City Titan, The Iron Keep Observation Deck
Ragnar, Surrounding him in a nervous semi-circle were the puppet rulers of his subjugated territories: King Aedh of Leinster and the hollow-crowned monarchs of Wessex and East Anglia.
Shivering violently in the biting northern wind, the vassal kings pulled their fur cloaks tightly around their frail shoulders, casting deeply suspicious glances at a crate resting upon the deck.
Ragnar ordered a pair of Tang laborers to pry open the reinforced lid. Stepping forward, the laborers aggressively utilized iron crowbars, snapping the locks.
Opening the heavy lid entirely, Ragnar revealed rows of perfectly machined, polished brass cylinders.
These were a batch of brand new, highly experimental tactical assets, not the destructive fragmentation shells Ragnar had previously utilized to slaughter the Byzantine cavalry, but a specialized, chemical-based illumination munition.
