Twin rays of fire struck the soldier next to Fetch. The soldier appeared to have grunted in pain but his muffled cries were overshadowed by an elven warchant. The protections Fetch had ordered to be cast before the battle were doing their work. The tiefling mage that casted the spell didn't have a chance to cast another as Sir Gunther skewered her through the gut. He twisted his sword painfully into the mage's stomach before withdrawing it out of the dieing creature . The mage fell to her knees and looked dumbfounded as she stared helplessly at the gaping hole in her gut, still not believing her life was ended by a mere human. A quick kick to the face by Gunther sent her into the welcoming darkness.
Fetch nodded at Gunther, his bodyguard, and thought he was a worthy replacement for Frank. The cleric was worried about Tyris and the addition of Gunther relieved some of his stress.
A deadly stinger smashed heavily into Fetch's shield. The young captain's attention was brought back to the battle. The stinger belonged to a large crouched skeletal devil. It was a bizarre looking creature, Surry identified it as an Osyluth or bone devil earlier , before she was sent scattering. Fetch counted close to 100 of these beasts on the battlefield. They were the ones that summoned the pudding creatures, and tried to break up their ranks with walls of ice. Fortunately for the Grommers, several massive golems were assigned to Colonel Field's "Gold tooths". The massive constructs easily smashed the ice barriers.
Fetch hopped back from the sneering creature, he noticed that unlike the demons he fought in the north, these creatures were more sinister then mad, more scheming then cunning, more sadistic then blood thirsty. Fetch sneered back, and threw his hammer towards the creature. The hammer changed direction in mid flight, avoiding a block, and catching the bone devil in the jaw. Several knights rushed the stunned creature and tried to bring it down with axe and sword. Its tail lashed furiously at its attackers, battering and stinging its foes . Suddenly it was pinned to the ground by a quick rapier thrust. A quick dagger blow to the thrashing tail severed it. The knights surged once again and hacked the tailless creature to pieces. A woman with a red pony tail stood over the slain devil singing her war chant , without missing a beat, she smiled at Fetch as she withdrew her rapier.
Fetch shook his head in disappointment at his wife, he told her to stay in Clovis's mansion back in the city. The city was protected by powerful wards preventing suprise magical attacks. Of course she ignored him. She said she was fine for now and things would be ok. He guessed she was only 2 months pregnant but Fetch was worried how well Tyris could fight while with child, but so far she didn't seem to lose a step.
Fetch retraced the steps that led to this battle. General Olive's orders were simple , Colonel Field's battalion, was to be reinforced. The "Gold tooths", would then rendezvous with elements of Ymir's Armsmen , and various levies from the south. They were to protect the western flank, ensuring supplies and reinforcements from the dwarven realms would be maintained. It was away from the main battles, but it was still an important task. The longer McDunnalds can hold out, the more reinforcements from the southern Grommish cities, and their northern knight allies would come. The enemy also saw the importance of this supply route and sent Ari's legion to disrupt their supply chain. The legion was small but considered an elite division. It was mostly tieflings, but had many strange and powerful devils in their ranks. Surry assured Fetch, that most of the devils spotted were of the lesser variety. However even the lesser devils were capable foes. Apparently their leader was Duke Ari the Fallen. The lost son of Lady Janya of the north. Fetch didn't recall Janya mentioning Ari directly, but did remember the rumors he heard in Mammoth Keep of one of Janya's sons succumbing to the lure of infernal power. He fell from grace and the son of an assimar was reborn as a powerful half fiend.
Fetch surveyed the battlefield . Dzads field was one of the few clearings capable of having a major field battle, everywhere else between the Nazag Narg to McDunnalds was mountains, forest or hills. Colonel Fields chose this spot to make use of his superior numbers. Duke Ari was more then happy to oblige him. Fetch and Torsten's companies held the center of the battlefield. On his left was a large detachment of Ymir's Armsmen. To his right was militia from Helmar or Heldann. In reserve was Colonel Fields command company and Hrolfs reinforced company. They weathered the initial onslaught of strange pudding creatures called lemures. The enemy summoned over 1000 of the creatures. They washed against their forces like a tidal wave of slime , but they were mindless and stupid. After the initial shock, they were quickly put down. The Helmar militia was hit hard, and for awhile it looked like they were going to break, however Col Fields sent Hrolf"s unit to reinforce them. Fetch thought that was a risky gamble. If the Helmar militia broke, that would send the entire flank including Hrolfs company into confusion.
