The Story So Far... [BOOK 1 SUMMARY]

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Feel free to read all the chapter summaries at some point if you wish to understand the minutiae of some older plotlines. Don't feel obligated - it is usually easier to ask am older member to help you slot your story in to the history!

The Tome of the New Order, when fully re-instated, should also provide a summary of much of the people, places and events.

These summaries also appear at the start of each West Watch chapter

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Chapter 1 summary

Grand Master Black Cat was chosen to be the Admiral of the new Kai Fleet, taking command of the warship Solaris. He was soon joined by Kai Master Orson in command of the Sea Eagle. The Sea Eagle immediately embarked on a three day patrol of the Holmgulf, while the Solaris begun patrols around Toran.

The Sea Eagle reported the presence of Lakuri Pirates, but they vanished into mist before the Kai ship could intercept them. The Sea Eagle began an extended search for the mysterious vessel around the Kirluindin Isles, but was forced to break off the search because of sea fog. Grand Master Black Cat immediately sailed to Holmgard, before heading to the Isles to coordinate patrols with Knight-Commander Medar.

It was decided that the Kai Fleet would patrol the Kaltersee for Drakkarim ship movements. Shortly after, a smaller vessel (the Sentinel) under the command of Kai Lord Sky Dragon was commissioned, and sent, with the Sea Eagle to patrol the coast of the Darklands. The Sentinel was successful in landing patrols of Kai Lords, which identified a giant Ironclad being built at Argazad. Meanwhile, the Solaris successfully tracked the mysterious Lakuri vessel to the southeast coast of Kalte, but didn't discovered a Drakkarim naval base there. Upon hearing the news of the Ironclads, the Brotherhood begun testing of a new weapon, codenamed Red Storm, which was actually a floating ballistics system called a TORPEDO.

Grand Master Falling Phoenix boarded the Sentinel and set sail for Argazad accompanied by the Sea Eagle – with Kai Lord Hawkeye acting as a temporary Captain. The Grand Master’s mission was to destroy the giant Ironclad. Lord Hawkeye reported increased sea activity, including Ironclads around Argazad. Meanwhile, Master Orson was given commission of a new ship, the Wave Dancer, and command of the Sea Eagle was transferred permanently to the newly promoted Kai Master, Hawkeye.

Master Hawkeye was joined by Master Orson at Cape Vashna where he reported an individual of some importance arriving at Argazad. Meanwhile, Grand Master Black Cat and the Solaris was ordered on a mission to the Gulf of Durenor on behalf of Lord Rimoah of the Elder Magi. Word was eventually received from Lord Sky Dragon, who reported Vassagonian emissaries at Argazad. It seems like the Vassagonians are once again seeking an alliance with the Darklands. The Sentinel was reported to be heading for home under pursuit by a substantial fleet including ironclads.

Meanwhile, word was received that the TORPEDO system was completed, and all ships were ordered to Toran to receive the new weapons payload. Word was also received from Supreme Master Winterhawk aboard the White Gale, which was making best speed for Toran harbour from the south. The Supreme Master ordered Grand Master Ghost Bear to take charge of the defence of the Monastery against an expected Darklands attack from the Durncrag mountains.

It emerged that Grand Master Black Cat had encountered Drakkarim raiders in the Gulf of Durenor, who succeeded in looting a ship laden with gold, heading for the Bank of Sommerlund in Holmgard. Meanwhile, Grand Master Ghost Bear decided that he would defend the Monastery in three ways. Firstly, ballistas would be placed upon the towers and battlements, to deter an aerial attack. Secondly, the Fryelund Forest would be booby trapped with pitfalls, nooses, and other lethal devices designed to disrupt a land assault. Lastly, a petition would be sent to the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star to request magical aid.

At sea, a suicide plan was being drawn up by Master Orson, which would result in the destruction of the Wave Dancer, should it become necessary. In the south, the White Gale succeeded in fighting off an attack by pirates, at little cost to the crew.

While Grand Master Ghost Bear was encamped in the Fryelund Forest, supervising the deployment of the traps, he received a message from one of his more promising students, Master Relenoir, requesting an assignment with the Fleet. Luckily, such an assignment had just come up, with the commissioning of the Emerald Defender. Leave was granted for Relenoir to leave for Toran to take up his new command.

The Sea Eagle arrived in port, and was loaded with a supply of the new TORPEDO weapon, before setting sail once more for the Wave Dancer’s position, where Master Orson was waiting for signs of the Sentinel.

Back at the Monastery, Grand Master Ghost Bear ordered that patrols around the perimeter of the Fryelund Forest be increased, in order to gain advance warning of an attack. Following instructions from Supreme Master Winterhawk, a company of Kai was deployed to the Durncrag Mountains, to reinforce the defences there. At dusk, Supreme Master Winterhawk returned to the Monastery, and explained his absence. He had been in Kalte, excavating an ancient buried ruin with the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. Sun Eagle’s Solsword and Neboran Eagle Armour had been returned to the Kai. Grand Master Ghost Bear was still concerned about the lack of word from the Brotherhood. Could there be internal strife at the Guildhall in Toran?

Word was finally received from the Sentinel, and it did not auger well. It turned out that a Helghast was assuming the form of Grand Master Falling Phoenix, and during their journey, it revealed itself and attacked. It was killed quickly, but it had already done damage to the ship, which was taking on water. What had happened to the Grand Master? Had he been killed?

Meanwhile, word was received at the Monastery from a Dwarven mercenary commander by the name of Brunga Stoneneck, who had offered the services of his company at the Monastery at no charge. Grand Master Ghost Bear raised concerns about this with the Supreme Master, but he also believed that the dwarves would be valuable allies in the defence of the Monastery…

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Chapter 2 summary

Grand Master Falling Phoenix is still missing. Nobody knows if he still alive or if his body is now at the bottom of the Kaltersee. The Sentinel, badly damaged from the attack of the Helghast that took the place of the missing Grand Master, was followed by a small fleet of Ironclads of the Darklands. The Kai Fleet, now with a new ship, the Emerald Defender (Commanded by Master Relenoir) went to face the enemy. The four warships of the Kai sank three Ironclads with the new torpedoes, while the last one was captured by Captain Hawk Eye and Master North Star of the Sea Eagle. They also managed to capture a Vassagonian emissary that was on board. The Sentinel, who was heading for Toran during that time, was attacked by surprise by a fifth ironclad that nobody saw coming. The courage of Captain Sky Dragon avoided the damaged Kai ship to sink by making a daring attempt to destroy the enemy’s ship. This attempt succeed, letting the Sentinel to reach Toran without anymore problems. A small celebration was held in the Guildhalls of the BotCS the following night where some Captains received distinctions. The Admiral also set up a secret meeting with his Captains to expose them his plan for the upcoming battle against the Giant Ironclad: the Operation Toran Horse.

Meanwhile, Supreme Grand Master Winter Hawk asked for the help of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star and its Skyriders. But grim news arrived from the BotCS: Banedon was nowhere to be seen! Brother Sekhemty took charge of the Brotherhood and decided to send a Skyrider, commanded by Brother Redbeard, to the Monastery.

Winter Hawk, who was commanding forces of the Sommerlund’s Army at Fort Clanor, felt a danger. He went to see the front line, just to discover that the enemy was attacking! But this attack was not what it seemed: it was an illusion, created by Nadziranim, that only the power of the Sommerswerd revealed. Following that battle, Winter Hawk decided to cede his title of Warmarshall to Crown Prince Eudoras before heading back to the Monastery so that he could find a reason for the strong powers of the enemy. Sadly, he disappeared on the way home without leaving any indications on where he could be.

In the absence of the Supreme Master, Grand Master Ghost Bear was decided to be in charge of the defense of the Monastery. It didn’t took long for him to test the defensive system that he had set up, but the Kai Forces held strong and won the battle. During the following night, the Darklands forces came back, but were again pushed back by Ghostbear and his forces. A Kai Lord named Thelcus, who was in charge of the North Watch, did pretty well during that battle. In the subsequent day, Thelcus fought a small group of Drakkarim and found on one of them a strange cylinder that intrigued a lot of Kai Lords. It was decided that he would leave the Monastery for Varetta where he would give the cylinder to a Lyrian Sage. He has just passed the Unoram.

Speaking of them, a Sage of Lyris named Tyrenis Amarrya sent a message to Toran saying that a magician of the Brotherhood was spotted in Soren with Vassagonian mercenaries. Although unconfirmed, the news intrigued Brother Sekhemty and decided to send an apprentice named Esoteric to meet with Tyrenis in Varetta. Unfortunately, Tyrenis invoked the Heavenly Gateway and arrived in Toran without any warning, and so, Esoteric left the Guildhalls for Varetta to meet someone that was in fact already in the Guildhall's walls! Tyrenis explained to Sekhemty that Banedon had probably been seen in Soren, in a noblemen’s estate held by Vassagonians. Sekhemty decided to use his Skryrider, the Crowned Star, to go in Soren with Tyrenis to investigate this strange story, leaving the Guildhall to Brother Acraban. But the Skyrider had to stop in Tyso when a Helghast damaged the ship.

During that time, the Bor Brigade, commanded by Brunga Stoneneck, were sent to Meadowoods, a small village, to protect it and to wait for the arrival of the Skyrider of Redbeard. Unfortunately, the flying ship arrived too late, due to the presence of another Helghast aboard that slowed the trip. Kraans and Giaks attacked the village, but the Brigade was able to stop their advance and captured a Kraan. They were escorting the surviving villagers to Toran when they finally met with Redbeard and his Skyrider, the Heavenly Soarer. Toran is now in sight for the Brigade.

Finally, the Vakeros and Dessi Magus of the name of Alasi Relivaur offered his help to the Admiral of the Kai Fleet. He is now on his way to Toran.

Plenty of things are now going to happen: is Thelcus going to reach Varetta safely? Is the plan of the Admiral going to work against the Giant Ironclad? Where's Winter Hawk? Are Tyrenis and Sekhemty going to finally fly to Holmgard? Is Esoteric going to be so bored that he would decided to get very drunk in a pub just to past the time? Is Brunga Stoneneck going to crash the Skyrider on Toran? Those stories and more in Chapter 3 of the Good Allegiance!

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Chapter 3 summary

The Cener Druid Purple Turtle is now roaming on the land of Sommerlund. He was spotted numerous times by villagers and he had even sent a message to a Sage in Varetta to try to make an alliance between his sect and them. He has also released a chemical agent that will certainly have an impact on the population of the country.

Before the actual naval battle starts against the Giant Ironclad, the Kai Fleet received good news from the Vakeros : their leader, Master Alasi Relivaur, was about to join them in their battle. He arrived to his new Guildhall of the Cobalt Shield in Toran where he called for a meeting between him and the Admiral. Black Cat was on the deck of his ship, getting ready to go to this meeting, when Captain Hawk Eye joined him to report all that he had learnt from the Vassagonian prisoner that he had interrogated. The Captain explained to his Admiral that the Darklands Fleet was coming soon and that it was lead by the Darklords themselves!

This meeting between the two Kai Lords was interrupted by Supreme Grand Master Winter Hawk himself. He had spent the last few days with Banedon in the forge of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star to create a new Kai Weapon, Crysalis. This mighty sword gives an advantage to its wielder if it is used in cold open air or subfreezing environment. Winter Hawk was there to offer the sword to Hawk Eye, who became at the same time a Grand Master. Sadly, Banedon died at the end of the process to create the Kai Weapon, and so Sekhemty, who is currently in Holmgard, became the new Guildmaster.

And with that, the Admiral and Captain Hawk Eye when to the Vakeros Guildhall. They were joined there by Orson, who was late because he had problems with his second-in-command, Master Sea Otter. They met Alasi and discussed the plan, codenamed Operation Toran Horse. While they were debating on the mission, Sea Otter came in. Drunk, he had caught a Cener Druid in the streets of Toran that was carrying the blueprints of the Giant Ironclads. The three captains agreed that these blueprints were surely a trap and dismissed Sea Otter. Angered, the Kai Master went to drink again in a tavern where he met a strange man. That man, who was nobody else than Purple Turtle himself (but Sea Otter didn’t knew it), made the Kai Lord drunk enough so that he could talk to him about getting a revenge on his masters. He gave him a vial of a special poison and suggest Sea Otter to put that poison into the wine reserve aboard the Wave Dancer.

While the meeting between the captains and Alasi was ending, a messenger arrived, carrying a terrible news: the Giant Ironclad was coming! Everyone went to get ready for the battle. Orson had a supper with his officers where they drank the poisoned wine. Everyone got sick, except Sea Otter, who took care to drink something else. It was decided that Sea Otter would take command of Orson’s ship while he recovers from his poisoning in the Brotherhood’s Guildhall, but no other captain heard about this since both messenger hawks of Orson were killed by Purple Turtle’s henchman. Hawk Eye went to interrogate the Vassagonian prisonner again, but when he arrived, he found him death, killed by a Helghast that had also murdered some members of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. This news bothered Black Cat because, when he went to get the explosives prepared by the Brotherhood after the death of the Vassagonian, Acraban didn’t mentionned anything to him. Anyway, the Admiral got 3 crystal explosives from him, one of them being in a magnetic box to put on the Ironclad’s hull.

During that time, at the Monastery, a Kai Lord named Shadow Crow went to scout the area around the Monastery, to see if ennemies were lurking there, while Ghost Bear was still teaching his classes although there was still the danger of an attack from the Darklands. On a particular day, he received a strange and terrifying visitor: Grand Master Falling Phoenix, who was thought to be dead, came to see him. He told him that he was now an agent of Naar, and that he would help the Darklands in the upcoming battles. It was a terrible news for all the Kai Order. With the news of the approaching enemy, Ghost Bear went out of the Monastery with some of his Kai Lords to prepare traps against the marching army.

Meanwhile, Silent Storm, a female Grand Master, started a journey to Teph on the order of the King. She had to do a secret mission there. Master Thelcus is still on his way to meet the Lyrian Sages with the strange cylinder.

Speaking of the Sages, Master Tyrenis had a dream that he concluded was a vision. Using the Path to Heaven’s Hall, he went in Varetta to meet a fellow Sage named Zipp, a female beastman that looks like a giant blue cat without a tail. After giving her some advice, he went to meet with Ghost Bear at the Kai Monastery to discussed about his dream.

Master Zipp, who was the Sage that received the letter from Purple Turtle about a possible alliance between both groups, got the visit of a Kai Lord, Wild Horse, who came to deliver a warning message about a possible traitor among the Sages. Strangely, the exact same night, Zipp found the death body of one of her brethren. He was apparently killed by a Helghast. The night after this incident, Zipp’s housekeeper was killed. The following night, Zipp painfully discovered the truth: Wild Horse was the Helghast in disguised. With the help of two other Sages, Twiler and Patrick, they slained the evil creation, after a rough combat. But the presence of this Helghast proved something to the Sages: the Darklands created a new type of Helghast that was impossible to detect! The three scribes are now reunited with Tyrenis, who used again the Path to Heaven’s Hall to come back in Varetta, to try to find ways to learn more about the new capability of the Helghasts and to find a way to remedy this problem. They decided to built a new library-fortress in Varetta to protect themselves and Zipp is willing to fund the construction of it. Unexpectedly, a Sage entered the room at the same time, handing over a piece of paper containing the description of a ritual to call an army of Death Sommlendings...

Well folks, what is going to happen next? Is Orson's stomach going to explode? Is Purple Turtle going to have the time of life in Sommerlund? Is the Admiral be bringing a life-jacket with him? Is the new library-fortress of the Sages will have a litter for the cat-like Zipp? Are the new Helghasts allergic to cold air? All that and more in this new chapter!

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Chapter 4 summary

The Battle of Sommerlund had started! On the sea, in the forests and even in the air the enemy is invading the land of the Sun. The Kai Fleet, lead by Master Sea Otter, left Toran for the Valushka’s Teeth, a zone of dangerous shoals where many ships wrecked in the past, to wait for the enemy’s fleet. Meanwhile, the Admiral Black Cat and his Vakeros ally Alasi were approaching the Giant Ironclad, leader of the Darklands Fleet, onboard a captured Ironclad. Operation Toran Horse was working great: the enemy wasn’t awared that the Ironclad that was requesting help from the Giant one was in fact loaded with Vakeros soldiers…Or so was what the Admiral thought! Aboard the Giant ship, Alasi and Black Cat discovered that they were expected and that they were now trapped on a ship with 200 Helghasts of the new breed. Using the Fire Rods that they both received from Captain Orson, the Vakeros leader and his Kai friend made their way to the upper deck of the ship. The Admiral ordered Alasi to leave the ship while he was protecting his escape, but not before setting a crystal explosive on the hull of the Ironclad. Alasi escaped and the Giant Ironclad was badly damaged by the resulting explosion of the crystal. Sadly, the Admiral was captured.

