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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6911901" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>Left alone, we quickly began to take stock and Felix, together with John and to a lesser extent Longhelim, began to heal everyone of their hurts. Despite the fact that this initial conflict was not our toughest test, we were still hurt. I transformed back into a dwarf and began to look anxiously at the overall battle. Scanning the melee told me little. The battle was fierce but it was difficult to tell which side was winning. Especially since our brief skirmish was one of the first conflicts on the battlefield and not everyone was engaged yet. </p><p> </p><p>Still scanning, I asked Longhelim: </p><p> </p><p>“Should we be thinking about getting back to Gaspard? I don’t like the look of this, especially as there are forces of mass destruction wondering around invisibly. With that sort of power available to them, only the gods know what sort of forces Leska has managed to secret around here.”</p><p> </p><p>Surprisingly, it wasn’t Longhelim who replied, but Tiljann: </p><p> </p><p>“General Gaspard has a corps of Wayfinder messengers at his call. As soon as he needs us, he will send one to give us our instructions.”</p><p> </p><p>I stopped looking at the battlefield and turned to her: </p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure that’s safe for you? Using your powers will make you a target; the enemy will recognize and target you.”</p><p> </p><p>Grimly, she replied: </p><p> </p><p>“We all must take a risk to win the battle and we Wayfinders find that we are most useful being employed as battlefield messengers.”</p><p> </p><p>I turned back to my observation of the battlefield while saying: </p><p> </p><p>“You are all very brave.”</p><p> </p><p>Following our brief discussion, the others were mostly healed and were also beginning to look a little restive. Victor and Longhelim were speaking quietly, discussing the weakness of the devils, which was followed quickly by Felix turning to me and asking: </p><p> </p><p>“Faden, what was that magic that masked the Ragesians? I have never heard or seen the like in any of the religious tomes I have read. Is this some sort of new magic?”</p><p> </p><p>Still scanning, I replied: </p><p> </p><p>“You won’t find it in any tome, because it is new magic. I don’t know where she found the time, but Leska is also a caster of fearsome ability and intellect. I do not know the source of her power or these new abilities; nor do I have any idea as to how they work.”</p><p> </p><p>Victor just grunted at this point and said: </p><p> </p><p>“Invisible armies; every general’s dream; if you can’t have the abilities of the Torch then this will come a close second.”</p><p> </p><p>Just at that moment, a figure appeared in thin air, dressed in the Wayfinder uniform, namely very bright. He turned towards us and quickly shouted: </p><p> </p><p>“The battle to the North is going badly. You……”</p><p> </p><p>At that point, a huge ball of fire hit him and us. We were mostly unscathed but the poor messenger must have already been hurt previously, because he collapsed. Tiljann did not look well either and I realised that she had very little defensive magic on her. </p><p> </p><p>Then, a moment later, a horde of devils appeared. Well horde is too strong a word. They were several disciplined squads, standing in formation. There were four squads of bearded devils, all of whom were controlling a series of formations of lemure devils, wretched, shapeless creatures which surged across the ground. They were the lowest of devils, slaves to most other kinds and used as blocking formations in battlefields. They were now being hurled at us. </p><p> </p><p>Finally, standing tall at the back, was a creature which I assumed was the general or leader of this army. It was very large, vaguely humanoid, with large batlike wings and a long tail; it was also characterized by a pair of large, twisted horns. I recognised it immediately: </p><p> </p><p>“Careful! That’s a cornugon or horned devil. They are not as powerful as pit fiends but almost. They are also the generals of hell. That’s the leader of this army. Drudge, use your silver arrows and get them blessed! It’s also very resistant to spells! They come from the hells of battle!”</p><p> </p><p>That was about as much as I could say as the hordes of lemures surged towards us in a concerted mass. </p><p> </p><p>Just as they arrived, I saw something strange about the devil; he had something strapped onto his back: a battle standard which jutted above the battlefield. It was an evil looking thing; a red axe on a field of black and even without any spells, I could feel its magic emanating across the whole battle. </p><p> </p><p>I shouted at the others: </p><p> </p><p>“That standard…..destroy it!”