text: pimply man suddenly points a finger at you and zaps you in the chest with a lightning bolt! Well lighting bolt isn't exactly the right word, since you aren't exactly knocked on your ass, but it is a tiny jolt that catches off guard and it did hurt.
  
  "OW!" you shout.
  "Yeah! How ya like that goblin fucker? You mess with us an, SHIT! AAARGH!" the young man starts to say before you grab his finger which he was still pointing at you and break it.
  
  Like the sissy he is, he breaks down crying on the floor clutching his broken finger, meanwhile you've already drawn your pistol on the teenage girl.
  
  "Don't even think about it sweetheart. I can pull this trigger before you can utter an incantation." You say.
  "What in Dorna's name is going on here?" a voice shouts.
  
  You look away briefly and see Heather with a couple of other wizard behind her.
  
  "Apologies Heather, but... well fuck, these two pissed me off and I didn't have time for their bullshit." You say.
  "Obviously. Cooper! Gwen! Step away from that man. I told you two before to never mistake your magic for invincibility. And that mindset works even more against you when you insist on being within reach of the head of the Nocturnal League. He could have very well killed the pair of you before I even showed up." Heather says.
  "Shit, you're the leader of the infamous League? Um, we're sorry we didn't mean anything!" Gwen says.
  "Gwen, stop groveling and take your boyfriend to go practice your healing magic for a change."
  
  As Gwen picks her sniveling boyfriend off the floor, Heather tells the other wizards behind her to return to their lessons and approaches you.
  
  "I swear, I could make life a living hell for that girl and she apologizes to you rather than me." Heather says shaking her head.
  "Well she probably knows you aren't going to kill her, meanwhile I was pointing a gun at her head." You say.
  "Meh, knowing that one, she'll probably develop a fantasy about you. She's got a thing for bad boys."
  "And the one with the broken finger is a bad boy?"
  "Closest thing to one around here I suppose. Anyway, thanks for not doing any major damage to them, I don't have many students as it is. Now I assume you're here to see me, so let's head to my office."
  
  You follow Heather to her office, which of course resembles more of a lab, however its kept in a much more organized manner than when you were in Elder Flynn's lab.
  
  Heather sits down and moves some papers and books around on her desk while addressing you.
  
  "I haven't forgotten you and our deal, just so you know. I just haven't made much progress on searching for a way to lift your curse. I did find Elder Flynn's notes on the subject when you came in here, but honestly he was a little sketchy on the details concerning the curse part. Though I imagine once your ex was called in and bound, she would be able to be commanded to lift whatever curse she put on you. Still, he was probably more concerned with capturing a demon than curing you and after reading what would have happened to me, I'm even happier that you declined the ritual."
  "Yeah, I know. You wouldn't want sex with me."
  "That's actually not the part I'm talking about. In fact if it were JUST that, I'd be willing to get naked with you while my highly trained assistants performed the incantations for the ritual right now. However, what the Elder neglected to mention is the fact that this ritual would result in the poor girl's death."
  "What?"
  "Yeah, your succubus ex, wouldn't just be summoned forth into this world, she'd be brought forth into the body of the girl you'd be having sex with."
  "You mean like possession?"
  "I mean like the girl would literally explode into chunks gore and blood, when your ex arrived and chances are your ex wouldn't be too happy with you either and you probably wouldn't have much time to get out of her immediate vicinity before she killed you too."
  "Shit... that's fucked up."
  "Yeah. And I would have been willing to just go along with it, not knowing shit. By Dorna was I a fucking fool back then. Anyway, I hope this news isn't too disappointing for you."
  "Well... it's a bit disheartening... however I wasn't even here about that."
  "Oh?"
  "Yeah, and since there's no other way to say it, I'm going to just be right up front with you, like you were up front with me."
  
  You explain everything you've learned about Peter Varsakken's invasion, which immediately catches Heather's attention. You don't go into detail about sending one of your people to meet with Peter, but you do ask the direct question if she's supporting Ludmilla.
  
