World on Fire
| File:Cmap hota 3.png | World on Fire | 
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| Henrietta and Frederick must bring the Orb of Tempestuous Fire to the Frederick's Laboratory. If Henrietta is defeated, you will lose the scenario.Your heroes are limited to level 6, but Henrietta and Frederick will bring Charm of Mana and the Collar of Conjuring to the next scenario. | |||||||||
Victory condition: Transport Artifact or Defeat All Enemies
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Loss condition: Lose Hero
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Allies: 
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Enemies: 
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Choose a bonus:  
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Carried to next scenario:   Charm of Mana Collar of Conjuring
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Max level: 6
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Campaign
Prologue
Prologue Text
Scenario
Timed events
| Day 1 - Night of Shooting Stars - Part I |
| It seemed as if that night would never end. Standing dazed on the bare hilltop above the village, I couldn't take my eyes off the streaks of fire as they cut across Eeofol's sky; they were too blistering to notice some of them go out and others light up. Then I realized they weren't going out at all, even after I lowered my eyelids. The day was about to break, yet I could still only see a mishmash of dark and light strokes. Frederick had told me never to look directly at the sun so as not to harm my eyesight, but he had never mentioned that searing light just like that could also pour down from the sky by night. I pressed my palms to my face and darted almost blindly down the slope toward the creek. I think I screamed. I was scared. |
| Day 1 - Night of Shooting Stars - Part II |
| The water and the coolness helped. My eyesight was coming back to me, but the fear didn't go away—it felt as though that blinding flame kept scorching me inside. While I could still see, I noticed that the stars whose tails blazed so brightly in the night sky were not burning up in midair. They were making it all the way to the ground, like huge smoldering rocks, strangely slowly, and seemingly not far from here, just beyond those hills. Then the wind brought a faint odor of smoke—not like the morning smell of stoves in houses. Over the past few years, I had gotten used to asking questions, then unlearned to do it, and eventually mastered this art again. When I met a man who knew far more about the world than I could imagine, I wanted to ask and ask and ask without end—I was curious about everything. Then I suddenly realized that I was asking too much nonsense. Frederick tried not to show it, but his displeasure sometimes got the best of him and he sent me away. There was no punishment worse than coming back from a lab full of wonders to a barn filled with broken rakes and dirty burlap bags. I began to think before opening my mouth—and I guess I slowly learned to ask the right questions. One such question I wanted to ask right now: Can rocks so much like the sun fall from the sky? |
| Day 2 - Frederick |
| To find Frederick. I had to find Frederick. Nothing could be more important now. Not because of the telescope—well, everything that could fall from the sky had already done it... It was just my heart telling me that it’d be better to be by his side now. Any knowledge he had, even the very lore that made him so feared by my fellow villagers, could be useful today. For as long as I could remember, I had always been alone and lived in a barn with Grampa Haye. He was not my own grandfather—that I knew somehow, but he still fed me, gave me clothing, and let me sleep by the stove in his house in winter, but the rest of the time, I preferred to be on my own. Frederick came into my life when I was... hmm, well, I don't even know how old I am now. Doesn't matter—that was the first time I ventured into the hills behind our grove and saw a big new house, and next to it, one disturbingly tall man and two smaller ones, like halflings, but different, grey-skinned. Then I learned that these little people were called "gremlins," and that they were not really human, but Frederick refused to answer my further questions, and I never saw the gremlins again. And then, perhaps out of fear of the unknown, I froze and let myself be caught—though I could have hidden in the forest from anyone. Frederick realized that I wasn't the kind of person that chased him off to this neck of the woods, and he let me come see him sometimes. I guess he needed some live ears to listen to his crazy hypotheses—and he didn't care that I was a silly little girl who couldn't even count her fingers. I stayed in the lab for weeks on end, for no one missed me in the village anyway. My thin hands were often just what Frederick needed. Sometimes he asked me to crawl inside a sophisticated machine to find a burst hose or check the wear on a gear. Such joy it gave me when I was able to help and the assembled mechanism began to hiss and spin—even though I hadn’t the faintest idea what was happening. He, however, always knew what was going to happen and why it should work. To find Frederick. There was hardly anyone who could deal with the unusual around here. |
