After they left Denver, it took a few hours to catch up with Grobert who was waiting well beyond the eternal blizzard that encircled the capital.
“The bypass in place?” Norman asked as he hopped off of Scar.
“Who do you take me for, a child? Of course, I put the bypass in place,” the crotchety old gron grumbled.
“I’m just double-checking,” Norman said as he raised his hands defensively. “We don’t want to annoy President Barthus by having random people teleporting through Grothlosburg.”
“Bah. It would serve him right for not kicking the asses of his Ministers to join in on the research.”
Norman agreed with his Chief Advisor’s opinion, but there was no point straining relations with an ally over something they eventually found a solution to themselves. With the bypass in place, the only teleporters the Ice King or anyone from Denver would be able to visit were located in California.
He had purposefully asked Grobert to block off the ones that led to Normenia and anywhere he didn’t want the powerful mage to go. This way he could at least control the dude’s movements. Was it deceitful? Maybe. Was it Practical? Absolutely. Ten years was a long time, people changed. Look how much he had changed in a decade. Perhaps in time, he would grow to trust the Ice King and his wife more. For now, he trusted them just enough to keep the Council in line, and that was all that mattered.
Grobert tweaked the teleporter and Norman and his retinue stepped through and into Ashvale.
“My guards can remain with me, the rest of you go on ahead, we will be there shortly.” The Death Knights saluted before once again stepping into the teleporter and vanishing.
With them gone, Norman hurried to the closest secure room. He had already sent a message ahead for the available Wraiths to meet him there. Their existence still wasn’t widely known, but he knew rumors were starting to make their way through the guards and knights. Most of that stemmed from Betrand's capture. Word of his spies was bound to get out eventually. After today there would be little doubt about who and what his spies were so why not make a big splash with them?
His plan hinged on deploying them in California. Normally he wouldn’t consider using them in this way, but this was not a time for half-measures, especially with the Council.
He closed and secured the door as Nolix and Lohr took positions outside. As soon as the door was secure, four ghostly forms materialized inside the room.
Norman quickly addressed the group. “I’m sorry for having to pull you away from your assignments, but this was more urgent.”
“We are yours to command, Lord Norman,” Shannon said with a salute. The rest followed her example.
Norman nodded, returning the salute in kind. “Are you all up to speed on current happenings?”
He saw that John seemed to be the only one without a confused look on his face.
Alright, a quick recap then. “Donovan was caught actively working with the Empire to trap me.” Based on their reactions, this news came as a shock. Hell, it came as a shock to Norman when he saw the man with the Princes.
“But why now?” Greg asked in confusion.
“I don’t know. Maybe he thought he could take advantage of my attention being elsewhere. With the collapse and the research it wasn’t a far stretch to think I would be distracted. Ultimately, his reasoning doesn’t matter though. What matters is that I caught him red-handed. Even if it's only my word against his, I am no longer going to sit idly by for him to make another move.”
“What would you have us do?” Shannon asked.
Norman quickly laid out his plan, as well as two contingency plans in case the first wasn’t viable. Then he handed each of the four a thin metal rod engraved with a series of enchantments.
“Go through the teleporter and keep out of sight until you see my signal. Once you see it, jam the rods into the ground at your designated positions. You will need to defend these rods once they are placed.”
The group gave one more salute before vanishing to carry out their orders. With that part done, Norman hurried out of the room. He had one more stop to make before heading back to the teleporter.
As he neared his destination, a large black-plated beast came sprinting out of the front doors. He bent down and accepted the near tackle from Princess. Dante and Lucifer weren’t far behind the hellhound matriarch as they too vied for his attention.
He gave the three some much-needed rubs and scratches before he stood up. “You three want to go hunting?”
They all perked up at that, their tails wagging happily. Norman smiled. He knew Eugene would have a few of the other hellhounds with him, but he wanted Princess, Dante, And Lucifer there as well.
The group made their way back to the teleporter, the hellhounds leading the way as they bounded ahead of Norman and his guards.
He noticed Ashvale seemed quieter than normal, almost like it was holding its breath in anticipation of what was coming. Norman smiled at everyone they passed. For better or worse, his actions today would change the political landscape of the region. He didn’t regret it one bit.
The teleporter flashed and Norman was left standing in a large open warehouse or abandoned factory. He couldn’t quite tell. Not that it mattered. This was the spot Grobert had found to hide the teleporter in the Council’s lands.
When he looked around, even he couldn’t spot the device. It was likely buried beneath the floor. What he did see was dozens of sets of footprints leading off into another section of the building.
Princess sneezed and let out an annoyed whine as the dust – kicked up from the numerous individuals passing through – tickled her nose.
Norman, his guards, and his hellhounds made their way through the building. He almost missed the Death Knights hiding in the shadows to act as guards and lookouts. They were getting eerily good at remaining unseen.
