Editing New Order (section)

=== Timed events ===
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{{TErow| 1 | AI - minus resources | freq = 1 | loc=(AI)|effect=-90000 {{Gold}} [[Gold]], -500 {{Wood}} [[Wood]], -500 {{Ore}} [[Ore]], -500 {{Mercury}} [[Mercury]], -500 {{Sulfur}} [[Sulfur]], -500 {{Crystal}} [[Crystal]], -500 {{Gem}} [[Gems]]}}
{{TErow| 1 | Return to [[Jadame]] - Part I | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: All the way back to [[Jadame]], I was looking forward to just one thing. As soon as I got ashore, I would share the glad tidings with every [[halfling]]. [[Tavin]] is alive! And that means others are alive too—someone's family, brothers, friends. We will immediately start preparing a rescue party, and my new experience will help it go much better than my previous one. Years of hard work have paid off: our new airships are faster and more capacious. Now we'll recruit an army of warriors, their hearts burning with justice, and load up the mighty [[dreadnought]]s. We'll return to [[Eeofol]] and pounce at the enemy; as they are handcuffed by their war with the heroes of [[Erathia]], we can strike where no one expects us. We'll rescue everyone, bring them here, show them how well we’ve done for ourselves! I couldn’t help sharing every detail of my future plans with [[Wynona]]. Even though she supported me fervently, I think I kind of wore her out with my blabbering.}}
{{TErow| 1 | Return to [[Jadame]] - Part II | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: At length, the long-awaited day came: our ship dropped anchor at a little wharf. Cages with exotic animals and boxes full of [[Couatl]] eggs were unloaded. Neither I nor the other expedition participants could hide our joy. After months of wandering through the wet, muddy jungle, this land felt even more precious to us than before, however scorched by the sun and dull in appearance.}}
{{TErow| 3 | [[Morton]] and [[Fort Rotwang]] | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: We proceeded cautiously inland, avoiding the big roads and the open countryside. Our ears became our eyes; when you're being hunted, the more eyes the better. I grinned bitterly; I would have loved to grow a few more pairs, should [[Agar]] have been available. As I passed by a ravine, I heard a barely perceptible noise; a sniffle or snore. I gestured to Wynona, urging her to slow down. The elf's ears twitched, and a second later she was pointing in the direction the sound had come from. Silently, like a proper scout, I crept toward the ravine at the indicated spot. What I saw was a sad sight: a few haggard, wounded [[halfling]]s, hiding under some dirty, tattered rags. I couldn't see their faces, but their bare heels, covered with sparse gray hairs, made my heart beat faster.<p>“[[Kosta]], you old rascal! Get up! Your ponies gobbled up all [[Melanie]]'s carrots again!”<p>[[Kosta]] jumped up and stared at me in fear. Tears sprang from the old carter’s eyes and a cry of horror escaped his chest, but as soon as his purblind eyes recognized my face, he began wailing even louder, this time out of with happiness.<p>'''[[Kosta]]: '''“[[Henrietta]], that you? I've had it. So it turns out they found me, and I'm in heaven now.”<p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: “What are you on about, [[Kosta]]? It's me; I'm alive. And you're alive! What happened to you?”<p>'''[[Kosta]]: '''“[[Morton]]. That damn [[goblin]]! So many buds of mine got popped off by his devilish machinery! We barely made it out of [[Rotwang]].”<p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: “Wait. [[Morton]]? He betrayed us, too?”<p>'''[[Kosta]]: '''“Yeah, lass, him too. Small wonder, you know—for the green-skinned scum he is. When the people started coming from the north with bitter tidings, we began preparing for a tussle. We even pulled a bit of a ruse; got [[Morton]] ambushed and broke a dozen of his shooty thangs, but the toad-faced freak still got entrenched in the suburbs. Just a handful of us militiamen made it out alive, so here we are. There was no way to get back into town, and we went looking for help.”<p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: “Don't be scared, old sport. You found it!”<p>“So [[Rotwang]] is either under siege or has already fallen. Even if it is the latter, the town must have suffered some big damage, so it’ll take [[Morton]] a while to rebuild its defenses,” I thought as I considered our options.</p>}}
{{TErow| 3 | [[Kastore]] comes to power | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: Once safe under our protection, [[Kosta]] came to quickly. Sure, he didn’t get any younger, but he was no longer the pitiful, half-dead, horrified and exhausted poor thing we had found hiding in a hole like a rabbit. He told me in detail what had happened over the last few months. I had never liked [[Kastore]]; I sensed something in him that made it hard to believe that his desire to help [[Burton]] prosper for the benefit of all the people of [[Terra Nova]] was sincere, as he never missed a chance to declare from the podium. Turns out, I wasn’t wrong. The man who came from beyond the sea grabbed hold of everything he could get his hands on. He kept demanding that more ore be mined and purchased and that more machinery