  "Well, appreciate you coming to me with this. When the invasion comes, it will be important for us to coordinate." Heather remarks.
  "So I take it you're not worried about this and siding with Ludmilla?"
  "Worried? Hmm... perhaps a little cautious, but the situation isn't nearly as grim as your sources told you which you said was from a pirate captain he hired?"
  "That was the source, yes. Wait, you seem like you know something about this."
  "I do and so does Ludmilla. I mean she might be a bit flakey at times, but the woman is not dim. She's been making her own preparations and so have we. Honestly I'm sort of surprised given your new connections to the Ebony Claw, you would have learned of this plan long ago."
  "They aren't exactly forth coming with information. Our relationship isn't the most open. I don't even know if they're planning on sabotaging Peter this time like I've been told they have in the past."
  "Mm, that's always a possibility. Though our own information says Peter's come to some sort of understanding with them this time and they won't interfere, however that doesn't matter. Peter's invasion isn't going to succeed."
  "You seem very sure and very well informed on this. Have you increased your telepathic powers or something?"
  "Hah! I wish. No, but I have been in contact with the Delantium Kingdom's magic University and made a couple friends there while trying to get this school up and running. I've been told the TWO wizards he's hired were drop outs from the university and while I wouldn't suggest that you go up against them, I'm secure that my people will be able to handle them. So no, he doesn't even have a squad of wizards at his command. If anything his orc mercs are going to be a bigger problem assuming they even make it to the fight that is. A lot can happen between Delantium and Holgard."
  "Okay... well that does sound less hopeless than I heard."
  "Make no mistake, this city IS going to suffer some shit, but I can't imagine that it's going to be any worse than the last time the Varsakken's had it out with each other. Reports say he'll probably be ready next year. So let me ask you, were you considering joining Peter's invasion then?"
  
  You chuckle at the thought of saying "yes" at this point.
  
  "Well let's just say I was keeping my options open based on which way you were going." You say.
  "Aw, that's sweet, upholding our alliance. And who says there isn't honor in the underworld." Heather says.
  "Yeah, well I can't backstab everyone, it might hurt my reputation."
  "Indeed. You're already responsible for the demise of the Thieves' Guild, an ECS chapter, the Joachimites and the Felians."
  "Hey, I was never affiliated with the Joachimites."
  "True. You had better sense than that. Well if that's all, I should be getting back. Have to train these folks in battle magic after all, I assume if you come across and new information, you'll share it."
  
  You bid Heather goodbye and make your way back home where you get back to business. Though you're a little concerned about Vera getting back okay.
  
  A month passes and she does indeed make it back of which you're most relieved.
  
  She tells you that you were right all along and that siding with Peter isn't the best way to go on this based on the meeting she had. Vera tells you that his terms weren't even very good, just basic amnesty for anything done before he takes back the city and perhaps a bit of leniency on softer criminal activity, but not continued free reign like you have now.
  
  However she said that she was given permission to accept Peter's deal for you, so as far as he knows, you're on his side.
  
  "Good, nice thinking Vera." You say.
  "Well I figured it shouldn't be a wasted trip. So what have you been up to?"
  "Speaking with our magical allies. Seems they got more information on Peter than we do. The guy only has two wizards at his command for example and the Baroness is well aware of Peter's plans."
  "I see. Well guess all that's left now is for us is the year to prepare, what do you need me to do?"
  "I need you back in Jicol where you can keep an eye on things there. Also, I want to make sure if shit goes really bad here, this organization will still exist in some form at least and there will be somewhere to retreat to. If possible try to convince some of those pirates you deal with not to join Zamed's flotilla. I hope you weren't too attached to him."
  "Meh, I was done with him anyway. I suppose I'll be taking another ship back to Jicol though."
  
  After spending a few more days in Holgard, Vera finally takes her leave and she's gone again. You'll definitely miss her being around, you hope the next time you see her it'll be under better circumstances.
  
  In fact you just hope you'll actually survive to see her again, or hell just survive period. While Heather did reassure you of some of your concerns, there is still an invasion to "look forward to."
  
  You've survived a lot in this city and sometimes you wonder if it really is Yag rolling well for you, but you're hoping that you really are just that good at all this.
  > time passes...
  Year 33
  
  "Shit, these fucking orcs don't die like they should." You say after putting two more shots in a large greenskin trying to get back up.
  "Don't think it matters boss, this brothel's fucked, and not in a good way. Just bout every whore in here is dead." Warts says.
  "All of them?"
  "Well there were a couple survivors, but I think their whorin' days are over."
  "Damnit, that's another one destroyed."
  "An wez lost a few purple wish houses and sum gambling dens too. Hopefully we can save da rest before we don't have anything left."
  
  You look around at the destruction of the brothel you're currently in and try to temporarily ignore the loud chaos going on outside as you gather your thoughts on what to do next.
  