At the Valushka’s Teeth, Sea Otter discovered that had been fooled by Purple Turtle: a poison with delayed effects was running in his veins, a poison that the Cener himself had put in the wine of the Kai Master when they first met. Without knowing what was happening to him, Sea Otter died, leaving the Kai Fleet without a commanding officer. Hawk Eye decided to lead the Fleet in the battle. Seeing his Admiral in trouble on the Giant Ironclad, the Captain jumped on the deck and tried to save him, but he was also captured, along with Captain Relenoir who had also tried to come to the rescue of Black Cat. Luckily, Relenoir escaped, but not Hawk Eye, who was left behind along with a strange explosive cylinder…

Back in Toran, Commodre Sky Dragon, as the highest ranked officer of the Fleet at the moment, decided to send search parties to find the missing Captains, not knowing exactly where to look and without any idea of what was happening to the Grand Masters. Both the Admiral and Hawk Eye were put into the same cell. They were tied to a wall that was in fact a gigantic magnet. This fact confirmed Black Cat’s doubts: Master Acraban, his contact in the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, was in fact a Helghast of the new breed. Acraban was the one who knew about Operation Toran Horse and proposed the use of magnets, a technology that was already used by the Darklands. The Admiral and Hawk Eye used their Grand Mastery skills to free themselves and to find their equipement. Only their Kai Weapons were missing, but they already knew that the Captain of the Giant Ironclad had them, so they are now looking for him. Luckily for the Kai Grand Masters, all the Helghasts are now immobilized for some reasons that will be explained later in this text. This fact makes it easy for the Admiral and the Captain to explore the ship, although there is still some strong resistance from Drakkarim and Nadziranim.

In Toran, Captain Orson and his sickened officers were lead to the Guildhall of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star by a brother named Ballgarath to get a cure to their poisoning. Sadly, Ballgarath was a Helghast in disguise, along with few other “brothers” that followed the little group. But Orson magistrally got rid of the horrible monsters, not without learning that several other hidden Helghasts were roaming the land of Sommerlund. The Grand Master decided to go to the Monastery with his men so that they could give some help to the defenders. But when they reached the Monastery, they found it surrounded by enemies. Orson didn’t had the choice to ask his troop to move in the Fryelund forest to hide from the enemy’s troops. He then decided to warn Duncan, the steward of his castle that is nearby, so that he could send him help to lift the siege of the Monastery. Duncan came, with several soldiers under his command. When the time was right, the steward attacked the enemy’s camp.

Meanwhile, in Varetta, the Sages discussed of possible ways to end the threat of Helghasts in disguise. It was decided that Twiler would stay in Varetta to research the occult while Patrick and Remoire would head for Sommerlund to offer the Sage’s assistance to the Kai Order. Zipp, Tyrenis and Angelo would head for the Darklands where they would try to fight some Helghasts so that they could get more informations about the new breed. At the end of the reunion, Zipp was declared Grand Sage of Varetta by Tyrenis himself and given a fine rapier, Senoria, a weapon from her Cat tribe.

Purple Turtle the Cener Druid was preparing something. He had disseminated a powerful agent in the air of Sommerlund, and most of the population was infected by it without noticing it. During a night, he met Zipp in her dreams and explained to her his plans, one involving the Balance of Aon. He also gave her a sickle, Dominar, and a small wooden box... After this last appearance, Purple Turtle was never to be seen again…

At the monastery, the army of the Darklands was approaching fast. Ghost Bear was getting ready for the confrontation in the Vault of the Sun when, suddenly, the Lorestone of Luomi materialized itself in his hand. Made stronger because of the power of the magical stone, Ghost Bear went back on the ramparts of the Monastery to defend them. But the renegate Kai Grand Master Falling Phoenix was leading the evil army, and he knew of a way to enter the monastery without being noticed. Heading for a clearing in the forest, he opened the secret passageway that was leading directly under the Tower of the Sun, in the Vault of the Sun, where the Lorestones were kept! There, one by one, he laid his hand on them before escaping. Rapidly, Ghost Bear discovered what had happened under his feet, and vows to capture Falling Phoenix himself. But Master Swift Fox and a strange vision in the head of the Grand Master convinced him to stay at the Monastery for the moment.

While the chaos was reigning around the place, Patrick and Remoire had reached the Monastery and, using a daring plan, entered it during one of the Drakkarim’s assault. While discussing with other high ranked Kai Masters, Remoire and Patrick suddenly attacked a Kai Lord that had snuck in the room. That Kai Lord was a Helghast in disguise, which raised concerns about the security of the Monastery. But the conversation ended abruptly when another assault from the Darklands was launched, lead by a platoon of Gourgaz that was carrying a battering ram. The platoon tried to force the doors of the Monastery, but Ghost Bear just got the news that Duncan and his men were waiting to launch their attack to end the siege of the Monastery. This news raised the morale of the Kai Lords.

After a long tirening journey, Tyrenis and Zipp finally reached Helin and knocked on the door of Angelo’s house. During the night, Zipp and Angelo left the house without telling anybody. They met Seistrle, another Sage, and then headed for the Plains of Illion, were Zipp was from. In the city of Feravon, Zipp left the two other Sages in an inn and headed for the plains, where she knew she would find her tribe. It didn’t took her long to do so and to meet the Elders. She eventually went hunting with her tribe, but the Elders, not happy of the return of Zipp, sent Gareid to kill her. But she won the battle, and decided not to kill her opponent.

During these events, Seistrle and Angelo discovered that Zipp’s life was in danger and decided to go to her rescue. But what Angelo didn’t knew was that Seistrle had just been killed and replaced by a Helghast. Luckily for him, while looking for Zipp, they were captured by the Beastmen, which stopped the Helghast’s plan to kill Angelo for now. Speaking of Zipp, she had rallied most of the beasts tribes to fight against the army of Rats that was approaching. During that battle, she even saved Gareid, the Cat that tried to kill her earlier on the orders of the Elders. But because of circumstances that are told further in this text, Zipp started to laugh so much that she fell unconscious. When she recovered, she was told that her tribe was now thinking that Zipp was in fact the reincarnation of Jyhipp the Goddess.

During a meeting with the Council of the Beastmen, Zipp tried to convinced them to fight the Rats instead of attacking the Humans. But High Master Raoul, the leader of the Council, had a plan: he brought Angelo in front of the Council and asked Zipp to kill him to prove her loyalty to the beasts tribes. Zipp refused to do so and instead freed her friend. She then took command of her own tribe to repel another attack of the Rats. When the new battle started, Zipp was then unexpectedly helped by other tribes that didn’t followed the ruling of the Council. That made High Master Raoul mad, and he made it known to Zipp after the battle, but she wasn’t impressed by him. The next evening, the Rats came back to attack. Seeing the leader of the enemy escaping, Zipp chased him.

After a long pursuit, when only the leader of the Rats was still standing, Zipp discovered who that strange leader was: it was Khallot the Cat, her old lover that she had thought had died a long time ago, when they had both been expelled from their tribe. Zipp let Khallot go and came back to her tribe where she never mentionned what she just had discovered. During the following party celebrating the victory of the Beastmen over the Rats, while everybody was having fun, Zipp came back to her tent only to find out that Seistrle was waiting for her. Before she could do something, the Helghast that was personnating Seistrle killed her and disappeared into the night. The body of Zipp was about to be burned when the Tribe of the Apes, who had stayed away from all the events taking place on the Plains, asked the body for themselves. Their demand was fulfilled, and they went back where they came from with the body. While Raoul decided to let the tribes free to decide of their future without the consent of the Council, Khallot took the decision to not attack the Plains for a long time and Angelo quitted the Plains for Feravon.

Back in Varetta, Twiler had difficulties to guard the security of the library: some members of the local population, lead by Helghasts, tried to enter several times the Library of the Sages. One day, a mob tried to enter the Library. Twiler tried to talk to them, but it was to no avail. After escaping them in the streets of the city, Twiler headed back to the Library. Jarek, another Sage, decided to go out of the Library and make the mob to follow him outside the city, just to save his friends. A few days later, another riot started near the College of the Sages, but the same event that affected Zipp (the unexplained laughs) took place in Varetta too. This ended the riot, but left Twiler very perplex. The next day, he received a letter from Zipp who was announcing that she was giving the control of Varetta to him, although that he would also eventually give back the control of the college to Angelo when he would be back.

New characters appeared during the last chapter. First, we have Writing Wolf, a Sage of Varetta, who was exploring the Maakengorge when he met a party of zombies. Escaping from them, he made his way to Quarlen where his first thoughts was to buy a horse and then to head for Sommerlund. But at the last minute, a message arrived, asking him to go and help Tyrenis in Helin. Arriving in the city, he started to look for his man. Then, we meet S’vet’tee, aka Sweaty in the human language, a gourgaz that wasn’t happy that Drakkarim and Giak were hunting and chopping the trees of his forest…

All these events were interrupted suddenly at some point in time. During the first battle between the Cats and the Rats, a little wolf girl called Cloeisia entered the tent where Zipp had left the wooden box that Purple Turtle gave her. The girl opened the box, not knowing what it was in reality: that box was unleashing the power of the agent that the Cener Druids had disseminated. In fact, all the people that had lived in Northern Magnamund during the past year were contaminated. While the humans laughed for a few hours, the undead beings, including the Helghasts, are now paralized for 24 hours. It doesn’t affect the population of Southern Magnamund. This is the farewell gift from the leader of the Cener Druids Purple Turtle, showing the whole world how powerful grew the evil sect. After the death of Zipp, Cloeisia took the crystal that the Cener had given to the Sage, and so she decided to continue the work started by Zipp on the Balance.

Now, what will happen in this chapter? Was Ghost Bear's voice in his head right? Where Falling Phoenix is going to head with the stolen Lorestones? How the siege of the Monastery will develop? How the Admiral Black Cat and his sidekick Hawk Eye going to complete their mission? Is Writing Wolf finally going to find Tyrenis? Does Twiler will be a good leader for the Sage? Does Angelo have enough money to take the ferry back to Northern Magnamund? Can Cats come back in the shape of ghosts? Are we alone in the Universe? All the answers (well, most of them) will be found in this new chapter of the West Watch!

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Chapter 5 summary

The Battle of Sommerlund as reached new heights! On sea, Black Cat and Hawk Eye had caught up with the Captain of the Ironclad in the control room of the ship. Thinking that they were going to kill him easily, they didn’t expected that the Drakkarim Captain had a secret weapon. The only issue of the room getting lock, another one opened at the same time, revealing an Octo-Warrior. This fighter is made of limbs from the best fighters that lose one last battle in the gladiator arenas of the Darklands. The Octo-Warrior as, just like its name says, 8 limbs: 2 legs and 6 arms, each one holding a weapon. This particular Octo-Warrior had also the brain of a fighter that had some knowledge in Black Magic. Combined with the fact the he was armed with Illuminatus, the weapon of Black Cat, this fighter was a terrible opponent to the Kai Grand Masters. Nonetheless, Black Cat slained his enemy while Hawk Eye killed the Captain. Afterward, they headed for the engine’s room.

Meanwhile, the Vakeros Alasi and the other Captains of the Kai Fleet had came back to Toran and decided to start searching for the drifting Giant Ironclad the very next day. With each Captain having his zone to patrol, they all set sails in different directions, in the hope to find the Ironclad and, most importantly, the two Grand Masters alive. It wasn’t going to be an easy task: one night, Alasi’s ship was boarded by an ironclad. Luckily, the Vakeros were too strong for the Death Knights that had boarded their ship. After this encounter, Alasi’s ship finally found the Giant Ironclad. It was about at that same moment that Black Cat and Hawk Eye, who were heading for the engine’s room, saw their ally. The two Grand Masters then went to complete their mission by raising the pressure of the Ironclad’s engine by adding the special cylinder lost earlier by Relenoir into the furnace. The result was that the Ironclad exploded and sank to the bottom of the Kaltersee.

Luckily, Black Cat and Hawk Eye had escaped in time and swam to Alasi’s ship. Once onboard, they noticed a cargo ship that was heading in their direction. That ship was carrying Shadow, a member of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star that was coming back from a mission: to search and find Gajikago, Vashna’s Battleaxe. Sadly, someone had beaten Shadow in that race, and so he was heading back to Toran when he met the Vakeros ship. Alasi, Black Cat and Hawk Eye agreed to take Shadow back to the Toran with them, while the cargo ship would head for a safer port.

Back on land, in the Fryelund Forest, the Kai finally charged. Lead by Ghost Bear and helped by Duncan and his men, the Kai broke the siege of the Monastery. During that battle, a Kai Lord named Dusk Fox was noticed for his bravery. Sadly, he was injured and taken to the infirmery. The remnants of the Dark Forces went North, where the rest of the troops were setting a siege on the city of Toran under the supervision of Falling Phoenix, who went to breach the doors of the Guildhall of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. But by attacking the Guildhalls, he made the Ancient Guardians, in the shape of stone golems, to raise from their slumber to attack the invaders.

Supreme Grand Master Winter Hawk had been away from the Monastery for quite a long time. While everyone was asking where he was, he suddenly came back. Winter Hawk had been working secretly into the forge beneath the Guildhall of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. He had created 4 new weapons: Akkadian (that was immediately given to Ghost Bear upon Winter Hawk’s return), the sister blades Steorra and Sunnandeg and a Vakeros weapon named Thunor. Retreating into his private room, Winter Hawk then open his backpack and bathed into the warmth of the Lorestone of Nyxator, the only Lorestone that Falling Phoenix didn’t stole. Finally, after some rest, the Leader of the Kai ordered Wise Owl to take Spawnsmite since he was now ready to possess his own Kai Weapon. He was also bestowed the leadership of the Monastery since Ghost Bear was about to be sent on a mission to Toran and that Winter Hawk himself was going on his own duty somewhere else. He was going to Helgedad on a secret mission.

S’vee’tee, aka Sweaty Gourgaz, entered the Kai Monastery at the moment that Winter Hawk left it. Most of the Kai Lords couldn’t believe what they were seeing: a Gourgaz that was on the side of Good! Sweaty Gourgaz offered his help and the knowledge of the Herbalish to heal the wounded Kai Lords. Thanks to him, the injured Dusk Fox was healed in no time. Sadly, shortly after doing this, S’vee’tee left the Kai for Holmgard. Transforming himself into a bird, the Gourgaz warned King Kian about the siege of Toran. The King immediately sent his army to the besieged city. S’vee’tee also traveled in that direction. After making a diversion by turning some Giaks against Drakkarim troops, the Herbalish Gourgaz headed for the Guildhall of the Crystal Star, where Falling Phoenix was about to blow the doors of the main entrance by using a Crystal Explosive. Using the forces of Nature, S’vee’tee tried to slow down the renegade Kai Lord.

After leaving the Monastery, Ghost Bear met some Guards from Toran. They were part of the squadron that was lead by Grand Master Orson himself. Together, they headed for Toran, leaving the men of Sergent Perkins heading for the Monastery.

After his recovery, Dusk Fox was ordered to meet Wise Owl. The Grand Master had a mission for him: he was going to delivered a message to Ghost Bear telling him that Duncan was coming with some of his men to assist him in the siege of Toran. Dusk Fox would then follow Ghost Bear on his own mission. On his way to Hawk’s Eerie where he had set a meeting with his superior, Dusk Fox met and killed a Giak scout. Among the things the foul creature was carrying was a scroll of parchment, telling about the Giaks that were invading the forest before they would go to attack the flank of the city. When the Kai Lord finally reached the rendez-vous point, he headed for Meadowood, from where sounds of a battle were coming. There, he saw Ghost Bear and Orson helping the local militia to deal with a squadron of Drakkarim.

A new character appeared in this chapter: Bon-Al Ironforge, the Dwarf of Bor. He was selected to accompany a convoy under the supervision of a “merchant”. That merchant was in fact an envoy from Lyris and the convoy was transporting weapons for a Lyrian regiment that would then go help Sommerlund in its war. News reached the troop that the Darklands had found a way through the mountains north of Lyris to infiltrate Sommerlund over the Maaken Gorge. The regiment raised by the Lyrian would headed for those mountains in order to stop any reinforcements to reach the invading army. Al was asked to help the leader of that regiment, a Sage named Trest. Looking at very old maps, the dwarf found that a pass exists between the mountains: the Lost Man Pass. Furthermore, when their regiment reached the Maaken Gorge, they found something unexpected: a bridge. That bridge seemed to be made of unknown gray metal, and it was fused to the rocks on each side of the Gorge. Although not magical, it wasn’t either natural. Knowing that reinforcements were coming, Al prepared an ambush and attacked. The celebrations of the ensuing victory were cut short for Al as he was asked to meet Jadark in the Inn of the Dancing Poet.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Southern Magnamund, something attacked a party of Rats. That thing, wearing the yellow robes of the Sages, wasn’t identified. Later, it was spotted in Northern Magnamund where it killed a group of Drakkarim before attacking a village. A Kai Lord was sent to help the villagers, but he was slained too. In other villages, people died in a horrible way: they litteraly mealt, leaving only blood on the place they had died.

Patrick and Remoire finally decided that they would also go in Toran to witness the siege. On their way, they surprisingly met Zipp, who didn’t recognized them. The only thing Zipp remember is that she needed to find Tyrenis because he was in great danger. She also told the two other Sages about a new Plague, the one that had been decimating entire villages by turning its inhabitants into blood pools. The Blood Plague, as it was called, makes even the Cener to shiver in front of it. Zipp told also that something was impersonating her and that she was now a wanted cat. Remoire decided to go warn the King in Holmgard about the Plague while Patrick and Zipp would head back to Varetta to try to find Tyrenis. But Tyrenis, after recovering from his mysterious illness, used a celestial gateway to travel to Toran to face Falling Phoenix, and Zipp wasn’t really what she seemed to be…

Weird things are also happening in Varetta. A strange pendulum was used while a bird carrying a message was killed. Also, somewhere near Cloesia, Silent Storm was hearing strange voices that were asking her to go to Teph and retrieve a mace before bringing it to V’ka. These voices had started right after she had killed by accident a fellow Kai Lord that was on a mission. Meanwhile, Kai Master Shadow Crow asked Grand Master Wise Owl to be allowed to leave the Monastery so that he could go to his hometown of Searsby for undisclosed reasons.

