With a nod to the bannermen, the horns blow loud and clear above the column and the banners are raised. The crusade to the Heart of Darkness begins. As you proceed through the south of the city the streets are lined with huge crowds of people. It is as though the whole city has come to see you off. Children cry as they desperately cling to the arms of the soldiers marching out, and both men and women shout encouragement to the soldiers passing by.

Reaching the great bridges that span the dried up river bed that divides north from south, you see a new crowd arrayed before you, the infected. Hundreds deep and shambling on the far side of the river. As you had planned, the barricades are moved aside and a small squad armed with amber bombs charges through the gap and starts to lay down a tunnel of fire through the plague districts toward the King's gate.

The fire will not last long, so the procession moves at a double march through the tunnel of fire, eventually reaching Verum's great gates.

Beyond the gate, your army forms up as best as it is able, crowding around the walls. Many of these men and women have never been in the Deepwood before, and it looms with an ever-present darkness that chills the air until their breath can fog midday. You are used to it, but some of the soldiers touch the wall behind them with a hand, tentative to let go, lest they become lost.

The only way to get this army forward is to lead. Without pause you march into the Deepwood at the head of a column. You do not look back, confident that the soldiers will follow. Judging by the sound, they do.

Traveling the Wire Road in such numbers is fraught with danger and it is not long before smaller attacks begin happening along the line. The things the soldiers are seeing terrify them but they fight them back with spear lines and arrows. In the hopes of keeping the army's spirits up, one bannerman begins a marching song, and the tune is quickly picked up by some surrounding squads eager for a distraction from what lurks in the trees. It is here that you are faced with your first command decision. You know that the song could lift the spirits of the soldiers, but at the same time it will draw any creatures nearby.

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