Fetch spied that Ymir"s 5 companies were making similar progress against the tieflings and bone devils against them. He could spot a very big dwarf in a blue dress leading the attack, next to her was a woman riding a lion. He saw Frank decapitating a wounded Osyluth, then stopping to argue with Trip to see whose kill that was. Torsten"s company was once again in the thick of combat. The dwarf seemed not to care about casualties as long as he could claim victory. Fields gambit with the Helmar militia and captain Hrolf"s unit seemed to have paid off. The unsteady militia rallied around the veteran Grommish forces, as they held the flank. Fetch's own unit was holding the center splendidly. Fields was able to request several war golems, and they were more then a match for any bone devils or fiendish giants the enemy had. Fetch knew that the golems were the key to winning this campaign. If used correctly they could turn this war of attrition to a quick route for the legion.
Fetch was unimpressed with the reputation of the infamous Duke Ari's legion. They were capable foes but their renown for being the best of the best was clearly overstated. The Grommers were easily defeating their fiendish foes . The bone devils they had were impressive, but the tieflings and various half fiends and fiendish hobgoblins were no match against Field's army. A horn behind them was blown, to press the attack against the legion. Fetch thought it might have been premature, their right flank was shaky and the enemies troops weren't all committed yet, but he obeyed the order . Fetch signaled Bram , to break from their entrenched positions and crush the withdrawing legion. The first few minutes of their counter attack seemed to go pretty well.
Then literally all hell broke loose.
Shouts came from behind Fetch. Fetch turned and saw Fields unit completely surrounded by cruel creatures. Teleportation magic he guessed grimly. Roughly half appeared to be fiendish men, wielding wicked glaives with wild spikey beards. They swung with forceful blows , keeping the enemy at bay while breaking armor and bone. The Grommers that were able to get close were hideously mauled by the creatures' freakish beards. The other half were slightly smaller then the bearded the creatures, and had large horns on their heads, Fetch vaguely recalled Surry calling them legion devils. They wielded swords and shields. They seemed to have a knack of teleporting around the battlefield. They quickly surrounded weakened soldiers by appearing out of thin air. They were practiced enough with their magics that they were able to strike their foe down as they teleported in. After their enemy was slain, they transported to another broken unit and repeated the process. Fetch assumed they were waiting in reserve, striking after they heard the location of the enemy command horn.
As the tempo of the battle raged, beautiful but deadly dark angels flew from the clouds and rained relentless clouds of flaming arrows down upon the the now surrounded Grommish forces. Fetch knew then that the battle had turned.
Fetch could see Colonel Field's body pierced by half a dozen glaives. His body was hoisted up like a cruel mockery of a banner, to taunt the Grommish forces. The tieflings and bone devils rallied at the sight of the enemy commanders death and renewed their assault. Panic began spreading amongst the Grommers on the battlefield.
The Helmar militia was the first to break. Hrolf"s unit was thrown into confusion as well, as a thousand men panicked and broke ranks. The bearded devils disappeared from the rear ranks and appeared within the militia. They swung their mighty glaives cleaving their foes shattered ranks.
Fetch knew it was only a matter of time, before his own units broke. He saw the legion devils form a double line and marched grimly towards his exposed rear flank. In front of him the tieflings and bone devils renewed their assault. A massive black red mammoth was trumpeting loudly behind the tieflings. A tall sinister looking man in armor rode the mammoth, and for a brief moment his gaze locked with Fetch's.
"Your army is broken Warmaster, your commander is slain, I come for you!", Fetch heard in his mind. The sinister man extended large bat wings from his back. A malevolent cheer arose from the battlefield. The mammoth turned directions and reared upon its massive hind legs , challenging Fetch.
Sir Gunther gurgled as 4 flaming arrows pierced his body. A shrieking cackle was heard overhead,as the deadly dark angels rained death upon their foes. Fetch uttered a powerful prayer, and the wounds upon Gunther disappeared. The knight was shaken but staggered to his feet , nodding to his leader.
