Amber is Under Siege: Raising the Siege north of the City
Thu Aug 7 14:23:27 2008
Broadcast to Amber City by Scholastica: With the Black Road troops cut off by fire and lacking their seige equipment and slow-moving troops, now would be a good time to strike back. Coincidentally, some time in the early afternoon the North gate relays the signal that allies are arriving. Up the western slope and along the paths in the Dragon's Spine, there is an army. Some if it is definitely made up of the Defenders of Kolvir, who moved some miles back when the enemy arrived, but the bulk of the forces are in black and silver, flying crude flags depicting a city on a mountain. It looks like it is time to start moving towards that gate, if people want to help crush the enemy when the looked-for allies arrive.
--[ Northern Slope of Kolvir ]-----------------------[ Amber Countryside ]----
The northern slope of Kolvir is a sharp slope, offering views of the
city and the sea sweeping down in a magnificent vista.
An old trail runs from the gate of Amber City to the south, and
continues north, up the mountain to the peak of Kolvir. Another trail
branches off to the southwest, down the western slope of the mountain.
Beatrice and Henry are here.
---------------------------------------------------------[ Exits: N S SW ]----
Northern Slope of Kolvir - Amber is owned by AmberCity_Bldr
Martin comes here from the direction of the Northern Gate - Amber City.
[Martin]
He is slightly under medium height with shoulder length straw blonde hair and a slender, wiry build. His eyes are bright azure blue, set into rugged good looks and clean shaven cheeks. His hair is combed neatly back and there is a golden hoop earring in his left ear. He wears studded leather and chain mail armor with a helmet. It is an odd thing to note that he is in his father's colors though Moire's symbol is on his helmet. At his hip is a fine silver hilted saber and there are a couple of daggers in his belt and he carries a crossbow and a pke with jagged teeth.
The host with Beatrice riding in its center, owl upon her shoulder, Martin close by her side, has managed to get up Kolvir and is coming quietly south to meet up with the Defenders. They come into sight with black-and-silver banners flying.
The Defenders are currently holding their position, part way up Kolvir. Henry is at their head, with several officers on either side of him, watching the progress of those black-and-silver banners.
The host is... vast. Vast for the mountain and its passes, and some of it was cavalry and has had to dismount, but they have an easier ride-at here and are re-mounting as they come into view. Beatrice nods Martin to come with her and presses her legs to Chastity's flanks to urge him forward, breaking through the front of the line with her helm gleaming as she removes it so her son can catch sight of her.
Martin is not in any particular position, though he has served as inspiration throughout the march. He rides on a good looking white horse with Beatrice, ready to do whatever she needs.
When Henry spots Beatrice at the head of the host he gestures to some of the officers with him, and the small group moves forward to meet the approaching front line of the vast host.
Beatrice greets, her voice rising clearly and perfectly, "Colonel Solaris. As promised, we are twenty-seven thousand strong."
Martin looks grim when he looks over their strength. He does not comment, however on militia might in light of what they face. He nods briefly to Henry though he has never met the man.
"Dame Beatrice." Henry inclines his head, first to Beatrice and then to Martin. "We are roughly three quarter strength, here. My scouts tell me the enemy is dug in deep around the city, and they have seige weapons moving up. It looks like they hope to destroy the walls before they assult them."
Beatrice nods. "I suggest we hold your men in reserve left or right flank and let mine take the brunt of being first-in? If so, I'm ready to give the order."
Martin has no comment to give, he nods to the both of them and appears to agree with what is being said. If he's nervous, it doesn't show.
Henry nods decisively. "Agreed." He intones, looking over the assembled host briefly. "Ready when you are. We'll hold in reserve right."
Beatrice nods, and gives the signal for her men to ready, which they do. "I suggest you stay with the Defenders," she offers Martin, and then she lifts her voice, which carries perfectly, "ONWARD!" And in perfect discipline, her men break in formation forward, rising to swaller her into their midst...
The trumpets sound! The last barriers are crossed and the enemy is in sight!
Broadcast to Amber by Scholastica: Battle is joined, according to both the signals and the growing noise from the North.
Henry gestures for Martin to come with him, if he's going to, turning with his men to get the Defenders into position. They wait in reserve for now, on the right.
