Cities Under Attack

trange things have happened lately. While the guards of some cities seem to be idle, monsters began to invade towns and attacking the citizens. It all started with armies of Headless in Cove, which suddenly gathered and attacked the small town. The attack came totally unexpected, many people were scared, some killed. Usually Headless are not too much of a challenge for the skilled traveller, but their appearing in great numbers caused a lot of trouble. When the word had spread, warriors from all over Britannia arrived at Cove and put an end to the horror. It is noteworthy that no guards interfered with the actions of the monsters, but they still had an eye on the humans and punished acts of criminals like they did before.

A few days later Undead began to haunt Trinsic, molesting honest citizens and innocent shop keepers. However, the skeletons, zombies and ghouls could be kept under control by brave fighters.

During an scouting tour on the road between Trinsic and Britain I discovered that this road was not save anymore. Lizardmen and Ratmen camped near the road, attacking travellers. Suddenly the situation escalated. More and more Undead gathered in Trinsic, Trolls attacked Vesper, Headless invaded Cove, Orcs plundered Yew, Lizardmen and Ratmen haunted Britannia. Even the towns in the Lost Lands were invaded by Ophidians.

Especially the security of Trinsic seemed to be endangered. Every now and then gangs Undead showed up at different places in town. Then, all of a sudden, armies of skeletons, wraiths, ghouls, shades, liches, skeletal knights (very dangerous!) and skeleton mages appeared, making life in the city a hell. Many citizens had died or fled while still there was confusion about the cause of this evil. Only few brave travellers dared to enter Trinsic these days.

Meanwhile forces of brave fighters gather at the Trinsic west gate regularly to fight back the attacks of undead and keep the city save and clean. These days you could see all different kinds of people there; nobles and ignobles, honorable and dishonorable. Even pirates showed up now and then. They all came to save the town of Trinsic.

Rumor has it cracks in the Trinsic city wall were discovered. Maybe these cracks had something to do with the monster attacks? "This needs to be investigated!" McBykar thought.

01/2000

[ Back to the main page ]

Ultima Online Travelogues

The Big Battle

thick foul air crept up from the west. Everybody could feel it, and everybody knew it: An evil power was preparing to strike.
The pirate Hawkeye Pike had been camping on the Trinsic city wall when an unusual hubbub in the streets woke him up. He felt the tension at once and walked towards the bank. There he grabbed some fresh bandages, new armor, and a new kryss from his safe deposit box and checked out the wall crack he had found some days ago. Nothing usual there. He walked to the west gate where he noticed strange things going on. Fighters were gathering and waiting and somebody had lined up tamed animals along the path leading out of town. The pirate wondered about the strange methods people were inventing to fight off the threat. Obviously those poor polar bears were to be used as bait for the monsters.

Tamed animals as weapons against monsters

It was silent like a deep breath before the storm. Suddenly all the town criers woke up at the same time. They were yelling news of horror through the streets, scaring the citizens and fighters.

Hawkeye Pike remained calm and called his fellow pirates for reinforcement. With astonishment and amusement he watched citizens trying to protect themselves from the nearing danger with the most unusual methods.

Suddenly some noise could be heard from the west gate. Hawkeye grabbed his kryss firmly and sped to the gate. He jumped right into a big battle.

Hordes of undead washed over the gate, decimating men and animals. Again and again groups of undead managed to break the barrier of human armor and weapon and advanced into the heart of the town. The pirate swung his kryss swiftly and slew many undead, but for each one he had hewn five new ones seemed to appear.

Sounds of war could be heard through the whole city. The clashing of swords, axes, shields and spears filled the air. Magic spells thundered through the air. The battle raged fiercely and lasted long.

Finally the sound of clashing weapons and dying monsters and men ceased and a deadly silence spread around the western city gate. It was hardly possible to wade through the masses of corpses which were piled up on the battle field. Again Trinsic had been able to resist the evil threat, but some brave men had paid a high price for this success.

Suddenly news of a mayor attack on Cove spread like a wildfire. Skilled mages provided gates to Cove immediately. Hawkeye, still steaming from the battle in Trinsic, jumped through the gate and found himself on the docks of Cove. At once he noticed a strange yellowish gazer. Its name was Kaltar, and wherever he showed up men died in agony and screaming pain. Hawkeye sped up on him, but Kaltar the gazer proved to be extremely swift.

Kaltar the gazer seemed to be almost invulnerable. The blade of Hawkeye Pike, one of the most skilled grandmaster fencers in Britannia, hardly did any harm to him. But the pirate had an idea: He grabbed the deadly poisoned kryss he was always carrying around with him and stabbed Kaltar with it. The lord of the Gazers was now wracked with extreme pain and suddenly fled.

Hawkeye Pike wasn't able to follow Kaltar, as suddenly armies of Gazers appeared and spread across Cove.

Many men fell, trapped in the middle of gazer armies shouting for help. After a long battle the gazers were finally defeated. The muddy ground of Cove was cluttered with brown corpses. Again Hawkeye Pike had survived. He had used up a lot of bandages and ruined one grandmaster crafted exceptional kryss. But he had survived. Another attack had been repulsed.

After the Cove battle - a Gazer graveyard

02/2000

[ Back to the main page ]