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I just decided I don't want Cobalt to fight with Dulcien after all, so I'm going to get rid of him the only way I know how:
By means of awesome.
Get ready. Things are about to get very, very interesting.
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DULCIEN'S FORTRESS - FINAL COURTYARD
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Alex scanned his surroundings. The attention was mostly on the navy now, which meant that they had no time to linger. However, he didn't doubt some attention wasn't going to focus on them. They would have to get in fast, strike hard, and keep the alarm to a minimum. Best case scenario; they take down all enemies and make it to the sanctum without alerting any more attention. Worst case: they are deemed the larger threat and are immediately surrounded.
“Stay near the walls.” Alex advised, “But don't go against them. We don't want them to surround us, but we also don't want to get cornered.”
The group approached the large, fore-boarding obsidian doors. They were very thick and heavy, and the large padlock on the front fastened between two giant hooks meant the only way in was forcibly.
“We'll split into three groups.” Skyrate instructed, “Cover each other's backs. Timrak, Natalya, and I will keep to the shadows on the left atop the wall, getting around the enemy. Alex and Tenshi take the right, and Karmadin follows behind. Momsrascal and Jason follow us to the left, but hang back and keep yourselves separate from my group so you draw the attention away from us.”
Momsrascal groaned as she shifted into position with everyone else.
“Just so we're clear: in 30 seconds, I want us in a triangular formation surrounding the courtyard.” Skyrate summarized. The heroes understood. They readied themselves.
“Hey, Alex.” Tenshi whispered, “What happened to that bird thing?”
“I told it to hold back and give us air support should things get dicey.” Alex whispered back, “The fact that he's kept himself hidden all this time is pretty impressive.”
“But what if he bailed out on us?” Tenshi asked.
“Doesn't matter.” Alex replied, “We weren't expecting him as an ally anyways. So long as he doesn't rain fire on us, I don't really care what he does to pass the time.”
“At the ready?” Skyrate asked, and Alex and Tenshi snapped back to attention. He got seven nods.
With a powerful blast of energy, the doors were blasted open, and the smoke was barely able to start clearing when all eight heroes dove in with weapons out at the ready. Alex took a brief moment in mid-air to analyze the surroundings. From what he could see through the smoke, the courtyard seemed to stretch nearly the size of the Tower of the Star's courtyard. The ground was a dark, onyx-colored tile, messily interleaved and missing whole patches from small craters that likely resulted from powerful bursts of magic.
It was surrounded by a fairly low wall; high enough to climb quickly provided there weren't any distractions and low enough to jump down from without hurting himself. The wall itself was covered in thorny stone barricades from both sides to keep the occupants covered should they be attacking or defending the courtyard.
Their timing and coordination was flawless. Alex and Tenshi had their weapons out, back to back, covering Karmadin who held his bow up and ready to fire. Skyrate, Timrak, and Natalya leapt up the left wall, and Jason and Momsrascal covered their ascent while covering each other's shoulders from both sides. All 8 heroes leapt out of the smoke cloud, stormed into the courtyard...
And right into a platoon of almost 4 dozen black demons, lined in a crescent atop and below the wall on the other end of the courtyard, all aiming crossbows with bolts larger than their legs right at them. In front, a large group of vyrevolves charged forth once they had their long-desired visual.
Alex didn't even think. Reaching out with majiya, he yanked the great doors behind them off their hinges, flung them forward, and slammed them upright into the ground in front of their two groups just in time to take a volley of shots so powerful they nearly disintegrated.
“Suppress them!” Skyrate barked.
Karmadin and Natalya opened fire and Alex hurled blasts of lightning at the demons. But despite their comrades falling one by one, the demons rushed their reload and began charging forward. They were not one bit afraid to die. The second volley came at them, and they were forced behind their crumbling improvised cover.
Listening carefully, Alex timed his attack from behind the cover. Once the first vyrevolf's head appeared from in front, his spear went right through its head. The second one was dashing so fast it literally clambered overtop its fallen ally and leapt forward, spinning in the air and frantically scratching its claws on the tiled ground to get back at Alex. Instead, Timrak lunged at it and cleaved its skull in half with his sword, slamming the ground underneath. Fortunately, making loud clinging noises was no longer a concern.
