Lore Post - Thy Commander Cometh

Tap... tap... tap... 

    The woman clad in purple armor calmly drums her fingers along the arm-rest of her extravagant throne, patiently awaiting the arrival of her newest commander. Her eyes are drawn toward the door as her dwindling patience is rewarded. Deep booming knocks signal the entrance of the commander, stepping into the room with confident strides and kneeling in respect before the leader.

“Mistress Leath.”

“My dear Wildfire. There better be something intriguing, or you know what will befall you...”

    The one called Wildfire tenses up reflexively at the thought, red armored hands clenching up into fists before just as quickly relaxing once more. Leath’s hidden eyes observe the body language of the commander. She tilts her masked head in slight amusement as she watches the confidence slowly melt into an almost defensive stance like an abused animal.

“Impressive. You’ve finally learned to control those grating little tantrums of yours. Now, what news do you bring?”

“It’s about the first city, Mistress Leath.”

    Wildfire’s voice is slow and controlled, but only barely. Every word is tainted with a festering rage, but articulated with great concentration.

“The first city? You have my attention, little ember.”

    Another controlled breath before continuing. It seems like just the mention of that place is enough to stoke the flames of anger inside of Wildfire.

“There are reports of disorder. The city’s lumber output has been dropping because of multiple factors…”

“Factors, eh? What manner of factor could possibly be affecting those cretins?”

“I was getting to that part, Mistress Leath… If I may continue?”

    Leath gives a soft chuckle in disbelief, waving her hand for Wildfire to continue. The commander takes one more calming breath before moving on.

“Gang known as the ‘Lumber Rats’ has been affecting lumberwork in the area. I’ve been told that they previously targeted business owners, and now they seem to be trying to spread chaos in the town, affecting the hours of workers.”

“I see, and what of these other factors?”

“There’s been more and more reports of what the townspeople are calling ‘Forest Fiends’ in the area.”

“Fiends? Is that what they’re calling those old test subjects?”

“Yes, Mistress Leath, the failed test subjects.”

“Those lab rats shouldn’t prove too difficult to overcome… Why has the local guard not dealt with them yet?”

“It is my understanding that the guard of the first city has become lazy, Mistress Leath. Seems they are too busy fucking anything with a pulse.”

“Is that so? Any more of these factors of yours?”

“Yes, Mistress Leath. We’ve… We’ve been receiving a signal from the ruined stronghold. It seems like the silent alarm has been tripped.”

“But all of the recording devices were destroyed in the explosion. How could the silent alarm have been tripped? Hm… Fascinating…”

“All I know is that we’re receiving an alarm signal, Mistress Leath. It’s more than likely just a false alarm triggered by failing equipment.”

“I think not. You are going to go investigate, dear Wildfire.”

“Me?! But Mistress Leath-”

“No. I gave you a direct order. Now, you are going to go to Carceburg, and you are going to sort out this little ‘disorder’ problem of theirs. Am I understood?”

“... Yes, mistress.”

“Good. I have full confidence that you will carry out my will as you have in the past. And that’s ‘Mistress Leath’.”

“Yes, Mistress Leath.”

“Much better. I expect a report as soon as you arrive.”

    Wildfire nods and turns to leave, closing the door carefully on the way out. Leath crosses her legs and smirks as she hears muffled yells of frustration and the faint sounds of raging infernos just outside. “It’s a good thing these strongholds are built with solid concrete,” she muses to herself.

(We hope you guys enjoyed this nice little look into what the bad guys are up to! We'll have a new Sketch Vault up next Friday, and we'll see you on Wednesday for the latest Development Update!)