Beatrice rides hard with her men! They are facing a host designed to lay sieg in a difficult mountain environment: trolls and goblims and twisted men, some tall and fair but with swirling darkness in their eyes -- some who were once no doubt men of Arden but have fallen to the Road's sway. They have brought trebuchets and catapults and battering rams, and are firing on the city, trying to fight their way up 'bad neighbors' (portable towers) to mount the walls. They have supply wagons and tents and outward-facing pickets and footsoldier eager to mount the city.... but they'll take a ground fight outside the walls instead. As the Silver Host comes into sight, they send strength their pickets.
Martin is a man of many talents it appears, because not only can he play the guitar, he can play the trumpet and play it well. He encourages the ride as they canter into place to fight the approaching enemy with a rip roaring battle tune.
Battle is joined! The Silver host breaks in first, overruninng the pickets but loosing hundreds along the way. The goal: interfere with their ability to harm Amber's walls. In some ways it might look to the untrained eyes like a free-for-all, but in reality the battle is fought with taut discipline and crack signalling... but another host is soon riding up. Fresh troops from just east of where they joined battle. And it is these that Henry will need to engage to keep them from coming in behind the Silver Host and laying waste...
Henry watches as the Silver Host joins battle, eyes narrowing when he sees the fresh troops coming up east. Signals are given and the elite Defenders pour down across the slopes of Kolvir. Though their numbers are small, they move with crack precision and are soon falling upon the flank of the approaching enemy.
Taleyn comes here from the direction of the Eastern Lands - Amber Countryside.
(Tally was here all along with her platoon, really!)
The Silver Host, led by Beatrice, as overrun the outer ring of the siege. Fresh enemy troops have come up from just to the east of here, to try to take them from the rear, but they are in turn surprised by the Defenders of Kolvir -- fewer than the Host but crack troops, who take them by surprise in turn.
Meanwhile, troops are pushing out from the city -- they have gotten about a quarter of the way towards closing with the Silver Host before being confronted with a giant worm-thing and other nastiness. (OOC: that is the folks in the Northern gate scene)
Under Henry's leadership, the Defenders are taking full advantadge of the element of suprise to hold up the troops approaching from the east. The elite troops are at home here on the slopes of Kolvir and it shows.
Martin is somewhere near Beatrice, he has since set his trumpet on his horse and brought out his crossbow. He's firing left and right and rides well too. His main goal is to keep as close to Bea as possible.
One of the objectives of this battle is to take out the siege's command structure -- though it is difficult to discern. Fighting their way through the thick of things, though, the Silver Host has managed to sort out where the nexus of commands seems to originate and they try to close on it... but Beatrice and her thousand-score men are blocked by two flaming siege towers falling (by design) in their path. They will fight their way around but it'll be a while. Meanwhile, the Defenders have a cleaner line to close in on what seems to be the enemy's command...
Meanwhile, one of the non-coms of Taleyn's unit alerts her to what seems to be the entrance to a sapper's tunnel. Most of the rock beneath the city walls is solid, but if they've managed to find a break in the bedrock...
Taleyn nods to the noncom and sends a runner to Colonel Solaris with the information. She looks to Henry's position and holds her platoon back, ready for whatever order he gives.
Henry urges the main body of his men onward down that line, fighting their way to what he believes to be the enemy command. The runner returns, with orders for Taleyn to take the tunnel and kill any sappers. The walls must not fall.
Taleyn nods at the order as she reads it. "Move in, men!" She gestures them into the tunnel, leaving a contingent on guard outside.
As the Defenders fight their way in, they clear enough of a path to get a good look at Enemy Command. The nerve seems to be made up of a mound of earth and dirt and leaves and... heads. Many heads. Heads that were once men, some animals, some perhaps once trolls or something similar. All have black eyes. They speak in many voices, in many directions. But as the soldiers close, it's clear the biggest challenge will be to break the ring of defenders surrounding command, and that everything will be thrown at those approach. Flaming arrows pick off the men in Brown as they near....
