Summary of Events
Kreetir awaited to greet the Gifted in the Eastern Outpost. There were certainly a great lot that heeded this call! Hopefully all might end well?
He described to the Gifted present that they, in the end, decide between the three plans - interrogate Reklar, capture/interrogate an Aegis researcher, or bring he himself into the Deadlands to do some research of their own. Initially, the crowd was leaning towards interrogating Reklar, but then a Saris Ranger spoke out against it, claiming he could easily figure out they were coming and either flee or refuse to speak. Most changed their minds after this, deciding to try to find and capture a researcher.
Kreetir points out the Barrier Vale - all places of interest so far have been in the far east of the Eastern Deadlands and this is one of the few places the Gifted had yet to be pulled to. Then, without delay, he sends them off.
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As the Gifted delve into the Deadlands, they are met with hastily drawn together defense forces as the Aegis catch on. From rangers to dragons to Thornwood Treants, the Gifted crush them all and keep pushing onward.
At the very entrance to Barrier Vale stood a large ghostly dragon, blocking their path and demanding no entry. Attempts at conversation were met with the same repeated sentence - "DO... NOT... PASS...". Hopeless, the Gifted decide to put the creature out of its misery instead of letting it stand and suffer such a fate.
Pushing onward, the group ends up at the gates to Barrier Vale, where they see a large Elf zombie standing in front. Knowing their target when they see him, they pursue the swift zombie only to run into crowds of undead dragons and phantom mages plaguing the valley. Many of the Gifted warriors fall here again and again, but eventually, they persevere.
Facing the researcher head-on, the Gifted strike him until he's unable to fight back... with his own hands. He calls in Valkor, who makes quick work of the stacked group with his Vampiric Bats. The Gifted regroup and strike back after careful planning and take him out. They corner the researcher again and demand answers.
All this grunt can tell them is how the Aegis are studying the magical fields that connect the Realms together. The Realm of None - also known as the Rift - was the first to be tested. Of course, the Gifted stole the power source that connects portals to this realm, ruining the headway they once had. Little else of use is recovered from this undead; after some more prodding questions, he snaps and attacks the Gifted around him. He is crushed by their overwhelming might pretty quickly, falling down as dead as an undead can be.
One of the Gifted - a powerful hatchling primalist - insists on taking the body back to her own lair for study and interrogation, if possible. She claims to have sent her Wyvern back to retrieve it and bring it to her lair. Whether she gets to keep it very long is unknown, considering the Empire would very much like that body back to resurrect it for their own interrogation purposes...
As the grunt fell, he proclaimed allegiance to a new name - "the Great Silver" - and named a location. Alerted, the Gifted swiftly fly and run to the new area, where they do, indeed, find a rather large blight dragon. From its eyes, the Gifted seemed very small indeed...
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The large dragon spoke in riddles, but what was gleaned is that it was once a dragoness in life and did not fall to Aegis control very, very long ago. The name "the Great Silver" is just a nickname forced onto her. Some Gifted shied away from this, not wanting to fight or speak to someone once one of their own living ranks not so long ago, but they didn't have to deal with her for long - she faded off into the blackness, leaving behind a Greater Anchor, Son of Gigaroth, and echoing laughter in her place.
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After these fell, they were supplemented by a large Bioscholar who felled half of the team a few times before finally being taken out after a grueling battle. With this, silence fell, and the Gifted knew there was nothing left for them in this dark, desolate place.
While they know more than they did when they started, one can't help but feel there are big pieces of the puzzle missing here. Namely, the reasons why the Aegis have started to branch out after so long and why they have become active again after such a long stalemate. As well the question lingers... who is or was this riddle-speaking figure in the shadows?
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