Book 11 Plot

It has been two weeks since the events on Arturia. Weasel has notified the Aurean Alliance that he is indeed alive and is ready to lead the Aureans once again. The Aureans have since started using Castle Arturia as an Alliance base, and are working with Arturius on removing the last traces of the Froudlings. Tate, aware of the Aurean recapture of Arturia but unaware of Weasel’s return, has sent a large portion of is troops to the Vigam System, in hope of preventing the Aurean Alliance from creating a gateway to the Main Strip (the cluster that includes Aurea itself). The Knights of the Square Table, realizing that this stronghold on Vigam must be captured if the Alliance is to retake Aurea, have come up with a truly crazy plan: Send Weasel, Ryan, Morgan, Shelby, Steve, Nate, Taftenkhamun, and Cole directly onto the planet of Vigam. There, they will work with local resistance movements to shake Tatian control of the planet to the point where the Alliance can begin landing ships on the planet. They then tell Weasel and his friends that they cannot accompany Weasel and his friends to Vigam personally, as they still have work to do restoring Arturia to its former glory. Instead, they reveal they have the ability to manifest themselves in Astral Form, allowing them to technically be in two places at once. However, their Astral Form projections cannot fight or move. Only talk. They then say that Vigam has an energy shield over it that must be deactivated before they can land. The shield is also TURDIS-proof, so that option is ruled out. They then say that they can get close enough to the planet to deactivate the shield if they use a TURDIS to reach the Isle of Arachnus orbiting the planet. Once they arrive on the Isle of Arachnus by TURDIS, they find King Arturius, the Lady of the Loch, and the Knights standing there, but they are all in holographic Astral Form. They say the Isle of Arachnus is a piece of Vigam broken 15 years ago by Tate in his recklessness. They say the only easy way to get to Vigam is to temporarily disable the TURDIS-blocking part of the shield. This can only be done if they can use the materials on the island (and an old forge dug out of Castle Arturia’s basement) to create an enchanted show of Vigam’s and Tate’s history. This would overload the shield’s time sensors just long enough for their TURDIS to slip through. They then say that they should start by defeating some Wordless Woodsmen, guardian of the last Blue Palm seed. They explain that there used to be a Blue Palm Forest on Vigam, but Tate burned it down, transforming it into the Blue Desert. The seed is a memory of Vigam’s past, which will help disable the shield. Once they have the seed, King Arturius instructs Weasel and his friends to turn to the darker side of Tate’s history and find something that no longer exists because of Tate. Weasel then gets the idea to use something from Aztlan. They are in luck, as King Arturius says an undead Aztecosaur dwells on the Isle, forced by Santa Muerte to guard this place. Weasel and his friends then look around and find a lone Grim Calaca, and easily kill it when it attacks them. They then bring the skull back to the Knights, who then tells them to use the forge to place the Blue Palm Seed inside the eye of the Calaca. Once this is done, the Knights says they have to go fight Froudlings now and can’t help them anymore. King Arturius then says he can stick around, and he managed to get some people to appear in Astral Form to replace the Knights, including some people calling in from the Realm of the Dead. Once the Knights’ Astral Forms disappear, new people appear: Tristan (who guided them back on Planet Squid and sacrificed himself to kill Jermie), Daniel Raibowmask (who guided them on Aztlan and died with the planet), Ragnar Lothbrok (the King of Ryu 108), and Omar (the Camel Merchant from Awal Kabab). They say even though some of them are dead, they will be with Weasel and his friends to the very end. They also say that when Weasel and his friends arrive, the Tatians will think they are there to join their forces. If they are to get anywhere, they must play along with this and use whatever trickery they must to find the Burrowers, the group that resists Tate. They then climb in the TURDIS and go to Vigam. When they land, they find themselves in the city of Caputus Vigamius, the planet’s capital. However, they are in a