Eternal
Cyrus obviously isn’t going to be caught by something so mundane; you’ll have to do something more elaborate. Like if he thought there were shadow sympathizers on the rise again.
“We’re going to turn this town into a hub of sedition, traitors and shadow sympathizers.” You remark.
Several Eyes including Warrick look at each other and WANT to question why you’d want to do such a thing, but nobody dares say anything though.
“Good, Glad everyone waited for me to continue this time. Cyrus will be more likely to let his guard down if he thinks he has a solid base of operations rather than running like an animal in the wilderness. We need this town to become that base. Now here’s how we’re going to do it…”
First thing you tell everyone is that you’re going to be harassing the people of Bucklesberg to an unreasonable degree. You get to this fairly quickly and perhaps a little too zealously.
You begin an inquisition of sorts to “root out” any potential shadow sympathies. Naturally all the folks of Bucklesburg protest their innocence and swear they’ve never even thought such a thing. Of course you don’t listen and have people executed publically anyway. Wives, children, doesn’t matter, the point is to become hated.
When you feel you’ve done enough damage you call for the Eyes to pull out of the town.
The next phase of your plan is to have someone disseminate subversive ideas in Bucklesberg. You have an Eye sneak back in and start by writing graffiti against the Empire on walls and placing simple pamphlets encouraging people to join Cyrus. You have to wait a couple of weeks before this starts bearing any fruit, but eventually one of the Eyes reports that the town is starting to show signs of rebelliousness.
Meanwhile caravans are still being attacked and you get a message from the Emperor saying that he expected you to have settled this problem a lot quicker as he really wants to get on with attacking the Felkan Kingdom. You begin to get a little nervous.
A couple more weeks pass and nothing major has happened. You had hoped that Cyrus or perhaps one of his followers had gotten the rumors about the town of Bucklesberg becoming unfriendly towards the Empire, but Warrick tells you that he hasn’t seen any sign of Cyrus or his group anywhere near the town. They’re still keeping to the wilderness and making their lightning raids on caravans. As for Bucklesberg itself, there have been a few meetings but not much else.
Your plan is failing to produce results and you get another message from the Emperor which is noticeably more hostile in tone. All it says is you better do something about Cyrus by the end of the week or you are to report back to him immediately. Feeling the pressure you can’t wait out this plan any longer, you’re going to have to attempt to catch him in the act of attacking one of the caravans. Your only advantage is nobody has been defending them for several weeks so Cyrus may have been lulled into a false sense of security.
You and the Eyes travel towards where the supply caravan is and maintain a respectable distance from it and keep out of sight. You travel along side it for miles and there are a couple of Eyes who start wondering if Cyrus is even going to attack it. You know he will though and of course you turn out to be right.
The caravan guard hold their own against the rebel bandits, but as soon as Cyrus decloaks he begins making short work of them. It is at this point Sightmaster Davison orders the Eyes to attack. As the skirmish between the Eyes and Cyrus unfolds, you begin to concentrate. You visualize water and then that water slowly solidifying into ice. The temperature around you begins to get very cold and soon so does the entire area.
It is at this point Cyrus notices you in the distance and realizes that he is outclassed this time. He panics like a true coward and calls for a retreat, but its too late, you utter the incantation and cover the surrounding area in ice. The caravan, the guards, the rebels and the Eyes are all covered in frost that causes most of them to be frozen on the spot.
You run over to the site and see several of the still living shivering profusely and moaning from the pain of frost burn. A few of the hardy have managed to endure the effects of the spell, though they are busily trying to free their feet from ice before frostbite sets in. Others lie dead and frozen, Cyrus is not among them though and you catch sight of him slowly attempting to get away and heading towards a forest. His attempts to speed himself up make him only moderately faster due to the frost covering his body.
You begin to concentrate in the direction Cyrus was heading. Instead of visualizing water, you now visualize fire and much like the small ice storm you created, you now create one of flame. While you’re casting the spell however, Cyrus manages to turn invisible and you don’t see what direction he fled in before your firestorm hits the area.
The forest that Cyrus was headed towards is suddenly set ablaze along with the fielded area near it. However Cyrus must’ve escaped because if he had been caught in the firestorm he would’ve instantly decloaked.
You begin to swear and curse of how you nearly had him while you’re surveying the carnage you caused to your own people. Sightmaster Davison is fully encased in ice, Warrick is only just managing to free himself from his own icy restraints. You were in such a hurry to capture Cyrus that you didn’t think to at least hold Warrick back so he might be able to track Cyrus in case he managed to get away again. That opportunity has been lost now. You and the remaining Eyes head back to the closest settlement which is Bucklesberg where you try to figure out what your next move is going to be.
Its most likely because you’re tired as well as concerned with having to possibly face the Emperor that you don’t appreciate the aura of hostility in Bucklesberg.
You and the Eyes are suddenly pelted with several rocks. Peasants aren’t usually known for their combat abilities, but forming angry mobs and throwing rocks is certainly something they’re good at.
Not that you don’t put up a fight and massacre several of the peasants, but the fact is they’re in a nearly fanatical state and throw themselves upon you like suicidal lemmings thanks to your own actions that made them that way in the first place. Several of them are actually shouting that the shadows will rise again and that Cyrus will lead them.
Your fate is ultimately an ignoble one of being beaten to death in the streets, drawn and quartered and finally your head stuck on a pole along with the remaining Eyes as a symbol of renewed defiance against the Empire.
Later Bucklesberg is razed to the ground and all within are purged for treason. The Emperor doesn’t morn your loss, but rather is angry with himself for wasting his time on someone who he comes to believe was an idiot.
