He'd spread himself too thin, too far.
Why did this always happen?
Every time problems like these surfaced, every time he was forced into a fight or faced with a challenge, he always prioritised the safety of others first. That seemed like just the right thing to do. Protect those who could not protect themselves, save lives before ending them. He'd lost his cool once or twice, even deviated entirely from the mentality, but those were the exceptions, not the rule, he told himself with forgiveness. He just wanted to help. To be someone he could feel proud to look at in the mirror. It was a calm determination that came not from a headstrong need to do what had always been right... but, in his heart, to be at peace.
Once again, it was happening though. Somewhere far to the east, on the other side of the island, Castile and Arle were fighting against the invaders of Haven - and even with the element of surprise on the would-be interlopers, it had quickly devolved into a fierce battle, with the invaders holding their own against the wolf using careful swordwork and nimble reflexes. Though Castile was steadily gaining ground and was confident they'd be able to win out eventually, the fighting was tangling up Nir'weis plans to reunite as quickly as possible once Haven was secure. The residents of Haven were still asleep, no alarms had yet been sounded, and most importantly of all... Castile had no idea whether there was anyone else in Haven capable of taking on the fighters to begin with. They knew, more than most, how effective a small team of highly-skilled individuals could be, especially with any degree of cooperation. Serious damage to Haven and its residents was a clear possibility.
Through the fighting however, the wolf spotted something. Movement from nearby, just behind the treeline. Her first thought jumped to the obvious conclusion - more fighters, intending to ambush at the right moment. However... was it her imagination? They didn't wear black and disguise themselves as the invaders had done, to remain undetected. These wore the uniforms of settlement guards. As far as she could make out from her glimpses, they were just watching the fighting. Waiting to see who won out? Preparing to jump in and make the most of a second ambush? It didn't really matter to them - because if the Haven guards were awake and armed, why was Castile expected to finish all the invaders off by herself?
Nir'wei grit his teeth in intense frustration and with a quick order, Castile barked, disengaging from the fighting as quickly as she'd broken their focus in order to back away and make a quick escape. Instead of wasting more time, they'd meet up with Sovar, Myrth and Nox at the nearest meeting point - Saoire's Dream. He'd done Haven a considerable service holding back the invaders as much as he had. His generosity had now worn out; whatever happened next to them was up to them alone; and though he wished them the best of luck, he couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted by the actions of Haven that day. "It's like I've always told you." The wolf's words weren't angry. Castile's rage was something that still brought shivers to the rest of the pack; a fire that did not simply burn, but tore through everything in its path even at the cost of itself. "Humans are sheltered and soft. They see even the slightest inconvenience as a great tragedy." She looked at him, emotion brimming in her mind. "Those guards stood there and watched us risk our lives. Either because they made that choice or because they were ordered to. My life, our bond, was less important than theirs." He could feel eyes turn to him, inwards. For the first time in a very, very long time, they shimmered with mourning tears for someone they had both put to rest. "It was always your greatest mistake, risking so much just to shield them. Don't make it your last."
Oh, how he longed to take the knife that twisted in his gut at those words and bury it into a skull of a deserving idiot.
Greyhide, Cold and Vabina found... nothing. No matter how deep they crept into the volcano, there just seemed to be more darkness spread out before them, no clues where it might have come from or just how deep it might go. That was, by far, the most alarming matter. He'd thought that perhaps it was just an outer-layer shield, or perhaps some minor obstruction, but this suggested much more foul work at play.
Likewise, Sovar, Myrth and Nox were facing many questions with no answer. He could have them keep searching, but the flames weren't damaging anything, and were only growing higher. All signs pointed to nothing more than a distraction to gain attention at this point, to draw it all away from the invasion... until Sovar called back through their mental link that he could see something forming in the air high above Saoire's Dream, almost like a dome shimmering in the air over the school. Could it be related to what's happening in the Faldrass volcano? It wasn't a dome of black mist, but it could potentially be used to separate out the inhabitants from elsewhere and launch an attack from within. Nir'wei couldn't tell though. It was Saoire's Dream after all... what if Saoire had her own protective measures in place? Did it look like anything Saoire would make?
