The ride to Marr’s Torpor took three days, which the Night Hunters took at ease following a caravan most of the way. The caravan was pleased to have them nearby, though it wasn’t like they were in any danger of bandits this far into Talpidium’s interior. They parted ways with the caravan several kilometers from the ancient volcano. Falconer pulled out a map, checking it against the surroundings.

“There are mine shafts four kilometers from here, half of that down the Old Talpi road, past the Twin Magi, and in a little abandoned hamlet called,” he chuckled, shaking his head and making his leporine ears flop around. “Marr’s Shadow.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” Skylar said, her over large ears in constant movement, listening to sounds only she could hear without magical aid. “Anyone else have a bad feeling about this?”

“You have a bad feeling about every mission,” Lucien said with a laugh.

“As well I should. Every mission is ten seconds away from utter disaster,” Skylar said.

“But you’d be there to patch us up if it does, won’t you Corporal?” Falconer asked, smiling wide.

The banter continued as they marched their way up the Old Talpi Road. While they met no one, the signs of recent passage were clear. The main road ended at the Twin Magi, the two statues all that remained of Rastra and Volyn Evergold who protected the residents of Old Talpi with their dome of pure energy. Every Talpidian knows the story, but Cassanda’s parents were there when Zerahad happened. They told her harrowing tales of watching as the mage twins conjured the magical dome that protected them from the hot gasses and lava from the erupting Marr’s Torpor. They burned their souls to do such powerful magic, and now their petrified remains stood as a bleak reminder of that day. 

Cassandra squatted at the feet of Volyn, looking over the offerings of coins and gifts left at her feet. The most plentiful of these being roses carved from the obsidian hewn from the lava floes. They glittered in the sunlight the same blue-black as her skin. She pulled a pair of coins from her pocket, dropping one at the foot of each of their monuments. 

Some believed that the Twin Magi had earned the moons’ blessings on that day, becoming demigods. Many worshipped them as patrons of Talpidium, looking over the people and protecting them to this day. While Cassandra wasn’t a believer, the Twins did save both her parents and hundreds others. Patron deities or not, she still wanted to give them a little respect. She didn’t even realize the rest of her cadre had followed her action until she heard the clinking of coins joining her and muttered prayers of thanks.

From there, they turned down one of the smaller cart paths to Marr’s Shadow. Boom towns were common in the nation. Small settlements would pop up near a new mineral vein and people would flock to them for work. When the mines run dry or become too dangerous to exploit any further, the people leave looking for the next rich vein. In the past, they would leave whatever buildings and machinery they couldn’t move, leaving decaying husks of houses, refineries, and businesses. Marr’s Shadow was a ghost town, old and worn even before Marr’s Torpor had erupted and forced everyone out of the area.

The town was a single main road that led directly to the mine’s opening. The cadre stopped at its darkened entrance and waited for orders. 

“We got a map of the mine, Falconer?” Cassandra asked.

“No ma’am.”

“Then we need eyes and ears. Tamsyn?” She looked at the scribe. 

Tamsyn nodded and pulled out a clean sheet of parchment, ink, and a brush, and set them on the dusty ground. She muttered to herself, then exhaled a cloud of iridescent teal smoke. The smoke coalesced into a sphere and flew off into the mine. She breathed deep again, and as she exhaled, took up the ink and brush. She muttered soundlessly, drawing tunnels and natural cave features onto the parchment.

“There are no sounds coming from the tunnels,” Tamsyn said, moving her head around as if craning her ears to hear. “But I can feel something, almost at the edge of my senses. It’s odd though, I can’t...AH!” She shouted and fell backwards, her brush and paper flying away from her.

Tamsyn swore as she rubbed a growing red welt on the side of her face. “That was bad. I’ve never been cut off like that before. That hard. It was, well, like a slap to the face.”

The rest of the cadre looked uneasy. They dealt with powerful summoners all the time, and none of them liked when the hunted were stronger than the hunters. Brink picked up the map and looked at it. His family were prospectors, and he grew up moving from towns not unlike this. He read the tunnel map and pointed at a junction of several tunnels a few inches away from where Tamsyn’s magic had been cut off.

“I bet this is where our summoner is holed up,” he said.

“I got a voice before the spell ended. There’s something else, hold on.” Tamsyn took the map and turned it over. She quickly dipped the brush and sketched out a few symbols on the back. Voidscript. None of them knew what the symbols meant, but they were recognizable, nonetheless. Voidscript all looked the same: warped Vitrumarian lettering but the words never meant anything. While Cassandra didn’t speak it, she had a working understanding to recognize it from the otherwise random scrawling of mage writing.

“This is a summoner’s circle, and a strange one at that. These forms are some of the things found on the battlefields in Invesse, but the lettering is off, not Vitrumarian, maybe it could be Talpidian?” Lucien said. 

Cassandra swore to herself, not only were people flouting the law and doing this chaotic magic in Talpidium, but they were innovating it as well? She turned to her soldiers. “This summoner isn’t just dabbling. We’ll need hex banes.”

