00:10
Flash returns to New Ivrea and gets Euvgeni's message about the return visit to Miris. He persuades Damalanthas to transport him to Rotan. Afterwards, the bard returns to New Ivrea and, feeling oddly restless, retires to his private chambers.

06:45
Inura the Short, curator of the Rotan Museum, notices that all of the Dragon Paintings have been stolen from the Museum. She alerts the Palace.

08:43
Iluria transports Veros, Euvgeni and Flash to Miris and then returns for two priests from each of the Church of Artafor and the Temple of Rotan. The team's objective is to ascertain if King Ter-shai is still alive and find out if any part of the city is still functioning. The group cautiously begins to explore the elven capital.

09:00
Damalanthas meets Harmony for breakfast. The pair discuss the running of New Ivrea and swap favourite restaurants. On a more serious note, Damus asks the halfing if she will put out some feelers to see if anyone knows anything about the disappearance of Joranth's body.

09:02
The away team in Miris is attacked by a pair of horned flying beasts. The creatures have a twenty-foot wing-span and fire busts of energy which detonate large areas of ground around the team. One of the priests is seriously injured before the group manages to find shelter in a partially collapsed building.

10:48
Damalanthas visits the standing armies near New Ivrea. He discusses command logistics and the army's mobility with the troop leaders, intending to report back to the Council.

11:02
Artak and Wanwier spend time with Sepyt Niam in the Rotan City Zoo. The elderly priest questions the twins about their captivity in Miris and asks about their plans for the future.

11:20
In New Ivrea, Harmony starts making discrete enquries about Joranth's body.

12:11
After moving carefully through the near-deserted city, the Miris away team reaches the remains of the palace. Nearby, they discover that King Ter-Shai is still alive. The King and his family were rescued from the palace by the same group of woodsmen Flash and Euvgeni met a few days earlier, including Flash's cousin, Lorias Lynch-Shai.

The elves plan to leave the city and travel northwards, but the King injured his leg during the escape, so they have been waiting for him to recover first. The priests in the away team are able to heal King Ter-Shai.

Flash discusses the events leading up to the appearance of the strange creatures in Miris with the elven King. King Ter-Shai seems very angry with himself for being tricked by his brother, and from his description of his brother's actions, Flash and Euvgeni begin to suspect that Jorune used magic to influence the King and perhaps others in the elven capital.

When Flash (somewhat tactlessly) suggests that this might have been the case, the King (somewhat surprisingly) agrees, and says that at one point he suspected that someone was magically influencing some of the other nobles. However, when he asked two of his most trusted wizards to investigate they could find no evidence of magic at work at all.

Their discussion moves on to the royal treasury, and Flash is pleased to learn that most of the elven national treasures were moved to a secret location a month earlier, when strange creatures were first spotted near the city. The King is surprised to learn that Flash, Euvgeni and Damus found some treasures still in the Palace and he suggests that they were perhaps stolen and then hidden by Jorune.

13:10
Damus runs some of the New Ivrean troops through a selection of illusionary maneuvers.

13:40
Tekuna travels to Feroll for a meeting with Lars Gouldin (one of the Elders of Feroll). They discuss the potential for RMA facilities in the city to assist with Feroll's war readiness efforts. The pair also talk about the promotion of Feroll as a regional hub for specific crafts, skills and products.

16:28
Souriin teleports to Pirs (once again breaking the law). He wishes to procure some precious metals for the Project's magic circle. Although it already late in the day, the Raven Mage begins approaching his contacts in the city.

17:01
Soren Estra -- known to many as "Birch" -- is deathly tired. For many months, the druids have spun their rituals and tapped the power of the Runic Lake to keep the Troll Gate shielded.

The toll has been high. Two days ago, they lost both Grucor and the dwarf Alderik. Yesterday, young Millas had gone, pouring too much of his own essence into the complex shielding spell, and paying the ultimate sacrifice for his mistake.

Now there are simply too few of them left to be able to maintain the spell. It has been days since any of the druids slept. It is simply a matter of time.

He feels it moments before it happens -- the crack opening, slowly at first and then rapidly as it escapes their control. Most of the druids are able to detach themselves from the spell in time, but not all are so lucky. An elderly woman screams wildly as her essence is drawn out of her body. It is over in just a moment, and her withered corpse drops into the the mud at the edge of the lake with a muffled plop.

Birch sobs. They have failed. Help has not reached them in time.

The Troll Gate is open.