</p><p> </p><p>And then everything was drowned in lemure devils who pretty much masked our sight. I managed to get one powerful spell into them, one which reached deep into their ranks and badly weakened them. It would make their limbs feel very heavy, as if they had run all night without any rest. It was a very good spell to use on this group and even stopped their surge for a moment as they staggered slightly. </p><p> </p><p>Then their masters drove them forward and the lemures tried to overrun us again until a volley of arrows from Drudge dispersed one of their ranks. This allowed Victor and Longhelim to move into the gap provided and form a wall of swords which threatened to decimate any lemure in reach. That did not stop the creatures but it did allow the warriors to form a barrier. </p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, this had the result that the bearded devils noticed me and threw a storm of javelins in my direction. Many missed but a good collection also hit me, which sent me scurrying to Felix for some healing. Thankfully, the priest was able to help me and this also allowed Victor and Longhelim to move forward to actually begin to clear the lemure formations as opposed to just acting as a defensive barrier. </p><p> </p><p>Just as it was looking as if things were beginning to get under control, the Cornugon decided to take a hand and a bolt of lightning went through me, Felix and John, who actually dodged the bolt. Ahead, I could see the dreadful sight of the devil floating in mid-air preparing to cast another spell. However, he had made an awful tactical error, or maybe he just didn’t know but as soon as Drudge was presented with such a tempting target, he didn’t hesitate. A powerful volley of silver arrows sped towards the Cornugon and I saw them strike the creature deeply, suggesting they had also been blessed. Rather than stay up there and cast another spell, the devil quickly dropped to the ground and used his squadron of devils as a shield. </p><p> </p><p>In the meantime, both Felix and I cast a magical defense against lightning but that allowed the bearded devils to throw another volley of javelins at me. Again, many of them hit which was eating into my magical defense so I promptly cast a spell which would render me unseen. Judging by the way the warriors were dealing with the lemures, especially Victor who had just managed to disperse two of their formations in rapid succession, I thought that this skirmish was under control. </p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, this was far from the truth and suddenly, the Cornugon appeared next to us; Drudge was overwhelmed by the presence of this creature and fled in panic. Taking advantage of the fact that he was fleeing, the Bearded devils began to throw their javelins at Drudge; thankfully, this allowed Felix to heal Tiljann, who was badly hurt. Longhelim and Victor were able to engage the Cornugon and hurt it badly. </p><p> </p><p>The Cornugon realised that he must have miscalculated as he faced both warriors at once and this time transported himself away; Victor and Longhelim faced the phalanx of devils again, but it was much reduced. Drudge was more himself now and then Tiljann moved to Longhelim: </p><p> </p><p>“Let’s go get the devil!”</p><p> </p><p>The paladin looked at little askance at her and then the Bearded devils who had formed a defensive formation around their leader as much as they could but there were definitely gaps. Tiljann seized Longhelim they took advantage of this. </p><p> </p><p>Moving next to the Cornugon, Longhelim struck him with the Torch and the devil collapsed although he did not disappear back to this plane; it was still alive and recuperating. Drudge was shooting into the formations of Bearded devils and dispersing them while Victor was cutting his way through the remaining formations of lemures. The Bearded devils reacted viciously to Longhelim and cut into the paladin. Felix moved to heal the paladin but the remaining devils struck at him and hurt the cleric badly. I had turned into the shape of a dragon and was getting ready to breathe onto one of the Bearded devil formations when I saw Victor had managed to disperse one. </p><p> </p><p>Despite this, the devils were fanatics and they still surrounded the body of their leader. In my dragon form, I breathed against one of the devil formations but did not hurt them badly as devils have a very strong defense against corrosive acid. It did distract them though as my shape appeared and that allowed Drudge to put another of his volleys into them, making that unit ineffective. </p><p> </p><p>While all this was happening, John and managed to sneak next to the prone Cornugon and promptly sawed off its head!