The Siege of Tugri

I'd been taught a harsh lesson I wouldn't soon forget. It was going to take much longer to trust people in the future.

Despite this, my ego began to swell a little. I was on the up, in a formidable clan, and becoming a powerful warrior. But after my first siege defense I was reminded that I still had a long way to go.


Initially, Team Stormfront was excited by the prospect of an enemy invasion. We'd have knowledge of local terrain and a fortified position to fall back to if the fighting became too difficult. We saw the looming threat as a way to test our hard earned skills in a massive conflict, to have our fighting mean something. All day we prepared, scouting the best ambush points, arranging our armor and weapons so that we'd have easy access to them.

But the mood in Tugri was not one of anticipation. As the day wore on I started to notice a legitimate element of fear amongst the busy members of Dominion. Just how big was the attack force that was coming for us?

Restless, and without anything more to do, I got on a horse and circled the city, looking for any sign of the enemy. They were still hours away, but still I scouted. Back in the wilderness, I had a brief pang of nostalgia, remembering when I had no city or allies to fall back on, and remembering how strangely thrilling it was to be on my own, hiding from outlaws and sneaking through monster camps.

Was I really cut out for the life of a professional soldier, when I had survived this long as a ranger? I suppose even as a ranger I had fought for Team Stormfront, and it was true that we were all much richer and safer with Dominion. I forced down my doubts and rode back for Tugri to listen to the defense strategy. It would soon be time to defend my home.

After a short assembly with the Dominion Generals, I looked around for Publius or Pangalactic or anyone from Team Stormfront, but they were nowhere inside the city. Had they gone out to scout like I had? Are they laying in ambush somewhere? Before I could find out the leaders of Dominion began to scream and gather everyone together. The enemy had arrived early. They'd somehow slipped by our scouts and were already charging up the causeway towards the city.

I was swept up in the action. Already wearing my mail, I charged out with Dominion, surrounded by people that were still strangers. There seemed to be some sort of internal organization to the charge that I did not understand. Our army thundered out the door and over the walls hoping to catch the siege force unprepared. We stood above them on the high ground and rained down a hundred spells of lightning, necrotic rot, and lances of flame. The enemies scattered for cover and we all hunkered down as the ranged battle began. It became a conservative war of attrition.


My first death that day came when I saw a couple bodies floating in a pond at the base of the fortress. I swam out and began to pull the rare and powerful armor from their corpses. That's when about five arrows struck me in the back. A group of enemies from the main force had noticed me slinking off and came to hunt me down. I didn't last long, even after diving underwater. My lifeless body floated back up and my spirit was hurled into the raging screaming void, on my way back to the find stone.

As always, death was painful, demoralizing, and disorienting, but my blood was still on fire with battle lust. The inside of Tugri, I noticed, was deserted. The fighting had moved away from the city, and it seems our forces had pushed the enemy back. I stood from the battlements after rearming, and saw that there was no one left to fight. Dominion chased the invaders down towards the beach. And that was right when the real invasion force arrived.

They flew over the city walls dozens at a time, with no one to stand in their way. I ducked into a building hoping to shoot them from the windows but they discovered me immediately, surrounded me, and cut me to pieces until all was black.

I woke again at bind stone, without weapons or armor. Dominion was rushing back to the fortress as fast as they could, but they were scattered and leaderless. The invaders cut them down as they came over the walls and soon the bindstone was crowded with confused and unarmed allies.

I dashed off again, scavenging armor from bodies as I went. Finally I thought I was equip enough to start fighting back. I found an Alfar on his own, who was hurling battlespikes into a building, laughing as the flames started to spread inside.

I fired a curse at him and then brought all my strength to bear behind a sword blow aimed at his chest.  He barely flinched as the blow dented his armor. He casually took out his staff and blasted me into the sky with a bolt of fire. As I came down he launched spell after spell into me, wracking my mind with agony and burning my flesh. By the time I landed he only needed one swing of his two handed sword to kill me. I was hurled back into the void.