  "Damnit." You say seeing a familiar woman on the floor with an axe wound in her head.
  "Wat?" Warts asks.
  "I know this whore or rather I did. Name was Naji. She was that girl that I rescued back when you talked me into ripping off Reginald's house."
  "Sheesh, dat wuz a long time ago boss. Yer memory iz good if you can member whores. I can't even member when my weddin' anniversary is, though I wuz drunk at the time an' Snuffit reminds me anyway."
  "Well she was a bit special for awhile, but as you might know my heart always really belonged to Tanya. I knew Naji was still whoring, and after we got the Nocturnal League set up I made sure she always had a job in one of our brothels, but I never did speak with her again in person. Always thought about it sometimes, but just figured I could get around to it when I wasn't busy. Guess it's too late now. Seems rather pointless that I even rescued her given that she just wound up dead anyway."
  "Well look on da bright side boss, it looks like she got a cleaner death with a quick axe strike as opposed to wat dose cultist fuckers woulda did."
  "I suppose. She also was Rook's cousin, which probably saved me from him killing me. In any case, I'm having serious concerns about this attack."
  "Well yeah boss, da whole cities goin' ta shit again."
  "No, I mean why the fuck are we even being attacked? I mean yeah I get orcs tend to be enthusiastic about their marauding, but something about the fact that OUR businesses are getting attacked like they were military targets seems really fucking suspicious."
  "Mebbe dat Peter knew we weren't really gonna help him."
  "Well that's definitely possible, but it still doesn't explain why we would be targeted so much and so accurately. I would think he'd want to focus his forces on taking the palace or taking out the mage school. Also his invasion force was a lot larger than first reports mentioned."
  "I guess Vera wasn't too successful in convincin' other pirates to not join her ex-boyfriend."
  "I'm a little concerned about her too, since the last message we got was six months ago from her and she said she was having some success in her endeavors."
  "Well she must be okay, because we wuz still gettin' da cut from her even last month."
  "I suppose, but at the rate shit is going down here, we might not even be able to pay the pittance that the ECS asks for every month."
  "You sayin' you don't have a secret personal stash?"
  "Of course, but I'll be damned if I'm going to part with my shit to pay the damn ECS. I'm sure you'd feel the same way about your stash."
  "Pfft, I ain't got no personal stash. Snuffit takes it all. Speakin' of her, I think I'll be getting back to her. Seems like this city is a lost cause an' if you're smart you should just get the hell out too."
  "What the fuck Warts. You're just gonna abandon everything?"
  "Well yeah. I don't exactly have some bond with dis place. I mean it wuz fun while it lasted, but looks like its come to an end. I mean maybe dis place will be better again in a couple years or so. An' didn't you make plans to retreat to Jicol is shit started to go wrong?"
  "Yeah, but again, I'm still not sure if everything there is okay."
  "Bah, Vera's fine, she's probably just really fuckin' busy. I mean you know how it is. Look dis iz the ways I sees da situation... "
  
  Warts steps over a couple bodies before addressing you again. He gives you a more serious look than he normally does.
  
  "Youz gotta be the luckiest Yag blessed bastard I know, beside myself. You shoulda died so many times, Yag musta been rollin' loaded dice. However, an' don't say dis offen but dere iz a time ta step away from da table and dis iz one o' dem times. I myself have stayed alive as long as I have cuz I knew when ta walk away." Warts says.
  "And you think this is one of those times, you don't think there's still a chance to turn this around?" you ask.
  "Well yeah, there's always a chance, such are the whimsical ways of Yag, but the odds just ain't lookin' good enough for me to take da risk, so I'm off whether you're sticking around or not, but I'd rather you leave with me, because... "
  
  Warts coughs a bit and looks away. You hear a sniffle.
  
  "Warts... are you crying?" you ask.
  "NO! I'm not cryin' like sum sissy elf! It's all dis dust bein kicked up due to da battle! Anyway, we've known each other a long ass time, made a lotta coin, did a lotta stupid stuff, an' in sum cases even saved me from getting' killed. Sometime youz waz an asshole, but you still were better than most an' especially anyone in da Spiderfang Tribe. Yer, the closest thing I've had to a friend, an I'd rather our parting of ways go with me knowing dat yer on yer way ta Jicol rather than dying here over nuthin'." Warts says.
  "So you wouldn't be coming to Jicol?"
  "Nah, too far. I'll probably just find work in Spider Fang territory, open a tradin' post maybe. Most of da folks dat hated me are dead now anyway so it ain't like I gotta worry bout bein' a halfbreed anymore. I should be closer to my family anyway. In fact dat's another reason youz should go to Jicol. Start a family with Vera, I know you likes her. Forget dat demon girl that's still plaguin' yer mind, she's gone."
  
  Warts doesn't really know the whole story to that of course, and you don't really have time to go into it right now, but despite all that, Warts does raise some good points.
  
  You're not out of the fight yet though and you've been through two city upheavals already, you can easily survive a third as long as you're smart about all this. You ran away from home once before, you're not doing it again, especially not now when you've built a life here. Might not be ideal to most, but it's yours.
  