be built; no one understood why. The [[halfling]]s' shifts became longer and working conditions worse. Many turned to [[Frederick]] then, as they had done before, when he was head of the supervisory board for the [[Associated Burton Works]], but the guards didn’t let them see him. No one had seen the inventor for weeks. After [[Kastore]]’s arrival, [[Frederick]] had started disappearing for long periods of time, apparently conducting research in laboratories hidden from the prying eyes, and now it was as though he had vanished for good—it seemed that no one knew where he was, except for the [[warlock]]. When the first disgruntled workers went on strike and stopped the steam hammers, demanding a renegotiation of the collective bargaining agreement, [[Kastore]] let his mercenaries in wide-brimmed hats and long cloaks at them, brutally suppressing the protest.<p>'''[[Kosta]]: '''“Those fellers weren't ours—frig knows where the blasted sorcerer pulled them bastards outta," [[Kosta]] said.<p>However, [[Kastore]]'s reaction only gave the [[halfling]]s more fuel; they had long learned to fight back when someone tried to take away what they had come to regard as their own. Soon most of the factories were halted, many of the machines broken, and my brethren began setting up militias. They’d catch the mercenaries and beat the hell out of them wherever they could, and painted the walls with graffities calling to throw the uninvited guest from [[Deyja]] off the throne he had made for himself, without regard for the opinion of those who never wanted any kings or sovereigns in [[Burton]] or the other free cities. Then [[Kastore]] outlawed every last [[halfling]]; some got shackled to their machines, others thrown into the dungeons. Those whom his bandits could not lay their hands on were hunted down. I, as the leader of the rebelling people, was charged with instigating sabotage and organizing riots.</p>}}
{{TErow| 4 | [[Murdoch]] | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: We had gotten a foothold in [[Larimar]], but it was not worth it to stay here for long. This small, poor town was not a good base camp for us, and the locals were outright frightened of us. Of course, it would be silly to get angry at them for that: the draconian laws penned by [[Kastore]] and the punishments promised by the usurper were to blame for it. The penalty codex counted for nearly half of the weighty tome, Leges Terrae Novae, published by the [[Burton]] printing house just a month ago. To think that not a year had passed since we had faced adversity side by side with these men and labored for our common future! And now our roads have parted and will diverge further and further with each passing day. Ample proof of that was my encounter with a local boy, too young to remember our struggles against the [[pirate]]s or [[Zog]]. The kid sprang out from behind the bushes with a loud shriek, probably meant to be a battle cry. I almost laughed—it sounded so hilarious in his birdish voice. Not at all embarrassed by not having made the desired impression on me, the boy pointed at me with the stick that his imagination had made into a gun:<p>'''Kid: '''“Die, you traitorous midget! Bang, bang, bang! I'm [[Murdoch]], the best marksman in the [[Ravage Roaming]]! I can hit an enemy’s heart square from a mile away! Fear me!”<p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: I used to laugh and play along with the children as they posed as [[ogre]]s, [[goblin]]s, and other monsters in their games, but this was different. The child's antics struck me unpleasantly. I gave in to outrage, snatched the stick from the little bully’s hands, snapped it over my knee, threw it into the bushes, and gave him a good slap up his head. The boy was no chicken; he didn’t burst into tears, but rather spat at me and ran away, looking back and shouting:<p>'''Kid: '''“Yeah, you'll regret this too! [[Murdoch]] is close by, and he knows you're here! You'll see! He'll shoot you all like the prairie dogs you are, and we'll—and we'll stop being afraid, and everything will be as it was before!”</p>}}
{{TErow| 5 | Moonchild | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: I was sitting alone by the fire, deep in my thought, when [[Kosta]] came up to me, holding out a flask of Triple Cactus Swill, a teeth-grindingly potent brew of his own distillation, of which he was incredibly proud. I never was one for ceremonies; I took a couple of swigs, and then we just sat there in silence. I remembered how way back in the day, in the winter evenings, when I was still very small, I’d sit by the fireplace in old [[Haye]]’s cabin, and my foster grandfather, usually picky and shouty, would braid the hair over my right ear with his stiff fingers.<p>“Listen, [[Kosta]]... What's a [[Moonchild]]? Ever heard anyone called that?”<p>'''Kosta: '''“It is known, lass... When a young girl brings…”<p>The old carter suddenly shuddered, as if he remembered something very important, and almost shouted: “No, no, don't know about no child, don't want to know, never seen, never been near, damn me to where the horned ones drag their buds out of!”<p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: The old man dropped the flask, jumped up and walked away, slapping his heels on the sand. I sat staring into the flames. A thin figure emerged from the darkness. [[Wynona]] stood on the other side of the bonfire, her head raised to the sky.