| Day 3 - Halflings and Demons |
| Many who had not believed in the danger opened their eyes now, but there were also many who shrugged off the trouble, even though it was knocking at their door. The difference? The former had already seen what the celestial guests did to living beings, while the latter yet had to. It was too late for them to get wiser, though; I could see from the hills how the creatures were flooding the farms we had left behind. For the first time in the decade passed since the last bad harvest, something bigger than a new turnip dish recipe had happened in the halflings’ lives... And I never imagined it’d carry this much sorrow. Frederick, where are you? |
| Day 4 - Uncle Kett |
| The nightmare came in the light of day. It was like if you wanted to wake up, you just couldn't because you were already awake. Wide awake and incredulous. Things that felt so important just a few days ago, seemed to be just gone, shrouded by fog. In the course of these days, the imaginary danger grew into a very real horror. Several villages in the north were gone, as if they had never existed—the news was brought by the lucky survivors. The stench of fires and sulfur was now everywhere, and any stirring in the bushes caused consternation. At dawn we ran into some refugees. The halflings—one I recognized as the elder of a village half a day's journey away—were looking around in a daze, unsure of what to do. “Uncle Kett! How did you make it here?”, I called out to him. “Don’t tell me you ran here through the woods all night, straight from your farm… or did you?” “Well, when someone starts ramming down your door, you’ll get not only out of bed, but out of your pants too! So yeah, we ran off... We need to gather people, that's what I think!” “Who chased you off? Goblins, like five years ago?” I already knew the answer, but somehow I hoped Kett would say something else. “Devils… with some big old horns. I don’t really know what they were," the elder said sheepishly. "They killed my dog at once… he whined so horribly. Then they kicked in the door. And I jumped out the window; not time to get dressed that was. They stood in a ring around the farm. I don't even remember how I got past them. I met someone else in the forest later. But I'm afraid that's all of us, and we’ll never see the others…” |
| Day 6 - Frederick and Henrietta - Part I |
| I'd often been berated and branded an adventure-seeker. And what are adventures? Stories of glorious heroes and dragon slayers sung in taverns by traveling bards? Sure, I liked to listen to them—but they never mentioned the fatigue, the bloody feet, the stench of dead bodies, or the screams of people eaten alive that echoed through the forest all night. The demons were on the hunt. Villages were not enough for them—those who took shelter in the forest were now in danger too. Frederick and I spent the night sitting by the fire looking in the flames, regurgitating the same slow, meaningless remarks. We were so exhausted we couldn't even bring ourselves to sleep. If this was adventure, then I can assure you I never wanted adventure. By morning we were in agreement: nothing to do here for us. We must leave the Valley immediately. |
| Day 6 - Frederick and Henrietta - Part II |
| As the sun was getting high, the numbness we had fallen into the previous night had finally passed. At least Frederick spoke as quickly and vigorously as before, and his eye was keenly aware of the smallest details in the chaos. “Henrietta, I want to thank you again. Perfect timing to get me out; it seems our aliens know more about demonology than the entire Bracadian Academy. They're already summoning some pretty powerful creatures from the Elemental Plane of Fire, and I don't see them needing months of rituals, rare reagents, or the favorable position of celestial bodies to do it. If we delay any longer… I wouldn't love to see Eeofol being turned into a nice warm place like the ones where those things are coming from, through portals and gates. You know, some of them prefer to live in active volcanoes, and Eeofol is full of fire-breathing mountains that once became dormant but can be brought back to life.” |
| Day 7 - Last day |
| All night long something rustled, whooshed and muttered around the camp. It was the little servants of the horned creatures—imps and familiars. We tried to scare them off by launching exploding projectiles into the darkness, but to no avail.... By morning, the vile creatures were already snooping around almost in plain sight, unafraid of anything. In a few more hours, this horde would overrun the last corners of our part of Eeofol. It was as clear as day: if we did not leave the Valley today, all would be lost. |
Objects
Events
| Location | Message |