</p><p> </p><p>That was the final straw even for the fanatic devils and they dispersed into the rest of the melee. </p><p> </p><p>We began to heal rapidly as we knew we also had to go to the battle in the North. According to the courier, our help was needed badly there. </p><p> </p><p>Tiljann had obviously studied the area quite carefully as she delivered us to the Northern battlefield. There, we saw the Dassenian corps, struggling against the enemy. The main reason for this was immediately apparent as the enemy cavalry was flying! How they managed this feat was unknown but again it was a phenomenum that had been completely unknown in military history before this and therefore our army had not arrayed any tactics against it. </p><p> </p><p>A flying cavalry army is not something you can wargame for. </p><p> </p><p>Judging the formation and efficiency of the enemy, they had obviously trained long and hard with this new ability. Our spies had been completely unaware of this new development by the enemy and it was beginning to tell. Our forces were suffering badly. </p><p> </p><p>Then we noticed a command group in the distance; a figure sat on a horse, another of those banners jutting out from his back; surrounded by at least eight squadrons of cavalry. Drudge took a look at them, gauged the wind and then let fly, hitting one of the squadrons. John also fired a spell at the mount of the commander. This caused an immediate reaction as the whole group began to move forward slowly, trotting in mid-air of course; then the movement became a canter, which turned into a gallop. Drudge fired off another volley, this time at the commanding figure and he must have had some success as we saw several arrows hitting it. It immediately took out a potion and drank it and disappeared……promptly followed by all his squadrons into invisibility!</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim immediately looked at me……….</p><p> </p><p>I stammered, shocked at what I had just seen: </p><p> </p><p>“Some kind of sympathetic magic……never heard of anything like……..don’t know how they are all flying either…..”</p><p> </p><p>Felix was immediately casting a spell, one which would turn everything around him within a certain distance, visible. I wasn’t sure if this spell would work but at least we were trying to do something. The battle continued to rage around us. </p><p> </p><p>John began speaking rapidly: </p><p> </p><p>“I can see them; they’re still galloping towards us. The commander has a really nasty looking bow. Oh, he’s drinking another potion, a healing one this time, he’s got better…..oh, so has his horse….obviously more sympathetic magic as Faden calls it……oh, I can see this is going to be so much fun!” </p><p> </p><p>We were listening to John’s commentary with some anxiety as we could not see the enemy but that quickly changed as they charged into the range of Felix’s spell which negated their magic and the cavalry squadrons appeared, lances leveled straight at us. They had formed a ring, galloping on our position from the North and East. </p><p> </p><p>As soon as they appeared, Drudge shot one of his devastating volleys at them, which badly hurt it but there remained a charging core which looked very menacing. </p><p> </p><p>Immediately, I cast a spell, disguising it to fool the Inquisitors as I had been taught in Gabal’s School so long ago. Suddenly, a wall appeared between us and the squadrons charging us from the East. The wall was immediately visible as it was one of my magical walls and it had also been affected by Felix’s spell of negation but its main function was to disrupt their charge and allow us to shelter beyond it. </p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, that still left the three squadrons coming from the North; one seemed to be far quicker than the others and charged into us, managing to maul Drudge badly. As it did so however, there was a flash and it veered in the air, almost staggering. Horses and men flailed at each other and they seemed to lose their sense of direction. I remembered that Felix had warded us with a powerful spell of his God which had adverse effects on those who struck us; he told us that it literally brought down the wrath of his God on his enemies and they would go blind upon striking us; he was grinning as he told us this rhetoric but whatever the power source, it was still a very powerful and useful piece of defensive magic; it had obviously affected the Ragesian squadron, who were now blind. </p><p> </p><p>The squadrons from the East had wheeled around in beautiful formation, obviously highly disciplined and began to maneuver, positioning themselves in another charge from South. I managed to put another wall to the South of us, frustrating them and forcing them to make yet another detour. Drudge, in the meantime managed to fire another volley into the squadron he had managed to diminish earlier, this time dispersing it fully and then he moved next to Felix, who healed him. John quickly took advantage of the slight gap in time and enclosed the other squadrons in the North in a mist which also solidified, badly hampering their movement. </p><p> </p><p>Drudge then shouted: </p><p> </p><p>“Faden, if you have another invisibility spell, give it to me! I’m going after that general!”