Emperor Valerian
First Post
The Great Battle of Irulas, Part One
The dull rumbles and cracks of the bombards to the south steadily increased, until shouts and clanging joined the noise, rising higher and higher in until it was a rumbling, frightening roar. As the party cast nervous glances that way, the noise continued to grow, even as the outer walls became visible... silhouetted by the burning of the huts and houses that lay outside of the city walls.
The air seemed surreal, as the fires to the south grew, the clouds overhead seemed to hang oppressively low, causing the south to seem ablaze with orange as reddish snow continued to lazily drift down from the skies. The wetness of the snow tickled Siabrey’s nose, as she reluctantly donned the helm she’d been given.
She wasn’t used to wearing helmets, and had positively refused to wear the gaudy monstrosity the Imperial Armories had originally proffered to her. It had been crowned by an enormous raging dragon... and by her estimate, would have weighed as much as 1/6th of her body weight. Her fighting style depended on speed as much as power... and such a weight would have only hindered her. The one she was about to don was far less ostentatious... a simple iron cap with a nose guard, but she felt the nose guard would obstruct her vision.
”Wear it,” she heard Tess chide, and she grumbled, putting it on. Everyone present had helmets... many of the commoners wore improvised helmets made of pots and kettles... a truly rag tag army if she ever saw one. Shaun had been chided by Elenya into taking his helm off of the snowman it had previously crowned, and even the wizard had a leather cap on to provide some protection.
“Tess,” she growled as she donned the helm, and her misgivings about the protection were realized; it blocked part of her peripheral vision, which her fighting style relied upon. “I know how to fight. Don’t give me...” she started, before her voice trailed off, as her eyes caught view of something... frightening.
As they glanced over the broken, quiet ‘dead ground’ to the front of the wall, they could see to the south a wall of something dark... shifting, shimmering, moving. From this wall it was apparent there were numerous tall shapes rising, striding forward in great amounts.
“Here they come!” Siabrey barked, ripping off her helm and tossing it to the ground. A split second later, Kelir flashed out of his scabbard, and her battlefield instincts began to come to the fore. She started walking the battlements, barking encouragement, and orders.
“Do NOT fire until either myself, or one of your commanders gives the order!” she called, walking behind the commoners who nervously clutched their new shortbows. “We don’t want any arrows wasted! That mass,” she pointed, as the shimmering wall now made itself out to be a mass of creatures running, implements of destruction in their hands, “can be hurt!”
“They can be killed! Fire your shots true, and hold your line!” Shaun moved along another part of the line, barking as well. “I have seven dead demons to my credit!” he lied, “I know that they are mortal! Shoot for the small ones! And don’t let them set up ladders!”
“It’ll be alright,” Tess bent down on her rounds around the tower the party had set themselves up in, comforting a young boy who was shuddering. “Here... I’ll stand beside you,” she offered, pulling out her harp and waiting as the mass drew closer.
The shimmering wall was now a sea of individual creatures, as a great noise, a mighty shout, rose from below. The smaller mass was made of a multitude of beasts: the big, hulking forms of orcs ran alongside their hobgoblin comrades, smaller goblins and pudgy dretches scampered underfoot as ferocious looking gnolls screamed primal death songs. Marching among this hodgepodge were the massive forms of demonic commanders, whose forms resembled titanic toads, with arms in place of their front legs. Their squat mouths, some 13 feet above the ground, glinted with sharp teeth, and rows of spines ran down their backs.
“Load!” the call ran up and down the wall, as the mass of demons drew closer, shouts of screaming further down the line drawing louder, closer. Several hundred shortbows found themselves notched with arrows. Tess began instinctively humming a tune, lightly strumming her harp, preparing for when the enemy drew within range. Shaun nervously touched an arrow to his drawstring, as he watched his love begin to nervously start some incantations. To his surprise, Shaun saw that the wizard Aeron was behind the party, magic forming on his lips as well.
