Panthos, the loyal aid of Duke Ruthope, sat on his black stallion warhorse surveying the scene before him.  The rumors were true; the Arkess Desert was closed off by a raging sand storm.  However, this storm was different. It was more like a hurricane that didn’t move.  The wall of moving sand stretched far out into the ocean, only the lands outside the desert seemed fine.  The rumors said that it had already been like this for several weeks.

“Send the scouts out,” Panthos ordered, “They are to go one day in and come out.  Have them report if it is safe for us to travel through it.”

Panthos had been given command over this portion of the Dukes army.  But he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to go through the storm safely.  He was even more concerned about Ruthope City.  It was Duke Ruthope’s seat of power and located in the northern part of the desert along the ocean.  The north part of the desert that meet the ocean was the only land worth having.  The Ruthope family had built their foundation here because of the abundant resources of both the ocean and sea.  Being so close to water also made it the only habitable land.

Getting to Ruthope City wasn’t the only problem.  If he wasn’t able to bring back word of Ruthope’s Duchy, then he could be the one left out to hang.  He had been in the capital when everyone got the notification of the defeat of the .  Longdale was part of this duchy, so was immediately sent with troops to assess the situation.  Along the way, he received several communications from the lords of the territory, but most reports seemed inaccurate to wildly inaccurate.

“Set up camp, we will wait to see if the way is passable,” Panthos said with a frown.

The whole situation was wrong.  A demon invasion, swords falling from the sky, and a spawn zone in his land spreading.  Discerning truth from fiction was hard.  Only the information of the demon invasion could be trusted as it came from the .  The rest?  It was hard to believe that a sword the size of a tower fell from the sky, much less a newbie zone spreading.

His troops were not many, merely two hundred.  But this was nearly the entire force the Duke had in the capital.  After all, while staying in the capital, the Duke couldn’t bring a large force as it would be considered treason. 

There was another hundred or so that followed after him, that tended the camp and served as squires.  A normal army wouldn’t have so many, but these were his elite, and they required more attention and less menial work.

Six days later in Panthos’ command tent.

“If we send out any more scouts, we won’t have any left!” an advisor said.

“But Ruthope City is still two days away in that sandstorm.  We must confirm if it is still safe and if the people need supplies,” Another responded.

“Two days through that storm and we may not have supplies.  Going through that storm would most likely lead to our death.”

“Then what about the duchy?!  Are we to abandon a whole section of the kingdom because of a storm?”

“Enough!” Panthos said.  “What we can and can’t do are two separate things.  None of the scouts have returned.  If they are still alive, it means that they can’t return.  If they are dead, then we cannot do anything more for them.

“We will split up the troops into two.  One group will stay here, and the rest will go back to the capital.  The Duke can’t be without his men for too long.  If the storm subsides, I will send a message to the Duke immediately.  Hopefully the Duke will be able to request an audience with the king.”

Another asked, “But hasn’t the king not been seen in years?  Will the Duke be able to see him?”

“This storm poses a national security risk.  I’m sure the king will see the duke for this.” Panthos responded.

***

Geonar Capital of Riwa.

When Duke Ruthope heard the news he headed straight to the Artemer Court, the court of dukes.  Duke Ruthope was a tall, thin man with dark beady eyes and black hair.  He almost always wore an open-faced helmet to cover his receding hairline, but in court he wore a silly hat that his wife insisted was the current style.  A long cape draped over his back.  It was black and white quartered with his heraldry of a shield and tree in the center.

Ruthope entered the Artemer Court.  The stone walls were covered in expensive woods, both stained and lacquered.  It was segmented into four sections, each one about a Duke.  The heraldry and colors of each Duke dominated their part of the room.  Each part had a tall dais that contained a throne-like chair behind an ornate desk.  These all faced towards the middle of the hall while clerks and attendants swarmed all around them.

Holding up the tall ceiling were marble pillars on each side of each dais.  The pillars created a circle on the ceiling which rose up into a dome made out of stone.  Great artistry went into the stonework of each piece of the dome making it a magnificent view.

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Light poured in through the tall pointed windows that reached from the ground to the ceiling.  Small panes of glass were carefully arranged to create stunning geometrical patterns.

Magical inscriptions were placed on the floors, walls, pillars and even the dais’. They were not merely for the protection of these great people, but also for their comfort.  The room always had an even temperature and speaking from the dais could convey words any direction the speaker wished.  These inscriptions also connected them to the kingdoms only Metropolis Stone.  The capital Geonar was a metropolis.

And this room ruled the kingdom.

Riwa has four dukes.  Duke Ruthope ruled over the southwestern area of the kingdom.  In the absence of the king, the dukes ruled over Riwa.  None of them trusted the others to allow anyone to take full leadership.

The other dukes smirked or sneered as Ruthope entered the room.

“I heard a small storm has cut off your Duchy and that the men you sent were too weak to get through the storm,” said Berkry Duke of the North.  He had the most troops as his land bordered the most dangerous territory.  The capital was also situated inside his duchy.