</p><p> </p><p>I complied, thankfully out of sight of various Inquisitors in the squadrons then I lost track of Drudge as I had no method of detecting him. </p><p> </p><p>As the remaining cavalry squadrons wheeled around the southern wall, preparing to charge us from the West, Victor flew towards them, disrupting their ability to gain momentum. I also managed to cast another spell at one of them, this time causing a fine cloud of golden dust to settle on them, again obscuring their vision. The other squadron became embroiled in a conflict with Victor, who swept through their ranks like some vengeful god of war, leaving a trail of destruction behind him as he carved his way through their formation. This destroyed them as a fighting unit. </p><p> </p><p>In the meantime, one other unit, the blind one which first hurt Drudge, had felt their way along my magical wall and was attempting to locate us by our shouting and spell casting. I had to admire their discipline. I do not believe one of our units would still be attempting to fight if they had been blind but the Ragesians were anything if not courageous. </p><p> </p><p>However, Longhelim began to work his way through the ranks of these. At this point, the other three squadrons had fought their way out of the fog only to be confronted by Victor who was ready for them. Although badly hurt, the warrior positioned himself strategically and in another set of perfectly executed moves, he dispersed two of the new squadrons. No matter how often I had seen him do this, there was still something majestic in watching Victor positioned and then ploughed his way through the enemy as they fell in front of him by multiples or one by one. </p><p> </p><p>However, that left one squad with a visibly faltering Victor in front of them; a squad no doubt truly raging after what he had done to their comrades. John then attempted to cast a spell on this remaining squad, the same spell of a golden cloud which I had cast but he was countered by the Inquisitor. Thankfully, this allowed Felix to heal Victor, who had been joined by Longhelim to confront the last fully functioning squad. </p><p> </p><p>It was difficult to tell how Drudge was faring against the general but I assumed that the latter still lived as his squadrons were still assaulting our cavalry from the air. Since it was likely that whatever new magic allowed them to do this was linked with him, as judged by what we had seen previously. Thankfully, the situation back here was under control. Victor and Longhelim had dealt with the last fully functioning squad and now we only had the blind ones confronting us. It was difficult for me to comprehend how a group as large as this could function while they were blind but they were still a coherent unit although not as dangerous as previously. Therefore, they caused little trouble to the two warriors who dispersed them easily at this point. </p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the flying squadrons of Ragesians floated gently to the ground. The Dassenians literally roared</p><p>as they realised that their recent tormentors were now in their reach and charged them with fury. We all comprehended what that must have meant and Victor flew over the wall, presumably running towards Drudge. He was quickly followed by Longhelim, John and Felix. As usual, I was last since, as I have said before, dwarves are not made for speed. As I turned the corner, I saw a figure lying on the ground. Victor and John had reached it and a moment later, I saw Drudge appearing as Felix approached the area with his spell which negated invisibility. </p><p> </p><p>I glanced back and I saw that the battle between the main forces was now far more equal and that the Dassenians had the momentum. The Ragesians must have been taken by surprise as they lost their ability to fly and were unable to recover; they were slowly being driven back with large casualties. It was a moot point if they were going to be able to recover from this tactical set back. </p><p> </p><p>I reached the general’s body just as both Drudge and Victor had cut into the mount which was showing aggressive tendencies near his master’s body; so the horse joined his master. That being done, I turned around to watch the battle which had now turned decisively. The Ragesians had noticed that their general had fallen and that must have had a hugely detrimental effect on his forces, judging by the gains which the Dassenians were making. </p><p> </p><p>Of course, we also made sure to take the Ragesian battle standard. I was still unsure as to what effect it was having on the battles but it was certainly highly magical and judging by the way the Ragesians were reacting after its absence, it was certainly making a difference. </p><p> </p><p>We also took advantage to do some magical healing. Despite the fact that we had won, most of us were still hurt but thankfully, Felix, John and Longhelim had magical wands which were able to help us recover. We also held a brief discussion as to what our next course of action should be, whether to stay here and aid the Dassenians or return to the Sindaire army.