Soon they entered into a central room where over four hundred Death Knights stood at attention. The rest of his forces were either guarding the border or could not be pulled away from their current tasks. This would have to do.
As he made his way through the center of their formation, nobody saluted or even turned to look at him. He was glad Eugene had instilled a separate operational doctrine into them when they were away from home. It would not do to have people saluting officers in an active campaign. Others could take advantage of that. And he couldn’t imagine the racket four hundred fists slamming into their chests would make in this tin can building. They also did not need someone randomly coming by to see what all the ruckus was about.
Eugene only gave him a slight nod as Norman stepped up to where he was waiting. “Is everyone ready?”
“Awaiting your orders, Boss.”
He nodded and turned to address his men. “We are here today to finally rid ourselves of the Council. Their leader, Donovan Kane has finally shown his true colors and attempted to capture me. Your orders are not to kill him or any of the Councilors, they have access to phylacteries or at the bare minimum, revival spells. We need to capture them alive. To do that, each of your squads has been given a very special item. All you need to do is make it touch a council member. Don’t expect them to make it easy for you though.
You have each been assigned a residence to clear. We can’t be certain any of the councilors will be in their homes at the time of the strike, but we do know they are linked by portals. If you fail to locate your target, you are to secure the portal as well as anyone of note within the residence.
We cannot fail here, ladies and gentlemen. If we do, they will have an opportunity to strike back.”
Silence greeted Norman’s words, but each man and woman kept their focus on him. He nodded and continued. “There are tens or even hundreds of thousands of undead between us and them. We do not have time to fight through them, so two things must happen before we proceed.”
One of Eugene’s personal guards started passing out prepared spell sheets.
“Each of these sheets contains a spell that will cloak you from any undead. You will receive one for you, as well as one for your mount. They will only last an hour, so wait until just before we leave the building to activate them. The other thing we must do is this.” A huge spell circle wove itself into existence around the assembled troops.
“To ensure we bypass the Council’s anti-undead enchantments, we will all have to be alive for this mission.” This was the first thing Norman said that got quiet groans out of people.
He would have chuckled if the situation wasn’t so serious. “Take out your mounts and someone gather up the soldiers that are guarding. We’re only going to have one chance to do this.”
Norman only wanted to do this once because of the mana required to power this spell. That much mana being pulled in was going to be noticed, whether he did it as one huge spell or soldier by soldier. And time was not on their side to allow him to do it individually.
He thought about doing this step in Ashvale, but he didn’t want to tip off any possible spies. Having a bunch of undead converted back to life was sure to raise questions, especially if those undead were all Death Knights.
When everyone was gathered inside the spell circle, he triggered the spell. The pull of mana was so violent that a tornado of dust blew through the building and the metal structure groaned audibly. But it quickly died down as the spell finished converting natural mana into life force.
Most of the soldiers and their mounts staggered about like they were drunk as the effects of being forcefully brought back to life hit them. But they would recover shortly. There were only a few that weathered the transition. Eugene and Norman were among those. The others were made up of Gabriel’s team.
He supposed the hellhounds also weren’t stumbling about, but he had excluded them from the spell. They didn’t need to be alive for what he needed them to do.
As the knights were recovering, Norman bent down and scratched Princess on the head. “I need you to take your brothers and all the other hellhounds and kill any changelings you come across. Do you think you can do that?”
He was pretty sure he saw Princess roll her eyes before she chuffed at him. She then turned toward the others and barked a few times. All of the hellhounds turned toward her before she chuffed again and looked back at him.
“I’ll take that as a yes then. Wait for the Death Knights to leave, then go hunting.”
She purred in delight as she rubbed up against him, causing his armor to grate noisily against her bony plates.
If they didn’t manage to catch Donovan, at least he knew the hellhounds would devastate his spy network.
“Times up!” Euegene yelled. “Clear your heads and get going!”
Most had recovered, but a few were still feeling the effects. Those people quickly joined their groups as they started to move into position. When Norman looked back at Eugene, the man was wearing his Death Knight armor as well. It was the first time he had seen the man in full armor since their attack on the Brotherhood. He looked just as intimidating as he did back then. Even more so with the massive spiked hammer he now carried around with him.
“What?” Eugene asked as he saw him looking.
Norman just shook his head. “Nothing. Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready to crack Donovan’s skull for some time,” his giant of a Commander responded with a grin.
“Go!” Norman ordered, “And good hunting.”
The echo as nearly one thousand clawed feet rushed through the building was deafening.
Once the sounds lessened enough that he could hear again, he motioned for Eugene.
The man grinned and mounted Night and Norman followed along on Scar. Their group may be the smallest, with only him, Eugene, and their four guards, but it was probably the strongest. It had to be since their target was the big cheese himself.
