Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1471896" data-attributes="member: 15043">Battle Part TwoSantac stared at the onocming mongrel horde... the foam frothing from their mounts, the sneers in the faces of their helmets...... and he sneered back.“Front ranks!  Shields, ho!” he barked, and the whump and crash of a thousand shields snapping together, the notches at the bottom of the pikemen’s shields locking together to form a wall of steel.  The ground began to shudder, as the rumble of the thousands of hooves crashing down the hill turned into a roar.450 yards... Santac thought as the cavalry roared closer and closer.  More clangs and whumps came up and down the line, as the other pikemen locked their shields.  When he thought the enemy cavalry was some 300 yards away, he called out his next orders.“Archers... load!”  His blade made a sliding, slithering noise, as it was unsheathed from its cover.  They are charging straight at our pike ranks...  that suicidal!  We’ll just skewer them!  “Defenders of Mephys!” he called to his own troops in the rear, “Ready your swords!”  They need to be ready to plug a gap, in case this is a ruse of some kind...The archers meanwhile, had moved one of their quivers to the ready position, drawn their bows, and quickly had an arrow notched.  Their bows for now pointed down, as the eyes of each looked ahead, towards the oncoming mass of steel and flesh.A few concussive blasts of fire exploded in the midst of the oncoming horde, incinerating horses and men alike.  As the dull boom of several fireballs, maximized to full war power echoed over the land, Santac could only sit back in wonder that the enemy still charged, through the flames, through the smoke... with no spellcasting cover.“Archers!  Aim!” Santac called, and almost as one, five hundred bows rose, and arced skyward.  There was a chorus creaks as the leather and hide of bowstrings creaked under pressure.200 yards... Santac’s internal estimate continued.  “Loose!”  His blade flashed downward, and a rapid slash of air sailed high over his head as the sky temporarily darkened, over five hundred bolts slashing upward, before raining down ahead.  The very ground seemed to scream, as arrows slashed all along the battleline, cutting down horses and men alike.  “Reload!” Santac called.Yet still they came.“Pikes!  Down!” Santac called.  They can’t be this stupid... they must stop soon! his military mind thought.  Yet they charged onward, as if they considered the 20 foot long steel points to be little more than nuisances.  AS he watched, a load roar arose... the voices of thousands of men screaming before battle was joined.  Some screamed for vengeance... some for bravery... some out of fear.  Regardless, the noise that rose was frightening, as a massive, concussive crash echoed down the Imperial line as the mongrel horse crashed into the impenetrable Imperial shield wall...Xanadu wanted to shake his head in disbelief.  True, he might be a silver dragon, not a haughty cavalryman, but even he could have predicted the horrifically bloody results of the mongrels sending their horse headlong into row upon row of Imperial pikes.  The survivors of that gallant, and ultimately stupid charge were even now trotting, cantering, or dragging themselves back up the hill, terror on their myriad of animal faces.  Its ironic Xanadu thought, Their idiocy now has given our troops cover.  Even as he watched, the Imperial soldiers were piling the bodies of mongrel and horse alike, forming a grisly wall of flesh in front of their lines.  This would be the most opportune time for me to leap out and shatter those survivors... Xanadu thought, until he looked further up the hill... Except those monstrousities are there... and we need to get those two focused enough to come down the hill... and let Lucius get into position...As Xanadu watched, the mongrel line slowly reformed, as their cavalry set itself in motion yet again... and yet again they were shredded apart by the Imperial spears. And then Xanadu figured out why... H saw a richly dressed mongrel, undoubtedly the commander of the Ak Konylu forces, approach the massive balor... trembling.  By the expressions on his badger face, it was apparent there was rage.  They don’t want to be charging like that... its the balor that’s ordering them...  A split second later, one of the balor’s powerful clawed hands swatted the man away, sending his broken form cartwheeling down the hill... broken nearly in two.More bellowing calls came from the balor, and quickly the ranks of the mongrel infantry began forming themselves into long ranks... battlelines.  Behind three of these long lines came the balor, the dragon, and the various vrocks mounted on bebiliths... All acting as spellcasters, Xanadu realized, as several deep, long horns sounded over the hills and dales, and the entire mass began to lurch downhill, towards the Imperial ranks...Dammit! Xanadu swore.  