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6911901, member: 6692807"] Left alone, we quickly began to take stock and Felix, together with John and to a lesser extent Longhelim, began to heal everyone of their hurts. Despite the fact that this initial conflict was not our toughest test, we were still hurt. I transformed back into a dwarf and began to look anxiously at the overall battle. Scanning the melee told me little. The battle was fierce but it was difficult to tell which side was winning. Especially since our brief skirmish was one of the first conflicts on the battlefield and not everyone was engaged yet. Still scanning, I asked Longhelim: “Should we be thinking about getting back to Gaspard? I don’t like the look of this, especially as there are forces of mass destruction wondering around invisibly. With that sort of power available to them, only the gods know what sort of forces Leska has managed to secret around here.” Surprisingly, it wasn’t Longhelim who replied, but Tiljann: “General Gaspard has a corps of Wayfinder messengers at his call. As soon as he needs us, he will send one to give us our instructions.” I stopped looking at the battlefield and turned to her: “Are you sure that’s safe for you? Using your powers will make you a target; the enemy will recognize and target you.” Grimly, she replied: “We all must take a risk to win the battle and we Wayfinders find that we are most useful being employed as battlefield messengers.” I turned back to my observation of the battlefield while saying: “You are all very brave.” Following our brief discussion, the others were mostly healed and were also beginning to look a little restive. Victor and Longhelim were speaking quietly, discussing the weakness of the devils, which was followed quickly by Felix turning to me and asking: “Faden, what was that magic that masked the Ragesians? I have never heard or seen the like in any of the religious tomes I have read. Is this some sort of new magic?” Still scanning, I replied: “You won’t find it in any tome, because it is new magic. I don’t know where she found the time, but Leska is also a caster of fearsome ability and intellect. I do not know the source of her power or these new abilities; nor do I have any idea as to how they work.” Victor just grunted at this point and said: “Invisible armies; every general’s dream; if you can’t have the abilities of the Torch then this will come a close second.” Just at that moment, a figure appeared in thin air, dressed in the Wayfinder uniform, namely very bright. He turned towards us and quickly shouted: “The battle to the North is going badly. You……” At that point, a huge ball of fire hit him and us. We were mostly unscathed but the poor messenger must have already been hurt previously, because he collapsed. Tiljann did not look well either and I realised that she had very little defensive magic on her. Then, a moment later, a horde of devils appeared. Well horde is too strong a word. They were several disciplined squads, standing in formation. There were four squads of bearded devils, all of whom were controlling a series of formations of lemure devils, wretched, shapeless creatures which surged across the ground. They were the lowest of devils, slaves to most other kinds and used as blocking formations in battlefields. They were now being hurled at us. Finally, standing tall at the back, was a creature which I assumed was the general or leader of this army. It was very large, vaguely humanoid, with large batlike wings and a long tail; it was also characterized by a pair of large, twisted horns. I recognised it immediately: “Careful! That’s a cornugon or horned devil. They are not as powerful as pit fiends but almost. They are also the generals of hell. That’s the leader of this army. Drudge, use your silver arrows and get them blessed! It’s also very resistant to spells! They come from the hells of battle!” That was about as much as I could say as the hordes of lemures surged towards us in a concerted mass. Just as they arrived, I saw something strange about the devil; he had something strapped onto his back: a battle standard which jutted above the battlefield. It was an evil looking thing; a red axe on a field of black and even without any spells, I could feel its magic