Well, well, well... Is Falling Phoenix going to fall in front of the many enemies that are looking for him? What is happening to Zipp? What duty does Winter Hawk needs to do in Helgedad? How many Bor Brews do Al is going to drink at the inn? Are Silent Storm's voices in the head make her Magnamund's Joan of Arc? Does somebody care about these questions? More (or less) is going to happen in this new Chapter!

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 6 summary

Every war has its traitors, and with every traitors the blood is spilled. After leaving Alasi’s ship, Black Cat, Hawk Eye and Shadow headed for the Guildhalls of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. In Meadowood, Ghost Bear, Orson and Dusk Fox were helping the villagers after the fierce battle that took place there. When Duncan forces joined them, Orson took back the command of the troop and they all headed towards Toran. When they finally reached it, the city was besieged by the Dark Army. Orson and his men created a diversion to allow Dusk Fox and Ghost Bear to enter the city unnoticed. They headed for the Guildhalls too. Everyone had one goal in mind: to stop Falling Phoenix. But what they actually don’t know is that the real Falling Phoenix is held imprisonned in Helgedad and that the one terrorizing Sommerlund is a powerful evil clone.

After putting to sleep Patrick, the Sage who was traveling with her back to Varetta, Zipp used a portal and appeared in the middle of the confrontation between Tyrenis and Falling Phoenix in Toran. She knocked the Sage uncouncious, before asking the Nad-Adez Konkor to hurry. Falling Phoenix then headed for a library, followed by Zipp, in searched of a book. But Guardian Golems appeared, and they were destroyed in no time by the renegade Kai Lord and the strange Sage. After getting rid of the Guardians and after finding what he was looking for, Falling Phoenix set fire into the Library. Then, the false Kai Grand Master gave a mysterious pouch to Zipp and ordered her to bring it to Helgedad. But this Sage isn’t Zipp: it is Cloe, of the Wolf Clan, the one who started the laughing epidemic by opening the box that was given to Zipp by the Cener Druid Purple Turtle. Carrying the mystical jewel that was in that box, Cloe is trying to find a way to revive Zipp.

At that moment, Black Cat and his friends arrived at the Guildhalls, only to find out that a library was burning. Using their Nexus ability, the Grand Masters put out the fire, and then they were able to learn a lot of things. First, the false Acraban had been killed by the Brothers, along with all the other Helghasts in disguised that were hidden among them. Also, Black Cat learned about the presence of Zipp along the side of Falling Phoenix. He also got the chance to talk to Tyrenis, who had been saved from the fire. With what he had learned, Black Cat, followed by Hawk Eye, rushed in pursuit of Zipp, guessing that the Sage might have answers about Falling Phoenix’s ways of acting. While Black Cat and Hawk Eye were gone, Shadow helped his Brother to clean up the burned library, but he came across a hidden compartment that was holding a mysterious book that Shadow hid in his robes.

It didn’t took long for Black Cat and Hawk Eye to meet Ghost Bear and Dusk Fox, who had been exploring corridors in the basement of the Guildhall. They were soon joined by S’vet’tee, the Herbalish Gourgaz. Together, they headed towards the deepest room of the Guildhall, the one with the Shadow Gate. There, they faced Falling Phoenix.

Back in the refectory where he had been nursed, Tyrenis, after being questioned by Black Cat, decided that he had enough of being taking care of by the Brothers. Using an invisibility ring, he disappeared from their sight and searched around the Guildhalls. He entered a library guarded by Drakkarim and interrupted a Nadziranim that was taking notes in a book. That sorcerer was looking for clues to retrace the Chalice of Ishir, a sacred item that can resurrect the death if you splash the blood of a loved one in it. This item is said to lay in the final resting place of the rapier Senoria, the weapon of Zipp.

Back in the basement of the Guildhall, after a wait that seemed interminable for both parties, Falling Phoenix finally reacted. He used a spell to break the ceiling of the room, which made Tyrenis and the Nadziranim with who he was discussing to fall inside the basement, since the library they were in was exactly over the Shadow Gate’s room. Four Death Knights followed through the hole and a melee started. The Nadziranim that had fallen with Tyrenis then disappeared but not before making Crypt Spawn to appear. At the same moment, Black Cat noticed that Zipp was escaping the room and so he decided to resume the pursuit. Everyone fought well, but Falling Phoenix was too powerful, attacking everyone with his mental abilities. While S’vet’tee was giving first aid to the wounded, Dusk Fox and Ghost Bear were both attacking the renegade Kai Lord while Hawk Eye took care of some of the Death Knights. Suddenly, Falling Phoenix threw the bag that seemed to contain the Lorestones into the Shadow Gate while he attacked Dusk Fox.

This pursuit of Zipp/Cloe ended in a library in one of the upper floor of the Guildhall. Cloe was hidden to the sight of Black Cat, and Tyrenis suddenly appeared. He was there to stop the Admiral, because he didn’t want him to harm Zipp, his beloved wife. While the two were arguing, Cloe/Zipp used that moment to escape by opening an astral portal, not before delivering a terrifying message about the destruction of the human race. After her disappearance, Tyrenis asked Black Cat to help him to search for Zipp. But the Admiral couldn’t accept the offer, since he had many other things to do, like helping his friends in the basement.

In front of Toran’s outer wall, Orson prepared an attack to secured a breach in the wall where the enemy was entering the city’s streets. The attack was a success: the enemy was beaten and the breach was closed, thanks to Orson who used his Kai-Surge to make a wall to fall in front of the breach. The soldiers settle a camp near the breach, inside the city, since they didn’t know how many enemies were inside the city’s wall. Also, they had to defend this rempart because the Dark Forces launched another attack. Kai Lord Wild Horse, who was fighting in the city’s streets, seeing the city’s flag floating over the wall near Orson’s camp, decided to move in its direction. At the same moment, somewhere else in the city, a Brother named Darkash had to defend himself against Giaks that attacked the inn where he was quietly enjoying a drink. Not knowing what was happening, Darkash climbed a tower, followed by a wounded archer named Dorain that the Brother took care of. At the top of the tower, both men saw what was happening, and Darkash witnessed the misadventures of a Vakeros ridding a Kraan. Then, while Dorain went back to fight the enemy in the streets, Darkash headed for the Guildhalls of his Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, in the city’s port, Alasi, who had to abandonned his ship, was fighting with many Drakkarim when a Zlaanbeast attacked. But Alasi slained the monster and then captured a Kraan that he used to attack other mounted Drakkarim. His mount being slained, Alasi had to jump from it to a battlement before the Kraan crashes on the ground. The battlement where Alasi landed is the one that Orson is commanding, and so both men are joining their forces to fight the dark amy. This is the scene that Darkash had saw atop the tower.

After securing the area around Lost Man’s Pass, Al headed for the Inn of the Dancing Poet where he met High General Tor-Bal Broninson, who gave him the rank of General and asked him to present himself to the Kai Order and to the King of Sommerlund as the Ambassador of the Imperial Throne of Bor. He also received the control of two buildings owned by the Bor’s embassy: the Bullseye Tavern and the Dwarf Smithy. Finally, he was instructed to meet a Sage named Tor Beran in Casiorn. Surprisingly, when he arrived in that city, the Sage was nowhere to be seen! However, Al was contacted by a forefather of the Venerable Ancestor of Bor. The message that he delivered was that the inventor of the Torpedo system had been killed in Bor and that now the only person that knew about the new Torpedo II was his brother, Bot-Nal, who was currently in Toran. Al was given the mission to extract Bot-Nal and bring him back to Bor so that he could continue the work on the new weapon system.

A new character appeared in this chapter. Kehl Leoman is a Knight of the Realm of Sommerlund. He was asked by the King to lead a group of soldiers into the war. On his way to the Kai Monastery, the group was caught in an ambush. After getting rid of the enemy, Kehl’s men was joined by two Kai Lords that were on patrol. En route to the monastery, the group heard sounds of a battle. It was Al and his driver that had been taken in pursuit by a group of Doomwolves. Kehl’s soldiers rescued the dwarfs, and brought them to the monastery. There, Kehl asked an audience with Grand Master Wise Owl.

Further to the South, after being abandonned by Zipp, Patrick woke up, being surrounded by thieves. With his fighting skills, he got rid of them, but not before being injured. He passed out and was found by dwarfs that nursed him. They even drove him to Ruanon. From there, he traveled West, heading for the western side of the Maaken Gorge, close to his hometown of Karkaste. But to reach his city, he needed to cross a bridge and fight numerous zombies. Unexpectedly, Patrick met Brother Cadayle, his former mentor, who helped him to join Karkaste where Parick visited his parents. Then, Patrick headed to Varetta, where he found clues about the messenger hawks being killed while carrying messages. The city looks strange, since a Baron named Drakhelm took control of the region while the King is locked inside his castle. Now, newcomers have to give blood samples when entering the city to know if they are some kind of Helghast in disguised. When Patrick was asked to give his blood sample, he defended himself, which attracted the admiration of the Baron that was passing by. Drakhelm offered to guide Patrick to the library.

Somewhere in Vassagonia, Silent Storm had just found Nightbringer, a special Kai-reforged jeweled mace. But in order to do that, she went on a bloody rampage, killing almost everyone in her way, all that without even remembering what she was doing. A voice inside her head talked to her about a “Balance” and a portal opened in front of her. Stepping inside it, she was teleport into V’ka, in the middle of the Maakenmire. There, she found out that Nightbringer wasn’t in her possession anymore: a man, presenting himself as a new incarnation of Darklord Kraagenskûl, had it. After being slained by Lone Wolf, Kraagenskûl spirit wandered around Magnamund, his soul still bond to his weapon, Helshezag. This sword, kept in the Kai Monastery, could bring the Darklord to his former shape and power, just like the Dagger of Vashna could resurrect its owner. However, Kraagenskûl would not be under the control of Naar anymore, as he was abandonned by him. Now the Darklord wants to take revenge on his former master: he wants to spoil his plan of creating a super powerful legion of Kai Hunters, the Nad-Adez Konkor, Falling Phoenix being the first one of this kind. In order to do that, he needs to be resurrected with Helshezag. Silent Storm accepted to help him and made a blood pact with Kraagenskûl. Then, the Darklord returned her to Temel, where she bought a horse and raced back to Sommerlund. She entered to monastery, looking for a way to steal the evil sword.

Meanwhile, Shadow Crow went to Searsby, where he met three of his friends. These ladies were getting ready to leave Searsby for Tyso in order to escape the war that was coming close to their town. A merchant called Somaand was the one who organized that trip. But Shadow Crow, although he didn’t follow his friends, didn’t trust that man, and indeed, the convoy was brought into an ambuscade by the strange merchant.

A lord of Sommerlund named Malphis was in fact a servant of the Darklands. The invasion of his country was the signal for him to start his mission: to destroy the Kai Order! Meeting with his troops near the place where Al and Kehl met, the noble ordered them to attack the monastery. But the monastery is well defended, even more with the presence of Al, who got the idea to create small bombs with the boom powder he found in the store room. Meanwhile, Silent Storm that moment to steal Helshezag from the glass case it was kept.

What is going to happen next? Who, between Ghost Bear and Falling Phoenix, will win the battle for the Lorestones? Who, between Al, Kehl and Malphis, will win the battle in front of the monastery's gate? Who, between Kraagenskûl and Silent Atorm, will first betray the other? Who, between Zipp and Cloe, is the cutest? Who, between Hawk Eye and Black Cat, deserves to marry Lady Alyss? And finally, WHO, BETWEEN ALL OF YOU, STOLE MY BOR BREW??? The answer to the strange incident of the black cat in the night time might be found in this new chapter...maybe...

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 7 summary

Sommerlund is at war! Battle are taking place in different locations in the country, but mainly in Toran and at the Kai Monastery. But that is not all: traitors are deeply infiltrated in the defending army, while others are looking for powerful artefacts within Sommerlund.

The monastery had just been attacked for a second time in less than a month by an army led by Malphis, a Sommlunding lord. But the Kai Lords are defending themselves courageously, with the help of Al the dwarf and the troops of Khel, the Knight of the Realm. Thanks to the knowledge of the dwarf in explosives, the defenders were able to throw bombs with shrapnels on the Dark Forces. Khel then left the command of his men to Al as he went to the top of the Tower of the Sun.

Somewhere else in the basement of the Monastery, Silent Storm had grabbed Helshezag, the sword of Darklord Kraagenskûl. But she was discovered by one Master that tried to stop her. Without time to lose, Silent Storm decided to knock the Master unconcious with her mace instead of trying to explain what she was doing. Sadly, Helshezag had taken control of the Grand Master’s actions and it is the sword that hit the poor Master, who died instantly. Malphis felt the power of the sword too, and he planned to know more about it. But Al was the first one to meet Silent Storm after she had killed the Kai Master, when he went in the basement to look for more boom powder. The dwarf and the Kai fought together, but the Grand Master cut short to the battle and escaped the scene. Al, seeing how a Kai had just became a traitor, warned Khel of the possibility of numerous other traitors among the Kai ranks and they both escaped the Monastery with their men in direction of Holmgard. Silent Storm used the confusion to escape the Monastery without any problems.

Malphis, who had finally blown holes inside the monastery walls, went to look for the powerful evil sword that Silent Storm had just recently used. Khel stood in the way of the Lord, who seemed to not care about him. It took Eternal Valor, a Kai Lord, to stop the advance of the traitor. The following battle was a long one, where both sides gave and received blows. A lot of psychic attacks were made, but it didn’t seemed that one side or the other took an advantage. A Kai Master named Wind Strider closed on the Noble’s back. At that moment, Eternal Valor noticed who the Noble was in fact and was terribly shocked. So shocked that his enemy attacked him. But an explosion rocked the monastery’s walls and surprised Malphis. Wind Strider used that moment to plunge his sword into the Noble’s back. Badly injured, Malphis had to retreat, the Kai’s sword still stucked in his back. Eternal Valor and Grand Master Wise Owl then gathered their troops to kick the enemy out of the Monastery.

On Toran’s ramparts, Alasi met with Grand Master Orson. They were soon joined by Kai Lord Wild Horse, who was soon given the command of a group of archers. Orson and Alasi then charged the enemy.

After coming back to the Guildhalls, Darkash met with Brother Shadow. Together, they decided to head for the city’s walls to defend Toran where they met with Wild Horse and his men. They tried to repel the enemy’s attacks the best way they could, Shadow even saving Darkash’s life when a Drakkarim was about to kill him.

In the Shadow Gate’s Room, the battle was still raging between Falling Phoenix and his pursuers. While Hawk Eye was killing the Death Knights, Ghost Bear tried to catched the bag supposedly containing the Lorestones, but that was only a lure made by the renegade Kai Lord. Using that distraction, Falling Phoenix attacked Dusk Fox, who defended himself bravely. Ghost Bear, after getting rid of a Ziran, turned around to fight his nemesis once again, but it was too late for Dusk Fox as he was badly injured. Dying slowly, the Kai Lord then heard a voice in his head that brought him back to life. It was the Lorestone of Herdos that Dusk Fox had grabbed accidentally with his dying spasms. His wounds being healed, Dusk Fox collected the other Lorestones and became a Kai Master.

During that whole battle, in Helgedad, Falling Phoenix, tied on a table, was being transformed into something awful. While the process was taking place, the Grand Master left his body and went to visit his homeland one last time. But he was shocked when he saw the battle taking place under the Guildhalls. But his presence gave a new strength to the fighters. Before leaving, the spirit ordered Dusk Fox to take Firefall if the false duplicate lose the battle. And that’s what happened: the dopplegangler jumped into the Shadow Gate when he saw that he had lost, leaving the Kai Weapon behind him. Totally exhausted, Ghost Bear sat against a pillar while in Helgedad, the transformation of the real Falling Phoenix was being completed. The Kai Grand Master was now a Nad-Adez Konkor, a Kai Hunter, and he set his headquarters in Kaag.

Meanwhile, Black Cat, searching for a way to go back to the basement to help his friends, found the secret library where Tyrenis had previously met the Nadziranim looking for clues for a special artefact: the Chalice of Ishir. Through the hole in the floor made by the false Falling Phoenix earlier, the Admiral saw that his friends were still fighting but that the situation didn’t seemed that desperated. Turning around and looking at the room, Black Cat got the idea that would save the city. Dressed as a Drakkarim Captain, the Grand Master then rode a Kraan to the headquarters of the Darklands Army. There, he met with the leaders of the enemy’s troop and gave them what seemed to be the artefact they had been looking for: the Chalice of Ishir. Black Cat quickly left the encampment because that was a trap: he had used the Power Glyph spell on the false Chalice, so as soon that someone tried to lift the cover of the golden cup, the whole headquarter was blown away by a huge explosion that killed every commanders of the army. Without any leaders, the Dark Army was lost, and this led to the liberation of the besieged city. But, while returning to the ramparts on the back of his Kraan, and since he was still dressed as a Drakkarim, Black Cat was targeted by Darkash who fired a spell that killed instantly his mount.

Orson noticed who was in fact the Drakkarim that had just been shot down. He ran to Darkash and Shadow and asked them to help the Admiral. Darkash used the Levitation spell to stop the fall of Black Cat, but he lost his concentration and the Grand Master felt down to the battlefield. There, caught in the crossfire, Black Cat retreated with the Dark Army and planned to escaped it to come back to the city without the Drakkarim costume. But the Vakeros Alasi was there, killing all the soldiers he could. Not knowing who was hiding behind the Drakkarim mask, he even attacked Black Cat, who had to give away his identity to avoid further confrontation. This revelation surprised so much the Vakeros that he didn’t heard a Drakkarim coming from behind him. It was too late when he noticed his presence: the stiletto was plunged deep inside his throat. Alasi soon died in the middle of the battlefield while fighting for liberty. Captured by the Toranese soldier, Black Cat was lead to the Guildhalls of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, followed by Darkash who had recognized the Grand Master. There, Sekhemty and Black Cat, who had been freed when the confusion surrounding his costume was cleared, decided to give a mission to Darkash: rescuing Brother Acraban who had seemed to be kept prisonner by Vassagonians in Amory. Darkash headed in that direction, not before he send a message from Holmgard to the Admiral when he saw that the Monastery was burning under the assaults of Malphis.