Ruthope knew that if he let these dukes have their way, they would spend an hour talking nonsense just to slander his duchy. So he cut to the chase before the others could put in their words, “This is no small storm.  Not only has it barred me from my lands, but it has cut all communications off as well.  This storm is a threat to Riwa and the stability of our country.  I need to see the king.”

To see the king at this time, one would need the approval of at least three dukes.  That meant Ruthope needed only two to agree.

Duke Jermal spoke next, “Since when is a storm a national emergency?  It sounds like you are just trying to bother the king with small matters.  It is your duchy; you should handle the situation yourself.”

Duke Jermal was Ruthope’s neighbor to the east and south of Geonar.  Jermal’s lands were respectively the safest out of all the dukes and king’s lands.  It was the largest provider of food, but little else.

“Not a national emergency?  A whole section of our kingdom has been cut off, and it’s not an emergency?  If this is not an emergency, then what would ever qualify as one?” Ruthope asked angrily.

“Your Duchy has the least value and the lowest in development.  With the raging beast tides in the north, how can we spare our effort on a storm?  What can we even do about a storm?” Countered Berkry.

“Are you forgetting about the whole demon invasion?  The lands will have been ravaged and even if the was killed, there could still be other demons roaming the country!” Ruthope said in aggravation.

“How is that possible?  Have we not received any reports of this?  You are making a small matter into a hill.”  Jermal said.

“We haven’t received reports because there is a storm blocking the way!” Ruthope nearly yelled.

“What is the use of continuing this?  Duke Berkry and I will not agree with you, so there is no hope that you will be able to see the king.  Besides, even if you did see the king.  What could he do against a storm?”

Ruthope knew that aside from sending a massive amount of troops there wasn’t a lot that the king could do.  However, the king could order the Court of Wizards.  Something the Artemer Court could not do.  The storm was not a natural phenomenon, and it was possible that an Archmage could do something about it.

Wizards were a strange group of people.  They were hard to deal with and often lorded themselves over everyone.  Getting one to move would require resources that he did not have access to.

Unless…

Duke Ruthope remembered that there was an old stone shard that contained strange magical powers that the Kingdom held.  The Court of Wizards had wanted it for years to study.  But it was held in lockdown by a chain quest, and no one knew the quest starting point.  If he could change that quest to make it available to the Court of Wizards, then he would be able to gain their help.

It would take time, a lot of time, but he had little else he could do to solve the situation.  First, he would need to contact an Archmage.  Then he would need a plan to convince the other dukes.

***

One month later, the Dukes were meeting over the upcoming Elitist Completion.  Every ten years this competition took place to find the top figures among the different classes.  It was a spectacular battle that set many Advanced and Elite Classes against each other.  The winners of this competition would often become Titled in the future.

“Now that the venue has been prepared, we should discuss the prizes.”  Duke Ganish said.

Ganish was the Duke north of the Jermal and had a lot of trade with the Dwarven race to the east.  He was a small man with a round belly and even more bald than Ruthope.  His head was small which only made his figure look even more round.

“Just use the same prizes as last time,” Berkry said with a distasteful expression.

Ganish looked at Berkry strangely.  Ganish was a business man and knew how to win or pay people well.  Berkry was just a knucklehead of a warrior.  Thinking more with his muscle than his head.

Ganish replied, “The class prizes can remain, but the main prize should be something special.  Having the same prize twice would be more than inappropriate, it would show that Riwa was becoming stagnate.”

“Fine, fine!” Berkry was exasperated by this process already, “What do you have in mind then?”

“I was thinking about the .  It’s a unique item of our country and would cost us nothing.  After all, it is just sitting in our treasury with no use.  A simple quest change can be placed on it, and we could create a win/win scenario.”  Ganish said with enthusiasm.  Ruthope had given him this idea, and he latched onto it quickly.  It was exactly the thing he liked, saving money in a creative way.

“What?! The ?”  Berkry was now the one with a queer look on his face.  “An Archmage might want it, but no one else would.  You may as well keep the old prize.  It would do less damage to our image.”

“Duke Berkry is right,” Ruthope joined in.  Now was the time to make his enemy his friend.  “How about we use the as the Wizards category prize and the money that we would have invested into that and put it into creating something even greater as the grand prize!”

Berkry smiled at this and Ganish seemed pleased as well.  All was going according to plan.  Ruthope and Ganish worked well together, and the other two Dukes had not noticed it at all.

“And what would the grand prize be?” Jermal asked.

“With the resources for both the grand prize and the wizard prize, I believe we can make a !”

“A ?!”  Jermal said in surprise.  “Then you were able to contact…”

“Yes.  I had other reasons to contact him.  But if I bring this up, I believe that he could create a for us.”  Ruthope said.

A !  The Dukes were all beaming with smiles and thoughtful expressions.  Even the attendants had stopped their work in surprise.