The whole passage through the myriad of the mansion's halls had taken a while, but to a mind consumed by a flood of endless thoughts it had passed as if in a flash. It would seem that the flow of time in this place was bound by some peculiar laws, possibly even set by the will of its lord, the mysterious Gray Baron. His loyal servant stepped into the shadows, allowing him to brighten the tedious minutes of waiting by viewing paintings displayed in the hall. Those portrayed fragments of the great battles: good and evil, light and dark, chaos and order, heaven and hell, humans and beasts. Each of them stood out with its own style, and yet all of them were surprisingly perceived in absolutely the same way, evoking no emotional response to any of the depicted sides of the conflicts. No pride, no distaste — only feeling the magnificence of the moment of the battle itself, elegantly emphasized by the artist.
Suddenly, somewhere behind, amid the reigning silence, a faint clink of a dropped coin echoed. "I can see these thoughts are still troubling you," at once sounded the voice of the master of this place. An instant later, he himself appeared from behind and promptly continued, "Thoughts of things to come. Of the inevitable, which should have come a long time ago, but for some reason still hasn't. Is it not the core of anger that plagues you? Such a trifle... If you cannot deal with it, how can you deal with that which you are so fiercely waiting for?.." A soft meowing interrupted his words — and all attention was drawn to the cat Marquis, who had emerged from behind a column all of a sudden and seemed to be casually wandering, crossing the expanse of the hall and paying no attention to anyone. At one moment he abruptly froze on the spot, turning his gaze on those present. The eye of a primal predator, ready to lunge at its prey and tear it apart. With another "meow" he again turned away and headed on, fading slowly behind the silhouette of its master — as if vanishing completely without a trace. "You mustn't let it consume you," again spoke The Gray Baron's voice, bewildering the mind for a moment and bringing it smoothly back into the course of the interrupted reflections. "You are to face a stark choice — and it's best to approach it with a clear head. Challenge the Crossroads — and realize the enormity of the wrong decisions. So that in the very moment that you are waiting for, the torment of doubt doesn't prevail over your mind." Having concluded his enigmatic monologue, the mansion owner extended his hand in an inviting gesture to the direction where the doors to the outside suddenly opened, from where a cool autumn wind was blowing. Strange, a mere few moments ago there had apparently hung one of the paintings... Or was it a twilight play? Perhaps the mysteries of the Crossroads would prompt an answer.
Lords and Ladies! The mysterious Gray Baron once again invites all daredevils who wish to touch the fragments of ancient and long-forgotten secrets. If you are not afraid to make choices and face their consequences, then this combat challenge is especially for you!
Addendum ¹101 to the Participation Agreement:
1) All Lords and Ladies of Combat level 5 and above are invited to participate;
2) Permitted equipment is shop artifacts. Enchantments have no effect;
3) You are are allowed to fight with your army. Faction skills and talents are fully functional;
4) As opponents, you will face the armies and units of various official and unofficial factions;
5) Battles can be fought in several different formats. Pay close attention to the surroundings on the map, so as not to miss possible hidden details of current and future battles;
6) All combat encounter points are tied to the location of the ancient mysteries scattered on the map. Each track reveals the secret of some long-forgotten knowledge, and this is a permanent gain to one of your characteristics which will last until the very end of the road. However, the fragility and instability of these mysteries make hesitation not an option: you can only move forward!
7) Important! Each battle stage of the event will offer a fork of two possible paths with different choices of opponents and rewards upon victory. Only one of the suggested paths will allow you to move on. Make your choice thoughtfully and deliberately, as EACH defeat will impact the final result;
8) Important! Each victory can yield up to 10 points. Each defeat deducts 1 point from the potential reward for both available battles. But simultaneously, with each loss of yours, the enemy armies’ strength on that stage weakens. Stages cannot be skipped;
9) A total of 35 battle stages will be available, you can make 3 wins on each. Maximum number of wins: 105;
10) On the first day, only the initial 5 battle stages are available, with an additional 5 stages added each following day;
11) The event will last for 11 days, through October 26 inclusive;
12) For winning a battle you can receive Hunters’, Mercenaries’, Thieves’ and Watchers’ guild points, as well as — gold, diamonds, creature armaments, elements, Leaders’ guild followers, scrolls of calling, parts of creature stacks and parts of special artifacts:
It will be possible to obtain a total of up to 25 parts of Fear Lantern and up to 20 parts of Imperial Boots. In addition, Gray Baron promises to honor the successes of Lords and Ladies with a trophy artifact from his personal collection and grant them a special corresponding achievement.
The artifact’s durability will depend on the number of points scored.
Annex ¹101A:
Extremely important! During this event, the "Battle Exhaustion" system is in effect. Starting from the 15th turn of any battle, the Lords’ and Ladies’ talent ‘Mana recovery’ will cease to function. The same will hold for the abilities ‘Life drain’ and ‘Battledive’ for the units in the Lords’ and Ladies’ armies. Additionally, all enemy units will gain the ability ‘Attentive’, and an increase in initiative and speed. Notifications corresponding to this exhaustion will appear as a warning 1 turn before and at the onset of exhaustion.
- The top 75 military clans and all their active members will be specially rewarded. Awarding will be based on the final clan ranking, where each clan’s final score will equal to the sum of points gained by its top 100 members;
- All unblocked Lords and Ladies of successful military clans will be rewarded if they bring at least 800 points to their clan;
- If a Lord or Lady leaves or is evicted from their military clan, the clan loses all of that member’s points. If the member rejoins the clan, their points will be returned to the clan’s score;
- Leaving the clan on the last day of the event and before the award ceremony is forbidden;
- Admission to military clans from the second day of the event is limited to three Lords or Ladies per day;
- Important! Once you achieve over 50 victories in the Crossroads, you will be temporarily unable to join any military clan until the event is over.
Rewards for active members of top-ranking military clans:
| Clan rank | Reward | Glory | | 1 | | 1,500 | | 2 | | 1,300 | | 3 | | 1,100 | | 4 | | 1,000 | | 5 - 8 | | 900 | | 9 - 13 | | 800 | | 14 - 20 | | 600 | | 21 - 30 | | 500 | | 31 - 45 | | 400 | | 46 - 60 | | 250 | | 61 - 75 | | 100 |
Personal rewards for the best 5,000 Leaders based on the number of event points scored:
| Lord/Lady rank | Reward | | 1 - 50 | | | 51 - 100 | | | 101 - 200 | | | 201 - 400 | | | 401 - 650 | | | 651 - 1000 | | | 1001 - 1500 | | | 1501 - 2250 | | | 2251 - 3000 | | | 3001 - 3750 | | | 3751 - 5000 | |
There will be no additional rewards other than those listed in this addendum!
Step into the Crossroads! |