Whatever it was, there was no clear answer yet. They were just floundering, waiting for something to happen, stretching thinner and thinner in a feeble attempt to keep all the spinning plates wobbling for just a few seconds longer, tangled in their own problems and unable to separate out.
In such a state, the dizziness felt across his network could have been written off easily as nothing more than intense stress, if not for the fact Nir'wei knew his companions inside and out. Yet another problem to juggle. Yet another mystery to solve. Problems piled on problems, until his skull felt that it might split.
"Traveller. We need air." Was this a response intended to down the animals that had been defending the island on his command? It didn't matter - it was being felt everywhere, even from animals all the way out in Hopetoun and Haven, which meant that it was already spread at least as far as the edges of Faldrass. If Traveller became too dizzy to fly, then he lost his most valuable mode of transportation, and with it any chance of catching the person responsible before they started really causing trouble. "We'll have to accelerate our plans a little, but we can handle it. Right, Archailist? Where are they heading?" He could feel the spirit-squirrel on his shoulder pressing fingers to his temples and concentrating on... something, but the Forest Orb had lay dormant for many, many arcs at this point. Channelling its power was more akin to working a puzzle box... shaking it, twisting it around in his thoughts, searching for an opening, a crack, something...
It felt like his fingers brushed a seam on its surface. Nails dragged, claws sunk into the groove, and the thrum of power in his head began to resonate.
Snapshots of single pictures flickered across his vision first, of familiar cliffs he recognised as a few hundred metres away... then further, a tree from several hundred metres, and then even further. It wasn't just one squirrel, it was several, then tens, all at the same time, their visions colliding in his head until he struggled to distinguish between one and another... but as the snapshots turned into vision, he realised the clarity was more than just sight, but sound, and hearing, and taste, and... and thought.
"Shit." He was the squirrels. The squirrels were him. He turned his head and watched the squirrels do the same, but when the squirrel turned back, his own head followed.
They felt that same, strange, confusing dizziness as well, as though every lungful of air didn't have enough oxygen. He'd felt it before sometimes on the back of Traveller, but only when they were almost high enough to touch the clouds, where the Sohr Khal seemed to soar on the currents of the sky like they were waves in the ocean. "Shit, shit shit." His head really was splitting apart. Grey, Cold, Myrth, Squeak, Vabina, Castile, Kin, so many thoughts and visions and streams of consciousness mixing with those of the squirrels he'd intended to just use for a little reconnaissance, but now all bled and overwhelmed each-other until he couldn't separate one from the next. "Turn it off!" At that point he could hardly hear his own yelling over the chittering of confused squirrels, the other wolves yelling in confusion at what was being fed through their minds as well, and in the brief snapshots of his own life almost lost to the noise, he felt soft grass on his knees, both hands clapped over his own ears and the distant sound of frantic yells as his own spirits struggled to control themselves.
It wasn't going away, though. Archailist had never used it before, and Nir'wei felt tears in his eyes as images appeared of Haven... but Haven was much further away than he should have any right to see. Then Almund... but that was an entirely different island.
"Make it stop." Tears were streaking his cheeks. "Make it stop, make it stop. MAKE IT STOP."
MAKE IT STOP
MAKE IT STOP
MAKE IT STOP
The black stone walls of the Eternal Empire. The dense jungles of Desnind. The Stormwastes.
A dark castle surrounded by impossible thick vines. A mountain range, a huge field filled with wild creatures. A volcano, unlike any he'd seen, with what appeared to be an entire city sitting directly in its core.
He could see everywhere. He was everywhere. Physically, in the flesh, as alive and real as he was in a human form. Not just in that very moment, but every moment. The memories of all the past experiences of squirrels flooded his psyche with images and recollections he could not remember, from riding on the shoulder of a glowing man, to arguing with a snake in chitters and squeaks. Such strange, bizarre, varied and wonderful lives. All shared. United. More than that, though. Much more...
