The interior of the fort is also in complete ruin, just like the walls are, I can’t seem to find a single structure or even object that's not damaged, there's also a massive number of corpses present.

Just from a cursory glance, all of the bodies seem to belong to Arthian defenders but a good number of them are burned or badly mutilated so they could also be Rovers I guess.

I mean all I’m really using to tell the difference between the two factions is clothing and weapon choice, Arthians wear hoods and Rovers wear cloaks, Arthians use polearms primarily and Rovers seem to favour using swords.

Now that I’ve evolved I can even sometimes spot little serpents stitched or coloured onto the Arthian fabric and armour, if I evolve just a little more I’ll be able to more easily identify friend from foe.

Oddly enough the first thing I really notice isn't the corpses, it's a small collection of barrels which are pilled against the wall, each one of them has at least one jagged hole from which dried red paste leads down to the ground.

This wasn’t a conventional attack, if it was why would they destroy the wine barrels instead of taking them back to their camp or drinking them in celebration?

A force capable of taking this fort had to either have incredibly good intel alongside a few powerful elites or just pure overwhelming force, in both cases, they should have been capable of casting aside their caution to have a drink or two.

There's no way they were disciplined enough not to do that when most of their armies are made up of bandits, mercenaries and tribesmen.

Still, maybe this was a more conventional attack with them using outsider troops instead of their own soldiers, I can’t just use these wine barrels as my only source of evidence, I have to keep looking for more.

The barrels are just a minor focus of the attacker's wrath, what the invaders really seem to have focused their rage on is the single massive central building, a ‘keep’ I believe is the term for it.

But the memories I have are quite foggy, so maybe it's something else?

In any case, it's a half done enormous structure overlooking this entire fort, it’s also the main structure the Rovers vented their rage at.

I can’t even tell which areas are still being constructed from the areas that have been demolished.

The whole building is a complete and utter mess.

A mess that the soldiers are beginning to dig through, scampering inside of it through cracks in the more broken segments of its walls.

I could fit inside of it but that would leave me quite vulnerable if we got attacked, I mean these humans can’t even beat a piece of wood, there's no way they could hold off an ambush long enough for me to get out and dispatch the aggressors easily.

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No the smart choice which, I’m going to be doing, is to move around the keep and investigate the other structures instead.

Malgazars already starting to move around the left side so I suppose that means I will head right.

Carefully moving down the right side I approach the closest building, it’s rectangular and I imagine it's a small stable for some horses, or at least was, presently the roofs completely caved alongside two collapsed walls.

Drawing closer I examine the still standing walls, trying to spot any scratches or marks, or anything really that can help explain how the building got destroyed.

There's not really anything I can see other than some blood splatters on the wall, so I move on to the collapsed parts.

Yet again I can’t find anything conclusive, there aren’t even any signs of burn damage which is weird considering a lot of the corpses are…Oh right, fire mages.

So the attackers had fire mages burn the defenders while collapsing the buildings so they didn’t have anywhere to retreat to? Or worse, buried them alive.

Wanting to confirm this theory of mine, I slowly poke my head through the collapsed wall, there aren’t any dead bodies though.

Neither horse nor human carcass litter the floor or is buried under rubble, there’s just a bunch of crates and chests submerged in the remains of the roof.

With nothing left to look at I depart, moving towards the second structure, this one is more circularly in shape, perhaps it was meant to be a watch tower once it was done being constructed?

Striding towards it I freeze as I spot a human leaning on the doorframe, she has a spear and wears a hood so she's probably one of ours, but I never noticed any of my allies go in this direction

Inching my way towards her I prepare myself to pounce in case she’s not one of my allies, oh how I wish I had paid more attention to what they all looked like, it’s not my fault they all look the same to me.

They need some variety instead of the standard and almost identical weapons and uniforms they wear, then again is it even a uniform or does all their clothing look the same because of the environment and materials used?

Questions for another day, at least now that I’ve drawn closer to her I’m able to resolve my suspicion, she's an Arthian soldier, why else would she wear a serpent symbol on her leather chest plate?

Feeling relieved I decide to leave her be, she can investigate the tower while I scout out some other buildings.

Walking around a small pile of charred corpses I head towards the next closest structure, a half constructed house of sorts.

If it was finished I think it would have been a barracks.

Before I can reach it though I see Malgazar roam around the corner, how did it get here so fast?

Did my creator not give me the correct orders? Or were we just given different ones?

Hearing some yelps and crashing noises I turn around towards the breach which we used to enter the fort, spotting a swarm of rugged humans entering.

In a split second, I get ready to charge them before they’re able to get back into formation but I pause as I notice that they all have polearms, these are our soldiers?

Evidentially I must have misheard what my creator ordered me, she couldn’t make mistakes after all, but I hope the situation just changed and that I haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t want to make her feel embarrassed.

Standing perfectly still, I patiently wait for them to enter the fort, once they’re all inside I’ll get back to investigating the area for clues.