The Breaking of Team Stormfront

Nothing is eternal.


Agon is a savage continent, but I took solace in the fact that I had solid friends to fall back on. I had believed that the bonds holding our group together were dauntless. I never would have believed that given the right circumstances, Team Stormfront could implode in only thirty minutes. I never would have believed that we'd go from living comfortably in a lightly war torn city, surrounded by a legion of strong fighters, raking in gold and building up our armories... to entirely dissolving without any hope of reconciliation.

One misunderstanding and it all came crumbling down. The slow rot that had gone unnoticed at the heart of our fellowship was finally revealed, and it was too late.

After the massacre that had taken place during the siege, I was not in the best of moods. Dominion had won the day, in the end, but not without a heavy cost. The ordeal had left me weary of battle. It had done the opposite for Blarggy and, to my surprise, Publius as well.

They had been out on the front lines, far from where I was fighting to stay alive. Blarggy had always had a taste for combat, and now Pub had acquired it as well. Others told me that they fought like men possessed. After the siege, they wanted more war. Unfortunately, Dominion was not providing enough of it. Discontent quietly festered inside them.

Piratejim, Blarggy, and Publius continued to fight alongside Dominion whenever they could. Primarily, the war was at sea. Dominion had the finest navy in Agon, and they used it to secure the massive ocean stronghold in the south waters. Piratejim was living out his dream. By day he was blasting cannons at massive sea monsters, and by night he was leaping from ship to ship, slashing at the enemy and helping to secure Dominion naval dominance.

But this was not what Publius and Blarggy wanted. It wasn't the lack of people to fight, but the lack of prestige. Dominion allowed almost anyone willing to hold a sword to join them. Their ranks were full of the young and unbloodied. When they won battles, it was largely attributed to the number, rather than the skill, of their forces. And they didn't often go seeking out conflict.

Blarggy had more ties to the larger politics of Agon than the rest of us did. He remembered other clans, fiercer clans. He knew the names of revered warriors, and had met and fought with and against some of them. After a month with Dominion, that is the world he longed to return to. But when he brought this up to the rest of Team Stormfront, that is not the way he phrased it.

When a few of us were together, Blarggy proposed the idea of going north to join a new alliance. I was against leaving. I felt no need to seek out even more ruthless individuals to associate with, and I didn't feel my battle abilities were strong enough to get me into one of these other alliances. Pangalactic suggested we wait until Piratejim returned from mining, and we could all decide together. The conversation did not remain civil.

Blarggy planted his feet. "Well, I'm leaving today, with or without you guys. Pub's coming too."

Pangalactic started, "Hang on. Don't do anything yet! I don't even get why you want to leave."

But Blarggy's tone and threat to leave with Publius set off some bottled up resentment inside of me. "You always try to make yourself our dictator! We joined Dominion because of you! And now you want to leave? Again? Why should we even bother?"

"Dominion was good for us at the time, but not anymore. All the good fighters are in the north, not in this massive alliance. And you know, I've been around Agon a lot more than you have! Why shouldn't you listen to me?  Either way, I seriously don't care whether or not you're coming. It's not like you'd make much difference anyway." 

I boiled with rage. The idea of him taking Publius with him, one of my most trusted friends, and the insults, and the power grabs that no one else seemed to mind, I couldn't handle it. Even if Blarggy was often correct, the way he always talked down to all of us, talked down to me, couldn't stand. After a few choice curses to Blarggy, I pulled Publius aside.

In an angry whisper, I said, "Are you seriously leaving with Blarggy?"

"Yeah, of course I am! Don't you want to be elite, Signus?" He laughed. I wish I'd known then that he was just being sarcastic. But my mind wasn't in a rational place.

I shouted with Blarggy, trying to convince him, in the least effective way possible, that everything he wanted could be found with Dominion. He didn't need to ride north across Agon. But our bitter attitudes towards each other bubbled to the surface and took over. With each word out of my mouth, the rift between us grew, until finally Blarggy made his final decision.

"I'm leaving, and I'm taking my equipment out of the clan bank!" He stormed off to gather Publius and I stood there panicking. My distrust for Blarggy took over, and in my mind, I saw him emptying out the bank, leaving us with next to nothing, and riding off claiming that he had been the reason we even had any of those items to begin with. I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I sprinted down the streets of Tugri, knocking aside idle Dominion recruits, making a bee line for the bank. I ripped open the clan vault doors and began loading everything I could into cases and bags, tying them to my back. I was going to deposit all the loot into my personal account and keep it safe until Piratejim could return and talk Blarggy and Pub down. It was at that unfortunate moment that Blarggy walked around the corner with Pub.

"Signus!" Pub shouted. "What the shit do you think you're doing?"
Blarggy drew his sword, "he's robbing the clan vault!" The two of them descended on me, slashing with bright blades. I turned my back to the attacks, shoving as much of our wealth into my bank as I could, before slamming the door. I couldn't get all of it in before a broadsword point went through the back of my throat.


Death took me, and the agonizing process of returning to my body felt all the slower, knowing that Blarggy was making off with our hard earned wealth. And now Publius was likely against me too.

 

When I came back to life, I dashed to the largest building in Tugri, knowing I needed help. I went to the Supreme General of Dominion. "There's been a coup in our clan!" I shouted. "Two of our members have robbed the clan bank and are trying to leave the city with it!"

The supreme general seemed confused. "Wait, who even are you?"
"I'm a general of Team Stormfront, one of the clans in your alliance. I need your help, please!"
He made me slow down and give him more detail, but after a minute or so, I had him and a few Dominion members following me to the clan bank, where we found Publius and Blarggy sifting through my corpse.

Pub looked at the Dominion clan members with narrow eyes. "Signus...what is this?"
"I'm not going to let you steal from Team Stromfront. I've alerted Dominion, and they aren't going to let you leave the city."

Blarggy's eyes lit with fire. "You brought another clan into our business? And you think we're the ones robbing the bank?" He was quivering with rage. I stood straight and put a hand on my sword hilt. Then I looked at Pub. In his eyes I could tell that I'd well and truly lost him. By bringing in Dominion I'd broken some kind of trust between us that even theft and murder hadn't managed to dislodge.

"You idiot..." he whispered. "I wasn't going to leave, I was just fucking with you! But I sure as shit am leaving now. And neither you, nor Dominion are going to stop me."

Blarggy smiled triumphantly. "Good! We'll go north to-"
Pub spun. "I didn't say I was going with you! I don't want to be around any of you right now. This whole thing is mental, you're all mental. I don't care about anything in the vault. I'm going to leave, and none of you are going to follow me."

The Supreme General of Dominion talked to Blarggy and heard his side of events, gave me a withering look and stalked off. I heard him say "...waste of time..." to his recruits.

When Pangalactic returned with Piratejim and Llemon, they found a broken clan waiting for him. After some hours arguing, shouts of "vault robber" and other such accusations, I opened my bank and returned the goods back to the clan vault. Blarggy then took his share, and rode off.

The fissure of anger ran too deep for the remaining members of the clan to ignore. Llemon left not long after Blarggy, and then there was nothing left but for me, Omnigord, and Piratejim to go our seperate ways. With numb fury and disbelief in me, I rode west alone. I went to the land where I'd always be welcome.

Mercia.

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.