22:32

The last few seconds of combat have resulted in serious casualties on both sides, and there now seems to be a natural lull in hostilities.

The trolls are struggling to move through the dense plant growth conjured up by the priests, and even those that are free from the growth have to march around the searing wall of fire before they can advance on the city walls.

Inside the city, the archers are hastily drawing back from the walls and moving into positions on nearby roof-tops. The wizards, many nearly exhausted by their efforts so far, are falling into position with their assigned groups of guards to make up the defensive quartets planned by Belimirar.

Flash leaps down from the wall, and yells to Euvgeni that he will take care of the breach, while Euvgeni figures out what exploded the people on the wall. The elf bounds across the tops of carts, rooves, fences and walls as he races towards the collapsed section of the walls.

Euvgeni has a quick conversation with King Anwell, and decides that he needs to ready a team of the city's best warriors for an attack on the trolls. With Freca Narall's help, he starts assembling this team on a nearby roof-top.

Although he has remained quiet until now, Owen has not been idle. Standing near the damaged section of the wall, he begins to summon an earth elemental to hold the breach.

Tekuna argues with King Anwell, insisting that he should retreat to the Palace. She assures him that he will not be out of touch, since she has a message tube, and that the exploding attacks demonstrate that he is at serious risk even sheltered behind the walls.

Despite Tekuna's insistence, King Anwell is adamant that his rightful place is with the people defending the city, and not cowering in the Palace. He says that he is prepared to make a strategic withdrawal to the Palace only if it becomes obvious that the walls will not hold.

Tekuna is frustrated by Anwell's stance, but notices that the Royal Guard seem as concerned about the King's vulnerability as she is. She sidles up to the most edgy-looking ones and tells them to be ready to evacuate the king on her signal, without any questions.

As the trio of wizards finish their summoning ritual, three fire elementals appear outside the walls. Those standing on the walls nearby flinch away from the crackling and blazing creatures. The wizards gesture towards the trolls and the fiery beings race across the battle field to attack. Not far away, the trio of necromancers also finish their ritual, but the three shadows summoned by their spells are far less apparent to bystanders. The three dark shapes roll across the ground towards the trolls, almost invisible in the evening's darkness.

Meanwhile, in the Rotan museum, Ayak's image has disappeared from the painting. Damalanthas hears an alarming crashing sound from the roof, and dust rains down from the ceiling. The bard races towards the staircase leading to the roof of the building...

Behind the raging fire, a few groups of white trolls still stand. Once more they focus their disintegrating beams on the city walls, this time targetting an area southwards of the first breach. It seems as if their aim is improving with practice and the beams have a deadly effect. An even larger section of the wall than before is vapourised, and stone and rubble collapses outwards, opening up a section of the wall some fifteen feet wide.

Three people standing on this section of the wall suddenly find themselves standing on nothing, and plummet downwards. Souriin is alarmed by an urgent signal from Muspell. The raven tells the mage that Finnigan Morman -- one of the youngest members of Project Deathwatch -- is one of those who has fallen...

On the Rotan walls, barrels of heated pitch are readied, and the foot soldiers and dwarven warriors have moved into place. The wizards and archers are still moving into their new positions, while Euvgeni hurriedly assembles a team of warriors for an assault on the trolls.

Flash reaches the area of the first breach in record time, and immediately takes command of the nearby defenders. He orders them to fill the breach with rubble from the nearby remains of the Gnomish Laboratories, and calls for pitch to be spread across the gap, ready for ignition as the trolls enter. He tells some junior wizards to move onto the rooves of nearby houses, where they will still have a line of sight on the area.

From where they stand beneath the wall, Tekuna and Anwell are alarmed by a fierce curse from Tam. The sharp-eyed archer was watching the white trolls behind the wall of fire, when they began to disappear, one by one. He shouts an alarm to the troops nearby.

Seeing the look on Tekuna's face at this development, King Anwell agrees to retreat back to the Palace. Surrounded by the Royal Guard, the King and roguess begin moving swiftly through Rotan toward the royal residence.

"'Bout freakin' time," Tekuna muttered, falling into step half a pace behind the king. "Close up that formation! I want no line of sight on the king from outside this square."
Left hand nervously stroking the faces of the Cube in her pouch, she turned her attention to the rooftops, expecting to see trollish forms against the sky at any moment, mentally unrolling the city map in her head. She had always prided herself on knowledge of bolt-holes and vantage points, but the months of desk work were telling. "Confident, cocky, sloppy, dead. I should have been getting out more."