fenced-off part of the city barely large enough for their TURDIS. They find a Mantis named Harrison in a Tatian Army uniform standing in front of them. He asks if they are there to join Tate, which they say yes to. He then sends them into the Forlorn Tower within the fenced-in area to test their combat abilities. Inside, Weasel and his friends easily deal with some spiders and then a colossal beetle named Klack. Instead of killing Klack, Weasel and his friends show him mercy and spare his life. From this point on, Klack says he is in their debt for saving him. When they report back to Harrison, he decides to test them himself in that tower, and is eventually defeated by fire breath from Steve. With that, Harrison decides they are strong enough to be useful to Tate here. While he thinks about where to place them in the Tatian forces, he drops the fencing around their area and tells them to go meditate at the Arcane Colossus in the city center. At first, nothing happens, but then they feel a charge of energy go into it and it begins to radiate with Astral Magic. Then, Daniel Rainbowmask appears to them in Astral Form and says that by unlocking some of the magic hidden within the fortress, they have weakened Tate’s shield enough for the Knights to appear on Vigam in Astral Form, but for now they must continue exploring the planet. Weasel and his friends then report to Harrison, who tells them to go meditate at the Rubicund Colossus. When they do this, nothing happens. When they tell Harrison, he seems surprised that it did not respond to their presence, and sends them to go find his sister Rose Mousehunter, who recently captured a Burrower spy. He tells them to see what she has learned from interrogating this Burrower. Once Rose is killed by Ryan, they free the Burrower prisoner, who reveals himself to be Alex. Alex then tells them to meet him by the Broken Tower, which they immediately proceed to do. Alex tells them that he needs weapons and armor, but he has no idea what Rose did to them after she was captured. He says they will have to go into the Mausoleum and get some from Alex’s ancestors. Once inside the Mausoleum, they fight off some Crypt Spiders and get some armor and a sword from a grave. They bring this to Alex, who then puts it on and they go to the nearby Silent Market area of the city. Alex explains that Caputus Vigamius was once the city of the Burrowers, but 19 years ago when Aurea fell to Tate, Tate took over the northern half of Vigam, even though the south resisted. Eventually, they had Caputus Vigamius surrounded, but could not breach its walls. Instead, Tate used Shadow Magic to change all its inhabitants to crystal. Those few Burrowers that escaped ran off into the Vardanian Wood, and are the ancestors of all Burrowers alive today. Alex then says he was sent here because the Burrowers have established contact with a spy in Caputus Vigamius. Alex was supposed to retrieve information from said spy before he was captured. He says even he does not know the spy’s real name, and that the spy is simply referred to as “Code Greenwings”. He says that Code Greenwings was supposed to leave a message written on red cloth somewhere here in Silent Market. After looking around for a while, they find it and read it. It reads, “DANGER! Go to the War Room beside you. The info you need will be in there, but it will be guarded,” When they enter the room, they find a Tatian General named Vanik Battlecry, who attacks them. After he is slain by Alex, they take the information they need hanging on the wall. The documents, which reveal the Tatians’ latest plans, read, “I have ordered forces from Fort Rachias to bolster Camp Havoc. Additional walkers are to be constructed at once. Once the forces are ready, we will destroy the Burrower holdouts in the Vardanian Wood. Camp Havoc is also creating a new form of Goliath. The process is painful, but the destructive power is unmatched,” He says they need to leave Caputus Vigamius immediately and travel to the Vardanian Wood by way of the Lunar Cliffs. Once they leave the city and head out into the Lunar Cliffs, Alex explains that they are now in the domain of the Bees, Wasps, and Hornets. The Lunar Cliffs used to be allies with the Burrowers, but Tate drew them under his spell and forced them to attack the Burrowers. Now, they are as hostile as anyone else on the planet. Alex then says he dug a tunnel through the Lunar