Editing Homecoming (HotA)

{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: Dead earth. Lifeless water. Poisoned air. Only the fire reigns now in these lands; the fire the halflings had always feared so. It devoured all the living force of Eeofol and keeps spawning beasts. The scenery I saw from the skies was dire, but I knew it would be like that. Now I know for sure: it is my land, even if I had no love for it the way it once used to be. I will find those who kept fighting for it all these years, and together we will chase the devils through the gates of hell, or die trying.

{{TErow| 1 | Henrietta - Home | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Home. We go home. I kept repeating these words as I looked forward from aboard the airship. This trip to [[Eeofol]] was uneventful and smooth—the opposite of the long, arduous flight to [[Jadame]]… so many years ago.<p>We were not alone. A few hours before we left, armed men in hats appeared in [[Rotwang]]—we first assumed them to be a new group of bounty hunters hired by [[Kastore]]. It turned out, however, that not all gunslingers and adventurers liked the new ruler. Some were not satisfied with the new, lower rates for their challenging work, some did not like the vain elf, who considered all in Terra Nova as mere pawns in his game. There were a thousand other reasons to desert his army, and those gunslingers had made that decision. They were now willing to go with us to Eeofol and never return to Jadame. There was a rather high-ranking commander, Colonel Lee, among the deserters. He brought not only his own men, but also the Dreadnoughts that we already knew so well.<p>Admittedly, I had my doubts about these new traveling companions. Some of them could have been Kastore's spies, or worse. However, I had long ago learned not to turn my back to those who I distrust…<p>And then the volcanoes and mountain ranges appeared on the horizon. Yes, here it is, Eeofol—but not the Eeofol we knew when we left it.<p>Whatever it is—it's our home, and we're back.</p>}}

{{TErow| 1 | [[Tavin]] - War Diary Entry | Tavin's war diary, entry 11.<p>I can't believe it: the Lords of [[Erathia]] are actually withdrawing their support for [[Catherine|Queen Catherine]]! At first I believed that our new allies, the elementals, would come in and crush the devils like rotten pumpkins, but I guess I just wanted it to be that way too much. The war proved things like that never come easy. A messenger from the Forest Guard reported that elementalist [[Ciele]] had fallen into a trap, and now the devils were holding her in a prison somewhere on the border with Eeofol.<p>When we heard this, we stopped dreaming of smooth sailing. It became clear: even getting the sorceress out of her imprisonment will be a bear of a job. A large [[Kreegan]] detachment was guarding the prison, and what's more, they spotted us on the way up, as if they knew we'd be there.<p>Retreat back through the mountains? Too late, we've been cut off. We need to run deep into the Land of the Giants. There's a camp of Forest Guard archers nearby, where that messenger came from, so we should go there.</p>}}

{{TErow| 2 | Land of the Giants | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: We camped in the barren hills of Land of the Giants, the eastern part of Eeofol. I had never been here before. Sure, I could call myself a seasoned traveler now, but back when living in Eeofol, a journey of a dozen miles from home seemed a daring feat! I had heard that dragons, giants, and other monsters abounded here, and the halflings had always been wary of these dangerous lands.<p>The day before, I had sent out a party to scout the vicinity of our camp. It returned with troubling news: a fortress of devils was found not so far away to the west.<p>Besides, it is inconceivable that our arrival could have gone unnoticed.</p>}}