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| 5, 21, 0 | I'd be happy like a little girl if it weren't for the circumstances. Here is our secret! This is the storeroom with the firecrackers for the New Year celebration—we set up a dry cache for them, away from the villages. Halflings are way cautious when it comes to danger and fire, so I insisted on safekeeping these things in a secluded place. Frederick made small batches of them in his spare time, and once a year, the villagers brought themselves to curb their aversion to the scientist, for no one else could give them this beloved amusement. Each time, Frederick would get almost a year's worth of foodstuffs for the firecrackers; the halflings sure loved their big celebrations! The people of the Valley bragged that no one had ever seen fiery rains quite like this, not even in Bracada, and would stop at nothing to show their neighbors up and enjoy some honest-to-goodness miracles. Frederick would grin dryly and agree that indeed, nothing like that was ever seen in Bracada. “There, you just slip a couple coins to some dropout illusionist quack and get twice the spectacle," he muttered to himself as he carted away his hard-earned pay. The crates contained onion-sized spheres that exploded with a deafening bang, spraying bright droplets of fire all over. Usually they were launched into the sky out of a long pipe dug into the village square like a spring pole, but now we could use them to arm a few sling-wielding halflings. These perfectly uniform projectiles worked even better for throwing than stone bullets. |
| 8, 32, 0 | Frederick's message spoke of "names and faces from the past", and he was going south... I assumed that he was going to meet some old acquaintances, and if so, they could only be meeting here, in Dry Ryehill, a place where outsiders came to trade and were less shunned than in other villages in the Valley. A mile away from the village, it was clear already that it was gone. Those who came here not only hungered for killing, but also for razing... Or maybe it was some twisted, alien approach to creation? What if these creatures are just as happy to contemplate mounds of burnt logs as a halfling is to behold a new, lovingly painted barn? And the earth scorched to a molten crust is as dear to them as his favorite, hand-ploughed gardens with huge carrots are to Grampa Haye? And if they caught those who lived here by surprise, what did they do to them? |
| 12, 20, 0 | As we approached the campfire, we saw a hastily abandoned camp. The footprints of a dozen two-legged creatures led away from it into the forest. Two decapitated carcasses of celestial guests were lying by the fire—it looked like someone began field dressing them, but left halfway through. “Ah, those are halflings…” you hear from the bushes. “Go away! Don't you dare follow us, or we'll have you taste steel, like we did to those freaks!” Apparently, the men in the bushes are hardly nicer than the horned ones. Are they the same gang that brought mayhem to the neighboring valley five years ago? They’d been forgotten by now, but surely there was no way a new one would just pop up out of nowhere right here. Well, I guess trouble comes in threes. |
| 14, 12, 0 | The horned one lies on the ground, hit between the eyes a few times with heavy slingshot bullets. His head is cracked, one horn broken off. What seemed unthinkable yesterday is now sprinkling our land with its stinking blood. A beast, it would seem; but no, not a beast. His eyes were too intelligent until they faded. Not an elemental spirit, not a human, not a magic creature. And silence all around. Nothing more to argue about. “We should inform everyone about this devilry at once!” “How many of them are roaming the forests now, trampling our mushrooms!” “We must prepare an ambush!”, I heard from the halflings flocking around the vanquished creature. Suddenly the clatter died down, and I felt a dozen intense stares. “Henrietta, you know all the paths around here! You're the only one who knows where all the villages are!” What an ordeal it is for them to go beyond the outskirts of their home village. All their lives, they had been afraid of strangers, and here was their fear embodied. Even dead, it made them sweat, but now they stood with their chins high and spat on the brown corpse. If there's more than one of them out there… “Why, lads, where there is one, there gonna be others, right? We'd better get some heavy stones and go together!”, Kosta, an elderly carter who was lamenting the horses, threw his hat on the ground. “I wanna make these singed hogs pay for my ponies! Show the way, lass—can’t we cut through the woods to the Tall Ridges?” |
| 15, 13, 0 | There was indeed a "hole" in the place the villagers had mentioned—a hole with smooth, seemingly melted edges, but somehow it wasn't too hot near it, and it didn't even look like something had been burning there. What could that mean? Some of those stars that fell in the night didn't announce their imminent arrival, but simply fell... wherever they needed to…? I froze, frightened by my thoughts, while the clamoring peasants kept waving their hands and rebuking me, as if it all were somehow my doing. I turned back to them and tried to think of what to say; suddenly, the outrage on their faces gave way to surprise and then to horror. Stunned, I realized that the villagers weren't looking at me anymore, but behind me. A pair of sharp, crescent-shaped horns appeared above the hole. Then two huge red paws, and then their owner got out of the hole with a mighty leap. Straightening up, he inhaled gurglingly and let out two streams of smoke. Huge in stature, with lumpy skin the color of fresh meat— or with no skin at all?