emanating across the whole battle. I shouted at the others: “That standard…..destroy it!” And then everything was drowned in lemure devils who pretty much masked our sight. I managed to get one powerful spell into them, one which reached deep into their ranks and badly weakened them. It would make their limbs feel very heavy, as if they had run all night without any rest. It was a very good spell to use on this group and even stopped their surge for a moment as they staggered slightly. Then their masters drove them forward and the lemures tried to overrun us again until a volley of arrows from Drudge dispersed one of their ranks. This allowed Victor and Longhelim to move into the gap provided and form a wall of swords which threatened to decimate any lemure in reach. That did not stop the creatures but it did allow the warriors to form a barrier. Unfortunately, this had the result that the bearded devils noticed me and threw a storm of javelins in my direction. Many missed but a good collection also hit me, which sent me scurrying to Felix for some healing. Thankfully, the priest was able to help me and this also allowed Victor and Longhelim to move forward to actually begin to clear the lemure formations as opposed to just acting as a defensive barrier. Just as it was looking as if things were beginning to get under control, the Cornugon decided to take a hand and a bolt of lightning went through me, Felix and John, who actually dodged the bolt. Ahead, I could see the dreadful sight of the devil floating in mid-air preparing to cast another spell. However, he had made an awful tactical error, or maybe he just didn’t know but as soon as Drudge was presented with such a tempting target, he didn’t hesitate. A powerful volley of silver arrows sped towards the Cornugon and I saw them strike the creature deeply, suggesting they had also been blessed. Rather than stay up there and cast another spell, the devil quickly dropped to the ground and used his squadron of devils as a shield. In the meantime, both Felix and I cast a magical defense against lightning but that allowed the bearded devils to throw another volley of javelins at me. Again, many of them hit which was eating into my magical defense so I promptly cast a spell which would render me unseen. Judging by the way the warriors were dealing with the lemures, especially Victor who had just managed to disperse two of their formations in rapid succession, I thought that this skirmish was under control. Unfortunately, this was far from the truth and suddenly, the Cornugon appeared next to us; Drudge was overwhelmed by the presence of this creature and fled in panic. Taking advantage of the fact that he was fleeing, the Bearded devils began to throw their javelins at Drudge; thankfully, this allowed Felix to heal Tiljann, who was badly hurt. Longhelim and Victor were able to engage the Cornugon and hurt it badly. The Cornugon realised that he must have miscalculated as he faced both warriors at once and this time transported himself away; Victor and Longhelim faced the phalanx of devils again, but it was much reduced. Drudge was more himself now and then Tiljann moved to Longhelim: “Let’s go get the devil!” The paladin looked at little askance at her and then the Bearded devils who had formed a defensive formation around their leader as much as they could but there were definitely gaps. Tiljann seized Longhelim they took advantage of this. Moving next to the Cornugon, Longhelim struck him with the Torch and the devil collapsed although he did not disappear back to this plane; it was still alive and recuperating. Drudge was shooting into the formations of Bearded devils and dispersing them while Victor was cutting his way through the remaining formations of lemures. The Bearded devils reacted viciously to Longhelim and cut into the paladin. Felix moved to heal the paladin but the remaining devils struck at him and hurt the cleric badly. I had turned into the shape of a dragon and was getting ready to breathe onto one of the Bearded devil formations when I saw Victor had managed to disperse one. Despite this, the devils were fanatics and they still surrounded the body of their leader. In my dragon form, I breathed against one of the devil formations but did not hurt them badly as devils have a very strong defense against corrosive acid. It did distract them though as my shape appeared and that allowed Drudge to put another of his volleys into them, making that unit ineffective. While all this was happening, John and managed to sneak next to the prone Cornugon and promptly sawed off its head! That was the final straw even for the fanatic devils and they dispersed into the rest of the melee. We began to heal rapidly as we knew we also had to go to the battle in the North. According to the courier, our help was needed badly there. Tiljann had obviously