“We’re going to turn this town into a hub of sedition, traitors and shadow sympathizers.” You remark.
Several Eyes including Warrick look at each other and WANT to question why you’d want to do such a thing, but nobody dares say anything though.
“Good, Glad everyone waited for me to continue this time. Cyrus will be more likely to let his guard down if he thinks he has a solid base of operations rather than running like an animal in the wilderness. We need this town to become that base. Now here’s how we’re going to do it…”
First thing you tell everyone is that you’re going to be harassing the people of Bucklesberg to an unreasonable degree. You get to this fairly quickly and perhaps a little too zealously.
You begin an inquisition of sorts to “root out” any potential shadow sympathies. Naturally all the folks of Bucklesburg protest their innocence and swear they’ve never even thought such a thing. Of course you don’t listen and have people executed publically anyway. Wives, children, doesn’t matter, the point is to become hated.
When you feel you’ve done enough damage you call for the Eyes to pull out of the town.
The next phase of your plan is to have someone disseminate subversive ideas in Bucklesberg. You have an Eye sneak back in and start by writing graffiti against the Empire on walls and placing simple pamphlets encouraging people to join Cyrus. You have to wait a couple of weeks before this starts bearing any fruit, but eventually one of the Eyes reports that the town is starting to show signs of rebelliousness.
Meanwhile caravans are still being attacked and you get a message from the Emperor saying that he expected you to have settled this problem a lot quicker as he really wants to get on with attacking the Felkan Kingdom. You begin to get a little nervous.
A couple more weeks pass and nothing major has happened. You had hoped that Cyrus or perhaps one of his followers had gotten the rumors about the town of Bucklesberg becoming unfriendly towards the Empire, but Warrick tells you that he hasn’t seen any sign of Cyrus or his group anywhere near the town. They’re still keeping to the wilderness and making their lightning raids on caravans. As for Bucklesberg itself, there have been a few meetings but not much else.
Your plan is failing to produce results and you get another message from the Emperor which is noticeably more hostile in tone. All it says is you better do something about Cyrus by the end of the week or you are to report back to him immediately. Feeling the pressure you can’t wait out this plan any longer, you’re going to have to attempt to catch him in the act of attacking one of the caravans. Your only advantage is nobody has been defending them for several weeks so Cyrus may have been lulled into a false sense of security.
You and the Eyes travel towards where the supply caravan is and maintain a respectable distance from it and keep out of sight. You travel along side it for miles and there are a couple of Eyes who start wondering if Cyrus is even going to attack it. You know he will though and of course you turn out to be right.
The caravan guard hold their own against the rebel bandits, but as soon as Cyrus decloaks he begins making short work of them. It is at this point Sightmaster Davison orders the Eyes to attack. As the skirmish between the Eyes and Cyrus unfolds, you begin to concentrate. You visualize water and then that water slowly solidifying into ice. The temperature around you begins to get very cold and soon so does the entire area.
It is at this point Cyrus notices you in the distance and realizes that he is outclassed this time. He panics like a true coward and calls for a retreat, but its too late, you utter the incantation and cover the surrounding area in ice. The caravan, the guards, the rebels and the Eyes are all covered in frost that causes most of them to be frozen on the spot.
You run over to the site and see several of the still living shivering profusely and moaning from the pain of frost burn. A few of the hardy have managed to endure the effects of the spell, though they are busily trying to free their feet from ice before frostbite sets in. Others lie dead and frozen, Cyrus is not among them though and you catch sight of him slowly attempting to get away and heading towards a forest. His attempts to speed himself up make him only moderately faster due to the frost covering his body.
You begin to concentrate in the direction Cyrus was heading. Instead of visualizing water, you now visualize fire and much like the small ice storm you created, you now create one of flame. While you’re casting the spell however, Cyrus manages to turn invisible and you don’t see what direction he fled in before your firestorm hits the area.
The forest that Cyrus was headed towards is suddenly set ablaze along with the fielded area near it. However Cyrus must’ve escaped because if he had been caught in the firestorm he would’ve instantly decloaked.
You begin to swear and curse of how you nearly had him while you’re surveying the carnage you caused to your own people. Sightmaster Davison is fully encased in ice, Warrick is only just managing to free himself from his own icy restraints. You were in such a hurry to capture Cyrus that you didn’t think to at least hold Warrick back so he might be able to track Cyrus in case he managed to get away again. That opportunity has been lost now. You and the remaining Eyes head back to the closest settlement which is Bucklesberg where you try to figure out what your next move is going to be.
Its most likely because you’re tired as well as concerned with having to possibly face the Emperor that you don’t appreciate the aura of hostility in Bucklesberg.
You and the Eyes are suddenly pelted with several rocks. Peasants aren’t usually known for their combat abilities, but forming angry mobs and throwing rocks is certainly something they’re good at.
Not that you don’t put up a fight and massacre several of the peasants, but the fact is they’re in a nearly fanatical state and throw themselves upon you like suicidal lemmings thanks to your own actions that made them that way in the first place. Several of them are actually shouting that the shadows will rise again and that Cyrus will lead them.
Your fate is ultimately an ignoble one of being beaten to death in the streets, drawn and quartered and finally your head stuck on a pole along with the remaining Eyes as a symbol of renewed defiance against the Empire.
Later Bucklesberg is razed to the ground and all within are purged for treason. The Emperor doesn’t morn your loss, but rather is angry with himself for wasting his time on someone who he comes to believe was an idiot.