Back on the ramparts, Shadow, totally exhausted, lost consciousness. Wild Horse came to help him. Black Cat, who came back on the battlefield to claim Alasi’s body, joined his effort with Wild Horse to bring both Alasi’s body and Shadow back inside the city. Near the Guildhalls, Black Cat met with a group of soldiers carrying Orson, who had collapsed because of the poison he had in the blood since the day he had been poisoned by Master Sea Otter. Before he passed out again, Orson had the chance to give Wild Horse Kai Star, his Kai Weapon, and to Black Cat the following advice: he would need a Lorestone to cure him. Telepathically, the Admiral called Ghost Bear to bring the Lorestones in Sekhemty’s private apartements where the two sick men were. While they were waiting for the stones to arrive, Sekhemty remembered that he had something for the Admiral. Winter Hawk had sent a chest to Black Cat, and inside it the Grand Master discovered the Solsword Ikarna and a letter in which the Supreme Master of the Order was naming him Praetor of the Order. And then, Ghost Bear, Dusk Fox, Hawk Eye and S’vee’tee the Gourgaz entered the room, carrying the Lorestones. While they helped the sick Orson, Black Cat went to talk with Sekhemty, Wild Horse and Shadow.

In a swamp somewhere else, a strange cloaked figure was waiting for an equally strange gourgaz. That strange cloaked person was Cloe, aka Zipp, but now it seemed that a third persona had taken control of the body. When the gourgaz finally arrived, the cloaked character gave to him Remoire the Sage, who had been somehow captured. The next day, the two figures met again and this time it was the gourgaz who had a gift for the mysterious cloaked guy. That gift was a monstrous creature, and the cloaked one had rapidly the chance to see what the beast was able to do. It had been released on a small village where it killed every living thing there. Worst, that beast was carrying the Blood Plague, so those who had survived the attack died from that disease soon after. The gourgaz then headed for Vassagonia while the cloaked figure went to meet someone else.

Near the village where these events were taking place, the Slavemaster, a Cener druid, was investigating why some villages had been decimated in an unexplained manner. The druid, based on informations he gathered from a captured soldier, headed for the ghost village of Redmire near the border with the Danarg. There, he found only blood pools where people had died. The only living things there were some reptiles, so the Slavemaster captured one of them and took some samples of the blood pools so that he could research them. The first experiment the Cener made was to infected his own bodyguards. Seeing how they were transformed into blood pools themselves, the Slavemaster had no choice but to admit that he was in presence of the Blood Plague and that he was himself infected by it. But since he was a High Priest of the Spiral of Disease, he could handle the infection, but it was coming harder and harder for him to do so as the days were passing.

One day, the mysterious cloaked figure met with the Slavemaster. He explained to him what he wanted from the Cener: the Nyras Scepter, which was kept in Elzian. In exchange, the cloaked one would give the cure to the Slavemaster against the Blood Plague, also called the Thickning. The Cener accepted, as he was in presence of Purple Turtle, the great Cener Archdruid, who had come back as the third avatar of Cloe/Zipp. The Slavemaster headed for Elzian without waiting.

In Varetta, Patrick finally got rid of Drakhelm’s men and went inside his library where he listened to all what his peers had to say about the recent events that took place in the city. One thing came on the table: Drakhelm, although not an Helghast, was probably hiding something terrible. Murders were commited all around the city, and the Baron seemed to excite this tension with his rhetorics.

Back in Sommerlund, the caravan carrying Shadow Crow’s friends had been under the attack of a party of Giaks. Luckily for the passengers, Shadow Crow had secretly followed them. It didn’t took long for him to make the enemy to run away, but he was then rapidly confronted to Somaand and his henchmen, who seemed to be Drakkarim.

As Darkash was making his way towards Amory, he stopped in an inn were he heard about the zombies walking around the Maakengorge. But the news he got that the road to Casiorn was cleared of zombies reassured the Brother. That was a mistake, because the zombies had indeed invaded the road, and Darkash had to fight his way through them. Finally arriving in Casiorn, the Brother took the time to buy some useful rings and a weapon to defend himself, along with Vassagonian clothes to disguise himself.

Winter Hawk was back at the Monastery, after he had passed through a terrible ordeal. In Helgedad, where he had gone to look for answers to questions he had in his dreams, after several days of exploration in the Pits of that city in which he had to escape some Nad-Adez Konkor, he discovered that he had fell into a trap. He had been brought there to be killed by Naar himself! The Dark God was indeed present in Magnamund, transgressing the balance, to witness the death of the Supreme Master of the Order… or was he really dead? Winter Hawk later woke up in the middle of a field. There, his Durenese Mare Frost was waiting for him. Slowly, the Supreme Master remembered what had happened. After being killed, he was brought in front of Kai and Ishir themselves. They told him that they were sending him back on Magnamund because Naar cheated when he appeared in Helgedad. The deities gave him also three artefacts: Tantalis the Sword, Tutamen the Shield and Proedion the Plate Armour, the last one giving Winter Hawk the ability to see the different Planes of Existence. And then, with all these goodies, he was sent back into Magnamund. Upon his return to the monastery, Winter Hawk asked for the Council of the Grand Masters to be reunited. He sent Eternal Valor to Toran to get the Grand Masters there to come back to the Monastery. On his way to the Guild City, the Kai Lord was attacked by Doomwolves who knocked him off from his mount. The Kai defended himself with all his skills, but the Doomwolves didn’t seemed to want to end the fight.

Did Silent Storm sealed her doom by stealing Helshezag? Will Orson survive his ordeal? How will Darkash manage to save Acraban? What things Winter Hawk has to say to his Grand Masters? Will Al going to complain to the King of Sommerlund about the Bor Brew conflict? Is it because he is picking it too much that the Slavesmaster’s nose is always bleeding? Will Zipp be able to spit the ball of fur she has in her throat that makes her talk differently? When is the crowd in Sekehmty’s room going to leave the place so that the Guildmaster can read his latest issue of PlayCat in private? Sit back, open a can of Bor Brew (bought from the Drunk Store) and watch how the next chapter of the West Watch unfolds!

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 8 summary

War is over and peace reigns in Sommerlund once again. But while the inhabitants are repairing the damage made by the battles, numerous things are still happening around Magnamund that might have an incidence on this fragile peaceful climate. The Slavemaster, on board the barge traveling on the Storn River, witness a strange event: one night, near Ruel, the barge stopped to allow some men to bring a mysterious crate onboard, a crate that seemed to contain something alive. The following day, due to some delay, the barge was stucked in the city of Tenzha. The Slavemaster used that moment to visit the city. In an inn, he met Sparrow Hawk, a fellow Cener. After a brief exchange of words, the Slavemaster went back on the barge and continued his trip towards his next destination, Gleesh. There, he gathered information about the Loyton Leekhon, a ship that was heading for Dessi, the ultimate destination of the Slavemaster. But in order to board the ship, the Cener needed something to convince the Captain…

Under Gleesh was a secret hideout for the Cener. The Slavemaster visited it and met Brother Khordril. Killing his brother, the Slavemaster took the mind gem Khordril had and took also as many medicines and pills he could find in the hideout. Going back to the docks, he then convinced easily the Captain of the Loyton Leekhon to take him onboard, thanks to the mind gem. But before leaving Gleesh, the Slavemaster met with a strange person calling herself Dementia, the help that the Cener Purple Turtle had announced to him during their meeting, but that Dementia was in fact Cloe. Dementia/Cloe told the Slavemaster about what he was going to do in Dessi: releasing the Blood Plague he had been carrying for weeks.

In Elzian, the Vakeros were holding the funeral of Alasi Relivaur, their leader that had died in the battle of Toran. During that time, the Elder Magi started a meeting to determinate who would be the next leader of the Vakeros warriors. While they were debatting, the spirit of Alasi appeared to them, and ordered that Methos would be named the new leader. Meanwhile, at the entrance of the city, crates were brought inside Elzian. These crates were containing the Slavemaster and the foul beast that he had saw beeing brought onboard of the river barge. Once he got out of his wooden box, the Slavemaster headed for the city’s market, were he released the Blood Plague, killing numerous innocent citizens. At the same moment, the Cloaked One unleashed the Plague Beast on the Vakeros that were assisting to Alasi’s funeral. Using that distraction, the Cloaked One entered the tomb and grabbed the Nyras Scepter. But soon, Cloe tried to retake control of her body, which transformed the Cloaked One into an hybrid form of human and wolf.

Not knowing where to go, the Slavemaster ran across the city, hunted by the Vakeros. Entering a tower, he was soon trapped at the top of it since there was nowhere else to go from there. Luckily, the Cloaked One, Purple Turtle, appeared out of portal and allowed the Cener to escape by the strange door. The portal lead to the Hall of Portals, one of the lower dimensions of the astral planes. Through this dimension, the Slavemaster and Purple Turtle could go anywhere in Magnamaund. While looking for the door that they will use to come back in Aon, the Sage Tyrenis appeared and attacked the two Ceners. Using the pouch that Falling Phoenix had given to Cloe during the battle in the Shadow Gate room in Toran, Purple Turtle found the portal he was looking for and entered it, followed by both the Slavemaster and Tyrenis.

In the new place where the Slavemaster awoke, there was no trace of Purple Turtle, but Tyrenis was lying unconcious beside him. Exploring the room, the Cener met the Reasoner. After passing through a series of tests, the Slavemaster arrived in a room teared in its middle by a river of lava. On the other side of a stone bridge crossing that river laid the body of Zipp. Beside it, the shape of Cloe/Purple Turtle was standing there. The distorted form moved towards Zipp’s body and grabbed Dominar, the sickle Purple Turtle had given to her before leaving Aon. As soon as he touched the handle of the weapon, Purple Turtle got completely out of Cloe’s body, forming two different entities again. And then, the new Purple Turtle explained to the Slavemaster who he was in fact: he was the essence of the real Purple Turtle, born from the Medashi Jewel that Zipp had been given by the real Cener. But then, in the middle of these explanations, Tyrenis appeared, and tried to stop the strange entity.

Armed with the Nyras Scepter and the Medashi Jewel in its platinum head, Purple Turtle fought the Sage. Disarmed, Tyrenis was hit and stumbled towards the pedestal where Zipp was resting. The Cener then used his mental abilities to ask Cloe to kill Tyrenis, but the final blow was stopped: the blood coming from the injuries of Tyrenis had filled the Chalice of Ishir, resting beside Zipp’s body. It is said that putting the blood of a loved one inside that Chalice will bring back to life a death person. And this is what had happened: Zipp was alive, and that was her who had blocked Cloe’s blow. Disarming the wolf, Zipp faced the false Purple Turtle.

Seeing that the situation was changing, the Cener hid the Nyras Scepter inside his own body before attacking the Cat Sage. The battle was furious, but Zipp seemed to have the advantage. Suddenly, however, Purple Turtle delivered a terrible blow that made the Cat to fall on the ground. Preparing to deliver the final blow, the Cener was stopped by the Slavemaster himself, who couldn’t let a thing like that to happen. Turning his anger towards his former ally, Purple Turtle allowed Zipp to stand up and to grab the Nyras Scepter hidden inside him. The struggle between the Cener and the Sage continued, until Cloe jumped to the rescue of Zipp. The three fighting creatures didn’t noticed that they got dangerously close to the chasm in the middle of the room. And what was waiting to happen happened: Purple Turtle, Zipp and Cloe fell into the canyon. The Slavemaster got closer and saw that Cloe was still hanging on the side of the chasm, with Zipp hanging at her legs, while the false Cener was hanging after Zipp. Knowing that there was only one thing to do to end this nightmare and to allow Cloe to live, Zipp released her clutch on the wolf and fell in the lava river, bringing with her Purple Turtle and the Nyras Scepter.

The Slavemaster helped Cloe to get out of her incomfortable position, but by touching her, he was also giving her the Blood Plague. Tyrenis, after drinking some potions that gave him strength, told the Slavemaster to drink what little blood their was still resting in the Chalice of Ishir so that he could get cured from his illness. The Cener was about to drink the blood when he unexpectedly made Cloe to drink it, which cured her. In return, the wolf creature told the Slavemaster where he would find the cure for the Blood Plague: she told him to look for Hee’ree, a Cener Gourgaz who knew how to cure the terrible Thickening. The last time he had been spotted was in Vassagonia. Tyrenis used portals to send the Cener in Barrakeesh while he sent Cloe to a lonely island. Meanwhile, further down the lava river, a Giak retrieve the Nyras Scepter and gave it to his master.

In the forest near the Monastery, Eternal Valor was still fighting with the pack of Doomwolves. However, an incident changed the whole situation: the leader of the pack was overthrown by another male, who injured it. The new leader then received a good correction from Eternal Valor which made him to flee, followed by the rest of the pack, except for its previous leader who couldn’t move because of his injuries. The Kai Lord nursed that wounded wolf, named Lykaios, and they befriended each other.

In Toran, Orson didn’t seemed to go well: the poison had been too powerful for the Grand Master. S’vee’tee the Herbalish Gourgaz tried to saved him, and the other Grand Masters decided to bring him back to the Monastery where he would go under some treatments. Before leaving, Black Cat gave a mission to Brother Shadow and Kai Lord Wild Horse: they would go in Ragadorn to hunt down some Korlinium smugglers. Also, while Black Cat was in the city’s streets, he received from the Vakeros the deed of their now destroyed Guildhalls.

On the road back to the Monastery, the group of Kai met with Eternal Valor and his strange pet. Together, they headed back home, where a bad surprise was waiting for them: Wise Owl had a letter from Winter Hawk to Black Cat in which the Supreme Master was resigning from his position. Winter Hawk had left the Monastery and Magnamund forever, and it was to the Praetor of the Kai to find a successor. Black Cat called immediately all the Masters for a special meeting, in which the Kai Order had to elect a new leader. It turned out that Black Cat himself was elected as the new Grand Master of the Order. As soon as it was done, some Grand Masters headed in the Vault of Sun, to help Dusk Fox who was possessed by the Lorestones. During these events, Kithz Hearthheld, a Vakeros Knight looking for adventures, arrived at the Monastery and met with Eternal Valor.

In Kaag, Falling Phoenix, the new leader of the Nad-Adez Konkor, called telepathically Grand Master Orson for a meeting in the Durncrags. Orson, who was in his quarters missing the Grand Master of the Order’s election because of his illness, decided to go to that meeting. He wrote a letter to Black Cat before leaving the Monastery alone. When the new Grand Master of the Order read it, he immediately felt that something was wrong, so he sent two Masters, Sea Hawk and Black Hawk, to investigate that matter. The twin brothers found Orson, but they couldn’t do nothing when Falling Phoenix himself appeared to them. Taking the twin’s life in hostage, the Nad-Adez Konkor ordered Orson to follow him. The Grand Master accepted and gave his Kai Weapon to one of the released Kai Master. Then, Orson was put asleep and taken away by Falling Phoenix.

Master Grey Wolf came back to the Monastery after a few months away from it. He was immediately asked by Ghost Bear to help him with the possession of Dusk Fox by the Lorestones. Soon, other Grand Masters joined them: Hawk Eye, Shadow Fox and Black Cat. But there was still missing one Grand Master to complete the depossession.

Meanwhile, Eternal Valor left the Monastery for a walk. But suddenly, he was attacked by Drakkarim that injured Lykaios and captured the Kai Lord. He was then brought in front of Dark Sonar, leader of the attacking Drakkarim and a member of the Nad-Adez Konkor. But Hearthheld had been following the Kai Lord and saw everything. Bringing the injured Lykaios back to the Monastery, the Vakeros gathered 30 Kai to hunt down the Drakkarim. But during that time, while being brought towards the Durncrags, Eternal Valor freed himself and started killing his captors. During that rampage, the Kai Lord recognized who was Dark Sonar: it was once a student of Grand Master Shadow Fox! The Nad-Adez Konkor then explained what was his plan regarding his prisoner: he was going to bring him in Kaag to transform him into a Kai Hunter. But soon, the group of Kai led by Hearthheld reached the group of Drakkarim and attecked them. Dark Sonar, knowing that if he was to live without winning this battle he would be punished by his masters for failing, decide to ask Eternal Valor to finish their business right away without any interference from outsiders. They fought hardly, but in the end Dark Sonar saw that he was going to lose. In a desperate move, he delivered a terrible blow to Eternal Valor before escaping the battlefield on his horse.

Eternal Valor was brought back at the Monastery where he received treatments for his wounds. Once he was able to walk again, the Kai Master headed for the armory where he took numerous weapons in preparation for the hunt that he will partake in. Eternal Valor had decided to hunt Dark Sonar, but to do this, he would need to go in the Darklands. Kithz Hearthheld, seeing that his friend was leaving, decided to join him in his quest.