Another duo of vyrevolves jumped over the cover. Alex caught one by propping his spear upwards and letting the vyrevolf skewer itself into the weapon. Ducking to the side, Alex grabbed the shaft of his weapon sticking out the other end of the volf, yanked it clean through, and slammed the hilt down on the second vyrevolf's leg, trapping it for Timrak to decapitate it with a powerful uppercut.
Momsrascal caught a vyrevolf with her swords crossed in front and thrust them apart, slicing its jawline. Two more came in from both sides, and knowing she wasn't alone, she jumped to the left and focused her attention on one. It leapt at her with claws and teeth out, but she had the reach with her swords. One crossed in front to catch both claws, and the other went upwards through its jaw, ending it. As expected, she heard a loud crunching sound as Jason smashed his blade against the other vyrevolf's helmeted skull.
“Volley!” they heard Skyrate shout from midway up the wall behind them. Thinking fast, Jason dove back behind cover while hurling the vyrevolf corpse at Momsrascal, who caught it with her own corpse and held them both outstretched in front of her.
*THAPPA-THAPPA-THAPPA!*
It was sheer dumb luck that the bodies and their armor were enough to stop the shots. Freeing her swords and heaving the weight aside, Momsrascal retreated back to the cover.
Skyrate's group barely made it to the top of the wall when it was suddenly covered by vyrevolves, coming from the courtyard and the surrounding skies. It was fortunate that they decided to stick together; the wall confined the enemy enough to make them manageable and provided them cover for the longer ranged enemies. Slowly, they cleaved through the charging masses.
The ground was an entirely different story, however. The demons had scattered themselves, trying to get around the cover. Forced back by the overwhelming advance, the heroes had to pull back behind the cover. The triangle in 30 seconds just wasn't going to happen.
Alex pulled his spear free from the two vyrevolves he somehow managed to impale at once, but he was forced back down to cover. Two groups came around from either side and dashed at them.
He had no choice. There was just too many coming at them.
“Cover me!” Alex shouted. He crouched behind the thickest part of the cover and focused his energy to his symbol. He hoped a minor spirit-summon would help even the odds here. Just like his spell-summon, it was a gamble at the expense of a sizable chunk of his energy. Nevertheless, he would be calling forth extra hands. Helpful or not, if they could at least distract the enemy for a bit, it might give them a chance to regain their momentum.
*THUNK!*
But it couldn't be done! Alex instinctively leapt into a roll as a large bolt cleaved its way through the cover, missing Alex's head by inches. His focus lost, he reequipped his spear and regained his footing.
Four vyrevolves sailed over the cover in an overwhelming blitz; all of them with a sword either in their claws or their teeth. On either side, Jason and Timrak caught the two on the sides, and Alex charged forward with his spear. He dove to the left, spinning his spear upwards and clashing it against the sword one vyrevolf had in its mouth. Unable to overwhelm it from his current foundation, Alex let the creature pass over him, and instead drove the hilt of the weapon into the other vyrevolf. It struck the side of its shoulder and threw it off-centre, and it crashed onto the ground.
It was quick to rise back to its feet, but its ally was quicker. Alex swapped grips on his spear and drove the tip forward towards the first vyrevolf, who nimbly leapt to the right in an attempt to catch Alex in between them. Alex tried a second jab, but it jumped back. Jason, already occupied with his own three opponents, managed to twirl his sword around at the volf to momentarily get its attention, and Alex took advantage of the moment to regain his footing and morph his free hand into the same spiky mace he once used against Dulcien.
The second vyrevolf attacked, and Alex fended it back with his spear shaft. The beast turned its side to take the expected blow of the mace with its armor, but Alex never swung it. Instead, he spun it over his head like a flail and it spat out large, glowing balls of energy like a fountain into the air around them, where they hung in place. The attack complete, Alex's hand reverted back to normal and gripped the spear with enough force to yank the volf over and upside down.
*PWAACK!*
A large crossbow bolt pierced through his shoulder, partially splashing his enogan material around. Even if Skyrate called it, he didn't hear the warning, so he had no idea it was coming. He felt it as though it pierced his skin, and his flinching was enough for the volf to roll back onto its side and, sliding forward, sink its teeth into Alex's leg.