“Yes, ma’am!” rang the simultaneous assent of her cadre.

The Night Hunters went to work arming themselves with protective shields and weapons. The anti-magic effect was strong enough to give Cassandra a mild headache just by looking at it. She’d seen wards cut in twain from one of Falconer's twin scimitars, and ducked behind more than her share of shields. However, no amount of anti-magic would guard against a daemon. Their magic was perverse, not of this world. She hoped that they didn’t run into one.

They moved in twos, Falconer and Brink in the front, then Cassandra and two mages behind them, and Skylar bringing up the rear to keep watch over their backs. Cassandra felt a small gust of wind on her back as Skylar flapped her wings, and a swelling of hope and confidence in her heart. Skylar was bolstering them with emotional magic to make sure their courage didn’t fail. Cassandra appreciated the boost, but always insisted that she keep it marginal. Too much added courage and vigor got soldiers killed, and fear kept their eyes sharp.

They walked cautiously through the mine until they neared the junction Brink had pointed out. Here, the signs of summoning were obvious. While the void taint was minimal, she could see the signs a gate had opened in the area recently. She didn’t see any daemons, and more importantly, no summoner.

The group fanned out, looking at the connecting tunnels. A deep rumbling rose up, shaking the ground and causing fine dust to sift from the cavern ceiling.

“What was that?” muttered Falconer. 

“Silence!” admonished Cassandra. She knelt, placing a hand on the ground. She reached into herself, pulling a stand of her soul, and casting it into the earth. The rock was solid, but something deep had cracked. This mine wasn’t huge, and the crack seemed to come from far off. It rose and fell, as though something primordial slept nearby.

“The ground… it’s breathing,” she said with awe in her voice.

Everyone stood in stunned silence for a moment, digesting what she had said.

Falconer was the first to speak, his voice steady though Cassandra could see he was afraid. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure the summoner has something to do with it. We press on. The sooner we find this blighted caster, the better,” Cassandra replied with a bravado she didn't feel. 

They all looked to her, hope and determination written on their faces. Her team was good, she trusted them, she just hoped their trust in her was as strong. She looked to Brink for their next move, and he pointed towards a northbound tunnel.

They started up again, heading deeper into the mine. 

As Falconer and Brink passed a stone support pillar, it uncoiled into a huge serpent-like daemon of living stone hissing like a rockslide. Cassandra was caught off guard. In all her encounters with daemons, she had always felt the bit of void that came with them into reality. She should have felt this one too, but something was dampening it.

The serpent snapped at Falconer’s hand, but the warrior skip-hopped to the side in a feat of agility only rabbit-people could master. He narrowly dodged the serpent’s fangs and the viscous black substance that sprayed into the space he had previously occupied. The fluid sizzled on the ground, acid eating into the rock.

“Shields!” Cassandra called out, moments before a screeching sound echoed around the tunnel, disorienting her. 

Lucien quickly cast a ward, which appeared as a thin shell of iridescent gas webbed with hot pink lightning and smelled of cinnamon that encased the cadre in protective magic. The ward appeared barely in time to deflect an attack from a smoldering daemon with ten spider-like legs that dropped down from above.

Regaining her orientation, Cassandra debated on which daemon to attack. Falconer seemed to have the snake’s attention, so she focused on the spider. With a bit of will, her fists ignited into violet light. She leapt through the skeins of power that defended them and delivered a one-two punch that left violet impact craters in the daemon’s blackened carapace. She tucked into herself as she came down, just missing a bit of molten webbing that fell uselessly against Brink’s shield.

“I can see the summoner!” Falconer shouted. He gestured past the snake daemon further down the tunnel.

“Push through, I’ll hold the nasties off with Lucian. Tamsyn you’re with Falconer. Brink, you’re with Skylar. Make sure none of them are on our rear. On my mark!” Cassandra called.

Falconer grunted his assent, and the rest of the team sprung into action. The daemon was not inclined to let its quarry go, though. The stone serpent lunged across Falconer’s path and coiled around Tamsyn’s feet. Tamsyn tried move away, but it moved too fast for any of them to react. With a movement so fluid it was eerie, the daemon swung Tamsyn up into the air and shoved Falconer and Lucien against the wall. The three tumbled together against the cavern wall and sank to the floor. The spider daemon skittered around to cut Brink and Skylar off from the rest.

Cassandra’s mouth formed a grim line as she glanced between them and the now open path between her and the summoners further in the mine tunnel. 

“We got this, go!” Falconer called as he got to his feet, his enchanted blades already in his hands.

She nodded, offering a quick prayer to the moons before turning and sprinting away.

The tunnel opened to a large cavern, the ancient, abandoned railways of ore movement coming to a conjunction here. A soft glow lit the chamber, filling it with an amber hue. In the center of the room, etched in what appeared to be chalk, were the unmistakable voidsymbols of a summoning circle. At the circle’s center stood a crystal-person chanting with her eyes closed. As Cassandra approached, the summoner raised her left hand, black-blue obsidian fingers clawing upward. A gate appeared with the motion, allowing a small being made of gossamer wings and too many eyes to flit into the space. Cassandra stopped in her tracks. She knew this summoner like she knew her reflection in the mirror.