Fetch attempted to slow the advancing Bearded devils or barbazu with a long barrier of blades, that stretched a significant distance across the battlefield. However the fiendish troops just disappeared from one side and reappeared on the other. Fetch knew what must be done. A unit would have to be sacrificed to stop the enemy from harassing the retreating Grommers and dwarves. The golems were the best bet , but sacrificing them would mean losing all hope for a future victory. He briefly considered Torsten's units or Ymir's mercenaries.
Fetch roared his last command, his voice rung through the battlefield ,"Fall back! Commence a withdraw to the Lake Tower. Assault squads 1 and 2 rally to my command unit. The rest of you fall back to the Tower !"
The knights in his command squad and those of the first assault squad knew that their leader pronounced a death sentence on them. But they rallied around him anyways. Most were veterans of the great host and stared into deaths gaze before. Demons , devils , it mattered not. They were knights of the north, regardless of what country they served now, they would meet death with weapons in hand. Fetch invoked a powerful prayer of conviction for his small group as they readied to meet the first wave of attackers.
A band of tiefling heavy infantry was the first to press the attack. Fetch hadn't seem them before , most of the tieflings they encountered were light infantry and skirmishers. Fetch guessed that they were kept out of the front lines and used to crack heavily defended positions. He motioned for the assault squads to engage them, while his own group were readied for teleporting foes. Fetch guessed correctly as a group of barbazu appeared in their midst. He guessed that they were waiting for them to be engaged before striking, Fetch saw the way they attacked, and noticed a few seconds after they teleported were required before they could orientate themselves to strike . A few seconds proved costly to them as Fetch and his unit tore into the devils.
Gunther hewed a creature in the back, shattering its shoulder and sending it sprawling to the ground. Another knight stabbed the down creature to make sure it wouldn't escape . Fetch battered his hammer mercilessly into a surprised bearded devil's chest. He was rewarded with the sound of snapping ribs, and a spray of black blood from the creatures mouth and nose. Tyris eclipsed all the knights however. She was normally a deadly opponent in melee, but against unprepared foes she was absolutely lethal. She thrusted her rapier through a surprised Barbazus neck, while her dagger found its mark in the back of another. With a quick flourish she withdrew her blades and stabbed 2 more in a quick motion . Before they realized what happened all 4 fell lifeless from her simple and clean blows.
The Tiefling heavy infantry were competent enough , but the knights were masters of heavy armor and heavy weapon fighting. Their advance was brutally beaten back, and Fetch's unit remained intact ready for another attack.
Fetch could see the rest of his army withdrawing out of the clearing. About 20 of the dark angels were harassing them overhead . Their deadly aim was only eclipsed by their dark beauty. He threw his hammer at one, but it woefully fell short of his target. As the hammer fell short and plummeted to the ground, it gained speed and changed directions, flying back to Fetch's hand. Despite his futile attack, it drew the attention of 3 of the fallen angels. They swooped over head. One of them screamed at Gunther. She was certain he fell earlier and was furious he was still alive.
"Hey you bitches, you want some of Gunther? One at a time or all at once, I'll have you 3 begging for mercy before I'm done!", Gunther roared at his flying foes.
All 3 rained flaming arrows into the defiant knight.
Gunther's last words were " Whoops "
The warrior was pinned by volleys of long arrows, his body was pierced beyond healing , he would have fallen face first, but his body was so full of arrows it was held up against them.
The 3 readied another volley. It would have been better if they chose separate targets, but they seemed to enjoy playing with their prey. The head angel pointed at Fetch , and the 3 drew aim.
A large spectral sword pierced the wing of an angel, as a winged lion flew close to her. A tattooed woman riding the lion struck the stunned devil in the leg, with a lightning fast strike with her sword. Swirling swords that were previously hovering around the tattooed slayer , slashed and chopped at the fallen celestial, its screams unnerving both sides on the battlefield.
