Deacon shuffled through the crowd of soldiers heading toward the General's last known location. He figured if he could lay eyes on lieutenant the stocky general would be somewhere nearby. Ducking his head into the makeshift triage area he found Elle assisting the Mulvarian healers. Deacon was still a little sore that the command structure for the military all had translation stones. What if they said something terrible during their capture? He didn’t even want to know what kind of mess they’d have to make to get away. Elle caught him out of the corner of her eye and waved him over.

“How goes the fighting? Why aren’t you with Armand and Typhus?” She asked.

“I saw a moss covered Mulvarian climbing the Great Column. I’m trying to find the General.” Deacon answered.

“You left without permission, didn’t you? You can’t do that in the middle of a large-scale battle. These people are counting on you.” Elle admonished.

“Look I don’t know anything about battle protocol, Armand was scorching the hell out of these things, and I have a very bad feeling about this.” Deacon said as a large chunks of rocks started falling on the battlefield from high above.

“What was that?” Elle asked.

“I don’t know. Have you seen the General?” Deacon asked with mounting frustration on his face.

“Last I saw his officers had constructed a makeshift bunker of stone a few yard that way. Did you know this moss stuff is only partially plant life? I can feel it fighting my attempts to remove it from the injured with my magic.” Elle said.

“Yeah, it has an unholy element to it. At least that’s what my notification said. Ok I’m off.” Deacon shouted while vaulting over some of the fallen.

“Wait, did you get infected?” Elle called out but it was too late.

Moving through more groups of soldiers, he caught a glimpse of the bunker Elle was talking about. About ten feet out from the bunker, four soldiers stopped him and wanted to know where he was going. He tried to explain that he had important information from the battle.

“I just want to let the officers know and I’ll be right back in the action.” Deacon said.

“Looks more like we have a deserter to me boys.” The lead soldier said.

“Nonsense I’m just trying to deliver…fuck that hurts!” Deacon yelled as he saw the hilt of a small dagger sticking out from his ribs on his right side. Checking his health bar, it appeared his health had dropped by an additional 40%. That wasn’t good. His total health was down 55% now. But where did the knife come from?

“Again, quickly before someone sees. He’s still standing.” One of the other soldiers said.

“Motherfucker!” was all they heard as Deacon grabbed the one with its claw…hand on the hilt and pitched him into the open doorway of the bunker. Luckily for Deacon, the soldier released his grip on the dagger when he was surprisingly hurled the ten feet. A brave member of their cohort dove for Deacons legs to prevent him from running. Deacon deftly hopped up in the air and drove his feet straight down knocking the air right out of the mole man. The other two realized the racket that was being made and beat feet in opposite directions. One of the officers grabbed the soldier on the ground inside the bunker and started walking out.

Deacon very gingerly touched the knife in his side receiving a tinge of pain for his efforts. He then grabbed up the Mulvarian at his feet and dragged him toward the bunker. Knowing full well if he killed these fools, he’d make enemies of every soldier on the battlefield. He better play this cool. Deacon wondered why he came here to begin with. Right the climber.

“What’s the meaning of this outsider? You were asked to fight off the ghouls.” The officer said.

“I come with news to report.” Deacon answered.

“Then report…Do you realize you have been stabbed?” he asked.

“Yes, these fools did this to me while I was trying to reach General Ferent.” Deacon yelled as he dropped the unconscious one in front of the officer.

“These men stabbed you. Why?” said the officer.

“Funny, I didn’t ask when I started bleeding. Now I can take care of this after I tell the general what I saw.” Deacon said struggling to get on with this.

“Don’t let him go sir, he’s a deserter and the Child of Ruin. He’ll kill” was all the soldier that got tossed got out before a huge chunk of stone slammed down on him leaving the officer holding just his wrist attached to nothing.

“The hell was that? Looks like a piece of the cavern roof!” The officer grabbed the unconscious one and dragged him away waving Deacon forward into the bunker.

Inside the bunker was an earthen table surrounded by a lot of activity. There were Mulvarians delivering messages and digging into tunnels to take orders to various fronts. Deacon thought that would make sense for mole men to communicate that way.

“Deacon, you aren’t supposed to be here. What’s wrong?” Asked the General

“I’ve come to report a strange sighting. I saw a moss covered Mulvarian climbing the Great column. With all the moss ghouls swarming the base, I thought that was kind of strange.” Deacon finally got out.

“Climbing the column? Moss ghouls don’t climb. Do you know you’re bleeding?” asked the General.

“Yes, I’m going back to the healers now.” Deacon said, these people were working his last nerve. As he turned to go, he asked, “How tall is that column?”

“Several miles high. Why?” The General asked intrigued.

“If it fell toward Gossamer, how far in do you think it would get?” Deacon asked and the whole room went still and quiet. All the officers looked at each other and then the General.

“It would almost make it to the ziggurat in the inner city.” Said the General.

“That would give them a way past the swamp moat and the creeping vines!” One of the officers yelled.

“This isn’t about Mulvaria at all, they are trying to get to the ziggurat. That’s why all the reports of chunks of the ceiling falling are coming. They are breaking it free from the top to knock it over.” Another said.

“They didn’t attack the soft target of our advanced diggers; they were already on their way to weaken the opposite side of the column.” A third officer said.

“Pull everything we have back to the base of the column. I want that location secure. You hear me, Secure the base of the column!” Screamed the General.