{{TErow| 4 | Halfling | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Yesterday, a halfling appeared in our camp. Only then I finally came to believe the late Kett's words... The stranger was skinny as a stick and barely able to stand on his feet, so we put him in the hastily set up infirmary immediately. He recovered quicker than I thought—the very next day. Strong men, these...<p>The guest was completely shocked to see me—though we didn't know each other, as he hailed from a different place. He was even more shocked by my traveling companions. The halfling—his name was Thull—had been walking around the camp for a long time, gawking at the huge dreadnoughts and the amazing Couatls, trying to talk to the gunslingers, but the mercenaries were in no mood for conversations. Eventually he came to me. I told him about our journey to Jadame, the battles against [[Zog]]’s ogres of and [[Dargem]]’s pirates, and many other things we'd been through over the past nine years. The halfling just nodded, staring sternly and occasionally frowning.<p>Finally, I called out to him:<p>“I heard Tavin was still alive and fighting with our people against the devils. Have you any news of him?”<p>'''Thull: '''“Of course,” he answered, “I am one of his squad myself”.<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: I asked him a hundred questions about Tavin immediately, but Thull only shook his head with sorrow.<p>'''Thull: '''“I wish I knew where he was now. We were going to break into the demons’ prison, but we got jumped on the way. Tavin and the others had retreated toward the lake; I was on a distant lookout and couldn't catch up with them. So, I waddled here.”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: The halfling tried to explain to me where the lake was, but I couldn't get anything decisive out of his story.<p>'''Thull: '''“...and while I was walking here, I noticed an odd town in the woods. I thought that your fortress was the same—light brick walls, shining domes... but now I look closer and I see that town over there was quite different. It's a city of elementals, I guess. Their army must be around here somewhere.”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Elementals? I remembered at once: long ago, back in Eeofol, in [[Frederick]]'s laboratory, I had seen several tiny, seemingly incorporeal creatures in tightly corked bottles and vials. I stared at one of these strange creatures for a long time; it seemed as if it were made of nothing but air and glittering lightning. Frederick explained that it was a lesser air elemental. Later, in Jadame, of course, I had seen elementals being summoned by Warlocks for their own use; however, those were much more powerful and imposing creatures. But I had never heard of an entire army of elementals, let alone their cities. Let alone here, in Eeofol!<p>'''Thull: '''“Oh, yes,” Thull nodded. “You don't know anything. Now listen, Erathia is not fighting the demons alone. They have a whole army of elementals on their side! I don't know where they came from or what they want, but they're backing us now! I've seen this army with my own eyes, just like I see you now. Them demons are pups compared to them!”</p>}}

{{TErow| 8 | Tor Anwyn is concerned about Kreegans | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Old Kosta ran past my tent in the camp. He was pounding his stick on a kettle and yelling:<p>'''Kosta: '''“Again! Again! They're attacking again!”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Who? The devils?” I drew my sword, preparing to fend off the attack.<p>'''Kosta: '''“There”, the old halfling pointed toward the hills with a trembling hand.<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Up ahead, at the foot of the hill, I could see a few gunslingers from my squad cleaning their blunderbusses. The smell of gunpowder still lingered in the air.<p>“Who attacked this time? Devils? Efreeti?”<p>'''Gunslinger: '''“Certainly not,” one of the gunners said hoarsely. “Look, here. Floating eyes. And the harpies and the minotaurs.”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: It was not the first time these days that we'd had to clash—not with demons, but with these harpies, minotaurs, even manticores.<p>'''Halfling: '''“I know who they are,” said one of the local halflings. Over recent days, once our arrival became known, we had been receiving a trickle of fighters from various guerrilla groups who’d come to join us. Unfortunately, we didn't meet any of Tavin's comrades—everyone knew the daring commander, but no one could tell us anything useful about him. - “They're from [[Nighon]]. They've been here for years. They dug their own tunnels under Eeofol. Why are they attacking us now, I wonder?”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: “I don't think they were attacking anyone,” I responded. “I think they were heading somewhere else. But where?”<p>The answer came naturally. One of the gunners called out to me as he found something on the body of one of the slain minotaurs, a giant brute in rich, gilded armor.<p>'''Gunslinger: '''“Looks like a scroll," the mercenary hissed.<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: I took the scroll carefully and unrolled it. It was hard to make out what was written on it at first, as the handwriting style was unfamiliar; back in Jadame we used to write in a much simpler manner. However, back in the day, Frederick taught me to read and write using scrolls from the [[Bracada|Bracadian]] Academy, where calligraphy was regarded to be one of the most important subjects. A high-brow style with many curls and lines of perfect thickness. This letter is clearly part of correspondence between very important people.<p>''“I must inform you that [[Lucifer Kreegan]] had requested military support from Nighon. Even though there is infighting in the country, our king decided to send forces to aid this mad beast. Keep a close eye on the movement of our troops and report me the news. We cannot afford to waste our forces at such a difficult hour for Nighon.''<p>''Tor Anwyn."''<p>The name Anwyn sounded vaguely familiar to me… I think Frederick had mentioned him before? No, can't recall for sure. What really matters is the news that Nighon is sending troops to aid Eeofol. The Queen of Erathia and the Conflux forces must be informed at the earliest opportunity. They must not be taken by surprise by the arrival of the Dungeon Overlords’ army.</p>}}