The tunnel is dark and difficult to navigate... but they have been here only one night. It does not go terribly deep, but under the earth Taleyn and her platoon discover the *rest* of the command nerve... it seems to be one continuous body. And some of the enemy in the tunnel, when they see the platoon coming, simply pile into it-- joining it willingly or not as it grows in size and strength.
Beatrice's soldiers fight on; the others have lost sight of her and Martin by now.
Henry's eyes narrow as the flaming arrows begin to pick off his men, and at the sight within that ring of defenders. Realising he will likely lose a battle of attrition, he urges the Defenders forward to close with the archers as quickly as possible and hopefully smash through the ring.
Taleyn pages: right... lemme pose and I'll seek to address that.
Martin doesn't hang back, if there is enemy to pick off, he does so. He looks for a weak spot in the group of eyes and voices. They seem to be functioning as a unit, if they could be somhow separated. He wonders...
Within the Silver Host, Beatrice is fighting back the tight of Chaos -- literally but also figuratively. It's only by a sharp presence able to make decisions on her feet that the lines stay together when surrounded by so many monstrosities. They have numbers, but their numbers are bleeding and falling. Martin's bolstering may be a good part of the difference in them keeping their morale up to this point. But every man is fighting for his life, and the ground around where Beatrice herself and those closest to her are is starting to shake... cutting her off from Martin. The flaming towers are dying down and there is a *bit* of a view from Henry's position.
The Enemy Command takes a battering, but as it starts to sage in one place, more of the enemy rush in to join us and bolster it. Still it speaks to its own men in its scores of voices....
Taleyn shouts firm, confident orders-- "All men pull back twelve paces! ROGERS, torchlight! Archers to the fore! Flaming arrows, nock! Aim, FIRE!!!"
"We can break through!" Henry calls to his men, as he sees that sag that is quickly filled. "Into the breach! And once more into the breach he leads them.
Martin has lost sight of Beatrice on the other sight of the shaking and rising thing inside the earth. Henry's men are making more than a dent, and Taleyn's men are hurting Command where it hurts. Only one or two of the Defenders have been sucked in to join this mass of a body, their eyes black and twisted. But alas, it is therefore all the worse when they join is the thing both above and blow ground suddenly speaks with all of its voices together at once, "WE HAVE YOUR MOTHER, COLONEL."
Martin is an understimated young man riding an off white horse and shooting a crossbow. He's probably overlooked because of that insignificance, but that's all part of his charm. The Great Mass of twisted eyes and heads are unlikely to notice when he decides that given their collective conscious he's pretty sure that hurting one will hurt them all. Thus, he pulls up his pike and decides it's time to skewer a brain of someone who looks like they are in command. Martin figures, cut off the heads, you've got a chance.
Taleyn shouts over the din of hive-voices saying, "FIRE AT WILL! DON'T MAKE ME SING AN OISEN-KNIGHTS FIGHT SONG!"
Henry's free hand clenches into a fist, and he stares up at the mass of voices. "You're lying!" He challenges, jaw set with a cold anger. He doesn't order his men to stop, or pull back, continuing to drive them onward.
RPG: Consumed Beatrice's token 'Troops - 30,000' for a +6 bonus.
RPG: Beatrice challenges a difficulty of 14, using her Wits plus a 6-Focus token. Beatrice succeeds.
The fire-arrows under the earth are tough to pull off -- there isn't a lot of room for an arrow's arc, but just enough for the crossbow bolts! The many-headed monster lurches under the earth, starting to shake and tremble as its many voices begin to scream in anguish, some dying along the way. Above ground, Henry's men obey their colonel, and close in on the Command Monster. It's like fighting a living building, it is so big, with many arms and heads and horns and teeth.... Martin has an arrow hit home high up in the creature, then another, and soon he's joined by other archers of Beatrice's men who are cut off from their commander but following Initiative without breaking ranks!
Then it can be seen that Beatrice's position with a cluster of men was surrounded by a worm-thing much like the one that was assailing those closer in towards the walls.... it has her surrounded. She and the scrappy group of men inside the circle fight on.
RPG: Beatrice challenges a difficulty of 11, using her Wits plus SKL-AR. Beatrice succeeds.
RPG: Henry challenges a difficulty of 9, using his Resolve plus SKL-AR. Henry almost succeeds.
