Silence enveloped the governor's office, only occasionally disturbed by the voices of the commanders giving orders to the guards in the palace courtyard. Grammith stood motionless at the window, contemplating the grandeur of the golden tower banners. A sense of noble pride overwhelmed the First Knight of the Empire — not so much because of his side’s victory in the Great Contest, but because of the glorious legacy that these colors represented. Its importance only grew as the endless battles against worthy opponents continued.
The creak of a door opening broke his priceless moment of peace. A vampire, one of Councilor Feurlis's minions, appeared on the threshold and with a slight and almost imperceptible bow of his head said:
"Master Feurlis regrets not being able to come in person. The liches strongly discourage him from interrupting the recovery ritual."
"Such a pity," said Grammith with undisguised irony in his voice. "But let him take his time to fully recover… weeks, or even months…"
"I’m afraid Master Feurlis will fail to appreciate your kind concern," replied the spy coldly. Tactfully silent, the warlord merely held out his hand, and a moment later it contained the scroll the vampire had delivered. He broke the seal, unfolded the paper, and, scrutinizing the contents, furrowed his brows.
"This is beyond the Empire’s borders," grumbled the knight, looking up at the vampire.
"But well within its grasp," calmly said the spy. "The smugglers are getting trickier, as are their routes. But we checked everything out. There are all sorts of rabble on this hidden route, but none that could cause diplomatic problems or reputational costs."
As much as Grammith wanted to object, deep down he realized there was a grain of sense in Feurlis's plan. After all, if Lords and Ladies take charge, the Empire would hardly need to worry about the outcome of such an operation.
"And one more thing," added the vampire, interrupting the warlord’s train of thought. "By way of apology, Master Feurlis will assign one very promising recruit to assist."
"Whoa, a whole recruit?" Grammith grinned ironically and was about to add something else, but just waved his hand and went back to his work, signaling that the conversation was over.
Lords and Ladies! The smugglers' activity on the main roads of the Empire has decreased considerably, but their cause lives on, and they have taken to some of the freer routes that lie dangerously close to our borders. Warlord Grammith urges all to join in the battle to capture these scoundrels. Owing to the importance of this event, court mage Abu-Bakir also promises to provide magical support to the armies of active interceptors. In addition, you will have a new recruit at your disposal for the duration of the operation, courtesy of Councilor Feurlis.
Combat briefing:
- All Lords and Ladies of combat level 5 and above may participate.
- Ordinary caravans may be attacked only when equipping shop artifacts, and enchantments have no effect.
- For intercepting reinforced caravans, it is recommended that you use enchanted artifacts with a total enchantment power of 40 or more.
- Interceptions must be performed alone and fought in 1õ1 ambush format.
- According to the intelligence available, caravans may be guarded not only by brigands but also by representatives of other factions opposing the Empire.
- Successful interceptions will grant you activity points, which may be traded in for magic army boosts from Abu-Bakir. All such boosts are only valid while this operation lasts.
- The number of activity points received will depend on the enemy’s difficulty level.
- 50 main enemy levels are available to all. 50 additional, higher-difficulty levels, granting only minor rewards, will also be available, with the number of attempts to clear them limited to 75. The makeup and numbers of units in the enemy’s armies will be the same for all Lords and Ladies of the same combat level, faction, and class.
- Important! Lords and Ladies of combat level 11 cannot advance past enemy level 50.
- Every main enemy level will offer two pairs of caravans for you to choose from, with each pair containing one ordinary and one reinforced caravan. If you choose and defeat the ordinary caravan, its reinforced counterpart will become unavailable, and vice versa. On each level you can defeat no more than one smuggler from each pair. Reinforced caravans are available for Lords and Ladies of combat level 7 or above.
- Every 5 levels the caravans will include an enemy leader unit on the battlefield, which you should pay special attention to.
- On level 50 you will meet face to face with the smugglers’ chief and have the possibility to defeat him for the event’s main reward.
- Important! A new recruit from the Empire's security service will support you during the operation. According to his personnel record, he has decent close and long-range combat skills, as well as a predisposition for using the Dark, Nature and Chaos magic schools. Give him clear instructions and have him perform specific types of actions in battles so that he may unlock his full fighting potential. However, keep in mind that maximizing all of his abilities at the same time may not be possible.
- Important! The recruit has his own parameters, but will also benefit from your character’s main parameters (Attack, Defense and Initiative), talent effects, and the modifiers and other properties of the artifacts you equip.
- This operation will last for 10 days, through August 8 inclusive.
- On the first day, only the first 10 caravan levels will be available, with an additional 10 caravan levels added each following day. On days 6 and 7, 20 additional levels will open, with the final 10 levels opening on day 8.
- If you wish, you may go back to any previously cleared level and ambush unbeaten caravans on that level to gain additional activity points.
- For winning a battle you can receive points toward Thieves’/Rangers’ Guild, gold, creature armaments, diamonds, creatures in reserve, parts of creatures in reserve, and even parts of Boots of Fear or Magma Armour, but no more than once at each caravan level. Every 4 levels, a victory may bring you a random MG element.
- The 75 top-scoring military clans and their active members will receive special rewards after the event. The rewards will be determined by the clan rankings where a clan’s final result will equal the sum of the highest cleared levels of its 100 highest scoring members.
- The clan rewards will be granted to all non-blocked members who will have earned 15 or more points for their clan.
- If a member leaves or is expelled from a military clan, the clan will lose that member’s points, but will get them back if the member re-joins.
- Members may not leave their clan on the last day of the event and until the rewards have been given out and announced.
- Clans may accept no more than three members per day while the event lasts.
- Important! Lords and Ladies who defeat the caravan at level 50 will not be able to enter any clan while the event lasts.
- The Empire will additionally grant a memorable artifact and achievement to all Lords and Ladies who defeat the caravan at level 7. The durability of the artifact will depend on their highest cleared level.
During this event you may receive up to 33 parts of Boots of Fear and up to 20 parts of Magma Armour, as well as up to 10 additional parts of Boots of Fear if your military clan ranks highly!
Reward for active members of top-scoring military clans:
| Clan rank | Reward | Glory | | 1 | | 1,500 | | 2 | | 1,300 | | 3 | | 1,100 | | 4 | | 1,000 | | 5 - 8 | | 900 | | 9 - 13 | | 800 | | 14 - 20 | | 600 | | 21 - 30 | | 500 | | 31 - 45 | | 400 | | 46 - 60 | | 250 | | 61 - 75 | | 100 |
Personal reward for the 5,000 top-scoring players:
| Lord/Lady rank | Reward | | 1 - 50 | | | 51 - 100 | | | 101 - 200 | | | 201 - 400 | | | 401 - 650 | | | 651 - 1000 | | | 1001 - 1500 | | | 1501 - 2250 | | | 2251 - 3000 | | | 3001 - 3750 | | | 3751 - 5000 | |
Intercept those smugglers! |
