Vladan’s forces had been climbing for close to a week, making their way further and further into the Yhorn mountain range, higher and higher by the day. Now, Vladan stood before a huge archway that crossed over the broken road they had been walking on. The mountains movements, as well as years of war and snow, had slowly eaten away at the road, but the archway they now passed under seemed newly-made, as if the centuries that had passed were a simple matter. Vladan sneered at the duardin handiwork.
As Vladan came around a bend on the mountain side, the city came into view. I climbed up steep mountain walls on either side of a valley, the buildings, presently covered in snow, were built right down to the raging river that cut it’s way through the city. The city gleamed in the setting sun, it’s buildings had steep roofs that grew to the sky, allowing the snow to flow down into special avenues that carried the snow into banks that melted into the river. Bridges crisscrossed the white-capped watercourse, and no boats were found on it, to no-ones surprise. Large spinning structures were found on the riverside further down, beside farms that climbed the mountainside, covered in some plant that bloomed blue and seemed to blanket entire swaths of the valley.
nAs Vladan watched the sun slowly dip below the high peaks, he noted that no candlelight could be found within the buildings. People were down there, he could smell them, and yet not a single person could be seen on the streets, and the windows were all shuttered. Had they known he was coming? In the city center a tower struck into the violet sky, and as the sun hit its frame, it burst into a crimson, casting a red-glow over the structures near-by. Vladan knew that what he needed would be found in that building, it seemed to pull at the Key of Night he held. But he was also suspicious of the severe lack of activity below him. As he searched the city below he could find plenty that made no sense; structures that swooped from roof to roof with no apparent use, markets still left out in the evening, and of course the lack of lights, but nothing that gave him any hint as to why it was so strange. If they expected him, surely there would be men readying themselves to protect their city? Maybe there were tunnels that couldn’t be seen. He sent scouts ahead to search under the city for that thought. The tower continued it’s odd glowing, even as the suns rays no longer touched it. Tired of this unsolved problem he snarled, and started down into the valley.
Vladan halted his hoards before they even made their way into the city proper. His nose had picked up… something. A foul scent on the wind. Teeth were bared around him, as his lieutenants picked it up a moment after him. It smelled of fear. The sweet smell of… joy. The smell of sweat. Happiness. He snarled and bared his teeth as well as his blade.
‘Orruks….’