Colonel Heinrich Uhlmann of the Imperial’s Army Department of the Arcana and the Paranormal was sitting at his desk, looking at a monstrous amount of papers in front of him. A bald, slender man in his 40s, Uhlmann wasn’t a pleasant person to be around. His tall figure, combined with an aquiline nose and piercing gaze made him look like a bird looking for prey. He was also an object of various rumours within the department as his track record was great, but his methods to achieve such results were unknown. Uhlmann considered himself to be a triumph of meritocracy. A commoner who rose through the ranks only because of his magical talents and his sharp mind. But even he found himself completely astonished by the events which occurred during the battle of Magnier almost 3 months ago.

The Tornland Empire entered a war with the Kingdom of Uspesh expecting a quick victory. The Imperial armies were pushing deep into Uspeshan territory with one of the armies arriving at Magnier, one of the largest cities in Uspesh, a mere month after the start of the war. It was there the Empire was struck by a disaster of gargantuan proportions. During the battle the whole city was consumed by an otherwordly light and a giant, black mound of unknown origin appeared above the battlefield. It clouded the mind of every man and woman within 25 kilometers with nightmarish visions, with many never waking up ever again. Even people located 100 kilometers from the battle were experiencing headaches and dizziness. After infecting soldiers with visions the mound spewed hundreds of creatures describes as ‘husks’ who turned people, machines and even buildings into dust. The incident lasted only a few hours, but its impact was monstrous. The total list of casualties of the battle was 7,500 dead (including almost 1,500 confirmed suicides), 23,500 wounded (including almost 8,000 cases of self-harm), 61,000 missing and 18,000 stuck in a nightmare (now stuck in mental asylums). 110,000 casualties out of 126,000 soldiers participating in the battle. In a single day. Several generals committed suicide, several others went missing and the whole army stopped for a few days fearing that similar event may occur somewhere else. The Uspeshans seized the opportunity, stopped retreating and dug themselves into the ground. Magnier stood empty for a few days, but once again the Imperial enemies reacted first and retook their positions in the city. After recovering from the stock the Empire launched an offensive after offensive to resume their momentum from the beginning of the war, but Uspeshan forces held their ground and tens of thousands of casualties later the Imperial General Staff realised the perspective of swift victory was truly gone.

While the military consequences of the ‘Magnier Incident’ were catastrophic for the Empire, the repercussions beyond the battlefield were arguably even worse.

Despite the massive loss of life there were some survivors and they were very eager to talk. To prevent stories about cosmic entities from spreading some radical steps needed to be undertaken. Newspapers became state-controlled, letters became censored and any people who tried to spread the truth, including many deserters who survived Magnier, were arrested, interrogated and often shot. The rest of the survivors were reformed into a new military unit and sent to one of the calmer sections of the front where they are as isolated as it’s possible to prevent them from spreading any stories about the incident. The official version was that the Uspeshans used powerful and forbidden artifacts to cause mass hysteria and hallucinations amongst the soldiers. Colonel Uhlmann knew all too well who really was behind the incident. After all, he even talked to her.

Almost immediately after the incident the whole Department went to work to find out who or what cause the incident. Uhlmann’s men went to Magnier itself and after ‘interviewing’ a few isolated survivors they quickly concluded the city’s library was an important piece to the puzzle. After getting their hands dirty a few more times they retrieved the corpse of a female officer, named Erika von Glattekrone who apparently activated the artifact which summoned the black mound. Her body was transported to Heinrich himself, who used his certain talents to forcefully reanimate the woman and question her. Necromancy is punishable by death in most civilized nations, including hte Empire, but Uhlmann wasn’t too concerned by it. For him getting to do the bottom of this case was infinitely more important than abiding magical conventions and laws of his own nation. After many agonizing days, Erika’s corpse finally revealed enough information to satisfy the colonel. Because of unimaginable pain the revived corpse is experiencing it often took her close to an hour to formulate a single word, but the end result was well worth it. The deceased officer revealed she received the scepter from another officer who commanded a different unit. Uhlmann’s men quickly found a survivor from that company and after being forced to cooperate he revealed the names of three people who retrieved the artifact from certain ruins. After confirming one of the trio was dead Uhlmann received details about the remaining two. One of them, Konrad von Hohenberg was the captain of the whole unit, a certain nobleman who ended up blind after Magnier. After being decorated for his bravery he was given a house and a servant in a secluded location. The second one, Amelia Weisseblume was the company’s cleric, probably involved in the destruction of the scepter. Together with the rest of the survivors she was transported to a different section of the frontlines.