The other 2 angels turned to face their attacker. Suddenly a descending horse with an elven rider plummeted from the heavens. The elf had a bow drawn and patiently waited as the horse rapidly fell, she shot an arrow at one of the angels when her aim was true , tearing feather and bone from its wing. The injured angel shrieked , took flight and fled the battlefield. Meanwhile the horse changed direction and landed directly upon the surprised lead angel. Its weight and force drove the angelic creature towards the ground. It drew a sword and feebly tried to slash and claw the horse. However the screaming creature could not avoid its fate. It landed with a thunderous crash into the ground, all that remained of the angel was a twisted bloodied body of broken bones and feathers. Its hand twitched slightly but the horse bit heavily into it, tore it off and threw the offending appendage into a crowd of stunned tieflings.
Surry saluted her father, before Pixietrampler leaped into the heavens again , seeking new prey. Fetch was stunned, not at the carnage before but at the sight of the 2 half elves working together. He didn't think Surry and her mother Brita could work together so well.
A defiant roar brought Fetch's attention back to the battle at hand. A second wave of attackers rushed his delaying force. A dozen trolls with infernal scales and beards shambled towards them . Fetch hadn't encountered these creatures before, but he could guess their strengths and weaknesses. They were part troll part devil. Meaning they had the physical power of their giant ancestors with the ability to ignore most acid and fire damage from their infernal lineage . Killing them would be difficult.
The lead troll crashed into the front rank of knights. The northern warriors chopped and slashed at the creature. Their weapons inflicted grevious wounds on it, but the troll gurgled with glee as it ignored their blows and rended a knight with its claws. The wounds upon the creature already started to heal, as more trolls followed their brother. A knight slammed his shield into the trolls face, smashing teeth and stunning the creature. A spear pierced its heart, but the creature smiled as it fell. It knew it would be fully healed soon.
Fetch ordered his group to engage the trolls. They would have to risk another barbazu attack. He signaled some knights to stop attempting to light fires on the wounded trolls. The fires would not be hot enough to get through their infernal resistances. Fetch flattened the head of the down troll with his hammer, its eyes and brain splashed in an explosion of lightning and flesh. He knew it would just regenerate from the wound, but at least it would take a long time . Tyris shuffled lightly between several attacking trolls. She jabbed crippling blows with her rapier into an engaged trolls back. The bard seemed oblivious to the fact she was surrounded by the monsters, who were going to do the same thing back to her. She danced away from their blows at the last moment, twisting and twirling out of harms way. A troll struck his comrade in the chest, and was rewarded by a meaty punch back to the face. Tyris spun away from harm, evading all blows, but stumbled at the end of her dance. Luckily she was with in her allies ranks and Fetch caught her in time. She seemed shaken but simply smiled at her husband. Fetch wanted to yell at her recklessness , but her smile disarmed him of his anger.
Another wave of teleporting demons materialized. It was the weaker but quicker Legion devils this time. One on one they were weaker then their fiercer barbazu cousins, but they were faster and more skilled at teleporting magic. Fetch also noticed they gained considerable strength while together. A knight barely parried a devils blade, but fell to 2 more, as he was surrounded and hacked to pieces. 2 more legion devils appeared before the 3, and another again their number increased to 10. Fetch's small unit was going to be quickly surrounded, between a growing mob of legion devils and ravenous trolls.
Fetch swung his hammer in a wide arc at a troll. The troll could have easily dodged the slow moving hammer, but he stepped into the blow, so he could rip the human attacker to shreds. However, his ploy proved costly, as the hammers innate magic vs giants activated. The troll was slammed heavily into the ground, his muscular frame wracked with lightning. Fetch kicked the fallen beasts head forward, and brought his hammer down again onto its skull. Its skull exploded, and its body seemed wracked into a continuous loop of spasms.
Tyris fought with her back to Fetch. Several legion devils advanced warily towards her. She attempted a few jabs to keep them at bay and judge their skill. They easily blocked her rapier and continued to advance towards her . She crouched and seemed to step backwards into Fetch's shadow. The devils blinked , but she was gone. They scanned quickly for their missing foe,unsure whether to advance towards the hammer wielding human or find their elusive prey. Their decision was made for them, as a rapier pierced one of the devils backs. Another blade slid across the other devils chin. A quick jerk strained its head back, exposing its vulnerable neck. The dagger slid effortlessly into its throat. 2 more devils slashed at the rogue. She avoided their blades, but a shield battered her side heavily. She stumbled back, and crouched to the ground. For a second it looked like she fell on all 4s, but she rolled into a ball, and tumbled past her attackers back to Fetch.