The vision retracted enough for a moment of clarity. Like the eye of a storm, he stood in the strange mental quiet of the moment and pieced together enough from the visions being fed through his mind to recognise the Unabor Forests. All of them, everywhere. The squirrels are there too, of course, but it's more than that, he can see it. There's a reason he can see through all of them at once. He's not looking through them. They look through each-other. They are each-other. A single, impossibly huge network spread across all of Idalos, connecting every squirrel of every tree in every forest of every corner... intertwined and sharing knowledge, experiences, all of the time, every day.
Like a great lattice stretched across the world, entangled in the thoughts of every squirrely being.
The grand confluence of millions of minds, bound as one.
The most beautiful unity of thought.
Its image seared into his sight the more he stared, but as screaming filled his ears, he found himself unable to look away. Not even for a second. Please, just a little longer. Let him experience this a little--
Bile threatened to fill his throat, and blood roared in his head until it felt like his skull was shaking. Through it all, a single sound, almost like an eggshell cracking, broke through the noise. Then, darkness engulfed him. Peaceful, quiet darkness, tinged with sickly yellow mist.
When he awoke, his cheek was pressed to the soft grass. How long had he been out? Not long, his body clock told him, though as he rolled onto his back and blinked up into the sky, images still swirled in his head and overlaid his eyes with visions of the treeline at distant corners of the island he knew to be miles away yet. So it wasn't a dream. Nor was it gone... that overlapping sensation of himself and the squirrels - all of the squirrels - stretching out in all directions, seeing all that could be seen for what felt like miles. Noxious yellow mist also clung to the ground, thick and pungent. Corruptive, almost. It hadn't been there a moment ago, and he knew he'd felt it during the activation, when it reached its peak.
With the dizziness clearing, Nir'wei slowly gathered his arms under himself and sat up. Bleary eyes still struggling to focus on what he thought was a black smear, before it inched closer and features began to appear... not because his vision was easing, but rather because the creature had just remembered to add them. Sage. Many beady purple eyes, if one could really call them eyes, staring from a mass of glossy black that could have been mistaken for sentient oil. Of course, Sage said nothing, but there was a reason for his appearance now, here, of all times. "You knew what you were getting in to." Sage... continued to say nothing. "No backing out now."
Traveller, during his moment of revelation, had spread both wings to shield Nir's collapsed form. Though his expression betrayed very little, his behaviour was clearly highly agitated. "Easy. I'm okay." Though it was entirely unnecessary, he'd automatically looked to shield Nir'weis form from the flock of hungry birds he'd just finished working up... and were still quite clearly eager for their next meal, after his serving. "Let's get you out of here before we start worrying about me, shall we." Well. There was one more thing to do, before that. Without their favourite perch, the birds had begun fluttering and swirling above him, a raucous mess thanks to the onset dizziness affecting Faldrass itself. A few managed to land on his outstretched arm when he finally rose to his feet again, though. Eagerly chirping and hopping from foot to foot as they awaited something tasty to feed on.