Cliffs from the Vardanian Wood to Caputus Vigamius, but when he goes to check on it, it appears someone has found his tunnel and collapsed it. This means the only way to the Vardanian Wood is to go straight through Bumbler Town, the Apidae Village, and the Apiary before they can reach the Vardanian Wood. He says these will be heavily guarded and they will have to find a way to sneak through without being seen. Alex then says bee eyes work differently than the eyes of other species, and it will be easy to get past them as long as they have yellow and black powder over them to make them look like bees. To get the powder, Weasel, Alex, and his friends kill some Hornets outside the city gates and apply the powder. Once they have the powder on, they are admitted into the walls of Bumbler Town by a guard, who tells them to get rid of some Sassafras Warriors that are stealing honey from their stores. Once they get rid of these Sassafras Warriors, the guard hears an explosion at the nearby honeymill and sends Weasel, his friends, and Alex to investigate. Inside the honeymill, they are attacked by a wasp that is easily dispatched by Cole. The wasp then reveals that a group of Burrowers and Sugar Gliders from the Vardanian Wood snuck in and caused the explosion. He then says they are being held in Detention Block AA-23 nearby. Once inside the Detention Hall, they find themselves face-to-face with the Broodmother, the corrupted queen of the Lunar Cliffs. Alex then decides to distract her while Weasel and his friends kill the guards blocking the entrance to Block AA-23. Once the guards are disposed of, however, the Broodmother makes short work of Alex by picking him up, stinging him, and smacking him out the window. Once inside the block, they find a Sugar Glider named Steve Roughwind and a Burrower named Tim Ivysword. They warn that if they do not leave the Lunar Cliffs immediately, the Broodmother will send in reinforcements and they will all be killed. Weasel and his friends then take Steve and Tim outside, where Tim says the only thing between them and the Vardanian Wood is some of The Broodmother’s Royal Guards. Once they kill enough of these to force the rest to flee, the Broodmother’s reinforcements catch up with them. Steve and Tim decide to stay behind and hold off the soldiers while Weasel and his friends escape into the Vardanian Wood. Once inside, they are greeted by Ragnar Lothbrok in astral form. He says that even though they have escaped that venomous hive and are safe for the time being, they need to bring the war plans to the Burrower General as soon as possible. He also says that the General’s name is Lord Isaiah and that he is located in the Burrower holdout on the near side of the river. However, the Broodmother sent out her team of elite scouts, the Blue Razors, into the Vardanian Wood to track Weasel and his friends. Once Weasel and his friends reach Lord Isaiah, he says that the Sugar Gliders in the other holdout already know something about this. However, a nearby lake has overflowed itself and the dry riverbed that the Burrowers use as a path between their two holdouts is no longer dry. When Weasel and his friends go to the lake to investigate this, they find that a Moth witch named Abby has enslaved the water spirits and is using them to impede communication between the two Burrower holdouts. After a long fight, Abby is killed by Nate and the spirits are set free, drying the riverbed and allowing them to travel to the second Rebel holdout. However, this one is inhabited by Sugar Gliders instead of Burrowers and is at the edge of a canyon known as Hurrian Gorge. The leader of the Sugar Gliders, named Seth Poston, says that he knew that the Tatians were planning, but the Sugar Gliders and Burrowers are completely unprepared for something of this magnitude. He tells them that Camp Havoc, the area where the Tatians are preparing for their attack, is on the other edge of Hurrian Gorge. He says that while Sugar Gliders can simply fly across and spy on the Tatians from the bushes, Weasel and his friends will have to go down to Tyrian Gorge and find a way to climb the canyon wall. He says that the entrance to Tyrian Gorge is in Caputus Vigamius, but on the side opposite the entrance to the Lunar Cliffs. To get there, they will have to sneak through the Moon Cliffs again. To minimize the chance of them being caught, Weasel decides to go alone. When