[The Gol'dherro Halflings] Infiltrating the Cave was easy enough through a hidden entrance, once inside they found the guards were tense and ready, the battle having already begun, their efforts would have to be swift. There were many scattered supply rooms in the back part of the cavern network, well guarded by Unseelie soldiers, but at the front most of them had been dispatched to fight the Half-Drow Mercinary Captain and her flame-thrower troop. Those supplies looked like food stocks and ammunition caches for spell scrolls, quivers for archers and crossbowmen. Extra medical supplies for the wounded. They would not go to miss at the inconvinence of the enemy, not at all.
/// is Golgherro not Gol'dero :P
the squad is composed like this, as a reminder: Myr, wizard duelist Balga'hormn, barbarian rabismaalii, shaman warchief sahil, druidess Rrazz, sahil's raptor raido, scout jall , archer
all the squad would approach the enemy via etherealness if possible, well warded and in case healed by the three casters and various items they have. casters and archers would start raining violence over the guards, the meelers on front line, of course. Myr is a master in parry, and can hold enemies for long as the others flanks or shoot them. rabismaalii charismatic leadership keep the mood high and might intimidate or fear the foes if some enemies approach from behind a morph into wild shape from sahil would provide enough cover untill help comes from the others
the druidess and shaman might use their powers to do some of those nifty nature magic things like calling forth this and that being, moving terrain to squish the enemies and so on , as well as preventing the unseelies to do the same on them... <.< ((as usual, top lore/pnp rules knowledge here XD )); making some big fire elemental to run across the tunnels charring enemies... if some foe try to ambush or trap them, everyone except a pair of them would have decent to high spotting capacities, besides true seeing on
they'd be immunized to poisons, thanks to cloaks, and wearing forged masks to block dusts and smoke.
sure they'd vanquish the guards of the supply rooms and plunder those rooms, using bags of holdings
as a whole ,the squad would proceed like a small hurricane trough the caves
though, if things go bad and retreat is needed, they have dimension door available in case.
///for any further thing, events and whatnot, input is awaited
Daevos would head back to his base camp after another recruitment drive. He would wait there for an Orog named grim along with anoyone else he had recruited. Once he arrives he would lead them back to his ship and towards the rest of his men who are not defending base camp.
He would then give his men new orders. They would be to send some ships along the side tributary towards the mountain pass. Not all would fit so they would have to use their smaller ships. The rest would be anchored along the edge of the shore to form a secondary base camp while the rest of his men push the unseelie back through the woods and towards the mountain pass. He would leave some men at the ships for defensive purposes.
After he finished relaying his new orders he would wait for his new recruits before setting off himself.
King Etakhin took a deep breath. Next to him stood Sthenos, overlooking the Slaughter before them. The Hoplites had left a road paved with the corpses of slain Unseelie. The Phalanx had fallen behind the Frontline in order to gain break and some healing. 9 Men had fallen ever since they joined the Campaign. Brothers, Fathers, Husbands and Sons. In a small community such as theirs, these were deep losses. He turned to his soldiers, who were getting patched up:
"Brothers! That Blondie has given orders for us to push North. He is just barely of the same faith as us. We are only mercenaries here, because this not our war. But by Ares we will fight it with a passion, that no other being in the Multiverse can match. This I swear by my title! These "Things" are no match for the spears of Doran! And we will continue to prove them this fact, until they will fear us so much, that they will yell Orders of Retreat all day long! By the time we're in the North, we will slay terrified puppies and not Savages. This I swear aswell, brothers!"
In perfect Synchronization the Hoplites nodded to the Words of their King. It didn't take 20 minutes, before they were up and ready, running in Formation back into the fray.
Now the Hoplites began to show their believes in the most horrifying way possible: By brutally massacring the Unseelie that were thrown against their shields, like waves crushing on the shore. The Last Rows now began picking up the corpses that the Phalanx marched over and tossed them onto the arriving Enemies as projectiles. The fear inflicted by their Fallen kin ontop of them, lessened the enthusiasm of the Unseelie. The Spartans took a liking of skinning the bodies of the Dryads and Nymphs and coating their Shields in them, to always remind the Unseelie of where their sisters and kin would be. The nine fallen Hoplites had been exchanged with Healers, who were kept inside the Phalanx, in order to immediatly respond to critical injuries. Steadily, the Dorans moved into the Enemy ranks pushing North. That was the only thought in their heads. The Resolve was kept by unity and the Formation that would seem to the enemies like a Wall in the middle of the battle.