RPG: Taleyn challenges a difficulty of 9, using her Grace plus SKL-SW. Taleyn succeeds.
RPG: Martin challenges a difficulty of 9, using his Wits plus BLD-OB. Martin succeeds.
Henry pushes forward with the Defenders, hacking at any bits of the creature he can reach. Slowly but surely the Defenders are overwhelming those parts of the creature they can see. It may not be going down without a fight, but it's going down. There are a few archers still remaining, and their last act of defiance is to launch a volley of arrows at the front line of the Defenders. Henry catches one in his upper chest, the shock of the impact causing him to stagger backward.
The giant worm around Beatrice rises up! It is fierce, and seeking, first, to crush her and the men with her. It is also fast, sliding in its dancing circle so fast it is hard for the men cut off from her on the outside of it to find weak points. Yet many do gain purchase, not the least of whom is the former colonel herself, who finds the eye of the storm inside the worm's twistings and judges its weak point, whispering where she cannot be overheard to those still alive who are with her, and aiming their blades with timed precision.... six sword at once cut the worm's belly to ribbons, and after that, it is mop-up for th emen and Beatrice is free to organize her men once more as she re-emerges, ensuring that they can take full advantage of the enemy's growing disorganization....
Insignificant, but intrepid Random's son lifts his pike and tosses it into the swirling mess. With a little dumb luck, he might knock out an important bit. Other archers are firing firing arrows that fill the sky with a rain of pointy death.
Taleyn's platoon is full of good, well-trained men-- despite the close quarters and the horrible amalgam in front of them screaming with a thousand voices, they stick to their orders. The archers in the fore, the first rank crouching and the second rank standing, fire bolt after flaming bolt at the creature. The Horror doesn't burn very well, being all squelchy and ichor- and blood-filled. But every piercing bolt elicits an ear-splitting shriek from one of the dead-eyed hive-heads within the pulsating mass. The platoon begins to choke in the acrid smoke. Taleyn's nostrils flare and she orders non-lit bolts. When those are spent, she orders the swords forward. They take turns hacking at the thing, Taleyn ordering them not to let up until the voices cease.
Between Henry's unit above and Taleyn's below, and perhaps the added impact of Martin's pike, the Enemy Command begins to shake, and lurch. It's shaking so hard the tunnel where Taleyn and her men are is threatening to break apart. Rapidly, it starts shedding dead bodies. They fly out and away, landing everywhere and everywhere, often in pieces. This process speeds up and the ground shakes harder as the inside layer tries to lurch itself into action, but it is too badly broken, and the momentum of the flying bodies continues, and continues.... the nerve center breaks apart, and shatters. Even those of the road-twisted, tainted, and spawned 'things' that still have life (or unlife) in them can no longer hold together. They are reduced to mere individual soldiers, and attempt to flee the onsault of the Defenders and the Silver Host with the rest of their number.
Enemy command has been broken.
Taleyn orders, "SHIELDS UP!" as the tunnel starts dropping rocks on them. Those who have shields put them up overhead. They begin the mop-up as the mass breaks apart. The most heated fighting happens as the individual enemy break off and try to flee out of the tunnel, right through the Defenders. Eventually the tunnel is secure, and Taleyn and the boys pull the bodies of their dead and subsumed comrades out into the light.
Martin plays a little perky victory tune on the trumpet to spur forward Taleyn and Henry's men.
Henry has steadied himself, and is continuing to lead his men. He's not foolish enough to try and pull the arrow out, though he does hold the flat of his palm against the area it went in. His fingers are splayed, to go around the arrow itself.
Taleyn leaves a guard on the tunnel and marshals her force to rout the Enemy as they flee, sending a runner with a field report to Colonel Solaris.
Beatrice doesn't have time to stop. She's ahorse again, ordering her men still into organizing casualties, etc., and has only time to crease her brow at her son's wound for a moment before she is out of sight....
Martin suggests, "Take prisoners for questioning!" but he probably isn't going to be heard in the din.
Henry takes the report, sending back an order for Taleyn's group to rejoin the main body of the regiment so they can mop up the survivors.
Taleyn rallies and rejoins!
Martin encourages the rally with his trumpet, and meets up with Taleyn!!