—here, in the middle of the village, he looked infinitely alien. The eyes of the strange visitor were fiery spots, and the air around his figure was churning like it does above a frying pan. I felt a wave of heat and a strange, iron-like odor or taste on my tongue—and then it was as if a chemical reaction had stopped, like at Frederick's, when he’d let me drop some "im-ge-be-tor" in a flask. The monster's eyes became dim, its skin turned brown, the heat around it subsided, and I could finally get a good look at it. If one were to imagine a huge wild boar growing horns, losing its bristles, standing up on two legs like a man, and getting humps on its back and chest... that would still be a very rough and flattering description of the creature I saw. Its ugliness was striking. The creature wiggled its huge head around and looked at the crowd. Its snare-like mouth opened, and a disgustingly long tongue fell out. With a loud clang, the monster took its first step onto the land of Eeofol. Funny, I thought, as if some good farrier had already shoehorned him.... |
| 19, 9, 0 | The sign at the gate reads: "Experimental maintenance shop. Property of the mining company. Currently not hiring." Looking closer, I noticed scratches on the sign. Barely visible smudges of dirt complement them, forming the symbols of a secret alphabet invented by Frederick. "...You'll soon come rushing here, like if it smelt of hot apple pies. This starfall breaks all the laws of cosmology: I've never seen such celestial phenomena described anywhere... the speed of passing celestial bodies, the deceleration exceeding all norms, flame streams with a vector opposite to... the strongest light filter broke... extremely interesting, but the situation forces me to leave the home. Names and faces from a past life have resurfaced; it could be dangerous. Be careful and don't forget our secret! I am heading south, and don’t even think..." |
| 21, 5, 0 | We stepped through the door that opened before Frederick, followed by a line of halflings. None of them had ever been here before. Had it been any other time, they would have been struck by the sight of the elegant laboratory, topped by a Bracadian dome; they hadn’t seen anything much nicer than plain stone huts and wooden barns. But no, the villagers had had enough shocks for the last few days, and the only thing they were looking for was a chance to plop down on the grass and rub their tired feet. We decided not to disturb the weary halflings yet and first went up the hill so that Frederick could check on his creations being prepared for their first big flight. The sight was incredible! In the middle of a clearing surrounded by snow-capped mountains, three huge bubbles were swaying majestically in the wind, with a very large boat beneath each of them. I confess that even I gaped at the sight of the spider-like mechanisms moving deftly about the decks and tackle, tightening knots with their steel beaks and doing something else totally incomprehensible. Soon Frederick was back from his inspection of these, as he called them, airships. With a hint of pride in his voice, he said: “A job well done! My automatons worked smoothly and without error. The tanks are filled to the top with water. All that's left is to put the orbs of fire in the furnaces, and we're ready to go! I'll steer the main airship, and the mechanical assistants will repeat my maneuvers on the others.” We went back to the halflings. The peaceful scenery of the valley nested between the mountains seemed to have calmed the poor villagers—perhaps even a bit too much. Some were asleep, others were lighting their pipes. Frederick shook his head, grabbed an iron cone, and spoke into its top. The thing made his voice so loud that those who were resting leapt up. “Enough sleeping! Go, go, let's get a move on! Time is very, very short: the demons may appear any minute now, and then we will all be in big trouble. In the building in front of you there are supplies prepared—not a lot, but better than nothing. Take the crates and carry them where I show you, if you don't want to starve to death during the journey.” “Hope those lazies didn’t forget the sack...", Frederick said with the cone out of his face, and I was the only one who heard him. Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder. I turned around and met Tavin's gaze. He emerged silently behind me—but that was to be expected of a seasoned warrior like him. I wanted to greet him, glad that the Guard had survived, but there was something in his eyes that made me hesitate. Tavin squinted at me and said: “If I had no trouble tracking down and finding you, those infernal beasts will do no worse. They've got as good a nose as the best hunting dogs in Erathia. Give me a week’s worth of provisions and a sack of your firecrackers. I'll lead them away from the valley. At the very least, I'll buy you some time, holding them back for a bit.” “But… Tavin, what are you talking about? We need you and your expertise! It would be suicide to go up against those beasts alone. Maybe they won't find the secret passage.” “Don't try to change my mind, child. If my life saves hundreds of yours, that's the price I'll pay. That's why I became a soldier. Someday you'll understand.” I sighed and, feeling weak in my legs, did as he asked. Tavin slung the sack on his shoulder, looked me in the eye again, and without another word or a glance back, he strode firmly out of the valley. |
| 23, 24, 0 | “You're alive!”