Several rooftops she'd known well now boasted new construction. Alleys with refuse concealing false dead ends were clean and swept. High buildings with clear views, occupied by guild watchers as long as she could remember, were hidden behind awnings and makeshift barricades. "Urban renewal. I'll give them urban renewal."
Eyes scanned the roofs, set on twisted shapes against the backdrop of smoke from the walls. A finger, slick with sweat, scudded desperately over the surface of the Cube before Tekuna recognised the gargoyles adorning a wealthy merchant's residence. "And remind me to keep the pretentious bastards poor," she managed after a moment.

Feeling like a stranger in an unfriendly city and claustrophobic within the encircling guards, she hurried towards the uncertain safety of the palace.

Although those watching from the walls cannot see, a brown troll which has wandered slightly away from its companions suddenly finds its way blocked by a dim apparition. Shadowy limbs reach out and touch the troll, and it howls in pain. It tries to slice the shadows with its mighty trollsword, but the blade passes right through the fell creatures.

Souriin concentrates, breathing in deeply. The next spell is one he has never attempted before. It is a spell which warps the very fabric of reality to produce the necessary effect. As he readies himself, thoughts flash through the raven mage's mind. "If I don't keep the exact effect I desire in mind, then... but no, the spell will be worth it. This is what becoming a mage is all about, the culmination of all those studies. Not many sorcerors get this far." Concentrating on the complex words and gestures, Souriin cuts out the external noises. Heart pounding in anticipation, he completes the spell. The tricky part comes now. It mustn't be too complicated. Magic so unbound could tear the fabric of space itself... As Souriin completes his Limited Wish spell, ten more fire elementals appear amongst the trolls in flashes of fire. The creatures roar and immediately begin lashing out at nearby trolls.

Coughing and spluttering in clouds of dust, Damus reaches the museum's roof. A sharp, acrid smell reaches his nostrils and he has to choke back a desire to turn and flee. The mighty creature's neck bends, and Ayak's head turns to face the bard. The hide around the base of the dragon's horns and across his cheekbones is more sunken than Damalanthas remembers, and the dragon has an eerie, almost skeletal appearance. A deep guttural snarl escapes from the dragon's throat as his sharp eyes fix on the bard. He shakes his wings irritably, throwing more clouds of dust into the air.

"I have come, wretched human. Now what would you have me do?"
"Your presence humbles me, Ayak." Damus bowed low as he caught his breath. Looking up, he met the dragon's malevolent eyes. "We have only one task, one essential goal. Destroy the trolls, from here to the North sea. Aid me in this and I will immortalise you in such a way that kings two centuries from now will still pay you tribute." Before the irritated dragon could raise too many objections Damus hurried on, "However a more immediate goal is killing all the trolls outside the city walls."
Damalanthus held the dragon's withering gaze and gestured to the breached walls, "It is time for us to create your Legend, Ayak."

A few hundred feet to the east, the trolls have split into two groups, each making its way around one end of the wall of fire. A hushed silence has fallen over many of the troops on the walls as they wait nervously for the trolls to get closer.

Then the silence is punctuated by a disgusting rending noise, and half a dozen footsoldiers explode, covering those nearby in blood and bile. Again, this horrific phenomenon ripples through the brave defenders and the popping, ripping sounds are punctuated by screams. Not far from where Belimirar stands, a young man panics and loses his footing. Bel seems him fall backwards off the wall and his terrified scream is abruptly cut short.

Belimirar stands, fixed in place with horror at the scenes of devastation around him. Then, suddenly, a strange calm passes over him, and he turns to face the trolls with fresh resolve. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Sary, a junior cleric at the Shrine of the Earth. All along the Rotan City walls, wherever they stand, Egreera's priests have cast Bless spells to give courage to their companions and quell the rising sense of panic.

At the site of the first breach, Flash has organised the defenders into two ranks -- a front rank of swordsmen and a back rank with troops carrying spears and some dwarven pikemen. Flash tells them that he will take on the first troll coming through the breach, but when he breaks away to the right, they must charge in and finish it off. Whatever happens, it must be taken down or they will quickly become swamped. As soon as the first troll is down, some of the reserve troops are to drag the body back and burn every bit of it.

Nearby, Owen has finished summoning a second earth elemental. The first elemental has moved into position in the breach and it sinks down into the ground, ready to surprise the first trollish invader.

Lurik Mien races towards the second breach in the walls, his heart pounding. A line from his initiation vows leaps, unbidden, to mind as he moves: 'And I will give my life to protect my flock, should Artafor demand it'. Deep down, when he had spoken that line, he had not ever believed that he would need to place himself in real danger in the service of the Church. How wrong he had been.

