Eternal
As much as you’d like to kill both Kane and Cyrus, you’re outnumbered and you can’t even be sure if you’d catch them together again in this big fort. Better to escape and come back later better prepared to punish them. Still you’re going to need some sort of gear to survive the cold outside of the fort.
“We can’t just escape half naked like this. We’re going to need some sort of clothing or better yet armor and weapons.” You say
“Yeah, there is a small supply room on the way. It isn’t the main one, but it shouldn’t have any guards by it either. We have to make our way to the kitchen area first, should be relatively empty right now.”
It takes some sneaking around, but Edgar’s knowledge of the layout gets you there with relative ease. When you do get to the room you find some old battered armor and dull weapons. It will have to do. Edgar mentions that there is a garbage dump chute in the kitchen which leads underground, from there, there’s a long tunnel which eventually leads to a dead end with a hidden hatch. He says he’s knows it leads into a forest area, but not much more than that since the battle mage zapped him and he was dragged back by that time.
You and Edgar sneak into the kitchen, but it isn’t completely empty. The cook and a couple of his assistants are there, you and Edgar make quick work of them before they notice you, though Edgar is a little sloppier than you and the assistant that he cuts down knocks over a bunch of pots as he body hits the floor. The clatter is quite loud and you waste no time in looking for the garbage chute. It’s foul and disgusting, but there’s no other option. You jump in and slide down quite easy due to the slimy remains of food greasing the chute.
When you reach the bottom a giant pile of garbage cushions you. The smell is almost overpowering, but you have no time to worry about awful smells as you are attacked by larger than normal vermin feasting through the pile. Your boots squish through the disgusting muck as you swing your weapon to drive away or kill the aggressive rats. Edgar comes crashing down from the chute and helps you.
“Ugh, forgot how bad this place smelled.” Edgar says kicking a rat.
“Guess you forgot about the giant rats as well?”
“No, but I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise for you.”
You and Edgar manage to fight your way down the small mountain of trash and make your way down the tunnel until you eventually get to a built in ladder leading up to a hatch.
“Is this it? It seems like a terrible idea to have this at the fort. Anyone could sneak down here and infiltrate.” You mention.
“Nah, it’s pretty well hidden from the outside, in fact it can only open from the inside. Not like any ogre is bright enough to notice it and a giant certainly couldn’t get down here. Plus it locks shut when you get outside. I think it was originally supposed to be an escape tunnel in the first place, but it looks like it got turned into a garbage pit instead. Come on.”
Edgar opens up the hatch and holds it open for you as you make your way to the cold outside world. You look around and it is just as Edgar said, a forest area with no major distinguishing markers. You see that the sun is setting and use that as a guide for which general direction you need to go. You figure it’ll probably take a few days to get back to Fort Destiny, but you should be able to make it.
You and Edgar walk a good half hour before you realize something is wrong.
“Shhh. You hear that?” you ask.
“Can’t be ogres, they would’ve attacked us by now.”
“It probably isn’t…find cover!” you exclaim.
Several bolts whiz past you as you duck down rolling around in the snow and run in a zig zag fashion getting behind several trees so as to not get hit. Edgar isn’t as quick as you and he is hit by two of the bolts. Not enough to kill him, but if they have that same toxin that you experienced on them he’s not going to stay conscious for long.
The Shadow Guard assailants finally show themselves and jump out of the trees. Edgar is feeling the effects of the toxin, but he struggles to stay awake to defend himself. You find yourself fighting three of the shadows that circle around you. One of them attacks and you grab his arm breaking it in one quick move, when another attacks you, you shove his broken arm friend into his blade. They both fall to the ground.
The third one lands a couple of hits on your back; cutting through the poor armor you’re wearing. You deliver a hefty back kick to his gut and follow up with a spinning swipe with your sword. Your sword’s edge is dull and not sharp enough to cleanly decapitate the shadow, instead it makes a large cruel gash in his neck which spurts blood like a small fountain. The result is still effective and he collapses into the snow. Your other adversary has gotten up off the ground and throws a dagger at you, which you just narrowly avoid. He tries to fight you fairly, but it’s clear he is no match for you and you easily dispatch him. You then finish off the shadow with the broken arm and wound in his belly.