This process repeated itself again and again and it became clear... I wasn't a match for anyone. Whether it was due to my confused state, from being surrounded, or just outclassed, the truth was that I couldn't kill a single person on my own.

Death followed death, and soon I entirely gave up on fighting. I thought to hurt the enemies the only way I could. I started stealing armor and reagents off the bodies of the fallen, and tucking them into a hiding place. I'd only ever grab a few pieces and safely stash them before dying again, but I managed to build up quite a stock pile. It was a pitiful revenge. The invaders had all come in expendable gear. What did they care if I stole a fraction of a fraction of it.

It wasn't enough. Death. Death. Death. Alfar spells, Ork axes, human broadswords. By the time I lost count of how many times I'd died... I had entirely given up. Dominion had come back in force and the battle was heavy all around me, but I only sat at the bind stone with dull eyes and watched the carnage, without a single care. 

Friends and Foes

(Featuring screenshots from our very own Piratejim!)



Team Stromfront moved south along the coast of Mirdain lands to our new home in the city of Tugri.

I had seen cities similar to this one during my travels, but I had never been inside one. It was surrounded with a curtain wall, with massive defensive cannons mounted upon them. It was a fearsome place, that still had an air of beauty to it. The Elven construction was clear, but unlike the capital, this city was built purely for war.



When we arrived before the city gates no one came out to greet us. "Are you sure we're supposed to be here Blarggy?" I asked.

"It's fine, most cities keep their gates shut all the time. Come over here, we can use a spell to get over the wall." Our party went around the cliff face and found a slanted section. Blarggy fired a spell that made the air swirl. He jumped into the cyclone and it pushed him up into the sky, over the walls.

"Well, what's the point of these walls then?" Pangalatic said before following Blarggy into the cyclone.

Once we'd all made it inside the city, our reception remained chilly at best. Dominion didn't seem to care about a handful of novice fighters joining their ranks, and I certainly didn't blame them for it. There were a dozen of other clans already gathered around the Vault, discussing something heatedly.

We all split up to wander round the city, exploring our new home. It was an expansive place, almost as large as the Mirdain capital. In the center there was something I'd not seen before. It was a large chamber with a glowing orb of blue light. One of the friendlier Dominion folks told me that it's part of a network. From this city they could warp to any other city owned by Dominion, using rare items called portal shards. A very useful bit of magic. And yet, I couldn't help but feel that Agon now felt like a much smaller place. Well, I doubted that I'd ever be able to use such a luxury anyway.

We were still exploring when a voice boomed out from the Vault area, calling all members of the alliance to assemble. We had apparently joined the alliance on an exciting day. Some other clan had hired Dominion to capture an enemy hamlet. We were to ride out in force, meet up with our employers, rip the Hamlet from the enemy's control, and return home wealthier than we left. But things did not go quite so well.




We had a force of about sixty warriors from various clans all riding out together. After meeting up with our new allies we set up on a hill overlooking the hamlet. While we waited some clanmen set up massive cannons. One person even brought out a warhulk; a hovering armored cannon platform.



These seemed to mostly be for show however, because they were soon dismantled and put away again. To me it almost felt like a pageant. There were weapons and armor that I'd never seen before. They crackled with arcane light or reflected the unnatural hues of Agon's twin moons.




Team Stormfront was issued weapons and armor, and more battlespikes to use against the Hamlet. I had never been part of such a powerful united force. In my ignorance, I found myself overjoyed to have been so readily accepted by relative strangers. If I was a cog in their war machine I was at least a well cared for cog.

When the time for the siege came, the enemy didn't show up to defend their home, so terrified they must have been of our might and arms. The Hamlet's stone was demolished in short order by hundreds of battlespikes flying through the air, and ownership of the hamlet was passed along to our new allies. There was some celebrating afterwards, exploring of the new place, and socializing between allies. I was having an amazing time of it, still elated to be in such a powerful alliance.



Blarggy tried to bring us back to reality. He pulled the five of us aside and whispered, "Guys, I think it's time to leave here..."

Pangalactic and I assured him that there was no rush. "Why would we leave? It's our hamlet."

