Welcome to Gaia! ::

"The knowledge can be worth less then the stones you trod upon, or a king's ransom. The same said of your offer. I, however, can guarantee that your mind will open when your eyes gaze upon the words within. Indeed, it is a powerful weapon, this knowledge. See it!... The book of the Sun burns brightly in your eye, I know it. The Book of the Moon shall illuminate the darkest recesses of your mind when you most need it. And the Book of the Stars shine for you-- look to it to bring you home.

"A man who deals for unknown offers unknown. The value has always totaled the offer. This in mind, select the map to your future, and pay the ferryman his due."

A hand was held out for the bag.

"The book is yours to take. Far be it for me to guide your hand."

The words were said simply enough, really. He could take the book himself, and just leave the bag on the table, if he didn't feel like... putting it in his hand.

The vendor wouldn't follow.

In fact, Xehart's senses would show that there was nobody to be looking for at all.

The autocannons would get off a few shots before being rained down upon by explosive fireballs. Evasive maneuvers did not seem very evasive, as just about ever shell fired at the airship struck. But the Vengeance was more heavily armored than the Vecna was, so the damage the hull took before the mages on board could counterattack was minimal.

"I want a full spread," Captain Krik said, "Blanket the whole city."

"Aye, sir. Main cannon is ready."

"Fire!"

Vengeance's main cannon fired, but instead of one solid beam of negative energy, it came out in multiple, smaller beams, arcing through the air and fanning out to carpet bomb a wide section of the city.

"Contact Captain Starrow," Krik ordered, "and request reinforcements."

Meanwhile, the Wraiths that were still in the air after all this time engaged the new air support that was arriving, hoping to take them out quickly. On the ground, the undead hordes were leaving the overrun base, their ranks bolstered by zombies in military uniforms, still carrying their weapons. They chased after the survivors fleeing to safety.

"Nnf..."

Reyin pulled himself up, peering over the edge of the building he had just jumped to just in time to witness another explosion. Reyin ducked back behind the wall and covered his head, going back to look once all the rubble had finished pinging off of his back.

He stood up, staring at the building housing the gate controls, then to the gate itself. He was going to have to hit the ground at some point, so he might as well be inside when he did it.

Gathering up his duffle bag, Reyin took a deep breath and kicked open the roof access door to the building he was atop of. Descending the stairs, Reyin soon came to realize that he was inside a warehouse of sorts. Flood lights provided poor illumination for the blonde swordsman, but eventually his eyes readjusted to the dim light and he was free to gaze upon a bunch of recently-constructed farm equipment.

"Sweet."

Reyin hopped down from the staircase and let out a low whistle as he scanned the surroundings, completely unaware of a twin pair of red eyes staring at him from the shadows underneath a large truck.

Chaos was coming for them.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The warehouse doors had been thrown open, and out poured all sorts of farm equipment. Mack Trucks , Combines, Tractors hauling Cultivators, and enough diesel smog to cause the air above Aekea to blacken just another shade. Four Combines in all took the front, the Eight trucks pulled up along either side, filled to the brim with heavy stones, while the tractors touched bumper-to-bumper with the Combines carrying the Cultivators behind them, each one spanning about twenty feet in length. The threshers on the front of the combines easily combined to cover a solid eighty foot spread, and when the threshers kicked on the sound of whirring blades overshadowed the explosions and jetwash overhead.

The farm equipment was, as anyone with half a brain could assume, impressively huge. Comparable in size to most, if not all military issue vehicles, the agricultural machinery bearing down on the Dead Man army was perhaps even more terrifying than the most armored of tanks. The threshers were there to obviously do what they were designed to do, tear up and 'harvest' anything caught in the whirling blades. The mack trucks were there simply for support, but the Aekean robots piled into the back were eager to do their part in the defense of their city. Namely, hurling the huge rocks out of the back of the truck at any Dead Man attempting to get out of the way or disable the Combines. The tractors and their Cultivators were running cleanup, smashing, pounding, and chewing up anything that managed to survive the initial threshing.

In short, the Dead Men may have gained entrance to the city, but they were getting the most impolite greeting in the history of the world.

And where was Reyin Nova during all of this?

Proudly standing atop the center Thresher, hands on his hips, head cocked back and a maniacal laugh sounding from his lungs.

But wait, if Reyin was there...

A quick look would reveal that a majority of Aekea's robot population had joined in on the rural revolution. The red eyes that had been staring at Reyin in the warehouse belonged to none other than Bildeau's cousin, Bildeeng. After convincing the scared little android that he was friendly, they were quick to lend their metallic aid in the form of their driving services. They emptied the warehouse, piled as many survivors into the vehicles as they could, and with a bit of Reyin's help, lined up their convoy to decimate as many of the enemy reinforcements at the gate as possible.

The military would have to be responsible for mopping up the forces left inside the city, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about enemy reinforcements.

Not bad for a bartender.

Not bad at all.