<p>{{H|Wynona|0=}}: “We have a song... You don't know our language, but I'll try to translate it for you.”<p>''Call her [[Moonchild]]''<br>''Dancing in the shallows of a river.''<br>''Lonely [[Moonchild]]''<br>''Dreaming in the shadow of a willow.''<br>''Talking to the trees of the cobweb strange,''<br>''Sleeping on the steps of a fountain,''<br>''Waving silver wand to the night-birds song,''<br>''Waiting for the sun on the mountain.''</br><p>{{H|Henrietta|0=}}: “That’s beautiful... But why was he so scared? Couldn’t have been because of an elven song. There must be something else... I wish I knew the answer, but I don’t want any more poor old men to die or run away in terror. Gods, I never begged you for the secrets of my past. I like the present just fine; I’m alive, strong, and able to decide for myself what I want and where I go... Why now?”</p>}}
{{TErow| 8 | Mission Objectives | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: Outlawed, my people left their homes and workshops in a hurry. The factories were now staffed by obsequious green-skinned [[goblin]]s—their numbers were great, and they would do anything to escape their abject poverty. Amazingly, a bunk in a worker's barracks and a bowl of sticky cattail root gruel, the cheapest food imaginable, meant enviable prosperity for them. They had no idea of occupational health and safety, and workplace accidents never shook their eagerness to work. They were clumsy and slow at learning, but the new factory supervisors, appointed by [[Kastore]], could easily swap a worker at the machine every day; sooner or later one was bound to turn out at least somewhat teachable. All that meant [[Kastore]] no longer had the slightest need for the [[halfling]]s. Many were fleeing south, to cities that the usurper's greedy hand had not yet reached. One such last haven of freedom was [[Fort Rotwang]], now besieged by [[Morton]]. The militiamen’s sabotage did quite a number on the [[goblin]], and we now had two or three weeks before he would be able to really dig in and get reinforcements. We had to break the siege and reunite with the refugees in the city before then. Upon liberation, [[Rotwang]] should become our main base where we’d be preparing for our flight to [[Eeofol]]. Of course, a rescue party was now out of the question—once we left [[Jadame]], no one would be waiting for us back here. The stakes were as high as it gets: either we help [[Erathia]] vanquish the red-skinned locusts and regain our homeland, or we die trying. Such a fate surely is better than huddling somewhere on the edge of the world as two-time fugitives. One of the [[halfling]]s in [[Kosta]]'s team turned out to be an experienced planner from the [[Associated Works]]’ central office. With his help, we were able to make the calculations. We would need at least 125 units of sulfur, mercury, and ore for the rearmament and the long flight. I thought about trying to contact [[Frederick]], but no one knew where he was, what had happened to him, or whether he had had a hand in what was happening here in the land we just recently thought of as our own.<p>Thank you, old friend! You saved us, helping us become brave and resourceful. To you I owe the strength that lives within me, that I feel more and more of every day. It’s time to take my life and my people’s fate into my hands. We will go our own way. I hope you are well, wherever you are. I believe we will meet again one day, and you will tell me about your new wonderful discoveries.</p>}}
{{TErow| 10 | [[Lightning Rod]] Warning | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: I jumped up on the bed; there was a sensation I thought long lost among the memories of my old life in [[Eeofol]]. The hair on my feet bristled... and not only on my feet. As I stepped out of the tent, I saw my comrades, each sporting a dandelion-like hairdo. The air smelled of a thunderstorm… and something else. That odor—where did I know it from? Oh. Of course.<p>My memory opened the floodgates, and sensations poured rushing at me. Sight, hearing, smell, even taste—everything was sharp again, just as it had been in my childhood. A long summer day of my carefree youth: [[Frederick]] in his workshop, showing me a shiny iron ball and telling me about lightning, charges, and how he is about to harness lightning and make it turn millstones, illuminate the darkness of caves, and even drive away wild beasts. He clicked something; the room filled with this familiar smell, and the hair on my feet stood up, just like right now. I shuddered. I remembered what had come next. Smiling mysteriously, [[Frederick]] invited me to touch the shiny ball. I reached out to feel the pretty little round thing, but there was still a good cubit between my hand and the ball when lightning struck with a loud snap and pain shot through my body. I cried and swore for a good while, while [[Frederick]] blurted out apologies, muttering words I didn't understand at the time—something about calibration, calculated power and arc-through energy. Could it be that he had eventually mastered the lightning, but the [[artificer]]s now think that the wild beasts are… us?</p>}}
