Adam Drake - Blackout

I changed direction to the east and dropped from a branch.

And landed right next to a troll scout.

I froze in surprise.

The troll scout whirled around, eyes wide with apprehension.

He did not look directly at me, but cast his gaze about trying to find the source of the sound.

Even this close, my Shadow Form was good. The forest was nothing but dark shadows and, as a result, made me fully invisible.

With a dagger in his hand, the scout slowly turned to take in his surroundings. I was only two paces from where he crouched.

Eliminating him would be easy, but then Amara would see the scout’s death message and know instantly where I was.

I kept perfectly still and watched nervously as the scout continued to scan the area.

Suddenly, the scout took a step forward, dagger in front of him.

Uh-oh.

The green humanoid’s large black eyes darted this way and that.

Great, I had to spook a real nervous one.

He took another step forward and the tip of his dagger nearly touched my vest.

Shadow Form would be lost the moment I engaged in combat, like striking out at the scout, or with physical contact.

Holding my breath I leaned back. I wanted to try to move away but I could not be certain of my footing where I landed.

This close I could see the incredible detail of the troll’s features. The pores in his green oily skin, the bristly hair that jutted out of his huge nostrils like pitchforks.

This game was so realistic that even his breath stank like a fetid wind wafting over a slop pile.

For several long agonizing moments the scout stood like this. Eyes scanning, dagger inches from my chest.

Then, the scout relaxed and snorted. He turned away and moved southward, slinking through the trees. Soon, he vanished from view.

I sighed with relief and resumed my own way.

At the tree line, I paused. The plains curved due west from here and continued south to the middle.

A cavalry unit rumbled by, shaking the ground. None of the troll riders glanced in my direction.

Keeping close to the trees I went west until the forest ended at a large clearing.

Amara’s base.

It did not look that much different than mine, only she had three of each unit’s buildings for quicker training. These were lined up side by side next to her Keep.

The Keep had been upgraded, too. Troll Lookouts with crossbows watched from the tower’s crown.

From the top of the keep emanated the golden beam of light indicating the location of a banner. My banner.

Amara was inside with it. But what for? Added protection? Made sense. She could not be assassinated while safely hidden away within the walls of the Keep.

Admittedly, I had hoped to catch Amara unaware and back-stab her causing her to drop my banner. But that pleasure appeared to be denied from me. For now.

This was another tactic I took note of for future use. If you have the banner but can’t win, hide.

I scanned the rest of the base and was surprised to see she had a gold mine right next to her Keep. She didn’t have to go looking for her gold like I did. Instead, she lucked out and had the gold right at her starting area. I could see workers digging furiously away and bringing buckets of gold out of the mine and dumping the nuggets into a huge iron hopper.

A little further north at the tree line was a quarry. So she had that near her starting point, too.

This explained how she was able to attack me so early in the game. Everything was here to help her get started with minimal delay.

Plant the banner, build the keep, get the first worker unit, build the barracks, train the grunts and rush south.

I tried not to feel annoyed, but failed.

Directly north of the Keep was the skeletal altar. A blue banner fluttered in the wind within the grasp of a skeletal hand.

Slumped next to the altar, large and terrifying, was Yuinnick. The great eagle didn’t look to be in good health and its eyes were closed as if sleeping. In fact, its health indicator was less than 10%. I must have inflicted a bleeding wound on the champion causing it to lose so much health.

It was probably slowly regenerating like Grax.

Looking about I noticed no units assigned to guarding the altar, let alone the base.

Everything Amara had was at the middle or on its way there.

As I surveyed Amara’s domain, an army unit emerged from each of the buildings having finished their training. They immediately marched or galloped off, some via the southwest passage, the rest the southeast.

Perfect. All the buildings were starting to train again, which meant I had about five minutes.

With a final look around I detached from the tree line and moved toward the altar. As I approached, my eyes danced from Yuinnick, to the Lookouts above, and to the Keep door which was closed.

When I arrived at the altar, I paused. Yuinnick was the closest threat but was oblivious to my presence. It seemed lost in its regeneration process.

The blue banner fluttered in the wind.

The moment I grabbed this, all hell was going to break loose.

Okay, Vee, you can do this, I thought.

I took a deep breath and reached for the banner’s wooden handle.

The Keep’s door suddenly slammed open.

I froze, hand an inch from the banner.

Amara bolted out of the door and marched in my direction looking angry. In one hand was my banner.

Uh-oh.

Maintaining my Shadow Form, I summoned my sword and tensed for a fight.

But instead of coming at me she went to Yuinnick, who’s eyes blinked open at her approach.

“This is taking too long,” Amara said. I couldn’t tell if that was directed at the eagle or she was just talking to herself.

She jumped up into the great eagle’s saddle.

She’s leaving! I thought with jubilation. This would make snatching her banner that much easier.

As Amara settled in, Yuinnick flapped his wings in preparation for take off.

The strong winds it produced caused the banner next to me to flutter wildly.

As the long blue banner whipped in the wind, the end of it curled around to graze my outstretched hand.

At its touch, my Shadow Form shimmered slightly for a moment, like a heat wave in a desert.

Amara happened to be looking in my general direction, and suddenly her head snapped over to look directly at me.

Uh-oh.

The elven woman’s eyes widened with alarm. “You!” she screamed.

Time to go!

Without wasting another moment I grabbed the banner and my Shadow Form dropped.

You Have the Enemy Banner!

The next instant I summoned Smoke who appeared beside me.

“You FILTERED!” Amara roared. She screamed at the Lookouts to shoot at me.

As I leapt onto Smoke, a crossbow bolt actually ricocheted off the banner’s wooden pole with a loud twang.

I kicked at Smoke’s sides and we were off.

Behind me, Amara was shouting filtered obscenities at me, then at Yuinnick for not moving fast enough. But within moments, she had the great eagle champion lifting off in pursuit.

This is nuts, I thought. What I was doing was crazy.

Instead of following the plains in either direction that lead to the middle, I headed straight for the wall of forest directly south.

From somewhere above and behind me I heard the flapping of giant wings. A bolt zinged past my head.

Go! Go! Go!

The trees got closer.

A huge shadow fell over me and I turned to see Yuinnick’s giant talons reaching down for me.

With a shout of surprise I jumped off of Smoke. At that moment, the mammoth bird snatched the horse and lifted him off the ground.

As I tumbled to the earth, I barely managed to keep a hold of the banner. Quickly, I ran straight at the trees as fast as my legs would carry me.