2705:11:26
22:34
Rounds twenty-one
to thirty
At this point in the
battle there are two key battle sites: at the only remaining breach in
the wall and on the streets near the Command Centre where some two
dozen trolls entered the city before Lurik sealed the gap. Many more
trolls will soon be entering the city via the ectoplasmic ramp.
Battle site 1: Inside the first
breach
As we join the action, there are eleven trolls alive inside the breach,
three of which are badly injured. More trolls are streaming through the
hole in the wall every few seconds. On the ground with Flash and Owen,
Officer Gareth Torr leads two dozen soldiers and five dwarven pikemen,
most of whom are already injured. Four dozen archers and a half dozen
wizards are showering the trolls with missile fire from nearby
roof-tops. Six or seven clerics weave through the battle trying to
reach the wounded.
"For the King!" cries out Flash as he charges into the fray, followed
by an elven phrase that no-one else hears. The elf catapults himself
under one of the troll's defenses and sinks Bloodletter deep into its
leg. The troll roars in pain as Flash withdraws the glistening green
blade and reverses the stroke into the troll's midrift. With muscles
rippling across the creature's back, it brings its greatsword down with
a mighty overhead cleave. Flash brings the lighter short sword in his
left hand up to parry the blow and at the same time twists his body so
that the troll only catches him across the leg. A cleave that would
have disected most men leaves only a gash on the swordmaster's leg. But
the troll is now out of position and leaning heavily to one side. Flash
continues the motion with his short sword, sliding the parry up along
the troll's blade and then opening up three lightning quick slashes in
the creature's exposed chest. The troll looks down at the blood oozing
from its wounds... it tries to raise its greatsword but Flash has
somehow leapt skywards and is bringing the glowing green avenger around
in a 360 degree overhead spin... the troll feels a sharp flood of pain
and then its world goes black. Flash lands a few feet away, and turns
in time to see the troll's decapitated head hit the ground.
Meanwhile, Owen's flaming sphere has winked out. Dodging out of the
path of the rampaging trolls, he creates another flaming sphere and
moves it into the gap in the wall -- preventing more than one troll
from passing at a time.
Gareth Torr and his men manage to take down another of the trolls, but
lose two more men in the process. Flash yells at Gareth to pull back
and reform. The archers are sending an endless stream of arrows at the
trolls trying to move past the flaming sphere, and the two fire
elementals are quick to finish off each troll that falls. Some of the
trolls inside the wall turn their trollsticks on the archers in
retaliation.
While Flash continues fighting the trolls -- taking on two at a time --
the rest of the footsoldiers retreat in order to reform. One of the
wizards fires a web spell at several of the trolls, hampering their
movement. The handful of priests do their best to assist fallen
defenders and cast minor combat spells but there are simply too many
trolls for them to do so safely and two more of their number join the
dead.
Gareth and seven of the
footsoldiers reform a line in front of the pikemen, while six of the
other footsoldiers join Flash. The remaining soldiers help the clerics
to set fire to the fallen trolls. Owen dodges past one of the trolls
and has just enough time to cast a cure light wounds spell on Gareth
before the trolls press forward again.
Although they are still
managing to hold their own against the trolls, the cost is too high to
continue - for each troll that falls, four men give up their lives. As
if to underline their dire situation Owen's flaming sphere winks out at
the same time as the two fire elementals. Flash and Gareth exchange a
knowing look and begin signalling for a strategic retreat. As they do
so, screams mixed with explosive sounds echo from one of the buildings.
Before the horrified eyes of the retreating warriors, almost a dozen
archers detonate into fragments of lifeless flesh.
Protectors of Rotan
Artak stumbles briefly from the shock of hearing King Anwell's voice,
but quickly regains his concentration. "Brilliant," he thinks to
himself, "I must let the others know we have captured a troll", and
then he wonders if the others have heard his thoughts. "No - it must be
a conscious sending," he recollects. Whilst maintaining a steady trot
towards the Interrogation Chamber, Artak pictures images of the
gruesome tortures that they have prepared for their enemy, and wonders
what the other Lords would think. Then, in an inner panic, he realises
that he may have inadvertently transferred those evil thoughts to the
Lords! Mentally kicking himself, Artak gathers his wits and thinks out
loud "Fellow ring bearers, we have captured a troll and intend to find
out from where they have come, and who their leader is. We need an aid
that can understand the foul tongue of these beasts." With that he
focuses his gaze on the gnarled face of the captive.
