Events always took unexpected turns, never following anyone's predictions.
Chris and Dirac had figured that the situation in the Minicia Kingdom was relatively stable. Even if civil war broke out, there would be at least some preparation.
At the very least, the kingdom's great nobles would go through the motions of assassinations, political deals, choosing sides, and courting neutral parties. Only after everyone involved had determined that their differences could not be resolved peacefully would they resort to force.
Anyone with half a brain should have known that once a civil war began, the established order would be reshuffled. Everyone with vested interests would lose; only those with nothing stood to gain.
Yet, with a month still left before the summer heat ended, the players suddenly captured Tavitsky City, where they had been fighting small-scale street battles against the enemy, turning an urban siege into something more like a policing operation.
The reason the players suddenly completed their mission and achieved their victory objective was simple... their opponents, Minicia's Seventh Legion, had quit.
The Seventh Legion, which still retained at least half its fighting strength, withdrew abruptly. In the early hours of the morning, they broke off combat with the players and fled without looking back. They even abandoned the supplies in their camp outside the city, taking only their weapons and equipment.
The players did not pursue them. For one thing, at least half of them were asleep, idling, or had yet to log in. For another, after fighting for most of the summer, they were tired, and weapons and ammunition were running low.
Fighting inside the city was manageable. They could use cover and the complex terrain to maneuver around the enemy, wage guerrilla warfare, or dig in and fight to the bitter end.
If they gave chase