*PHZZAP!*
Running a strong electric current through himself, Alex fried the vyrevolf in a heartbeat before it could follow up by impaling him with a dagger. Cringing with pain, he stringed out his leg a bit so it passed out of the dead creature's petrified jaw without causing scrapping. Not that it mattered to enogan, anyways. To ensure the beast was dead, Alex double-tapped it by flipping his spear around in one hand and driving the tip right into its spine.
Not forgetting the first vyrevolf, Alex yanked his spear out and dove to Jason's side, landing in a roll, impaling one volf in the back, and heaving it around to throw at another of Jason's targets. To follow it up, Alex coordinated his earlier fountain of energy into the air and with a downward thrust of his palm, the dozens of bright shining balls of energy arced up and rained down upon the demons. Despite the small blasts of electric energy blowing away tiles and dirt, only three of the demons took any damaging. They were just too well-armoured.
He turned back to the battlefield just in time to see six more vyrevolves flying right at him. Two more giant bolts whizzed by his head after he ducked down. Unfortunately, their covered was so whittled down that he had to crouch down on his knees just to keep his head from being a target. Jason, having completed his hustle, ducked down with him, and were quickly joined by Momsrascal, Timrak, and Karmadin.
His mind raced. Was there anything he could do? He could barely keep up with two of the creatures under cover against all this demon-fire, and now he had to take on six with their cover on its last legs. He didn't have time to focus on a spirit-summon, and any more discharges like that would hinder him for the battle to come.
His thoughts trailed back to that creature named Cobalt he met in the sky. He had told the creature to stay hidden and he would signal it if he needed the assist, but that was really just to make sure it didn't start any more trouble for them. He wasn't at all intending on giving the signal after all. Now, he was driven to the point where he dared to actually fulfill this promise. This was an even worse gamble than the Spirit-Summon; he had no idea what the creature would do once it figured it was allowed to go berserk.
Maybe Alex had a strong gambling spirit, or maybe he just figured himself lucky. Either way, he didn't think any more on it. With as much effort as he could muster, Alex heaved his spear straight up and slammed the end of the hilt down onto the tiled floor thrice. Three loud, rapid *PANG* sounds were heard by all.
And before the echo could return to them:
*CRRWWWEEEEEYYAAAAAAAAAAR!*
An explosion of light erupted overhead as the skies suddenly burst into a maelstrom of bright blue fire that lit the fortress ground to the brightness of day. Its raging fury stunned everybody in the courtyard, and before they had a chance to catch their breath, the courtyard was hailed upon by giant fireballs that crashed with the force of meteors, tearing away at the ground and leaving great charred craters in their wake.
The demons regrouped and turned their crossbows to the air, and the vyrevolves already in the air dove back to the ground to avoid getting fried by the maelstrom.
The six vyrevolves that were bearing on the heroes suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. A loud series of *SPLATS* were heard a split-second later on the wall behind him, and Alex shuddered to even think about looking. Instead, he focused on the enemies ahead. He had to admit, the strange creature was giving them good support.
But Cobalt was not about to settle for just that.
It flickered through the battlefield at blazing speeds. Sometimes there appeared to be a dozen of it, and sometimes it seemed to vanish entirely. All the while, it was either laughing maniacally, singing in an unknown language, or babbling in the heroes direction about book covers and turtles.
When it did appear, there was death in the most extreme ways imaginable. It threw a vyrevolf into the air and, with whip-like arms, tore it apart into two large piles of giblets on either side before it could land. He tore off a demon's chest plate, melted it into a slab of molten metal in a flash, and slapped it on the demon's face where it stuck and suffocated it. It tossed a vyrevolf into the air and spun its tails around into its torso so fast that they sliced it into thin slices as it fell, which were then set on fire and thrown like flaming discs at other enemies.
Cobalt rocketed at one demon so fast it didn't even have time to raise its weapon in defence. It jammed both claws into the demon's mouth and pried it open twice as far as it should've gone with a sickening cracking sound. Partially melting into a lava-like fluid, Cobalt leapt up and literally dove into the demon's mouth in the blink of an eye. Its body burst into uncontrollable blue flame that fried it inside its armor, and it could do nothing but scream as its arms, no longer in its control, routinely shot and reloaded its crossbow against its own comrades.