Souriin reacts quickly to
the expanded reach of his thoughts, and snaps out several mental
commands. "Euvgeni, take charge, now! You know the layout. Close the
gaps. Our forces are ineffective without direction. Use Indo to place
the archer units. Tekuna, you have a small army of sneaks - can't you
try to find the brown trolls if any have slipped into the city?
Damalanthas, hold on! I'm coming."
Tekuna broadcasts her reply to both Souriin and Annaline. "Indeed. I'm
hoping Annaline can co-ordinate that, though. I'm not too keen on
leaving the throne room." Annaline's reply can be heard by all of the
ring-bearers: "I'm near where they broke through. I don't think more
than a dozen escaped into the city, but they are moving around too
quickly to track from the ground."
Next, Sepyt's calm voice is heard. "Keep sending the wounded this way."
The elderly priest's words are accompanied by an image of the domed
hall a few blocks west of the Command Centre which is serving as a
temporay infirmary.
Euvgeni grabs his message tube back from Suwaya Illis as he races down
from the Command Centre and into the battle below. His mental voice is
a sharp bark: "What about Nesgasp? Doesn't he have anything we could
use? I'm gonna call him..." Holding the message tube to his mouth as he
runs, the burly warrior yells, "Nesgasp! Nesgasp! Rotan needs you!"
Mother Nari's cracked
voice reaches out through the rings. "I am sharing my sight with those
who wish to share. Can you see the green trolls?" Both Euvgeni and Sir
James Fortell start as two of the brown trolls fighting in the streets
near the Command Centre turn from brown to green. Similarly, as he
retreats from the battle, Flash see one of the browns suddenly change
in colour. The green troll points its fingers at the elf and snarls as
a ray shoots towards him...
Another mental voice speaks, slightly fainter than the others, but
still clear. "It sounds as if you could use some help. One of my
runesmiths believes she can transport my soldiers to you quickly enough
to help. Should I send the Nedgari army to Rotan?" asks Fengar the Grey.
Battle site 2: Near the Command
Centre
In the streets between the Command Centre and the city walls, almost a
score of trolls face Euvgeni's hand-picked combat teams. Each of the
three teams has net throwers carefully protected by pikemen and royal
guards. A fourth team of alchemist-fire throwers stands ready, but out
of the main combat zone.
While their companions draw off the trolls' attacks, the net wielders
dart in and hurl the weighted nets at the gangly bipeds. Although their
aim is not always true, their tactics work well, and several of the
trolls are snared and then quickly dispatched by the other warriors.
Damalanthas and Sir James Fortell make a particularly good team, but
even together they cannot compare with the savage killing frenzy that
is Euvgeni. He dispatches three trolls in quick succession.
But the battle is not all one sided. The trolls wield their greatswords
with vigour and as many warriors are felled as trolls. Disturbingly,
five of the warriors simply stop fighting, and stand vacantly in one
spot, staring into space. One of the fire throwers retreats a moment to
late, and a troll grapples her from behind. The smell of dissolving
flesh follows as the beast melts the poor woman into two pieces. A
similar fate befalls one of the clerics as she tries to heal a royal
guard.
Liam Grell's group gives a cheer as they bring down another troll, but
their celebration is stopped short when one of the trolls opens its
mouth to release a chilling cone of ice shards. Both Liam and the
wizard next to him die instantly as the thousands of icy missiles slam
into them. Luthe Domarian signals the few remaining members of the
group to retreat and Euvgeni steps in to protect them. As he turns to
face the ice-breathing troll he realises that it is one of the greens...
Up on the wall,
overlooking the battle, stand several wizards.
"Aster, Bel, get the mages out of here," yells Souriin, "they aren't
trained for war. Go to the palace to rest!" Raising his voice, he calls
out to Makor, standing a hundred feet southwards on the wall.
"Makor, take charge of the circle. Tackle the whites."
"Go Aster," says Belimirar, "lead our charges to safety. I need to
stand here for the common people to see that we fight with them still."