“Yes, I'm alive, and I'd very much like to know which Bracadian demonologist I’ve pissed off. I've never even crossed paths with any. What a mistake.” I didn't know what Frederick was talking about, but I was so happy to see him alive, I didn't even try to ask him anything. He, as usual, kept feeding me a mountain of thoughts and assumptions, as if I'd shown up at his lab in the morning and he couldn't wait to have my ear to share what he had cooking in his head... “Some time ago I received a letter personally signed by Khazandar—I think I told you about him... the freest mind in Bracada, for which he will surely pay sooner or later. I had not heard of him since I left those lands, but a few years ago a messenger from him found me, and we entered into correspondence. It seemed as though our connection has now been discovered. The signature in his last message looked forged to me; I decided that if I had been found indeed, I should act first. The letter proposed a meeting; Khazandar, was supposedly going to send me a crucial component for a certain experiment... but there were demons waiting for me in Dry Ryehill—those are creatures from another plane of existence, you just saw them! Somebody summoned them, but neglected control, so they captured me, killing half the village meanwhile!" “Frederick… those things… they weren't summoned. Or, at least, not by the wizards certainly.” “Not by the wizards? What makes you say that? Those were some archetypal demons—I'd seen stuffed ones in the Academy’s museum!” “Shooting stars. They came out of the rocks that fell from the sky that night.” Frederick’s face fell; he began arguing, but I just took him to the place where the creatures were doing their ritual, and I showed him the huge crater at the village’d edge; the stone that had fallen there was so big that a devil could fit inside, maybe even a few. The rock had split open, and the cracks revealed something strange and unnatural. Either a tangle of angular pipes, or... “Well, I’ll be— If only alchemists Widman and Statten would have seen that! I don't even want to think about… I mean, I suspected it was not a real meteor shower. Wait, so it was a coincidence? Khazandar’s messenger was actually waiting for me? And you're telling me those things have already taken over half the Valley?! Henrietta, we need to get back to my lab now! You go straight there right now, and I'll—I didn't tell you this, but Khazandar had once talked me into joining an interesting project, and I'd set up another research site in the mountains to the east. Now I need to get there, and you…” “I'm going straight north. You weren't held here alone. Another prisoner said there's a detachment of Erathian soldiers camped nearby. Apparently, someone escaped the Valley and was able to call them for help. Refugees are flocking to them now. Frederick, listen! I know you don't much like halflings. Sure, I myself feel like a stranger in my own land sometimes—but I've seen what the monsters do. We have to do something or they'll kill everyone and turn them into their filthy flesh. If we don't try to save someone—well, that’ll kill me.” “...Yeah, well, there might not be enough hands... in fact, that would be most helpful. Yes! Ahem. That's right, we can't just stay aside! Now listen: take everyone you can to my lab. Three hundred, maybe five if I can get those old Gavin’s underpants to fly too... Someone’s gotta help me settle down when our flight ends.” “Flight? Are we gonna fly like birds?” “Not exactly, but it's our only chance if the devils continue to destroy everything in their path with such abandon. Trust me as you always have, and you'll soon see it yourself. That’s it, then! I'm going to the mountains.” |
| 23, 24, 0 | A palisade was an unusual sight for these places, yet someone had cared enough to build it. It gave me some hope, even if faint. The sentries were steady and waved cheerfully, inviting me to the camp. My companions fell to the ground right as we stepped inside the walls; several days with barely any food or proper rest had taken their toll on them. They were unaccustomed to such deprivation of their fleshy, well-fed bodies. I went straight to talk to the commander. He was standing in the center of the camp, giving instructions and waiting to talk to the new arrivals. |
| 23, 18, 0 | The ragged cohort lined up for battle. Commands were heard, but no longer in Erathian. Some alien tongue, crude and animalistic. Shields and surcoats over their armor were thickly stained with blood—they didn’t even attempt to clean them. How could they dare to betray? To submit to this vile force? What had broken the will of these experienced soldiers— was it the fear of imminent death.... or of being turned into alien flesh? It doesn't matter now. There is only one way north. |
| 26, 11, 0 | I love discovering new things, but I hate surprises. That's the beauty of the process: developing a theory and then practicing it to achieve exactly what you expect. The theory, of course, can be as bold as you like... That unusual starfall could not help but attract my attention, even though I was thinking about other things that night. I'm not ashamed to admit—the unraveling of this phenomenon was the most unpleasant surprise in my life. All of us, the scientists of Enroth, even those who do not yet suspect what has happened, were confronted with a fact: rocks can fall from the sky. And not just fall, but carry guests that no one would willingly invite into their home. Now I think: what if they are not stones at all, but something akin to our airships, only more complex and perfect—or maybe only fragments of such a ship that has crashed? Is it possible that up there, so high that we can't see it even with telescopes, city-sized hulks someone crafted are flying somewhere on their business, carrying whole nations, exchanging signals and sometimes volleys of monstrous guns? And where do they dock—for their harbor surely cannot be on our planet, can it? I caught myself thinking. What I would like most of all now is to find a common language with one of the aliens, to listen to their stories about their native places, to ask a thousand questions... for some reason they didn't throw me straight into the cauldron where they made their warriors from the dead flesh. Maybe they saw in me someone with whom they could reach an understanding and agree on something? Maybe I should have.... As I thought about it, I didn't notice we'd reached my old lab. Hearing Henrietta's command, "Ready the shells!", I looked up to see a large group of aliens blocking our way. This time they were lined up in a sort of battle formation, and there was a clear leader, a lean, scarlet-skinned horned one clad in black armor, as if covered in a thick layer of soot. He stepped forward, looked me straight in the eye... and scraped a claw across his throat, licking his thin lips. |