Two vyrevolves and four other demons fell before the victim exploded on its own into ashes and fragments of metal armor, revealing the twirling, upside-down Cobalt, caught up in a dance of some kind. Immediately, it was enveloped in a whirling twister of molten stone as the ground erupted around it and rose into the air.
Alex didn't dare try to get its attention. Tell it to watch for the crossbow-wielding enemies behind it. Tell it to stop and have some mercy on said enemies. He had fought the creatures before, and he had fought this particular one before, but this was nothing like he had ever seen. For the first time in a long time, Alex felt a pang of fear well up in him.
The remainder of the enemy force surrounded the twister, keeping a distance. They fired bolts and threw rocks, but it only seemed to make the twister spin faster. However, just by looking how the core of the storm was beginning to glow a piercing white, everybody knew exactly what was going to happen in the next 5 seconds.
“Take cover!” Skyrate yelled.
Nobody needed second telling. Skyrate's group dove behind the barricades on the wall and the rest of them made do with whatever cover they had left of the obsidian doors. For extra safety, Alex moulded most of his body into a large, curved plate and stretched it around them like a shell. None of their enemies had cover. Their mistake.
*SHA-BOOOOOOOOM!*
Alex felt the heat off his shield and was pushed back several inches. Above them, the sky was completely obscured by a blast of devastating inferno. For what felt like an eternity, they crouched as low as they could possibly go, trying to will themselves to go deeper into the ground.
And just as suddenly as it happened, it stopped. The blast was so bright that none of them could see for the first few moments. Aside from the low, dust-kicking gusts of wind, there wasn't a sound to be heard around them. Even the sounds of battle on the sea seemed to have halted, giving way to scary, uncomfortable silence.
Alex peeked out from above his shield and was presented by a gigantic cloud of smoke that prevented him from seeing his hand in front of his face. Confident that there wasn't going to be any more, he shook off the ashen char and morphed his shield back into his arm. Gradually, it began to disperse, and with some coughing and covering their mouths with handkerchiefs or parts of clothing, the heroes rose at the ready again in case anything survived the final burst.
But it wasn't necessary. Not only did Cobalt destroy everything in the courtyard; he destroyed the courtyard itself. The crumbling walls leaned backwards, exposing several holes and gaps in the stonework, and Skyrate's group were forced to jump down because they were unable to traverse them. What was left of the tile-work dotted the edges of the giant, ash-filled crater. Bits of metal and splinters were splattered against the walls, and there wasn't a single physical body or bone to be found anywhere. There was nothing left of the courtyard doors or the hundreds of bolts that were once embedded in it; they had served their purpose twice over.
And when the smoke finally settled, they saw the creature lay peacefully on its side in the middle of the courtyard. It was curled up with its knees to its head and its wings overtop like a blanket, and its flaming blue skin was dimmed down to a flickering glow.
And it was snoring loudly.
The heroes slowly regrouped in a stunned silence. That was beyond what any of them were expecting. The world around them was incredibly quiet, and just their footsteps alone were enough to make Momsrascal flinch. After several moments, they began to hear the sounds of cannonfire and yelling in the distance, and a chorus of dragon roars echoed from several miles away.
Finally, Skyrate broke the silence by grabbing Alex by the collar and heaving the enogan warrior right at his chest. Everyone jumped.
“WHAT... the... #@!%ING... @$!%... was THAT?” Skyrate almost screamed at Alex. As much as he wanted to, he didn't dare try to stick his blade into the creature's brain to end that potential for world annihilation, so he had to get his rage out somewhere.
“I... DON'T... KNOW!” Alex answered in the same tone and volume. He was just as petrified as the rest of them. Not just at what they had witnessed and not just at the thought that this was all his fault, but at the sheer possibility this yelling was going to wake the creature up and start the chaos all over again.
A civil conflict was only going to cripple the heroes, so Skyrate released him without another word. Besides, it wasn't as though he backstabbed any of them. Aside from a few wounds and burns to share, none of them were in any serious conditions.
The heroes stared at the sleeping creature for what seemed like an eternity.