After they left Denver, it took a few hours to catch up with Grobert who was waiting well beyond the eternal blizzard that encircled the capital.
“The bypass in place?” Norman asked as he hopped off of Scar.
“Who do you take me for, a child? Of course, I put the bypass in place,” the crotchety old gron grumbled.
“I’m just double-checking,” Norman said as he raised his hands defensively. “We don’t want to annoy President Barthus by having random people teleporting through Grothlosburg.”
“Bah. It would serve him right for not kicking the asses of his Ministers to join in on the research.”
Norman agreed with his Chief Advisor’s opinion, but there was no point straining relations with an ally over something they eventually found a solution to themselves. With the bypass in place, the only teleporters the Ice King or anyone from Denver would be able to visit were located in California.
He had purposefully asked Grobert to block off the ones that led to Normenia and anywhere he didn’t want the powerful mage to go. This way he could at least control the dude’s movements. Was it deceitful? Maybe. Was it Practical? Absolutely. Ten years was a long time, people changed. Look how much he had changed in a decade. Perhaps in time, he would grow to trust the Ice King and his wife more. For now, he trusted them just enough to keep the Council in line, and that was all that mattered.
Grobert tweaked the teleporter and Norman and his retinue stepped through and into Ashvale.
“My guards can remain with me, the rest of you go on ahead, we will be there shortly.” The Death Knights saluted before once again stepping into the teleporter and vanishing.
With them gone, Norman hurried to the closest secure room. He had already sent a message ahead for the available Wraiths to meet him there. Their existence still wasn’t widely known, but he knew rumors were starting to make their way through the guards and knights. Most of that stemmed from Betrand's capture. Word of his spies was bound to get out eventually. After today there would be little doubt about who and what his spies were so why not make a big splash with them?
His plan hinged on deploying them in California. Normally he wouldn’t consider using them in this way, but this was not a time for half-measures, especially with the Council.
He closed and secured the door as Nolix and Lohr took positions outside. As soon as the door was secure, four ghostly forms materialized inside the room.
Norman quickly addressed the group. “I’m sorry for having to pull you away from your assignments, but this was more urgent.”
“We are yours to command, Lord Norman,” Shannon said with a salute. The rest followed her example.
Norman nodded, returning the salute in kind. “Are you all up to speed on current happenings?”
He saw that John seemed to be the only one without a confused look on his face.
Alright, a quick recap then. “Donovan was caught actively working with the Empire to trap me.” Based on their reactions, this news came as a shock. Hell, it came as a shock to Norman when he saw the man with the Princes.
“But why now?” Greg asked in confusion.
“I don’t know. Maybe he thought he could take advantage of my attention being elsewhere. With the collapse and the research it wasn’t a far stretch to think I would be distracted. Ultimately, his reasoning doesn’t matter though. What matters is that I caught him red-handed. Even if it's only my word against his, I am no longer going to sit idly by for him to make another move.”
“What would you have us do?” Shannon asked.
Norman quickly laid out his plan, as well as two contingency plans in case the first wasn’t viable. Then he handed each of the four a thin metal rod engraved with a series of enchantments.
“Go through the teleporter and keep out of sight until you see my signal. Once you see it, jam the rods into the ground at your designated positions. You will need to defend these rods once they are placed.”
The group gave one more salute before vanishing to carry out their orders. With that part done, Norman hurried out of the room. He had one more stop to make before heading back to the teleporter.
As he neared his destination, a large black-plated beast came sprinting out of the front doors. He bent down and accepted the near tackle from Princess. Dante and Lucifer weren’t far behind the hellhound matriarch as they too vied for his attention.
He gave the three some much-needed rubs and scratches before he stood up. “You three want to go hunting?”
They all perked up at that, their tails wagging happily. Norman smiled. He knew Eugene would have a few of the other hellhounds with him, but he wanted Princess, Dante, And Lucifer there as well.
The group made their way back to the teleporter, the hellhounds leading the way as they bounded ahead of Norman and his guards.
He noticed Ashvale seemed quieter than normal, almost like it was holding its breath in anticipation of what was coming. Norman smiled at everyone they passed. For better or worse, his actions today would change the political landscape of the region. He didn’t regret it one bit.
The teleporter flashed and Norman was left standing in a large open warehouse or abandoned factory. He couldn’t quite tell. Not that it mattered. This was the spot Grobert had found to hide the teleporter in the Council’s lands.
When he looked around, even he couldn’t spot the device. It was likely buried beneath the floor. What he did see was dozens of sets of footprints leading off into another section of the building.
Princess sneezed and let out an annoyed whine as the dust – kicked up from the numerous individuals passing through – tickled her nose.
Norman, his guards, and his hellhounds made their way through the building. He almost missed the Death Knights hiding in the shadows to act as guards and lookouts. They were getting eerily good at remaining unseen.
