The purpose of this page is to log the occurrences and happenings in the realms, with what I know from my own experiences, and what information I obtain from others within our ranks.


07/17/2009:
Things have been quiet, lately. Some troops and dragons both are restless...but this time gives us an opportunity to prepare further, so we are not sitting idle. I have found it has been good for me, as a trainer, to give some of our soldiers some one-on-one time. This has been true for other trainers, as well, and as a result we have been able to bolster morale and skills both through some intensive personal training. Though sometimes I long for battle, I am still glad to be out of the thick of it for awhile. The extra time has also given us as a whole the much-needed time to scout further out from our usual borders, and also to make sure all parts of the land within our borders are known and secured. So there is much to do, war or no war. More when there's more to say...


04/06/2009:
Something is stirring in the astral. From what I have heard, it is caused by something that happened away from here, across the Atlantic. I see a point of impact, and a spreading shockwave. It speaks of storms and change. The storms have come; we are being hammered with rain now, and I heard word of sleet and freezing rain as well in the surrounding areas. The change? We will need to see about that. I have reached out to friends and comrades near and far, warning and asking for preparedness to weather this storm. It will involve more than earthly precipitation before it is done.


01/09/2009:
Early this morning, we were advised a contingent of armed enemy troops had crossed into our territory. Their destination was not known, but it was known that they had with them a secret. It was a large, long object, kept at the center of their group, covered with a dark cloth and bound in chains. The cloth kept all prying eyes from the thing under it, even magical ones. This was a cause for concern, and brought forth several questions. What was such a small group doing in our territory? There were only about 50 troops total, and they would know they would be no match for the force we could bring against them. What was under the cloth? There were several ideas: 1) it was a secret they hoped to sneak by us, with their small numbers; 2) it was a weapon, and they hoped we would bring forces against them, so they could unleash it, destroying any of us present, even at the cost of their own lives. It was certainly a mystery, and something we decided must be investigated. We sent scouts out first, to confirm their numbers (the initial view was taken by a remote probe, useful but sometimes unreliable in showing the whole picture). The enemy had scouts of their own, and ours came under attack. This was not unexpected, but we found the enemy possessed personal weapons of great power; enough to drive even the dragon scouts back to us with holes in their wings. We decided on a new approach, then: we would come at them again, planning again to get a better view of the situation before launching any full attack. This time, we would come as shadows, unlike our usual tactic, but necessary in this case, to get a better view and try to determine what tactic would be best in the situation.

Myself, Trick, and two of our wingmen took off soon thereafter, assumed shadowform, linked our minds, and flew like the wind towards the mystery. Four dragons, four riders; plenty enough to scout out and return with information, so we may better plan how to handle the situation.

En route, we received a message from our home base: a larger force of dragons and riders had already left the castle, before we had taken flight. Their destination was the enemy force, but their orders were unknown. I suspected their orders: annihilation. When a smaller force (our scouts) had not succeeded, someone decided the only answer was to send a larger force. Keep using brute force until it works. If you send enough dragons, some will come back alive. As a young commander, I may have found this an agreeable tactic; now, I prefer to find alternatives that won't result in needless death of our comrades.

We urged our dragons to fly faster, if possible, but they were already moving as fast as they could fly. We could have used other methods of transportation, but we did not want to overshoot our target, and in either case we would have had to shift back out of shadowform, which would have defeated our purpose (though we thought it may have been defeated already, by others). All we could do was push on, and so we did. In time, we saw the other wing of dragons ahead of us: 8 dragons and riders, that we could see. There may have been more. By the time we reached them, it was too late to talk any sense to them, or even ask their mission. The enemy was dead, slain to the last one, none even left alive to interrogate. The broken body of one of our dragons lay on the ground, burned through with the weapons of the enemy. His rider was nowhere to be seen.

We left our shadowform, and Shadowchaser brought me to the ground. I dismounted with tears in my eyes, but bit them back as I strode forth to speak with the commander of the other force. He was one I recognized, of course; we had flown together, fought together in past battles. My rage died when I looked at his face; he was as devastated as me. He was one to follow orders, always, and to the letter. This experience would not change that, but this man was not the one to blame for what happened here. I realized as I looked around that the cloth lay on the ground, but the chains and the object the cloth had covered were not to be seen anywhere. Also, only four dragons and riders were here, counting the fallen one; that left at least four that had gone somewhere else, presumably with the captured thing, whatever it was. I could see scorch marks on the cloth, and I have my ideas on what the thing is, but I will not speak them here, not yet. It must be confirmed, first.

I couldn't speak, and I saw he didn't expect it, nor was he able to. We stood, not looking at each other, while his wingmen picked through the enemy bodies and gear, salvaging what they could, and mine soared through the darkened skies above. After a time, I returned to Shadowchaser, and we took to the air. I gathered my wingmen, and we returned home, hoping to find some answers, saying prayers for our comrades.


10/27/2008:
A continuation of my last update:
On the following day, we broke the enemy lines and they fled. We gave pursuit for a short distance, slaying the slowest, but some did get away. We shored up the defenses at our current position, then took wing, bound for Ravenblack's town. We touched down outside of town the next day, and were in the air again that evening, with Kerowynn's forces, bound for the next battlefield.