In Lyris, Darkash, on his way to Amory, was refused access to Varetta, due to some strange events that will be told later. Resigned, the Brother decided to set camp outside the city. But he was awaken during the night by Vassagonians, who were suspecting him to be a spy of the Zakhan. After getting rid of them, the Brother immediately travelled in direction of Amory. In the ghost town, Darkash found Roark’s manor, the house of the old ruler of the city. In the room he first entered, the Brother heard sounds coming through the walls. It was the voices of Vassagonians, one of them interrogating another one who had attacked Darkash earlier. But as he listened, the wall collapsed under Darkash’s pressure, and he was soon surrounded by many other Vassagonians. Captured, he was in his cell when he was contacted telepathically by Acraban himself.

The old Mage told Darkash about what was the plan of the Vassagonians: they wanted to make a sacrifice to revive someone… or something! When the guardians brought Darkash in another room, he discovered something terrible: a Shadow Gate was under Roark’s manor! And this discovery made him guessed who the Vassagonians were looking to revive: Demonlord Tagazin! While the ceremony was going on, Darkash managed to free himself, but it was too late: Tagazin was in Aon again.

The reason why Darkash had been refused access to Varetta was simple: the city was under control of a servant of Naar! A few days earlier, the Sage Patrick had helped to look for the missing Baron Drakhelm, the one that was then controlling the city. But what they discovered was strange: a lot of foul creatures were found dead, and at least one of them had been impersonating the Baron. Rumors started to be spreaded that the Sages might had something to do with this. The population got the confirmation of what they were saying when a Sage was killed in front of them, and that the Sage in question turned out to be a darkspawn. The angry populace then tried to enter the Sages’ Library, but Patrick had a plan. The Library had been emptied from all its books and from most of its Sages. When the soldiers entered the building, they transformed themselves into their true nature: they were undead beings! But then, the Sages unleashed a rain of meteors on them before escaping. The books being secured in other cities, Patrick board one of the ships of the Sages’ Fleet and headed South.

In Holmgard, Alyss came back to her tavern, after a long period of absence. She had found the Doomstone of Darke, and through it Naar was gaining control over her. She decided to get rid of the cursed stone, before it was too late for her. One day, a hooded figure came to the inn and bought the jewel. He left with it an hour before a goup of Kai Lords came in to get that very same stone. A few days later, Alyss discovered that she was trapped inside her tavern: Naar was so upset that she had gave away the Doomstone that he decided to punish her that way.

The Guild of Assassins of Kadan was doing some mischiefs. One of its members, Arkadius, got the mission to visit Sommerlund. After traveling by horse, the assassin took a ferry to Tyso, from where he headed in direction of the Kai Monastery. Arriving in its surroundings, he climbed in a tree and look at the building for hours, waiting for something.

Back in Toran, in the Shadow Gate room, a Kai Lord appeared: it was Eken, a.k.a. Hidden Star, who had been trapped in the Daziarn for five years. He realised how long he was gone by gathering informations about the Kai Fleet, the renegade Kai Lord Falling Phoenix and the battle at the Monastery, all things that weren’t when he had left Magnamund. Arriving at the Monastery, the first thing Eken did was to join the other Grand Masters in the Vault of Sun to finish the depossession ceremony of Dusk Fox, which was finally a success.

After escaping from the Monastery with Helshezag, Silent Storm headed back to Temel, from where she was magicaly transported to V’ka, in front of Kraagenskul. After giving him the foul blade, she discovered that she had been betrayed by the Darklord: his minions seized her while Kraagenskul stabbed her with Helshezag, killing her instantly! But the resurrection of the Darklord didn’t missed to catch the attention of Vashna. Not knowing what could explain the power surge he had felt, the terrible leader of the Darklands headed to Kaag. Meanwhile, Silent Storm, although she was officialy dead, was still present in Magnamund, but in the form of a spirit. She poundered for a few moments about what would be the best way for her to be resurrected. Finally, she decided to send a mental message to Black Cat.

It was once that the depossession of Dusk Fox was done that Black Cat heard the message from Silent Storm. Heading in the Grand Masters Hall, the new Grand Master of the Order listened to other problems reported by the Kai Lords: the kidnapping of Orson, the lost of the Doomstone, the departure of Eternal Valor… To add to his troubles, Black Cat opened the chest in Winter Hawk’s room only to find out that the Lorestone of Nyxator and the Sommerswerd had been lost too. However, he discovered the journal of Winter Hawk and of Lone Wolf, which were filled with useful information.

In his castle, Malphis was upset that his previous plan didn’t worked out like he wanted. However, he had already a new idea to hurt the Kai. Spreading false rumors about the Kai Order slowly turning its allegiance to Helgedad, Malphis then received an invitation to a secret meeting of the Council of the Nobles of Sommerlund to talk about this matter. Of course, the fact that Al the dwarf and Khel the Knight of the Realm had reported the treason of Silent Storm to the King didn’t helped the situation either.

What’s next for the heroes and evildoers of Magnamund? Will the Slavesmaster start a new pandemic? What will happen to Orson? Where are Eternal Valor and Hearthheld going? Will Cloe appear in Amory to seduce Tagazin and save Darkash? Are the birds starting to built a nest on Arkadius since he’s not moving from his tree? Did Silent Storm became one of the three Christmas ghosts of Aon? Will Alyss kill herself now that she can’t go shopping anymore? Many stories will unfold in the next chapter of the West Watch.

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 9 summary

While the Kai Master Eternal Valor and the Vakeros Knight Kithz Hearthheld travel further towards the Durncrag Mountains, they detected a presence trailing them. Eternal Valor seemed to know the person following, although Kithz was still uneasy.

Meanwhile, back at the Monastery, while the new Grand Master Black Cat searched for clues for the location of the Lorestone of Nyxator and the Sommerswerd in Winterhawk’s old journals, Supreme Master Ghost Bear briefed the senior Kai who had restored the Lorestones on what needed to be done next.

The newly returned Grand Master Hidden Star would be charged with rebuilding the castle walls. The Kai Fleet would be restored. Shadow Fox would train Dusk Fox in mastering his newfound capabilities, and Master Grey Wolf would lead Falcon Company into the Frylund Forest, to scour it of darkspawn stragglers from the failed assault on the Monastery.

Meanwhile in Kaag, Orson was being awakened as a newly blooded Nad Akez Konkor, and Falling Phoenix had detected something amiss at V’Ka. He resolved to travel to Maakenmire to discover what it was. Supreme Master Ghost Bear and Black Cat had both sensed the death of Silent Storm, and met to discuss their next move. Ghost Bear resolved to stay at the Monastery and defend Sommerlund, while Black Cat would travel first to Toran, and then to Lyris in search of information that would finally let them revive Silent Storm.

Shadow Fox and Grey Wolf discussed the formidable new enemy of the Kai, and Shadow Fox agreed to join Grey Wolf on his mission, since he believed that Dusk Fox was still too weak from his ordeal to begin his training. They took along another young Kai Lord by the name Rising Phoenix.

Wild Horse and Shadow left Holmgar in disguise aboard a carriage bound for Ragadorn – their mission? To infiltrate a smuggling ring believed to be aiding the Darklands forces.

Meanwhile, back in the Durncrags, Eternal Valor and Kithz Hearthheld came upon a Drakkar outpost in a poor state of alertness and proceded to put it to the torch before capturing a Drakkar survivor and using him to lead them further on their journey.

The young Kai Hunter, Dark Sonar took a horse and journeyed deep into the Darklands, towards the new lair of the Nad Akez Konkor, Kaag. On his journey he was plagued with visions of his former life, and his transformation into an instrument of Naar.

In Lyris, Darkash had succeeded in his mission of finding Magemaster Acraban, but the mage was being held prisoner by a sect intent on the resurrection of the Demonlord Tagazin. Darkash succeeded in rescuing Acraban, but not before the summoning ritual was complete, and the demon dog returned to Magnamund.

Duncan returned to the Monastery, and was taken prisoner, due to his former master, Orson turning to the side of darkness. After speaking with the Steward, however, Black Cat decided to free him, and promised to petition the King to enable Duncan to keep Orson’s lands.

In the Fryelund Forest, Grey Wolf’s patrol come across a party of Drakkarim. Rising Phoenix somehow manages to kill all six, but was reprimanded for losing control of his emotions. Grey Wolf assigned him to rescue the family of a young girl, while he, Shadow Fox and Falcon Company continued with their mission.

In Holmgard, a gathering of nobles was taking place. Lord Malphis Droma’s efforts to spread rumours about the Kai seemed to be gathering pace, as this was the topic of discussion for the secret meeting. The nobles were not eager to act, however, and resolved to find out more of the Kai ‘threat’.

A young Kai Lord by the name of White Otter was to accompany another young, but more experienced Kai Lady by the name of Snow Moth to Holmgard on a mission to deliver a message. They arrived while the Festival of Loun was taking place, and got embroiled in an altercation between two families, the Tremontaine and the Varsho. They discovered that these two families have a long standing and bitter feud. Thankfully the scene was broken up by Tyso soldiers before it could get too ugly.

Back in the forest, the two groups led by Rising Phoenix and Grey Wolf had come across two parties of darkspawn. The spawn were no match for the skills of the Kai, and Rising Phoenix returned to the Monastery, while Grey Wolf continued his mission. Meanwhile, a group of Brotherhood mages were travelling through the forest, when they were attacked by a group of fearsome creatures. One of them – Brother Ieshorn was killed before the mages managed to escape. Two of the survivors volunteered to bear the body back to Toran, while one of their number – Mydnight journeyed to the Monastery to warn the Kai of this new threat.

Back in Holmgard, White Otter and Snow Moth discovered a dead body in tunnels beneath the cellars of an old woman’s house. When they returned to the Lonely Griffon Inn, they met with Lord Malphis, to whom they entrusted the whole story.

Meanwhile, the other dark forces in Magnamund were moving. In Barrakesh, the harbourmaster was accosted by a figure bearing the scent of plague, and seeking hidden information, while in Kaag, the newest recruit to the Nad Akez Konkor made ready to follow his master to V’Ka.

In Toran, Black Cat announced that Hawkeye would be the new Admiral of the Kai Fleet, before journeying to the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, and obtaining use of a skyship for his journey to Holmgard to meet the King.

In V’Ka, Falling Phoenix had reached his prize – Silent Storm’s body, but he still had to contend with the powerful spirit of the Supreme Master. He was content however, for he had sensed the approach of his newest and most powerful student.

The Herbalish S’vet’tee had arrived in Vassagonia, hot on the heels of a mysterious calling. Would his arrival lead to confrontation with the Slavemaster, who had been seeking answers to as yet unrevealed questions? Would Falling Phoenix defeat Silent Storm and claim his prize? What are the mysterious creatures in the Frylund Forest? What does the discovery that the dead woman in the cellar was a relative of the Baron of Tyso mean for White Otter and Snow Moth? And what would become of the Brotherhood Mages Darkash and Acraban, now that Lord Roark of Amory walks once more upon Magnamund?

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 10 summary

Magnamund is a place full of dangers, and many adventurers can ascertain it. In the Durncrag Mountains, Kithz Hearthheld and Eternal Valor are continuing their trip with the captured Drakkar, named Dresath. They arrived near a small tunnel, but although the Drakkar said it was a shortcut, Kithz had his doubts. But Eternal Valor decided to enter the tunnel alone, leaving the Drakkar and Kithz at the entrance. Soon after, a terrible scream was heard, and the wind in the tunnel started to blow with a dangerous force. The Kai made his way back to the entrance in time, and was terribly scared by his experience. He had almost fallen into a trap! They then decided to call it a day and started to search for a spot to sleep.

During the night, Kithz and Dresath talked a lot of each other. They got into a debate about their personnal beliefs and their alignment. But they were interrupted when a lizard attacked the encampment. The Drakkar used that diversion to free himself while Kithz was gravely injured, losing one eye in the combat. Eternal Valor continued the fight, but it led him far from the camp. During that time, Dresath decided to take care of the wounded Vakeros. Sadly, a few days later, a Drakkarim patrol found Dresath and Kithz and brought the Vakeros to a small outpost where he would wait for the Kai Hunters to visit him. But Eternal Valor had followed the track of his friend to the outpost and was decided to save him from an horrible death. Meanwhile, Dresath had left the Darklands and was going to Holmgard to be hired as a mercenary.

In Sommerlund, Shadow Crow got rid of the attackers of the convoy carrying his friends. He then discovered that Somaand, the man leading the convoy, was in fact an Helghast in disguise. After a terrible fight, Shadow Crow finally killed his enemy, and made his way back to Searby. While recovering from his wounds, he dreamed of Vassagonia. Back at the Monastery, the dreams continued, so Shadow Crow decided to go to the Dahir Pass, the place featured in the dreams, in search for an answer and, at the same time, to investigate the rumors about the Red Plague being spread in that region.

A Nad-Adez Konkor was also dreaming of Vassagonia. His name was Dark Sonar. Going in Kaag to look for some advices about his dreams, the Nad-Adez Konkor met Zass, a powerful Nadziranim. While meditating, Dark Sonar received the message about the captured Vakeros and decided to pay a visit to the prisonner.

In Amory, Acraban and Darkash have been trying to escape the clutches of Tagazin and the descendant of Zakhan Kimah. Unexpectedly, Tagazin ate the spirit of the sorcerer before turning towards the two Brothers of the Crystal Star. Acraban used his spell of Teleportation to move near the Shadow Gate from where Tagazin had come. Before the evil dog-like creature could react, the old mage jumped in the Gate. By this action, Tagazin was loosing the bond that had brought him back to Magnamund, and he immediatly disappeared. Darkash picked up the Amulet used by Kimah and made his way back to Toran.

In V’ka, Falling Phoenix revived Silent Storm. But as soon as he did so, the Kai kicked him away and went to grab her mace, Nightbringer. Then started a small game of hide and seek between the two of them. The Nad-Adez Konkor Orson intervened in this deadly game, pointing his crossbow at the back of the Kai.

The trip from Toran to the Maakenmire on the Skyrider took a few hours, but Black Cat had the time to fall asleep and he dreamed again of his youth. For the second time, he dreamed of him and Wind Spirit and something that he lived for real, but for the second time, the dream ended up abruptly with an event that didn’t happened in real life. He had woke up just in time: the skyrider was near V’ka, and Black Cat rapidly went to explore the ruins, in search of Silent Storm. He soon found her: she was in danger, with Orson’s crossbow pointed in her direction. The Grand Master of the Order came to her rescue by menacing Orson to cut his head, but Falling Phoenix reacted and threw a dagger in direction of Black Cat, who blocked the weapon. This allowed Orson to get free from the dangerous position he was in. And then, it was him that was in the leading command: holding the crossbow in Black Cat’s direction, he produced a Nadziranim Crystal in his other hand.

Silent Storm reacted quickly: she launched a psychic attack on Orson while using Mind Over Matter to throw a stone at the crossbow. She then jumped on the Nad-Adez Konkor, but Falling Phoenix also jumped on her with his dagger, making a bruise on her arm. Black Cat also reacted by using his Nexus to throw the Nadziranim Stone that Orson was holding through a hole in the ceiling. The leader of the Kai Hunters then ordered Orson to escape, just like he was doing it himself. As the two Fallen Kai were escaping, Black Cat used a Fire Rod to signal the Skyrider that he needed some help. Once aboard the flying ship, the Grand Master of the Order ordered the commander of the ship, Brother Tuhn, to follow Orson and Falling Phoenix, who were going to hide in caves over the Maakengorge.

Once over the Gorge, Black Cat called Falling Phoenix; he wanted to make him an offer. He asked him to help the Kai in their mission to stop Kraagenskul. The revived Darklord was a threat to both of them, and uniting the forces of the Kai Hunters with the Kai was the best way to stop him. Falling Phoenix agreed for a truce and to help Black Cat and Silent Storm in their mission. The two Nad-Adez Konkor placed themselves beside the Skyrider as they made their way towards Helgedad.

They landed a few kilometers away from the dark city. Falling Phoenix then went to ask Kraagenskul to come out of the city because he had a gift for him: two Kai Lords, one being the Grand Master of the Order! But all this was a trick: once Kraagenskul came out on the bridge over the Lake of Blood, Black Cat and Falling Phoenix attacked him, while Silent Storm used the Shield of Sun Eagle to send rays of light at him. Passing beside Falling Phoenix, she was injured by him but she managed to continue to rush towards the Darklord. Jumping into the air, she gave the Shield to Black Cat, who then managed to flee the scene easily because the two Nad-Adez Konkor were busy near the small pool of blood coming from Silent Storm’s wound. While the Grand Master of the Order was fleeing to the skyship, Silent Storm grabbed Kraagenskul and jumped into the Lake of Blood with him, saving the world but sacrificing herself at the same time.

The reason why Black Cat had no difficulties to escape from Falling Phoenix was that the leader of the Kai Hunters was busy collecting Silent Storm’s blood. The Nad-Adez Konkor brought a vial full of the Kai’s blood to Kaag where he handed it to his Nadziranim sorcerers. While Falling Phoenix waited for the return of Dark Sonar to Kaag, the dark wizards were going to lead some strange experiments with the blood.

Somewhere off the shores of Bor, in the Bor Naval Firing and Testing Range, a strange mist was surrounding the islands. Realizing that it was a magical mist, the commander of the prison, True Officer Gailbone, reacted and asked his men to be ready to repel an attack. It didn’t took long for the prison to be attacked by an enemy force!

In Holmgard, at the Imperial Embassy of Bor, the ambassador, General Bon-Al Ironforge, received a top-secret letter from Boradon. It was telling him about the attack on the Testing Range and the escape of a prisoner named Thudre Blackore. This dwarf had given the Drakkarim secrets about a new metal, the very same metal that was used to build the bridge over the Maakengorge that Al saw on a precedent mission. Bon-Al was then asked to go to the Maakengorge to lead a secret investigation about the bridge. Helped by the Sage named Trest, Al made researches among the men guarding the access to the bridge and finally got the informations that he needed: there was reports that the Darklands’ Navy was sailing near Kalte. The icy continent was probably the source of the metal used to build the bridge. The General wanted to go there, but he needed some help.