Brovan Shorn chimes in "I'll stay with you Belimirar. We started this
together and we finish it together."
"It looks like it's up to me to keep you two alive," chuckles Arban
DoLittle.
Before she leaves, Aster touches Arban's blade and speaks a few words
of blessing. Then she signals to the scattered University wizards,
hurries down a ladder, and heads off towards the Palace."
Brovan quickly surveys the battle below and the situation outside the
walls, and decides to target another wall of fire across the bottom of
the trolls' glistening ramp. With perfect precision, a twenty foot high
sheet of flame springs up all along the base of the ramp, blocking the
snarling trolls from climbing up it. Brovan follows this feat up with
several well aimed webs hurled at the combatants in the streets below,
allowing Euvgeni's teams to dispatch two more of the trolls.
While Arban and his hawk companion watch over the wizards, Belimirar
selects one of the trolls on the battlefield outside the city walls.
There is still no sign of the white trolls, so he picks a brown. He
targets a feeblemind spell at
the creature, and as the spell takes effect, the troll stops dead in
its path. Belimirar decides to try something else -- delicately he reaches out with his
mind to try to sense the troll. He makes a connection and recoils from
the overwhelming feeling of loneliness and confusion. It feels as if
the troll has lost a part of itself and is desparate to regain the
missing 'self'.
In this part of the battle too, the clerics play a key role. Lurik, no
longer bleeding, but still holding on to the wall to stand upright,
barks the word 'flee' at a dozen of the trolls who are already on the
ramp. Six of them turn around and leap off the edge of the ramp in
response. Lurik slumps down and takes a moment to heal himself. Many of
the other priests target the trolls with spells -- causing fear,
hurling magic stones and even scorching one troll with a burning hands
spell.
One block away from the
edge of the battle, Mother Nari gathers thirteen citizens in a circle.
She waves her staff, speaks a few precise words and all thirteen begin
transforming into wolverines. Quickly Mother Nari points in the
direction that the stray trolls took into the city and says "Go. Find
them. Work together." Immediately, the wolverine pack begins trailing
its prey.
From his vantage point on the wall, Souriin saw Ayak crash land.
Turning to survey the battle inside the wall, he see Damalanthas all
alone against one of the trolls. Quickly, Souriin taps his staff of
power on the ground and carefully targets a spot a short distance away
from the troll. A massive fireball detonates there seconds later,
killing the target troll and severely injuring another one nearby.
Trusting that his friend will now be okay, Souriin casts an
invisibility spell on himself. Immediately thereafter, he polymorphs
himself into a troll (still invisible) and moves cautiously down the
edge of the glistening ramp, towards Ayak's motionless form.
At the edge of the
battle, a teenage boy is trying to get Euvgeni's attention without
being killed. He seems to be waving some sort of potion in his hand...
Outside the city walls
The hundreds of brown trolls still outside the city walls continue the
onslaught. More bolts are fired from their trollsticks, and more of the
defenders of Rotan are wounded or killed. The bolts targetted at the
Command Centre bounce harmlessly away, thanks to Belimirar's wall of
force.
At various locations along the wall, the trolls are forming living
ladders and climbing up each other to reach the top. The brave citizens
of Rotan are pouring pitch and hot oil as fast at they can, but some of
them are not quick enough, and they are pulled off the wall by the
snarling trolls.
More than a dozen trolls
are the wrong side of the wall of fire on the glistening ramp. Aided by
some of the other members of Project Deathwatch, aging Makor casts
Souriin's Shadow-wisp Summons. At the top of the ramp, whisps of smoke
whip around and touch several trolls. Reflexively the trolls pull back,
but a single touch of one strand is enough to cause them harm.
Nearby, Gramm Eddar and the gnome Enyaki are rigging a barrel with
flash powder and a fuse. As soon as it is ready, they call two burly
lads over to hurl it into the seething mass of trolls below. Seconds
later, there is a smell of burned troll-meat. Immediately Gramm and
Enyaki start rigging another barrel.
Suddenly, six amorphous shapes spring into existence along the top of
the city walls. Each of them is roughly the same size and shape as the
trolls, but they seem to be made of the same semi-transparent slime as
the ramp. As each creature appears, it shakes itself and then begins
advancing on the nearest person on the wall...
|