The group walked in silence as they approached Halden’s gates. Not a word was spoken amongst them. Perhaps they knew the fate that awaited them, or perhaps they were running through scenarios in their heads, weighing all the possible outcomes. Christol had no idea what everyone else was thinking, but he was scared. Are we gonna die? What if we die here? Our journey will end before it even begins! And I’ve seen these soldiers, and they look pretty tough as it is, I can’t imagine what having to fight the commanding officer would be like.

As they approached, Christol could see two guards standing at attention at Halden’s gates, guarding the entrance. Both clad in the iconic shimmering red trimmed black armor, despite the darkness of the night.

“Halt! You five. Clear the checkpoint and we’ll allow you entry. Now, if you please, what is your purpose in Halden?” The guard who spoke took a step towards the group, and Artuck spoke first.

“We’re simple merchants, coming here to find sales. Two of our group are locals and are our guides. We had a mix-up earlier and lost our cart, so now we hope to be able to find lodging here until our goods make it.” Artuck pulled down the hood of the cloak he was wearing to reveal a soft head of human hair. 

Whoa. I didn’t even realize that he shifted. It was… so fast! If Artuck can do that, then this journey should be a lot simpler. Wait, if he can shapeshift, can’t he take the form of a dragon and just burn the encampment down? That’d make things really easy on us, wouldn’t it?

“I see,” the guard said, nodding, “then allow me to welcome you all to the remote town of Halden.” he stepped to the side, and allowed the group through the gates.

As the group entered Halden, Artuck pulled everyone together.

“Okay, so the encampment is on the Northeast side of the town. Once we get over there it’s go time. Slaughter and go. Everyone got it?”

Christol nodded, but he didn’t want to have to kill anyone. He thought that there were other ways to go about this other than killing everyone. Despite his hesitations, Chrsitol followed the group, and Artuck began to lead them towards the encampment.

As they passed through the town, Christol counted the guards on night duty. There were four at the gate, two by the tavern, another two by the town hall, and three on patrol. The entire trip was silent, not a word uttered. The nighttime noises of Halden were all that filled Christol’s ears as he followed the group through town. Laughing and cheering could be heard from the tavern.

As they walked past it, a man stumbled out, laughing to himself. As he saw the group, he called out to them.

“H-hey! You guys! I-I got a.. A question for ya,” the man was clearly intoxicated, and his elven ears twitched as he spoke. Artuck stepped towards the man.

“Yes? Make it quick, though, we’re trying to get somewhere.” The elven man nodded, exaggeratingly.

“O-okay. Well, I-I just got out of an argument with my- Hey, have you guys heard the news? Haldore’s a-army has recently found an ancient relic. A machine, they-they say. Not sure what to…,” the man burped and laughed to himself.

“What was I saying? … Oh, yeah. I’m not too sure what to make of it, though. Apparently, it was part of a war a reaaaallllyyyyy long time ago. Some dark elves were found nearby, but they… they dealt with them. Causing… trouble or something. I don’t know. But that machine sounds pretty damn cool, huh?” The man pointed weakly at Artuck as he finished, and Artuck took a step back.

A machine? Maybe Artuck’ll want to go get it at some point. Sounds pretty cool to me. Geez, I wonder what kind of ancient tech it’s got.

“Well, that sounds pretty cool. I’ll have to check it out sometime,” Artuck replied to the man, obviously half disgusted. The man excitedly looked at Artuck, his eyes widening with drunkenness.

“Ooh! Yeah, y-you do that. And when you do, let me know what it looks like! I’ve… I’ve always wanted to see an ancient relic,” the man laughed at himself as he dismissed Artuck with a wave and stumbled away from the group.

Artuck turned to the group after the man was out of earshot.

“That machine he talked about… reminds me of something. If there comes an opportunity to recruit anyone, let’s take it. We’ll need all the help we can get. Oh! And old relics could be cool, too. Alteran is a magical place, after all,” Artuck finished, smiling his warm smile as he shot them a wink.