Soon they entered into a central room where over four hundred Death Knights stood at attention. The rest of his forces were either guarding the border or could not be pulled away from their current tasks. This would have to do.
As he made his way through the center of their formation, nobody saluted or even turned to look at him. He was glad Eugene had instilled a separate operational doctrine into them when they were away from home. It would not do to have people saluting officers in an active campaign. Others could take advantage of that. And he couldn’t imagine the racket four hundred fists slamming into their chests would make in this tin can building. They also did not need someone randomly coming by to see what all the ruckus was about.
Eugene only gave him a slight nod as Norman stepped up to where he was waiting. “Is everyone ready?”
“Awaiting your orders, Boss.”
He nodded and turned to address his men. “We are here today to finally rid ourselves of the Council. Their leader, Donovan Kane has finally shown his true colors and attempted to capture me. Your orders are not to kill him or any of the Councilors, they have access to phylacteries or at the bare minimum, revival spells. We need to capture them alive. To do that, each of your squads has been given a very special item. All you need to do is make it touch a council member. Don’t expect them to make it easy for you though.
You have each been assigned a residence to clear. We can’t be certain any of the councilors will be in their homes at the time of the strike, but we do know they are linked by portals. If you fail to locate your target, you are to secure the portal as well as anyone of note within the residence.
We cannot fail here, ladies and gentlemen. If we do, they will have an opportunity to strike back.”
Silence greeted Norman’s words, but each man and woman kept their focus on him. He nodded and continued. “There are tens or even hundreds of thousands of undead between us and them. We do not have time to fight through them, so two things must happen before we proceed.”
One of Eugene’s personal guards started passing out prepared spell sheets.
“Each of these sheets contains a spell that will cloak you from any undead. You will receive one for you, as well as one for your mount. They will only last an hour, so wait until just before we leave the building to activate them. The other thing we must do is this.” A huge spell circle wove itself into existence around the assembled troops.
“To ensure we bypass the Council’s anti-undead enchantments, we will all have to be alive for this mission.” This was the first thing Norman said that got quiet groans out of people.
He would have chuckled if the situation wasn’t so serious. “Take out your mounts and someone gather up the soldiers that are guarding. We’re only going to have one chance to do this.”
Norman only wanted to do this once because of the mana required to power this spell. That much mana being pulled in was going to be noticed, whether he did it as one huge spell or soldier by soldier. And time was not on their side to allow him to do it individually.
He thought about doing this step in Ashvale, but he didn’t want to tip off any possible spies. Having a bunch of undead converted back to life was sure to raise questions, especially if those undead were all Death Knights.
When everyone was gathered inside the spell circle, he triggered the spell. The pull of mana was so violent that a tornado of dust blew through the building and the metal structure groaned audibly. But it quickly died down as the spell finished converting natural mana into life force.
Most of the soldiers and their mounts staggered about like they were drunk as the effects of being forcefully brought back to life hit them. But they would recover shortly. There were only a few that weathered the transition. Eugene and Norman were among those. The others were made up of Gabriel’s team.
He supposed the hellhounds also weren’t stumbling about, but he had excluded them from the spell. They didn’t need to be alive for what he needed them to do.
As the knights were recovering, Norman bent down and scratched Princess on the head. “I need you to take your brothers and all the other hellhounds and kill any changelings you come across. Do you think you can do that?”
He was pretty sure he saw Princess roll her eyes before she chuffed at him. She then turned toward the others and barked a few times. All of the hellhounds turned toward her before she chuffed again and looked back at him.
“I’ll take that as a yes then. Wait for the Death Knights to leave, then go hunting.”
She purred in delight as she rubbed up against him, causing his armor to grate noisily against her bony plates.
If they didn’t manage to catch Donovan, at least he knew the hellhounds would devastate his spy network.
“Times up!” Euegene yelled. “Clear your heads and get going!”
Most had recovered, but a few were still feeling the effects. Those people quickly joined their groups as they started to move into position. When Norman looked back at Eugene, the man was wearing his Death Knight armor as well. It was the first time he had seen the man in full armor since their attack on the Brotherhood. He looked just as intimidating as he did back then. Even more so with the massive spiked hammer he now carried around with him.
“What?” Eugene asked as he saw him looking.
Norman just shook his head. “Nothing. Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready to crack Donovan’s skull for some time,” his giant of a Commander responded with a grin.
“Go!” Norman ordered, “And good hunting.”
The echo as nearly one thousand clawed feet rushed through the building was deafening.
Once the sounds lessened enough that he could hear again, he motioned for Eugene.
The man grinned and mounted Night and Norman followed along on Scar. Their group may be the smallest, with only him, Eugene, and their four guards, but it was probably the strongest. It had to be since their target was the big cheese himself.