studied the area quite carefully as she delivered us to the Northern battlefield. There, we saw the Dassenian corps, struggling against the enemy. The main reason for this was immediately apparent as the enemy cavalry was flying! How they managed this feat was unknown but again it was a phenomenum that had been completely unknown in military history before this and therefore our army had not arrayed any tactics against it. A flying cavalry army is not something you can wargame for. Judging the formation and efficiency of the enemy, they had obviously trained long and hard with this new ability. Our spies had been completely unaware of this new development by the enemy and it was beginning to tell. Our forces were suffering badly. Then we noticed a command group in the distance; a figure sat on a horse, another of those banners jutting out from his back; surrounded by at least eight squadrons of cavalry. Drudge took a look at them, gauged the wind and then let fly, hitting one of the squadrons. John also fired a spell at the mount of the commander. This caused an immediate reaction as the whole group began to move forward slowly, trotting in mid-air of course; then the movement became a canter, which turned into a gallop. Drudge fired off another volley, this time at the commanding figure and he must have had some success as we saw several arrows hitting it. It immediately took out a potion and drank it and disappeared……promptly followed by all his squadrons into invisibility! Longhelim immediately looked at me………. I stammered, shocked at what I had just seen: “Some kind of sympathetic magic……never heard of anything like……..don’t know how they are all flying either…..” Felix was immediately casting a spell, one which would turn everything around him within a certain distance, visible. I wasn’t sure if this spell would work but at least we were trying to do something. The battle continued to rage around us. John began speaking rapidly: “I can see them; they’re still galloping towards us. The commander has a really nasty looking bow. Oh, he’s drinking another potion, a healing one this time, he’s got better…..oh, so has his horse….obviously more sympathetic magic as Faden calls it……oh, I can see this is going to be so much fun!” We were listening to John’s commentary with some anxiety as we could not see the enemy but that quickly changed as they charged into the range of Felix’s spell which negated their magic and the cavalry squadrons appeared, lances leveled straight at us. They had formed a ring, galloping on our position from the North and East. As soon as they appeared, Drudge shot one of his devastating volleys at them, which badly hurt it but there remained a charging core which looked very menacing. Immediately, I cast a spell, disguising it to fool the Inquisitors as I had been taught in Gabal’s School so long ago. Suddenly, a wall appeared between us and the squadrons charging us from the East. The wall was immediately visible as it was one of my magical walls and it had also been affected by Felix’s spell of negation but its main function was to disrupt their charge and allow us to shelter beyond it. Unfortunately, that still left the three squadrons coming from the North; one seemed to be far quicker than the others and charged into us, managing to maul Drudge badly. As it did so however, there was a flash and it veered in the air, almost staggering. Horses and men flailed at each other and they seemed to lose their sense of direction. I remembered that Felix had warded us with a powerful spell of his God which had adverse effects on those who struck us; he told us that it literally brought down the wrath of his God on his enemies and they would go blind upon striking us; he was grinning as he told us this rhetoric but whatever the power source, it was still a very powerful and useful piece of defensive magic; it had obviously affected the Ragesian squadron, who were now blind. The squadrons from the East had wheeled around in beautiful formation, obviously highly disciplined and began to maneuver, positioning themselves in another charge from South. I managed to put another wall to the South of us, frustrating them and forcing them to make yet another detour. Drudge, in the meantime managed to fire another volley into the squadron he had managed to diminish earlier, this time dispersing it fully and then he moved next to Felix, who healed him. John quickly took advantage of the slight gap in time and enclosed the other squadrons in the North in a mist which also solidified, badly hampering their movement. Drudge then shouted: “Faden, if you have another invisibility spell, give it to me! I’m going after that general!” I complied, thankfully out of sight of various Inquisitors in the squadrons then I lost track of Drudge as I had no method of detecting him. As the remaining cavalry squadrons