While they hadn’t spoken in the better part of a decade, Cassandra would know her sister Ophelia anywhere, as they were identical. When they were young, her twin sister joined the mage’s academy and Casandra joined the military. The split created a rift between them that neither had tried to bridge. Apparently, in that time her sister had grown as a mage, and taken up daemonology. As their eyes met, Ophelia’s mouth fell open in a surprised o. The daemon took up a place at the edge of the circle, hissing a menacing warning at Cassandra.

She paid it no heed, staring into her sister’s eyes. Time seemed to stop as she took in everything around her. Her sister’s thin frame, the hissing daemon positioned to defend her, and the pack of digging tools at her feet. Ophelia just stared back at her, clearly as surprised as she was by seeing her sister.

The dull sounds of fighting behind her grew louder, but Cassandra didn’t look back on the Night Hunters, her focus drawn to her sister and the horror that was washing over her. Brink and Skylar burst into the room, fighting the spider daemon. Brink’s shout of alarm broke her from her reverie.

She called out to them, “Stand down!”

At the same time, in almost the same voice, a command rang from her sister. A word of power halted the daemons in place. It was just in time for Brink’s blade to sink deep into the spider’s thorax, or approximation thereof, which caused a cascade of glittering gold infused dust to spill out onto the cavern floor as the daemon disintegrated.

“Moons damn it all, stand down Night Hunters!” She called out again, batting away Brink’s blade with one gloved hand. Even through the leather the hand came away buzzing with pins and needles from the anti-magic effects of the blade.

“What the hell Lieutenant,” shouted back Skylar flying above the fray, “She’s right there. She’s...”

“My damned sister, stand down!” She replied, releasing the magic that she didn’t even realize she had been drawing on.

The silence in the cave was broken only by the rumbling of the earth and Skylar’s landing. All mortal eyes turned to Ophelia, then back to Cassandra.

“Hi.” Ophelia said in her quiet voice.

“Hi? You fool of a woman. We haven’t seen each other for years. You disappear into a magic school and come out the other side summoning daemons and causing mines to cave in and all you have to say to me is ‘hi’?” Cassandra all but screamed in reply.

“I’m not causing this.” Her sister said, even quieter.

“You’re…what?” Cassandra’s fury nearly sent her hurtling at her sister.

“I’m not causing the earth shakes. We’re here trying to figure out what’s going on and see if there’s anything we can do to fix it.”

“We? We who? You have other daemon summoners here?” Skylar said, pulling her dagger from her belt.

“We.” Ophelia said simply, gesturing to the remaining daemon. “They are in tune with primordial magic. They’ve told me that there’s something primordial deep in this mine, and it isn’t of this world. We’re trying to figure out what’s happening and how to stop it.”

The silence lasted a handful of heartbeats before everyone broke out into chaos. Skylar and Brink were calling Ophelia a liar, Ophelia launched into some scientific explanation of what she was saying, and Cassandra tried to ask for her to slow down. As the cacophony reached a crescendo, Cassandra hung her head for a moment then shouted, “Quiet!”

Silence fell once more.

“Does this ‘we’ include the snake daemon out there in the hall?” Cassandra asked with an edge in her voice.

Ophelia’s eyes widened with surprise and she swore before squeezing her eyes shut and snapping her fingers with a spark of blue-green light. “Yes, The Watcher Among the Stones. Sorry about them, they can be…single minded in their tasks. Had I known that you were coming...”

“Oh, so if any other summoner hunters would have come, you would’ve been fine with this daemon murdering them?” Cassandra cut her off.

“No, I wouldn’t have been fine with it. But would you be fine with your hunters murdering your sister? They are just protecting me.” Ophelia shot back.

The other Night Hunters came running up the tunnel way, Falconer at their head. 

“Good job on the summoner…” his voice trailed off as he took in the scene before him. He held his twin scimitars at the ready and before Cassandra could stop him, the rabbit-man hopped-ran to the daemon in the circle with an arcing attack. Despite his speed, the daemon was faster, bending at a ninety-degree angle to dodge the swing. It grabbed the solider by the wrist and flung him to the other side of the room. Falconer flew like a ragdoll, back striking the bare rock with a crunch, where he collapsed to the ground.

Cassandra swore. “Night Hunters stand the hell down, Skylar, tend to Falconer now!” Her command to the diviner brooked no argument, the bat-woman flying over to the fallen Falconer in two beats of her wings.

“You can’t believe a moons cursed daemon summoner boss!” Brink exclaimed, taking the opportunity to harp on her again.

“What is she even doing still alive?!” Lucien started in.

Before Tamsyn could join the fray, Cassandra shouted again. This time magic laced her words. “Silence! The next threat of violence to this woman will be a threat to myself. She isn’t the bloody cause of the instability.”

