[COLOR=7CFC00][I]"... ve my leave to do as you see fit until then, but i STRONGLY suggest that you do not venture inland.  In any case, that was exemplary work today, my dear. I will let you know when we have prepared for the next step."[/I][/COLOR] Mask of Winters shook his head after ceasing his communication with Cackling Harlot. He was growing tired of constantly praising her, but it seemed to ensure she always lived up to his expectations. He would continue to pat her on the back, though it was his opinion that a deathknight should not need praise to perform their duties. Regardless, he had now fired the first shot in this war to decide the fate of the Blessed Isle. No doubt the leaders of the Isle would try to answer with similar ferocity. It was time to show them that they had no chance of matching the military might he had amassed since the previous war.

Cackling Harlot was ecstatic, as she was every time her master praised her. She was leaving the Imperial Ruins as well, moving to the n. She may have free reign for now, but all she wished to do was to stick to the plan. And so she and the forces at her command would head to the next staging point ahead of Mask of Winters. [COLOR=DDA0DD][I]This campaign MUST succeed."[/I][/COLOR] she thought as she pressed onward. Her thoughts then momentarily drifted to the losses that both sides would no doubt take throughout this... war. She hated calling it that, but that would be how it was remembered. Gritting her teeth at the thoughts and shaking her head a few times, Cackling Harlot steeled herself once again. This HAD to be done. Not just for the sake of her master, but for the sake of all that was left in the world.

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Fergus initially handwaved Cilia's exclamation and said [COLOR=FF8C00][B]"It's not like I'm going to sue you. The dead don't pay me enough for that, you know?"[/B][/COLOR] in an attempt to defuse tensions with humor. But as time passed and the group moved further away from the city, he had the niggling feeling that his humor was neither well-timed nor welcome. They had just escaped a hellish situation, and he was cracking wise? Poor form, to say the least. While they trudged onward, the barrister's mind was occupied with thoughts of how to make it up to the group. His level of distraction got the better of him a few times. Stumbling over a tree root or rock, getting slapped in the face by a branch, and eating from the wrong pouch at his belt... and finding a small reddish-brown rock in his mouth rather than a handful of his snack mix. 

Right. That damned rock. Every time he got rid of it, the thing came back somehow. No matter. The mishap did make Fergus chuckle and absent-mindedly say [COLOR=FF8C00][B]"Stupid rock. You must see something in me that I don't see in myself, huh? Otherwise you'd have scarpered ages ago."[/B][/COLOR] as he put it back in his pocket. He did have to admit that its presence was a small comfort, though. In a world that was once again on going to war, very little was certain. Yet some things continued on as if nothing was amiss. Even things as seemingly as insignificant as a little rock always coming back to a now nervous wreck of a Mnemon barrister. 

Maybe the rock WAS lucky. Moments after Fergus finished his little chat with the inanimate object, the group happened upon a creek that flowed lazily along. It was not deep, but had no large trees nearby to impede visibility at its banks, and a steep cliff to the south that would impede attacks from that direction. All in all, a fairly secure place to rest and mend their bodies for a few hours. By now, they were a good distance from the city... so pursuit had likely tapered off. Especially if Snow had been right about seeing the Juggernaut moving away from the city and toward the sea once more. While he had no clue why that would be the case, Fergus decided to take it as a blessing. Maybe the Deathlord's army had overtaxed itself and was falling back? If so, that would give them even more time to alert the leaders in Lord's Crossing. 

If only that were the case...

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The sun was setting behind the hillside to the west of the camp when it happened. Fergus was tending the small fire they had lit to ward off the chill of the approaching night. He might even have said it was a tranquil and beautiful evening, had the morning and afternoon not been so terrible and violent. But the horrors visited upon the Imperial City were not done. Barely visible now was the outskirts of the Imperial Ruins, but what now befell the city was plain to see. No. In fact, the sunset almost seemed to HIGHLIGHT it. A strange purple-black dome seemed to appear in the city. It grew... and grew.., and grew. Initially, Fergus watched it silently as if he were hypnotized. As its edge crept closer and closer to their makeshift camp, though? That was when he snapped out of it and simply fell to his knees to meet what he expected was the end. 

The sound of the apparent explosion now reached their camp. It was not typical, however. It was deafeningly loud and simultaneously barely perceptible. A sound just on the edge of hearing, yet one that was impossible to ignore. Cries of agony. Pleas of mercy. Tears of anguish. The sound was all of these things, yet none of them. 

Just as quickly as the dome appeared, its growth ceased. Seconds later, the sickly thing had dissipated almost entirely; leaving a strange purple hue on the visible horizon that complimented the colors of the evening sky in a hauntingly beautiful way. 

Fergus rose to his feet, unsure of what he had just witnessed. Chances were good that he shared that confusion with the others, but he had to ask, even if it was to no one in particular. [COLOR=FF8C00][B]"By all the dragons... what was that?"[/B][/COLOR] He knew only three things about it for certain. One: That it could not be good, if the sound it made was anything to go by. Two: That it was probably something he could blame on the Juggernaut and its masters. Three: It was something he would never forget.