“Should we... wake it up?” Momsrascal asked.
“Yeah, uh... no. Let's not.” Karmadin unanimously voted.
They walked around Cobalt, giving him a very large, safe distance, and approached the foreboding sanctum doors. They never seemed so far away.
“Like it or not, it did just save our hides,” Alex mused aloud, shaking his leg out to null most of the pain, “And not only that, but we're also still in pretty good condition for the battle that matters.”
Skyrate took a deep breath. There was a buzzing of agreement among the warriors.
“He's right.” he said, relaxing, “We've got more pressing matters on focus on at the moment. Heroes, at the ready!”
The event was thrown in the back of their minds. Their weapons were out, and they regained their combat focus. Skyrate stepped in front of the large sanctum doors. They were even bigger than the courtyard doors, with and greater frame and even more intricate carvings, and were no doubt much thicker and heavier. It was going to take some effort just to get them open.
But not nearly as much for what lay ahead for them.
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UNDERWATER
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A glimmer of light through the murky waters attracted her attention. Fearing they were finally being attacked, Elise held her fire and looked towards the source. There didn't immediately seem to be anything approaching, but there was a flickering sort of light flashing in the shapeless fog.
“Taking a break?” Michael taunted, launching a boulder into the air, “You're not going to beat my hit-count at that rate!”
Elise ignored him. There was something in the water, reflecting light at them. It could be a spell or an underwater enemy, like a shark.
Then she saw it.
“Hey, Michael.” Elise piped up, “Look at that!”
Michael sighed, “I'm not falling for that. You're trying to distract me so you can raise your kill count.”
“No, I'm serious!” she whispered pointing, “Look!”
Deciding to shame on her if she really was trying to trick him, Michael briefly glanced. However, to his surprise, he was rewarded with physical proof that she did indeed see something interesting in the murky waters.
A large, smooth, round shape was drifting slowly through the water, drifting through the salt water. Judging by how it moved offset the current flow, they figured it had to be alive. The light was reflecting off its shining, transparent skin, and its only sign of movement was its long, finned tail flipping up and down, pushing it forth. Sometimes its four legs pushing out from below its body, twirling it around to turn it slightly. Slowly and gradually, it sunk down several yards away from them until finally settling down at the foot of the first few protruding underwater mountains.
Michael charged up an earth spell and waited to see what it would do. But the creature lazily passed them by, and he lowered his hand.
“Probably just a sea monster or something.” he shrugged, “Never seen them before because we're hardly ever down here.”
Elise slowly nodded, but then spoke up again.
“Yeah, but... don't you think it looks familiar to you?”
Michael looked again. It was sinking below a large crevice made from a volcano splitting open underneath the surface of the water. A small cloud of black mud was kicked up below it.
“Forget it.” Michael said, turning his attention back to the air, “It's ignoring us. Focus now.”
Elise agreed, peering over one last time after one more distraction. Then, deciding that the dull grey flashing coming from the crevice was all in her mind, she focused extra-hard on trying to beat Michael's kill count.
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???
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Analyzing current scenario:
Alliance - attacking party: based primarily of scattered naval forces. One flagship, two primary ships, several support frigates. Attack pattern focused primarily on long-ranged capabilities. Defence pattern mainly armor reliant. Heavier ships complement longer ranges.
Alliance - stealth party: based on small elite force. Utilizes small size to confuse and undermine enemy while enemy discards as threat compared to fleet. Strategic advantage based on strength behind stealth party; deviated defences may permit weaknesses that prove fatal through exploitation.
Enemy - land-hewn fortress: based on extensive naval defensive measures both applied and provided. Cannons; mainly portable. Used to focus on directional force. Negative consequence a considerably poor range, despite commonplace land defence tactic of devoted long-ranged capabilities. Unable to fully utilize in long-range bombardment scenario.
Enemy – air-based militia: based on fleet of several small infantry opponents. Good evasive measures against poor naval anti-air capabilities. Can also overwhelm and potentially conquer ships, turning them against naval fleet. Fully utilized in long-range bombardment scenario.
Synopsis – alliance unable to approach fortress due to coordinated naval defences. Possible motive; to exhaust air forces until possible substantial push. Tactic ineffective; air forces overwhelming and crippling.