We met a large enemy force in battle early the next day. Our force was large, theirs was larger, but we were victorious in the end. I had hoped to include much more detail in this update, but, as usual, I waited too long to update, so I have forgotten some of the important details... The most important is that we won the fight, and with no losses, at that. There were quite a few injuries, from the minor (most) to the severe (thankfully few).

After routing the enemy forces at the second field, we returned to Kerowynn's base of operations for a bit of rest, then returned to the castle, where we have been since. The council was somewhat displeased with me initially, but after some explaining, especially about the large number of new allies we found (or found us), there was more understanding had, and no "punishment" to speak of. The next time we meet with Kerowynn's forces, I hope to bring some of our more political allies with me, to form the alliances that need forming, and open up the related intelligence channels.


10/09/2008:
On Friday, the enemy attacked. They raised gates at our borders, and summoned forth massive creatures of war, all black shells and massive pinchers, like hellish lobsters. The biggest of these creatures were too large to fit through the gates, and they had to withdraw. While the claws came forth to attack, the ranks of the enemy stood silent, beyond our range, and watched. They wore heavy black steel armor, and carried long spears, but they did not attack. Once the black-shelled monstrosities had done their work; either tearing into us and being eventually brought down, or backing off, into the gates, the summon gates disappeared, and the enemy withdrew, leaving us wondering.

We did not have to wonder for long. We received word that while the enemy launched their diversion against us (which we fell for, sadly), they struck fast and hard at one of our allies, pushing hard, forcing not only defense, but offense as well to push back the tide. Once we received confirmation of this, and confirmed our own borders were intact, I called my wing and several others together and moved quickly to aid our allies. That is where we have been for the past 2 days, fighting to break the enemy lines so we can move on to other important tasks. We hit the enemy from behind the first day, hoping to crush one of their groups betwen us and the defense, but we were only partially successful. Their numbers were greater than anticipated, and we were forced to push our way through to join the defensive line, rather than remaining separated from them. While we were on approach, we rescued some of the defenders, who had snuck through in an attempt to take out an enemy commander, and had become stranded, unable to get back to the line. We made it through and helped shore up the defenses, with few losses.

We finally made some headway today. We were able to break through the enemy lines in one place, separate their attacking force, and then widen the gap a bit. This was risky for those defenders in the gap, but we were lucky this time, and we were able to defeat many enemies in the smaller section before we withdrew and reformed our line, becoming a tide to push back the remaining attackers. We were able to push them back, and we also reached out and closed some small gates they had created to bring reinforcments. We hope to clean this mess up soon...there are other fronts that need help, and a breach that needs to be closed asap. No doubt about it: this is a massive assault, and I have been advised it may get worse before it gets better. We have been preparing for this. We will prevail.


10/03/2008:
It has been many months without much news, many months since the enemy went to ground and did not resurface. During this time, we have not been idle. We have been stocking supplies, training always, and preparing for the time when we must face foes again. That time is now near. I have been advised that we should prepare for war, and so we are. Dragons and riders alike are gearing up, the fires are burning higher, and the healers are preparing their kits, ready to go back to work, whenever and wherever they are needed.

There has been activity at our borders, and we are sending scouts to investigate. Trick is leading one of the wings; I must stay behind for now, for discussion and planning of our next moves. More updates when I have them.


01/04/2008:
Events are cycling up again in the Realms, as we prepare for further conflict. The word on the wind is that it is coming soon, though I cannot get a feel for an exact timeframe. After speaking with a close friend, I have been starting to search again, for others to help us. I will be revisiting some earlier recruits, and working to help them remember who they are. Each one gained is a great asset for our cause. I will post further news when I have it.


08/09/2007:
It has been very quiet for us during the past couple of months. I am aware of events going on in other parts of the Realms, but our portion and those we patrol have been very empty and quiet lately. We have started sending patrols a little further out, beyond our usual borders. It is important that we learn as much as we can while we have time, before events escalate and our enemies resurface to face us.


04/24/2007:
We had another meeting the night of 4/13. It was short, and I expect we will meet again later this week. Since then, the castle halls have been fairly empty. Most are away, on errands or other duties. Those who remain in the castle are keeping to themselves. There seems to be a lot of self-thought and quiet contemplation. It is a bit of a relief; a change from the usual noisy halls and yards. It is also a bit disquieting, however; there is usually something going on...but there has just been nothing this week; at least, nothing that has been shared with me. That is OK; I've had my own contemplations to occupy me, and my companions are taking this time to do some things for themselves, as well.


04/13/2007:
No battle last night. The enemy has pulled back, whether due to their extreme losses or for another reason, we do not know. We spent part of the evening in discussion about the conflict this week, and the rest of the evening resting, as we are all tired. The discussions will probably continue tonight. I suspect we'll be pushing back on the enemy before more forces can be mustered. More updates when I have them.


04/12/2007:
Battle has come to us again, as it always does. Every day and every night this week, there has been a skirmish or conflict of some kind. Many of those we face now are our own kind, backed by outsiders, but nothing too unusual -- most of the outsiders appears as orcs, goblins, or similar; no hulking demons or creatures beyond description (yet). The conflict has been brutal and harsh; magic has been used, but most of the fighting is purely physical, and tiring. Many on their side have fallen, but we have suffered our losses, as well. They are trying to take what is not theirs, trying to force innocents to serve them or become involved in a coflict they cannot survive. We work to prevent either scenario from becoming reality for these people, but many have suffered and died; all we can do is protect and try to save those who remain.


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