The devil with its back pierced and the one with its throat slashed slowly got up and smiled. Their wounds were still visible, but they didn't seem to affect them. Tyris studied them with more curiosity then fear. She noticed that the devil she stabbed had a throat wound, and the devil she slit the throat from had a chest wound. She took a step back , and was mouth to ear to Fetch. She whispered in their shared cant to her husband.
The 4 devils locked shields and rushed the 2. Fetch fell back from the trolls he was fighting and swung his hammer again in a slow clumsy arc. The devils easily jumped back, and readied to pounce on the out of position human, but Tyris slid underneath Fetch's blow with perfect timing first. She tossed her 2 weapons into the air as she slid, planted her hands into the ground and kicked expertly at the knees of the closest jumping devil. Her kick connected and the creature fell forward. Then the bard remarkably reversed her momentum and rolled back on her haunch, she paused a bit to catch her weapons and pounced at the remaining 3.
The 3 other devils changed their attack to the charging bard. She parried a blade each with her rapier and dagger. Their strong blows were easily turned aside by her elegant strikes. She ducked underneath the 3rd blade, and brought her knee down heavily onto the forehead of the fallen devil, stunning it . Fetch saw his opportunity and dropped his shield. He repeatedly rained heavy 2 handed blows onto his stunned and prone opponent. The first blow landed on its stomach and would have killed a normal foe, but the creature and his companions seemed only barely shaken. His second blow was to its head and drove it into the hard ground, yet the creature still struggled, Fetch noticed that the rest of the devils stopped in their tracks, they acted like they were trying to shake off a strong drink . A third thunderous blow to the head of the stunned devil, seemed to send it and all his companions to convulsions. Fetch intoned the divine might of Rawk for his 4th blow, and brought it down with all his might onto the fallen creatures head. 2 dozen devils heads suddenly exploded in unison, to the surprise and of his surrounded troops.
His troops didn't cheer though, Fetch bought them some time, but the trolls were still advancing. The knights and trolls exchanged vicious blows with each other. Fetch's healing magic kept his side from falling, while the trolls natural regeneration did the same for them. It was a deadly game of attrition, but Fetch knew it would only be a matter of time till he ran out of prayers.
The rest of the legion were busy finishing up the right flank. Fetch could already see piles of skulls and cruel totems erected by the infernal legion. It won't be long till they turned his attention to his small unit, he thought grimly.
A troll punched a knight into the ground, his helmet was knocked off as his head bounced off the hard ground. The beast snarled and savored the fear of his enemy as its slavering jaws roared inches from the semi conscious knight. Several knights made quick thrusts at the beasts, in a vain attempt to rescue their comrade , but the creature didn't budge. It seemed to challenge the knights to see if any of them would break ranks to come closer to try to save their friend. Disappointed that none of the knights took his bait and charged, the creature raised his clawed fist to deliver a finishing blow to the down warrior.
The troll swung his fist but was surprised that nothing struck. Then it realized his hand was not there . It looked dumbfounded at his appendage and realized it was just a stump. He looked around for his hand, the last sight he saw was a 10 foot dwarf bringing down her flaming great axe over her head, and burying it into his.
"You know Ymimmy, I could have had that kill, but I saved the knight instead, but I'll be gracious and give you that one.", chuckled Frank.
"As if! Your blade can't stop them regenerating. My axe on the other hand, ...its an exact replica of the Golden axe of Monty Nargar. Lovingly recreated by master craftsmen. They only made 100 you know, I had to order mine before they were all sold out.", boasted the giant dwarf maid.
"Hey Fetch, you don't mind if we come give you a hand. It looks like you guys were hogging all the fun.", said Frank ignoring the dwarf . The pair's attitude was cocky and joking but Fetch could see their grim determination. Fetch nodded, and motioned for them to fall back. The trolls suddenly had second thoughts of their blind aggression strategy. The giant dwarf dispatched 3 of their wounded comrades in rapid succession. With each kill, she gleefully shouted her death count.
Fetch thought they might make it out of this. He saw the remaining elements of his army had retreated from the field, and his own small band were almost at the rocky hills. If they reached the hills, they would be on their home terrain, under cover, and less likely to be surrounded.