Which of those two should Uhlmann visit first? (Which character should the story follow first)
>Konrad
>Amelia

>>3682220
>Amelia
alphabetically.

>>3682220
Amelia

>>3682220
>Amelia

I've been waiting for this

>>3682763
also
>Amelia

>>3682220
>>Konrad

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Since the majority of you wants to follow Amelia's perspective first, we will do just that.
-----

Screams. Oceans of blood. Adalard’s body. Floating husks. The green light.

Every time you close your eyes for even a moment you see those images flashing before you. Every night the same nightmares you’ve experience 3 months ago come back to haunt you once more and every time you wake up sweating and sobbing. When you pulled the trigger on the top of the library and killed the person responsible for this hell, you thought it was over, but the cursed city of Magnier and the events of that faithful day stubbornly refused to leave your mind. Not that your current location would help you to forget it anyway.

Standing in front of a makeshift hospital you take a deep breath of cold, but refreshing air. The winter was slowly setting in and with it an inevitable slowdown of massive military operations. Fortunately, your section of the front was quiet either way. Located in the middle of the vast Camargue marshes in Southern Uspesh it served as a barrier for soldiers from both sides and required minimal military presence. In fact, your unit, the 113 th infantry division, comprised entirely of survivors from Magnier, was the largest in the area. Some 12,000 men strong the ‘Lucky Ones’ despite being a veteran force were kept behind the frontlines and were used mostly to expand trench networks, build defensive structures and occasionally conduct a limited bombardment to remind their enemies that there is still a war going on. Fortunately for you, your healing magic made you more useful as a cleric in a local infirmary even further away from any potential danger. Or so you had thought. After a short while you’ve realized the reason behind the creation and deployment of the division. To allow various Imperial agents to observe the men and prevent them from saying too much about what really happened in the city. Dozens of soldiers were declared insane on the spot and dragged to mental asylums just because they wanted to tell their stories. Several others went ‘missing’ after sending letters to their families detailing what they went through. You were certain every letter written by soldiers of the 113 th was checked thoroughly before being sent anywhere. That’s why your correspondence with Konrad was sporadic and never went into many details. Additionally, all leaves were postponed indefinitely.

- ‘We are stuck in a glorified prison camp.’ - you mutter the obvious to yourself after inhaling more cold air. A female voice can be heard from behind you.

- ‘Amelia? Did you say something?’

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>>3683791
You slowly turn towards the source of the voice and your eyes soon fall upon a young female elf with a concerned look on her face. Her name was Elke Theil and she was also a cleric. Her long, red hair were moving slightly after being exposed to the weak, cold wind. After all other clerics present at Magnier were either confirmed dead or dragged away you two remained as the only people in the division capable of healing people with magic. She was lucky to be on the very edge of the city when the cosmic mound descended from stars. Still, she saw and experienced enough to justify her transfer into the 113 th infantry division. During the last weeks you two became friends after being forced to run the infirmary together. She relegated herself to the position of your junior partner despite being almost 10 years older than you. You guess her being an elf had something to do with it.

After realizing you’ve been simply staring at her for several seconds without saying anything you finally decide to answer.

>Reassure Elke everything is fine and dismiss her concerns
>Ask Elke what does she think about the division’s current predicament

>>3683799
>Ask Elke what does she think about the division’s current predicament

>>3683799
>Reassure Elke everything is fine and dismiss her concerns

>>3684067
+1.

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>>3684067
>>3684230
Deciding to be honest with Elke you finally respond.

- ‘What do you think about our current situation?’ - your eyes meet as you await Elke’s answer.

- ‘I...I don’t know.’ - the elven girl clearly struggles to formulate a sentence after being taken slightly by surprise by your question - ‘It feels like we are stuck in a limbo of sorts.’

She quickly looks around to make sure no one is here to eavesdrop.

- ‘I think they don’t really know what to do with us and I fear what their solution to this problem will ultimately be.’