“Draw!” rumbled down the line, as the first of the dretches and orcs ran perpendicular to the wall, screaming towards their attack positions further up the wall. The formerly bare, brown ground below was now black with rolling waves of humanoid and abyssal forms, dark and menacing. Above the din, Orion swore he could hear the noise of hundreds of pieces of leather stretching, drawing back, as bows prepared for the inevitable call...
“Loose!”
The air was suddenly rent with a shifting roar, as two hundred bowstrings in the party’s immediate area let loose. The barrage slashed through the ranks of the demonic hordes thundering by down below, cutting down three full ranks of gnolls, orcs, and dretches. As for the powerful demon sergeants, the hezrou, the arrows seemed to glint away from them at skewed angles... and four of them halted their advance around the tower where the party was stationed. Loud, sharp barks echoed from their lips, and the hordes streaming by suddenly turned, and as an ocean tide, streamed towards the wall, ladders appearing in their midst...
“Fire at will! Fire as you can!” Siabrey barked, as the twangs of hundreds of bows began a continuous whistle, a whistling rumble, as barrage after barrage slammed into the creatures carrying the ladders. But as a party of dretches were slaughtered with their ladder, the orcs and gnolls next to them would grab the item, and dash towards the wall with it, intent on scaling it themselves.
Orion looked at the oncoming tidal wave of monstrous beasts heading towards the wall, and his heart sank. If they get enough ladders up... there’s no way we can hold them... someone needs to strike them... strike them hard and fast... As he watched, his mind took note that near their tower, most of the ladder crews seemed to be taking orders from one specific demon... taller than the other hezrou. As the party continued to shoot arrows furiously, Orion climbed on top of the parapets, and judged his distance carefully. Finally satisfied, he leaped, a warcry on his lips, his eyes intent on crushing the demon’s throat.
His jump sends him through the air with immense force, his leg extended and prepared to inflict a devastating kick to the creature’s throat. His jump lands true, and he feels the creature’s skin collapse under the power of his blow... only to feel it rebound. With lightning quickness, he latched onto the massive chainshirt the beast was wearing with one free hand, delivering pummeling blows with the other. To his horror, none of these seemed to have any effect (DR).
“Orion! What the hell are you doing!? Get the hell out of there! Now!” Siabrey’s desperate call rose over the din of battle. Realizing the straights he was in, Orion dodged several clumsy swings on his person by the hezrou, before leaping back onto the tower wall, and spider climbing the rest of the way. He almost collapsed in relief once he reached the top... he’d literally leapt onto death’s chest and gotten away with it. A split second later, he begins calling for a druid, to try and put some enhancing magic on his fists, so they might be able to harm the creatures.
Elenya meanwhile had already extended her hand twice to unleashed massive electrical bolts at the beasts, causing extensive damage to one. Tess’ voice let loose shrieks of terror, whose sonic darts mauled yet another, and Aeron launched a massive, warscale fireball into the midst of the orcs and dretches, only to see others fill in their ranks and continue the massive, ferocious push. As if things were not going bad enough, to the party’s chagrin, the massive hezrou in front of them suddenly seem to vanish into thin air... all were aware that there was no way they had retreated. (gaseous form)
Along the wall to the right of the party’s tower, the inevitable had happened. As the commoners in one section aimed and picked off the orcs attempting to raise a ladder, a battery of gnoll archers let loose a devastating volley, scything down many of the commoners and leaving a 20 foot section of wall unguarded. Within seconds, the orcs had a ladder set up, and were soon spill onto the parapet itself. While shortbows had been easy to find for the commoners, most were armed with only daggers or light maces... no match for the orcish greatswords and greataxes.
“Majesty!” Harrapias barked, grabbing Siabrey’s shoulder and pointing towards the gap. Without him asking the question in his mind, she gave a nod, and the two dashed towards the threatened position, swords upraised. They waded deep into the orcish ranks, Harrapias’ blade striking with sheer power, Siabrey’s katana slicing with a deadly combination of speed and grace.
Their faces, indeed the entire wall, was now ablaze in a glow of red, diffuse light, as to the south and now behind the party, houses, huts and buildings grew aflame. In this crimson glow, the scarlet of blood slashing through the air from the efforts of the two was hard to distinguish.
