The siege of Condor had finally begun.
Evil Mook: Let’s go! First target’s marked, second target’s marked. Primary target is the Apostle! Callers, wake up, pick out priority targets!
Fifteen hundred of us remained in the castle — warriors of the Northern Alliance, our allies, and farmers who decided to fight until the end, plus about the same number of NPCs and pawns. Clever Mook was also holding something else in reserve, but I had no idea what exactly or how much. Pandorum outnumbered us three to one from the very beginning, and that superiority grew with every minute.
Abel: Number of signals is increasing! Looks like they activated their pawns!
Damian: Detecting multiple summonings.
The castle welcomed our enemies with a shower of arrows coated in dragon venom and enhanced with magic. Torrents of fire, ice, and electricity peppered the charging birdies, and colorful beams of Pikes and Thunderstrikes flashed in the air. The first airship exploded in a cloud of fiery smoke, having carelessly pulled away from the rest. However, the Pandas seemed dead set on capturing Condor right out of the gate. Ignoring their losses, they rushed to the attack as if they were mad. Despite the heavy fire of our artillery, the enemy cavalry seemed to swell in numbers, as if each rider created several copies of themselves.
Komtur: Oh [censored]! Defend! Web, cast Web, fast! Don’t let them break through! Send out interceptors!
Evil Mook: Activate runes! Goldie, prepare Justice!
The blue and green symbols of Greater Runes covered the white walls of the citadel, previously drawn there by Alex and our clanmates. An additional fortification bonus? I couldn’t figure out half of what was going on except for one thing: divine spells of immense power were unleashed as if they were nothing, while, normally, casting each of them was an event in itself.
The Spectral Web partially constricted the enemies’ movements. Those who got caught were stuck in a viscous fog, losing two-thirds of their speed. Bolides of Meteor Strikes flashed next, bursting in several places at once with a deafening rumble. Those legendary AOE scrolls incinerated everything caught in the epicenter of the explosion. Hundreds of small dragon-like creatures flew up from the castle walls to meet the attackers, intercepting and swarming their birdies. Archers and castle artillery kept firing at full force.
Yet even all of that couldn’t stop Pandorum. There were too many of them, their dark cloud descending on us from all sides. Like possessed, they rushed forward, ignoring their dying brethren.
Komtur: They broke through! Direct contact! Block the passages! Defend the clan hall!
Goldie: Angel’s ready.
Evil Mook: Do it!
As it happened, I was in the clan hall, not far from the entrance that dozens of our soldiers were busy blocking off. A noise drew nearer — wild screams and continuous fluttering of wings interspersed with explosions. Something crashed into the castle wall just next to us, and I heard the roar of an enraged beast and the clashing of steel. Apparently, a fight broke out on the open castle gallery.
The activation of Justice caught me by surprise. For a second, the walls turned transparent, and everyone saw a huge angel in flowing robes appear above the castle. He touched Condor’s bastions with the tip of his sword, and a wave of divine blessings swept over us.
You are under the effect of Yahve’s Justice! You regenerate 50% of HP each second. You receive 50% resistance to magic damage!
Not bad! It was better than any auto-regen buff. Come to think of it, we were all but invincible until the aura ran out. The tide of players brought me to the exit — the source of increasing noise. I wanted to do something useful, not wear out the seat of my pants while waiting for the raid leaders’ command.
Olaf: HotCat! Stop! Where are you going?
Too late, Olaf! The flow carried me all the way to the gallery, which was caught in a nightmare. Hundreds of Pandorum riders had broken into the castle and, without ever landing, charged at the defenders, immediately engaging them. Our players met the attackers in a suicidal clash, giving rise to a furious bloodbath.
I drew Aelmaris and burst into battle, immediately turning the enemy who attacked me into a cloud of dust. He didn’t even get the chance to learn why his parry didn’t work. A trick from Esperanza taught to me by Svechkin allowed me to deftly slide past the next opponent — I think he was an NPC — and take him out with a short lunge.
I heard roaring and hissing, and a booming torrent of fire scalded me with a wave of heat. A protodragon crashed into the wall mid-flight, scattering the combatants in different directions. Despite its black body looking like a pincushion and one of its riders lifelessly dangling from the saddle, the beast kept spewing fire and lashing its barbed tail, knocking down players. A blow of incredible force pinned me to the wall, followed by a fireball straight to the face.
If not for the divine heal, I probably would have died right there. I rolled out from the cloud of fire and saw a giant spectral sword cleave through Pandorum’s birdie. Our mage who had cast the spell immediately fell as another enemy jumped down to the gallery and beheaded him with a swift stroke. I charged at him, but he skillfully dodged my attack while I received a hard-hitting blow to my back that knocked me back into a pillar. Sharp pain indicated critical damage. Stun, daze, light neurogenic shock... A javelin all but impaled me, landing right under my shoulder blade. I couldn’t even see who had thrown it.
....you are dying. 59…58…57…56…
Where are you, regeneration? Come on, heal me up!
Evil Mook: How did they remove Justice? Are you alive, Goldie?
Goldie: Yes. Negation, I guess. They have true priests stronger than me...
Komtur: They