  "Warts, you do what you gotta do, but I'm gonna do what I gotta do. Just remember whether the Nocturnal League survives or not, I'm still going to be here if you want to work with me again the future."
  
  Warts shakes his head while giving a slight broken tooth grin.
  
  "Suppose I shouldn't expected any less from ya. Youz haz a death wish. Always haz fightin' dangerous groups of cutthroats, goin' head ta head with religious fanatics, fucking demon bitches...  youz gonna get yerself killed one day and it ain't gonna be a pretty death when it happens. But guess I gotta respect all dat. I hope Yag's still usin' loaded dice, cuz yer gonna need 'em." Warts says.
  "We'll see each other again Warts." You respond.
  
  Warts nods at your confidence which you return before he takes his leave.
  
  Now alone, you briefly check the rest of the brothel for any remaining survivors. You don't find any, but you do tell the couple that Warts mentioned to go find a better place to hide if they can.
  
  While you could just start jumping back into the action, you'd still rather have some back up and the only place you're going to be certain to find some is back at the Nocturnal League's headquarters where you're probably going to find the rest of your remaining members hiding or attempting to wait this out. Good thing you're already not in the greatest of moods because you don't imagine it getting any better when you have to deal with your "employees."
  
  When you get back, most of them are a bit on edge, but others are just lazing about playing cards or just generally doing nothing.
  
  "Oh, uh hey boss. You're alive."
  "Yeah well I can see you're really glad that I am. Why the fuck are you assholes sitting around playing cards, you do realize there is a siege going on and our businesses are getting all fucked up right?" you say.
  "You said we should guard this place."
  "I said SOME of you and as I remember, you weren't one of them. In fact, most of you should be up there defending our interests. I'm not even asking you to be a fucking hero or defend the city because I know damn well that's a pointless endeavor."
  "Boss, I don't see why we should risk our lives when we can just wait shit out down here."
  
  And there it is. The excuse you've been expecting.
  
  "Oh this should be good. Go on about why you feel this way... whatever the fuck your name is."
  "I'm really not trying to be disrespectful boss, but it seems like we can just pick up the pieces after all this is over. If anything we'll be in a stronger position since the populace won't be in any condition to oppose us and it'll take awhile before the new ruler imposes any sort of order. And this Peter is another Varsakken right? He's probably not going to be any better than his sister, so it'll be business as usual."
  "That's a nice thought. I see you really thought this out while sitting on your chair playing cards and drinking your ale. Here's another thought though. While we're sitting here playing cards, telling jokes and jerking each other off, all of our business interests are getting fucked up. All our Purple Wish dens? Destroyed. That's a shitload of our income right there and it can't be easily made up. Our whores? Slaughtered. Again can't easily be made up, unless you lot are gonna start selling your asses to make up the loss and I guarantee it wouldn't. Our protection rackets? Well you can't extort corpses, and that's what A LOT of them are right now thanks to orcs just killing everything in sight. I mean fuck, we ARE supposed to be protecting these hapless suckers if not out of the goodness of our hearts then at least for our own pockets! Shit, that's the whole damn point!"
  
  Your voice continues to rise as you walk around the room admonishing your people.
  
  "This idea that we'll just pick up everything after everything is over is laughable, because there won't be that much left and what IS left, Peter Varsakken is going to be establishing order over, and I'm telling you right now, whether he's as corrupt as the rest of his family or not isn't the issue. The issue is, we DON'T have a good working relationship with him like we do with his sister. Shit like that takes time and trust, both of which we are in short supply of. And to top it all off the ECS is going to still be breathing down our necks telling us we better pay up by the end of the month. How are we going to fucking do that if all of our income has turned to fucking rubble? Is ANY of this getting through or am I talking to a bunch of fucking retards?"
  
  Suddenly another one stands up.
  
  "Well gee boss, why don't you get your precious hobs to fucking do all this shit?"
  "Because most of the hobs are fucking dead that's why, which is another loss since a lot of them were our best pit fighters. And I highly recommend you take it way down, before I take YOU down."
  
  Now several others stand up to join the troublemaker. Though a few of them look unsure. Some don't take a side and just quietly slink back into a place where they might be safe from the fighting.
  
  One thing you are noticing is nobody seems to be siding with you. This is worse than you thought. You already have your hand on your weapon.
  