Their battlecries could be heard back to the main camp: "BY ARES AND BY OUR KING! TO THE OLYMPUS!"
[Daevos] Vrigmars influence was not a great one in the plane of Brux but it had enough prowess that he could swear his men shot more clearly and true when their arrows hit Unseelie camps and set alight their forces.
Their men went screaming northwards out of the small woodlands, as he remembered by Augustus Geography, beyond that was open planes and land, taking away his mens naval advantage.
But to the distant north he indeed did see the Rivers Augustus also mentioned, acting as a natural land barrier to the east side of the mountain that forced Unseelie to cross in slow marches through the canal waters. They were perfect for a smaller sea force to hit and run through.
Vrigmar had seemingly answered the Pirate.
[Sthenos] King Ekathin and his Phalanx roared celebration at the slaughter before them to the west of the battlefield. The Unseelie ranks were numbered but they lacked structure and organisation, they did however make up for it in a far less honorable way.
Arrows hailed the Phalanx circle to pin them down from the mountain range to the west, the pass was hard to traverse with a full formation and magic splashed down upon them with fire and brimstone.
Their foes faces were filled with fear as they desperatley tried to keep the Phalanx from accending the cliff, pinning them with arrow fire while burning away several men alive with flame and earths cruel magic.
They also sent forth warriors of Pandemonium, champions of madness whos demonic fey heritidge made them mighty as the berserkers of the Phalanx rear guard, they cleaved a solid swath of bloodshead as they slaughtered into the first rank, taking two men in one brutal cleave.
[Drakos, Amy and Sandy] Augustus looked approvingly at the Drow and her efforts, thanks to her she had managed to put them back on their feet in the war against the Unseelie and gave them the weapon he was counting on to win it.
At Drakos suggestion Augustus was surprised, but all the same he nodded. "We already have reinforcements en-route from the city of doors, but at this rate even a small force could help us assure a solid victory. Our enemy has numbers but we have a multitude of faces willing to die for this cause, afew more couldnt hurt." He bowed to Drakos. "See to it the elements are turned on our foes, show them no mercy!"
With that he went around camp looking for others to provide orders too.
[Calisto and Maewind] Augustus was a little grim when finally meeting them for the first time in battle. The conflict had taken its toil on the man, and the death count had clearly sullied his joy.
He offered the duo a chance to leave the conflict before it got too heated, but if they chose to stay he said:
"The Spartans to the west need aid, and the brigands to the east, each of you will go to one of those individuals and help them in what ever way you can provide. Healing, fighting, using magic if need be, do what you must... I have faith in your skills of conflict."
With that he turned to the rest of the war.
[The Halfling Commandos (Or Golgherro's)]
The raid on the Unseelie caught them by surprise at the sheer chaos, forcing the cavern network to split between the halfling raiders and their small band and the larger and far more threatening force comming from the Half-Drow and her mercinary soldiers.
The Halflings successfully managed to cause chaos within the tunnels which made the enemy reorganisation near-impossible. They were however inevitably overwhelmed by their foes, even after damaging the supply trains and burning essential foodstocks and arms. They would be able to use a dimension door spell to flee back to the main battle.
When they returned to the main field of war they were possitioned not far from where Emareldin had been with the spellcasters. They were possitioned to the east of the mountain, to the south east, they saw Daevos men prepairing to storm the Unseelie and to the far west they saw a small blip that must be the Phalanx advancing northwards aswell.
From this possition they had the high ground over the Unseelie to the east, which would help the brigands in their assault. They saw a huge set of river cannalls that divided the mountain from another smaller mountain rise which was perfect for a killing field.
The wisest of the halflings determiend that the brigands were likley going to set up their ships in the rivers, which meant the Unseelie would have to cross those rivers under fire and sneak attacks from the raiders. They would need help setting up their ambushes to keep a successful hold on the east.
To the north east, they saw however a surpisingly unpleasant view... the main Unseelie army was infact "behind" the mountain, and it literally covered the entire northern plane beyond the mountain.
This could be disasterous if the captain didnt know, one of them would have to warn Augustus and his men to the far west of the main enemy army...