17:01
Alone in his chamber, Belimirar plays with a small crystal, eyeing it cautiously. With the central "soul" crystal deactivated, he decides to risk an experiment. He focuses on the crystal and tries to awaken the strange mind powers he has experienced before.

He drifts pleasantly for a short while, and then feels a strong tug. Almost instantly, he finds himself in the middle of a light snow storm, gazing down across a icy waste. Standing in scattered groups across the plain are ugly loping ogres. Here and there are taller figures -- what seem to be trolls coated in shaggy, brown fur. Many of them carry mighty swords.

At the end of the wind-whipped expanse is an impressive sight. Towering over a busy group of smaller, white-furred trolls is an enormous arched structure. In the harsh artic light, the arch shines brightly, its crystalline form reflecting in all directions.

As Belimirar watches, a change passes over the glittering arch. Within it, a deep blue vertical disk has appeared. One of the white trolls chatters and whistles, drawing the attention of a towering mottled-green troll. The green troll examines the archway, and begins to bellow loudly across the plain.

Within a few minutes, the other trolls have taken up the bellowing cry, and it echoes across the snow-bounds wastes. The trolls rapidly form groupings close to the archway and the deep blue gate within.

At some unspoken signal, the trolls armies begin to march directly into the archway. Once they reach the blue disk, the first trolls vanish from sight. This causes no hesitation in the remaining trolls, and rank after rank march rapidly into the Troll Gate.

As Belimirar struggles to make sense of everything he is seeing, he feels an ominous and deeply threatening presence nearby. He tries to stop the vision and return to his own body, safe in Rotan, but the new presence has him firm in its mental grip.

Belimirar feels his body being squeezed. Pressure pushes in on his ribcage and his skull. His left arm snaps under the force and waves of agony pass over him. The pressure increases, there is another snap and he feels his right lung fill with blood. Belimirar begins to suffocate. As his vision blurs he feels the pressure on his head intensify. Struggling against the pain, Belimirar feels his skull plates crack, and his eyeballs burst.

Then, thankfully, his torment is over and he feels nothing more.

19:48
A force of more than one thousand heavily armed trolls attacks the western side of the City of Simipia, home to some nine thousand people. The Simipians are taken completely by surprise and the initial loss of life is staggering. The trolls ruthlessly butcher everyone they encounter. Some people manage to flee to the east, but many more remain trapped inside buildings or on the streets and at the mercy of the trolls.

20:03
Word of the invasion reaches Jess Farstrider, in the Eastern Sector of the City. She uses her Manticorum blade to alert Damalanthas.

20:04
Damus contacts Thoylin, Roleen and Burr using his Manticorum blade. Next, the bard notifies Euvgeni, Tekuna, Souriin and Panagiotis of the invasion using the message tubes.

20:06
Tekuna uses her Chain of Transport to return to Rotan. She places the RMA on Warfooting, and the organisation begins executing its emergency procedures.

One set of key RMA documents is placed into a waiting Bag of Holding and evacuated to Pirs. The remaining set is placed into a storage facility next to a furnace ready for rapid destruction if the city should fall.

The RMA's Communication division immediately ceases all operations except those of utmost importance, to ensure the reliability and availability of messages. All Field Agents are instructed to assume independent control of operations for a period of at least a week.

20:07
Souriin contacts Project Deathwatch. He orders the Circle to drop all of their other duties and assemble.

20:08
Thoylin gives King Anwell news of the invasion.

20:11
Damalanthas has a brief meeting with Thalakos and some other key people in New Ivrea.

20:13
Euvgeni and Flash discuss the latest developments with King Ter-shai and with the elven Prince and Princess. Although Euvgeni believes that it is important to secure the elven city as best as is possible, the King disagrees. With great sadness, he says that he thinks it is time for the elves to leave their ancestral home, at least for a while. He says that there is little value in defending a deserted city and that the elves' best course of action is to regroup farther north, and return to the city once they have rallied their forces.

Flash invites the King to join the alliance formed at New Ivrea. King Ter-shai, with tears in his eyes, accepts this invitation and very humbly indeed, apologises to the two Lords for the elven nation's failure to help its neighbours in recent years. He promises that while he still draws breath, the elven kingdom will give its full support to the Council of Ivrea.

After this very positive discussion, Euvgeni and Flash decide to travel north with the King's group, and return to Rotan with Iluria the following morning.

20:14
Souriin teleports to Rotan, and goes to find King Anwell.

20:15
A courier finds Harmony and gives her news of the attack on Simipia. She heads for the HPC's regional office.