"Gurrrk", Fetch uttered in surprise as a large chain wrapped around his neck. Fetch gasped, as he wondered where the chain came from. As he struggled with the metal rope, he noticed 2 other knights and Frank were also snared by massive chains. They were all pulled forward at once. Fetch instinctively dug his feet into the ground and found himself face first into the ground. The chain kept dragging him towards his unknown attacker. He saw from the ground 1 of the knights flew from his feet , and landed in front of a giant sized creature wrapped in chains. A massive foot came down on the screaming knights body. Fetch could not see his fate from his angle, but from the sickening crunching sound, he suspected the worse.
A flash of sparks erupted from the chain dragging Fetch, as Tyris attempted to break the chain with her blades. He didn't expect her strikes to work, but noticed that she had weakened one of the links on the chain. He grabbed a large dagger and jammed it through the link and into the ground. It seemed to work , as the dagger acted as a piton. Fetch was given some breathing room and he noticed that the chain was not attached to the large chain creature at all. It was hovering near him, seemingly controlled by the creatures will. Another strong yank from the chain, dislodged the dagger, but the weakened link broke as well. The young cleric stumbled and fell to his side , but the bard was at his side helping him up.
Frank dug his heels into the ground, and grabbed the chain grabbing his neck. It was like a tug of war with the animate chain, Frank knew his neck was literally on the line. His muscles strained against the spectral force battling him, even with his magic belt, he wasn't sure if he could win in this contest. The knight next to him lost the strength duel , and was cruelly dragged by the neck and deposited in front of the giant chain devil or Kyton. His neck was already broken as the animate chain released him and rolled back to strike , like some giant metal snake. The second chain lashed forwards and battered Frank in the arm attempting to snake around him. Frank ignored the flailing chain and doubled his efforts against the first chain. The Kyton stared at his struggling prey , and the chains around its face parted.
A serene and beautiful elven face stared out from the veil of chains . It was a familiar face, one that Frank had the pleasure of gazing upon once. He never thought he would see it again.
"Galatea?" asked Frank towards the beautiful face. The mesmerized knight was lost in thought, as the chain yanked him forward toward the Kyton.
Frank was dragged towards the beast. Even though it didn't need to actually hold the chains it was wielding, it currently held a massive chain in his hands. Seemingly ready to batter the confused knight to death. The image of the beautiful elven face, surrounded by the hulking chain devil's body was quite disjointed, but it served its purpose. A low laugh erupted from the lovely lips of Frank's tormentor.
Suddenly a silver blade hopped into Frank's hands. Frank instinctively gripped it and slashed at the chain wrapped around his neck. The chains were sliced as if they were mere strings, the Kyton's low laugh turned to an angry roar. It was short lived though, as Frank charged towards the creature, and severed its neck in a single clean cut.
"Whoa...I thought I wasn't worthy to wield you. Did my heroics, earn me some Eladrin/Azzata favor points?", said a raspy Frank.
The blade simply slipped out of his hands and back into its scabbard. "You are still unworthy. But any creature that dares use my image for some simple charm will expect nothing but a swift decapitation.", Galatea commented.
Frank was too weak to make a witty reply back to the blade, as he stumbled back towards the blade he normally wielded , he picked it up and limped back to his retreating comrades.
The last attack almost broke the morale of Fetch's remaining men. Fortunately Frank and Ymir bought them enough time to make it to the hills. Fetch lost sight of Frank, while battling the chain creature. Normally he wouldn't be concerned of his comrades fate, but this battle was different. Their foe, out maneuvered and out fought them badly today. Fetch told his men to follow Ymir into the hills. He would stay and provide one last distraction.
Tyris protested, but Fetch uttered something angrily to her in Cant. She nodded, and lightly kissed him as she bounded towards Ymir.
Ymir began to protest," I didn't fight my way across the battlefield to pull your butts out of the fire, to let you sacrifice yourself. " but Tyris motioned her to follow as she made her way through the hills. Ymir saw the approaching horde, and shook her head grimly as she motioned the remaining knights to follow her.
Fetch's unit saluted their leaders sacrifice. They knew they were beat, in a culture built on battle and war, they knew the best course of action was to regroup and win another day. All of them fighting to the death would not honor their fallen comrades, winning another day would. They did not protest their leaders decision.