The cadre stood stunned, betrayal shining in all their eyes. Only Skylar had the courage to speak. “Why do you believe her?”

“Because she’s my sister. I know her.” Cassandra said in a defeated tone.

“You didn’t know she was breaking the Prohibition.” It wasn’t a question.

Cassandra’s glare would have withered any other member of the Night Hunters, but not Skylar. She withstood it with no more trouble than a light spring breeze under the light of the three full moons. “I know my sister, she told me she isn’t the cause of this, and I believe her. Do you want to fight about this, or do you want to find out what is really causing this problem? It isn’t like the Twin Magi aren’t here to protect us all this time.”

“I mean, we are twins…” Ophelia started before Cassandra’s glare killed the sentence in her throat. “I’m just saying.”

“Please, shut up.” Cassandra turned to each of the Night Hunters, meeting their eyes one by one. Some of them wore injuries from the battle with The Watcher Among the Stones, but all had some combination of anger, confusion, and mistrust on their faces. “Hunters, do you trust me? Have I ever given any of you cause to question me?” When none of them said anything, she nodded. “I trust you all with my exposed back, I do this every mission. Can you extend the same to me now?”

Once again, she met the eyes of each member of the cadre. They each nodded, slow begrudging nods, but assent all the same. Cassandra nodded once, then closed the distance to her sister.

“We need to get you out of here.” Cassandra said to her as she started picking up Ophelia’s pack.

“What? We need to figure out what the hell is going on in this mine.” Ophelia replied, her blue-black eyes wide.

“I can report it to the mages back home. What I can’t do is protect you beyond this moment with these people. They’ll send someone else after you.”

“I can’t leave this unsettled. This mine will collapse, and so will countless others. If we don’t investigate now, we lose our best avenue into the depths,” Ophelia pleaded, taking her sister’s hands in hers.

Cassandra sighed, relenting. “Fine, we can figure out this mess, then we are getting you out of the country.”

“No!” Interjected Falconer, rubbing his head and pulling away from Skylar’s healing touch. “We aren’t letting this thrice damned daemon summoner go anywhere. She’s a dangerous criminal. Daemon summoning is punishable by death. That’s the Queen’s law Lieutenant. You know this. I don’t care if she’s your sister or your mother, I’m not letting her go.”

“Are you going to let this situation simmer then? And what happens when mines in populated towns collapse? Are you going to tell all the families that lose loved ones that dealing with a summoner was more important than protecting their lives?” Ophelia snapped.

“This can’t stand Lieutenant.” He said, venom dripping from his voice.

“It will.” Cassandra replied resolutely.

Falconer rose, shaking the dust and dirt off of his uniform. He hefted his scimitars and stepped towards Ophelia. “Lieutenant, turn around, I can do this for you. You don’t have to watch.”

Before she could move or reply, he sprung into motion, crossing the room in a single leap. Ophelia put up a hand in a warding gesture, clearly about to slam him with a magical blast. Cassandra stepped between them, crossing her blade against Falconer’s and stopping him mid-air. Ophelia’s blast went wide, slamming amber light against the cavern wall.

Falconer struggled against her blade lock, meeting her eyes with a stoney gasze. “You’re really defending this summoner? No. I won’t stand for this,” Falconer’s voice sounded like gravel with the strain.

Cassandra gave him some slack and he stumbled forward, as he did, she kicked him hard in the side, knocking him to the ground. “Stand down, soldier.”

He looked up to each of the others. “She’s a traitor. If you stay with her, you’ll be traitors too. No better than the daemon summoner.”

He rose gingerly and gasped in pain. She had clearly broken a rib. “Fine. It’s your death sentence,” he spat as he stumbled down the tunnel they had come through. Slowly, one by one, the others followed him out of the cavern. All except Skylar.

“What, you aren’t afraid of being branded a summoner too?” Ophelia said to the bat-woman.

“I am, but I’m more afraid of letting you sink your claws into my love. I’m her only backup,” Skylar said, her voice full of determination.

Ophelia looked between Skylar and Cassandra. “Well then.”

The ground quaked underneath them. Cassandra and Ophelia swore at the same time, their voices perfectly in unison. “We don’t have time for this Ophelia. Do you really think your daemons can get us down to wherever the primordial influence is?”

“I don’t appear to have much of a choice, now do I?” She replied, running her hands through her hair. A frustrated gesture she must have picked up in their years apart. 

“Nope, let’s get going,” Cassandra said.

“Too bad they banished Seer of the Unseen. Thanks for that, Night Hunters. Honestly, what kind of name is…” A glare from Cassandra cut her off again. “Yeah, we can do this. I’ll have The Watcher Among the Stones clear the way. You two ready?”