Edgar is still fighting the two shadows attacking him. Under normal circumstances, he’d probably easily dispatch them, but the toxin is having its effect and from the front and back their short swords stab him. He falls to the ground when the shadow behind him cuts at his tendons. You strike your blade into the skull of one of the shadows when he only crumples to his knees, you slam the dull blade on his head again splitting it open and revealing the gooey brains within. The last shadow tries to run away, and climb to a nearby tree in the hopes of escaping you, but you manage to jump up and grab hi dangling legs and pull him crashing to the ground. After a small scuffle you wrap your forearms around his neck and break it.
You walk over to Edgar who is still struggling to stay awake, but he’s fighting more than just the toxin now, his wounds are quite severe. You kneel down beside him, it seems odd for you given your past history, but you feel a sense of sadness.
“He…hey…did you get him?”
“Yeah, Edgar, I got him.”
“That’s… good. I’m sorr..”
“It’s in the past Edgar. Don’t worry about it.” You tell him, as you know what he’s going to apologize for. He then quietly loses consciousness and stops breathing altogether.
After a few moments of silence, you carry on to Fort Destiny without Edgar. You think about all the things you plan to do to Kane and Cyrus if you manage to get your hands on them the entire time you’re traveling back to Fort Destiny.
Eventually you get to a town where you ride the rest of the way to Fort Destiny. Lieutenant Verant is relieved to see you. He says was just about to send someone up to Fort Defiance to see what happened to you. You’d really like to raise your entire force from the fort and march upon Fort Defiance immediately, but you question if you’d be able to take it. Other than the defenses being on full alert now, Kane may have already rallied his ogre and giant allies. It might be best if you report this back to the generals at home. Surely they’ll spare you some reinforcements for something like this, not to mention they’ll need to be warned anyway due to the Shadow Guard revolt that’s already been in planning for quite some time. Still, it could be awhile for you to wait, not to mention they may not send you any at all. All which would be wasted time you could’ve spent attacking Kane so he doesn’t get too dug in.
“We can’t just escape half naked like this. We’re going to need some sort of clothing or better yet armor and weapons.” You say
“Yeah, there is a small supply room on the way. It isn’t the main one, but it shouldn’t have any guards by it either. We have to make our way to the kitchen area first, should be relatively empty right now.”
It takes some sneaking around, but Edgar’s knowledge of the layout gets you there with relative ease. When you do get to the room you find some old battered armor and dull weapons. It will have to do. Edgar mentions that there is a garbage dump chute in the kitchen which leads underground, from there, there’s a long tunnel which eventually leads to a dead end with a hidden hatch. He says he’s knows it leads into a forest area, but not much more than that since the battle mage zapped him and he was dragged back by that time.
You and Edgar sneak into the kitchen, but it isn’t completely empty. The cook and a couple of his assistants are there, you and Edgar make quick work of them before they notice you, though Edgar is a little sloppier than you and the assistant that he cuts down knocks over a bunch of pots as he body hits the floor. The clatter is quite loud and you waste no time in looking for the garbage chute. It’s foul and disgusting, but there’s no other option. You jump in and slide down quite easy due to the slimy remains of food greasing the chute.
When you reach the bottom a giant pile of garbage cushions you. The smell is almost overpowering, but you have no time to worry about awful smells as you are attacked by larger than normal vermin feasting through the pile. Your boots squish through the disgusting muck as you swing your weapon to drive away or kill the aggressive rats. Edgar comes crashing down from the chute and helps you.
“Ugh, forgot how bad this place smelled.” Edgar says kicking a rat.
“Guess you forgot about the giant rats as well?”
“No, but I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise for you.”
You and Edgar manage to fight your way down the small mountain of trash and make your way down the tunnel until you eventually get to a built in ladder leading up to a hatch.
“Is this it? It seems like a terrible idea to have this at the fort. Anyone could sneak down here and infiltrate.” You mention.