Weasel enters the Lunar Cliffs, the first thing he sees are the bodies of Tim Ivysword and Steve Roughwind on the ground in front of him. He also notices that the body of Alex has been moved, since it was no longer in the location it was in after he was killed by the Broodmother. Once Weasel returns to Caputus Vigamius, he tells Klack that he needs to get into Hurrian Gorge. Klack says he does not have the authority to open the gate, but Harrison might. Weasel then asks Harrison, who asks him to fetch some of his tea that was stolen by a gang of Burrower freedom fighters that snuck into the city. Weasel then goes into the hideout of the freedom fighters, who hand over the tea after Weasel states his purposes. Once Harrison has the tea, he opens the gate to Hurrian Gorge, allowing Weasel to enter. Once inside, he finds himself at the bottom of the gorge, surrounded by centipede warriors. Thinking quickly, Weasel pretends to be a new recruit for Tate and asks the centipedes who their leader is. They say that their leader Captain P’Yuu Aff’Strond is nearby and that he needs to make an introduction. Once Weasel introduces himself to Aff’Strond, the former claims he was a new recruit posted to Camp Havoc and that he needs to know how to get there. Aff’Strond tells him that there is a nearby ladder he can use. Once Weasel arrives in Camp Havoc via the ladder, he hides out in the bushes and sees some partly-finished siege engines nearing completion. Waiting until night fell and the guards were asleep, Weasel snuck into camp, sabotaged the machines, and snuck back into the grass. Once the guards woke up the next morning, Weasel overheard them talking about bringing Inquisitor Rhys in to oversee the offensive. Once he hears, Weasel uses the book on how to repair teleport stones his friends found in Arturia to build a teleport stone from Camp Havoc to the Sugar Glider hideout in the Vardanian Wood. Immediately upon returning to the Sugar Glider holdout, he is attacked by Blue Razors who, due to the element of surprise, Weasel barely manages to fend off. Weasel then tells Seth Poston what he learned in Camp Havoc. Seth says that while he discusses this with Lord Isaiah to come up with a plan, Weasel and his friends should go figure out who these Blue Razors are and who is sending them. Sneaking through the bushes, Weasel and his friends managed to catch a glimpse of the Blue Razors going through the Apiary Gate into the Lunar Cliffs. However, Weasel and Ryan managed to sneak in before the gate closed. Once they arrived in the Lunar Cliffs, however, they are found and swarmed by the Broodmother’s Royal Guards. After barely defeating them, Weasel realizes that the noise from the battle alerted the entire area to their presence and they saw a huge mass of bees, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets attack them. After sending most of them fleeing, they found none other than Inquisitor Rhys there. Rhys, shocked to see Weasel alive after what happened on Arturia, was easily defeated by the combined power of Weasel and his friends, but not before he used his antennae to contact Tate and inform him that Weasel is alive and attacking Vigam. Once Rhys realizes he is beaten, he is forced to fake his death to escape. Meanwhile, Weasel and his friends press on through the Lunar Cliffs and eventually see the Blue Razors bowing down to the Broodmother. Once they realize that Weasel and his friends are in the room, the Blue Razors teamed up with the Broodmother and attacked Weasel and his friends. They succeeded in driving the Blue Razors back, but were completely overwhelmed when confronted with the Broodmother and forced to flee for their lives. Once they return to the Vardanian Wood, Omar appears to them in astral form and scolds them for recklessly entering a city and exposing their presence like that. They then go to the Burrower holdout and Lord Isaiah tells them he has come up with a completely crazy plan: Weasel and Seth will go down into the Hurrian Gorge and steal a dragonfly. They will then steal some Tatian bombs and fly the dragonfly back up to the Vardanian Wood. Once the dragonfly is ready, they will fly to the Apiary Gate, drop bombs there, and lead a Burrower and Sugar Glider army through the hole in the Honeycomb Wall and into the Lunar Cliffs. Isaiah says he will need a lot of additional manpower to defend the Vardanian Wood against an