Portal to Another World

The Lone Wanderer keeps his rifle ready as he and Ettel sprint through shattered streets. Behind them, Ash, Bingus Brown, the silent hunter, and Honorhold’s army finish the fighting amid smoke and gunfire.

Vahlheim’s palace rises ahead through drifting smoke and rubble, its black towers scarred by explosions. Battered power armor and medieval plate crowd the gate beneath torn royal banners.

A broad-shouldered adult man in dented steel plate, his square, stubbled face visible beneath the open visor and a brown wool scarf tucked at his throat steps into the road. A faded red plume hangs from his helm, and he levels a heavy firearm across the pair’s path.

Five royal guards fan out behind their commander, weapons trained from the gatehouse and armor patched with scavenged plates. None advances, but the road is fully blocked.

The Lone Wanderer passes his bolt-action rifle to Ettel. She catches it against her shoulder as he draws his second weapon and steps beside her, both aiming down the blocked road.

They fire as one. The opening volley knocks weapons from the guards’ hands and drives the formation apart, while the commander staggers behind the gatehouse wall, his heavy firearm clattering away.

The five royal guards drop behind the shattered barricade, disarmed and unwilling to rise under the crossed rifles. The blast leaves Ettel’s borrowed weapon steady in her hands.

They flee into the palace, unarmed and shaken. Modern firearms meant nothing since they had little training with them.

The Lone Wanderer and Ettel rush through the palace doors. Smoke coils beneath the vaulted ceiling as the fleeing guards vanish up a grand stair, leaving bloodless silence behind.

They reach the throne hall without delay. A broad, elderly man, a heavyset human with a weathered ruddy face and a crooked scar through one eyebrow, with a severe beard stands before the ruined throne in black-and-gold robes, a heavy pistol at his belt and a silver crown pressed into his thinning hair.

The king’s hand settles near his pistol, but he does not draw. Through shattered windows, distant gunfire rolls across the capital as Honorhold’s army secures the streets.

The king studies the Lone Wanderer in silence. Beyond the shattered windows, gunfire fades into scattered reports, leaving his answer no audience but the two figures before him.

Alaric removes his hand from the pistol and faces Ettel fully. His voice remains proud, but the ruined hall and distant fighting make the cost of his bargain impossible to ignore.

The claim cuts through the throne hall’s smoke and distant gunfire. Alaric’s proud expression tightens as the bargain behind his alliance takes on a more dangerous truth.

Alaric steps away from the ruined throne and removes the silver crown from his thinning hair. He sets it on the armrest, no longer reaching for his pistol.

Alaric turns toward the shattered windows and raises both hands where the distant soldiers can see him. Beyond the palace, Vahlheim’s resistance begins to falter as orders travel through the capital.

The Lone Wanderer takes the Vahlheim king by the arm and leads him from the throne hall. Ettel follows with her rifle ready as the king’s guards lower their weapons.

The king’s command carries through the palace corridors. Royal soldiers set down their firearms and step away from the stairways, opening a clear path toward the occupied courtyard.

In the courtyard, Judge waits among Honorhold soldiers. The Lone Wanderer delivers the king directly into his custody, while Ettel presents the surrendered crown and the king’s pistol.

Judge studies the king, then the surrendered crown and pistol. The courtyard quiets as Honorhold soldiers wait for his ruling.

Judge’s expression hardens into a measured resolve. He signals the nearby officers to preserve the king’s testimony separately from the charges arising from the invasion.

The Lone Wanderer waits in the courtyard while Judge’s officers keep the Vahlheim king under guard. The knight in training remains nearby, listening as the captured ruler gathers his thoughts.

Judge signals a clerk to record every detail. The king points toward the northern road, describing a depot hidden among collapsed warehouses and guarded by soldiers loyal to the invaders.

The Lone Wanderer leaves Vahlheim occupied courtyard behind and arrives at old military depot north of the capital.

The party reaches the old military depot north of Vahlheim’s capital. Collapsed warehouses hunch around cracked loading yards, where rusted fuel drums and abandoned trucks sit beneath a haze of dust.

Fresh tire tracks cut through the grit toward a fortified relay station beyond the warehouses. Voices carry from behind a corrugated barricade, and a weak generator coughs beside stacked ammunition crates.

Ettel lowers herself behind a concrete slab. Ash and the towering barbarian spread along the warehouse wall, while the silent hunter slips toward a broken observation tower to study the guarded yard.

Through a gap in the barricade, the Lone Wanderer sees battered wasteland armor, weapon crates, and a map pinned beneath a metal wrench. The depot’s command post lies directly ahead.

The Lone Wanderer rises behind the concrete slab and fires controlled shots through the barricade. Weapons clatter away as Ettel, Ash, the towering barbarian, and the silent hunter surge into the depot.

The invaders fight back but are overwhelmed by The Lone Wanderer's precise shots and Ettel's fury.

Inside the command shelter, a middle-aged woman stands near a corner with her sidearm pointing at the door in fear. She wears a grey military officer's coat.

The Lone Wanderer keeps his rifle trained on the officer without raising his voice. But she does not drop her weapon, instead she stares with wide eyes at the legend himself. The man who destroyed the Enclave.

Her hand holding the sidearm begins to tremble. She is visibly scared, but still not surrendering.

The officer keeps her sidearm pointed at the Lone Wanderer, shaken but ready.

Her hand holding the sidearm trembles with rage. Tears beginning to form under her eyes. She keeps the weapon pointed at him, with no intention of surrendering.

She begins firing her weapon, The Lone Wanderer dodges the shots and jumps behind some crates to take cover. Lieutenant Autumn continues firing until her weapon runs empty.

The Lone Wanderer steadies his revolver over the crates. The bruised forearm protests under the strain, but he tracks the relay officer’s head through the smoke and fires once.

The shot strikes the relay officer in the skull and kills her instantly. Her sidearm slips from her hand as her body collapses behind the command shelter’s cover.

The revolver’s recoil jolts through the Lone Wanderer’s forearm, worsening the bruise and forcing him to lower the weapon for a breath. Smoke rolls across the scattered crates.

Ettel rushes to The Lone Wanderer and looks down at the officer's body. Ettel's expression is sad but also relieved that the threat is finally over.