May 13th, 5 pm Eastern Time, 10 pm British Summertime, 2 am Indian Standard Time

Blackthorn stepped carefully over the grey-black corpse of the many-tentacled horror, flanked on either side by his red-and-black watchmen. His eyes were not on the many fallen corpses of the invaders, but the horrific sight of what had once been one of Trinsic’s paladins, now splattered across the side of a house, a deep indentation in the wall where the man’s body had been flung against it.

All about him, in the now-red grass, were body parts, still covered with the remains of various types of armour. Ring mail, chain mail, even plate – shredded, as if it was a scribe’s scroll. And none of the fallen could be raised, no matter how the healers tried. The black slime that clung to their bodies seemed to prevent any attempt to call the dead back to life.

Not so very far away, he could hear grown men weeping, groaning in agony, and new widows wailing for their lost husbands. A head garishly decorated the chimney of a nearby house, blood still dripping from it, running down the roof.

“Get that poor man’s head down from there, and try to give these people a – a – a decent burial.” he ordered. ‘Burial’. It had been so long since he had even heard the term. So long ago that he could not even remember who it was for – but, that was what you did with a body that could not return to life, wasn’t it? He wished he knew for certain. There were graveyards across the land, but when was the last time anyone had actually needed one? Apart from the vampires, of course.

“My lord, you need to see this!”

A young mage arrived at his side, breathless, and waving a scroll. With great effort, Blackthorn pulled his eyes away from the carnage of Trinsic, and read the contents of the scroll.

“Summon Commander Bhaltair. We have what we needed. These creatures will pay for what they have done, and these brave paladins will be avenged!”

He crumpled the scroll, and strode towards a pair of mages who were maintaining a moongate back to Britain. Finally, some good news – but where was he sending his warriors?

What you need to know

• Gates will be provided in the usual places.
• This event will be very, very far from any guard zones.
• Town Criers will do their usual thing.
• Wandering Healers will also do their usual thing.
• Reminders will be made via general chat an hour before the event.
• Striped shirts and Tartan leggings do not go together well.