wheeled around the southern wall, preparing to charge us from the West, Victor flew towards them, disrupting their ability to gain momentum. I also managed to cast another spell at one of them, this time causing a fine cloud of golden dust to settle on them, again obscuring their vision. The other squadron became embroiled in a conflict with Victor, who swept through their ranks like some vengeful god of war, leaving a trail of destruction behind him as he carved his way through their formation. This destroyed them as a fighting unit. In the meantime, one other unit, the blind one which first hurt Drudge, had felt their way along my magical wall and was attempting to locate us by our shouting and spell casting. I had to admire their discipline. I do not believe one of our units would still be attempting to fight if they had been blind but the Ragesians were anything if not courageous. However, Longhelim began to work his way through the ranks of these. At this point, the other three squadrons had fought their way out of the fog only to be confronted by Victor who was ready for them. Although badly hurt, the warrior positioned himself strategically and in another set of perfectly executed moves, he dispersed two of the new squadrons. No matter how often I had seen him do this, there was still something majestic in watching Victor positioned and then ploughed his way through the enemy as they fell in front of him by multiples or one by one. However, that left one squad with a visibly faltering Victor in front of them; a squad no doubt truly raging after what he had done to their comrades. John then attempted to cast a spell on this remaining squad, the same spell of a golden cloud which I had cast but he was countered by the Inquisitor. Thankfully, this allowed Felix to heal Victor, who had been joined by Longhelim to confront the last fully functioning squad. It was difficult to tell how Drudge was faring against the general but I assumed that the latter still lived as his squadrons were still assaulting our cavalry from the air. Since it was likely that whatever new magic allowed them to do this was linked with him, as judged by what we had seen previously. Thankfully, the situation back here was under control. Victor and Longhelim had dealt with the last fully functioning squad and now we only had the blind ones confronting us. It was difficult for me to comprehend how a group as large as this could function while they were blind but they were still a coherent unit although not as dangerous as previously. Therefore, they caused little trouble to the two warriors who dispersed them easily at this point. Suddenly, the flying squadrons of Ragesians floated gently to the ground. The Dassenians literally roared as they realised that their recent tormentors were now in their reach and charged them with fury. We all comprehended what that must have meant and Victor flew over the wall, presumably running towards Drudge. He was quickly followed by Longhelim, John and Felix. As usual, I was last since, as I have said before, dwarves are not made for speed. As I turned the corner, I saw a figure lying on the ground. Victor and John had reached it and a moment later, I saw Drudge appearing as Felix approached the area with his spell which negated invisibility. I glanced back and I saw that the battle between the main forces was now far more equal and that the Dassenians had the momentum. The Ragesians must have been taken by surprise as they lost their ability to fly and were unable to recover; they were slowly being driven back with large casualties. It was a moot point if they were going to be able to recover from this tactical set back. I reached the general’s body just as both Drudge and Victor had cut into the mount which was showing aggressive tendencies near his master’s body; so the horse joined his master. That being done, I turned around to watch the battle which had now turned decisively. The Ragesians had noticed that their general had fallen and that must have had a hugely detrimental effect on his forces, judging by the gains which the Dassenians were making. Of course, we also made sure to take the Ragesian battle standard. I was still unsure as to what effect it was having on the battles but it was certainly highly magical and judging by the way the Ragesians were reacting after its absence, it was certainly making a difference. We also took advantage to do some magical healing. Despite the fact that we had won, most of us were still hurt but thankfully, Felix, John and Longhelim had magical wands which were able to help us recover. We also held a brief discussion as to what our next course of action should be, whether to stay here and aid the Dassenians or return to the Sindaire army. [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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