  "No! You've been bossing us about for months getting prepared for this fucking invasion and none of us see why we should even be involved. You do this ALL the damn time, dragging us into these unnecessary conflicts instead of just staying the fuck out of it. You did this with the religious faction war, you did this with the Felians, who were supposed to be our allies and now you're doing it here. And who is on the losing end of all of this shit? US! That's who! We're the ones fucking dying! Well no fucking more! We're all staying down here and riding this out, and if you don't like it, tough shit, because if you haven't noticed by now, you're fresh outta friends and you don't even have your filthy hob scum to protect your ass anymore."
  "Seriously, you ALL feel this way? You fuckers are the most short sighted assholes ever if you've decided that right now would be the best time to pull a double cross and MORE fool you that you didn't kill me right away."
  "Well we can take care of that right now, and you don't have enough bullets to kill us all."
  "I don't need to kill you all, I'm just gonna kill you and I don't need hobs to do my work."
  
  The troublemaker's eyes widen and he goes for his own flintlock, but he's too slow of course and you've already killed him and three others before everyone has taken cover. Nobody else is returning fire or attempting to attack, which means you've probably asserted your dominance once again.
  
  "That's what I thought. Now contrary to this dead fucker's words, I've been risking my ass more than ANY of you since day fucking one! Who the hell was it that was leading the damn charge when we took out the Joachimites and Felians? As I remember it was me. And what the hell have I been doing while you lot were hiding like cowards, I've been trying to keep this organization together by defending our shit! So don't give me this bullshit that I've been leading from the back. Maybe the real problem is you shitheads have all gotten lazy because you have no regular opposition. Scared of a real fight. Y'know what? Fuck all of you. I'm going back up there to try to salvage what this organization still has left. The rest of you can either help or get the fuck out of the way, but what you can't do is stay here. Because when I come back, I find ANYONE still here, you'll be joining these troublemakers on the floor."
  
  With those last words you leave.
  
  You have no idea if you're even going to have an organization left if you survive all this, but that doesn't matter right now. Right now you're going to do something even more foolish and find out what the hell's going on with Heather and her crew of wannabes because if you can get the wizards to help you in this chaos, staying here will have at least been worth the effort.
  
  Tracking them down is fairly easy because it's the part of the city that EVERYONE is avoiding, lot of explosions, debris flying in the air, fire, strange lights and even stranger noises in general.
  
  When you arrive in the general vicinity, you finally get a good look at what's going on. You see several creatures that remind you of some sort of demonic dwarves since they're about the same height, and pretty stocky. They're attacking a group of wizards wearing purple robes which you're guessing are Heather's people though you don't see her.
  
  Heather's people are holding their own, but the problem is the demons don't stay dead or rather as soon as one is killed another one materializes. They can't possibly keep this up forever. A little bit in the distance you also catch sight of a man in a shabby brown robe. You're guessing this is the one summoning the demons. He must have some strong protection up, because demons aren't known to enjoy being summoned by mortals.
  
  You also see two figures battling it out on top of one of the few standing buildings left in the area. You see all manner of magic being thrown about and most of it hitting nearby parts of the city. You can't quite make out the figures, but you're guessing one of those might be Heather.
  
  The way you see it, you can either climb up the building to try to help Heather or try to help her students.
  > help Heather
  Honestly, Heather is still your best chance at getting cured, so if she's dead then you might as well have left Holgard when this all happened. Besides, you don't fancy your chances against multiple demons and a wizard. You figure if you're quiet and careful enough you'll be able to sneak up to the top of the building and just shoot the wizard opposing Heather in the back.
  
  Well that's the ideal plan anyway.
  
  You duck into the building that Heather and her opponent are fighting on top of and avoid the demon-wizard battle completely.
  
  Surprisingly the inside of the building (which you think is Holgard's hall of records. Some sort of government building anyway, you have no idea, never been here or paid attention to it before) isn't too torn up by the fighting, though it looks like the people hiding here didn't fair too well since you're seeing a lot of dead bodies that look like they have the life drained out of them.
  
  You on the other hand are feeling a little weird. Not like your life is suddenly being drained out of you, but more like a feeling of energy around you. Almost like your hair is starting to stand on end. Must be all the magic being thrown about.
  
  You're just about to head up to the second floor and that's when you hear a groaning noise. You look back, but you already know what you're going to see.
  
  Several of the corpses you just passed are now getting up and they're all making their way towards you.
  
  "Of course. Shit." You say and quicken your pace and the corpses do likewise.
  
  With a bunch of undead now chasing you, it's a very good thing that government buildings tend to have the same layouts making it at least easy for you to keep finding the next flight of stairs. This is counter balanced by more corpses of the government officials stirring whenever you reach a new floor.
  
  By the time you make it to the top floor, you've got a horde chasing you. You scramble up the ladder to the roof and fling open the hatch. There upon the roof, you see Heather and her antagonist throwing bolts of magic and blocking each other's attacks. It would seem they're evenly matched and neither one is paying any attention to you.
  
