====== Operation Glass Shroud ======
Operation Glass Shroud was a ranger mission conducted by members of the [[polemos:8th_age:factions:eleytheros_pteros_episke|Eleytheros Pteros Episke]], ostensibly to restrict USC research efforts in [[polemos:8th_age:locations:the_tomb|The Tomb]].

^Start Date  |241/11/9  |
^Main Objective  |Inhibit USC efforts to research chaos energy at The Tomb  |
^Mission Status  |Aborted  |

===== Insertion =====
To cross enemy lines, seraph squad traveled to the Senate's Freedom Line under a pilgrim's visa from their previous journey to Artheniapolis. There they met Fredrick, a Vernick Pteros member of the Senate ISAT. He escorted the unit through tunnels under the trench lines to link up with Senate intel assets in the USC membership guard. 

After exiting the tunnels and a brief glimpse of large-scale USC battle preparations seraph squad met Gimyth and Agyn. They were hidden in a supply truck and smuggled overland to a ruined outpost outside old [[polemos:8th_age:locations:yu_ian|Yu'ian]].

===== The Tomb =====
Upon linking up with [[polemos:8th_age:characters:lynnis_utherson|Lion]] and [[polemos:8th_age:characters:du_al_ker_vala_is|Tomb]] seraph squad donned hazmat suits to protect against chaos anomolies, and entered the ruins of the city. While the mission was officially to fight the USC, Lion intended to use the mission to search for a journal of [[polemos:celestials:illyian|Illyian]], the leader of the previous Eleytheros Pteros and it's parent organization, the [[polemos:4th_age:factions:akris_anistemi|Akris Anistemi]]. Yu'ian was situated on a series of canals, and Lion had evidence that the old Pteros had used them as a secret base. The crater caused by the Chaos Bomb should have exposed entry ways into these canals.

After moving through the ruined outskirts seraph squad entered the outer tomb, a completely leveled cityscape and chaos pollution that ring the titanic crater that makes up the inner tomb. Here they found and ambushed a group enganged in a three-way battle - the USC, the Kingslayer ranger Panther, and a stone-age, ash-painted group known as "The Dead Men." With the element of surprise on their side Panther was rescued and the other groups routed.

Upon continuing to the center of the Tomb seraph squad stumbled upon [[polemos:8th_age:characters:scipio_polian|Scipio Polian]] and a platoon-sized element of elite USC troops. They fled and eventually reached the safety of 

===== The Canals =====
After losing their tail, the Pteros thoroughly searched the canals beneath the Tomb. Eventuall the ranger Inquisitor found an apparent dead end that was actually an optical illusion. Passing through they found a choice of three doors guarded by holes for bolt traps, and ancient corpses of those that had chosen incorrectly. Without any context for the puzzle, Inquisitor was able to see the correct answer and opened a path into a cistern where signs of an ancient battle were clear.

With the door opened to reveal a large cistern converted into an ancient hideout, a pair of [[polemos:8th_age:factions:shadows|Shadows]] switched off cloaking suits and attempted to steal artifacts before the rangers could act. What followed seems incredible, but pteros members claim the wrathful ghosts of those lost in the ancient battle returned and sought to kill both USC and federation troops. They say the ghosts could move through walls and solid objects, but reached out with claws that could slice through any armor. It was only by the ranger Inquisitor obtaining an artifact called the Lamp of Creation that they were given a reprieve, however temporary. After recovering a spell book from the original, historical, Pteros the modern group was able to find magics that could enable mundane weapons to harm the wraiths. Seeing the spirits would not be able to kill the rangers, [[polemos:8th_age:characters:scipio_polian|Scipio]] collapsed the only tunnel leading into the room, sealing them inside.

After the ghosts had been defeated, the pteros members found a note scrawled in the cover of the spell book:

//To Whomever Finds This Tome,//

//I, Fara Ul'ama, am a lorekeeper of the Eleytheros Pteros. My death is near, yet I perform one final labor by passing on this tome to future generations. If you are not a Morrisite - or are a Morrisite and believe in the cause we shared strongly enough to keep this from the censor's flame - please read on.//

//First, know that we, the Akris and brave heroes called the Order of Esther, saved the world. The return of the false god Elesh was thwarted, his Mu soldiers destroyed, and humanity saved from total death. But with the victory our leader Illyian abandoned us, leaving the Akris Council to deal with the peace. It would not last long. When the next war began, and the council declared themselves the "mountain kings," most of us fought with them against the rulers of the old nations. But Louis Morris said any cooperation with a mountain king was treason against Liberty, and thus began the purges that would set Pteros against Akris, captain against captain, and rider against rider. We fought for our Pure Freedom, our Pure Virtue, and against their insufficient freedom, their lacking virtue.//

//But the kings, both new and old, did not seek either freedom or virtue. Friendless, Pteros riders were hunted down, and we were not even welcome in the homes we saved from the Mu. Thus I find myself hiding in the canals under Alqah'Eshem, waiting for death at the hands of either King Navid or the Morrisite Gray Riders.// 

//Should true Evil return however, the knowledge in this book will be invaluable. Though I have no regrets on laying down my life for the true cause, please safeguard this knowledge now that I cannot. Though today we are sand across the beach, swept away by the howling storm, there will be a day where we will once again become the unmoved mountain. On that day know that I will be gladly watching from the next world.//

The Pteros then dug through a thin wall into an adjacent canal and made their way back to RANGECOM.