He had been hoping they would keep coming down in piecemeal... it seemed that balor was brighter than he first appeared.... he knew he had the upper hand in numbers, and was committing the full, crushing weight of the mongrel army in one fell blow.Santac rode up and down the line, nervously looking up the hill along with the rest of his troops.  The mongrel cavalry had charged two times, and two times it had been viciously, horrendously cut to pieces.  The foul smell of a battle in progress... the mix of death, blood, grim, soot and sweat wafted through Santac’s nose.  And now, they came again.The hill ahead seemed to have changed colors, and become a roiling, boiling mass of black and gray, as the sea of mongrels rumbled forward, ranks straight... perfect.“Loose!” Santac swung his sword again, and another vast wash of arrows rustled the air over his head, and rank upon rank of the mongrels collapsed, their badger, fox, bear, walrus, and other faces contorted into terror.  And still they came forward, most goaded by the titanic spiders and the massive demon behind them.  Santac tried hard to remember what the spiders were called, but he couldn’t... it sounded like baby-something.“Loose!” echoed again through the ranks, and the skies turned black again and more mongrels fell.  The ground once again shook lightly, as the mongrels, barely 150 yards away, charged forward, their strange, curved swords above their heads, a weird, screeching yell above their lips.Once again he saw the blasts of fiery explosions burst in their ranks, but only momentarily.  A few seconds later, the fires and flashes of magical power that came from the Imperial spellcasters seemed to shimmer, just in front of the mongrel line as it charged.They’ve put up their magic defenses, Santac thought, watching the mongrels start to shimmer slightly from the effect their magical shields had on the air.  We’re going to have to kill them the old fashioned way then.“Drop pikes!” Santac yelled.  The pikes, with their reach, were excellent against cavalry, but the average footman could dodge and weave in between... and then the pikemen were sitting ducks.  With a nearly continuation shing Santac’s front line drew their swords, and with a spur of his horse and a yell, Santac lead them headlong into the abyss of fighting creatures.Lucius snapped shut the “spyglass” he’d been given.  Things were going according to plan... partially.  The balor had led his forces pell mell into the Imperial line... but he’d committed so soon... he hadn’t spent the hours Lucius had been hoping for... the hours of bleeding his line as he tested and probed.  Instead, he’d decided to pound his way through...And Luke didn’t know if the Imperial line below could hold... the noises from below indicated that it very well might not...With a hiss, his spurred his horse back to a gallop, thundering back up the hill towards his cavalry still perched in the woods ahead.  As he cantered through the undergrowth, he took in the eyes of the troops...Fear... they all are afraid, he thought as he rode by the men of the Imperial cavalry, tending to the last minute needs of their horses.  Fear was in their eyes.  Fear was in the eyes of the knights of the nobility, even as they continued to polish their armor to a glorious shine.  Fear was in the men and women of the auxiliaries... the lesser armed, lesser trained people.  His assessment was driven home by the short phrase one woman from his own “Dragonwings,” muttered without seeing him.“A few more minutes before we begin our death charge,” he heard her sigh.  Even though his own mind was quaking, he knew this couldn’t stand.  He reined up behind the sitting group of riders, and dismounted.  As they started to stand at his presence, he waved them back down.“No... sit sit sit.  I was coming by, and I couldn’t help but overhear Milayka’s comment,” he said quietly, using her name for added effect.  He reached out his hands.  “Give me your weapons.”“But sir... it was out,” the woman in question began to protest, before laying her battleaxe down.  The myriad of other weapons the unorganized group carried, a few shortswords, a few longswords, several maces and morningstars, and a sickle, found themselves at Luke’s feet as well.  Ok... Luke closed his eyes, hovering his hands over the weapons, feeling his magical abilities grow.  Softly he uttered a few phrases, as his hand touched each weapon in turn, and he felt magical energy flowing through him into the pile of arms.  After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, and all of the weapons seemed to glint brighter, and shine stronger.  “There,” he said quietly, feeling the deep drain the adding of magical abilities to their weapons had caused on him.  I won’t be able to use many of my fireballs today, he thought quietly.  Perhaps a flying spell or two, and maybe three or four fireballs before I’m drained... I hope that’s enough..