“Aeron!” Tess barked, pointing down towards the masses that Harrapias and Siabrey were barely holding back, “concentrate over there and help them! We’ve got the rest...” she started to finish her order, when on the top of the tower, as well as in the masses of orcs in front of Siabrey and on the left parapet in the midst of the commoners, the massive hezrou reappeared.
The one on the untouched wall, easily scythed his way through the ranks of commoners, until Elenya and Tess through magic jointly gave him the shock of his life and fried his muscles to jelly with sound. His limp, broken form tumbled off of the parapet, crushing a house in the wall’s shadow.
Grumki, Shaun, and Quin all rush the hezrou on the tower, starting a furious, frightening combat. Shaun and Quin both rely on their faster speed to avoid the slow, but devastating blows of the massive axe this hezrou carried. Grumki, however, was not afraid to stand toe to toe with the beast, and the priest’s warhammer inflicted many sharp and horrific blows in the next few seconds, before one lucky slam caved in half of the creature’s head.
Orion meanwhile, seeing his friend’s in trouble, mantis leapt beside Harrapias and Siabrey. The orcs not only had to contend with two master swordsmen, but also a master who would merely shatter their weapons before shattering their throats. Orion’s flips, backflips, kicks, and palm strikes confused and discouraged the orcs, who slowly, steadily, began to fall back towards the ladder, preventing more from getting onto the parapet.
All was not quiet to the front, however, as a group of dretches managed to place a ladder directly towards the tower’s front, and began climbing towards the top. With his tusks bared in a fierce grin, Grumki strode towards the top of the ladder he could see barely poking above the parapet and waited. As the first dretch reached the top, Grumki’s hammer swung with the full might of Kord, sending the poor beast flying 30 feet off from the tower, only to fall another 50 feet to its doom. As each successive dretch attemtped the climb, Grumki’s warhammer claimed yet another ‘ball’ for him to ‘bat.’
Siabrey, breathing heavily, found herself facing along the parapet wall the last of the three hezrou that mounted the wall. The beast gave a snarl, and with a mighty swing, brought an enormous blade down towards her with immense force. At the last moment, she flipped herself out of the way, as the massive weapon cracked the stones of the parapet.
Kelir upraised in an offensive stance, she then charged towards the beast while its blade was not in a position to block. With a sharp upward thrust, she caught the creature in the belly. Her motion translated into a partially sideways snap... as the beast doubled over from her fearsome thrust, she spun her blade around, bringing it up from below again in a fierce slash that slashed its jugular. As it stumbled, bleeding to death, a well placed kick from Orion sent it tumbling off of the parapet, onto the orc ladder below. With a massive crash, the dead demon came to rest, the bodies of twelve orcs and their crushsed ladder smothered beneath its grotesque mass.
As the party watched, this death seemed to have an effect. The orcs still below seemed to pull back, wavering, even as other hezrou, smaller and louder, seemed to berate them.
Tess had seen that moment well in the eyes of many men... the man who just realized he’d bet too much... the man who realized that he’d drank too much... the man who realized his easy target for robbery was far more vicious than him. The orcs and gnolls had now realized they couldn’t charge up the wall.
At that moment, a massive, unearthly blast of fire and heat (another war grade fireball) exploded in the midst of the demonic horde... a blast quickly followed by others. As the party looked up, they could see overhead the forms of several spellcasters, who continued to drop the spells down onto the huddled masses of demon below. The same spellcasters who were put up there by Tess’ suggestion.
One last ladder remained, and a few stalwart dretches continued to climb it despite the fate they could clearly see awaited them above due to Grumki’s hammer. Orion confidently stepped over, and asked the half-orc to kindly step aside. Jumping up, he then extended his foot, and came crashing down the ladder, his blow aimed for the middle of each rung...and happening to strike the head of every dretch on the ladder. A split second later, Orion landed on the crushed forms of some ten dretches, as the shattered ladder, now in two pieces, fell around him. A quick mantis leap later, and he was back on the parapets yet again.
