The misguided knight falls unconscious at your feet. Before he recovers, you take to your heels and continue on across the plain which leads inexorably towards the gates of Darke.
As you approach the city, the din of battle fills your ears. The shouts of angry men, the neighs of galloping steeds, the clang of riven steel and the terrible screams of the slain buffet you remorselessly. Then, all of a sudden, you are plunged into the battle and to survive you are forced to cleave your way through a seemingly endless wall of enemy troops. It is as if they are gladly willing to sacrifice themselves in order to prevent you from reaching the apex of the slope that ascends to the shattered gates of the city.
Undeterred, you forge a bloody path through this Drakkarim horde, wielding your weapon with deadly precision, every blow claiming an enemy soul. It is not until you are standing upon the very threshold of the gates that you encounter more formidable defenders. The breached gates are being held by a trio of blood-spattered Tukodaks. They are in a state of battle-frenzy which you sense has been magically induced. Wild-eyed with savage bloodlust, they scream maniacally as they rush at you with their bloodied blades.
'For Sommerlund!' you cry, as you steel yourself to meet their attack.
3 Tukoduk Guardians CS 44, EP 44
While am I using a battle cry that out of place. I want to be kept a secret, and yet I cry out that? That’s dumb. Sometimes I’m stupid. I use Kai-Surge.
I rock a 3. They lose 10 and me 3. I roll a 8. They lose 18 and me 1. A 6 follows. They lost 14 and me 2. I roll a 7. They die. I took 7.
You clamber over the bodies that are heaped chest-high around the shattered city gates, then you begin to fight your way steadily towards the centre of this terrible stronghold. Beyond the entrance you see that a wild battle is raging through the streets. A regiment of Lencian Crusaders are fighting to wrestle possession of the keep from a determined horde of Magnaarn's Drakkarim. The tide turns against the Lencians and as they are driven back towards the gates, you are forced to climb a stair which leads to the battlements in order to avoid being lost in the crush. Halfway up the steps you are attacked by a Drakkar armed with sword and shield. You duck his clumsy swipe and lash out at his chest. He catches your blow on his shield, but the sheer force of your attack hurls him down on the steps where he remains, cradling his broken arm, tears streaming down his soot-blackened face.
You stride up the steps towards the battlements where a group of Lencians are locked in combat with two Death Knights. The Crusaders slay their enemies, but they, in turn, are slain when a bolt of crackling crimson energy rips through their shiny steel armour, fired from the tip of a wizard's staff. Their lifeless bodies come tumbling down the steps, knocking you flat on your back and pinning you down beneath the weight of their armour. You struggle to get free, but you are being observed by the one who slayed the knights: an evil Nadziranim wizard. He levels his staff at your head and a swirling trail of sparks ignites at its tip. With imminent death staring you full in the face, you steel yourself to meet your maker.
Suddenly the evil wizard cries out in pained surprise and throws his claw-tipped hands into the air. A sparkling bolt, which was destined to seal your doom, arcs from his staff and blows a man-sized hole in the wall of the fortress. As the resultant smoke and dust slowly clears, you see Captain Prarg standing over the body of the slain wizard with a bloodied sword held in his hand. With a cry of victory, he leaps over the crumpled corpse and comes rushing down the steps to help free you from the tangle of bodies.
‘Well met, Sire,' he says excitedly. 'I feared you were dead and buried at the Temple of Antah.'
'I, too, thought you dead, Prarg,' you reply, thankful to see him still alive. 'Yet it seems that fate has decreed otherwise.'
'I was lucky,' he says, 'I escaped from Magnaarn. But come, Sire. There's no time for tales now. We must away from here. Follow me, I know where the Warlord is hiding.'
(I would like to point out that I would have killed the Nadziranim, I was not about to die)