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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4759588" data-attributes="member: 3285">Serpentine Path: Part 11a – The Final StandThe day wore nerves and spirits thin.  Through the valiant sacrifices of many, the citadel still held…barely.  Sebastian looked out over the walls from his position at one of the citadel’s tower windows.  Kham and Ilmarė watched with him.The change to the once-proud city was profound.  Everywhere, buildings lay burning or in ruin.  The sewers of the city could not contain the mass carnage and had backed up.  As a result, the streets ran red with blood.  Down below in the base of the citadel, Vlad and Beldin conferred with the general.“A great host, you say?” asked Muatma.“It’s as if all of Ssethregore was emptied,” said Vlad. “How many?”“Ten thousand strong at least.”“Ten-thousand!”“It is an army bred for a single purpose: to destroy Semar.”“Let them come.” Muatma walked outside. “I want every man and strong lad able to bear arms, to be ready for battle by nightfall. We will cover the causeway and the gate from above. No army has ever set foot inside the citadel.”“This is not a rabble of mindless orcs,” said Beldin. “These are Ssethregorans. Their scales are thick and their tails broad.”“I have fought many wars, Master Dwarf,” chastised Muatma. “I know how to defend my own citadel. They will break upon this fortress like water on rock. The Ssethregoran hordes will pillage and burn. We’ve seen it before. Crops can be resown. Homes rebuilt. Within these walls, we will outlast them.”“They do not come to destroy Semar’s crops or villages. They come to destroy its people. Down to the last child!”“What would you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance!”“Send out riders!” pleaded Vlad. “You must call for aid.”“And who will come. Elorii? Dwarves? We are not so lucky in our friends as you. The old alliances are dead.” “Milandir would answer.” “Milandir? Where was Milandir when our enemies closed in around us? Where was Milandir—No, Vlad, we are alone.” Vlad handed Holden’s rifle to the general.  “This was Holden Ash’ur’s rifle.  A Milandisian. He gave it to me before he led the charge that enabled us to escape.”Muatma turned it over in his hands.  “I knew him.  He was my clerk.”Vlad nodded.  “If we live through the day, he will be given the highest honors. But right now, all our hopes rest on the Patrolmen I sent to Klos Ka’Ra.” Muatma walked away from Vlad and barked orders at his men.  “Get the women and children into the center of the citadel.” “We need more time to lay provisions for a siege,” replied the solider.“There is no time. War is upon us! Secure the gate!”“Look!” shouted Sebastian.Muatma and Vlad ran up to the window to see. An Altherian airship appeared on the horizon. “That’s The Damned,” said Kham.  The airship was swarmed with flying reptiles.  Cannon fire echoed in tiny bursts of red and yellow around the ship.  Seconds later, smoke spiraled from several places.  “They’re not going to make it!” wailed Vlad.The ship crash-landed just inside the walls of the citadel, its crew and cargo smashed and scattered.  Muatma barked commands to see to the survivors.“You’re taking this awfully well,” said Kham. Muatma’s expression was grim.  His eyes never left the window.  “Watch.”Another supply ship, Cadic’s Grace, appeared from its invisibility sphere just above the opposite wall of the citadel.  It came to a safe, graceful landing in the courtyard. “That was a diversion!” exclaimed Beldin.Muatma turned to a waiting soldier.  “Now!”The soldier raised a flag, seen by other messengers who passed the order on to their commanders. Waves of patrolmen from Klos Ka’Ra appeared through teleportation portals secretly constructed on the outer city walls.  They hit the distracted Ssethregoran army in the flank.The men were gaining ground. Vast numbers of ss’ressen were slain or fled. “We might just have a chance…” Muatma whispered to himself. But his hopeful expression turned to horror. There was a slow, rhythmic WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH.It was a deep, vibrant sound. A wave of fear and dread passed over them.“DRAGON!” shouted Ilmarė.</blockquote>

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