{{TErow| 11 | [[Lightning Rod]] Warning... Again | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: My worst fears were confirmed. We stumbled upon something I could only describe as an ugly manifestation of a dark experimenter's twisted genius. We wandered into a small rocky valley while on a recon raid. The smell of thunderstorm and burnt flesh, and charred skeletons tied to metal lightning rods—those were the gloomy decorations of the dull wasteland we saw. The sand around the iron structures had turned to glass in some places; some large stones were split, and their exposed surfaces displayed tree-like patterns etched into them by some unknown force. There was a kind of somber, magnetic beauty about them... Here and there, burnt markings with some kind of numbers on them were scattered. It was an execution, a long and painful one; it looked like it lasted all the while the wretches were testing their new weapon. I hoped fervently that the mind behind this atrocious contraption was anyone but [[Frederick]]’s. Now we knew: a thunderclap could hit any of us, anytime. We had to remember that and try to find some means of protection.}}
{{TErow| 13 | [[Couatl]]s Scouts | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: That day, the [[Couatl]] that [[Wynona]] and I had been trying to make into a scout returned to camp. I was not yet convinced that these creatures could be useful anywhere but on the battlefield. Still, the elf insisted that the [[Couatl]]s were incredibly intelligent. She'd found common ground with these creatures much faster than I'd hoped. Probably thanks to [[Tlamac]]’s ritual. I'd almost forgotten the thrill of watching my friend help a small serpent, feathers all shades of red, out of its egg. It was as if it had been generations ago, back when the [[Couatl]]s reigned over the world and the world was just a few islands...<p>[[Wynona]]'s bond with her new friends was unusual yet unbreakable. Hugging the tired scout by his big, craggy head, she could see everything that he himself had seen over the past few days. It seemed as though we were not the only targets of the [[bounty hunter]]s [[Kastore]] had sent out. The [[Couatl]] saw several [[gunslinger]]s dragging a shackled man who looked like an [[alchemist]]. There was also another prison to the north, guarded by [[juggernaut]]s, but there was no way of knowing who was languishing there.<p>We were not alone in our struggle against [[Kastore]]; at least that felt somewhat encouraging.</p>}}
{{TErow| 17 | Abandoned [[Factory]] | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: [[Wynona]] progressed by leaps and bounds in mastering the benefits of her friendship with the [[Couatl]]s. Not so long ago, I was chuckling as she tried to explain the job to her first feathered spy; now we had a whole flock of nimble scouts scouring the clouds and keeping enemy [[airship]]s from taking off. The [[Couatl]]s are much smarter than the [[wyvern]]s; those would mindlessly throw themselves at airships’ propellers out of their habit to go at their prey’s tail, and lost more than a dozen before getting the idea to attack the balloon. Conversely, our winged friends knew the [[airship]]s’ weak points perfectly well, so now we had decisive air superiority. Moreover, thanks to these amazing creatures, we knew of the traitors’ well-fortified, impregnable fortress and of at least three commanders from [[Kastore]]’s growing army who had deployed their troops on the approaches to this bastion. We also knew of the ever-increasing [[dragon]] population and of one very intriguing town, abandoned after the [[undead]] rose from their graves. There were intact manufactories and foundries in that town, which meant that with the [[undead]] laid to rest, we could produce some [[automaton]]s for our own needs.}}
{{TErow| 29 | Enemy Hero Waves - First Warning | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: [[Kastore]] has thrown the full might of his growing army at us. This is not simply an attempt to intimidate the renegades or quell a rebellion. This means a war of attrition, one we are certain to lose. Every day, the furnaces of his forges and factories burn hotter and hotter; the [[goblin]]s gain experience and work better and better, and he demands more and more from them. Sooner or later, there will be two or even three self-propelled machines or marksmen for each one of us. Every hour of delay today is sure to bring us bitter defeats and losses tomorrow. We cannot fight two wars at once—one in the present, with former friends, and the other in the future, with old enemies. Still, I believe we can gather enough power and take off for [[Eeofol]] before [[Kastore]] pounces.}}
{{TErow| 85 | Final Warning (411) | {{H|Henrietta|0=}}: We cannot wait any longer. We must get the [[airship]]s ready and leave for [[Eeofol]] now, or [[Kastore]] will sweep us away like a stormwave washes away a sandcastle on the beach. All we have accomplished here has been such a castle, mistaken for a new home. Our future no longer lies in these barren lands—it lies out there, across the ocean. There is only one place worthy of being called home. We may die in this uphill fight with the [[demon]]s, but we will fall on our own land.}}
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