"And I tell you," Harmony continued, "that I have never seen somebody climb a tree so fast!" The dwarf laughed, and took a swig from his beer. "Ah! It's good hear that"

At Harmony's side, a young courier cleared his throat. "Harmony Sweetsong?" he asked.
"Yes?" she replied, a quizzical look on her face.
"A message." The courier handed her a sealed parchment, before turning and leaving the pub.

With a shrug and a smile at the dwarf's questioning look Harmony opened the parchment and looked at the contents. The smile dropped, she looked up, clearly troubled.
"Sorry, I have to go," she murmured, "may your beard grown long and gold glitter". She stood up and Figleaf jumping down from the top of the bar to her shoulder. "Yivaan" she called to the barkeep, "I can't perform this evening."

A few minutes later, Harmony strode down the cobbles of New Ivrea, her back-pack on her shoulders.
"I wonder how long this is going to last" she wondered, as she hastened to the HPC Regional Office. As she walked in, she saw several strained faces.
"Meeting Now" she ordered without pause, and barged on into the Head Office. The halfling behind the desk jumped as the door opened. Harmony waited a few seconds until everyone had entered.

"From the looks on your faces, you know the news already," she started.
"You know your jobs, so do them. Move the condition up to orange with immediate effect and when there is a general announcement move it to red."
The halflings all nodded and started to get up.
"However," Harmony continued, "not a word about this until it is announced. You know who is in charge and you know your positions. If you require me, I will be with Damalanthas, if there are important dispatches I want to know about them. Other than that, act as you see fit. We have prepared for this -- time to batten down the hatches ladies and gentlemen!"

Leaving the office Harmony stopped and looked at the guard for a second. She made a small sign, to which the guard almost imperceptably shook his head.

Taking a deep breath, Harmony headed out in search of Damalanthas. For more than an hour she wandered up and down the halls, watching as people scurried around. Finally, she saw him, at the other end of a corridoor, standing at a window looking out at the city. Hurrying she caught up...

20:17
Tekuna tranports to Meldora to check on the safety of her parents. It is the first time for many years that she has visited them, and the meeting is fairly tense. Tekuna offers them sanctuary at New Ivrea, but they seem reluctant to leave the comfort of their home in Meldora and are not convinced that there is any real threat to the city.

20:18
Damus retreats to the calm of the dreamseat in his private chambers and picking a known location in the west of Simipia (outside a building previously owned by the House of the Roaring Tiger), he uses Clairvoyance to watch the trolls in action.

Although it is difficult to make out much of the activity, the bard notices three different types of trolls. The most common are shaggy brown coloured creatures, many of which are armed with massive swords. These trolls seem to be attacking terrified Simipians mostly with brute force, but the bard is shocked to see one grab a well-armoured warrior and seemingly melt open his armour (and then his chest) with some sort of corrosive liquid excreted from its hands.

Less common are smaller white-furred trolls. These seem to work in tight groups, and all of them are adorned with crystals of some sort. Damalantha watches one group position a large crystal disk near the wall of a building. Moments later, some sort of ray shoots outwards from the disk and hits the building wall. The wall vanishes, and without its support, one side of the building collapses completely.

Damus also sees two mottled-green trolls. Larger than either the brown or white varieties, the greens seem to be leaders. Damus is convinced that he sees one give commands first to a group of whites and then to a lone brown who is busy feasting on the remains of a small child.

20:19
Harmony places the HPC on "condition orange", and goes to find Damalanthas.

20:20
A page sent to alert Belimirar finds him slumped over his workbench, in a pool of blood. He is alive, but badly wounded. Dried blood cakes his nose, ears and mouth and his breathing is weak. A priest is called to try to provide aid.

20:22
Souriin helps to direct the flow of emergency traffic in Rotan, assisting people to move to safety shelters.

20:25
Simpian troops frantically construct a fire cordon along the banks of the river. Two bridges are deliberately destroyed to stop the trolls from reaching the eastern side of the city.

20:30
A general alarm is sounded at New Ivrea. Oil cauldrons and tar pits are fired up. The city takes on a reddish glow from all the firepits. The HPC moves to "condition red".

20:45
A steady flow of refugees starts leaving Rotan, heading towards Draco Farm, and the safety of the University.

20:48
Jess Farstrider rallies the Simipian Musketeers into a heroic stand against the trolls at the Bridge of Dwarves, cutting them off from the eastern side of the city, at least temporarily.