Blarggy shook his head, "It's not our hamlet, it belongs to Archon. And they aren't our allies, they only hired us to help them win it. I think we should slip away before they take notice of us."

But the rest of us were hearing none of it. We figured it was best to stay with Dominion and follow them. We didn't want it to look like we weren't pulling our weight. But this was a mistake.

When the time finally came to leave we mounted our horses and decided to take the scenic route home through the woods and mountains. We weren't in a hurry, so we split up a bit, looking at the rivers, the ruins, the mountains, but always staying within sight of someone else. Not long after we left, Pangalactic rode closer to us and said, "I think there's someone following us." I gazed in the direction he pointed but saw nothing.

"Let's get closer together then, just to be safe." We tried to pull everyone back into a pack but we'd lost sight of Publius and Piratejim. That's when our trackers came into view. I recognized the colors. "Oh, they're friendly, just some folks from Archon."

Blarggy shouted, "No! I already told you, they aren't our allies!" The confused looks from the rest of us just made Blarggy angrier. "They bought us to help them capture that hamlet. We did that. Now, we're just like anyone else. They're here to kill us, run!" He spurred his horse into motion, and after one quick glance to Pangalactic, I followed. That's when we heard Piratejim screaming.

We followed his cries over the hill to our left and reached its crest just in time to see his horse go down in a storm of arrows. Two men on foot then quickly dispatched Redham while four more on mounts galloped in our direction.




I kicked and pushed my mount to go faster. "I can't believe they'd do this, we helped them!"

"Dominion helped them, we're nobody!" Blarggy shouted from ahead of me. "This is how Agon works!"

We had a decent lead on our attackers, and we just had to maintain it until we found Dominion. But then we heard Publius shout in the distance. We veered to the right and crashed through the trees. When he came into view, his horse was barely alive, and two more enemies were blasting firenalls at it. Pangalactic and Llemon charged in and swiped at the attackers from behind, cutting bloody streaks across their backs.

A wave of magic cascaded out of the enemy staffs, surrounding them, and their wounds knitted shut. Pub yelled to us, "Just go! Leave me to them!" and wheeled his wounded beast around to charge at the two enemies on the ground. The remaining four of us formed up again and tried to get back on track towards Dominion's lands. But, our attackers must have known where we were headed, because the mounted men we'd lost sight of were waiting for us. As soon as we came out of the trees we were smashed by explosions while arrows took us from our mounts. It was over for me in seconds, and the last thing I saw was the sneering faces of the men I'd just helped, before a sword was thrust into my chest.

Winds of Change

The guilt didn't leave me, not as the others promised it would. They'd said it was just how the world works, and that the deed would never get traced back to my name anyway. Yet still I knew that the responsibility was mine alone. It was my choice and I had gone through with it.




Days earlier, I had spotted a human on the outskirts of our city. I observed him for a while to see if he was a threat. He didn't seem particularly dangerous. He wore simple clothes and was surveying the land looking for veins of iron to mine. It seemed he'd been at this for quite a while..and that's when the thought entered my head.



Recently I'd become fixated on gathering massive amounts of iron. My vault was full of hundreds of rock shards, ready to be smelted down and turned into armor for the clan. Whenever Team Stormfront ventured out, I'd bring a mining pick with me, spending more time mining than actually fighting.


I was steadily becoming a skilled craftsman. I'd mastered art of making chain mail and scale mail. With some more iron, I might have been able to improve my skills enough to make plate armor. But metal was hard to find, and often times while I was out on gathering trips I'd get hunted down and robbed by raiding parties. But now...

I wondered just how much iron ore he had in that pack already. If I were to take it from him... In truth I'd been thinking it since I first realized what he was doing. I knew right away this stranger wasn't a real threat, but still I tracked him, letting the thought wrestle its way to the top of my thoughts. When I finally did give voice to the quiet idea of murder, my mind flew into a tumult.