incoming retaliatory raid from the Lunar Cliffs, so Weasel’s friends will stay behind. With that, Weasel goes to the Sugar Glider holdout, informs Seth of the idea, and departs with him through the teleporter stone to Camp Havoc. From there, they climb down the ladder to the bottom of Hurrian Gorge. Once they are down there, Seth says the first thing they need is a baby dragonfly, and that dragonfly eggs are kept in a cave nearby. When Weasel enters the cave, he is attacked by giant bats, which he easily disposes of before being attacked by Tatian legionnaires. After forcing these to flee, the legionnaires summon their general, a bear named Chief Witko. Weasel has a hard time with Chief Witko in combat, unused to his style of fighting. Once Witko is defeated and forced to flee, Weasel steals a dragonfly egg and takes it to Seth. Seth says that, while dragonflies are very large creatures, their growth can be accelerated to take only a few hours to reach maturity if the right food is given to them. He tells Weasel to see if any Tatians know where he can find some. Weasel then asks Captain P’Yuu Aff’Strond if he knows where some dragonfly feed is. He says that most Tatian legionnaires in the area carry some. Once Weasel kills some legionnaires and takes their feed, he gives it to the dragonfly, who has by this time hatched from its egg. Seth then says they will need a a harness to attach the bombs to, so they will need the milkwebs of a Goatweaver Tarantula to make one. Weasel then asks Aff’Strond where the Goatweaver Tarantulas hang out, and Aff’Strond points to a nearby cave. Once Weasel is inside the cave, he is forced to fight and kill two massive tarantulas with the heads of goats. Once they are dead, Weasel harvests the milkwebs and gives them to Seth. Meanwhile, the dragonfly is already a teenager. However, Seth finds the milkwebs too sticky to work with and asks Weasel to find someone who knows how to work with them. Weasel asks Aff’Strond if he knows someone who can work with milkwebs. He says there is a mantis named Trey Smith in a nearby cave who can work with these. Once Weasel gets to the cave, however, he is forced to rescue Trey from a Canyon Yeti. Once Weasel slays the Canyon Yeti, Trey builds the harness for the dragonfly and gives it to Weasel. Weasel then gives the harness to Seth, who then gives Weasel his next task: steal some explosives from the Tatians’ stores. Weasel then climbs up to Camp Havoc and enters the Weapons Tent. Once inside, Weasel kills a Tatian Corporal and a few other legionnaires before stealing some bombs and taking them back to Seth. However, Seth says Weasel must do one last thing: take out the Tatians’ air defenses in Ohjus Tower. Inside Ohjus Tower, Weasel deals with a few Scorpion Guards on each floor before making it to the top floor, where he must fight none other than Inquisitor Rhys. After a long fight in which Rhys falls out the window, Weasel commandeers the tower’s surface-to-air missile launcher and destroys a convoy of Tatian Fighters flying coming from a nearby fort. Weasel then tells Seth that the air is clear and they fly the dragonfly back up to the Sugar Glider holdout in the Vardanian Wood. While Seth straps the bombs and harness to the dragonfly, Weasel gets his friends together before rallying the Burrowers’ and Sugar Gliders’ armies to the Apiary Gate. Just then, Seth flew over the Apiary Gate on the dragonfly and dropped a bomb, blowing a huge hole in the Apiary Gate and allowing Weasel, his friends, and the rebels to come pouring into the Lunar Cliffs. Once inside, they quickly defeated the Broodmother’s Royal Guards before moving onto the Bees’, Wasps’, and Yellow Jackets’ forces. Since both sides were on a relatively narrow ledge snaking uphill around a lake, Weasel decided to try something radical: he had all the Sugar Gliders fly across the lake to the bottom of the ledge. Once the Sugar Gliders landed, they took forced the Hornet Archers, which were weak at close range, to flee before attacking the Bees, Wasps, and Yellow Jackets from the rear, trapping them between Weasel’s force and the Sugar Gliders. Weasel’s friends then offered to help him take out The Broodmother, but Weasel told them to stay behind in case the Tatians call in any reinforcements from Caputus Vigamius, Camp Havoc, or Hurrian Gorge. Once Weasel got to The Broodmother’s Tower, he fought her, but was easily beaten. Desperate