Chapter 6.5 - Catastrophe at Ston

When the first nations of the post calamity world had been built, there was a book that was to be shared among all of humanity. Supposedly given by the divines, this text showed how to establish new nations, live with the land, and even commune with the divine.

Humans, being the greedy little miscreants that they were, decided that if they had to share the knowledge, it was not worth keeping, and so the original text was lost. But the world and the divines knew it was for the best that the manual persisted. So it would always seem to show up in the strangest of places.

Sometimes fragments, chapters, of the text could be found. Several groups had found the Manual of Foundation, although only 2 groups that used it currently remained, that being Haven and Thul.

There was a copy of the Manual of Piety that had surfaced, that was being smuggled by hand from Ston to Haven, but that is a story for later.

Finally, there was the Manual of the Wild. Most people just thought the knowledge of the manual that they had was 'common sense'. But there was nothing sensible about the information that came to them. Children from landlocked towns knew to stay away from deep water while coastal folk knew the mountains held an equal amount of danger and riches. This knowledge was just known, not inherited. Although no one had found a copy, the knowledge within seemed to find its way into any who viewed the world around them. It spoke of how to live with the land, reduce the impact of civilization, and share the world with the other denizens that inhabited it. It also spoke that the more a nation fought back against nature, the more nature would mutate and evolve to fight civilization.

A few years back, Serin and his party had seen such conflict outside the city of Ston. Constantly building the city into the bustling urban sprawl had created an ecological disaster zone in the surrounding ruins. Within Ston there was no greenery save a few flowerbeds in the terraces of the noble district. The Streets had gutters of filth and the sea was blocked by large unnatural jetties.

So outside the city of Ston, the Wild had slowly been building up and mutating to overtake the city.

At least, that was what Serin understood of the report he was given. He often had Windrunner pilots with a dhamphir illusionist act as long range surveillance. They would fly over in the dead of night, unable to be seen or heard save the rare time their shadow passed. The dhamphir used light on a different spectrum, and because of it when viewing the surroundings of Ston, they could see what humans could not. Hordes of enemies hidden in the ruins, in the trees, and in the waters. A Titan creature could even be seen by its shadow hiding just outside the city's jetties. Waiting for its chance to break through and terrorize the harbor.

Serin sat with his representatives during an emergency session. There was a concise drawing of the city mapped out on the table, and one of the Lancer Gole had come. She had read the dhamphir scout's memories and was using her psionic magic to project the images onto the wall.

It was a terrible sight to behold.

Serin looked at Dana, "Do we have assets in that city?"

Dana nodded, and Serin replied, "Pull them out. I don't care how. Snagline in the middle of town square, but get them out. They have permission to go loud, and use any and all means to exfiltrate themselves. Whatever cannot be recovered is to be set to blow should it be tampered with."

Dana nodded, then she could be seen concentrating on a [message] spell.

Serin waited, Dana then answered "Our Two assets had a snag line and life pod built into the roof of their apartment. They are going to be pulled out by nightfall."

Serin accepted the answer. "So, do the representatives know how we, the nation of Haven, should react?"

The first to speak was Master Tyber, "If the other nation reaches out for help, we should figure some way to assist. There might be some way that we can circumvent the current hostilities and become a friend of the people."

Next however was Bilol. "It is in the best interest of all of our people that we put our nation first. This is an adversary at heart, and unless we were invited to intervene we must wait. Should they reach out we could offer humanitarian aid as well as defense forces, but both of those require invitation. One we are not apt to get."

Serin understood, "How long until a few cargo ships could be loaded with supplies and QRF forces?"

Edel answered, "The Cutter Vessel Arbiter stands ready to deploy with the Archangels within 1 hour notice, and to reach stone would take roughly 2 days."

Serin commented, "Have three ships on standby in neutral territory nearest Ston with troops outfitted for combat as well as relief supplies. I will work with Dana to craft a plan of action."

***

Marcus, the Grand General of the Northern Kingdoms, was beginning to learn that he had been playing the grand game poorly since the beginning of his reign.

This was because of the order of the messages he had received.

The first message came through his kingdom management Screen. It was an offer from the Nation of Haven for humanitarian relief and unilateral troop movement permissions through his country to aid in what was called 'Crisis at Ston'. Marcus laughed this formal missive off and rejected the proposal. Marcus had heard of a few more monsters of late attacking caravans outside Ston, but it was not worth worrying. It was especially not worth giving an enemy nation unilateral permission to move throughout his territory.

Although all trace evidence of the recent abduction of Veronica Seven Blades and theft of the royal armory pointed to the Grand Woods Alliance, Marcus was sure that Haven was involved somehow.

The second message he received was a report of a strange magical box seen shooting up out of Ston into the sky from the Magistrate of Ston. It did not detonate, but was similar to a report he had received of a box leaving the outskirts of his capital. Further flaming his suspicions.

Two days later, Marcus received an emergency message, again from the Magistrate of Ston. The city was under siege from a host of monsters that were pouring out of the ruins surrounding the city and were at the border. Trolls, Ogres, Goblins, Kobolds, Drakes, Trikes, Marmers, and every other dangerous creature that had been known to infest parts of the region had come en masse to attack Ston.

Another message came in, this time from the Grand Woods Alliance.

To the Grand General of the Northern Kingdoms,

We have heard of the recent monster attacks that are currently laying waste to your Northern city of Ston. Although we are enemies, we do not think that you should be forced to decide between our ongoing hostilities and securing peace within your population centers. Therefore we have decided that we are willing to offer a 6 month Armistice in return for allowing us to annex the following 2 regions that are at the core of our current boundary dispute.

Regardless of the decision, we hope that the unarmed populace in Ston is not destroyed by this tragedy. Our thoughts go to your people in their time of need.

Geoff Whittaker

1st Voice of the Council of Allied City States

Grand Woods Alliance

Marcus was livid. He also knew that he could not do anything. He decided to summon his advisors.

***