New synopsis; attack fully relied on stealth party. Naval fleet primary objective to divert main forces from land. Air forces a primary threat for detecting and confronting stealth group. Utilizing attractive large-scale weakness proves advantageous. Tactic effective.
Analyzing present situation:
Naval forces midway through bombardment run. Ammunition still plentiful. Given current attack rate and disregarding opposing influence, provided distraction may continue for approximately twenty-one minutes, thirty-three seconds.
Caution: enemy air forces gathering for massive assault. Forming groups for precision attacks. Keeping focus through smaller sacrificial parties. Calculating flight vectors... given best-case reaction timing, ships will be assaulted and overwhelmed in approximately six minutes, twenty-nine seconds.
Initiating anti-air support measures. Time delay; five minutes, forty-six seconds.
Preparing now...
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NORTHERN PLATEAU – SITE OF THE MAHJARRAT RITUAL
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Last time he was there with Alex, he had bundled himself up with furs thick enough to insulate himself against the bone-crumbling breath of Ice Strykewyrms, but despite the furious winds and relentless chill of the weather, he found himself considerably warm during the watch. Deciding that he wasn't going to be there for quite as long this time, he bundled up with a lighter set of leather. Specially treated cow hide, sewn together with thin steel wire to cover up the majority of his limbs, wrapped together with several bands of what he guessed was fox fur (he found it in Alex's workshop, guessing it was some kind of herblore ingredient).
Viewing his reflection in the ocean as he sailed over it, Nuli thought he looked a bit like a fremennik with the garb. He wondered if they would accept him as one of their own if he wandered over.
Under cover of darkness, he landed in the deep snow and kept his head down, taking shelter behind a large cluster of rocks that removed him from view of the nearby fortress. The relic marker stood right in front, about a 30 second dash away, illuminated by nothing but the one candlelit window on the upper floor. Despite the light, the window appeared lifeless.
Around him, he smelled the stench of rancid meat, and it wasn't long before he caught a glimpse of the source. With green flames for eyes, the undead watchers of the cold scoured the field on bony rotting legs, keeping an eye out for any intruders.
Nuli frowned as he peeked out from behind the rock to get a closer look. Zombie Broavs? Why undead pigs, he wondered? Did they actually maintain their sense of smell after death?
He had not seen them before during the ritual. By what it appeared, they were on some kind of roundabout pattern, so they couldn't be there because of a simple curse. They had to be the ground keepers to the site, risen to supervise the battlefield and prevent tampering during the 500 year wait for the next fight. He would have to avoid them; stay upwind, and work his way around the marker. Like a hunter keeping out of detection from its pray.
A sudden loud snorting from behind made him leap. Caught with his back against the rock, he found himself staring eye to eye with a Broav that took a keen interest in him. Or rather, it was there to begin with; he just didn't see it because he was too focused on the surrounding area. Holding his breath, Nuli could do nothing but stare in fear as the Broav eyed him down, illuminating his body with a pale green light. It stepped back, gave one loud snort...
And then it wandered off, taking more interest in a nearby tree husk.
Nuli was confused. Surely if it was a watcher, it would've seen him as an intruder. It should've squealed an alarm, or held fast and kept him within sight as backup arrived, or at least cast a teleportation or binding spell on him or something.
Nuli watched as it repeated the same motions with the tree, decided it was equally as uninteresting as a White Dragon, and disappeared behind the rock Nuli had previously hidden behind. His senses refined from the sudden adrenaline rush, he could then swear he heard a distant roaring carried by the wind. A familiar sound.
Dragons! There were dragons nearby. So that's why it ignored him. They were apparently not “set” to consider dragons, in general he imagined, to be a threat. They were natural creatures, and for some, this was perhaps their natural habitat. No sense in calling an alarm for something that's already coexisted with them for quite some time, seeing as they would have no reason to desecrate the grounds anyways.
While that made things simpler, he doubted any proper-thinking minds would have the same idea, so he had to stay cautious. Keeping one eye on the fortress and the unlit windows (movement would be revealed through peripheral vision), he crept out from behind the rock under the cover of darkness and sprinted silently towards the marker, passing by another Broav and confirming his theory when it barely even made eye contact with him.
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