One by one, the Pandemonium Leaders were falling to the vehement coordinated attacks of Military clans and clanless Lords. The Empire was following on the Council's plan to mop up the Infernals to prevent them from being re-elected into the 666 Leaders and replenishing their incredible power.
Yet, every victory was achieved at greater cost than any previous one. Weaker Pandemonium Leaders succumbed, but the most weathered ones survived many vanguards. The Lordship was growing weary; each time they gripped tightly on the tilts of their weapons and clenched their teeth rushing into combat, some part of them remained in each of such clashes. It seemed that the Pandemonium was coming back at the unwanted invaders that way, stealing some part of their vigour every time, using some sort of supernatural power as last resort in a fight It was losing...
It was no wonder that, in such an atmosphere, Lords and Ladies were entering and exiting the Pandemonium at much greater liberty than when the campaign had just begun. Vanguards were formed quite often as is, without thorough planning, with only those present nearby volunteering in it.
As a result, no one really paid much attention to a cloaked figure that entered the Blooming glade Breach portal and moved into the Pandemonium territory. Some thought he was one of the scouts preparing to go on another reconnaissance mission, others simply took him for a missive carrier or a serving page of one of the Court members.
It turned out that the cloaked entity expected as much. He wore a dark green woolen cloak, nestled deep in the hood so that no casual glare could catch and imprint his visage in the memory. He was clasping an item to his breast, bundled thoroughly so that anyone who'd grab a glimpse of it would take him for a mailman.
Without causing any suspicion, he advanced a few miles towards the center of the Pandemonium, following the safe path out of bound for any Infernals with agility and precision of an expert pathfinder. He stopped twice on his way to unwrap the item he was carrying and examine it closely, yet each time he did so he waved his head discontentedly and continued his march, until he reached the actual front where the Lords were leading attacks on the horrible Infernals.
The mysterious being inspected his burden once again, and this time uttered a pleased hem. He looked around and found a long scorched log which he set up in vertical position and drove it into the infernal soil right behind a large boulder to conceal his actions from any undesired witnesses. Seconds later, he extracted a queer container out of the blanket used to bundle the item, and discarded the blanket. The container was a voluminous hexagonal cask which glittered in a way that, if noticed by anyone, would have immediately been acknowledged as creation of a true specialist in the arts of Darkness. The cask was solid black, but not even these words could convey the meaning behind them; it was blacker than black, the absolute blackness as some would call it. It looked like it was made of some transparent material and was somehow absorbing all the nearby light, feeding on it and becoming darker, blacker and even more sinister.
The cloaked figure attached the cask to the impromptu rack, surveyed it closely one last time from all sides, and hurried to lose himself in the crowd, hurrying back to the Breach and into the Blooming glade...
The panic that arose afterwards could have been evaded in normal situation, but the lack of organisation only added to it. The spooky tales of Darkness spreading out consuming all the lights and even putting out the fire of lava rivers in the Pandemonium made even the most die-hard warriors shudder. For several hours it was considered to be retaliatory measures of the Infernals. Councilor Arabat quickly disproved the hypothesis, claiming that Demons would first and foremost rely on Chaos rather than Darkness. Some time later the cask was discovered. Luckily, some gremlins fished out of their memories a suspicious creature in dark green cloak behaving strangely and holding something in the blanket found nearby. It took the warlords to quarantine the area until Councilor Kh'Everst arrived and ran a few tests on the surrounding. The result was shocking. Absolutely unexpected, it was that very turning point that the Empire military was craving for.
The Herald spoke twice, in- and outside of the Pandemonium, addressing all the Lords he could speak to:
I bear great news, Lords and Ladies,
One of the citizens of the Empire has made an incomparable breakthrough in the Darkness magic. As you heed, an aura of Darkness is spreading into the Pandemonium. It has been confirmed to be absolutely harmless to representatives of all our factions, but potentially harmful for the Infernals. All Lords can now use the magical flows in the area of the aura, filling their mana pools with additional mana. Only a slight effort in spell-casting, feasible even by Barbarians, will produce a destructive torrent of Darkness energies that would weaken the Infernals unprecedentedly. This is an unexpected and very powerful backup that will ensure our victory! Such rays should by all means be used collectively on the most seasoned Pandemonium leaders that otherwise might be nearly impossible to defeat.
I would like to encourage the noble Lord responsible for the creation of this Aura to step forward and make himself known to the Court. Her Majesty wishes to know and thank the Hero! |