The dull rumbles and cracks of the bombards to the south steadily increased, until shouts and clanging joined the noise, rising higher and higher in until it was a rumbling, frightening roar. As the party cast nervous glances that way, the noise continued to grow, even as the outer walls became visible... silhouetted by the burning of the huts and houses that lay outside of the city walls.
The air seemed surreal, as the fires to the south grew, the clouds overhead seemed to hang oppressively low, causing the south to seem ablaze with orange as reddish snow continued to lazily drift down from the skies. The wetness of the snow tickled Siabrey’s nose, as she reluctantly donned the helm she’d been given.
She wasn’t used to wearing helmets, and had positively refused to wear the gaudy monstrosity the Imperial Armories had originally proffered to her. It had been crowned by an enormous raging dragon... and by her estimate, would have weighed as much as 1/6th of her body weight. Her fighting style depended on speed as much as power... and such a weight would have only hindered her. The one she was about to don was far less ostentatious... a simple iron cap with a nose guard, but she felt the nose guard would obstruct her vision.
”Wear it,” she heard Tess chide, and she grumbled, putting it on. Everyone present had helmets... many of the commoners wore improvised helmets made of pots and kettles... a truly rag tag army if she ever saw one. Shaun had been chided by Elenya into taking his helm off of the snowman it had previously crowned, and even the wizard had a leather cap on to provide some protection.
“Tess,” she growled as she donned the helm, and her misgivings about the protection were realized; it blocked part of her peripheral vision, which her fighting style relied upon. “I know how to fight. Don’t give me...” she started, before her voice trailed off, as her eyes caught view of something... frightening.
As they glanced over the broken, quiet ‘dead ground’ to the front of the wall, they could see to the south a wall of something dark... shifting, shimmering, moving. From this wall it was apparent there were numerous tall shapes rising, striding forward in great amounts.
“Here they come!” Siabrey barked, ripping off her helm and tossing it to the ground. A split second later, Kelir flashed out of his scabbard, and her battlefield instincts began to come to the fore. She started walking the battlements, barking encouragement, and orders.
“Do NOT fire until either myself, or one of your commanders gives the order!” she called, walking behind the commoners who nervously clutched their new shortbows. “We don’t want any arrows wasted! That mass,” she pointed, as the shimmering wall now made itself out to be a mass of creatures running, implements of destruction in their hands, “can be hurt!”
“They can be killed! Fire your shots true, and hold your line!” Shaun moved along another part of the line, barking as well. “I have seven dead demons to my credit!” he lied, “I know that they are mortal! Shoot for the small ones! And don’t let them set up ladders!”
“It’ll be alright,” Tess bent down on her rounds around the tower the party had set themselves up in, comforting a young boy who was shuddering. “Here... I’ll stand beside you,” she offered, pulling out her harp and waiting as the mass drew closer.
The shimmering wall was now a sea of individual creatures, as a great noise, a mighty shout, rose from below. The smaller mass was made of a multitude of beasts: the big, hulking forms of orcs ran alongside their hobgoblin comrades, smaller goblins and pudgy dretches scampered underfoot as ferocious looking gnolls screamed primal death songs. Marching among this hodgepodge were the massive forms of demonic commanders, whose forms resembled titanic toads, with arms in place of their front legs. Their squat mouths, some 13 feet above the ground, glinted with sharp teeth, and rows of spines ran down their backs.
“Load!” the call ran up and down the wall, as the mass of demons drew closer, shouts of screaming further down the line drawing louder, closer. Several hundred shortbows found themselves notched with arrows. Tess began instinctively humming a tune, lightly strumming her harp, preparing for when the enemy drew within range. Shaun nervously touched an arrow to his drawstring, as he watched his love begin to nervously start some incantations. To his surprise, Shaun saw that the wizard Aeron was behind the party, magic forming on his lips as well.