Cassandra looked at Skylar, who had moved to her side and slid a hand into hers. She put a light reassuring pressure on it and was rewarded with a firm squeeze. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Five small motes of red light winked from the pitch darkness that made up the monster’s body as it reared back and let out a deafening roar. Lieutenant Cassandra Nightglimmer felt the sound deep in her bones, its vibration making her teeth rattle. Fear rushed at her like a rip current, threatening to pull her along and weaken her resolve. Thankfully, she was trained to resist such magic, and it simply washed over her. Instead of allowing the fear to sink its claws into her, she harvested it. Balling the emotions into magic, Cassandra thought about the first light of dawn on the summer solstice. Holding the thought in her mind, she took both the emotion and the image, pulling them into reality to wreath her spear in violet light. Five eyes reflected the magical spear as it focused on the new threat. 

This creature was big; larger than any she had fought before. Darkness radiated from it, covering the road and trees in void taint. She couldn’t even tell what it was before the void took it. It was too large to be a wolf, maybe a bear? Either way, it was a menace and needed to die. 

She watched as it prowled towards her, and she kept her distance, keeping wary of its overlarge claws. It reared again, this time its massive front legs reached towards her — definitely a bear. She danced back two steps and hurled the magical weapon directly at the thing’s heart, hopeful the void hadn’t completely rearranged its insides. As the spear pierced the creature, violet sparks exploded in a cascade around it. The creature teetered backwards and crashed to the ground, taking out a tree as it went.

Cassandra let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The void tainted creature began to slowly dissipate, seeping into the spreading darkness still tainting the wooded area. She shook her head in disgust. Yet another beautiful part of her home covered in void-stuff because of some moons blighted summoners.

Elsewhere, Cassandra knew her cadre were hunting down the followers of the Stonefoot Magocracy, illegal daemon summoners, who created this mess. She walked back to the main road, careful to avoid stepping in any of the inky darkness. She stopped at the road and pressed her back against the trunk of a large tree and settled into rest. She hated waiting.

Within thirty minutes, her cadre had circled back to find her. A few minor scrapes and bruises marked their triumph, and Cassandra felt the relief of being reunited with her charges once again. They had been together for a year, and this was their last mission together. When they arrived home, these soldiers would complete their training and take on their own leadership positions. Except maybe Lieutenant Skylar Starsong, the bat-woman who served as their diviner. She might stay by her side for another year if Cassandra was lucky.

An hour and a half later they were all in a tavern drinking and laughing. Cassandra sat alone at her own table nearby. Despite her repeated attempts to assure them that she was their equal, the soldiers viewed her as a superior officer. Their combat training would take much longer than a year to break. She drank from a tankard of watered wine, and frowned as she noted a messenger enter the tavern.

Marked out by his bright blue uniform, the young rabbit-man searched the room, his eyes glowing that same blue. The messenger magic allowed him to sense his recipient from meters away. Cassadra said a quiet prayer to the moons that his magical glance would pass over her. Instead, he locked onto her and moved with an alacrity towards her table. She swore under her breath as the man, barely older than a boy, stopped before her. 

“Lieutenant Cassandra Nightglimmer of the Fifth Cadre,” he paused, swallowing hard. “The Night Hunters?”

“Aye boy, that’s me. What do you have?”

Without looking down, his hand dropped into his satchel and pulled out a black scroll case. Cassandra had been a messenger early in her career and recognized the case. Its enchantment was what allowed him to find her, and while he was on mission would be the only one he could touch until delivered. He probably had a half dozen identical cases in that bag, but the magic made his delivery unerring.

“Here Lieutenant, and may the moons guide your path.” He turned without pausing for her to open the case and made his exit; his glowing eyes already searching out his next delivery.

Rolling the case in her crystalline fingers, she found the seal. The Sigil of Operational Command. The revelation evoked a deep sigh from her. The OC only sent two kinds of messages: new mission assignments and death notices. Another mission it was.

She slid one onyx nail under the seal and popped it open. The metal covering opened and the parchment within fell to the table. She read through the mission parameters once, reviewing the maps and the accompany information, then again. She tapped her finger on the table in troubled contemplation and looked up at her people letting off some much-needed steam. Skylar must have noticed her unease, as she held her gaze for a long moment before standing and coming to her table.

“What’s the good news LT?” the bat-woman asked while taking a seat next to her. Under the table, the end of the woman’s left wing rubbed against the back of Cassandra’s hand, a quietly intimate gesture.

She passed the top sheet of the new orders to Skylar. “Another mission.”

“I thought we were done.” Skylar took the proffered papers and read them over.

“The law waits for no one. It doesn’t help that more and more people want daemonic aid with each passing day.” Cassandra said. She allowed the back of her hand to slide over Skylar’s wing. She knew all too well that people defy the rules all the time. Often for very understandable reasons. “There might come a time when the whole nation is filled with daemon summoners.”

“Here’s hoping we’re both retired by then. Want me to wrap all this up?” Skylar gestured at the rest of the cadre still laughing and drinking.

Cassandra thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, let them have their fun. They earned it. We earned it. This new summoner can wait a night.”

The bat-woman smiled, revealing pointed incisors. “Then come dance with me LT, that’s an order.”

Cassandra threw her hand up in a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am!”