| 5, 25, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to  Movement points |
| 5, 26, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 6, 32, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 6, 33, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 18, 27, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 24, 8, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 25, 9, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
| 26, 10, 0 | -move for AI Note: Repeats every 2 days; ONLY applies to Movement points |
Towns
| Location | Player | Type | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 0, 1 |
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 Inferno
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- |
| 6, 10, 1 |
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 Tower
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- |
| 21, 4, 0 | - |  Tower
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Laboratory |
Heroes
| Location | Player | Hero |
|---|---|---|
| 19, 8, 0 |
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Henrietta the Mercenary
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| 24, 17, 0 |
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 Xarfax the Knight
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| 0, 4, 1 |
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 Calh the Demoniac
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| 0, 4, 1 |
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Calh the Demoniac
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| 0, 6, 1 |
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 Marius the Demoniac
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| 0, 8, 1 |
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 Ash the Heretic
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| 0, 10, 1 |
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 Nymus the Demoniac
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| 0, 12, 1 |
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 Axsis the Heretic
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| 0, 14, 1 |
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 Zydar the Heretic
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| 24, 30, 0 | 
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Frederick the Artificer
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Monsters
| Location | Type | Message |
|---|---|---|
| 0, 25, 0 |  Halflings
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No one seemed to heed me in this house. The old woman was laying the table, and the children were playing by the hearth. “Did that Frederick put you up to this kind of follies? Don't you trust that devil! What's he doing at the graveyard? Casts spells on dug-up graves? You'll be lost with him, just like your good-for-nothing mother. Tut, tut. Hey… ya sit down and have a meal with us—can’t let a guest go hungry now, can I? There's not much, just steamed turnips—but still a dinner. Just don't think of sweet-talking us into your silliness. We're not going anywhere, we've got a lot to do. No reason to.” I realized words were useless, but I didn't refuse a snack. The old woman had mentioned something about my mother, but I didn't remember her, and no one had ever told me a word about her. I tried to get her to talk over the meal—but the harridan pretended to be deaf. |
| 6, 26, 0 |  Demons
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These things are already here, too! Did they really come on the rocks from the sky? And where are the blacksmiths who forged their horseshoes? Are they coming next? The monsters split into groups, as if planning to pincer me and my companions. They were certainly more intelligent than animals—and there were getting more and more numerous! Sure, we had our slings ready, and enough stones for all of them, but I wished we had something stronger. |
| 6, 26, 0 |  Horned Demons
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The two-horned creatures were noticeably different from their lighter-skinned kin, not only in appearance but also in behavior, just like adults are different from a bunch of feckless teens. They were clearly better organized, so they spotted us earlier. The creatures quickly banded up into several squads and attacked. |
| 10, 17, 0 |  Devils
|
On our way, I tried to entertain myself in some way, keep from succumbing to horror and despondency. I painted in my mind a picture of a stern smith shoeing the screaming horned creatures. The reality turned out to be far beyond anything I could have imagined; there, in what had once been the village square of Dry Ryehill, I saw… him. The word "devil" came to mind, for according to the drunken monk whose ranting I had once listened to in the local tavern, there was nothing more horrible than the devil, either in this world or the other. The top of the two-legged creature's head, crowned with twisted horns, was visible even over the roofs; each clawed foot seemed capable of easily covering and crushing a halfling; and a scythe that could surely cut down a young grove glistened in its hands. That was when I realized: the horned ones have no farriers. The devil just wags his finger at them, and they rush to shoe each other, or even themselves, fighting over hammers and nails. Apparently what I had seen disturbed my mind; I tried to stay on the edge of madness, while it threw more and more absurd visions at me. My companions told me later that I was laughing and shouting "get some longer, sharper nails!" as they dragged me into the bushes away from the road. “There, there, lassie,” Kosta muttered, trying to calm me down. “Sure, that’s a big beastie, yeah, a foul one—but I'll hit it square in the eye with the firecracker, and then we'll see who’s got the reddest nose in this village! Empty your pouches, lads! We'll teach the devil how to celebrate the New Year our way!” |
| 11, 17, 0 | Demons
|
These creatures looked simpler than the one in the pit—they had no metal ornaments on their paws, and only one horn, thick and short. They exchanged jerky guttural noises, as if they were barking at each other, but I could see they understood each other much better than dogs. As soon as the pack spotted us, however, the quarreling stopped. With their hooves digging up the ground, the creatures rushed into the fight. |
| 13, 26, 0 |  Arch Devils
|
I think I lost my mind, thinking we could handle this gang of demons. I realized too late that my impulse had been madness; they spotted us, and it was too late to run.... |
| 14, 20, 0 |  Rogues
|
We followed the tracks, and presently they led us to a clearing where some ragged men were tramping about. They looked like brigands, and they could hardly have been anything else. They were hastily gathering up their belongings.