"For tonigh ye all shall make camp, an bring a few of tae captive wit ye!" Daevos would say with a grin. "Thar be more than ah few reasons ay we bring tae pitch."
For the camp they would make a makeshift palisade and stake the ground in front of it for a fair distance. In between the stakes pointing outwards he would order his men to dig a trench approximitely five feet wide and fill it with pitch. In front of the palisades would be some of the captive Unseelie, tied up on posts in the ground. If sirines, they would be sturng up, and basically drawn and quartered to make a little display to strike yet more fear into the unseelie ranks. The dryads would be burned at the stake. Whatever remained of any sirines and if they caught any nymphs would be within camp, properly gagged and bound.
"Do ay 'ave any volunteers tae take first watch as 'ell as makin a scouting party?" A large amount of his men would prefer to stay at camp for playing up the defenses. Yet he also managed to round up a decent sized scouting party as well.
To the scouting party he would state. "Explore ta 'werds tae passes, then make a sweep around tae camp tae keep an eye out fer any potential ambushes. Ayso while 'sporin te pass, try an find ay few rough paths oer fer a 'vantage point above tae better see wha we are walking intae as well as 'elpin tae form a strategem fer te coming day. Be back by daybreak. May Vrigmar be wit ye all."
To the rest of the camp he would say the following. "Aye, Vrigmar bein wit us so far. Let us live on tae te next night, and tae one affer dat! May Vrigmar continue tae be wit us!"
He would give the scouts a parting feast, minus the grog of course, a drunken mercenary would be a liability of course, and daevos knew that much. However, he would let them have a gift of another sort to keep their morale up. He would do likewise for the entire camp as well once they got set up.
The men on his ships would see the light of the camp and take it as a sign to anchor ashore and make their own camp for the night, built in the same fashion.
If he was the best at anything, he knew how to keep his men fighting, as well as strategy. A demoralized force is a weak force.
((From here on out, I am not logging him. He would likely be pretty damn far from the portal plus it adds to the roleplay IMO.))
The situation had turned quickly. Next to Sthenos, a soldier went mad, tossed his spear at the Faes, struck her in the chest and was burned to bits with brimstone attacks! They kept on yelling, communicating and cursing their foes but there was a new tone to it: Desparation!
Moving up the mountain was to say the least a feat of impossibility. It got harder and harder to move. Their limbs became numb and they felt the heat of the arrows and magic attacks tossed at them. The shields began to heat up and most had their skin get attached to the hot metal.
The Formation moved together quickly, raising their shields over their heads like umbrellas. King Ekathin began to shout commands. He was trusted by his men, for he had often enough proven himself to use genius and innovative Tactics. This time he would have to put everything on the line.
Barely capable of taking the blows from the Pandemonium beasts, they used that last bit of force to move in one strong push, knocking over the first few Monsters and then retreated slightly down the mountain. Now came the first trick. The King shouted: "NOOOOOW!"
Suddenly the Phalanx burst into two, forming a narrow corridor. As the Demonic Berserkers came charging down the slope, they suddenly ran into nothing. Shields left and right to them, only two Hoplites at the front of each Phalanx-half greeted them. By moving down the slope they caused the distance between them and the enemy to be Greater and the momentum of the Demons was greater than before.
The Hoplites used this to their advantage and simply let them run down the mountain to be met with either the following soldiers or the flying spears of the last rows of the Hoplites. The Doran soldiers had no regrets of sacrificing their comrades. On the contrary: Any warrior not of their tribe was a temporary ally or foe. That was all.
Having decreased the number of Pandemonium Berserkers, they now had to solve the problem of the arrow rain, which had been the demise of 12 more soldiers. Once again the Phalanx moved together. Every soldier raised their shields over their heads and the next command was shouted among the brotherhood: "Fire!"
On command all Hoplites threw their spears as hard as they could towards the enemy archers, immediatly after the Dori left their hands, they drew their shortswords, burst apart and charged individually up the mountain, scattered, leaving smaller and quicker targets. The king at the front they chanted in unity:
"DEATH TO ALL FOES"
As if bitten by hounds on Rabies, they made clear to all Unseelie ontop: They were coming for those fools!