to learn how to defeat her, Weasel steals a book from The Broodmother’s desk. When he reads it, he learns that The Broodmother is only evil because Tate cursed her with Shadow Magic. The only object that can cure her, the Lunar Crown, was stolen by Tate’s Army years ago. Weasel then decided to risk everything and return to Caputus Vigamius and ask Harrison if he knows where the Lunar Crown is. When Harrison asks why Weasel needs it, Weasel lies and says he wants to destroy it to make sure the rebels attacking the Lunar Cliffs can’t use it. Harrison says it was cast into the deepest part of Hurrian Gorge, and even Harrison does not know what else lies in there. Harrison asks if Weasel thinks reinforcements will be necessary to drive the rebels out of the Lunar Cliffs, but Weasel insists they have the situation under control. Weasel then goes to Hurrian Gorge and asks P’Yuu Aff’Strond what he knows about the Lunar Crown. Aff’Strond says the Lunar Crown is in the nearby Guu’U’Kh’Ola (which means Deep Hole in Centipede). When Weasel goes into the pit, he is forced to kill an assortment of Scorpions and Spiders before finding a truly gigantic tarantula. Weasel has an extremely hard time with this beast, but he manages to tap into the power of Skathi’s Sting embedded within the Sword of Caliber years ago on Ryu 108, killing the beast, which drops the Lunar Crown before it dies. Weasel quickly rushes back to The Broodmother and throws the Lunar Crown at her, transforming her into Queen Talia on impact. Talia then said she regrets everything she did as The Broodmother and wants to join the Burrowers and Sugar Gliders. She hands Weasel a peace treaty and signs it before instructing him to take it to Lord Isaiah and Seth Poston. Once Isaiah and Seth sign the treaty, Weasel takes it back to Talia, who says that if Weasel takes the Lunar Crown to the top of the Lunar Tower, he can undo the curse on Caputus Vigamius and restore peace to the city. When Weasel enters the Lunar Tower, he is immediately attacked by the ghosts of Burrowers forced by Tate to protect the tower. However, they switch sides once they learn Weasel is here to restore Caputus Vigamius. They send him to the top of the tower, where Mike Van Buren, the tower’s caretaker, resides. When Weasel gets there, Mike Van Buren says he has foreseen Weasel’s intent to destroy Shadow Magic. However, according to the prophecy, it won’t be that simple. While Shadow Magic is beyond dangerous, Weasel must learn it if he is ever to take on Tate and win. However, Mike explains that the power to learn Shadow Magic comes from absorbing the power of a Shadow Artifact. Tate got his from the Song of Shadow from the Lords of Xibalba. Weasel then explains that the Sword of Caliber absorbed the Horned Crown on Arturia, and Mike says now that he knows Weasel has the ability to learn Shadow Magic, Weasel will need to go through a series of tests to prove he is ready to wield such power. Since one must be mentally and spiritually pure to use Shadow Magic, Mike explains that Weasel needs to open the six checkpoints in his mid that are blocked by various emotions. He says the first checkpoint is blocked by fear and asks Weasel what his greatest fear is. Wesel says his greatest fear is not being able to stop Tate. After meditating for a few minutes to get over this fear, Mike says that checkpoint is unlocked and they can proceed to the next one, which is blocked by guilt, and Mike reminds Weasel of his failures: Failing to protect the Key to the Jungle from Lord Whelan, allowing Tristan to die for him, failing to save Aztlan from Xibalba, failing to protect his friends and see through Tate’s scheme on Awal Kabab, and all the horrible things he did while transformed into The Pendragon. Mike says he has prepared a room nearby where Weasel can correct his failures by smashing a ball of sand. When Weasel enters the room, he finds a ball of sand on a desk and smashes it, however, it turns out to be a fragment of the Sands of Time, and it shape-shifts into the enemies responsible for Weasel’s failures: Lord Whelan, Jermie, the Horn of Huitzilopochtli, Xerxes, and himself in the form of The Pendragon. This 5-v-1 was probably the most difficult fight Weasel fought up to this point, but he somehow managed to slay all of these old opponents and return to Mike. Mike said the next checkpoint was blocked by shame and asked Weasel what