You nod in silent agreement although you are sligthly unsettled by Elke’s statement and what it implies. After analysing her words further and looking at her sad face you can’t help, but to clench your fists. Two Imperial soldiers shouldn’t fear their own side more than they fear the opponent. And yet, 3 months after the worst night of your life you spend most of your time wondering whether or not you will make it through the day without landing in a mental asylum or being dragged Gods know where. If only you could get past the censorship and inform Konrad about the survivors’ current predicament.

You recall your last conversation with your former captain on top of Magnier’s library. You both sworn to do your best to find and destroy any artifacts similar to this one. Instead, as a reward for surviving a literal hell on earth you and other survivors were put under constant observation in a secluded location just to make sure the public doesn’t learn the truth. After all, the truth could end up harming the war effort.

Elke breaks the silence yet again.

- ‘Your thoughts must be quite similar. That’s why you are constantly worried, right?’

You look sadly into the distance as the cold wind hits your cheek.

- ‘Yes. This uncertainty is eating me from within.’

After a short pause you turn towards the elf and place your hand on her shoulder and speak once again.

>’We don’t deserve this.’
>’We need to stay strong'

>>3684458
>we need to stay strong and persevere

>>3684458
>>’We need to stay strong'

>>3684458
>’We need to stay strong'
we should keep matters of "who deserves what" to ourselves

>>3684458
>We need to stay strong

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>>3687587
>>3687599
>>3687710
>>3688132
- ‘We need to stay strong.’

Elke slowly nods her head and smiles weakly. She understood fully that right now there is next to nothing either of you could do about this situation.

- ‘Yes, anger and whining won’t get us anywhere. We are fighting this war and helping the wounded. Let us focus on that.’ - Elke’s smile widens and you can’t help, but smile a bit yourself as you gently remove your hand from her shoulder.

- ‘So we will carry on as usual?’ - you ask the elf already knowing what her answer will be.

- ‘Exactly! Most guys over here aren’t really focused on the war so I guess it’s up to us.’ - she shrugged.

You laugh at her statement, but mere seconds later something else starts to draw your attention. There was somethig going on in the camp. A small group of soldiers, surrounded by many curious spectators was rushing towards the infirmary. You quickly notice a body on the stretcher, undoubtedly the source of the commotion.

- ‘Guess some people are focused on fighting after all.’ - you say in a grim tone as you await the arrival of your next patient. Unfortunately for all involved, what laid on the stretcher wasn’t aliver and barely resembled a human.

There was no skin left of the body which at this point was nothing more than a mass of melted flesh and small pieces of his uniform which miraculously survived contact with whatever was responsible for killing the poor soul. You manage to locate a badge on the disfigured body. 84th infantry regiment, one of the two regiments forming the first line of defense in front of your division. Elke looked at the corpse speechless, but finally she turned towards the soldiers who carried it to the infirrmary.

- ‘Why did you carry him here? We can’t help dead people.’

One of the men quickly responded.

- ‘His unit went missing yesterday during a reconnaissance duty in the marshes. There was no reports of any firefights in their area and we just found them like this. In fact, his corpse was more intact than the rest.’

You turn towards the man.

- ‘I still don’t understand what do you want us to do.’ - your slightly irritated voice resonates throughout the building.

- ‘Examine the body. See what killed him. Our regiment doesn’t have any clerics and I don’t think our regular medics will be of much use.’

This statement surprised you a lot. If the man didn’t trust conventional medics it meant he was concerned about paranormal forces being involved in the killing. You glance at the body and seeing the horrifying state it’s in you realize there may be some merit to this. Still, clerics aren’t usually used for this purpose. Elke keeps looking at you, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. After another moment of consideration you finally answer:

>’We’ll do it.’
ROLL D6
>’I’m sorry gentlemen, we don’t perform autopsies.’

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>3689071
>We'll do what we can

If they're asking us there probably isn't anyone more qualified available.

>>3689785
Seconding this

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3690000
forgot to roll

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>>3689785
>>3690014
After agreeing to the soldiers’ request you gently tell them to wait outside as you and Elke get to work.

- ‘So...what’s the plan?’ - the elf asks as she focuses her eyes on you.