“For now, though, we’ve got an objective. Let’s move, everyone,” and Artuck began walking away. Flim turned towards Christol.

“I wonder what that machine is about,” Flim whispered. Christol could practically see the greed in his eyes as he spoke.

“I bet it’d make one hell of a pretty penny,” Flim said, smiling a big, toothy grin. Mitrax smacked Flim upside the head, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Now’s not the time for that,” Mitrax said, disappointed. Cruu chuckled as he turned around and followed Artuck, the rest right behind.

As they approached the encampment, Christol could see why Artuck hadn’t bothered with them yet. Despite having seen these walls, Christol never knew what was behind them. He walked past them day in, and day out, but never bothered to take a look as to what was behind the wall. He dismissed the thought. Perhaps I've just been too busy to care. yeah, that's it.

Standing three stories tall, the walls were thick to match. Atop the entrance was a guard tower, where three people stood in shimmering black armor. Two more stood at the entrance. The gate wasn’t closed, so they still had time to get in.

“We may have to go around the walls. I’ve seen a small dock inside the walls that lead into the complex.. Any ideas?” Artuck whispered these words as he came to a halt in some alleyway near the entrance, using the dark of night to their advantage.

“I’m not… particularly… fond of water,” Mitrax stuttered as he spoke.

“You don’t like water?” Cruu asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“There’s a good reason for it, I assure you,” Mitrax glared at Cruu as he whispered angrily. Cruu shot his hands up in defense.

“Cruu’s not insulting you. Just, pointing out an observation, is all.” Artuck had his face in his hand.

“Regardless, the water route might be our best bet. Anyone else?” Artcuk said plainly as he removed his hand from his face. Flim perked up.

“Ooh! I have an idea. Anyone got a bow on them?” Cruu forked over a bow from his knapsack. As Flim held it, he turned it over.

“This’ll do.” Artuck’s face resembled confusion as he cocked his head to the side.

“What are you doing with that bow, Flim?” Artuck asked pointedly.

“Why, I’m gonna shoot those guards on the guard tower, then it’ll make it easier for us to get in.” Artuck blinked at Flim, expressionless.

“Really? That’s your plan?” Artuck snatched the bow from Flim before returning it to Cruu, who shrugged and stuck it in his bag.

“Well, I don’t see anyone doing anything, so I thought I’d take it upon myself to get things moving,” Flim said. 

If there’s three guards up there, and two guards by the entrance there, then perhaps our best bet is a simple distraction. Something to avert their gaze away from the entrance, where we’d sneak in. Then we’d be golden. Right?

Chrsitol realized everyone was looking at him as he glanced up.

“That’s… actually kind of brilliant,” Artuck said, surprised. Suddenly, Christol felt very embarrassed.

“I didn’t say that out loud, did I?” Christol could feel his face getting hot as he spoke. Cruu nodded at his words, smiling.

“Yes, but it makes a lot of sense. Wait, Flim, Can you fire an arrow, say, over there?” Artuck pointed in the general direction of the shoreline.

“Sure I can! Ooh! What if we lit the arrow?” Flim chuckled, almost maniacally.

“That’d work,” Cruu said, pulling the bow back out.

“Allow me to light that for you,” Mitrax said smugly, and he added a smirk as he finished speaking. Cruu handed Mitrax an arrow, where Mitrax breathed fire onto the arrow, and they all watched as the arrow lit up. 

“Go ahead, Flim,” Artuck said, proudly, “The stage is all yours.” Artuck bowed as he stuck out a hand, allowing Flim to approach the end of the alley.

Flim’s never shot a bow before… Oh no. This is gonna end up really bad. Shit, what am I supposed to do? Flim pulled the arrow back as he aimed the arrow. Flim’s gonna get us killed.

“Fire away, Flim,” Cruu said, excitedly.

“Wait!” Christol cried out, as quietly as possible, but it was too late. Flim had loosed the arrow.