"Hungry, aren't you." He'd gathered a lot of birds. "It's okay. Let it out. Take it out, on everything. Everything that walks on two legs." The frogs. Now the birds. Oh, he didn't want to leave anything to chance now. He wanted the message everywhere, he wanted everything... every last animal, carnivore or herbivoreAnimal Training Capstone: One Of Us, on every island, at every corner. "But start with them." A few high whistles and a gentle nudge towards the ships he could now see clearly heading south, and Nir'wei directed the cloud of famished birds south. He let them tear at the fabric of his shirt with their claws as they perched, and encouraged them for it, so they would tear at the fabric of the ships sails with the same eagerness. He let them swarm together, feeling them grow more cohesiveAnimal Training Capstone: Heart of the Pack the more he coaxed them with his words and directions. Larger birds, like etchwings, dug claws into his arm and he rewarded them until he was confident they'd find pleasure inflicting much worseTactics Capstone: Manhunt on those aboard the ships, likely before they realised what had happened.Tactics Capstone: Feral Insight
That dealt with, he hopped atop Traveller, and the Sohr Khal spread his wings wide. "Sovar, Myrth, Squeak, Nox." The four, once they'd met back up again, bound back through the still-open School Gateway before Nir'wei snapped it shut, and the three wolves faded into spirit form. "Let's go." Traveller launched into the air and Nox set a quick sprint behind them by the ground. He knew just the subtle ways to make himself as streamlined as possible, to ride with the shifting weight of Traveller as they rode to increase the speed of their ascent as fast as possible - and he aimed to lead them as high as possible, to ride the air currents across the island that would get them there faster than sailing low to the ground. "It's time we all saw with our own eyes again." The settlements would have to handle themselves, with whatever tools they had left. The pirates would distract him no longer.
Why did this always happen?
Every time problems like these surfaced, every time he was forced into a fight or faced with a challenge, he always prioritised the safety of others first. That seemed like just the right thing to do. Protect those who could not protect themselves, save lives before ending them. He'd lost his cool once or twice, even deviated entirely from the mentality, but those were the exceptions, not the rule, he told himself with forgiveness. He just wanted to help. To be someone he could feel proud to look at in the mirror. It was a calm determination that came not from a headstrong need to do what had always been right... but, in his heart, to be at peace.
Once again, it was happening though. Somewhere far to the east, on the other side of the island, Castile and Arle were fighting against the invaders of Haven - and even with the element of surprise on the would-be interlopers, it had quickly devolved into a fierce battle, with the invaders holding their own against the wolf using careful swordwork and nimble reflexes. Though Castile was steadily gaining ground and was confident they'd be able to win out eventually, the fighting was tangling up Nir'weis plans to reunite as quickly as possible once Haven was secure. The residents of Haven were still asleep, no alarms had yet been sounded, and most importantly of all... Castile had no idea whether there was anyone else in Haven capable of taking on the fighters to begin with. They knew, more than most, how effective a small team of highly-skilled individuals could be, especially with any degree of cooperation. Serious damage to Haven and its residents was a clear possibility.
Through the fighting however, the wolf spotted something. Movement from nearby, just behind the treeline. Her first thought jumped to the obvious conclusion - more fighters, intending to ambush at the right moment. However... was it her imagination? They didn't wear black and disguise themselves as the invaders had done, to remain undetected. These wore the uniforms of settlement guards. As far as she could make out from her glimpses, they were just watching the fighting. Waiting to see who won out? Preparing to jump in and make the most of a second ambush? It didn't really matter to them - because if the Haven guards were awake and armed, why was Castile expected to finish all the invaders off by herself?
Nir'wei grit his teeth in intense frustration and with a quick order, Castile barked, disengaging from the fighting as quickly as she'd broken their focus in order to back away and make a quick escape. Instead of wasting more time, they'd meet up with Sovar, Myrth and Nox at the nearest meeting point - Saoire's Dream. He'd done Haven a considerable service holding back the invaders as much as he had. His generosity had now worn out; whatever happened next to them was up to them alone; and though he wished them the best of luck, he couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted by the actions of Haven that day. "It's like I've always told you." The wolf's words weren't angry. Castile's rage was something that still brought shivers to the rest of the pack; a fire that did not simply burn, but tore through everything in its path even at the cost of itself. "Humans are sheltered and soft. They see even the slightest inconvenience as a great tragedy." She looked at him, emotion brimming in her mind. "Those guards stood there and watched us risk our lives. Either because they made that choice or because they were ordered to. My life, our bond, was less important than theirs." He could feel eyes turn to him, inwards. For the first time in a very, very long time, they shimmered with mourning tears for someone they had both put to rest. "It was always your greatest mistake, risking so much just to shield them. Don't make it your last."