The Kai Fleet has now a new Admiral: Hawk Eye! His first task was to order the construction of two new warships to replace those of the disappeared Kai Lords. But one day, Balgin the dwarf came to give him a letter from Bon-Al Ironforge. The General was asking the assistance of the Kai Fleet to investigate the Darklands’ activities in Kalte. The day when Al arrived in Toran, he fell into an ambush, but was quickly helped by Hawk Eye and North Star who were coming to meet him. On their way back to the Fleet’s Headquarter, Al noticed that Trest was missing since the attack, but the Sage reappeared shortly after. He had a bad news: his homeland of Lyris was in chaos, and the leader of his order had asked all the Sages to come back to help restablish peace. Trest would not go in Kalte with Al, but before going back home, he would tell him about some secret informations he had gathered at the Guildhall of the Crystal Star where he had gone during the ambush.

Near the Dahir Mountains, the Slavemaster finally arrived to the farm of Apu, a place where the Cener thought he would find some clues about the Red Plague. The farm was dead: there was nothing alive in the surroundings. Or was it? Entering the house, the Slavemaster surprised a young girl hidding in the fireplace. Instead of killing her, he decided to take care of her. He discovered that she was affected by the Plague, but that she had also managed to survive it so far.

Sweaty Gourgaz wasn’t far away from the Slavemaster. In fact, he entered the farmhouse a few minutes after him. Not leaving the time to the Cener to explain why he was there, the Herbalish attacked him. After a rough battle, the Slavemaster finally got the chance to explain everything to the Gourgaz. They both agreed to put their differences aside so that they could help each other to capture Her’ree, the Cener Gourgaz that was probably responsible for the Thickening. One night, as the Herbalish was away, the Slavemaster met the creature calling itself Dementia that the Cener had met previously in Gleesh. She told the Druid that she knew of a cure to the Red Plague and that she was willing to help him. Upon the return of the Gourgaz to the camp, the Slavemaster attacked him. After a tough battle, the Cener knock his enemy unconscious and got what he wanted: some of the Gourgaz’ oil secreted when he’s excited. The Slavemaster then abandonned the Herbalish and traveled with Dementia and the sick girl. But Dementia turned both of them into trees before disappearing.

The now infamous thieves Ron and Theelor had been watching a fencing tournament near Ragadorn. At the end of it, they discovered that the whole crowd was in fact some weird creatures from another world. Among this crowd was also Cloe, the wolf-girl, disguised as a human. Taking back her original shape, she asked the leader of the strange creatures to give back Senoria, the rapier of the late Zipp, which was done in the next second. After that, the creatures disappeared, leaving Cloe alone, because the two thieves had also moved away. Ron and Theelor were going back to Ragadorn, but the trip through the Wildlands was a long and dangerous one.

They didn’t know that there was an Elix that had followed them for a while. And they didn’t know that Cloe was following them too. They only realized it when the Elix attacked and that Cloe tried to stop the beast. After killing it, Cloe feasted over the Elix’ body as the two thieves presented themselves to her. They then started to travel together, going North to reach Ragadorn. But one day, Pip, one of the strange creatures that had been seen at the fencing tournament, appeared and told Cloe to go to Temel in Cloeasia: a man named Armadalus was hunting her, and going to that city was the best way to be saved. Once in that border city of Cloeasia, Cloe decided to live in a cave outside the city while the two thieves were having fun stealing the local population.

For his part, Simey, a Durenese Knight of the White Mountain, was looking for that very same Sir Armadalus. He finally met the Sommlending knight near Kadan. While they were traveling in Cloeasia, Simey started to think that this whole mission was a waste of time and energy. Their investigation led them to Temel where, more than ever, Simey and his men were thinking that this mission was completely useless.

Back at the Monastery, Ghost Bear learned that the small village of Athama had been attacked by Drakkarim. Since the evil warriors had taken prisoners, the Grand Master decided to hunt them, with the help of Mydnight from the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, who felt there was something similar between this attack and the murder of his friend, Brother Isehorn. Ghost Bear had doubts that the Drakkarim were entering Sommerlund by a secret way near Athama and he was determined to find it. However, during his investigations, he found out that a bunch of strange creatures were probably responsible for the attack.

One day, as Ghost Bear and his group was exploring the forest near Athama, the Kai Grand Master heard a sound. Moving slowly towards it, he found a legendary Pegasus that was wounded. Healing the beast, Ghost Bear learn that it was called Arianwen and that it had been attacked by the mysterious creatures that destroyed Athama. The Pegasus also gave his word that he was now an ally of the Kai before leaving the forest. When Ghost Bear made his way back to the camp, he discovered that Brother Joral, the other member of their expedition, was missing. Waking up Mydnight, the Grand Master freed the horses and started to follow the footprints of Joral on the ground. They finally found him: he was the prisoner of three strange creatures. Ghost Bear killed one of the beasts and saved Joral while Mydnight got rid of the other two. After that, they finally arrived in Athama.

Athama was destroyed, but its population was still living in it, searching the ruins for anything that could be used. Ghost Bear decided to move the people to the castle of Sir L’Var where he knew they would be safe. Then, with Mydnight and some of the best men of Lord L’Var, Ghost Bear hunted the tracks of the beasts in the mountains. He finally found their hideout and, with Mydnight on his tail, he entered it. It was an unnatural cave leading to a room. In the middle of that room was a black stone. Ghost Bear and Mydnight both thought that it was this thing that was controlling the creatures. Using his skills, the Supreme Master grabbed the rock, but was affected immediatly by a very powerful attack on his spirit. With the help of the Brother, they destroyed the stone and lifted the blanket of evil that was covering this part of the forest. Back at Lord L’Var’s castle, Ghost Bear left Mydnight to keep the place safe while he was going to Toran. To go to the Sommlending city, the Kai got the help of the Pegasus Arianwen who carried him on its back.

Grand Master Shadow Fox had the desire to investigate the activites of the Kai Hunters and the reasons why so many of his brothers had turned on the evil side. But before leaving the Monastery, he had a dream of his father telling him to beware of his actions. The following morning, Shadow Fox stole the Lorestone of Varetta and went to the Durncrags. But the spirit was still talking to him in his head, even after the Kai killed an entire patrol of Drakkarim.

In Mogaruith, the three leaders of the Cener had a meeting where they decided to capture the Slavemaster so that he could explain what was going on regarding the Thickening. They also decided to get ready for an attack from the Dessi. In Holmgard, the commoner Dharn arrived and went to visit some relatives, telling them about his plan to serve the land. Meanwhile, at the King’s Castle, Kehl Leoman was ordered by King Kian to make a military union with Dessi and Durenor against possible invaders. Somewhere in the Wildlands, Shadow and Wild Horse were still traveling towards Ragadorn. In the Ilion Plains, Gareid, leader of the Cat Clan, was teaching things to the young Jyhipp who gave some strange advice to her teacher. While in Varetta Drakhelm was celebrating his victory, Patrick and the other Sages were looking for answers in Chaman about a Cener Plague...

Yes, Magnamund is a place full of dangers, you know it, but what new dangers are lying ahead of all our adventurers? What did Jyhipp was talking about when she talked about the storm? Where Dementia is leading the Slavemaster and the girl? What will happen of Kithz and Eternal Valor? When are Simey and his men going to riot against Armadelus? Do Dwarves need winter jackets? Bor Brew made by the Kai is the best, right? What will I eat for supper? Chapter 11 of the West Watch is up for your enjoyment!

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 11 summary

Life can be mysterious. People always try to find the meaning of different things that they experienced or to find answers to questions that they ask themselves... or that other people asked them.

Ghost Bear arrived in Toran riding Arianwen the Pegasus. Being escorted by Brother Darkash, he immediatly went to meet Guildmaster Sekhemty of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star so that he could make his report about his mission with Brother Mydnight. After that, he came back to the Monastery where he wanted to rest for a while.

With Ghost Bear’s departure, Brother Darkash was able to meet Sekhemty. He told him about his last mission in Amory and also gave his Guildmaster the Amulet that Roark had used to free Tagazin’s spirit on Magnamund. After that, he was asked to leave for a small town near the Durncrag where he would protect the region against the strange creatures that Ghost Bear had seen previously in his last adventure in that region.

In Kaag, a Kai Hunter named Dark Nut talked about a secret plan to the new master of the city, Falling Phoenix. That plan was targeting Black Cat, the Grand Master of the Kai Order. The leader of the Nad-Adez Konkor gave his approval: the plan was going to be executed, and Black Cat was going to suffer... or so they thought.

Speaking of Black Cat, he came back to the Monastery after witnessing the fall of Silent Storm in the Lake of Blood of Helgedad. He was really sad, and he was still having dreams in which events of his past were distorted into his murder by his friend Wind Spirit. Black Cat’s morale wasn’t very high, until that day when, on a trekking trip with some Kai in the Durncrag, he found the unconcious body of the friend he thought he had lost a long time before.

Wind Spirit was brought back to the Monastery where she was nursed. When she finally regain conciousness, she asked to talk with Black Cat. The Grand Master of the Order listened to what she had to say. She told him about what happened two years ago when she had disappeared during a mission in the Darklands. She had been captured by Drakkarim and during the following two years of captivity, she had suffered a lot. Transfered in Kaag, she finally found a way to escape. But before she managed to do so, she learned that the Nad-Adez Konkor had a plan to kill Black Cat. She also found a piece of parchment on which notes about a thing called the Stone of Chaos were written. Black Cat immediatly guessed these were notes that had been taken by invading Drakkarim during the recent siege of Toran, and so him and Wind Spirit went to the Guildhall of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star to investigate the matter.

In the middle of the sea, the White Gale, the former ship of Grand Master Winter Hawk who has been missing for quite a while now, was heading for Sommerlund with a strange cargo onboard. A secret cargo in fact, but not as secret as the Elder Magi had originally thought when they had decided to use that ship... The Shadakine Buccaneer known as Jaqmin (or Captain Jaq) knew what she was carrying and decided that these things were going to be his: the Sommerswerd and the Lorestone of Nyxator! Once he got the chest with the precious items onboard of his ship, the Revenant, and that the White Gale had disappeared of the surface of the sea (along with all the possible witenesses), Captain Jaq sent a message to the Kai Order asking for a ransom and made his way to Ragadorn.

Back in Toran, Black Cat and Wind Spirit had made good progress about the Stone of Chaos. They had found out that a man had appeared in the Shadow Gate room nearly 300 years ago and that nobody knew how that man had managed to appear there. That man was looking for a Clan to protect a strange stone that he was carrying, a stone that Black Cat was believing to be the Stone of Chaos. But he didn’t know which “Clan” that stranger was talking about: there was a lot of Clans in Magnamund, from the Cat Clan to the Cue Clues Clan. He didn’t had the time to find the answer to his question since Sekhemty had asked to see him. The Guildmaster wanted to introduce Black Cat to Lord Genoah, an Elder Magus that had a message for the Grand Master of the Order. Genoah told the Kai Lords about the disappearance of the White Gale and what she was carrying. Black Cat was furious of what the Elder Magi had done, since it was proving that the mission had been infiltrated by enemy agents from the beginning. The Grand Master immediatly warned the Kai Lieutenant Ghost Bear of what he had just learned before going to bed.

The following morning, Black Cat ate his breakfast with Wind Spirit, Sekhemty and Genoah, who offered his apologizes for what had happened regarding the White Gale. Unexpectedly, during the conversation about the mysterious “Clan” Black Cat was looking for, Genoah suggested that the Clan was probably the Klann Mountains from Klarnos. Immediatly, it made sense for the Grand Master: the night before, he had read a book about criminals that had been sent in the Shadow Gate of Toran, and one of them was coming from Klarnos. Black Cat contacted Ghost Bear, who had just received the note from Jaqmin concerning the ransom, and told him to find someone to deal with the pirate while he goes to Klarnos. Ghost Bear picked Grand Master Grey Wolf who immediatly left the Monastery.

But it was too late for the Kai: Jaqmin had already a potential buyer for the Lorestone. A man called Jameson, working for the mysterious buyer, concluded the deal with him in Ragadorn. However, the real Jameson had been killed a few hour ago. The one Jaqmin met was in fact a Helghast in disguised that took the Lorestone to the Darklands. Ignoring that fact, Captain Jaq went on other business. He paid a visit to a man called Paddiyan in Kollain, who gave him a special weapon: Bechling, a cutlass that carries the power of the Shianti.

Meanwhile, the Elder Magi were already investigating the mysterious disappearance of the White Gale. Jayr Greywing, a young Vakeros warrior, had been dispatched to the islands where the wreckage had been found. After making his report to his superior, Jayr was asked to go to Ruanon: something strange was happening there.

Indeed, south of Sommerlund, in the province of Ruanon, Crymson, a follower of the Dark God Naar, attacked and killed the youngest daughter of the Baron of the area. Before leaving the dead body, he took care to leave marks with his sword in the back of his victim. The markings were reading “KAI”. Later, the High Priestess of Ishir in Ruanon was found savagely murdered with a note pinned in her head written by Crymson, saying that more murders will happen until the Kai Order is exterminated. In fact, what Crymson wanted was to see some Kai Lords to come to investigate the matter. He was greatly surprised to see a Vakeros, namely Jayr Greywing, visiting the chapel in which he had committed his last murder and asking questions about the incident. Disguised as a priest, Crymson went to talk to the Vakeros to know his true mission.

In Cloeasia, Sir Armadalus, with the help of Knights of the White Mountain under the command of Simey, was looking for that beast creature that most people thought that he was dreaming of. In Temel, he found a man that was willing to talk about it. That man was Theelor, one of the companions of Cloe with Ron. Calling himself Sialas, Theelor led Armadalus and Simey to the cave in which Cloe was hidding. To his surprise, only Ron was there, and he seemed to not remember anything about the wolf girl. But for Armadalus, it was clear that the beast had visited that cave recently: he had found a bundle of silver hair from the creature.

West of the Durncrag Mountains, Grand Master Shadow Fox was heading towards Kaag, but a fight inside him was taking place. He was constantly arguing with a voice that he was hearing in his head. One day, Shadow Fox found a cave. Inside it, he met a dangerous Agarashi and started fighting it, but the creature was very strong. The Grand Master was about to lose the battle... and his life!

However, the young Kai Lord Storm Shield, a student of Shadow Fox, decided to find out what had happened with his Master. After a simple mission that led him away from the Monastery, he decided to search for the Grand Master and headed for the Darklands. It was a lucky break for Shadow Fox because Storm Shield found him as he was fighting the Agarashi. The young Kai Lord decided to help his master and created a diversion before attacking. Using that moment, Shadow Fox delivered a fatal blow to the beast. After recovering their spirits, Shadow Fox invited Storm Shield to follow him to Kaag. On their way, they met a patrol and decided to fight it.

Somewhere else in the Darklands, in an outpost, Eternal Valor was trying to free his Vakeros friend Hearthheld from the clutches of the Drakkarim. But as he was fighting his way to the cells, the Nad-Adez Konkor Dark Sonar arrived on a Zlanbeast. He was there to bring the Vakeros to Kaag. Eternal Valor fought valiantly, but it was too late: Dark Sonar had brought Hearthheld to the evil fortress of Kaag to turn him into a Drakkeros. However, Eternal Valor was on his heels: he used a Zlanbeast to follow his enemy to the giant pyramid. Entering the fortress, the young Kai Master followed the trail of Dark Sonar, which led him to a room in which his enemy was talking to Falling Phoenix. The leader of the Kai Hunters asked his servant to kill Eternal Valor and, eager to please his master, Dark Sonar attacked, under the look of some of his comrades. But while they were fighting, the ceremony to transform Hearthheld into a Drakkeros took place: Death Hearth was the new servant of Naar! Immediatly after that, the new Drakkeros went to witness the battle between the Kai Lord and the Kai Hunter. Seeing what had happened to his friend, Eternal Valor ended the fight and escaped the city by using a Zlanbeast.

After the disappearance of the Kai Lord in the sky of the Darklands, Orson was asked to visit the war room of the fortress. There, the Nadziran Zass explained his next mission to him: Orson’s old friend, Lord Duncan, needed to be eliminated to make him pay for the role he played in the recent defeat of the Darklands in the war against Sommerlund. But, by killing Duncan, Orson had to make sure that the blame was going to be put on the Kai Order. As the Nad-Adez Konkor was getting ready for his new mission, Zass went to talk to a Helghast that was passing itself as a Drakkarim warrior. The dark sorcerer ordered him to kill Orson if he ever fails his mission.

At the Castle of the Fleets, the headquarters of the Kai Fleet, General Bon-Al Ironforge learned that Loi-Khymar, a Mage that had helped Lone Wolf a long time ago, was living in Ljuk and that he could be of some help for his mission in Kalte. The Admiral Hawk Eye agreed that his two ships will have to stop by this city. Before leaving Toran, Al bid farewell to his friend, the Sage Trest, who was going back to Varetta along with a group of dwarf mercenaries to try to stop Lord Drakhelm.

In the Wildlands, Shadow and Wild Horse were heading for Ragadorn, but their carriage was ambushed on the road near the city. While Shadow brought the other passengers of the coach towards the city, Wild Horse stayed behind to repel the enemy.