{{TErow| 16 | Forest Guard camp and devil fortresses | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: A scout on a mission from [[Gelu]], the half-elf commander of the Forest Guard, visited us. He absorbed my account of our landing, the Nighon beasts, and the recent devil attacks and promised to pass it all on to his commander. Then he told me that there was a camp of the Guard in the forests to the southeast. The commander, he said, was [[Stilbon]] himself, one of the most experienced officers in the Forest Guard, but there had been no news from him in weeks, and Gelu feared the worst.<p>It turned out that the Forest Guard had been studying the land for months, looking for weaknesses in the Kreegan defenses. The appearance of our base had not gone unnoticed, but the elementals could summon their cities out of thin air, so at first the Kreegans were not particularly interested in us, believing us to be just another outpost of those guests from other planes. According to the scout, there were two large Kreegan fortresses in the south and northwest, and another, [[Ullah]], far to the west, but it was impossible to get to it; the path to it went lay through Kreegan portals, magical barriers, and garrisons packed to the brim with the infernal beasts...</p>}}

{{TErow| 32 | Situation is getting worse | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: Day after day passed, but it didn't get any easier—the Kreegan numbers were getting bigger and bigger. I put the scroll with the latest scouting report aside in frustration. They're being pounded by humans and elves! How do they even afford having the troops to fight back against us, too? Yet they do.<p>All our scouting parties have been trying to figure out how to get to the Kreegan fortress of Ullah over the last few days, but it looks like things are about to get very heated right here.<p>There's no point in mounting an attack on Ullah now—there's another pressing matter to deal with. The matter of survival.</p>}}

{{TErow| 49 | Warning about reinforcements | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: A messenger from Gelu brings troubling news: the combined forces of the Forest Guard and Catherine’s troops have been forced to redeploy. A very important plan requires them—the fate of the war and perhaps the entire world will depend on its success. Taking advantage of the subsided action in the west, the Kreegans are amassing a huge force to stop us from taking their strongholds. Their two bastions to the south and northwest must be captured, and that’s to be done before the month ends; otherwise it will be too late for us.}}

{{TErow| 79 | Todd's story | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: We spent the next day unloading airships, building new workshops, and engaging in endless chatter—mostly questions on my part. Most of all, of course, I was interested in Frederick's fate. Here, [[Todd]] took up the story:<p>{{Hn|Todd|0=}}: “I met Frederick just once, at the time when [[Floribert]] and I were put in charge of another, completely insane project of Kastore’s. Hand prostheses outfitted with ripsaws, so that cripples could keep on fighting... [[Victoria]] refused to do it, even though it was precisely her area of expertise. She said such primitive, crude devices were offensive to the very... Er, where was I? Oh, yes. If invention and knowledge weren't in our common bloodline, I would have thought Frederick was spellbound—so immersed in his thoughts. It's like a trance, when you don't notice anything around you and surrender completely to the muse of inspiration. I know this state very well, unlike  [[Bertram|certain long-bearded, thick-skinned]]... No wonder Frederick didn't notice any of our hidden messages. And yet I am sure he is perceptive enough to recognize the pretense sooner or later and tell the difference between true friends and false ones.”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: It was as if some deep-lying muscle inside me, long under incredible tension, had relaxed. I whispered for the hundredth, maybe even thousandth, time:<p>“Thank you, guys!”<p>When the sentimentality fit passed, I reassessed our chances. Within a day, the fortress was bristling with weapons of every kind; molten iron bubbled behind the walls, taking the form of mechanical warriors, and the hope and desire to drive the Kreegans back to the desolate hulk in the sky from they'd fallen off had been rekindled in our hearts.</p>}}

{{TErow| 92 | News about [[Armageddon's Blade (artifact)|Armageddon's Blade]] | {{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: A messenger from Gelu showed up at our camp, unnoticed by the guards, as he always did.<p>'''Messenger: '''“Gelu sends word: The Armageddon’s Blade is now in our hands, and its creator [[Khazandar]] is dead. [[Xeron]] has retreated. The ranks of the demons have been shaken; the battle for [[Kreelah]] draws near. Queen Catherine asks you to launch all your forces into attack. Our victory is at hand!”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: The elf spoke in his usual manner, in choppy, dry phrases, but his burning eyes told me that this report was the most important and the best news in the long darkness of the war. I had heard rumors about this Armageddon’s Blade, but it was hard to believe that such a thing could have been created by a man, even a genius of unprecedented caliber. If what they say about it is true, then I am very glad that the blade is now in the hands of our allies. As for Khazandar... I'd heard that name from Frederick a long time ago, but I couldn't remember who he was to my friend. Sam interrupted my thoughts:<p>{{Hn|Sam|0=}}: “Commander. Should we prepare for the battle?”<p>{{Hn|Henrietta|0=}}: “We should.”</p>}}