The world came back into focus slowly as I blinked several times trying to remove the haze from my eyes. As an Armsman I didn't think I would ever get used to the magical porting that brought me into Caledonia. I looked around after finally shrugging off the strangeness saw the mages busily rushing around, coordinating plans, sifting through spell components and reading spells. I felt the rush of strength enter my body and immediately knew my wife Karhyn had found me without any problems. We were becoming fast friends of the group of ragtag defenders that joined us for the early morning rounds. I saw many familiar faces this night as I looked around the Keep; the famous Alkonfive StarGimpAlchy of Death Reincarnate was standing off to the side calling forth powerful magic to the awe of some younger defenders, his usual banter keeping everyone within earshot in good humor. The only one not in complete awe of the mighty mage was Islewitch of Zen, the sorceress was well know and hard to impress, her presence alone made me feel much better about the nights activities. Then my eye caught a glimpse of movement off to the side, I thought it was just another trick of my mind from the magical port here, but just as I was about to dismiss it completely, Mumu the independent Infiltrator came out of hiding... I was still amazed at our stealthy rogues and the power they had at stealth, I swear they are more magical then they lead on.

I had come with two of my guild mates, Drakule, the fierce Necromancer and Karhyn, my lovely wife and cleric. Together, we made a good showing for the Templars of the Griffen, our beloved guild. I thought the seven of us would make a fine group, but knew we lacked one key player, and then I heard his booming voice behind me.

"Ok, lets form up and head to the Center Keep." Glo Wyrm yelled from the massive doors of the keep. Glad to have such a fine Paladin leading our group, we all accepted and ran to follow him out of the Center Keep and down the hill toward the Keep we would fight for.

"We took the Center keep from the nasty Hibs just a few hours ago, and no sooner did we have than the Mids decided to attack." Glo shouted to us as we ran across the field and down to the Center Keep moat.

I stopped for minutes letting the rush of speed from Islewitch's spell give my legs of tingling feeling as I surveyed the opposite bank of the river. I
didn't want any surprises as we swam across the moat. Luckily the heathens were else ware and we made it all the way to the Center Keeps door. I stared long and hard at the Center Keep door, how many times had I helped push a battering ram into this very door hoping to bust it in to get at the filth inside. Finally we held the treasured Keep in our control and I would be damned if I was going to let it fall back into the hands of either the two neighboring realms. I sat down for a minute as the Glo conversed with the other group leaders, deciding where we would be most effective. As I checked my gear for any wear, Mumu came out of nowhere with a report for Glo.

"Mids on the bridge Glo, at least eight of them with three Bone Dancers!"

I must have heard wrong, three Bone Dancers?!? I had dealt with the evil mages in the past and had never had a good encounter with one, let alone three. Luckily Glo had much less hesitation than me, and we all followed his lead as he brought us around the back of the keep to look for ourselves.

Sure as the Chickens are four feet tall in the plains, on the Mid Bridge sat a full group of battle hardened Mid attackers, with three Bone Dancers among their ranks. I saw the sea of heads from the multiple pets and then I saw my target, a huge troll as ugly as an undead sow sat in the middle of the bridge, surrounded by mages and pets, he looked hungrily on our group, which seemed smaller and smaller all the time.

Without thinking twice Islewitch ran right into the middle of the zerg. I knew in a second she would be dead, and then she shouted a sharp command and they all fell asleep. I laughed out loud at the vile creatures all snoring so load you would think they could wake the dead.

Our team of defenders ran into the group and looked the mids square in the face waiting for them to come alive and tear us to shreds. I spun my mighty polearm over my head and used both hands to bring it into a sharp thrust at the Troll's neck. I heard his armor crack as my pole hit home. He immediately became awake are turned to run for his own keep, but my pole caught him square in the back. The troll was twice my size but the hit made him stumble in his run. And I came upon him again twice as hard. I knew he must be about dead, but as I swung my polearm back for the deathblow I felt multiple blows of swords crash against my back. The rest of the mids as shaken off the Sorcerer's spell and I had six Bone Dancer pets upon me. I turned to finish off the nasty troll, but Mumu had finished my work for me, sneaking past the scrambling mids, she slit the troll's throat before he had even seen her. I turned walking one of the healer pets as I ran back across the bridge to the safety of our keep, my health was fading fast and I continued to take blow after blow by the nasty pet commanders. The rest of my group was keeping the mids busy as I ran to safety, I watched Glo take off the head of a mage before turning to run with me, blast of magic flew back and forth between our mages and the Mid group.

I felt the healing spells overcome my wounds as Karhyn chanted over and over again, healing all the members, and raising the dead when necessary, by the time I reached her, my life was full again. I sat to rest up a bit before continuing into the fray. As I rested I watched Drakule take down pet after pet as the Bone Dancers jumped around and shouted at him. He looked amused as they fell one after the other. I stood up and started to run down the hill as I saw a flash of red beside me.

I turned around just in time to see a knife planted into the back of Karhyn. I rushed back up the hill and hit the enemy rogue with all my might. I'm sure the strength of my polearm took him by surprise as he tried to run but couldn't find the strength, I was about to hit him again, but the alarm had went up and all of the mages attacked the rogue at once. He fell dead where he stood and Karhyn easily healed herself, glad of the fine chain she wore.

We fought the Mids again and again, they had whipped us out a few times, but they never saw the inside of our Keep.