  Meanwhile, corpses are making their way up the ladder. You shoot the first one in the head and then slam the hatch down and stomp on it a couple times. It's not going to hold them for long, and you can't stand here forever keeping all your weight on it.
  
  The noise of your pistol now causes the opposing wizard to take notice of you. He doesn't waste any time in throwing a bolt of energy at you. You try to get out of the way, but you still get hit with a blast strong enough to cause you to go flying backwards.
  
  You ignore the pain in your chest as you desperately attempt to not fall off the side of the roof. The top half of your body hangs over the edge as you struggle to move from your precarious position. You manage to sit up just in time to see the wizard throwing another magic bolt your way.
  
  This probably would have been the end of you had the hatch not opened back up and corpses crawling out of it. Instead of hitting you, the bolt hits a couple of the corpses instead and you scramble out of the way so as not to get hit by flying body parts heading your way.
  
  As the horde continues to pour onto the roof, your visibility of the other wizard and Heather is starting to be blocked by said horde. You desperately shoot at the horde, but unlike your previous experience back at the League headquarters, you're not going to intimidate them by killing a few. There's nowhere to go either. The closest building isn't close enough that you could easily jump to it, even if it was still intact.
  
  At best, from this height you MIGHT survive a fall with several broken bones and given what else is going on down in the streets, you probably wouldn't survive too much longer.
  
  "Fuck. Looks like Warts was right. Yag's crapped out." You say to yourself, drawing your blade for a final stand.
  
  Just as one of the slack jawed dead eyed corpses gets within reach of you, you're suddenly floating upward! After lingering in the air for a moment, you slowly start floating over the street causing the rest of the corpses to follow and go right over the side of the building. It's fascinating and scary as hell at the same time since you could easily be dropping to your own death right now.
  
  From your position, you see Heather on the far side of the building with one raised hand in your direction. You also see the other wizard lying on the roof smoldering and still burning. You didn't see it because you were too occupied with fighting corpses, but it would appear your arrival was enough distraction that allowed Heather to get the upper hand over her opponent.
  
  With all the undead now a pile of splattered bodies on the street (Well most of them anyway) and no longer a threat, Heather pulls you forward and gently places you back on the rooftop where upon you walk over to her.
  
  "Thanks." You say.
  "Thank you for the distraction. Shit, I'm fucking exhausted dealing with asshole." Heather says and indeed looking very worn. In fact, she even looks a bit older.
  "I was actually coming to do more than just be a distraction, but suddenly I was getting attacked by a hundred dead bean counters."
  "Yeah, the repercussions of wild dark magic being thrown around. This building might have some strong magic protection, but it didn't do shit for the people inside."
  "It does?"
  "Well yeah. It's where all the records to the city are held. Last thing the government wants is stuff like that getting destroyed. I put the protection wards up myself when Ludmilla requested it months ago. Why do you think the building is still more or less intact?"
  "Hm, thought it was unusual. Anyway, your students are having their own problem with demons that they're fighting in the streets right now. I think the other wizard keeps summoning them."
  "Of course he is. Y'know, that's probably why these idiots got themselves kicked out of the Delantium University in the first place, dabbling with necromancy and demonology. That shit could potentially destroy a world if used as reckless as it has been here. Well guess I better sort this out, before taking a break."
  
  You tell Heather where you saw the fighting going on and she goes over to the right side of the building and sees for herself. It's still a stalemate from what you can tell and fortunately Heather says this will be easy to take care of.
  
  She conjures up a fireball and directs it towards the other wizard in the street below. He's not even looking in that direction so he takes the hit. You then see a figure screaming and burning which is then followed by one of the demons leaping on him and ripping him apart.
  
  Heather's people take advantage of the situation and blast the demons with all they have. Without the other wizard up keeping the spell, they aren't materializing any longer and stay permanently dead. Though you do see one leap away from the battle and out of sight. Looks like that will just be one more evil thing brought into this world. (Not that it's going to make much of a difference)
  
  With the immediate threat over with, you and Heather head back down the ladder where thankfully there aren't anymore walking dead lurking about. Heather's students soon meet up with the both of you. They look even more tired than she does and you notice there are significantly less of them than the last time you remember.
  
  "Grand Matriarch! Are you hurt!? I can heal you!" Gwen asks.
  "I'm fine Gwen, see to our friend though, maybe he's hurt, I saw him take a magic bolt to the chest." Heather remarks.
  
  Gwen goes over to you and starts to check you out, but you don't feel like you really need any tending to either.
  
