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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1330831" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 3 of 6As the defenders rush to their battle positions, Goldpetal looks south from atop the tower. He has a clear view of the enemy, and this is clearly the invader’s major assault. His keen eyes can pick up two groups of ratmen charging through the southern orchards towards us, the larger emerging from the southeast corner and charging towards the main gate, on the eastern wall, with a smaller group rushing from the southwest corner towards the rear gate. In the southwest, he catches a glimpse of a giant, armored ratman. He quickly casts entangle at that group, trying to capture the giant. The very trees of the orchard, and the grasses at their feet, seem to come alive, trapping perhaps twenty ratmen. The giant tears free, however, ripping the limb off of a tree. Archers, still hidden in the blinds at the edge of the no-man’s land, unleash a volley of arrows at the elf, but he ducks beneath the wooden wall of the tower. Arrows thud harmlessly into the wooden walls, and sail overhead into the rapidly emptying courtyard.The rest of us array ourselves as Paks had directed. Our strongest group climbs to the roof of the main hall, where they have strong footing and can overlook the main gate and both the southern and eastern approaches. Led by Taryn, this group includes Chuck, Delonia, and ten of the townspeople – including the “heavy infantry”, those five townsmen who were issued the repaired suits of chain mail. Telryn casts mage armor on himself, and follows them. Paks takes three dogs, and climbs the eastern wall just north of the main gate. One of the dogs is a trained guard dog, with a spiked collar, but the others are sheepdogs: smart, but ill-suited to a fight. At the northeast corner of the compound, Brand and his assistant climb to the roof of the forge. Llewyn rushes into the stable, the northwest corner of the compound, to saddle and mount her warhorse. There is one freeholder atop the ruined barn, along the western wall, overlooking the rear gate, and he calls for help as the ratmen rush towards it. A squad of four more freeholders rush towards him, and direct the remaining dogs to the rear gate. Miriel runs into the main hall, which we intend to be a hospital for the wounded. Chester, Telryn’s owl, joins her. Goldpetal’s hawks circle high above the battlefield.Before many of the defenders have reached their positions, the ratmen break into the clear area around the walls before. The roar of a hundred voices echoes within the freehold. They charge across the clearing towards the walls, grey fur rippling in the sunlight, metal glinting from their blades. Goldpetal, from atop the tower, shoots an arrow into the mass of ratmen charging from the southeast, and draws first blood, wounding one. Myrs and Telryn climb up to the tower, where they will be able to cast spells all across the battlefield. Brand earns the first kill, firing his great bow into the ratman charge before they reach the walls.The captain of the rat men, Xyler Blackfoot reaches the walls of the main hall and kitchen. Chuck shoots his bow at the captain, but misses. A hail of arrows rains down on the roof of the hall, as two squads of rat men archers loose their arrows from the orchard. None of the arrows hit, but they are forcing us to be cautious; Delonia shelters under cover, away from the arrows. Taryn shoots at the captain from the roof of the kitchen, but misses badly. Shaking his head in disgust, he draws another arrow. Milo is attacking with the ratmen, and he is at the base of the wall, below the captain. The horde of ratmen are right behind them, and they range themselves along the front wall. A half-squad of freeholders reaches the top of the roof, but their rushed bowshots are ineffective.The captain starts climbing the wall, followed by Milo and perhaps fifty ratmen. Another twenty ratmen archers remain back at the edge of the orchard, firing a hail of arrows at anyone they can see above the walls. The ratmen spread out along the length of the eastern wall, spreading all the way from the hall in the southern corner to the forge in the northern corner. They, too begin to climb.Chuck moves through the rain of arrows, unhurt, to lean over the edge. He shoots down at the captain and puts an arrow right through him. Taryn joins him, at his right shoulder, and also buries an arrow in the Blackfoot’s shoulder. The unarmored squad of freeholders atop the hall fires down on the climbing ratmen, killing one. Milo is the fastest climber, and reaches the top of the wall first. As the halfling reaches the top of the wall, the defenders drop their bows and draw swords. The closest freeholder chops at Milo’s hands, cutting his right arm badly and knocking him off the wall. The halfling tumbles down, but lands on his feet. Paks and the dogs are standing to the left of the main gate, and she draws her longsword in preparation. The heavy infantry squad steps onto the wall between the hall and the main gate, on the right side of the gate. They also fire bows down on the climbing ratmen, but their arrows fly too far, hitting the ground below. Five ratmen are climbing the walls of the forge, where only Brand and his assistant are. They take one last shot with their bows, both missing, and draw swords. In moments, the ratmen reach the top of the shorter walls.At the back gate, the ratman lieutenant leads the charge, but unbeknownst to him, Goldpetal’s spell has deprived him of most of his troops. In the woods behind him, the elf’s entanglement has trapped the ratmen’s shaman, and most of the lieutenant’s cohort. The great mauler, the huge, muscled ratman in heavy armor, stops and begins trying to free the shaman. The lieutenant’s corps is reduced to merely five other ratmen, but there is only one freeholder atop the ruined barn overlooking the back gate. Telryn climbs to the top of the tower, joining Goldpetal and Myrs, who have turned their