“Draw!” rumbled down the line, as the first of the dretches and orcs ran perpendicular to the wall, screaming towards their attack positions further up the wall. The formerly bare, brown ground below was now black with rolling waves of humanoid and abyssal forms, dark and menacing. Above the din, Orion swore he could hear the noise of hundreds of pieces of leather stretching, drawing back, as bows prepared for the inevitable call...
“Loose!”
The air was suddenly rent with a shifting roar, as two hundred bowstrings in the party’s immediate area let loose. The barrage slashed through the ranks of the demonic hordes thundering by down below, cutting down three full ranks of gnolls, orcs, and dretches. As for the powerful demon sergeants, the hezrou, the arrows seemed to glint away from them at skewed angles... and four of them halted their advance around the tower where the party was stationed. Loud, sharp barks echoed from their lips, and the hordes streaming by suddenly turned, and as an ocean tide, streamed towards the wall, ladders appearing in their midst...
“Fire at will! Fire as you can!” Siabrey barked, as the twangs of hundreds of bows began a continuous whistle, a whistling rumble, as barrage after barrage slammed into the creatures carrying the ladders. But as a party of dretches were slaughtered with their ladder, the orcs and gnolls next to them would grab the item, and dash towards the wall with it, intent on scaling it themselves.
Orion looked at the oncoming tidal wave of monstrous beasts heading towards the wall, and his heart sank. If they get enough ladders up... there’s no way we can hold them... someone needs to strike them... strike them hard and fast... As he watched, his mind took note that near their tower, most of the ladder crews seemed to be taking orders from one specific demon... taller than the other hezrou. As the party continued to shoot arrows furiously, Orion climbed on top of the parapets, and judged his distance carefully. Finally satisfied, he leaped, a warcry on his lips, his eyes intent on crushing the demon’s throat.
His jump sends him through the air with immense force, his leg extended and prepared to inflict a devastating kick to the creature’s throat. His jump lands true, and he feels the creature’s skin collapse under the power of his blow... only to feel it rebound. With lightning quickness, he latched onto the massive chainshirt the beast was wearing with one free hand, delivering pummeling blows with the other. To his horror, none of these seemed to have any effect (DR).
“Orion! What the hell are you doing!? Get the hell out of there! Now!” Siabrey’s desperate call rose over the din of battle. Realizing the straights he was in, Orion dodged several clumsy swings on his person by the hezrou, before leaping back onto the tower wall, and spider climbing the rest of the way. He almost collapsed in relief once he reached the top... he’d literally leapt onto death’s chest and gotten away with it. A split second later, he begins calling for a druid, to try and put some enhancing magic on his fists, so they might be able to harm the creatures.
Elenya meanwhile had already extended her hand twice to unleashed massive electrical bolts at the beasts, causing extensive damage to one. Tess’ voice let loose shrieks of terror, whose sonic darts mauled yet another, and Aeron launched a massive, warscale fireball into the midst of the orcs and dretches, only to see others fill in their ranks and continue the massive, ferocious push. As if things were not going bad enough, to the party’s chagrin, the massive hezrou in front of them suddenly seem to vanish into thin air... all were aware that there was no way they had retreated. (gaseous form)
Along the wall to the right of the party’s tower, the inevitable had happened. As the commoners in one section aimed and picked off the orcs attempting to raise a ladder, a battery of gnoll archers let loose a devastating volley, scything down many of the commoners and leaving a 20 foot section of wall unguarded. Within seconds, the orcs had a ladder set up, and were soon spill onto the parapet itself. While shortbows had been easy to find for the commoners, most were armed with only daggers or light maces... no match for the orcish greatswords and greataxes.
“Majesty!” Harrapias barked, grabbing Siabrey’s shoulder and pointing towards the gap. Without him asking the question in his mind, she gave a nod, and the two dashed towards the threatened position, swords upraised. They waded deep into the orcish ranks, Harrapias’ blade striking with sheer power, Siabrey’s katana slicing with a deadly combination of speed and grace.
Their faces, indeed the entire wall, was now ablaze in a glow of red, diffuse light, as to the south and now behind the party, houses, huts and buildings grew aflame. In this crimson glow, the scarlet of blood slashing through the air from the efforts of the two was hard to distinguish.