A lanky, scraggly man was explaining something to the leader, dressed a bit nicer than the others. The tall man turned at the noise and shouted, pointing his finger at us. The ringleader nodded and drew his sword. “I told you!" the lanky one shouted, "You shouldn’t have come after us!” |
| 15, 31, 0 | Halflings
|
After the battle against the devil, we searched every corner of Dry Ryehill. I feared that Frederick's burned and mangled body was about to emerge from the rubble. However, we found no corpses in the village, but we saw many tracks, as if the owners of the big hooves were dragging something behind them. The tracks led to the eastern outskirts of the village, and the nearby forest had been burned to the ground. Suddenly, swerving between the black, ugly dead trees, a small group of halflings came running straight at us. “There! There!..” They shrieked, running at a steady gallop. I managed to catch a ginger boy with a crazy look in his eyes, and my companions grabbed the others. The redhead caught his breath and blurted out: “They took our folk, and now they're executing them, and not to death, even worse! Help, good people, don't let the wicked do such a thing! This is a fate worse than death, worse than anything in the world…”, and he burst into tears. |
| 16, 12, 0 | Halflings
|
“It fell from the sky, can you believe it? I saw it myself! There it is, in the hole. Too scary to approach.” “I don't see no hole in the sky. Are you seeing things, brother?” |
| 16, 15, 0 | Halflings
|
“Whatta boom! I swear, my shutters hit the wall and came to bits....” |
| 17, 13, 0 | Halflings
|
“What are you doing here, wench? Heard you like to look at weird things, so go over there... Like the look of it? Eh? Struts about the place all the time, never once looks what’s at her feet; nay, likes staring at the sky way more, and now there's a gift fell down from there... Remember the hitchrail over there? Now it’s a hole in the ground as big as a gate where it was, and the horses are all gone…” “She and her sorceror brought us bad fortune!.. Not even old Aiker remembers anything fall from up there, and he’s old enough to have seen a living giant... if the old buzzard isn’t making it up...” “It’s black magic, that’s what I’m saying! The evil one reached up from his mountain with his magicks and tore off a piece of the firmament! Lucky no one got hurt…” |
| 20, 32, 0 |  Pit Lords
|
The wind blew a pall of stinking smoke in our direction. With it a great, desperate, almost inhuman shriek came to us, and then we heard an eerie, rumbling voice, which seemed coming from beneath the ground. We rushed into the smoke, and after a hundred paces we saw a picture that made our eyes water. In the middle of once was a meadow, now just a circle of scorched earth, there was something like a huge hearth with a flat stone cauldron, its walls red-hot, and around it a lake of thick fire slurry was glowing and gurgling. Knee-deep in it, as if ignorant of the heat, tall, mighty creatures with bright red skin were standing, and a few more giants of the same kind were driving a few stumbling halflings to the cauldron with long whips. Farther away, near the burned trees, the horned beasts, already familiar to us, were standing guard over a large crowd of villagers. The halflings were brought to the cauldron, and among them I recognized Maltman, the innkeeper from Dry Ryehill. Before I knew it, the red giant had swung his whip in a fiery line, and three unfortunates fell dead. The crowd began shrieking again, while the monsters seemed to be doing their usual, enjoyable work—tossing corpses to each other, easily tearing them limb from limb, putting them into the cauldron... One of the creatures looked inside, then, apparently satisfied, made a sign to the others. The giants stared at the cauldron, gestured with their hands some, roared, and their eyes glowed. Then, the voice we had heard from afar sounded again, as if the hell itself had spoken! The flesh of the executed instantly burst into flames, turned into a disgusting mash, boiled up into a huge cap of brown foam, fell, and in the midst of the cauldron the ugly figure of a one-horned monster appeared. Its body was billowing smoke, and the drying sludge dripped down its body with a hiss. The ginger boy was right; fate worse than death exists now. |
| 21, 22, 0 | Halflings
|