He's defenseless!
Yes exactly, this is a dangerous world, I should teach him to be more careful.
But what if I drive him to become a murderer like so many of the others.
A murderer, like I may be?
Well, what if he's stronger than he seems, and I get myself killed?
Then I should call the others in, make sure he doesn't get away.
There's no honor in that...
There's no honor in Agon.


I waited until the man started digging into a new rock pile, and then quietly rushed back to town to consult Publius. Everything he said just reinforced the conclusions I'd reached on my own. Then he closed the door for discussion. "I'm going to go out there myself and try to confront him with or without you. But.. you're right, he might be dangerous. Come with me just to be sure. You wouldn't want me dying out there." I'm sure Publius would have had no problems hunting the man down on his own. He was just playing against my pride to convince me to go through with killing this man. Sighing, I pulled a longsword off the rack and followed him.







Together we crept back to the glade I'd found him in. He was working on a different pile of rocks now, oblivious to his impending danger. Pub ducked in the trees to the north while I approached from the south. I crouched down and inched forward, slowly...quietly...

The man stopped mining and cocked his ear in my direction. He hadn't seen me yet, but the tension was too much for my shaky nerves. I jumped up and charged, scoring a deep cut across his back. With a cry Publius ran in from the opposite side, slashing as he came. Our victim dropped his pick and fled into the trees to lose us.




I stayed behind him, harrying him forward while Publius ran around to cut him off. The man kept sprinting, now and then turning to look at me with bulging terrified eyes. He never noticed that I'd herded him into a clearing, where Publius waited, staff at the ready.




Publius lit up the forest. The the echoing thunder of the spells and the fire was too much. The man panicked, unsure of where to run next. I raised my hand to finish him, but I hesitated. Pub saw me pause and with a solid swing I caught the man on the back of the head. The human went down in the dirt, bleeding out. Publius stood over him for a moment and then drove the point of his sword straight into his heart. With a final cry, the nameless man perished.

"It's just the way the world works Sig." He clapped me on the shoulder and together we started rifling through the man's pack. His pack had a decent amount of ore, but not as much as we were hoping for. Not enough to make me feel good about my part in the day's events.



And so that was my state, numbly forging armor out of my ill gotten gains, mind not on the task, when Blarggy returned to the city with news.

"Well everyone, I know we've talked it before, but it's finally happening. Team Stormfront has found an alliance willing to take us in. They're called Dominion, and they have a well defended city on the coast with plenty of resources within and without. We'll be able to follow them out on missions and get some real experience in large scale combat!" We were all fairly interested in this, but I had some reservations... until he said "Oh yes, andthey have one of the most powerful navies on Agon. So, what do you all say?" A smile split my face, guilt over the recent murder got pushed down for now. I exchanged glances with Piratejim, whose eyes had gone wide as plates.

"Absolutely. When do we leave?"

None of us knew that day that this new forged alliance was the death knell for Team Stormfront.

The First Voyages

The first weeks with Team Stormfront went by in a rush. Everything that I struggled to do on my own became so easy. There was a bounty of reagents in our clan bank, we had weapons and armor to spare, we even began to gather enough materials to start crafting our own wares. Piratejim made weapons, I made armor, Pangalactic studied enchanting, but dabbled in just about everything. Publius took to potions, but soon got wrapped up in a secret project.

Each time we ventured out into the world, there was still the fear of death, but the fear of losing all our hard earned loot was blunted by the knowledge that our vault was full of replacement gear. And so, we became bold.




Using our old raft, we took to the sea and explored all the far off islands we couldn't reach before. Some were plentiful with ore, and I marked these places down for future reference. Such out of the way mining spots were hard to come by. Other islands held small villages or hamlets. We saw one island far away to the east with an ancient Nithron fortress built on top of it, patrolled by reanimated guardians. Atop this castle was a glowing purple portal. I marked this island down on my sea chart as well, curious to explore. But the islands we spent our most time on were patrolled by hulking behemoths called golems.




One morning, Redham and I were out sailing when I spotted one close to shore. I shouted for Redham to steer away. He saw the golem and a familiar madness crept into his eyes. "I bet we could bring it down," he said slowly; already anchoring the raft.