Cassandra awoke with a start coated in a sheen of sweat that made her crystalline skin shimmer in the spare light of a single burning candle on the bedside table. Skylar laid next to her with her wings wrapped around her arms and chest like a cocoon, still and undisturbed. She struggled to remember the nightmare. Only flickers came to her. Something about danger involving someone she cared about. That wasn’t exactly elucidating. All Everend was in turmoil, and every person she knew had some form of danger on their doorstep. The dream clung to her though, a warning that she couldn’t ignore.

She rose from bed and went to the wash basin to splash cool water on her face. The dim candlelight refracted purple and blue off the firm line of her jaw and the deep emerald of her eyes. Wan light sifted in through the window draping, signaling predawn.

“Another day, another hunt,” she said to herself with a determined smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She busied herself with her morning duties to shake the lingering effects the dream had on her.

By the time the sun sat a quarter of the way into the sky, Lieutenant Nightglimmer stood at ease in front of her small unit. Before her were five of the best summoner hunters she’d ever known, and not only because she trained them. Skylar had become her lover six months ago, after years of knowing each other through military training. Garth Falconer, a thief from the high country had stolen her heart as well. Lucien Murdo, a skilled warlord with a love of poetry was their trickster, always joking around. Tamsyn, a mage with a love of old books had spent five years in Caparanite before joining her cadre. Brink Isi, a warrior of some renown was the best fighter she knew, probably better than her if they ever had to fight one on one. She would be sad to see them go. But this time next month, she’d have a whole new group of prospective summoner hunters to train up.

“We are travelling high into the mountains near the volcano of Marr’s Torpor,” Cassandra said.

A few gasps and shocked looks broke the otherwise stoic group. Marr’s Torpor erupted many years before and destroyed the ancient city of Old Talpi, the nation’s previous capital. Now Old Talpi was something of a monument, with people making pilgrimages there to pay respects to the dead. Mentioning the volcano that devastated the nation in the same breath as summoners felt sacrilegious, even to Cassandra, who wasn’t religious at all.

“We aren’t going into the city. There’s a ghost town nearby. The mission is the same as always. Find the summoners and bring them to justice. Hopefully, before they summon a daemon and cause a blight. You’ve a few hours to get your gear and meet by the wagon station. Get ready for a hassle. If they’re willing to base themselves in the ashes of Marr’s Torpor, who knows what else they’re okay with. You’re dismissed.”

Each of her soldiers gave her a crisp salute and turned to ready their things. Cassandra watched them go; unease still settled in the bottom of her gut. This mission might be the one where she finally lost someone, and it didn’t sit right with her.

To be continued...

Hello Outlanders,

We've had a few sneak peeks at some of the Professions plus a bit about the Heritage and Upbringing Paths available for characters, but today we'll get the full chapters outlining these options and describing the overall process of character creation for At The Gates.



Before we get to the manuscript, just a quick reminder...

I'm going to be sharing the manuscript in sections over the next 30 days, Part of the reason for that is to keep focus on one section at a time so that Danielle and the team can gather feedback to help guide the manuscript through the next steps of editing and development. To that end, they've created a special Feedback Form for you to submit your comments after reading each section!


You can submit your Feedback here: AT THE GATES FEEDBACK FORM <link>

And one more reminder...

One quick note about Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews. 

First up, it's amazingly expensive to ship, especially from Onyx Path's home base in the US. We get that, but there's not much we can do at this time. Onyx Path is in a difficult space where the company is big enough that they're not saving money by fulfilling out of Rich's garage, but small enough that they can't really set up international partners to handle portions of the fulfillment. So we are where we are - for now. 

The best we can do at this point is to plan carefully, advise everyone up front that international shipping will likely be expensive (see our projections on the main page) and only charge what it costs us when the time comes. We’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. If you live outside the US and aren't sure you want the hardcover or other physical items, you can pledge to the PDF tier now and upgrade your pledge in the Pledge Manager once we know the final shipping costs.

Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the title treatment.

Hello Outlanders!

Great news! As we finish up with our first week, we've unlocked our 4th Stretch Goal of the project so far! This one is a bit of a milestone marker, a regular Onyx Path bonus reward added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project!


ACHIEVED! - At $43,000 in Funding - AT THE GATES Digital Wallpaper - Awesome At The Gates artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.



These milestone markers are fun little Stretch Goals that help us keep pace between some of the bigger goals that add new content and projects. It's always fun to grow our reward lists with these bonuses, and it's a fun way to break up the funding targets into manageable pieces as we work towards the next big goal.

For those who've been around a few rodeos, you'll know that projects tend to have big starts and big finishes and are usually a lot quieter during the middle stretch. As we head into our second week of this 30-day campaign, it's important to use these milestone markers to maintain our momentum and provide celebrations and encouragement for new backers to join in.

So, now that we've unlocked all of our posted goals, let's see if we can plan out a trio of targets to carry us through these middle weeks and into our homestretch!


As we increase the overall funding and support for the project, we’re able to add additional resources to the project, expand the rewards listed, and add in new offers and opportunities. Each Stretch Goal will have a target that, once reached, will add a project to the reward list for backers of the relevant Stretch Goal path. Whenever we achieve a stretch goal, the image will be updated to reflect the achievement.