20:50
The Western Sector of Simipia is over-run by the trolls. From rooftops in eastern Simipian, buildings can be seen collapsing on the opposite side of the river. A large fire seem to have engulfed several buildings to the north.

21:09
En route to the Druid's Conclave, Owen and Oorak pass over what is usually empty farmland near Rotan City. Owen is startled to see ordered troops assembled below. Very cautiously, the two avians move closer.

They soon realise that Rotan is in grave danger -- almost five hundred trolls are assembled in the field. Worse, at the edge of the open area stands a huge deep blue disk, almost invisible in the low light. Out of this disk marches a continuous stream of the gangly bipeds. The disk is slightly over ten feet in height and a similar width.

Owen watches carefully and counts against his heartbeat. Thud-thud, thud-thud. More trolls appear. Thud-thud, thud-thud. More trolls. The pace is alarming, Owen estimates that four hundred more trolls will pass through the portal within the next hour.

Oorak seems very nervous around the monstrous army, and after a sudden sharp gaze at the pair from a green-hued troll, Owen decides not to stay any longer.

21:12
In the fields between the trolls and Rotan City, Owen casts Spike Growth several times. He covers close to 2000 square yards with thick spiky growth, taking care to spread the effect out over an area likely to be in the trolls path if they move towards the city. Then he and Oorak hasten to Rotan to warn the city about the trolls.

21:26
Harmony finds Damalanthas. The bard is taking a break from his efforts to observe the trolls, and is standing at a window looking out at the city.

21:28
Owen reaches King Anwell and gives him news of the troops massing near the city. Thoylin contacts Damalanthas and using the message tubes and the Manticorum blades, the Lords of Rotan agree to have a brief tactical discussion in a few minutes time.

21:31
Damus tells Burr to place Griffon Keep on full alert and gives instructions for the country-side surrounding New Ivrea to be scanned -- both manually and magically from the Seer's Tower.

21:40
The Lords of Rotan discuss how they should proceed. Damus suggests that the armies on maneuvers near New Ivrea move to pincer the troll army between themselves and Rotan. He also suggests that the University try and divine the nature of the translucent disk. If they can sense its energies they may be able to tell where it will appear next.

Euvgeni suggests targetting the portal with maximum firepower using spells like firewall and fireball. As a back-up he recommends an immediate strike on the trolls before there are too many. Harmony suggests that logs soaked in flammable material could be dropped on the portal.

Artak suggests that a team should be sent to enter the portal from this side. He suggests that one of the trolls could be skinned to provide a disguise, or alternatively that an invisibility spell be used to provide cover.

Damus says that he is willing to lead a group of mages against the portal in the early hours of the morning. He needs at least two mages that can fly and cast fireballs and spells providing protection from magical missiles.

21:53
Souriin makes Muspell invisible, and sends him to scout out the number of assembled trolls.

21:55
Damus suggests to Harmony that she and the halflings join the unit known as the Bard's Own. The two adventurers travel to these troops, where Damalanthas gives a rousing speech and slices off his ponytail of hair to add to the banner of the Bard's Own.

The Bard's Bannerman

The soldiers were crowded around the fires. Just this afternoon, the troops had been out in the field. It had been a chilling sight seeing the illusory images of trolls streaming over the hills. They had all thought themselves prepared, but the news from New Ivrea forced each soldier to re-evaluate his training. It had begun, the trolls were really here.

Burch observed his foolhardy fellows around the campfire. They formed the core of the unit known as the Bard's Own. They were reckless in their pursuit of glory, believing that song and history would remember them well; that their images would adorn the Wall of Heroes; and that ageless songs of their deeds would remind the Gods to reward them kindly. Burch believed none of it, and he didn't think the Bard did either. He feared death, but he feared fear more, and he had never succumbed to either.

They should all have been soundly asleep by now, but each man imagined his death in the darkness beyond the fire.
"Doom! DumDum! Doom!" Burch lurched to his feet as the bass sound vibrated through his body and the ground.
"Doom! DumDum! Doom!" the drums' heartbeat sounded again. Every soldier was on his feet and moving to the middle of the camp. Lord Damalanthus stood on the officer's podium, his hands relentlessly beating the strange drums.
The drums stopped.
"Soldiers of Ivrea, the enemy is here," the golden voice resounded through the camp. "He comes to plunder and pillage what our generations of toil have built. They will try, but they will fail! We will ensure that." Not a sound was heard across the camp as all eyes watched the Lord. He in turn surveyed the army.
"You carry my hopes and dreams. You carry the future. But the time for pretty words is over! This is a time of change." Without another word he reached to his belt. Burch watched in amazement as he pulled out his manticore dagger and sliced off his tail of hair.
"Death to them, Glory for us! We have trolls to hunt!" Amidst rousing cheers Damalanthas hung the two foot braid from the standard before handing it to the army.

