text: 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.
  > attack the fleet
  Cut off the head and the rest is going to follow.
  
  "We need to take out that fleet. If Peter gets away, turning back this invasion isn't going to matter." You say.
  "And if Ludmilla dies, then what?" Heather remarks.
  "Well I dunno, but worst case scenario, one of us picks up the pieces and takes over the city instead. Not like we'd do any worse."
  
  Heather's a little surprised to hear you say that, though you just sort of came up with it in the moment.
  
  "I still feel very strongly that we should help the baroness. However I guess you have a point about Peter. It's not ideal, but I guess we'll have to split up."
  "Split up?"
  "Yes, seeing as my students held their own against a trained diabolist I'd hope they'd be able to handle some mundane orcs."
  "That's a terrible idea, we're going to need all the firepower we can get!"
  "Don't worry, I can handle it myself. Besides, it'll be a lot harder for them to focus on a single smaller target rather than a group. You should go with my students however. They probably should have someone to back them up for protection. I mean there's not much you can do to help against a bunch of ships anyway. Speaking of crews, where is the rest of your people?" Heather asks.
  "Don't ask, in fact after this is all over I might not even have any people. Anyway, I still think splitting up is a bad idea, but I guess if you say you can handle it yourself, I trust you."
  
  With as much rest as you're going to get under these conditions, you and the student wizards are soon on your way to the palace. Heather parts ways with you, but you really wish she didn't. She still looked very tired for one thing and you're not entirely convinced that you shouldn't focus on one thing instead of splitting up.
  
  You 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."
  
  You get an idea.
  
  "Okay, you lot are going with these wizards to the palace. I want you to do everything in your power to protect them. Seriously, it's the most important thing in the world right now." You say and start walking off.
  "Wait, where are you going boss?"
  "I got protection of my own to do. Don't worry about me. Just do what I tell you!"
  
  Not questioning your leadership again, your people follow your orders and you run off towards the docks. You just hope Heather managed to get there since your own trip to the docks isn't without struggle.
  
  When you finally get within sight of the docks you see several ships burning and sinking into the water. Looks like Heather is already getting to work as you see a lone figure running about casting magic into the bay area.
  
  You run towards her and then immediately have to take cover as the sounds of several cannons are fired in Heather's (and your) direction.
  
  The area was already half destroyed from the initial attack and pillaging, but with Heather's recent attack on his fleet, Peter is determined to destroy the entire harbor and then some.
  
  As you hide behind a partially destroyed building. Deafening explosions are all around you. Temporary loss of hearing aside, you're otherwise fine. You look out from the rubble and still see Heather encased in a glowing blue shield of some sort. However, you also see several smaller boats rowing towards docks. Heather's putting up a good fight, but you need to go help her.
  
  You run towards Heather and another cannon explosion hits not far from you. The force is enough to throw you to the ground and you're pelted by bits of debris. With your head now bleeding and feeling dizzy, you slowly stand back up only for another nearby explosion to knock you back down again.
  
  This time you struggle to push yourself up and look up just in time to see Heather fighting off some of the sailors that have managed to get to the docks (or what's left of them).
  
  You stand up and begin firing wildly at the sailors though Heather is easily destroying them with a chain lightning spell.
  
  With the wave of Peter's men dead, Heather takes a quick breather and it's at that moment she finally notices you. She nods. You nod.
  
  And then another volley of cannons fires off and completely obliterates everything in front of you.
  
  You fly backwards and eventually slam into something made of harder stuff than you are and you go unconscious.
  
  You're out for who knows how long, but by the time you wake up it's dark and the sounds of battle have died down though your hearing still isn't very good and your head is throbbing.
  
  You stagger around a bit before getting your bearings. In this darkness several burning fires provide most of the nearby illumination. It's nothing but destruction everywhere.
  
  "Hey! Hey you!" a voice calls out.
  
  You spin around and see five men dressed for battle. They don't look like Holgard Watch either. You nearly go for your pistol and that's when you realize you don't have it anymore. The only weapon you currently have on you is a dagger still in its sheath and you're not likely to succeed a confrontation in your condition.
  
  You could run, but you're still a bit dazed and they're already almost on you.
  
  "Who are you? We're trying to clear the streets of people right now and don't need anyone skulking about! Where is your home?" one of them says.
  "Huh? I... I live... um... in Teckleville." You say desperately trying to find the words to get out of this.
  "Teckleville? Never heard of it! What the hell are you doing out here then?"
  "I was...  I was visiting my sister."
  "Visiting your sister? Was she a whore here?" the man laughs along with his fellows.
  "No... I look... my head really hurts and I'm a little dizzy... "
  
  The man suddenly grabs you by the shirt and slams you up against a nearby destroyed wall.
  
  "More than your head is going to hurt if you don't start answering my questions! You say you were here to visit your sister, but that smells like bullshit to me! You look like a common thief trying to take advantage of the chaos! Well that shit ain't gonna pass now that Baron Peter Varsakken is in charge!"
  "Peter Varsakken?" you ask.
  "Yeah! He visited his sister too and decided he liked the city so much that he took it in the name of the Delantium Kingdom!"
  
  Well that's it. The struggle has been lost and you need to get the hell out of here somehow.
  
