“Sir, the forces at Boran-al were successful,” Wrole said.

Fend nodded, holding out his hand towards his advisor. He had seen the battle raging through his telescopes.

He had sent an entire War Clan but in the light created from the great battle fear and doubt had crept in.

Wrole gave Fend the report, leaving him alone.

Wrole knew Fend would need time to deal with the information.

He read the complete battle report, his stomach sinking as he read through the losses, his eyes becoming itchy with tears and his sigh heavy with sadness.

This sadness and guilt quickly turned to inward rage as he balled up his fists.

I should have sent more! People just thought that it would be as powerful as an A class Dungeon. Fend shook his head, and went back to reading.

His War Clan had gone under his orders, he had desired to be on the battlefield, to be with them, but as the Lord of Mithsia Mountains it was not possible.

The best he could do was read the report.

He knew that more stories would come to light as word was passed back to the mountain. For now all he had was the terse and economical words of Wender, the remaining Dwarven War Bands rested under his control.

Just over one and a half thousand Dwarves had survived. Most were injured but they were getting treated by not only the mages of Mithsia and Kufo’tel but the Players as well.

He read the reports on the Players that had stepped up, that had been the reason that there was any of the Dwarves and Elves left.

Their power was immense and their loyalties true. He made a note to send messages of thanks and a token of appreciation to them. From the Stone Raiders, to the Golden Sabres, their guildmasters and the individuals Malsour, Induca, Dave and Deia.

Wender clearly doubted if they would have been able to fight off Boran-al’s cultists without them, and he doubted many of the wounded would have survived as well.

The Kufo’tel Elves had numbered three thousand when they went into battle, Just under a thousand would be returning to their Forests.

>After the battle it is my duty to inform you that I believe this War Clan and supporting Elven elments are incapable of going into the field. After the mind attack by the cultists and the loss of so many combat effective units. I believe it would be best to replace our forces with another War Clan. While those under my command can still fight. I believe doing so will create irreparable damage to their minds.

Your Faithful commander,

Wender Koun

Fend put the report down and looked to the map that dominated a wall to the left side of his office.

A full Ten War Bands were halted awaiting the outcome of the fight at the Citadel.

Fend would send orders to them about the success at the Citadel and they would continue on. The Spring defrost was coming, soon the lands would turn marshy and wet for a few weeks. The more land Fend could clear now the less he would have to do later.

A black line traced the area which enclosed the Mithsia Mountains, the Kufo’tel forest and curled around the Cliff-Hill village.

Fend was done with letting creatures get to his door to attack him. Lord Evo’Mael had agreed to the proposed plan.

Over a period of years, mages had been dispatched nearly six centuries ago. They’d walked the forests, valleys and hills.

Laying dormant under the ground, along the borders so agreed by the humans, Elves and Dwarves was battlements.

A wall that spanned three hundred miles across. Cutting the two groups off from everyone else, going from the Northern tundra to the southern tip of the Mithsia mountains.

The Mountain’s coffers had more in them than ever before. Sales of goods through Cliff-Hill and Omal were bringing in a massive revenue.

Fend hadn’t turned Mithsia into a war economy but he had placed orders for artillery pieces, swords armor and other supplies that they might need if someone started trying to mess with them again.

The Pantheon had blindsided him once and killed the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons of his people.

“As the saying goes, when a Dwarf stops smiling, its time to stop laughing and start running.” Fend’s words were hot as his eyes were hard, his hand gripping the sword at his hip.

They didn’t sound like words one might have remembered from a memory. They sounded like a promise.

***

Josh Giles looked at his Stone Raiders. Any that had died had ran from Omal to Boran-al’s Citadel as fast as possible.

All of them had gained a few levels from the fight.

It had been nothing like what he’d expected. The people of Emerilia might just be lines of code, but to an E-head, someone that lived in Emerilia they were more real than those that lived on Earth.

That was why he found himself standing on a wagon looking at his people.

“I ain’t one for speeches and too many people died for me to be really happy about Boran-al’s Citadel, so I’m going to tell you straight. I want to turn Cliff-Hill into our base of operations. They walked with us right into Boran-al’s keep and they fought as ferociously as any of us, even more but they knew that they weren’t coming back from battle. They knew that they might die and they still went. We drank with them, joked with them and fought beside them. They might not be Stone Raiders but in my heart they were. Cliff-Hill can provide us with a decent base of operations. The Dwarves are willing to train us evolvers they have the skills and materials to look after our gear. It might not be a central City or even Village but the people of this town, the Dwarves of Mithsia and Elves of Kufo’tel stood side by side with us. I doubt we would find many other groups that would willing stand with us and defend their homes. That said, this is not my Guild, it is ours. Check the guild forums and vote as you desire on the poll,” Josh looked to his people, there weren’t cheers smiles or laughter, that would come later.

Josh looked at his lieutenants. Dwayne, Lucy and Kim.

They smiled up at him and he smiled back.

No matter what they would become stronger and grow from this. The drops from the Citadel had been impressive for the magically orientated of the guild.

The raw materials that had made up the square would be dealt with by the Elves. It had been broken down by damage, defensive stats and so on. Emerilia designating the split.

Josh’s eyes wandered over to Malsour and Induca. They had done the most damage of anyone there.

His eyes quickly moved towards Dave and Deia’s home.

They were the third and fourth biggest hitters. They got the largest portion of the raw materials, Josh knew that Malsour and Induca had given away half of their claim to be given out to the NPCs that had died in battle.

Another message had come in from the guild’s connections in the Endon Kingdom. A large Raid area had been found and the forces were currently moving out to attack the settlements between it and the city Pundt.

Josh had accepted after his fight for Boran-al’s Citadel he knew that without his help that more people would die.

He saw Gold and Mithril moving towards Dave and Deia’s home. He didn’t need to use analyze to see Naylor, Bok Soo and Cassie.

Well seems that I’m not the only one reading the MVP’s sheets.

The Poll closed down as everyone had voted, from across Emerilia and those that were on Earth.

Josh smiled, looking at the 95% result.

“Well seems that we will be putting a bid in on those Golden plated bozo’s place,” Josh smiled.

The others smiled and gave a lighthearted cheer.

Josh had already sorted out the details with Cassie, the Golden Sabres were leaving to return to Opheir’s Capital City Nadorf. They had some house cleaning to do but Giles knew it wasn’t the last they would see of the other guild.

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