Vol VIII: Second Invasion
4th – 5th years of Destruction
With the magical powers of the defenders continually rising and reinforcements from the mainland being scarce, the war went well for the Alliance. Over the course of the next few years, the empire could be pushed back in the north leading to the liberation of Noma early in the fifth year of Destruction. It seemed like victory was only a matter of time when another threat emerged.
Without warning hordes of unlife appeared in the north, supposedly from a portal to their dark plane in the cave of the dreaded Lord Unliving. They swept over much of the north and threatened to advance towards Vesper. Lady Liamyn once told me that it had been only a fraction of the hordes unleashed upon the mainland, but of those happenings scarcely a word reached the people of Vesper.
To make matters worse, scouts reported that the empire was awaiting a huge fleet of reinforcements at last. It seemed like the Alliance was about to be crushed between two hostile armies.
It was the great halfling sage Dazzle Smallgrake who devised the plan that would save us all. He allowed himself to be captured by the empire and when questioned reported about weak defenses in the north, so the empire decided to land their fleet at Noma and launch a surprise attack at the defenses in the bandit pass.
The token defense force in Noma – so far not attacked by the unlife – quickly gave way before the invasion force. Lady Ders, who led these defenders said, that the fleet was even greater than the one that had come to Cerea seven years earlier.
What happened on that day and in the week following it is not known in detail, but is generally known as the Battle of the Plains in remembrance of the famous Great Battle of the Plains which had been fought on the mainland a few years earlier. When the fighting was finally over and Alliance scouts ventured into that region they found it almost devoid of all imperial forces or much of any life at all. A large number of unlife was still loose in the area, but their numbers were not great enough to threaten the defenses at the Bandit Pass.
It is reported though that while the battle lasted a group of Alliance fighters and mages managed to sneak into the dungeons of Cerea to free the brave halfling who had risked so much to keep Vesper safe.