  "Thanks, but I'm really okay." You say.
  "Let me just cast a minor healing spell, you look like you could use it. Were you fighting before you got here?" Gwen remarks and starts casting something over you.
  "Yeah, mostly orcs, some humans. All assholes."
  "Wow, orcs huh? That takes some courage to go toe to toe with the likes of those big green guys."
  "Eh, I had some green guys of my own. A little on smaller side though. Hm, starting to feel a lot better. At least not aching in pain anymore. Guess I did need that after all. Thanks."
  "You're welcome!"
  
  Gwen's attitude is a lot different than you last remember.
  
  "Where's your boyfriend?"
  "Huh? Oh Cooper? He's not my boyfriend anymore, he ran off a couple months ago. He didn't want to stick around during the invasion. He was a big coward after all, not like you."
  "Um, yeah. I think I'm okay right now Gwen."
  "You sure?"
  "Yeah, thanks."
  "The man said he doesn't need any more attention so stop hovering over him and go back over there with the rest of your class."
  
  Gwen gives you a small smile before leaving you to go back to the rest of her, causing Heather to make an eye roll.
  
  "Called it." Heather says.
  "Hm, well I guess better that she's friendly now." You say.
  "She's still fucking annoying. If she didn't show such natural talent for magic, I'd probably just throw her ass out of the school."
  "Wow, I would think you'd want everyone you could get. I mean there aren't many of you after all."
  "Yeah well you don't have to deal with her on a daily basis. However, you are correct in that pragmatism did also influence the decision to keep her around. I'm about the last very experienced wizard in this city now anyway. The few remaining true Dornans either left when I first got the school started or died during this invasion. Still it'll be enough to turn back the tide. It's just really taking its toll on me. Pretty sure you can already tell."
  "Well I wasn't going to say anything."
  "You didn't need to. Magic has a habit of making you old before your time. That's why whenever you someone talks about wizards; the stereotype is some decrepit old person. It's not that far off, except the old person usually isn't all that old in years at least. But such is the price we pay for being skilled in the gift that Dorna bestowed upon this world."
  
  Heather, yourself and her group take this moment to rest up and talk a bit of strategy.
  
  The current situation is bad, but not entirely unwinnable. You just have to make one major attack to turn the tide. Heather is in favor of helping what little remains of Ludmilla's defenses at her palace. Heather says breaking up the attack going on there should destroy the rest of Peter's forces or at least the majority of them. At that point he won't have enough people to take the city, let alone hold it given that Ludmilla will still be alive at that point.
  
  When you ask if there is any other alternative, Heather says, you all could attack Peter directly since he's probably still aboard his ship. The problem with that is, there is still a good-sized fleet near the Holgard docks. Heather says casting magic at the ships might bring a few of them down, but not before the rest of them start firing cannonballs back, and who knows if you're going to get Peter or not.
  
  Still, if you take out Peter then it isn't like you're going to have to worry about him ever trying this in another five to ten years and having to deal with it again.
  > defend the palace
  What Peter may or may not do in the future is something you'll just have to face then, but right now it's probably best to make sure Ludmilla is still in power after all this.
  
  "Let's go bail out the baroness I guess. Though it's not exactly like I got magic to throw around like the rest of you, not sure how much help I'll be." You say.
  "Well since it's an incredibly bad idea to summon demons or raise corpses for protection, it can't hurt for you to provide a little extra protection. Where is the rest of your crew anyway?" Heather asks.
  "Don't ask, in fact after this is all over I might not even have one anymore. Anyway, let's get on with this."
  
  With as much rest as you're going to get under these conditions, you and the wizards are soon on your way to the palace.
  
  You actually don't have many problems on the way there, but you do come across a few unexpected faces. It's some of the Nocturnal League. They look like they've already been in a few scrapes.
  
  "There you are boss! We've been looking all over for ya!" one of them remarks.
  "Well, you've found me, and I hope for your sake, you've come to help." You say.
  "We have! Um, we've managed to save couple of our brothels from getting too fucked up. We've also been having people take the whores back to headquarters and stay there until it's safe."
  "Glad to hear we're making Holgard safe for whores again at least. Come on, you've all got a new task. We're heading to the palace and making sure to keep these spell slingers safe along the way because they need to save their strength for what lies ahead."
  
  Not questioning your leadership again, your people follow you.
  
  As you get closer to the palace, you start coming across more of the fighting again. This must be where the rest of the orc mercs were sent when they weren't tearing up your shit.
  
  Ludmilla's people have been holding out pretty well all things considering. The orcs haven't even breached the palace yet thankfully. If you hadn't come along when you did though, they might have.
  
