One of the 
The reception hall was lavishly decorated with various ornaments, gilded moldings, and animal heads from across the continent. Guests were already seated at a large, long table made of rare wood. Members of the aristocratic families of Seveseptimus. They were patiently waiting for an important person. After all, individuals of such standing rarely visited them.
- Please, come in, - said Sir Tramus, opening the large wooden door for Haliel.
As the elf entered the hall, the guests rose from their tables and bowed to him.
- I thank you, but I am neither king nor lord; there is no need to bow to me.
- This way, please, - said Tramus, escorting the elf to his seat at the end of the table while introducing all the important guests along the way.
Haliel disliked such formalities, but he was understanding of others' traditions and customs. After the introductions, everyone began to dine. The elf did not refuse food or drink, but he was forced to be constantly distracted, answering the guests' questions about what was happening on the continent, in the capital, the incident in the north, and events overseas. When everyone had departed, only Tramus and Karnor remained. Perhaps the only person Haliel found interesting to talk to.
- And remember how we crushed the savages on the isthmus!? Eh?!
- Of course I remember, - Haliel replied with a smile.
- Yes, now that was a battle! Crowds of savages are crashing through our ranks, the lake-dwellers' fleet cannot land on the shore because the sea is locked in ice, the mages as always take forever to decide how to act, we already want to retreat into the fortress, but then here you come with your army! You jump out from nowhere and hit them in the rear! They absolutely shat themselves! Some even tried to run away over the ice! Ha-ha-ha-ha! In the end, we crushed their army, and their chief surrendered to us. And then village by village they were captured until the entire peninsula became ours. What a blast that was! That's how you defeat enemies, Tramus, do you understand, boy?!
- I understand, I understand, - Tramus replied with a smile.
- You understand nothing! You haven't participated in a single battle! What do you know?! Ten years have passed since then, - Karnor addressed Haliel. - There hasn't been another war. Tournaments in the arenas keep me from dying of boredom and drink, but still, you know much more than I do; tell me, when will a new, great war begin, like centuries ago, the ones my mother read to me about?
Karnor looked intently into Haliel's eyes, awaiting an answer to his question. The elf did not want to reveal anything, but he did not want to lie either. A great war is already close. Very close.
- Soon, - the elf replied curtly, rising from the table.
Karnor also stood up and, approaching Haliel, shook his hand firmly.
- Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I hope we meet on it!
- I have no doubt about that.
After his words, several girls and a grim-looking armed brute entered the hall.
- And here you are! – Karnor exclaimed and tossed a small pouch to the unfriendly brute by the door, after which he departed.
- It is time for me to go, - said the elf.
- Wait, don't you want to stay, - Karnor asked, embracing the girls and gesturing toward them with his eyes.
- I would gladly stay, but work, as you understand, - Haliel replied, after which Oluel, the head of Seveseptimus's shadow caste, emerged from the shadow of the table.
- Ahhhh, I see, everything is serious in the order, - Karnor said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
- Farewell, gentlemen, - Haliel said and vanished into the shadows along with his subordinate.
- And you? – the old warrior addressed Tramus.
- The Church does not approve of premarital sexual relations, especially with loose girls. Nor postmarital ones either.
- Go to hell!
***
...A suspicious-looking man followed
Ment, trying in no way to give himself away. But he wasn't very good at it...
...
WishmasteR was detained by the city guards for some unknown reason and thrown into a prison cell...
...Having worked late as usual,
Drakkoshka was returning home by her usual route, humming some song. She didn't even have time to blink before someone's shadow flashed past her, leaving a deep cut on her throat, from which blood immediately sprayed like a fountain. Drakkoshka fell face-first into the mud. And a mysterious old man watched from afar as the blood of the slain flooded the road. In the morning, some girl wept over her corpse. None of the townspeople saw or heard anything...
...Late at night, Haliel and Oluel appeared near a mine far from the city. A mage with two torches stood by its entrance. They exchanged greetings and entered the mine. A rather long descent led them to a wide passage, at the end of which was a deep pit filled with water. Haliel leaned on the wooden railing and looked down.
- Light it up.
The mage surrounded the torch with some kind of field and threw it into the water. It slowly sank to the bottom, illuminating a huge stone, about a hundred tons, with significant dark-purple inclusions.
- Did you find anything else?
- Nothing here, - the mage replied, - but further on, in the mountain gorge to the north, there are significant deposits.
- How significant?
- So significant that it will provide work for all the miners of the continent for more than a century.
- Close the mine. Let no one in. As for those who found it, erase their memories.
- Already done, - Oluel replied.
- Sheol will come for it soon. Regarding the gorge; it seems we'll have to convene the High Council again.
After these words, Haliel sharply turned his head toward the entrance and, turning around, drew his sword. The second elf did the same, and the mage ignited a fireball in his hands.
- Do you feel it? - Haliel asked his companions, moving toward the tunnel exit.
- A strong source of magic? - the mage answered with a question.
- Yes. And it is not the stone.
A hooded figure suddenly leaped from the darkness. The fireball thrown at him by the mage ricocheted back to the thrower, who was knocked into the water pit by the blast wave. The unknown assailant lunged at Haliel, but he parried the opponent's strike, attacking with his sword, which struck an invisible barrier. Oluel appeared behind the attacker and dealt several blows with long daggers to the back, after which he was thrown back by a powerful magical strike. His daggers hung in the air and began to attack Haliel, pressing him toward the water pit. He easily deflected the attacks with his sword. And even when the sword vanished from the elf's hands after some gesture of the enemy, he successfully dodged the attacks. When he leaned back against the wooden railing, the blade of his sword pierced the attacker. Despite the intense pain, the unknown assailant turned to Oluel, who struck him from behind and plunged both daggers that were hanging in the air into his throat. After which Haliel's dagger sank into the unknown man's neck. The attacker suddenly stepped back, the railing creaked and broke. He and the elf would have fallen into the water if not for the magic of the unknown man, which suspended them over the pit. Haliel, holding onto the sorcerer's neck, began to deal dagger strikes to the opponent's chest. And the sorcerer, pulling the daggers out of the already dead Oluel with his magic, directed them at Haliel. Daggers plunged into Haliel from the left and right, leaving no traces in the armor; blood flowed from the elf's mouth, and blackish blood of the enemy began to drip from above. The opponents continued to shred each other until the daggers stopped in Haliel's body and he fell into the water along with the dead sorcerer. A severely burned mage, pressed against the wall, tried to recover after what he had experienced. Surfacing, the elf pulled the blades out of himself and exclaimed:
- Hey! Make me a shadow! Hey!
The mage created a small fire, and Haliel, placing his hand on his shoulder, teleported them up. At that moment, Sir Tramus arrived. Seeing the burned mage, Oluel's corpse, and Haliel spitting blood, he exclaimed:
- In the name of the Creator! What happened here?!
- "Who" happened here, - Haliel replied with a smile.
- I should have protected you!
- You wouldn't have been able to do anything. Now, take us to the healers, or whoever deals with the wounded in your wilderness...
Living:1.
KindShaman3.
SnowmanV24.
Мортулус 7.
mika8.
Arandor9.
Ment10.
Немой Цветок12.
WishmasteR 13.
Нефела14.
Morning -
Lord Kohel Seveseptimus15.
SesameDead: 5.
Драккошка 6.
MasteR11.
Нэйра ДрейкInfected: 2.
Heroist
Added after 43 minutes
Infected = removed from the game. They cannot be cured.