The raid on the Unseelie caught them by surprise at the sheer chaos, forcing the cavern network to split between the halfling raiders and their small band and the larger and far more threatening force comming from the Half-Drow and her mercinary soldiers.
The Halflings successfully managed to cause chaos within the tunnels which made the enemy reorganisation near-impossible. They were however inevitably overwhelmed by their foes, even after damaging the supply trains and burning essential foodstocks and arms. They would be able to use a dimension door spell to flee back to the main battle.
When they returned to the main field of war they were possitioned not far from where Emareldin had been with the spellcasters. They were possitioned to the east of the mountain, to the south east, they saw Daevos men prepairing to storm the Unseelie and to the far west they saw a small blip that must be the Phalanx advancing northwards aswell.
From this possition they had the high ground over the Unseelie to the east, which would help the brigands in their assault. They saw a huge set of river cannalls that divided the mountain from another smaller mountain rise which was perfect for a killing field.
The wisest of the halflings determiend that the brigands were likley going to set up their ships in the rivers, which meant the Unseelie would have to cross those rivers under fire and sneak attacks from the raiders. They would need help setting up their ambushes to keep a successful hold on the east.
To the north east, they saw however a surpisingly unpleasant view... the main Unseelie army was infact "behind" the mountain, and it literally covered the entire northern plane beyond the mountain.
This could be disasterous if the captain didnt know, one of them would have to warn Augustus and his men to the far west of the main enemy army...
/// i'd check for some pnp spells so to get some ideas more how to manage this phase, if possible. (send me a reply, here on via pm, please)
[Augustus] Hearing Calisto had left the field of battle, the man seemed to be even darker in the company of his companions for a while... but then his expression shifted. He kept in mind that for their sake, he would have to keep their morale.
He drew Feybane, a mighty weapon made to unmake the Fey, and directed it to the Unseelie. "I will not idly stand by and lead this war from the rear guard..."
He sounded the call, and his own main vanguard began to march, he ordered the Senechal to stay behind to offer any commands and advise. The man was old but he was wise enough to order strategically the things that Augustus needed in the front line.
Augustus went up to the field and headed straight up with the Spartans with his own Pretorians. He advanced north west and flanked some of the Unseelie in the mountains directly by going up a steep but wide canyon.
His men all carried towershields as he roared the order, they formed into a turtle wall of shields before advancing forwards to meet the Phalanx formation. They created an impassable iron wall that went straight into the bulk of Unseelie forces, Feybane's dull sword cut through Unseelie leaving enchanted burns and seers that sent their demon fey screaming in agony and thrashing for their lives. The unrelenting formation marched on into the bulk of the collumn to aid the men, spellfire bashed at their tower shields but with a firm command from the general himself, the shields held in a tight net.
The rear part of the shield wall was still exposed as some Unseelie bullied the rear guard, but Augustus quickly changed formation to a square and had the men lift shields once more, deflecting arrows and spellfires from above.
Several men died screaming in agony to the sharp barbed pikes and demonicly enchanted weapons of the Unseelie. One Tower shield was hooked and pulled back while the man holding it was dragged along out of the formation screaming as he was pulled apart ruthlessly by their attackers.
Augustus roared a curse and charged personally to avenge the fallen man, the others rushed after him and went into the fray, ruthlessly and mercilessly slaughtering Unseelie without relent or refute.
"NOT ONE LIVES FOR THIS, NOT ONE!"
His face was matted with blood, his eyes bloodshot against hiss beautiful blue lights, they seemed an almost haunting thing to gaze upon now.
Drakos and Sandy walk from the camp for a short distance and then Drakos lays out his plans.
"This is where we split for a while. We are going to draw upon two forces of nature and hit the Unseelie army from two flanks.
Fly to the right flank of the army for several miles, take note of hunting grounds and lairs of all creatures. Locate as many as you can, find where the most powerful and numerous creatures are located that are not allied to the Unseelie in any way. Creatures that are disturbed by the Unseelie presence, perhaps as much as they are disturbed by this army we are a part of."
Sandy nods and asks "And you?"
"I believe there is a storm brewing to the north. And if there isn't... there soon will be." he grinned. "Find me an army and call to me when ready. Ill bring the weather"
They parted flying off in opposite directions.
Drakos flew for a few miles until he saw some promising clouds.
"Let's just hope no powers in the area take offense to this" he murmered.