“I put some magic into your weapons,” Lucius looked up at them.  “It should help you in the coming fight.  And I need strong hearts beside me... ones that are afraid but still willing to ride.  Have you such hearts?” he asked quietly.  In his mind he reflected on the stories where the leader of the army gave a powerful, bombastic speech, and he kicked himself for not having something more stirring, more eloquent and grand to say.“Aye,” the woman who had spoken earlier said, and Luke saw her eyes still held fear, but also a determination... that the fear would not take control.  He couldn’t help but smile, realizing his quiet words had done the trick, at least for these few fighters.  He remounted his horse.“I’ll be back in a few minutes... and then I’ll lead you out there, onto that plain,” he pointed as he reined his horse around to find the other commanders.Elenya ducked as another rumble thundered through the rear of the army, before resuming work on the bleeding man in front of her.  “Damn fireballs!” she snarled as she started her minor healing incantation yet again, her hands placed above the massive rent in the white and blue tunic of the man, marking him as a member of the Ysalis noble family.  The young man’s blue eyes looked at her in pleading fear, as his hands kept gripping her arm.“Let go,” she shook his hands off yet again, before he could interrupt the somatics of her magical calling.  She shook her head, as the words continued to flow, and the wound closed slightly... enough that the man could once again use his lungs enough that he let out an ungodly scream.“Remnova!” Elenya barked, pointing to him.  She only had so much magic, and it had to be conserved for the gravest of cases.  After the darkest period had past, the person was then sent to a regular healer.  “If he’s good enough to scream, he’s good enough you get to finish him up,” she said matter of factly, surprised at how hard her voice sounded.  When the first few cases came in nearly an hour ago, she’d wanted to use her magic to heal them fully, until “Captain” pointed out rightfully that Elenya’s magic wasn’t infinite.  The Lady, who only an hour before had been nearly retching at some of the wounds, merely gulped and began to put salves on his wounds.The noise of the fighting was louder now... much closer, to the point where the screams of the hundreds of wounded in the healer’s tents right along the river were starting to be drowned out.  That’s awfully close, Elenya worried.  I wonder how close they are?  She grabbed her spellbook, and peeked outside......into a hellish maelstrom.The Imperial lines, once so perfectly formed and straight, were no more.  A tumult of combat swirled in front of her, barely 40 yards from the hospital tents.  The massive looming shapes of bebiliths and giant spiders loomed over the mass, collapsing when weakened, but otherwise sending the small forms of figures sailing through the air.“Cap’n!” Elenya shouted into the tent, “Things are going to get hot soon!  Get the patients down under the tables, and tell the nurses to take cover!”  She then spun back, as the fighting continued to creep closer, already reciting the versus to prepare her lightning spell.  She ducked to the side, as a warrior flung by some unseen beast crashed to the ground ahead of her, his sword cartwheeling through the air and landing point down not five feet from her.As she watched, the lurching, powerful form of a bebilith, small, seemingly insignificant pricks of numerous arrows sticking through its armor, thundered through the maelstrom of fighting, its senses tingling with the prospect of blood and easy targets.  Atop its back, the vulture-headed form of a vrock leered, a ferocious looking morningstar rising in his hand as he spurred his “mount” forward.Concentrate, Elenya’s mind told her as the words rose on her lips, and her hands moved shakily, as the pair of beasts bore down on the largest tent, and the small woman in front of it.  Hold steady... don’t fumble... don’t forget... you MUST get this spell off...The shadow of the bebilith loomed over her, as the final cry of “Brog!” came from her lips, and a frighteningly powerful burst of lightning tore through the demon.  She could see its carapace crack and shatter as a blast of thunder temporarily deafened her ears, and the beast crashed forward, its speed causing its dead form to slide to within 30 feet of where she stood.Its rider found himself pitched forward, landing with a crack of breaking bones at her feet.  As the vrock stirred, his eyes bleary from shock from the vicious landing, he looked up.The last thing he ever saw was a woman with raven black hair, her eyes flaming green with determination and fire.  There was a brief flash of light as the sun glinted off of the longsword she held aloft, and then blackness...</blockquote>

Verification