died down Keegan gestured for Bark to continue and the tune rose up once more.

“Continuing south we passed into the flood plains of Salazhar and made our way across the desert following the great Ilchna River, now on the same path as the legions. We met nomadic bird riders, several tribes of horned vrill that ride giant desert hawks. We traded and overall I found them quite friendly.

Soon after that we found evidence of the legions. Dead imperials began to appear along the shores of the Ilchna, most too scavenged and decayed to identify their cause of death. Still, it was the first sign of the legions that we had encountered.

The signs of death rose as we traveled the path and culminated when we reached the great city of Salazhar.

It sits on the southern coast of Zarmul and rises from the sands, great redstone blocks creating a wall the match of any imperial city. Surrounding the city is a vast maze of shanties, small structures built layer upon layer with whatever material is at hand. A true metropolis.

The river led right to it, and as we approached we saw a patrol from afar.

An imperial patrol.

The legions had taken the city. For you see,”

Bark began to play faster and faster.

“When the Grand General lost contact and logistics from Zleen, he decided, rather than turn around, to march forward at full speed. To take his target and feed upon the stores and supplies of Salazhar.”

Security was lax and based upon race. The horned vrill were occupied and everyone else was legion. It was as easy as that. We walked in easily enough and no one second guessed our presence. Well Aclo and I had some trouble as tsuken aelves but nothing Irduth wasn’t able to preach us through, imperial chaplains have certain benefits.

From there we observed the state of things. From that initial point it was clear that the legions had already begun to split from the unified spear head that we once were, into something broken.

The Salazharians were not being incorporated, and many soldiers were taking advantage of the locals in vile and terrible ways-”

“Incorporated?” Six asked.

Bark's music became a jazz-like jumble as he spoke. “Hmmm, well, aaaah, uuum, you see… what would the words be?”

Keegan explained. “Conquered states and kingdoms are incorporated as members of the empire. There are many steps to this but doctrine should have protected the Salazharians from such parasitic conduct.” His disapproving face made his opinion on the matter clear.

Six nodded his thanks and gestured for Bark to continue.

“There were two shades of soldiers. The ones who used their power and the ones who watched. It was easy enough to find a few who wanted to talk and we learned how all this came about to be. It was much as we thought. A forced march through a desert followed by a monumental attack on the red walls.

But, there was more.

There was a disagreement amongst the generals as to Marcus’ plan and treatment of the locals and when the refusal to incorporate happened that caused a battle to occur between the generals loyal to Marcus and those loyal to the imperial creed.

The imperials lost, some dead, most captured and the Grand General sat in the Salazharian palace calling himself the true emperor. An emperor chosen by Kynairos himself to retake the empire. A god Emperor. He and those that remained were planning for the day they returned from the Salazhar wastes and took account of the usurper Juthe-Wei.

All great stuff-”

Indigo scoffed and the music broke. “No, it was not, ‘all great stuff,’ Bark. It in fact sucked.”

“Ah, I’m sorry Indigo. I was being silly.”

Indigo grimaced and rolled his eyes. ”No, I’m sorry, forget about it.”

“Forget about what?” Six asked.

“Ah, his parents were part of the captured,” Bark explained.

“Oh shit. Are they ok?”

Indigo face palmed. “Now? Yes. Can we just get this over with?”

“Aight, go on.”

Bark started plucking again.“Well, we split up at that point.”

Never split the party.

“Keegan, Narhurin, Irduth, and Kali Kik went to the palace to seek an audience with Grand General Marcus while Aclo, Indigo, and I went to see about infiltrating the prison. How did it go with Marcus?”

“It was terrible.” Kali Kik offered.

“He was crazy!” Narhurin laughed.

Keegan nodded. “He was insane, yes. We entered the throne room and saw him upon the dias in a tub of liquid silver. His presence was palpable and his physicality impressive. His advisor flanked him and both regarded us from on high with imperious glares. He was untouchable, an evolved specimen surrounded by the most powerful and vile members of the legions.”

Bark followed Keegan’s contribution with appropriate musical tension.

Keegan continued. “We revealed our reason for being there, simple information gathering. We were in the dark and sought to know the state of things. The mere mention of our purpose sent him into an apoplectic state that was near impossible to quell. He screamed of how he had killed his own tsunken aelf bodyguard. He feared further treachery.”

“Near impossible?” Six asked

Keegan nodded. “Had we not had previous history, he and I, I think Marcus would have executed us all then and there. We lied to him and he believed us, despite the whisperings of his advisor.”

“Who was his advisor?”

“A meteor dwarf, High Priestess Rudera of the church of Kynairos, she is now dead but was a powerful level 22 classer. We were eventually released and made our way back to our companions.”

Bark took the story back. “We meanwhile had connected with the local chapter of the Zarmul thieves guild and after some negotiation they brought us into the bowels of the palace and into the dungeons below. There we managed to speak to the captured prisoners in private, this is where my friend Indigo reunited with his parents. They had not been treated well and it was terrible to see them like that. Even more terrible to leave them like that but we still needed to align the pieces of the game correctly to even have a chance of winning. Marcus was level 32 a true beast and titan, over halfway to reaching his second evolution.

We managed to talk to some of the surviving generals, and convinced those that held regret to act against Marcus this time.

The thieves guild introduced us to the local resistance movement and in exchange for the legions leaving their city they would work with us. We organized an attack and quickly enacted it. Freeing the prisoners and striking at Marcus with the leaders of the resistance, thieves guild, and the freed generals.

The fighting was vicious but Marcus had suffered from delusions and poor counsel. The liquid silver had not done anything for him except poison him and his form and bearing were poor because of it. Still, he called forth the enchanted imperial Eagle Armor and his already formidable stats and maneuvers increased in potency.

While this was happening a war broke out in the city, the honorable legionnaires turning on the creedless despots in a surprise attack. The locals and resistance quickly began to help and it was a sure rout.

It was a hard fought battle in the throne room but Marcus fell and with his death the weight of power instantly shifted and we were in essence, victorious.

The fighting in the city was tense but simple numbers and the element of surprise won out in the end. After that it was just a tense peace as the loyalists began to organize the exodus of imperials from Salazhar. They gathered all those who would follow them in an assault on Zleen and Juthe-Wei. There was talk of finding Tyber Zaun and joining with him before hitting Zleen but we at that point had already decided our path lay elsewhere.

We came back to see that House Athak had succeeded in their coup of House Mattaro and took control of Ecury from the previously imperial rulers, it is now firmly in the control of the original noble lineage and they have a strong backing from the people and the surrounding cities.

We stopped at our old garrison to gather the men we were responsible for and came here to gather the last of our people.

There were many more details and encounters that I chose to leave out but that is the general gist of our adventure.”

Six sighed. “Shit. That's crazy.”