- ‘We will try to detect any signs of magic still lingering on this poor man.’ - you answer while slowly starting to focus your senses.

Elke sighs slightly and follows in your suit. Both of you are fully aware that this won’t be the easiest of tasks. This person died probably more than 24 hours ago and he was killed by magic, it was probably the planetary kind, the one which allows mages to manipulate objects and elements. Additionally, while both you and Elke can cast planetary magic, you are far more proficient in the cosmic kind of magic as all clerics do. While planetary magic is used to manipulate living things, you can’t imagine someone being able to almost melt a living human using it. After several minutes of scanning the body you fail to detect anything. A short glance at Elke reassures you her own search didn’t bear fruit either. She opens her mouth in consternation.

- ‘What killed him then?’ - she asks both you and herself.

You know about several possible explanation. After this period of time any trail of magical activity may have dissipated. The attacker could’ve also had hidden any potential signs, but it would’ve been a long and meticulous process and it was unlikely someone tried doing that in an active warzone. You look at the corpse again. This level of excessive damage probably came from a highly corrosive source. Once again, elemental mages can cast spells with acidic properties, but it’s much harder than simply unleashing a fireball or a lighting bolt. Which leaves only one option as the most likely cause of death.

- ‘Alchemy.’ - you whisper.

An unholy process of creating drugs, toxins and other terrible substances, alchemy is often looked upon with disdain although it still can be a highly profitable business. It’s been used in warfare before and corrosive potions wouldn’t be a new addition to the terrifying arsenal of war. Alchemists are rare as potion-making requires years of dedication and complete disregard for your own life as accidents are common. In that case, why would Uspeshans send one of their rare alchemists here? You turn towards the entrance, ready to deliver the answer to the soldiers. Your theory is just an educated guess and sharing it with the soldiers would almost certainly create an ‘alchemy scare’ throughout the units stationed here and maybe even influence military planning.

>Tell the soldiers that alchemy is the most plausible cause of death
>Don’t share your theory and simply reassure the soldiers that magic had nothing to do with their comrade’s death

>>3690107
>Create the alchemy scare

>>3690107
>Tell the soldiers that alchemy is the most plausible cause of death

>>3690107
>Dont share our theory
we don't want anymore attention in our delicate situation

>>3690122
>>3690370
After carefully explaining your theory to the group of soldiers you can clearly see signs of concern on their faces. They all knew too well what an arrival of an Uspeshan alchemist meant for this quiet section of the front. There is now a great risk of an enemy offensive operation in the near future. Unless said alchemist was employed to create some defensive measures to turn Camargue marshes from a difficult obstacle to a truly impassable one. Of course, you made it very clear that the alchemist theory was only a theory, but you knew this won’t impact the soldier’s reactions who definitely didn’t want to simply sit and wait to find out if your theory was correct.

- ‘We will inform our commander at once. He needs to postpone any further patrols.’ - one of the soldier explained his course of action to you as his comrades carried the body out of the infirmary. Before departing they all thanked you and Elke for your hard work. Watching soldiers from the 84th march back to their posts, the elven girl made her concerns vocal.

- ‘Why would they deploy an alchemist here in the middle of winter?’

You were unable to find an answer. Just as Elke, you were only a cleric, not a strategist. But even you thought this situation to be a bit suspicious. If an alchemist was really here, the enemy was surely planning something. But what?

Your thoughts were interrupted by your friend’s voice.

- ‘We should ask Jannik.’

Jannik Doerr was a dwarven officer, currently in charge of your batallion. Before Magnier, he was a mere first lieutenant, but as one of the few surviving officers he was quickly promoted to replace his now-dead superior. During the reorganisation of Magnier survivors empty officer positions were staffed by simply promoting surviving junior officers since the Imperial staff wanted to avoid bringing up officers from other sources. Thanks to that, first lieutenant Jannik Doerr was now known as colonel Jannik Doerr. He was painfully inexperienced, but he was the closest thing to an authority figure in your batallion. You look at Elke, wondering whether asking Jannik is actually a good idea. His input may be valuable or it may be completely incorrect and additional confusion and more scared soldiers is a thing you would rather want to avoid.

>Agree to Elke’s idea. That dwarf is still an officer after all.
>Dismiss Elke’s idea and simply tell her to prepare the infirmary for a sudden influx of patients.

