This time, we bring you a little teaser about the next area we are about to add to Vagrus, namely the twin salt basins north of the Crimson Gate and the Hills of Plenty. It includes - among other things - the town of Salum, where the Dragonlands is in control of a faltering salt mining operation and seems to be oblivious to certain issues surrounding it. Is someone hiding something? You'll have to dig deeper to find out. Or just harvest salt and try to get rich in the process.

'We do not worship the Dragons like you do your false Imperial Gods. We do not sacrifice to them or beg for their fickle blessings. Our Dragonlords are our paragons; a testament to what every being can aspire to and the source of the Flame that lives in all of us. That same Flame can burn your ass to crisp if you dare slander their name again.'

As the new Trading system was shaping up for Milestone 5 alongside the emergence in our storylines of some of the less lawful factions (such as the Loader's Guild), we figured we would need a sub-system for smuggling goods as it makes sense that these organizations would be willing to hire a vagrus to do just that.

The Krawag - draconic reptiles bred to be hunter-killers or guard animals - are easily among the most dangerous enemies in Vagrus. Some of them go rogue and live the solitary life of an apex predator in the cruel wilderness of the Riven Realms, giving vagri like you trouble; others are captured and sent into arenas for entertainment; while still others roam the land in the service of the Dragonlands and its armies.

'Day 54 - Another week goes by and the vile horde broke again on the wall of our scuta today like the fierce tidal waves break on the rocks of Anurao Bay, the place of my birth. Most of the day after dawn devolved into a cruel dance in the mud and gore - one of pushing and pulling and stabbing at the rhythm dictated by the roar of our foes and the bone whistle of our centurion. Yet nobody complains; no true legionnaire would. The green-skinned bastards have to be stopped here. For our families. For our Empire. For the Emperor, too, though I would rather pray to Old Hand Marcus than to the distant, slumbering God-King in our capital that I've never seen. But best keep that to myself, else the Priests of Sergorod find some punishment for me. They would sure love to. Perhaps there will be a night attack, too, at least that's what the talk is around camp now. If so, and considering the losses of the 3rd and 7th cohors in the last few days, I am not sure I will ever see the capital...'

'Ever been to Salum, mate? Mighty odd place I tell ya. Them Ratharnak mooks claim to have struck gold with the salt but the operation looks pretty shitty if ye ask me. Perhaps they literally struck gold instead, eh?'

- The musings of the vagabond called Shakub over an ale, shortly before his disappearance

'That thing hunted them. Relentlessly. Worse than any predator they had seen before, it hounded their steps through the forest called Smuggler's Cloak by the commoners. Yet no cloak proved to be enough to hide them from those horrible reptilian eyes. The creature was clever, too. It did not attack them but tracked them from a distance, waited until they were exhausted, harried, and desperate. And then it took them, one by one. The last wretched fellow gave himself up to the first patrol he stumbled across; better break rocks in prison for the rest of his life than fall prey to a Krawag.'

'As the morning drew on beneath the piercing gaze of the merciless sun, Levitius saw the soldiers of the 19th slowly gaining a foothold on the south bank in a fierce melee. Covered in blood and dust, the legionnaires looked more like a gored sand wyrm, writhing madly as it got stranded on solid rock. Then something passed before the sun. He heard one of his evocati shout 'Dragonguuuuuuuard!' before the mighty drakes with the elite warriors of the enemy on their backs started their first swoop and at last Levitius knew the number of his days.'