he was ashamed of. Weasel said he was most ashamed of going into exile on Arturia for 19 years and putting his friends in immense danger by making them go there to rescue him from the curse of The Pendragon. Mike then told Weasel that he needs to accept that this is how fate meant it to be, which Weasel hesitantly does, opening that checkpoint. Mike says the next checkpoint is blocked by grief, and asked Weasel who he feels the most grief for. Weasel says he feels the most grief for all the friends he let die for him during the war, especially Fundisa Ironhoof, Drew of Crider, Felipe de Buenhombre, and Garett. Mike tells Weasel to take solace in the fact that these people did not die in vain, opening the checkpoint. Mike says the penultimate checkpoint is blocked by lies. He asks Weasel what the worst lie he’s ever told was, and Weasel reveals that he regrets telling some children on Aztlan that themselves and their planet were going to be OK when he knew they weren’t. Mike says Weasel needs to accept that he isn’t perfect and can’t always defend who he is trying to protect. Once Weasel accepts this. Mike says the last checkpoint is blocked by illusion. Mike began by explaining that Weasel needs to finally accept that he fell for Tate’s illusion back on Awal Kabab, which he hesitantly does, opening the last checkpoint. Weasel then feels a surge of power inside him, sees his sword glow pitch-black, and swings his sword in the air, sending a crescent-shaped disc of black light to be emitted from the sword and slice straight through the wall. Mike says that is the Shadow Magic adapted to the specifications of his sword, but Weasel will need to learn how to do much more with it before he is even considered a basic Shadowmancer. He then leads Weasel to the roof of the tower, where a large pole sticks up from the roof. He instructs Weasel to put the Lunar Crown on the roof, and then instructs Weasel to focus on the Lunar Crown, which acts as a direct conduit to Caputus Vigamius. He then tells Weasel to imagine all the city’s dark energy going into his sword, which then actually happens. The sword then absorbs this energy, lifting the curse on Caputus Vigamius and making the Sword of Caliber even more ludicrously powerful than it already was. Weasel then left the tower and told Talia what happened in there. She says that peace has been restored between the Burrowers and Sugar Gliders and the Bees, Hornets, Wasps, and Yellow Jackets and that what she wants to do now is reverse the worst of her evils. She says that Alex, the mouse who everyone thought she killed as The Broodmother, is still alive in a state of suspended animation and can be revived. She says that she already has the first ingredient of his cure, her sting’s venom, ready. However, Weasel and his friends will need to go to Camp Havoc and steal some coal for the other ingredient. Weasel tells his friends about everything that happened when he was gone, and asked them to go to Camp Havoc with him. Once they were there, they killed some Goliaths and stole their coal before giving it to Talia, who mixed it with her venom and led them into a cave in the Lunar Cliffs. She poured the cure over Alex’s body. Once Alex woke up, Weasel and his friends told him the whole story of what happened after the Broodmother almost killed him. He then goes with them to Caputus Vigamius, who marvels in the fact that the capital is restored. Tristan, Daniel Rainbowmask, Ragnar Lothbrok, Omar, and King Arturius then all appear in astral form and congratulate Weasel and his friends for freeing the city. They then remind them that they have a duty to start making plans to land Aurean Troops before disappearing. When Weasel sees Harrison nearby, Harrison asks Weasel if he truly serves Tate or the Aureans. Weasel then hesitantly explains who he and his friends are and what they are planning to do. Harrison says that he himself is a spy within the Tatian Army, working undercover in the city with the Burrowers, Sugar Gliders, and now the inhabitants of the Lunar Cliffs. He also says that he is in fact the spy the Burrowers refer to as “Code Greenwings”. He then says that if Aurean Forces are to be landed on the planet, they must secure the nearby Fort Rachias to obtain a Dying Star Stone, the only thing that will allow ships to successfully navigate the Starfall Sea and reach the other side of Vigam where Tate is. That fort, at