>>3690497
>Dismiss

He may be an officer, but we don't know if he's OPSECed and has a need to know.

>>3690497
>dismiss

>>3690606
>>3690998
You quickly decide that informing Jannik about this whole situation wouldn’t do you any good. He was hastily promoted and lacked the experience to make good judgements about the enemy’s potential goal.

- ‘There is no point, Elke. Jannik has similar level of knowledge about strategic planning as we do. If anything, we may end up scaring our own unit.’

The elf seemed unconvinced by your explanation and opened her mouth to protest, but you quickly silence her by continuing to talk.

- ‘The best thing we can do right now is to prepare ourselves for the worst. If the enemy wants to attack, informing Jannik won’t save anyone, but our actions may do just that.’ - your tone is serious and your eyes are fixed on Elke’s face who seems to come to terms with your decision.

- ‘You’re right, the less people know, the less panic it’ll cause, but what should we do? Just wait until the alchemist strikes again?’ - your friend asks with a great dose of concern in her voice.

- ‘How about you go eat something, girl. Hungry clerics won’t be able to cast healing magic for long.’ - you smile and look at your friend who only just now realised she’s been in the infirmary since early morning without eating anything. She giggles a bit.

- ‘Alright, alright, I’ll leave this place to you for the time being. If anything happens, you better come running to the cantine!’

You smile, nod and wave your hand as Elke leaves the building. After waiting a few moments you realize that now you have a good opportunity to write a letter to Konrad von Hohenberg. Fully aware your letter will go through strict censorship, you stare at the blank parchment in front of you wondering what should be the focus of your letter. As a former officer, Konrad may be able to give you his own insight into certain issues.

>Focus on your own well-being and reassure Konrad everything is fine
>Ask Konrad what would he do in case of a hypothetical alchemical attack
>Try to tell Konrad the truth about your current predicament by carefully placing some clues in your writing
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK

>>3692023
>Ask what he would do in case of hypothetical alchemical attack

>>3692041
+1

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>>3692041
>>3692198
You decide to inform Konrad about your concerns regarding the arrival of an enemy alchemist and ask for advice. Von Hohenberg was just a captain, but he graduated a prestigious military school and he had an actual experience in leading troops. You decide to make the letter quite short and get straight to the point. Completing and sending it today was pivotal for you as time was essential. Judging by your previous letters, it should around 7 days for the letter to arrive at his doorstep. After sending the letter, you spend the entire evening praying that the enemy will give you these 2 weeks and don’t start any actions before you receive a reply.

7 days later…

- ‘Mister von Hohenberg? Today’s letters.’

- ‘You can read them later.’

Konrad von Hohenberg was sitting in his armchair with a cigarette in his hand. Despite being blind, he was still able to light them up himself which quickly became his only solace in life. Stuck in a house in a small village of Altschweier the only thing he could do was sit and smoke until his lungs finally gave up. Unfortunately, he was still a young man and this kind of death wouldn’t come any time soon, so Konrad decided to sped up the process of destroying his body by drinking a lot of alcohol which his caretaker, a young and relatively well-educated girl by the name of Finnja bought reluctantly. She and many other young women were employed to take care of permanently crippled veterans around the country.

- ‘There is one from Amelia Weisseblume, mister von Hohenberg.’ - her voice was silent, barely even a whisper.

>>3692575
Konrad slowly turned towards the source of this gentle voice. Amelia Weisseblume, the person who saved the day and destroyed that cursed artifact while he was laying wonded and bleeding on the ground. Back then he promised her to try searching for more artifacts and help her destroy them, but now, more than 3 months later none of this had materialized in any capacity. Even if he actually found something, he wouldn’t be able to inform Amelia about his findings, thanks to heavy censorship. Still, they wrote to each other regularly and it brought some happiness to Konrad’s incredibly boring life.

- ‘Read it.’