At $46,000 in Funding – AT THE GATES SHIRT ON REDBUBBLE – An At The Gates-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.


At $48,000 in Funding – AT THE GATES VTT TOKEN PACK – Digital assets will be created to support online play for At The Gates, including key character and creature tokens from the book. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.


At $50,000 in Funding - AT THE GATES Companion - New Advanced Paths - The Companion PDF will be expanded to include a section with new Advanced Profession Paths for characters to take if they want to unlock new Arts specific to their mastery of these professions. Backers receiving the At The Gates PDF as one of their rewards will automatically have the Companion PDF added to their rewards list as a bonus.



We haven't yet delved into the idea of Advanced Profession Paths yet - that'll come tomorrow when the second Backer manuscript section is posted - but we're already talking about adding more! In the next draft manuscript section, we'll learn about the Archmage, the Assassin, the Champion, the Sage, and the Tactician... but I'm pretty sure Danielle and the team has many more ideas for additional Advanced Paths for dedicated characters to pursue!

And if we manage to unlock another three Stretch Goals, the Companion PDF will be expanded to include these additional player options!

As I noted, I expect things to slow down a bit over the next few weeks, so it may be a bit before we close in on these targets, but they are absolutely within reach as long as we continue to spread the word and invite new backers to join in! So let's continue to talk about At The Gates for the next three weeks!

And I'll make it easier to keep talking about the game tomorrow when the next draft manuscript section is made available to backers. All backers of this project will have access to the entire current manuscript for the book before any pledges are processed or payments collected. If you're curious about the game, you can pick a pledge level and read the entire book before the end, and you'll know for sure if this game is for you. 

So, let's keep up the good work and I'll be back tomorrow with more At The Gates goodness!

Hello Outlanders,

I've got another sneak peek for you today! Backers will have access to the current draft version of Chapter 3 and 4 on Tuesday, but let's get a quick look at a few bits dealing with two important choices you make when creating your new character.


A character is how a player engages with a game of At the Gates. Players create characters to act as avatars within the game world. The player makes decisions for the character and uses them to experience the rich environment available in the game. Characters go on thrilling adventures, engage in political intrigue, spy on enemies, fight monsters, foment uprisings, engage in piracy, and so much more at the hands of the players controlling them.

When you create a character for At the Gates you imbue it with a sense of history, a motivation to act, social dynamics to explore, and the skills and abilities necessary to get on in the world. Who are you? How did your upbringing shape you? How has where you've grown up influenced the person you've become? Who do you want society to see you as? How are you connected to the people around you? These questions are at the core of creating a character for At the Gates.

At the Gates is a game about epic fantasy that comes from humble beginnings. Consider what kind of person you want to portray, and how they’ll react to danger, political intrigue, mystery, magical wonders, and the variety of adventures you might play through in this game. chapter 4 will guide you through creating a character and get you started on your journey.

The first steps in making a character for At the Gates include selecting three Paths.

The first Path you choose is your Heritage. This determines what nation your character comes from — if any — and what kind of advantages that conveys to them. When you pick your Heritage Path, you will choose one of two perks, which represent the kind of focus your character’s family had in that society. This will grant them Attributes and Skills based on the traditional training and education someone from that nation and background is likely to have.

Let's look at our top two vote getters in our poll: The Federation of Eves and Vitrumaria.

With salt and wind in your hair, you're happiest on the open seas or at home on one of the islands of the Federation of Eves. A robust maritime culture and sense of community unite your people. You grew up living a life of hard work and playing on and in the tides. The Elders claim magic from the Well of Creation has suffused all your people, but you're not so sure. Your early years were dominated by the oppression of an occupation force. You either grew up during a war to win your nation’s independence or fought in it yourself. You might have been raised in oppressive or hard times, but now you are ready to make your mark on the world and show it what Evesians are made of.

Proximity to the Well of Creation has influenced how you see the world. You watch the ebb and flow of the currents pulsing with Gaia’s lifeforce. This insight has also allowed you to understand the people around you better. 

Attributes: Mental 2, Physical 1, Social 1
Skills: Esoterica, Leadership, Persuasion, Science

Insight: You have an intrinsic understanding of how people feel. Whether you are experiencing their emotions yourself or seeing the color of their aura, you understand people. This understanding grants you +1 Enhancement that stacks during social interactions in which you’ve spent more than a few moments with a person.

Second Keystone: Magic has taken root in you in a way you're still trying to understand. Where other people have only one Keystone, you can have a second one outside your Profession's offered Pillar.  

Life on an island has centered your culture's dependence on the ocean’s bounty. You grew up on or around ships, and probably learned to sail at a very early age. Every island is different, but you're used to living in a close-knit community where everyone works together to succeed and provide for their families. 

Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 1, Social 2
Skills: Athletics, Culture, Larceny, Pilot 

Freedom of Navigation: You understand the currents and the position of the stars to navigate without the guidance of tools or a map. You always know which way you are facing and never suffer penalties or Complications to navigate. Gain a +1 Enhancement that stacks to navigate or reorient yourself when using your instincts.  