“Nah, it’s pretty well hidden from the outside, in fact it can only open from the inside. Not like any ogre is bright enough to notice it and a giant certainly couldn’t get down here. Plus it locks shut when you get outside. I think it was originally supposed to be an escape tunnel in the first place, but it looks like it got turned into a garbage pit instead. Come on.”
Edgar opens up the hatch and holds it open for you as you make your way to the cold outside world. You look around and it is just as Edgar said, a forest area with no major distinguishing markers. You see that the sun is setting and use that as a guide for which general direction you need to go. You figure it’ll probably take a few days to get back to Fort Destiny, but you should be able to make it.
You and Edgar walk a good half hour before you realize something is wrong.
“Shhh. You hear that?” you ask.
“Can’t be ogres, they would’ve attacked us by now.”
“It probably isn’t…find cover!” you exclaim.
Several bolts whiz past you as you duck down rolling around in the snow and run in a zig zag fashion getting behind several trees so as to not get hit. Edgar isn’t as quick as you and he is hit by two of the bolts. Not enough to kill him, but if they have that same toxin that you experienced on them he’s not going to stay conscious for long.
The Shadow Guard assailants finally show themselves and jump out of the trees. Edgar is feeling the effects of the toxin, but he struggles to stay awake to defend himself. You find yourself fighting three of the shadows that circle around you. One of them attacks and you grab his arm breaking it in one quick move, when another attacks you, you shove his broken arm friend into his blade. They both fall to the ground.
The third one lands a couple of hits on your back; cutting through the poor armor you’re wearing. You deliver a hefty back kick to his gut and follow up with a spinning swipe with your sword. Your sword’s edge is dull and not sharp enough to cleanly decapitate the shadow, instead it makes a large cruel gash in his neck which spurts blood like a small fountain. The result is still effective and he collapses into the snow. Your other adversary has gotten up off the ground and throws a dagger at you, which you just narrowly avoid. He tries to fight you fairly, but it’s clear he is no match for you and you easily dispatch him. You then finish off the shadow with the broken arm and wound in his belly.
Edgar is still fighting the two shadows attacking him. Under normal circumstances, he’d probably easily dispatch them, but the toxin is having its effect and from the front and back their short swords stab him. He falls to the ground when the shadow behind him cuts at his tendons. You strike your blade into the skull of one of the shadows when he only crumples to his knees, you slam the dull blade on his head again splitting it open and revealing the gooey brains within. The last shadow tries to run away, and climb to a nearby tree in the hopes of escaping you, but you manage to jump up and grab hi dangling legs and pull him crashing to the ground. After a small scuffle you wrap your forearms around his neck and break it.
You walk over to Edgar who is still struggling to stay awake, but he’s fighting more than just the toxin now, his wounds are quite severe. You kneel down beside him, it seems odd for you given your past history, but you feel a sense of sadness.
“He…hey…did you get him?”
“Yeah, Edgar, I got him.”
“That’s… good. I’m sorr..”
“It’s in the past Edgar. Don’t worry about it.” You tell him, as you know what he’s going to apologize for. He then quietly loses consciousness and stops breathing altogether.
After a few moments of silence, you carry on to Fort Destiny without Edgar. You think about all the things you plan to do to Kane and Cyrus if you manage to get your hands on them the entire time you’re traveling back to Fort Destiny.
Eventually you get to a town where you ride the rest of the way to Fort Destiny. Lieutenant Verant is relieved to see you. He says was just about to send someone up to Fort Defiance to see what happened to you. You’d really like to raise your entire force from the fort and march upon Fort Defiance immediately, but you question if you’d be able to take it. Other than the defenses being on full alert now, Kane may have already rallied his ogre and giant allies. It might be best if you report this back to the generals at home. Surely they’ll spare you some reinforcements for something like this, not to mention they’ll need to be warned anyway due to the Shadow Guard revolt that’s already been in planning for quite some time. Still, it could be awhile for you to wait, not to mention they may not send you any at all. All which would be wasted time you could’ve spent attacking Kane so he doesn’t get too dug in.