  "Please, I'm no thief! I'm just a bard and I was just here visiting my sister when the... liberation began. The baroness' men wouldn't let anyone leave and killed anyone who tried! Not to mention my sister was scared so of course I stayed with her. When the fighting got really bad even her home wasn't safe and looters... (choke) took her. I tried to fight, but I'm not a fighting man and it was just luck that I was only smashed in the head and left for dead. I later got up and tried to find her, but... the violence... I never saw so much violence before... I thought of my sister... and... (Sniffle)."
  
  The man that grabbed you relents slightly with his grip.
  
  "I just sort of got lost trying to hide from the bloodshed and before I knew it there was an explosion and I woke up here. Now I don't know where my sister is and I fear the worst... (sob)." You say really trying to put on the tears by rubbing your eyes a lot.
  
  The military soldiers look at each other and the one that grabbed you pulls you off the wall and begins motioning you to go.
  
  "Fine. Get out of here. Go on back to your village or wherever you come from bard. And remember to sing the song of Peter Varsakken's glorious victory here today!" the man shouts and give you one last shove before moving on.
  
  Now free, you hurry along the way and find the quickest sewer entrance and enter. You figure you can move around down there with less hassle and get out of the city quicker.
  
  You briefly wonder if you should go back to your headquarters to check if there is anyone there, but really it's still better to just get the hell out as quickly as possible. Besides, the Nocturnal League has practically got to be dead here now. Might as well move on to your back up plan, which is to head to Jicol.
  
  You eventually get out of Holgard and with your hands you dig up your private stash that you hid in the nearby wilderness. You figure you got enough coin for a trip to Jicol though you're going to have to walk to the nearest city which Klyton.
  
  It's a long walk too, but fortunately the route from Holgard is no longer impeded as much by a lot of woods and roads are much more prominent now. With any luck, you'll run into a Klyton carriage on its way to Holgard and you can tell them the news and get a ride back.
  
  One month later...
  
  "Jicol huh? Yeah I guess I can take you along, but not for free obviously." The trader says.
  "Will this suffice?" you reply and show him a few platinum coins.
  "Yeah, that will do it. You'll have to sleep in the cargo hold though and if I find out you've messed about with any of the goods down there, well if you aren't familiar with the term keelhauling, you'll become very familiar. We leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late."
  
  You leave the trader and head back to where you've been currently staying in Hessla. You thought you'd never get a ship to take you to Jicol. Less ships have been coming through Hessla lately thanks to the invasion at Holgard. Also all known pirates have been banned from entering Jicol. You guess that's why not many ships from here are currently allowed to travel there.
  
  The next day you board the trader ship and make your way to the cargo hold which contains mostly spices and cloth material that you'd have no interest in stealing anyway.
  
  You imagine it's going to be months before you actually arrive in Jicol, and it's probably not going to be a comfortable trip either. On the plus side, you'll be glad to eventually see Vera after this miserable time.
  
  Days pass into weeks and you more or less keep to yourself and just eat with the rest of the crew when its time then go back to your place in the cargo hold.
  
  Then as you're sleeping one day... 
  
  "Oh come on! This is bullshit! I'm a fucking registered citizen of Hessla you can't fucking rob me!" a voice says. Sounds like the trader.
  "Apologies, but shit is tough all over nowadays. Besides you need to relax, we're not taking all of it. Just a little bit." A deeper voice says.
  "The Governor of Hessla is going to hear about this Zamed! There are certain laws in place for a reason!"
  "Telling the Governor of Hessla? You think that's a wise thing to be threatening me with Flint given the circumstances?"
  
  You hear the name Zamed and your immediately sit up and accidently hit your head, cursing in the process.
  
  "Who else is down here Flint?!" Zamed says
  "Just some extra passenger that paid coin." Flint responds.
  
  Before you know it, you see Zamed and some of his people along with the trader. You aren't sure how this is going to go, but you're ready to pull your pistol. You just wish it was multiple shots like your old one.
  
  Zamed squints a little and then speaks.
  
  "Wait a minute. I know you. Shit, thought you died in Holgard." Zamed says.
  "Almost did." You answer.
  "Well Flint, this is your lucky day. You can keep all your cargo, I'll just be taking this one."
  "I thought pirates were currently banned from Jicol."
  "Jicol? Oh wait, you actually think I was going to take you there? To Vera?"
  "Call me an optimist."
  "Wrong day for optimism, friend. No, gonna take you to the Syndicate. They'll pay a nice price for you. Not sure what you did to piss them off, but they really got it in for you."
  "I figured those orcs weren't just wrecking my businesses on accident."
  "Indeed. Well we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours."
  "Not gonna be the easy way I can tell you that, and if you attempt to do this the hard way, you'll have a bullet in your head before you can make another step."
  "Pfft, Vera always went on about how great you were with a pistol. She always bragged about you. The way I see it, if you were so great then why the hell did she betray you?"
  "What the hell are you on about?"
  "Clueless idiot. Vera's been in cahoots with the Syndicate for a long time now. She was also in on the whole invasion. If anything I'm saving you time because if you got to Jicol, she would have only turned your ass in to the Syndicate herself."
  "What? I don't believe you. Vera would never betray me, let alone hand me over to the Syndicate!"
  "It's of minor importance. However, you may be right about her not turning you in, she always was a little too sweet on you. Talking about you even after we... y'know what? Fuck this, I can just bring in your head... "
  
  Zamed pulls his pistol and you fire landing one right between his eyes as promised. However this isn't enough to deter the rest of his men who rush at you.
  
  You fight with your sword as best you can, but eventually you are cut down.