The pirate Shirak Tsan was looking for adventures. He had just concluded a mission in Port Bax, which brought him a nice pouch of gold coins. But the captain with whom he made business was also a traitor! He came back in the tavern a few minutes later with the city’s guards to arrest the pirate, but they were too late: Shirak Tsan was already on a merchant ship heading for Ragadorn. Once in that city, he went to find his old friend Orgrin. But his drunk buddy was yelling around that Shirak Tsan was a pirate, so Shirak had to leave him because already some people were eager to get him (and get at the same time the reward that goes with the capture of a pirate). He climbed on a ship that was sailing for Sommerlund, but he didn’t know that: he was just happy to flee the unwanted publicity Orgrin made for him. But, once the ship entered an unknown port to Shirak, he was discovered by the crew. Once again, he had to flee, this time by jumping into the water of the harbor. Swimming across the port, he climbed unnoticed onboard another ship, which happened to be one of the Kai Fleet that was going to Kalte. But Shirak didn’t know that... yet!

In Holmgard, Dharn was still wandering the streets of the city, looking for a goal, an objective to reach in his life, but he wasn’t finding one. After a fight with his uncle, he finally thought of something...

The Knight of the Realm Kehl Loeman, aka the Night Hunter, went to Durenor and Dessi to seal an alliance with the Knights of the White Mountain and the Vakeros warriors. The new Magnamund Knights Council was created.

The Drakkarim Wyrmslayer arrived in Helgedad onboard a Lajakeka. After setting foot in the dark city, he was immediatly forced to join a patrol after a misunderstanding. Explaining the problem to the leader of the group, he was then told to talk with the Lieutenant commanding their headquarters. At the same time, while Wyrmslayer was just discovering Helgedad, the young Fallen Angel, a Nad-Adez Konkor created with the blood of Silent Storm, equipped herself as she decided to leave the city.

A new chapter is opening. What will happen with the new Drakkeros Death Hearth? Where is Cloe? What is the secret plan of the Darklands concerning Black Cat? What’s the deal with that Stone of Chaos? Will Shirak Tsan become the first Kalte Pirate? Which one do you prefer: France or Italy? Is my lunch still hot after I've spent one hour looking at it while writing this Story so Far... ? Once again, most answers will be found in the next Chapter of the West Watch!

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 12 summary

The tale of the West Watch became disparate. Threads of destiny swirled through Magnamund, embroiling all in their twisting strands. Would they unravel to eventually make sense, or would they be forever lost?

Having been transferred from guard duty in the mines of the Darklands to the capital city of Helgedad, Wyrmslayer was mistaken for one of the garrison and ordered to report to a section of the city for duty. Knowing better than to question the orders of a superior officer, Wyrmslayer obeyed and joined a group of Drakkarim heading for the Western side of the divided Helgedad. The entrance and first few quadrants of the city had been secured by Darklord Vashna's army, but the remainder of the city, as well as the under-city, was still held by forces loyal to Darklord Kraagenskull. Once you are sworn into the service of a Darklord, you never leave, even when the Darklord is consumed within the Lake of Blood.

Wyrmslayer's new commander, Lieutenant Krane, began preparations to make an attack on the the enemy-held quadrant of the city. Wyrmslayer joined the assault. During the attack, he noticed that his Lieutenant was wearing magical gauntlets that he used to make a breach in a very solid door, allowing for the assault to continue.

But Lieutenant Krane was the fist through that door, and as soon as he passed through it, the defenders filled him with arrows. They were kept from firing a second round as the attackers stormed the guardhouse, which was eventually cleared. Wyrmslayer took the opportunity to "relieve" his dying lieutenant of the gauntlets.

Wyrmslayer received soon after that attack a notice from the Generals of the army naming him as commander in this quadrant. With the upper city now secure, Wyrmslayer was asked to secure the dungoens and prisons beneath the city and to meet up with the remainder of the army to attack the forges and breeding pits.

Wyrmslayer wasn’t the only noticeable Drakkarim in Helgedad. Storm-Helm, a very powerful and prominent figure in Drakkarim society, arrived in the city. He had been under the patronage of one of the most powerful Warlords in Ghatan, and had been part of an embassy to Darklord Kraagenskul to gain assistance for a war against the Lencians. However, upon arriving in the chaotic Helgedad, his group was refused any aid and, by some form of treachery, imprisoned deep in Helgedad's dungeons.

Storm-Helm had been able to escape his captors. However, this was only due to the passing misfortune of a patrol of Giaks (supporters of Kraagenskul), who were slaughtering the prisoners held in the dungeons. Storm-Helm was able to overcome them easily. A lone figure accompanying the patrol that fled upon seeing Storm-Helm had proven to be a familiar face to him: this person had been a member of the embassy to Helgedad, and Storm-Helm has now become intent on tracking him down to find out what has really been going on.

Dragged from the mouth of a Shadow Gate during what was supposed to be the banishment of an evil sorcerer named Mackarius, the Nad-Adez Konkor that has become known as DreadMack bears the physical appearance (aside from his eyes) of a young Kai, Shadow Wolf. However, the soul and mind of the dark hunter seemed to incorporate aspects of at least three separate identities: Shadow Wolf, Mackarius, and the Drakkarim commander, all of whom were inadvertently cast into the Shadow Gate together. Silent Hawk was the first to be struck down by the man known as Dread Mack, and from there the fallen Kai's travels left a trail of blood and darkness that eventually brought him to Kaag.

In that same city, Dark Sonar was preparing himself to leave for Vassagonia when the Lorestone of Nyxator arrived in the fortress. It was the raw power of the stone and the effect of it being in the hands of Falling Pheonix that had intrigued him. Following the source of energy coming from the stone, he was lead to his master’s chambers just as Falling Pheonix was putting the stone back into its pouch. This is also at that time that came the new hunter, the unknown, Dread Mack.

Dread Mack was subjected to rigourous tests and challenges that served the dual purpose of both evaluating his worth as one of the Nad-Adez Konkor and also to try and reveal the truth of his mysterious origins, which while similar to the manner in which most of the dark hunters came to be still held secrets that some found disturbing. Eventually, at the advice of Dark Sonar, who had seemingly taken at least a passing interest in Dread Mack's future as one of their number, Dread Mack was to lead a raiding party into Vassagonia with Dark Sonar to capture slaves and food for the Giaks.

Before he could depart, however, a strange girl calling herself Hazelae arrived. This child possessed strange and formidable powers, and the two found their paths drawn together. Lured by an unseen hand and the promise of answers to his conflicted identity, Dread Mack agreed to assist Hazelae in the search for her "sisters", manuveuring her undead army into position to attack Vassagonia. If things worked according to plan, Dread Mack hoped the depradations of Hazelae and her minions would also serve to conceal the activities of Falling Phoenix and some of the other Nad-Adez Konkor by distracting Magnamund's defenders.

Meanwhile, another young girl that looks just like Hazelae appears in Holmgard to Dharn. Dharn, who had a fallout with his uncle over his refusal to join the army and still roaming the streets, thought that she was a homeless girl. Reminded of his sister, Dharn takes her under his wing, drawn to her in some mysterious way.

At the same moment, in Kaag, a Vakeros named Jadow Kythe came with another stone for Falling Phoenix. In a grand display of power, the leader of the Nad-Adez Konkor held both stones and knew he had to go to the Maakengorge.

Shadow and Wild Horse had almost reached Ragadorn when their coach was attacked outside the city.While Shadow brought the passengers to safety, Wild Horse tried to hold back the attackers and was knocked unconscious. Upon regaining consciousness, he was being kept prisoner in a warehouse by the same group of bandits that attacked the coach. The leader of the bandits, Khian, gave Wild Horse a choice between instant death or helping them to wrest control of a precious cargo that is coming into Ragadorn. Wild Horse decided to help them, even though he knew he was no better than just "battle fodder".

At the same moment, Shadow did tried for a few days to find more about the Korlinium smuggling ring, but with no success. But one day, he was secretly approached by a member of a Ragadorn gang to help rob some precious goods. Thinking that this could be a breakthrough, Shadow agreed.

A big surprise was waiting both Shadow and Wild Horse though. Khian's group (with Wild Horse as well), attacked a group of smugglers. Just as the fight was in progress, a second gang (led by the ruffian Marko and including Shadow among their number) joined in the battle. It seemed that some of the smugglers were Drakkarim, as Wild Horse saw through their disguises. In the midst of the fighting, the two half-brothers joined each other to fight together.

Shadow was busy casting his spells when he was attacked by a disguised Drakkar who incapacitated the mage. The resulting backlash sent waves of magical energy through his body. Flung to the side, Shadow bid his final farewells to Wild Horse before he died, giving his half-brother the keys of his skyship and his Crystal Star Pendant. After a hard fight, the Kai finally killed the Drakkar that had taken the life of Shadow and then turned to flee from the docks, along with the body of his dead friend.

Spending one miserable night in a stables, Wild Horse left the city and made for a small copse of trees some miles out of Ragadorn. Intending to burn the body of his half-brother, he was stopped by the arrival of the Crystal Forge, Shadow's skyship. The crew mourned the loss of their owner and allowed Wild Horse to bring his half-brother's body back to Toran for a proper burial befitting one of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star...

Having left Temel disappointed by the strong lead they thought they had in their hunt for the supposed beast creature, Armadalus, Simey and the three soldiers under Simey's command have made their way south across the plains of Cloeasia. Due to various tensions within the group, Simey's morale was already low when, for the second time in his life, he experienced some sort of hallucination that seemed at the time to be completely real. He now has fresh fears for his own sanity.

Grand General Bon-Al Ironforge has travelled north to the icy wastes of Kalte with a detachment of dwarfs under the command of Zundar. He was transported there by the Kai Fleet under the command of Supreme Master Hawk Eye, Admiral of the Kai Fleet. During the journey, he met a sailor in the Sommlending Fleet by the name of Raker, who had experience in the icy wastes of Kalte before joining the navy.

Al's goal in Kalte is to recover an escaped dwarf prisoner who is a traitor - divulging dwarf secrets to the agents of Naar. It was hoped that the Brother of the Crystal Star, Loi-Kymar, who aided Lone Wolf so many years ago and who is now living in Ljuk, would be of assistance to the group, but upon reaching his residence he was gone. Deciding to wait there, Al, Hawk Eye and Raker spent the night to see if he would return. During the night, Al was visited by the spectre of High Sage Tyrenis Amarya, who has been missing for many moons now. He warned Al of the danger ahead an bequethed him a strange dagger...

Further to the south of Magnamund, Black Cat and Wind Spirit arrived in Dragen, capital city of Klarnos, on their way to the Klann Mountains where they believe the Stone of Chaos is hidden. But the Nad-Adez Konkor named Dark Nut was hot on their heels.

In Dragen, to avoid confrontation with the suspicious citizens of the city, Black Cat and Wind Spirit past themselves as Slovians and befriended a group of soldiers of the local militia. But, during one night, Wind Spirit was attacked by murderers in her room. Black Cat defended her by killing the four attackers. What he didn't know was that these men had been sent by Dark Nut himself, who already knew that the four killers weren't going to succeed in their mission.

For more safety, Hoghal, the leader of militia, brought the Kai to an inn just outside the city. In that inn, for the first time, the strange relationship that existed between Wind Spirit and Black Cat turned into a more tangible emotion: love. After that night of pure enjoyment, the two Kai left the inn, knowing that Hoghal was about to discover their true identity.

They arrived to the little village of Tynola, at the foothills of the Klann Mountains. Hoghal rapidly followed them: he wanted to get explanations on those two Kai that had lied to him. Black Cat and Wind Spirit escaped from the village by jumping from roof to roof. In the nearby forest though, Hoghal caught up with Black Cat and was about to kill him when an arrow came out of nowhere to kill the soldier. Black Cat didn't had the time to look for his savior, because he heard screams coming from Wind Spirit: she had been captured by strange looking warriors. Soon after, the Supreme Master was also made prisonner.

The group of warriors lead their captives to an abandonned mine. In there, the Kai met a Meledorian named Olald. He was the one that had came out of the Shadow Gate in Toran nearly 300 years ago while carrying the object of their quest, the Stone of Chaos. Rapidly, Olald explained the two Kai how he did learned about the Klann Mountains of Magnamund, but many questions are still waiting for an answer...

Ghost Bear had found himself becoming increasingly uneasy at the Monastery. With Shadow Fox's travels into the Darklands putting another of the Lorestones at risk, he felt that he could idle no longer. He intended to leave the Monastery, and first find Shadow Fox, and then Falling Phoenix, who he now knew was in posession of the Lorestone of Nyxator. Before leaving, he was reprimanded by the wise old Kai Lord, Slow Aurochs, for putting the safety of the Lorestones before the safety of his Kai charges.

He travelled to Ivywood, to seek to sooth his troubled soul, and reconnect with those aspects of his life which were tied strongest to Sommerlund. This he did, spending long hours in the company of the Lord Elessyl Galonen. He hoped that this time of rest would serve him well as he prepares for the next stage of his journey.

Kara Kala, beauty of the desert, is where Shadow Crow is. His mission was to investigate the Plague that striked down so many of the Elder Magi and Vakeros knights. After nearly two month of research, he has not found even the slightest clue. He's now ready to march to Dahir Pass to uncover the secret about his dreams and the other man he sees in them.

Are the disparate threads of Magnamund being woven together? Will the machinations of the Nad-Akez Konkor succeed? Will the journeys taken by the Lords of the Kai be enough to stop the rising tide of darkness? Will the brave expedition to Kalte prove successful? How will the imminent attack on Vassagonia affect this fragile world? Will all this have an impact on the upcoming broadcast of the CAThy Awards? What is EMO? You will find the answer either in the dictionnary or in the new chapter of the West Watch!

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 13 summary

The Strange Alliance

Dread Mack, a twisted union of disparate entities merged to serve some bizarre purpose, marched on Vassagonia with the girl known as Hazelae. They led with them an army of Giaks and undead gathered from the Darklands. At some point, during that journey, something changed. Something inside of Dread Mack fought against the chaos which was within him, struggled for freedom.

Their journey took them to Maakengorge, for reasons unknown to Dread Mack, and there something changed. Dread Mack struggled to free himself, sought to defy Hazelae and her "Mother". His attempt at betrayal led to his seeming death at the hands of a strange, armoured assassin. What happened in the time that he was "dead" was unclear, but when he awoke, back in his body within Maakengorge, it seemed much time had passed for him... and Dread Mack was no more. The sorcerer Mackarius and the Drakkar had been somehow exorcised from his being, and what remained was a neither Kai nor the strange shadow mind that had made some alliance to free themselves from their bondage. Blood Wolf was born, but to his chagrin he was not free. He found himself still forced to follow the designs of Hazelae's mysterious "Mother".

Blood Wolf swore to break free of the path he was being forced to walk, and swore vengeance. He bided his time, following Hazelae deep into Maakengorge and then beyond into Vassagonia, but he miscalculated somewhere. Hazelae rose in power, becoming stronger, not weaker as he had hoped. And worse yet, she had once again somehow forseen his actions and taken steps to counteract his betrayal. Yet rather than striking him down, Hazelae spoke kindly to her "brother", offering him the choice to leave or stand with her, as he wished. The hunter seemed broken, dejected, and yet deep within himself he found something.

His ambition and his rage would sustain him in whatever the coming days brought. Blood Wolf marched upon Eshnar with Hazelae, prepared to bring death to all that stood in his path.

Meanwhile, at least two other brown haired girls had appeared around Magnamund. One of these appeared to a commoner in Holmgard. What the mysterious Hazalae wanted with Dharn was unknown, but disparate threads were all being drawn together. Another appeared to the Duranese knight Simey, but perhaps fortunately for the Knight of the White Mountain, he felt a responsibility towards her that he could not honour on his mission, so he left her at an ophanage in Kuchek.

The Lords of Light

In Klarnos, under the Klann Mountains, Black Cat found the Stone of Chaos. However, he also discovered Olald’s plans. The Meledorian wants to conquer both Magnamund and the Daziarn by using the Stone of Chaos to travel freely between the two universes, bringing technology from one world to the other. His army - bred in the caves of Klarnos, is in fact a mixed race created by mixing Meledorian blood with human one. Black Cat also discovers that Olald wants to use Wind Spirit to carry one of his children.

The Meledorian decided to kill Black Cat. Two of his sons brought the Supreme Master to another cave to take his life away, but it was Black Cat that ended their lives. He then tries to find the giant safe in which he thinks Wind Spirit and Olald are, but he discovers that a battle is taking place in the caves. Indeed, the Tynolan militia, that has been pursuing the two Kai since they have left their village, have entered the abandoned mines with the help of the Nad-Adez Konkor Dark Nut. While the humans and the Aondorians (the name Black Cat gave to the sons of Olald) fought each other, Black Cat found the right safe, but it was already too late: Wind Spirit had killed Olald. The two Kai then went to look for the Stone of Chaos and then found it. However, just as they were about to get out of the safe in which the Stone has been, a terrible voice, full of anger, was heard...

After an abortive mission to Kaag with Eternal Valor, where the senior Kai Lord was stricken with illness, Rune Dancer became determined to fulfil his vow to try to bring the Dark Kai back into the light.

Ghost Bear’s journeys took him to Holmgard, where he sought an audience with King Kian in order to warn him of the threat of the Nad Adez Konkor. He then travelled to the Durncrag mountains, seeking a path to Kaag. This mission was aborted though, when, rather fortuitously, he encountered Rune Dancer and an ailing Eternal Valor. Working together, the three Kai managed to return to Sommerlund, where Eternal Valor was able to recover at the Monastery.

This aborted mission might prove a blessing in disguise for the forces of Light, as Falling Phoenix, the leader of the Kai Hunters had taken the Lorestone of Nyxator to the Maakengorge.