“Aeron!” Tess barked, pointing down towards the masses that Harrapias and Siabrey were barely holding back, “concentrate over there and help them! We’ve got the rest...” she started to finish her order, when on the top of the tower, as well as in the masses of orcs in front of Siabrey and on the left parapet in the midst of the commoners, the massive hezrou reappeared.
The one on the untouched wall, easily scythed his way through the ranks of commoners, until Elenya and Tess through magic jointly gave him the shock of his life and fried his muscles to jelly with sound. His limp, broken form tumbled off of the parapet, crushing a house in the wall’s shadow.
Grumki, Shaun, and Quin all rush the hezrou on the tower, starting a furious, frightening combat. Shaun and Quin both rely on their faster speed to avoid the slow, but devastating blows of the massive axe this hezrou carried. Grumki, however, was not afraid to stand toe to toe with the beast, and the priest’s warhammer inflicted many sharp and horrific blows in the next few seconds, before one lucky slam caved in half of the creature’s head.
Orion meanwhile, seeing his friend’s in trouble, mantis leapt beside Harrapias and Siabrey. The orcs not only had to contend with two master swordsmen, but also a master who would merely shatter their weapons before shattering their throats. Orion’s flips, backflips, kicks, and palm strikes confused and discouraged the orcs, who slowly, steadily, began to fall back towards the ladder, preventing more from getting onto the parapet.
All was not quiet to the front, however, as a group of dretches managed to place a ladder directly towards the tower’s front, and began climbing towards the top. With his tusks bared in a fierce grin, Grumki strode towards the top of the ladder he could see barely poking above the parapet and waited. As the first dretch reached the top, Grumki’s hammer swung with the full might of Kord, sending the poor beast flying 30 feet off from the tower, only to fall another 50 feet to its doom. As each successive dretch attemtped the climb, Grumki’s warhammer claimed yet another ‘ball’ for him to ‘bat.’
Siabrey, breathing heavily, found herself facing along the parapet wall the last of the three hezrou that mounted the wall. The beast gave a snarl, and with a mighty swing, brought an enormous blade down towards her with immense force. At the last moment, she flipped herself out of the way, as the massive weapon cracked the stones of the parapet.
Kelir upraised in an offensive stance, she then charged towards the beast while its blade was not in a position to block. With a sharp upward thrust, she caught the creature in the belly. Her motion translated into a partially sideways snap... as the beast doubled over from her fearsome thrust, she spun her blade around, bringing it up from below again in a fierce slash that slashed its jugular. As it stumbled, bleeding to death, a well placed kick from Orion sent it tumbling off of the parapet, onto the orc ladder below. With a massive crash, the dead demon came to rest, the bodies of twelve orcs and their crushsed ladder smothered beneath its grotesque mass.
As the party watched, this death seemed to have an effect. The orcs still below seemed to pull back, wavering, even as other hezrou, smaller and louder, seemed to berate them.
Tess had seen that moment well in the eyes of many men... the man who just realized he’d bet too much... the man who realized that he’d drank too much... the man who realized his easy target for robbery was far more vicious than him. The orcs and gnolls had now realized they couldn’t charge up the wall.
At that moment, a massive, unearthly blast of fire and heat (another war grade fireball) exploded in the midst of the demonic horde... a blast quickly followed by others. As the party looked up, they could see overhead the forms of several spellcasters, who continued to drop the spells down onto the huddled masses of demon below. The same spellcasters who were put up there by Tess’ suggestion.
One last ladder remained, and a few stalwart dretches continued to climb it despite the fate they could clearly see awaited them above due to Grumki’s hammer. Orion confidently stepped over, and asked the half-orc to kindly step aside. Jumping up, he then extended his foot, and came crashing down the ladder, his blow aimed for the middle of each rung...and happening to strike the head of every dretch on the ladder. A split second later, Orion landed on the crushed forms of some ten dretches, as the shattered ladder, now in two pieces, fell around him. A quick mantis leap later, and he was back on the parapets yet again.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