Finnja slowly started to read the letter and Konrad was absorbing each word with a great dose of care. As the letter progressed his smile slowly faded and was replaced with a much more grim look. Mutilated corpses? An alchemist? A potential enemy offensive? Despite protests from his caretaker, Konrad lit up another cigarette and started to think. This was a massive problem for all soldiers stationed there, not just Amelia. He could simply respond to Amelia and give her some advice which would ensure her own safety, but it may be wiser to focus more on the wider scope and also write a letter to the Camargue HQ and hope they will take his input into consideration. After a while Konrad decided to…

>simply respond to Amelia and focus on her personal safety
>write both to Amelia and the HQ, but focus more on Amelia’s safety
>write both to Amelia and the HQ, but focus more on advising the HQ

>>3692581
>Simply respond to Amelia

Don't want to blow influence on an unconfirmed alchemist.

>>3692914
+1

>>3692914
Seconding as well

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>>3692914
>>3695034
>>3695294
- ‘and I will hope, no, pray for your safety, Konrad. Got that?’ - Von Hohenberg finished dictating the letter and looked in general direction of his caretaker.

- ‘Yes mister von Hohenberg.’

After asking Finnja to read the entire letter to him two additional times Konrad decided that the letter was adequate and as Finnja rushed outside towards the post office building, von Hohenberg could finally about the whole situation alone. He opted for not writing to the HQ as he had feared it could cause unnecessary trouble for both him and especially Amelia. Besides ,it wasn’t guaranteed anyone at the HQ would listen to him as he was just a crippled captain hundreds of kilometers away from the frontlines. As Konrad lit up another cigaretter he simply hoped Amelia would read his letter and persevere as she usually does.

9 days later…

Slowly making your way to the infirmary, you take another look at Konrad’s response. Strong icy wind blowing straight towards Imperial positions made that task much harder, but you didn’t care much. Von Hohenberg’s letter presented a bleak reality. According to him, after being caught in an alchemical attack you are as good as dead unless you are able to exit the tainted area in a very short time. That means soldiers can either advance or retreat from their current positions which makes alchemy a very powerful tool to clear trenches. Additionally, there is next to nothing one can do to help people who didn’t manage to escape in time. Magic shields won’t stop corrosive gasses which means even mages need to stay out of it and watch the victims die a slow, agonizing death. Fortunately, any soldiers that makes it out in time can be healed and alchemical substances themselves are often very difficult to create which means the enemy would usually possess only small quantities of these terrifying weapons.

To your surprise Elke is already in the infirmary. The elven girl is busy studying a small piece of paper. Obviously you weren’t the only person who received her letter today. After hearing your footsteps she quickly shifts her eyes away from the letter.

- ‘Good day.’ - she quickly notices a parchment in your hands - ‘Your lover Konrad?’

Staring daggers at the elf whose cheeky smile doesn’t appear to fade you quickly respond.

- ‘What about your letter? Is it from a lover?’

- ‘No, simply my brother.’

A big smile forms on your face.

- ‘One doesn’t exclude the other.’

Elke’ eyes widen for a moments before she bursts out laughing.

- ‘Shut up! Good Gods Amelia, you are such an idiot!’

After sharing a few additional laughs you sit down next to your friend, shifting your eyes between yours and Elke’s letters and wondering what to do next.

>Share Konrad’s letter with Elke
>Ask Elke about her brother’s letter

>>3695424
>Both share Konrad's letter and ask about the one from her brother

>>3695490
>>3695424
backing

>>3695490
Agreed

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>>3695490
>>3696046
>>3696086
Quite curious about Elke’s brother you decide to ask her a few questions about him.

- ‘So what is your brother doing? I don’t remember you receiving any letter from him before.’

The elven girls turns her head to look at you.

- ‘He was stationed just south of Magnier.’ - your heart skips a beat at a mere mention of the wretched city. - ‘After our army was annihilated during the incident, his division was moved into the city to plug the gap and continue the offensive, but Uspeshans had more than enough time to reinforce their positions in the city and despite many assaults his unit was unable to take the city.’ - Elke’s smile now completely fades as she continues in a serious tone. - ‘The battle turned into a grind. My brother says his division suffered a lot since they arrived at Magnier 3 months ago.

You raise your eyebrows.

- ‘A lot?’

- ‘They probably censored any numbers. Which means it must be really bad. The city itself is a pile of rubble at this point.’

You shake your head in disbelief. How can the Empire justify this? After losing an entire army to this infernal city they simply decided to throw more men into the slaughter? How many people will have to die over some ruins?