  Seeing as you're not actually soldiers you stick to your plan of just protecting Heather and her students while they do the heavy lifting.
  
  Dozens of orc and human mercs go down by magical means be it fire, lightning, frost, or even giant weasel. (Somehow one of the Heather's people summoned giant hostile weasel in the middle of the battle area, certainly was an unexpected sight)
  
  As for you, you do your best in keeping skirmishers from getting in close. Several of your League underlings don't survive though and after it's all said and done, you're pretty much the last man standing from your group, but the day is won and what little remains of the invasion force flees.
  
  You aren't sure if they're going to regroup later, but there probably isn't enough for them to do so at this point. Peter will probably have to abandon his plans of retaking his "birthright" and try again another day. Hopefully not anytime soon.
  
  You look over at your wizard allies and all of them are alive or more importantly Heather is still alive. She's looking even worse now though. She's roughly around your age, and now she looks about fifteen years older. You ask her if she's okay and she snaps at you which is slightly out of character for her, but you suppose this all has really taken a toll on her.
  
  With the immediate threat gone, the battered palace doors are finally opened up and you're all urged to enter since the baroness wishes to speak with you all
  
  When you enter, you surprisingly see Baroness dressed for battle; no fancy royal robes, she's wearing finely made armor. A sword even hangs by her side. Apparently she was fully prepared to not go quietly if need be.
  
  First thing she does is address Heather and her people and going on about how she is thankful for their help. Heather is doing her best to look cordial, but it's obvious that she barely even wants to be here anymore. Doesn't help when Ludmilla mentions Heather's obvious aging through magic use and mentions that she made sure to use her own magic sparingly so as not to over exert herself.
  
  You can imagine that if this was anyone else but the baroness, Heather would be igniting her on fire for her words since Ludmilla's coming off like she's just as knowledgable about magic as Heather is.
  
  After a brief discussion about sweeping up the remainder of the invasion force she finally turns her attention to you. Heather and the rest leave since they more work to do and Heather looks anxious to get out of there in the first place.
  
  "So, we meet again nocturnal one. Glad to see even our criminal element has a sliver of patriotism in them to defend this great city as opposed to just taking advantage of the chaos." Ludmilla remarks.
  "Well, honestly, it was probably more stubbornness and pragmatism on my part rather than patriotism." You answer.
  "Hm, well whatever works I say. Your service here will not be forgotten whatever your reasons may be. You can be assured that this government's relationship with your organization will continue to be a positive one after all this is finally over."
  "Glad to hear it, but I don't think I've got an organization anymore. Most of them are dead, and the rest that are still alive I don't even want to be bothered to manage anymore."
  "Truly? Are you going into a new line of work then?"
  "Probably not, I wouldn't know what else I could use my skills for anyway."
  "You ever thought about working for me directly?"
  
  You didn't expect that.
  
  "Work for you? Doing what exactly?" you ask.
  "Well it occurs to me, the intel that I received on this invasion wasn't completely accurate. And this inaccuracy could have easily resulted in a loss. I need a better intelligence system, The Felians were good at this, but Heather convinced me that their... departure would make things better. I've mostly relied on her divination and contacts within the Delantium Kingdom University. However, I feel this may be putting too much pressure on her since I'm sure you agree, all of this has been an ordeal for her." Ludmilla remarks.
  "Looks that way."
  "Indeed, so I believe some of the burden should go to someone that obviously has more flexibility and hands on skill in spying and lurking about and I have to believe someone like you has experience in shadowy works and underhanded ways of gathering vital information when necessary."
  "I suppose my skills would come in handy for such a task."
  "Yes, I'm glad you see it that way and I would also remind you that while perhaps many of your numbers have been decimated, not all of them have and you already have a great system in place to draw from. I mean your brothels alone should be a beacon of information."
  "Those always did come in handy for blackmail."
  "And just think, you will now have MORE resources at your disposal and no longer need to worry about the law... not that you did before, but that specter still loomed over you even if it was a friendly one."
  
  Ludmilla takes your hand, though you don't get an impression of an attempt at seduction or attraction, just more of a way of getting your attention. It's working.
  
  "But even a friendly dragon can crush a village whenever it feels like it. I know someone like you probably cherishes the freedom that most living outside the law come to embrace. But I tell you now that living outside the law is nothing compared to using it to rule over others. Bending it to your will as you see fit and never having to answer for it. Why? Because you make the rules and they're completely legitimate. Don't be a villager living near a friendly dragon, BE the dragon."
  
  You smile a bit. The baroness certainly has a way with words.
  
  "I understand what you're saying baroness, however even if I take you up on your offer, I don't think I'm the friendly dragon in the scenario. That would still