I looked at the huge metal beast, shaking the earth with each step. "There's no way, not with just the two of us. And I'm not abandoning the raft!" Piratejim merely shrugged and hopped into the water. "I'll keep the sails up for a quick retreat," I called after him, but he didn't turn; just continued swimming.



Piratejim had a staff, and some bone and leather armor. Nothing more. Before him a giant hulk of a creature paced about the island. It was three times the height of a human, and looked to be made of a solid mass of seamless metal, in a vaguely human shape. From the bushes, the mad pirate fired off a flimsy manna missle. It impacted the monster, and the fight was on.

I watched in amazement as my ally ran circles around the golem, blasting it in the back at every chance. The golem tried to keep up, and even fired some spells back in return now and then, but they hit the trees Piratejim was ducking behind far more often than Piratehim himself. If he did become too hurt he simply ducked out of sight, or went down into the water for a time. He worked at the golem tirelessly and sooner than I would have expected, the monster was down and Piratejim was jogging back over to the raft with a sack full of materials he'd cut off the monster's corpse.

I was in stunned silence as he took the wheel of the raft and set sail back towards our home. I think I remained so until we were well out to ocean. When I finally came to, a torrent of barely coherent words poured from my mouth, "Fool! Fluke! Luck! Lunatic! Divine intervention!" Piratejim smiled and whistled as we sailed home.






The illusions of the world were beginning to crumble as tasks we once thought impossible were opened to us. Team Stormfront began to regularly raid the golem islands, and reap their rewards. All throughout these excursions, we were rarely bothered by others. The sea was vast, and within it breadth, safety and wealth.



We attacked the golems relentlessly, and drove them back from civilized lands.






The next time we were all back at the Mirdain city we called our home, Blarggy took the resources we'd gathered and crafted them into dangerous new weapons called Battlespikes. "Do you know what we could do with these?" he said, waving the small explosive in front of a very nervous looking Publius. "We can attack some of the coastal villages! If we control of those villages then we can get a nice flow of gold from taxes!"

It sounded like a good plan, one that would take all of us to execute. We geared up in our finest, with our packs full of these spiked metal balls of fire and death. We sailed around Agon, waiting for one of the coastal villages to be left unguarded. After a half hour of scouting we found our target. The village of Eltaria.



Team Stormfront crept silently into the city from different directions, searching for any hidden defenders. Pangalactic gave the all clear and we set ourselves up in vantage points overlooking the central stone of the village. I piled my battlespikes before me and took a calming breath. "You just throw them?" I asked. Blarggy nodded and raised his hand in the air, held it there briefly, and brought it down.

"Fire!"




The sound was deafening as six battlespikes smashed into the stone before us. The ringing had hardly faded before more explosions ripped through the echoes of the last ones. We continued throwing. Bits and pieces of the stone was breaking off. The magical field protecting the village began to weaken. I threw until my arm burned, trying to quickly grab more battlespikes without stabbing my own hand, or worse, dropping any. We were all tense, knowing that the sounds of our attack would bring any murderers within a mile right down on top of us. But we had chosen our village well, none came.




With a final explosion the rock crumbled and the magic field dissipated. The village belonged to Team Stormfront. "Haha! See, nothing to it!" Blarggy shouted. I ran off to look at some of the houses with Publius while the others packed the remaining battlespikes. Most of the doors were locked but one house was open and inside we found a strange machine. It had a slot for gold coins a wheel with rotating symbols on it. Pub tossed some coins in, the pictures whirled, and when they stopped more coins came out!

"Let me try, move move!" I shoved Publius aside, but wasn't as lucky. The machine ate my newly earned money quickly, returning none of it, and Publius tried to pull me off. I had to keep going, pouring more of our winnings into the machine, until I came out with a profit. It wasn't my greatest idea but I was still elated from our victory and I didn't want the day marred by a run of bad luck. Eventually, I managed to come away with more gold won than lost, but the rest of the clan banned me from using the device ever again, said I had a "problem" or something. I don't think anyone actually minded that day; winnings in hand, we sailed for home.