Burch did not know why the standard had been passed to him. He did know that until he died neither it nor the pretty braid would ever lie in the earth. He resolutely buried his fears. Yes, people were going to remember them for a long, long time.

---

Harmony cheered with the rest, but behind her facade of eagerness, a cold knot settled in her stomach.
"Most of these men will die," she thought, "and all know it".
From Harmony's hood, Figleaf peeped out to see what all the noise was about. His eyes settled on the drums. A second later, he left her shoulder and raced down towards the ground.
"No you don't," smiled Harmony as she grabbed him by the tail, "not today, and not those drums. After all, it might spoil the ballad."

She turned to Harriod Tumbleweed, who was sitting scribbling on a piece of paper. "Give these men a meal to remember," she said.
"Of course," replied Harriod, "aren't all my meals memorable?"
"But nothing so heavy that they feel sleepy..."
"I am a master chef, here is an ingredient list."
With a glance, Harmony looked at the list. Her eyes widened at some of the ingredients. "Good luck in finding those," she muttered and signed the writ.
"Oh don't worry about that," smiled Harriod, "a certain little spice lady loves me an awful lot". With that he turned and walked towards the cooks' wagon, yelling orders to his helpers.

22:01
Jess Farstrider reports that the trolls have breached the fire cordon and have begun attacking the rest of Simipia City. She is in tears as she tells Damalanthas that she does not think that Simipia can be saved. She fears that the death toll will skyrocket over the next few hours.

22:04
As Muspell approaches the area where the trolls were assembling, he alerts Souriin that they have already started moving. Some 800-odd trolls are marching towards Rotan City. They will reach the city walls within half an hour. [The trolls are ±3 miles away]

22:05
Owen and Souriin discuss the refugees fleeing to Draco Farm. Owen is concerned that the trolls' path may cross that of the fleeing citizens. Souriin agrees, and redirects the stream of frightened families towards the West and Mine Gates, in the direction of Nedgari and the mines. The North Gate is closed. Owen uses Wood Shape to fuse the gate shut.

22:06
Units in the Rotan Guard move into defensive positions along Rotan's East and North walls. Fallback positions and additional barricades are hastily bolstered inside the city.

22:07
Throughout Ivrea, and beyond -- in Outreach, Waterloaf and even Miris -- halfling signal fires have begun to burn. Whereever word of the invasion has spread and little people live, a signal fire is lit.

Harmony climbed the stairs, finally reaching the top. All around beneath her lay New Ivrea, spread like a blanket along the valley. The guard spared her a glance, looked as if he was about to ask her something but gave up and returned to his watch. Beneath her the city lights twinkled, such a calm sight, no inkling of the tension that was running through the city.

In the distance, Harmony could see the warning beacon burning. If all was working as planned, every village and hamlet from here to Feroll would know by morning or the next day by the latest that the invasion had started.

Looking at the city, by far the brightest spot was the HPC office, from every window candles burned as the members scurried arranging everything from supplies to coal for the fires. "Tomorrow everything starts" she thought, "Windows need to be boarded up, horses and other animals must be moved to safe pasture and I need some sleep".

Musing, Harmony hurried down the 200-odd stairs and towards the HPC office to put more plans into action and to make sure that everything was running as it should.

22:09
Sepyt and Rue Niam of the Holy Temple of Rotan, Lurik Mien of the Church of Artafor and Mother Nari of the Shrine of the Earth perform a special blessing ceremony in the Rotan Central Market. They bestow the joint blessings of Rotan, Artafor and Egreera on the City of Rotan and on those that would protect it. [Game effects: Until sunrise, anyone within two miles of the city centre whose primary goal is to protect the city gains a +2 bonus to one ability of their choice.]

22:10
Artak and Fenishia Grink convert Artak's Apothecary into an "experiment" area for captured trolls. Word is sent to King Anwell that any captured trolls should be brought to Artak. The famed herbalist intends to find the trolls' weaknesses as quickly as possible. Artak also requests that any of the King's scholars who might be able to understand the troll's language come to the Apothecary.

