Prologue
A dark room. Dim lighting. Echoes resounded as the Captain entered the
room. He made his report in a precise, clipped tempo. The only other
occupant in the room listened impassively, sitting behind his desk.
"The conclusion of our thinkers is that there is a one in three chance
of complete success," the Captain concluded.
Silence. At last his Superior spoke: "A grand gamble and that is our
best estimate?"
"Victory goes to the bold," stated the Captain. A simple mantra upon
which an Empire had been built.
Time dragged on as his Superior weighed the possibilities. As with any
grand gamble, failure would be disastrous, not only to him but perhaps
to the Empire itself.
Finally, the decision was made.
"Proceed with your plan. Success." said his Superior.
"Success!" proclaimed the Captain before executing a crisp aboutface
and marching out of the room.
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Ambush
The blond listened to the chatter of her male companion as the trio of
travellers walked along a path between somewhere and nowhere. The
rolling hills were covered with the greenery of late Spring. The
weather was still pleasant inbetween the rains of Winter and the
scorching sun of Summer.
Dressed in her trademark leathers, the blond looked every bit the
Scourge that her exploits had labeled her throughout the land. At her
side walked a most unlikely brunette companion. But although the second
woman looked at home in her own darker leather armor and fighting gear,
there was something... missing.
A little ahead of the two women, the male clanked and rattled his way
down the road, all the while droning on and on about anything and
everything that entered his mind. Much like a canary, or a songbird,
mused the blond. But not as pleasant to the ear.
The blond stopped. The other two took a moment to realize that fact
before they too stopped. She was looking off to the side of the path. A
group of warriors approached. But not any type of warrior that she had
encountered before. Swarthy, almost animal- like. Intense, purposeful.
And this group of six screamed "danger" to her.
Her male companion walked up to the six to greet them before she could
warn him. The next moment he was lying on the ground, unconscious from
a backhanded blow from the leader. The others yelled and charged the
remaining two.
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