Oh, how he longed to take the knife that twisted in his gut at those words and bury it into a skull of a deserving idiot.
Greyhide, Cold and Vabina found... nothing. No matter how deep they crept into the volcano, there just seemed to be more darkness spread out before them, no clues where it might have come from or just how deep it might go. That was, by far, the most alarming matter. He'd thought that perhaps it was just an outer-layer shield, or perhaps some minor obstruction, but this suggested much more foul work at play.
Likewise, Sovar, Myrth and Nox were facing many questions with no answer. He could have them keep searching, but the flames weren't damaging anything, and were only growing higher. All signs pointed to nothing more than a distraction to gain attention at this point, to draw it all away from the invasion... until Sovar called back through their mental link that he could see something forming in the air high above Saoire's Dream, almost like a dome shimmering in the air over the school. Could it be related to what's happening in the Faldrass volcano? It wasn't a dome of black mist, but it could potentially be used to separate out the inhabitants from elsewhere and launch an attack from within. Nir'wei couldn't tell though. It was Saoire's Dream after all... what if Saoire had her own protective measures in place? Did it look like anything Saoire would make?
Whatever it was, there was no clear answer yet. They were just floundering, waiting for something to happen, stretching thinner and thinner in a feeble attempt to keep all the spinning plates wobbling for just a few seconds longer, tangled in their own problems and unable to separate out.
In such a state, the dizziness felt across his network could have been written off easily as nothing more than intense stress, if not for the fact Nir'wei knew his companions inside and out. Yet another problem to juggle. Yet another mystery to solve. Problems piled on problems, until his skull felt that it might split.
"Traveller. We need air." Was this a response intended to down the animals that had been defending the island on his command? It didn't matter - it was being felt everywhere, even from animals all the way out in Hopetoun and Haven, which meant that it was already spread at least as far as the edges of Faldrass. If Traveller became too dizzy to fly, then he lost his most valuable mode of transportation, and with it any chance of catching the person responsible before they started really causing trouble. "We'll have to accelerate our plans a little, but we can handle it. Right, Archailist? Where are they heading?" He could feel the spirit-squirrel on his shoulder pressing fingers to his temples and concentrating on... something, but the Forest Orb had lay dormant for many, many arcs at this point. Channelling its power was more akin to working a puzzle box... shaking it, twisting it around in his thoughts, searching for an opening, a crack, something...
It felt like his fingers brushed a seam on its surface. Nails dragged, claws sunk into the groove, and the thrum of power in his head began to resonate.
Snapshots of single pictures flickered across his vision first, of familiar cliffs he recognised as a few hundred metres away... then further, a tree from several hundred metres, and then even further. It wasn't just one squirrel, it was several, then tens, all at the same time, their visions colliding in his head until he struggled to distinguish between one and another... but as the snapshots turned into vision, he realised the clarity was more than just sight, but sound, and hearing, and taste, and... and thought.
"Shit." He was the squirrels. The squirrels were him. He turned his head and watched the squirrels do the same, but when the squirrel turned back, his own head followed.
They felt that same, strange, confusing dizziness as well, as though every lungful of air didn't have enough oxygen. He'd felt it before sometimes on the back of Traveller, but only when they were almost high enough to touch the clouds, where the Sohr Khal seemed to soar on the currents of the sky like they were waves in the ocean. "Shit, shit shit." His head really was splitting apart. Grey, Cold, Myrth, Squeak, Vabina, Castile, Kin, so many thoughts and visions and streams of consciousness mixing with those of the squirrels he'd intended to just use for a little reconnaissance, but now all bled and overwhelmed each-other until he couldn't separate one from the next. "Turn it off!" At that point he could hardly hear his own yelling over the chittering of confused squirrels, the other wolves yelling in confusion at what was being fed through their minds as well, and in the brief snapshots of his own life almost lost to the noise, he felt soft grass on his knees, both hands clapped over his own ears and the distant sound of frantic yells as his own spirits struggled to control themselves.