the other end of Hurrian Gorge, is the most well-defended place on this side of Vigam and it will take a massive army to take it. Ryan then suggests making an air force of Sugar Gliders and Dragonfly Riders to ensure control of the skies, while a ground force of agile Bees, Wasps, Hornets, and Yellow Jackets uses their speed and agility to confuse and entrap the fort’s defenders. Using the battle, as a distraction, the Burrowers will use siege engines stolen from the Centipedes in Hurrian Gorge to make a hole in the fort’s walls large enough for Weasel and his friends to sneak in, get the Dying Star Stone, and get out. After spending about a week preparing for the attack, Weasel and his army leave the city through the northern gate. As soon as they enter Hurrian Gorge, however, they are immediately attacked by centipedes. The air force manages to bomb most of them into submission before they can endanger the mission. Weasel eventually is forced to duel P’Yuu Aff’Strond, who he defeats without much trouble. Once Weasel beats him, Aff’Strond announces he wants to change sides and joins Weasel’s army. After easily mopping up the Tatian legionnaires and Goliaths stationed in front of the fort, the gates of the fort open and thousands of Tatians and Goliaths storm out, accompanied by ten heavy walkers, and thirty light walkers. Hundreds of Tatian fighters flew over the wall and began to engage the Dragonfly Riders and Sugar Gliders. With no armor or shielding, Weasel’s air force began to suffer heavy losses. Seeing that a lot of their problems were being caused by a nearby surface-to-air missile tower, Weasel and his friends decided that they could hold off on getting through the walls and decided to storm the tower. On each floor, they easily defeated the Scorpion Guards and made it to the top level, where they found none other than Sir Will of Cole. This was not an easy fight, however, as he has grown much stronger over the 19 years Weasel was gone. Eventually, Weasel throws his drug shipment out the window and Will jumps out to get it, but Weasel cuts the line holding Will up and he falls to his death. Ryan then commandeers the tower’s surface-to-air missile launcher and starts using it on the Tatians, allowing Weasel’s air force enough time to get over Fort Rachias’s walls. While the Tatian ground troops were suffering heavy losses, Weasel’s army was being completely annihilated by the walkers since they had no real way of penetrating their armor. Ryan then used the missile launcher to take out one of the heavy walkers, allowing some troops time to commandeer a few of the light walkers and attack the rest of the heavy walkers. Weasel and his friends then left the tower, but left Ryan behind to fire the missile launcher. With the Tatian air presence rapidly diminishing, Weasel’s air force flew over the walls of the fort and dropped bombs on the heavy walkers, destroying the last of those. Eventually, the Burrowers managed to break a hole in the walls with their siege engines, allowing Weasel and his friends to enter the fort. With all the guards preoccupied with the battle outside, Weasel and his friends successfully get into the main building without being seen. They make it to the prison hold, where they find a mantis named Holland guarding two prisoners: Reshon and Kira. When Weasel and his friends state their purposes, Holland releases the prisoners and states that he is Harrison’s brother. Reshon and Kira then express shock at seeing Weasel still alive, so Morgan explains what happened up to this point starting back on Arturia. Reshon and Kira said they were on a mission on the Tatian-held Planet Rinascita, but were captured along with another general from Planet Squid named Noah, but his whereabouts are unknown. Weasel says he thinks he remembers Noah as the merchant they helped when they first landed on Planet Squid all those years ago, and Reshon says he is right. Once they are out of the prison hold, Weasel and his friends climb up a set of stairs until they are in the Dying Star Stone Chamber. However, the Dying Star Stone is guarded by none other than Elliot. After an extremely long battle in which Weasel and his friends almost die, Elliot is defeated and the Dying Star Stone is taken by Shelby. However, Tate appears in Shadow Form and warns them that he now knows they are on the planet and their battles will only get tougher from here on out.