He flies higher and starts circling, calling upon the power of nature, calling to the clouds, the wind, and drawing the water vapour together. As he circles the clouds darken and close around him, and a storm starts to brew. Drakos laughs and calls to the storm drawing more and more into it.
Far away, Sandy has discovered a wide range of creatures ranging from the small herbivours, to larger predators. She also finds some centaurs and she senses a being that could possibly be a Guardinel which she makes special note of. When her scouting is done she looks in the direction Drakos flew. Her altitude and sharp vision enable her to see the gathering storm.
"Oh Drakos you brainless fool." She flies towards the storm and calls out to him.
Drakos comes flying to meet her a rather satisfied look on his face.
"You really don't think things through do you?" said Sandy "And what will happen to our army when that hits!"
"Who cares? Its the Unseelie that are the problem. Our army will just have to get out of the way. Both sides will learn the power of nature"
"I'll warn the Captain" said Sandy.
"First, the result of your scouting mission. Give me the directions and the signs."
Sandy related all she had spotted.
"Good. Ill go and deal with the other flank... " he looked at the storm which was still coalescing "... tell the Captain he has about 3 or 4 hours before all hell breaks loose and to get his men off the field."
Sandy somersaulted in the air and flew away to the camp.
Drakos flys to the center of the area mapped out by Sandy, he lands on the ground and turns into his humanoid self. He closes his eyes and sends his mind out, questing for the spirits of those Sandy had marked for him.
When he was satisfied he had established a connection with all life in the area he sent out a call. At first a contact, hestinant, gentle, like the first touch of a lover. It took some time for this to work, but slowly he could feel it. A web, with him at the center, and a connection to every living things in the area... including... yes... an unseelie scout by the feel of it. Good, something to test this upon.
He isolated the unseelie scout from the web, gently, unplucking the strands around it. Next he sent out emotions to the creatures in the immediate vicinity of the scout. Insects, rodents, wolves, and a boar. A feeling of rage against the one who has intruded upon the creatures' territories, a sense of protectiveness for the young of those creatures. Whatever feelings that were in the creatures he focused them, made them aware of the threat. Even a powerful Druid as Drakos could not command so many creatures to action, especially at distance, but all he did was focus and enchance feelings that were already there.
Swarms of bees, flying ants, and the larger creatures, all descended upon the lone scout. A short while later, Drakos heard distant screams.
"Good, now for the real test"
He pulled upon the whole web, testing the feelings of those within it, focusing their attention on the Unseelie army. The Guardinal caused a worrying moment, but a strong contact came back down the web, a feeling of rage focused upon both armies that had dared to intrude upon this land, the Guardinal agreed to spearhead this army of creatures that would pierce the Unseelie army.... and then it would decide what to do about the Captain's presence.
Drakos felt a little uncertain about that, he didn't want the Captain's forces to suffer, but the Unseelie were the primary target. The Captain would have to fend for himself if nature's army should turn. Drakos could take no action against this.
Drakos pushes outwards, signalling the creatures to charge together, towards the intruders, the despoilers, the ones who would steal the territories of the creatures and hurt them. At least as close as it could be interpreted anyway to those within the web.
Exhausted with his efforts, Drakos laid back and listened to the sound of passing swarms of insects, the thumping of herds of hooved creatures, the roar of a great cat, and more... many many more.
Sandy flew to the camp and down to the headquarters where she found the Senschal.
"Where is the Captain? I need to speak with him urgently. It is vital that an orderly retreat is signalled!"
The Senschal pointed out towards the battlefield.
"Oh crap..." said Sandy.
She beats her wings once and gives a mighty leap, and takes to the air, flying off in the direction the Senschal indicated, seeking out Augustus. An occasional arrow bounces off her scales, but most of the unseelie in the area are too busy focusing on more immediate dangers.
Finally she locates the Captain, in the thick of things.
She bellows down to him: "Captain, you are stupidly risking your life. Get out of there, i need to talk to you... URGENTLY"
She would like to tell him directly, shout it at him, but there were plenty of Unseelie who probably knew enough Common to understand the information she would relay, and she knew not what other languages the Captain may know.
"Bloody men", she muttered under her breath while waiting for Augustus to acknowlege her. She cast a look in the direction where Drakos should be, wondering how things were going there.