It wasn't going away, though. Archailist had never used it before, and Nir'wei felt tears in his eyes as images appeared of Haven... but Haven was much further away than he should have any right to see. Then Almund... but that was an entirely different island.
"Make it stop." Tears were streaking his cheeks. "Make it stop, make it stop. MAKE IT STOP."
MAKE IT STOP
MAKE IT STOP
MAKE IT STOP
The black stone walls of the Eternal Empire. The dense jungles of Desnind. The Stormwastes.
A dark castle surrounded by impossible thick vines. A mountain range, a huge field filled with wild creatures. A volcano, unlike any he'd seen, with what appeared to be an entire city sitting directly in its core.
He could see everywhere. He was everywhere. Physically, in the flesh, as alive and real as he was in a human form. Not just in that very moment, but every moment. The memories of all the past experiences of squirrels flooded his psyche with images and recollections he could not remember, from riding on the shoulder of a glowing man, to arguing with a snake in chitters and squeaks. Such strange, bizarre, varied and wonderful lives. All shared. United. More than that, though. Much more...
The vision retracted enough for a moment of clarity. Like the eye of a storm, he stood in the strange mental quiet of the moment and pieced together enough from the visions being fed through his mind to recognise the Unabor Forests. All of them, everywhere. The squirrels are there too, of course, but it's more than that, he can see it. There's a reason he can see through all of them at once. He's not looking through them. They look through each-other. They are each-other. A single, impossibly huge network spread across all of Idalos, connecting every squirrel of every tree in every forest of every corner... intertwined and sharing knowledge, experiences, all of the time, every day.
Like a great lattice stretched across the world, entangled in the thoughts of every squirrely being.
The grand confluence of millions of minds, bound as one.
The most beautiful unity of thought.
Its image seared into his sight the more he stared, but as screaming filled his ears, he found himself unable to look away. Not even for a second. Please, just a little longer. Let him experience this a little--
Bile threatened to fill his throat, and blood roared in his head until it felt like his skull was shaking. Through it all, a single sound, almost like an eggshell cracking, broke through the noise. Then, darkness engulfed him. Peaceful, quiet darkness, tinged with sickly yellow mist.
* * *
When he awoke, his cheek was pressed to the soft grass. How long had he been out? Not long, his body clock told him, though as he rolled onto his back and blinked up into the sky, images still swirled in his head and overlaid his eyes with visions of the treeline at distant corners of the island he knew to be miles away yet. So it wasn't a dream. Nor was it gone... that overlapping sensation of himself and the squirrels - all of the squirrels - stretching out in all directions, seeing all that could be seen for what felt like miles. Noxious yellow mist also clung to the ground, thick and pungent. Corruptive, almost. It hadn't been there a moment ago, and he knew he'd felt it during the activation, when it reached its peak.
With the dizziness clearing, Nir'wei slowly gathered his arms under himself and sat up. Bleary eyes still struggling to focus on what he thought was a black smear, before it inched closer and features began to appear... not because his vision was easing, but rather because the creature had just remembered to add them. Sage. Many beady purple eyes, if one could really call them eyes, staring from a mass of glossy black that could have been mistaken for sentient oil. Of course, Sage said nothing, but there was a reason for his appearance now, here, of all times. "You knew what you were getting in to." Sage... continued to say nothing. "No backing out now."
Traveller, during his moment of revelation, had spread both wings to shield Nir's collapsed form. Though his expression betrayed very little, his behaviour was clearly highly agitated. "Easy. I'm okay." Though it was entirely unnecessary, he'd automatically looked to shield Nir'weis form from the flock of hungry birds he'd just finished working up... and were still quite clearly eager for their next meal, after his serving. "Let's get you out of here before we start worrying about me, shall we." Well. There was one more thing to do, before that. Without their favourite perch, the birds had begun fluttering and swirling above him, a raucous mess thanks to the onset dizziness affecting Faldrass itself. A few managed to land on his outstretched arm when he finally rose to his feet again, though. Eagerly chirping and hopping from foot to foot as they awaited something tasty to feed on.