attentions to the ill-defended back gate. They are trying to buy time for the five freeholders rushing across the courtyard to reinforce the solitary defender. Goldpetal, like the lone defender atop the gate, fires his bow at the lieutenant. With two arrows sticking from his chest, the lieutenant presses on, reaching the wall and beginning to climb. Myrs casts a sleep spell on the ratmen behind him. Four of them fall asleep, right at the base of the wall; the lieutenant and one other continue to climb. The five reinforcements reach the barn, climbing up a ladder to the rooftop. They spread out, readying their bows. The lieutenant reaches the top of the wall at the same moment. He has a scimitar in his right hand, a shield in his left, and a great mace attached to his tail. He stands on the catwalk and bellows a challenge, holding his scimitar aloft. Just as he issues his challenge, the reinforcements fire their bows at him. Two more arrows hit him, and he tumbles down off the catwalk, dead. The last freeholder on top of the barn runs to the catwalk, above the climbing ratman. When it reaches the top, the freeholder is waiting for it, and runs it through. The back gate is secure.The five freeholders who had arrived as reinforcements begin running along the catwalk along the interior of the wall, leaving the solitary freeholder to deal with the sleeping ratmen below.  Along the eastern wall, the ratmen reach the top of the walls, pouring over our defenses like a wave over a sandcastle. The defenders draw melee weapons and try to knock as many as they can off the walls. Paks, standing alone at the main gate, swings her longsword at the first ratmen to reach her. Fighting from the narrow catwalk atop the wall, she misses her footing, and unluckily she drops her sword over the wall! As she falls to the catwalk, the ratmen swarm their way onto it, over and above her. The guard dog tears one apart, and the heavy infantrymen knock four of the ratmen off the wall as they reach the top: none of them survive the fall. However, at least twenty ratmen have breached the top of the wall between the gate and the forge. Paks plays dead, letting rat-clawed feet climb over and past her. The ratmen kill one of the sheepdogs, and wound several of the heavy infantrymen as well. Although they are not injured seriously, they are all pushed back away from Paks, leaving her completely surrounded!Atop the forge, Brand and his assistant are also in dire trouble. Five ratmen have reached the top of the forge, facing only the two defenders. One of the ratmen scratches Brand with a scimitar, drawing first blood. Panicked, the smith brings his bastard sword around in a wild blow. When it meets opposing steel, he loses his grip on the sword, and it flies off the roof. He tumbles to the floor, and the ratmen leap on him, slicing him with their scimitars. Three hit, and he’s badly wounded, but still conscious.  Xyler Blackfoot, the ratmen’s captain, reaches the top of the main hall. An epic battle ensues between he, Chuck, and Taryn on the rooftop. Chuck draws first blood his longsword, cutting deep as the captain climbs the last few feet, but does not knock him off the wall. The captain parries Taryn’s attack, vaulting over the top of the wall with his other hand, and stands before him. His sword is a segmented whip-sword, and he slices at Chuck first. The sword extends, completely defeating Chuck’s attempt to parry with his short sword, wrapping around that blade to score a critical hit on Chuck. Bleeding heavily from a mighty blow to the ribs, Chuck fights on. A hailstorm of arrows, fired indiscriminately by the archers at the orchard’s edge, continues to rain down on them, but the combatants ignore it. Chuck and Taryn attack in coordination, and Chuck’s blow is met with a firm parry. That leaves the captain open to Taryn’s attack, and the lord of the hold calls upon his deity as he smites the captain with a tremendous blow. He shouts “Corean!” His sword cuts deep into the left shoulder of the ratman, nearly severing the arm with his critical hit, but amazingly the ratman captain fights on!Worse, his swordplay has bought the time for twenty more ratmen to reach the top, and they look set to overrun the ten defenders there.From the tower, Goldpetal can’t see Paks, but he shoots into the group of rat men on the catwalk. He wounds one. The freeholder shoots into the woods, at the mauler, and hits it hard. Unhindered by the arrow sunk deep in his thigh, the mauler gives one final heave and finally pulls the shaman free. The shaman wastes no time and casts a spell. Fire arcs from his fingertips towards the tower, right at Myrs! But she recognizes the arcing fire from the previous night, and dives out of the way. Seeing this, and realizing that he is out of range for his best spells, Telryn climbs down the staircase inside the tower and rushes back to the roof of the hall.At the main gate, the guard dog fights his way to Paks’ side, ripping the throat out of one of the ratmen. Paks draws her short sword and gets to her feet. Surrounded, she is hard pressed to do more than parry attacks with her sword and shield. The heavy infantry try to advance along the catwalk towards her, but they can make no progress. Llewyn bursts from the stable atop her warhorse. Sizing up the situation in a brief moment, she rides to the back gate. There, she gathers the other dogs, leading them back towards the eastern wall.The ratmen now control the main gate, and the sheepdog jumps down off the catwalk in the face of overwhelming odds. About fifteen ratmen jump down from the catwalk, bypassing the heavy infantry, and head for the catapult. Some of them pull out slings and whirl stones at Paks and the guard dog. Three of the stones hit the guard dog, but that merely enrages him. Four of them hit Paks, and one of those catches her bare head, knocking her out. She tumbles from the catwalk, and lies in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the wall.</blockquote>

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