Sea Legs: Your constant time at sea has given you the ability to keep your footing in even the most tumultuous circumstances. Downgrade any Complications from Area effects that would affect your movement by one step. If this would reduce that Complication to 0, the character just ignores it.

You grew up in the blazing sun and dry desert sands of Vitrumaria. Your culture prizes self-reliance, which has made you independent and motivated. You’re used to the lavish lifestyle of a wealthy nation juxtaposed against the harsh unforgiving desert environment. You know that community is what keeps people safe, and striking out on your own can lead to disaster if you aren’t properly prepared. This has made you careful, and not a little jaded when it comes to others. It doesn’t help that your beautiful nation is led by a despot and a liar who has dragged your people into a grueling war. Now, you don’t know what to believe as you are inundated daily with lies, but you know that your very way of life is in danger, and it isn’t from those on the outside. 

Outsiders are both an opportunity and a threat to your community. You've learned to present a friendly demeanor when interacting with others to keep collaboration alive, even when you distrust your temporary partners. Life under the desert sun has made you resilient and proficient at surviving when resources are low.

Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 2, Social 1
Skills: Artistry, Larceny, Persuasion, Survival

False Smile: You've learned to say a lot without revealing anything to lull others into a false sense of security. When you make an influence action to lie to someone gain access to the following Trick:

Pry (1 hit): Your lie is so convincing that your target shares a secret they wouldn’t normally share with you.

Durable: The extreme heat of your home has made you more resistant to extreme temperatures. You may ignore the effects of the Extreme Temperature (heat) Area effect if you are prepared, and if this effect is magically created, you downgrade the Complication to Minor.

You’ve grown increasingly disenfranchised by your nation’s leadership. Maybe you were radicalized young and have grown up always knowing the government was corrupt, or something recent happened to radicalize you. Now, you hone all your energy into setting wrongs to right.

Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 1, Social 2
Skills: Athletics, Culture, Leadership, Persuasion

Rallying Cry: You’ve learned how to motivate others with just your words. When take influence actions to sway a crowd or persuade people to join your cause, gain +2 Enhancement.

Tough as Nails: You have an exceptional ability to anticipate danger and act swiftly, as well as a knack for evading threats and maneuvering through tricky situations. You gain a +1 Enhancement that stacks to Initiative rolls or Defense actions (chosen when you take this Perk).

Your Upbringing Path describes how your character was trained and educated based on her economic status, her family’s traditional vocation, or even her own special interests. Instead of representing the things she learned based on where she’s from, this represents the major factors in her young life that shaped her knowledge and core skills. 

Your family always taught you to seek out opportunities and take them where you can. Through cutthroat business, backroom dealing, and not a little luck, they’ve come into wealth. Raised during your family’s rise to power, their vision of the world is instilled upon you. You know how to work the system, manage people, and leverage all your resources to get ahead in the world.

Attributes: Mental 2, Social 2
Skills: Larceny, Leadership, and Persuasion

Leverage: You know how to read people and what to say to put them off guard. When intimidating someone, you can insinuate that you have some information on them that puts them in a compromising position, even if you are lying about the knowledge. Later, when either you or they act on that leverage, gain a +2 Enhancement that stacks to the action.

Resolute: Working in tense social situations has granted you a level of resolve to maintain your composure despite yourself. When people try to persuade you or change your mind about something, gain +1 Enhancement that stacks to your Integrity action.

Your family has known wealth for several generations. You grew up with the luxury to pursue your own interests, but you’ve always known that your family expected you to follow in their footsteps. You’ve always worked under the burden of responsibility, and it has taught you both how to effectively get work out of others and shirk your own duties without notice.

Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 1, Social 2
Skills: Culture, Leadership, and Persuasion

Efficient: You know how to get things done with minimal effort. Once per session, you may forgo rolling for an action to immediately succeed on it. If there are any Complications, you must suffer the effects, though you may spend Momentum for Enhancement as per normal to buy them off. 

Commanding Presence: You radiate an aura of authority, confidence, and leadership. Your mere presence demands attention and respect from those around you, enabling you to inspire and influence others with ease. When other people act on your orders, they gain a +1 Enhancement to follow through.

We'll learn about all of the Heritage and Upbringing options on Tuesday, along with the important third Path of your Profession! And we'll learn how to assign your dots and finishing designing your characters, and also about new stuff like Advanced Professions!!

So, let's continue to spread the word and invite our friends and friendly gamers to join in on this campaign! We've come a long way so far in this first week, but we still have many weeks ahead -- and much more of the manuscript to share!

Our next update on Tuesday will feature the current drafts of chapters 3 and 4. Backers will have access to the complete manuscript before we reach the end - before any pledges are processed or payments collected. It's about the most risk-free way of learning about the game as exists. So join in if you haven't, and let's see if we can't unlock some more Stretch Goals before we get to the final chapter!