"Hungry, aren't you." He'd gathered a lot of birds. "It's okay. Let it out. Take it out, on everything. Everything that walks on two legs." The frogs. Now the birds. Oh, he didn't want to leave anything to chance now. He wanted the message everywhere, he wanted everything... every last animal, carnivore or herbivoreAnimal Training Capstone: One Of Us, on every island, at every corner. "But start with them." A few high whistles and a gentle nudge towards the ships he could now see clearly heading south, and Nir'wei directed the cloud of famished birds south. He let them tear at the fabric of his shirt with their claws as they perched, and encouraged them for it, so they would tear at the fabric of the ships sails with the same eagerness. He let them swarm together, feeling them grow more cohesiveAnimal Training Capstone: Heart of the Pack the more he coaxed them with his words and directions. Larger birds, like etchwings, dug claws into his arm and he rewarded them until he was confident they'd find pleasure inflicting much worseTactics Capstone: Manhunt on those aboard the ships, likely before they realised what had happened.Tactics Capstone: Feral Insight
That dealt with, he hopped atop Traveller, and the Sohr Khal spread his wings wide. "Sovar, Myrth, Squeak, Nox." The four, once they'd met back up again, bound back through the still-open School Gateway before Nir'wei snapped it shut, and the three wolves faded into spirit form. "Let's go." Traveller launched into the air and Nox set a quick sprint behind them by the ground. He knew just the subtle ways to make himself as streamlined as possible, to ride with the shifting weight of Traveller as they rode to increase the speed of their ascent as fast as possible - and he aimed to lead them as high as possible, to ride the air currents across the island that would get them there faster than sailing low to the ground. "It's time we all saw with our own eyes again." The settlements would have to handle themselves, with whatever tools they had left. The pirates would distract him no longer.
Actions
1. Greyhide, Cold and Vabina remain at the Faldrass volcano.
2. Castile and Arle, having determined that the guards in Haven have been alerted to the threat but have not taken action, disengage from the fight and move towards Saoire's Dream instead.
3. Following Nir'weis awakening of the Forest Orb, Nir'wei uses the birds that he has gathered to expand on the frenzy of animals spreading across Faldrass.
4. Nir'wei also specifically sends the birds to attack the two ships travelling south. They are to prioritise two things - attacking the sailors, and attacking the sails. He wants to slow down the ships and weaken the pirate morale.
5. Nir'wei then recalls Sovar, Myrth and Nox from Saoire's Dream. He also recalls Squeak, who was sent towards Saoire's Dream from the Faldrass Barony at the end of the last round. They all return via the School Gateway he's kept open, so that it happens instantaneously. After this, he closes the portal.
6. Nir'wei rides Traveller to the Faldrass Volcano to meet up with Greyhide, Cold and Vabina while bringing Sovar, Myrth and Nox.
2. Castile and Arle, having determined that the guards in Haven have been alerted to the threat but have not taken action, disengage from the fight and move towards Saoire's Dream instead.
3. Following Nir'weis awakening of the Forest Orb, Nir'wei uses the birds that he has gathered to expand on the frenzy of animals spreading across Faldrass.
4. Nir'wei also specifically sends the birds to attack the two ships travelling south. They are to prioritise two things - attacking the sailors, and attacking the sails. He wants to slow down the ships and weaken the pirate morale.
5. Nir'wei then recalls Sovar, Myrth and Nox from Saoire's Dream. He also recalls Squeak, who was sent towards Saoire's Dream from the Faldrass Barony at the end of the last round. They all return via the School Gateway he's kept open, so that it happens instantaneously. After this, he closes the portal.
6. Nir'wei rides Traveller to the Faldrass Volcano to meet up with Greyhide, Cold and Vabina while bringing Sovar, Myrth and Nox.