Elke continues:

-’Apparently for Uspeshans the city became a symbol of their resistance and they are pouring reinforcements into the city every day.’ - she sighs - ‘I don’t know which side is crazier.’

Both of you simply sit in silence for the next several seconds, both of you thinking how insane this world has became during these last few months until Elke finally opens her mouth again.

- ‘Can I read you a fragment?’

- ‘Of course.’ - you look at the elf curiously as she starts read to a part of the letter out loud in a deep voice, probably mocking her brother.

- ‘At least I’ve learned to appreciare winter. It’s cold as fuck, but I don’t have to lay in mud every day since it all froze down.’

You chuckle at this bit. Elves are known for their intolerance of low temperatures and to hear one of them celebrating winter was definitely a new experience.

Then it hit you. The ground froze. The wet and soft ground of the marshes is now perfectly solid and no longer an obstacle. You surely wasn’t the first person to realise this, but this revelation made you much more uncomfortable. Waves of eeriness come crashing down on you as your mind is invaded by thoughts that something terrible is about to happen.

- ‘Are you alright, Amelia?’ - Elke leans towards you with signs of concerns in both her voice and on her face.

Only then you’ve realised your breathing became shallow and you stared blanky at the wall for at least a few seconds now. You look towards the heavy wooden doors leading outside before turning your head to face Elke.

>Reassure Elke you’re fine and tell her about Konrad’s letter
>Excuse Elke and head outside to take a good look at the marshes

>>3696256
>Excuse yourself and look at the marshes

>>3696414
+1

>>3696256
>Excuse Elke and head outside to take a good look at the marshes

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>>3696414
>>3696680
>>3696745
- ‘I-I need to check something. Excuse me for a moment.’ - you quickly get up from your chair without waiting for Elke’s response. You practically run outside as the feeling of an impending catastrophe grows bigger with each passing second. After hastily exiting the infirmary you look at the vast marshes separating you from the enemy. Despite strong icy cold winds hitting your face every moment you try your hardest to ignore it and focus on observing the horizon. You scan the distant grounds praying silently to not see anything out of the ordinary, but this time the Gods clearly weren’t on your side.

A strange, thick mist was slowly crawling towards the Imperial lines, swallowing trees along the way. Creeping next to the ground it was undoubtedly carried by the wind which blew that way for quite some time now. You clearly wasn’t the only person to notice that as the entire camp froze with people looking silently at this phenomen. Then you notice the colour of the mist – sickly green, just like the light which illuminated the accursed city of Magnier during that faithful night. All of the images start coming back to you, stronger than ever.

- ‘No. Not again.’ - you look at the fog in horror, motionless. You see some shapes within it. Trees? Or maybe those faceless monsters, coming to claim their toll and turn thousands more into dust?

- ‘Please, I can’t go through this again.’ - you whisper as you drop to your knees and start sobbing uncontrollably. Your mind became a slideshow of various horror you experienced in Magnier and despite looking away from the mist, the sickly green colour followed you everywhere.

- ‘Amelia? Amelia?!’

You barely register a female voice calling your name. Not important. Not now. There are thousands of soldiers standing between you and the colour. They stand no chance against those horrors. They will perish without your help. You don’t want to go through this again, but if not you then who?

- ‘Amelia we have to go. Shit.’

Thousands will die. Just like the last time. You have to do something. Make the colour go away. Away. Away. Away.

You slowly start to get up.

- ‘Thank the Gods, come with me.’

Just as you take your first step towards the incoming mist, someone blocks your way. A woman. Your friend. Why does she want to stop you?

- ‘Please Amelia, you need to come with me.’ - the woman says as she reaches to grab your hand.

>Allow her to do so
>Push her aside, those people need your help

Now, a quick question - do you want more PTSD episodes in the future?

>>3696934
>Push her aside

I think it's appropriate, but a hallucinatory effect that lasts this long is a bit much. Unless the magic that caused the event has lingering effects? I dunno, your call.

>>3696934
>push her aside
We're going in, PTSD Amelia best Amelia

>>3696934
>Allow her to do so

Maybe a few but not very long

>>3697009
>>3698218
>>3702180
Thanks lads for expressing your opinions

Also since I forgot, here's a link to the new thread: >>3702035