As Lurik reaches the edge of the collapsed wall, he is surprised to see Mother Nari already there, leaning heavily on her walking stick.
"How... but..." he starts, but the wisened priestess cuts him off.
"I'll get this one and you can take care of the next."
Mother Nari taps the edge of the gap with her stick and speaks a sentence in a gutteral sounding tongue. She taps once more and the stone begins to grow, reaching outwards to the opposite site. Within seconds, a solid stone barrier has sprung up to mend the wall. 

Outside the city walls, the fire elementals and shadows continue to harrass pockets of trolls. But even with their numbers boosted by the ten additional elementals, they cannot hold back all of the trolls, and the gangly bipeds begin to stream around the edges of the wall of fire and lope towards the city walls.

Tam the Archer's eagle-eyes are the first to spot a change in the behaviour of some of the brown trolls. While still holding their massive Trollswords in one hand, the browns reach behind them, and pull out thick sticks, some three feet in length. Remembering Flash's description of the Lords' first encounter with the trolls, Tam recognises the devices as Trollsticks -- crossbow-like weapons capable of firing several bolts without reloading. He shouts a warning across the walls: "'Ware missile fire!"

Interlude

Floating in an endless, timeless void, Damalanthas is suddenly aware once again of Areena's presence close by.

"Beware. Something is about to happen to you."

An instant after Areena's voice sounds in his mind, Damalanthas feels a vast, overwhelming presence engulfing him. His is helpless to prevent the presence rifling through his mind and his memories. He relives fragments of events both long forgotten and recent -- his adventuring days with Souriin, Flash, Euvgeni and others, heated political discussions in the halls of New Ivrea, raucous celebrations at Griffon Keep.

And then it is over. Although he feels violated, Damalanthas is once again alone inside his own head. A stray thought, perhaps the tendril of an idea left by his visitor, drifts through consciousness. It is a name.

"Sifreena"
 

Interlude

Euvgeni stands on another roof-top, barking various commands. Around him, he is gathering four teams of crack troops, which he intends to lead into battle against the trolls. He hears Damus call out to him.
"Euvgeni, I have an idea for your attack."
He turns to face his friend, but with an earnest look, Damalanthas grasps Euvgeni's arm. The burly warrior goes ashen, and without speaking a word, collapses to the floor.

As he stands directing efforts to defend the first breach in the walls, Flash is paying no attention to the throng of busy people around him. He is startled to hear Damalanthas' voice call his name. He wheels round to face the bard, but never completes the motion. Ashen-faced, he falls to the ground.

Souriin Draco, the Raven Mage, stands on the city walls, drained from the effort of casting the Limited Wish spell. Out of nowhere, an arm reaches out and grasps his shoulder. Startled, Souriin turns, but he sees only a brief glipse of Damalanthas' face before everything goes black.

Surrounded by the King's royal guard, Tekuna and King Anwell move swiftly through the streets of the city. The roguess is startled as the guards come to a sudden stop. Taking care to keep herself well surrounded, she peers forward to see the reason for the halt. In the otherwise deserted street, a young girl stands solemnly. She looks directly at Tekuna and makes a half-fist with her right-hand -- the signal for a trap!

An instant later, Tekuna's view of the girl is blocked by Damalanthas Quithas, who has appeared a few feet in front of the guards. In that same instant, Tekuna's finger slams down on the side of her Cube. The air around Tekuna, Anwell and the closest guards shimmers slightly.

Damalanthas smiles, and starts to walk towards the group. He starts to speak, but Tekuna doesn't take in his words. Her gaze is fixed over Damus' shoulder at the young girl. With a frown, the girl brings her hands together, and then draws them apart, making a wide parting gesture. As she does so, the image of Damalanthas is replaced by something far more sinister.

A large pinky-grey mass, roughly round in shape but with a ridged, almost coral-like surface, floats ominously in the place where Damalanthas just stood. As the thing drifts closer to the edge of the Cube's forcefield, Tekuna realises that she can still hear Damus' voice coming from it, "...quickly. Souriin has found a way to..." And then the mass of tissue touches the Cube's force barrier. Again the air shimmers, and for a moment, Damalanthas' image is superimposed over the pink-grey blob. The blob pulsates slightly and then both it and the image of Damalanthas are gone.

There is a collective sigh of relief as Tekuna, Anwell and the guards all let out their breath. But Tekuna remains on edge. The girl still stands in the street, watching them. Her solemn expression is replaced by a slight smile. She looks at Lady Chand, winks once, and then she, too, is gone.