22:11
After some discussion with Souriin and Euvgeni via the message tubes, Tekuna decides to use the Chain of Transport to take Euvgeni and Flash back to Rotan. She experiments with the Chain a little, attempting to reach them using a sketch made from a detailed description. Tekuna arrives about 500 yards away from Euvgeni and Flash (about a two minute jog) using this method.

22:12
A contingent of senior wizards from the University of Craft and Thought arrives in Rotan to help defend the city. Tess Sulinavallea and a few other wizards stay behind, to look after refugees.

22:13
Tekuna takes Flash and Euvgeni to the Rotan Palace. While there she overhears Scribe Tunwhistle mention the theft of the Dragon Paintings from the Rotan Museum. She decides to investigate.

22:14
Souriin, Euvgeni and Flash meet in the Palace to discuss strategies for dealing with the invasion. They keep in touch with Tekuna and Damalanthas (who is still in New Ivrea) using the message tubes.

Flash advises that the New Ivrean army should remain defending New Ivrea until the location of the troll gate is known. Flash does not believe that the gate is still outside Rotan. The elf  suggests that the trolls are moving the gate methodically from city to city. Damus agrees and orders that his army remains stationary until the extent of the threat is known.

Souriin proposes that his circle of magi, together with Damus and any forces that the RMA and Manticorum can muster, strike out at the troll-gate, or if failing that, at the trolls. The attack must be an all-out strike, hitting the trolls with as much force as possible.

22:15
The Lords agree to muster their forces. Souriin informs the circle to ready for a summoning ritual.

22:16
Damus warns Roleen and Burr that the portal may appear somewhere else next. He makes sure that the area around New Ivrea is still being carefully watched. He tells Burr to keep Griffon Keep on  alert. The bard notices that the Lords currently have no direct contact with Lerantu, Meldora and Pirs.

22:18
Muspell reports that the trolls seem to have reached the area Owen covered with Spike Growth. The trolls come to a halt, and three large mottled-green trolls inspect the area. One of them, wearing a large crystal-disk necklace targets a large area of growth and disintegrates it. The troll continues to obliterate the plant growth until he has cleared a wide path through the area. The trolls reform into narrower marching groups as they travel over the area, but are only slowed down slightly. [The trolls are ±2 miles away]

22:19
The members of Project Deathwatch teleport to Rotan, to join the massing forces.

22:20
Harmony sends armed members of the HPC to support the Bard's Own unit. She also sends a contingent of skilled cooks to cook a splendid meal for the troops. (Secretly, Harmony thinks of this as the troops' last meal.)

22:21
In the Temple of Rotan, tended by Rue Niam, Belimirar wakes up. He tests his memories, and cannot detect anything wrong. He tells Rue what he experienced and she tells him about the invasion. The two go to find King Anwell and the Lords.

22:22
Damus and Thalakos teleport to Rotan.

In the Rotan Museum, Tekuna can find no evidence of a break-in, but she does detect a faint smell of flowers. Other than that, it seems as if the Dragon Paintings simply vanished. Or at least most of them. The pictures of the red, green, blue, white, brass and bronze dragons have been taken. But the black dragon picture and the "empty" dragon picture have been left behind.

22:23
In a tense meeting, Souriin tells Damalanthas that something has been done to him. The Raven Mage says that Wiobra himself doubts the bard's identity. He voices his concerns about the bard's loyalty and what might happen to the Manticorum.

Before Damalanthas has a chance to respond, Belimirar and Rue arrive. Belimirar describes his vision of the trolls.

22:24
Tekuna, mystified by the theft of the paintings, returns to New Ivrea.

22:25
The Rotan Merchant Alliance has the entire city on high surveillance, in case troll troops teleport directly into the city. Euvgeni orders the Rotan Merchant Guard to patrol the streets of Rotan. Four warriors team up with each of the alchemist's fire throwers making up the Guard.

22:26
Flash tells the leader of the cavalry -- Horst Arman -- to take take his men outside the city walls. Horst splits his troops into three units of 100 riders.

22:27
Barrels of pitch are hurled onto the ground in the trolls' path. Archers fire burning arrows into the pitch. Patches of flame flare up across the farmlands to the city's north-east.

22:28
After a hurried discussion between Souriin, Euvgeni and Flash, Souriin suggests to Damalanthas that he remain on the walls in a defensive position until he is needed.

22:29
Along the wall, the RMA's wizards, the members of Project Deathwatch and the contingent from the University stand scattered between squads of archers.

Foot-soldiers stand ready, on and near the east and north walls.  Torches burn fiercely along the top of the walls. Other foot units stand ready to boost weakening areas in the defense lines.