Everyone in Eeofol had heard of Tavin—but not everyone spoke of him favorably. The halfling who left his home village of his own free will to join the Erathian border guards was hardly a role model they wanted for their children. Years of military service had left visible marks on the hard face of the commander—his faded eyes were deeply sunken, his nose was broken, and his thin cheek twitched distressingly every now and then. “What's going on north?” Tavin asked, wasting no time on greetings. “I have death at my heels. We've broken away, but the villagers…” "Good as dead," the commander snapped. “The forests here are already crawling with creatures, and any day now they will be under every bush. In the south and west, everyone who didn't escape has already been turned into meat. I led the advance party of the Guards, followed by the rest of the men under Captain Xarfax's command, a half-day’s march behind us.” “Followed? Were they attacked by the horned beasts on their way?” “No, they came just fine. There's only one way out of here, but that's where they're standing now... just them. I served with Xarfax for 15 years. And today, when I went to rendezvous with his unit, he ordered his men to cut out my liver. We barely got away and hid behind those flimsy walls. Now we're figuring out how to make ourselves tasty so the devils don't get bored eating us.” “Tavin, we need to get through. There's still hope of rescuing someone, but we need to get to the north road. Your commander is a traitor, but together we can...” Tavin grabbed me by the collar with a snarl and yanked me into the air like a sack of rags. His gaze was frightening. “Fool! Stupid girl! Xarfax did not betray. The devils bewitched him, you hear that?! You're going to take your dolts with the firecrackers and we're going to beat this foolishness out of the old man! And then you're going to get whoever you can… and go do what you're gonna do. I don't want to know anything about it, so I won't tell anything when they catch me and roast me over a slow fire like a Bluemeadow sausage.” |
| 29, 32, 0 | Demons
|
It's those horned slop buckets again, but now the first move is mine! Ha, let's see what you're worth when my hands are untied! |
| 31, 20, 0 |  Arch Magi
|
The mages appeared suddenly, as if a veil of invisibility had fallen. Of course, I could feel their presence. These are powerful mages—their energy cannot be hidden. Very good. Even stronger ones could have taken care of that.
“Renegade Frederick!” Their leader's voice came from all directions at once, as if from the sky. No echo, no whisper of leaves or wind, just impassive speech pouring straight into my ears. “The Council of Bracada knows of your dark deeds: your forbidden practice of necromancy, your stealing of the skyship, your disgraceful flight from Bracada, and your ties to the renegade Khazandar. However, you have done no harm to the living and so you deserve a fair trial and a fair sentence— we will guarantee that the punishment does not include death. Lay down your weapons, release the mana from your body, and approach us. You know it full well: by following this path you have fallen into sin. The dark books may give knowledge, but it is always laced with poison of pain and death. A researcher must not spread it. You still consider yourself a seeker, don't you? Redeem yourself, Frederick, and live on as a honest man.” My lips spread into a smile. I've heard it all too many times. “Gods! Liston, it's you, isn't it? Still working as a heavy club in the grip of Gavin’s morality police? Any you had so much potential back in the day. "Renegade Frederick" is even flattering to hear. But "renegade Khazandar"?! Isn’t that too big for your britches? Even your superiors haven't dared to decide anything regarding him yet; I would have known it otherwise. There's too much of his merit, too many other respected wizards in the Academy who won't let you dumb thugs take down the best mind in Bracada based on ridiculous speculation—and Magnus himself hasn't spoken yet. "Forbidden practices"! Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Tell me, former colleague... is there really a big difference between Nagas and Medusas? Oh yes, the Medusas are the result of a twisted process that causes the surviving objects to rage and feel anguish. How could I forget! And gremlins differ from troglodytes only in the fact their slavery is signed by magical contracts and seals—am I not confused? Everyone needs servants. And putting the souls of fallen warriors into statues to get sapient titans is, of course, fair to the dead and purely academically impeccable. Well, well, well, why blushing so much? Let's start exchanging spells. We won't ever get each other, Liston. Your mind is not free…” |
| 33, 24, 0 |  Automatons
|
The legacy of the Time of Wonders is truly priceless. Rulers and warriors yearn to find armor and weapons dating back to those times, but they are not what matters to someone who wants to change the whole world in time. I've spent a long time gathering tiny scraps of ancient secrets to build something of my own from them... and I've gotten somewhere. My machines are still very vulnerable, their propulsion systems are unstable and inefficient, but they are reasonably autonomous and capable of making simple decisions on their own—and that's something, wouldn't you agree! The automatons and assembly line await! |
| 33, 34, 0 |  Walking Dead
|
Stopping for a second, I dug into my memory. No, there shouldn't be anything in the cemetery that would be important right now. Except for a couple of... things that might come in handy for experiments someday, but I changed my field of scientific interest quite some time ago. Not that anyone cares. Just once can you… no, it's true what they say; only the dead don't care about reputation. |
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