Meanwhile, a recovered Rune Dancer left the Monastery and journeyed to Kaag, where he was captured soon after entering the fortress. The Kai Master escaped his captors, but a confrontation with a group of Nadziranim transformed his body into an insubstantial imitation of his original form.

Rune Dancer, figured that if he had been transformed by magic, his best chance to be returned to his former state would be to visit the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. Hopefully the left-hand could give back what the right had taken away.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken. The elders of the Brotherhood found only one solution to the young Kai's predicament: he would need to go to the Plane of Darkness and confront one of the powers of that dread domain.

Rune Dancer was sent through the Shadow Gate under the Guildhall, finding himself travelling through a duplicate of the Darklands. He was further shocked when he came upon a replica of the fortress of Kaag.

Wild Horse returned to Toran with the Crystal Forge. After presenting himself to Guildmaster Sekhemty of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, he took part in the burial ritual for his half-brother, the deceased mage Shadow.

Still life must go on and a few days later, after having equipped himself with a fine new horse and other items in Toran. Wild Horse began his ride back to the Monastery. The crew of the Crystal Forge, now acknowledging Wild Horse as their new captain, were instructed to stay in Toran until further notice.

It was a short ride home but one that made for a soul-cleansing experience, as the sights and sounds of the Sommerlund countryside restored Wild Horse's belief in himself.

He reached the Kai Monastery to find himself being addressed as "Kai Master" by the guards. Feeling a bit surprised, he went forward to speak to his superiors.

Meanwhile, the Kai at the Monastery continued to learn and develop, watched over by Ghost Bear, who’s determination to confront Falling Phoenix had been tempered by the knowledge that he was needed at the Monastery more. His interactions with his fellow Kai had restored his belief in his duties and his determination to fulfil his responsibilities to his students.

Meanwhile, Shadowcrow’s investigations into the Red Plague in Kara Kala had come to nothing. Resigned to this, he decided to investigate his mysterious dreams, and so headed to the Dahir Pass – unknown to him, the destination of one of his many enemies.

The Lords of Dark

Blood Wolf was not the only one of Falling Phoenix’s prodigies scheming within Magnamund. Grand Huntmaster Dark Sonar entered the land of Vassagonia, his destination Dahir Pass. This was a trip a long time in the making and it felt right to be finally making it. He didn't know what he was supposed to find there but he knew it was something that he had to do, was in fact drawn to it. Hearing rumors of an army approaching from the north he saw his chance to spread his own foul rumors to further spread fear and discord among the citizens.

Dead Heart’s bluesteel blade was returned to him in Kaag. Shortly after, he would meet with another of the Drakkeros, Jadow Kythe, who had brought a mysterious stone with him – part of the dais destroyed by Lone Wolf at the Maakengorge. The two former Vakeros began discussing a voyage to Kalte as well as rumours of a special chalise.

In Helgedad, two Drakkar warriors were leading forces through the dungeon levels, recruiting all manner of foul beings to their respective causes as they went. What would happen when Storm Helm and Wyrmslayer finally met was anyone’s guess…

The Plague Lord of Ruel

Slavemaster, who was turned into a tree by the mysterious Dementia and had not been seen since, finally reemerged, and with him the Red Plague. The cener druids finally tracked him down, with the help of brother Akhenril - a low-ranking plague druid who took the Crimson Oath before the Slavemaster and therefore had a psychic link to him which could be used to find him. He, and the little girl who was with him, was brought to the cener hideout in Ferufezan. The druids who found him expected him to be transported to Mogaruith for questioning about the Red Plague. However, brother Mythro - a druid of the spiral of Terror and leader of the cener circle in Ferufezan - had other plans. When he found out that the Slavemaster not only is carrying the Red Plague without succumbing from it, but even appears to be close to finding he cure, he decided to take the secret of the Red Plague for himself. He tortured the Slavemaster with his own mind gem in order to find out how the plague can be resisted and how it can be cured, but the Slavemaster held out.

After the first interrogation, he was approached in his cell by brother Akhenril, who believed he was going to die now that he had fulfilled his role of finding the Slavemaster. The Slavemaster convinced him to help him escape and ordered Akhenril to find the mind gem and smuggle it into the cell.

The Cold Lands of Kalte

General Bon-Al Ironforge along with his allies Supreme Master Hawkeye and Lt Raker of the Sommlending Navy have travelled into the heart of the Kalte Waste under the protection of a platoon of elite dwarf warriors under the command of Zundar, Guardian of the Passes. There mission there is to investigate the rumoured Dark Army base north of the Hrod Range of mountains, where it is suspected that the Dark Army, with the aid of a notorious dwarf criminal and traitor, are producing a metallic alloy almost as strong, but far cheaper and easier to produce, than the fabled metal Bronin.

Their journey north has been fraught with danger; from the elements as the extreme cold bites into their souls, from the dreaded beasts that hunt the icy wastes, and most recently, from the dreaded Ice Barbarians of Kalte.

Currently, the companions are deep into the Hrod Basin, and have stumbled upon a surprise Ice Barbarian encampment. While the Dwarfs take up a defensive position, Hawkeye and Zundar prepare themselves to strike out on their own and investigate the encampment.

Slowly it seems, the random events of previous months seem to be coming together. What will happen when Dark Sonar and Shadowcrow arrive in the Dahir Pass? Will Dead Heart meet the Dwarven expedition to Kalte? There's only one way to find out...

[Beowuuf]

Chapter 14 summary

A curtain of darkness is falling on the world. Slowly, all accross Magnamund, the followers of Naar are extending their web of malevolent actions that is menacing to engulf the last free planet of Aon into the dark flame of evilness.

The fallen Kai Lord Dark Moon awoke in the depths of the Daziarn, wracked with pain and desperate for revenge on his former student. As his full powers of a fallen Kai and a Dark Cultist and his Daziarn-tossed memories came flooding back to him, the Doomstone of Naargarod fused into his chest gave him purpose and renewed power.

Entering a settlement of exiles within the Daziarn, he killed a petty thief and slaughtered an inn-full of brigands and yet the Doomstone drove him on to greater evil and greater power. Reclaiming his former servant, a sycophantic failed Sage, from the ruins of the inn, Dark Moon searched for the woman who could reportedly free him from the Daziarn to take his long-awaited revenge...

A wolf creature similar to Cloe and others of the Wolf Tribe calling himself Beowuuf appeared in the garb of a Vakeros Knight to the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. He proclaimed that a derivative of the non-magical yet unnatural stone that has appeared in Magnamund could hold the key to combatting the growing evil and detecting Nad Adez Konkor and Advanced Helghast. The creature was uncovered as a Helghast itself by the real Beowuuf, who appeared in time to stop the creature. He remained mysterious about the reason for his appearance, but was definitely a Vakeros Knight assigned to work for the Mangamund Knights' Council and decoyed by Helghast upon his arrival.

Given pieces of information from the Helghast and his own travels, Beowuuf surmised that what some of the Dessi had mistakenly been seeking as a weapon, 'The Footfall of Naar', was actually none other than these strange stone deposits - which may have many properties helping the foes in the Darklands, and which may have come directly from Naar walking this plane. He was tasked by the Magnamund Knights' Council and the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star to investigate the stone, incase properties could be discovered to benefit the free peoples of Magnamund against the Darklands.

His suggested starting point was to go undercover to Point Vashna, where there was a legend that Naar had appeared to Vashna during his accendancy to Archlord. Beowuuf was almost betrayed by the captain of the ship taking him there, Captian Kollosco. The man was from the Brotherhood of the Descending Night - an offshoot of the Crystal Star, and an order seeking to gain knowledge of the right hand magic of the Nadziranim. Beowuuf, with the aid of the remaining crew, led by the first mate Duman, managed to see off the resulting Darklands forces that attacked the ship, and Beowuuf made it to the Darklands without detection.

Beowuuf managed to fall in with a group of disgraced Death Knights, led by Knight-Commander Karlnos, who had been charged with travelling the entire coastal edge of the Darklands to regain their honour. They further combined with a Giak troop assigned to that area. At Point Vashna, the troop did not have to search long before an odd Giak, named simply 'Riddle' by a bored Beowuuf, found the buried temple. Beowuuf and one of the Death Knights, a Knight-Savage called Dark Walker, investigated the place that was obviously where Naar had appeared sometimes. Dark Walker had been a firm zealot of the old Drakkarim histories and gods, but underwent an epiphany in the temple. Beowuuf saw an odd hallucination mocking him, and caught the edges of a message to Dark Walker - 'Go to Maaken'. Beowuuf and Dark Walker emerged from the temple, with Beowuuf knowing he had to stop the Death Knight. Unfortunately, Karlnos made it known that the Death Knights were leaving, and Dark Walker took the opportunity to stab his commander and run.

Meanwhile, it became obvious that the High Council member of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star who suggested Beowuuf's mission, Master Andras, had no memory of sharing the legend with the knight. And Kollosco, as a 'reward' for his betrayal of Beowuuf, twice found himself stymied by a closed off Eshnar and chaotic Kaag.

Speaking of it, Eshnar lays in ruins. Hazelae and her army of undead, including her three champions, her monstrous creation named The General, the undead Baraka, and the newly awakened Blood Wolf, marched upon the town and laid waste to it within hours. Hazelae gloated in her victory, becoming more powerful with every life she claimed. The dead of Eshnar were now at her command.

Blood Wolf, tiring of her presence, decided to leave Hazelae's army and make his own way in the world. Hazelae, after a small attempt to dissuade him, let him go, disgusted with his apparant lack of desire for power. She concentrated on planning her next move.

However, a secret order had been watching Hazelae and Blood Wolf since they'd left the Darklands, and now it took action. This order, known as the Order of the Yellow Robe, was headed by Zipp and included the sage Remoire, thought to have been killed by H'ree Gourgaz. They convinced the Elder Dessi to buy them time to fight Hazelae by enclosing her in a power shield.

After this was done, everyone set about their own plans. The Dessi sent one of their highest mages, Valestar, into the wilds of Kalte to retrieve an artifact known as the Ice Star. The Order of the Yellow Robe called a meeting of their leaders, the Council of Twelve, to decide what to do about Hazelae. They came to the conclusion that they had to rely upon the help of another Hazelae, an adult one, and a Lady of Hammerdal. The fact that the two share names means nothing, but the Lady Hazelae is held under grave suspicion by the Order. They know there is something about her that doesn't smell right...

Meanwhile, Eshnar lays silent, the horrors growing within it far worse than ever the Order could imagine...

In Holmgard, after picking up a child from the streets, Dharn continued his daily routine of patrolling the street. All this while the child had not spoken a word. After he took a rest at the well at the northen part of the city, he woke up to see the child being smoldered with attention from the housewives who visits the well. He befriends them, especially their somewhat leader, Annette, who asked Dharn what he was planning to do next. Dharn was wondering out loud that he did not even know the child's name before the girl spoke her first word to him: Hazelea was her name.

Dharn took the girl home. Along the way, he decided that he would wanted to help Hazelea and took her in. His uncle objected to the decision and Dharn couldn't come up with a good excuse but did not bulge from his position. To shaken his resolve, his uncle suggested that they fight again. Even with an aching shoulder, Dharn managed to overcome his uncle and Hazelea was allowed to live with Dharn. Dharn talked to Hazelea on giving up on his dreams later that night.

The very next day, Dharn was feeling better and took Hazelea out to find a job...

Wise Fox, an errant hunter and vagabond from Toran in his late twenties who had been living secretly in the Fryelund of the Kai for nearly 3 years, was accepted in the Kai Monastery as a Novice, despite his age, after being captured by a Kai patrol. The Grand Masters who accepted him were glad to see that their "bet" was won: in fact, his hard work and devotion to the Kai were more evident each day, and it wasn't long after he was "recruited" that he reached the rank of Warmarn and sent on a mission to the Durenese town of Port Bax, where he would have to deliver a message from his superiors to the Sommlending consulate. After that peaceful and eventless jouney, he hurriedly returned to his country with an ever increasing hunger for learning and a new-found sense of responsibility.

Back at the Monastery, another Kai, Wild Horse, has been promoted to the rank of Kai Master. It was an honour for one so young but it did help lift his spirits.

The next few days, after his studies, he began practising shooting on horseback in the woods near the Monastery. It was after one such practice session that he encountered a Giak raid on a small farm. He drove off the Giaks and saved the farmer and his family.

Even after that rescue, Wild Horse still continued to ride all alone in the forest, or practise archery from horseback. But all these were not able to reduce the feeling of boredom that was developing in him. He seemed almost lost.

He returned to the Monastery to ask Supreme Master Ghost Bear for a posting to the Kai Fleet. The latter had another more immediate assignment for him: to join the Border Rangers for a two-week attachment.

During this attachment (extended to a month by request), Wild Horse learnt more skills in outdoor survival from the Border Rangers, while polishing his own Magnakai Disciplines as well.

When he returned to the Monastery, he was granted his request to be posted to the Kai Fleet. As he accepted the instructions from Ghost Bear, Wild Horse wondered what this will mean for him in the near future...

Speaking of the Kai Fleet, its leader, Admiral Hawk Eye, and his friends Al, Zundar, Raker and the company of dwarven settled a encampment in the Hrod Range. While Raker and Al stayed there, Hawk Eye and Zundar went to explore the surrounding territories. While exploring they found another encampment settled by Ice Barbarians. They managed to infiltrate it and so they learned that there were Giaks in the zone, Giaks lead by a Drakkarim.

Meanwhile, Raker fell through a crevice. In total darkness, Raker kept in his backpack something he found in the ground althought he couldn't see what it was at that moment. Later, he forgot everything about this mysterious find. Al went down through the crevice to rescue the lieutenant and they discovered it was in fact a ancient warrior's tomb.

At that moment, Hawk Eye and Zundar came back and reported the news. The group decided to stay where they were in hope to go unnoticed.

After waiting there for two days, they decided to make their way as quick as possible towards the Hrod Range because they felt it was a safer place.

As they went on, a scout mission came back with notices about the Ice Barbarians being attacked by the Giaks. They decided to fight them. They divided in two groups. Hawk Eye and 8 dwarven shooters were supposed to strike the first blow; Hawk Eye would also try to kill the Drakkarim leader with his Silver Bow. That would be the signal for the main group to attack.

The Kai Lord shot was precise as he used his Kai skills to make sure that the flying arrow was a messenger of death, which he did successfully. The Drakkarim lieutenant died instantly. At the moment the enemy body collapsed to the ground, the group led by Al run quickly to confront their main target: the Drakkarim Captain. The battle had begun...

South of Magnamund, in the Klann Mountains, in the caves of an abandonned mine, Black Cat had found the Stone of Chaos, a magical item that was allowing its bearer to use Shadow Gates in the Daziarn at its will. However, he was trapped: outside the giant safe in which the Stone was, Dark Nut and his troop of Drakkarim was waiting for him. As he was to attack the Nad-Adez Konkor, Black Cat was attacked by Wind Spirit and discovered her true nature: Wind Spirit had been turned into a Kai Hunter named Phantom Star after she had been captured two years ago during a mission in Kaag. The Nad-Adez Konkor had used her to get their revenge on Black Cat for the things he had done to foil their plans in the recent past. In fact, following the indications of the fake Wind Spirit to find the Stone of Chaos, the Grand Master of the Order was instead working for Dark Nut.

Being tortured by the two Nad-Adez Konkor, there was no hope left for Black Cat, until he saw the deposite of boom powder that was in a corridor near the cave they were in. Using the Lightning Hand spell, the Grand Master created a huge explosion. Luckily for him, he survived both the explosion and the cave-in of the mine. When he got back to his senses, Dark Nut and the Stone of Chaos were nowhere to be seen, and his friend, Brother Tuhn, had found him and carried him back to his skyrider. However, before leaving the ground, Black Cat saw the hands of Wind Spirit/Phantom Star appearing just outside a small mount and discovered that she was still alive. He then asked the Brothers to free the woman he once loved and to bring her back with him to the Monastery. However, even if he had took her inside the Monastery, nobody else knew about this.

After a few days, the Grand Master of the Order was back at his duties. And the first thing he had to do was to get the financial report of the Monastery ready because the Treasurer of Sommerlund, Lord Ylsep Aldius, was coming in a few days to get the money that the Fryelund had to pay to the King. Indeed, Aldius came and took the money, but also invited Black Cat to a ball at his castle in Anskaven. The Grand Master of the Order accept the invitation and is now sailing towards the Sea Castle...

I other news, the leader of the Nad-Adez Konkor, Falling Phoenix, on a quest to retrieve the shattered pieces of Shamath's dais, has finally left the Maakengorge for Elzian, where he apparently hopes to find the next piece. Meanwhile, Simey is still in Kuchek. He has sent the three soldiers under his command back to Durenor and, after several days spent looking, has found Sir Armadalus. Finally, in the Darklands, Storm-Helm pressed on deeper into the undercity of Helgedad without the help of the Drakkarim he had been gathering in the battles through the prison complex. Hot on the trail of his prey, Storm-Helm has entered what would be appear to be an abandoned part of the undercity. However, all is not as it seems...

What is going to happen next? Will Dark Moon ever come back to Magnamund? What Dark Walker is going to do next? Is Wise Fox becoming a good Kai Lord? Is Wild Horse going to get seasick once he gets in the Kai Fleet? Did Beowuuf got his vaccine against fleas? Are they going to serve Bor Brew from the Black Cat Breweries & Co. at Lord Aldius’ ball? All that and more in Chapter 15 (already 15!) of the West Watch!