Fetch shuddered in fear, but bravely suppressed it. He needed to think clearly. The cleric prepared one of his strongest prayers. He had this prayer readied for a long time, but was unsure how to properly use it. Today however he was given his chance.
Duke Ari of the infernal legion was not satisfied. The enemy commander was slain, roughly half the Grommers and their allies were destroyed, and the field was his. It was a great victory, but Ari wanted more. He agreed to join this meaningless war for the the collection of heroic souls to be delivered to his infernal masters. More importantly he craved honor and glory. This Fields was an unknown, he was easily baited into an open battle , and revealed his location early in the conflict . Ari's reserve company of bearded and legion devils quickly dispatched him once his location was known. After that , it was easy to pick apart the weaker elements of the enemy . This was not a battle to be proud of.
The enemy had many heroic souls, and Ari even managed to catch some, but the bright shining ones had evade him. He counted at least a dozen that would make this campaign worth his effort, but his attack only netted 3. Such slim harvests would not please his masters.
A bearded devil appeared from thin air and bowed before Duke Ari. Ari stared imperiously down at the creature from his massive mount. "SPEAK! How goes our pursuit?" . The legion's tactics were fairly simple. Target the enemy leaders, break their morale, and relentlessly pursue their fleeing forces. A large portion of the enemy's losses came from the ruthless infernal pursuit forces, deadly flying eriynes, teleporting barbazu and legion devils, and even his personal guard of Narzugon, the infernal horsemen. They were well equipped for their task.
The bearded devil hesitated. " The erinyes broke off their pursuit, several enemy flying units inflicted massive casualties on the dark angels... the barbazu are unable to effectively pursue the enemies because the hills mask their location. . We suspect they might have tunnels in this region to hide their movements "
Ari sighed , he saw from the battle that the enemy countered his deadly erinyes with a few of their own flying units. Also their legendary dragon golems , were more then a match for his dark maidens bows. The tunnels and the hills he expected from the beginning. He would not risk his troops teleporting into an ambush. They were too valuable to waste on futile risky battles like those.
"What about our conventional pursuit forces. The 4th tiefling cavalry, my Narzugon? ", demanded Ari.
"Errr.. you should see this yourself.", said the bearded devil in an apologetic tone. Ari considered stomping this sniveling creature with his mammoth, but he controlled his anger and was led towards the edge of the battlefield.
A wave of tieflings rushed once again towards the hills. The vast majority stopped in their tracks but a few trickled through with great effort. An invisible field seemed to have stopped them. It wasn't a force field or a literal wall though. Some tieflings tested this barrier by throwing objects through it, or jabbing their weapons forward. They all seemed to pass through effortlessly.
The remaining tieflings hesitated. They didn't seem keen on advancing on the enemy position , but their commander ordered them to advance and scout the area. The tieflings obeyed, and swiftly ran towards the forested hills. One by one they disappeared from sight into the dark hill. A few seconds later, 3 of their battered bodies were tossed one at a time into the clearing . A tiefling broke out of the forest, he stumbled at first, but quickly regained his balance as he ran towards his fellows. He made it half way , before a massive stone hammer flew from the hills and connected on the small of his back. The tiefling crumpled, almost folding in half as the hammer impacted. The hammer hovered over its fallen foe and then swiftly flew back into the hills. Several tieflings fired their crossbows towards the direction of the hammer, but were greeted with nothing but silence.
Ari saw this shameful display and was livid. He motioned for his troops to stand back, as he and his mammoth thundered towards the invisible barrier. As he reached the barrier, he felt a massive force repulsing him back, but sheer will power overcame it. His mount seemed tentative about crossing, but it duplicated his riders will and it too strode through the barrier.
The armored mammoth trumpeted at its achievement and the pair rumbled towards the source of the hammer. The stone weapon flew from its hidden position once again and struck the mammoth squarely on its forehead. The creature didn't even flinch or slow its charge as it charged towards its hidden foe. Ari and his mount were not use to moving through forests, but his mounts sheer mass and power enabled it to push aside the blocking vegetation.
He spied a young boy in a simple breastplate in front of him. Ari knew this boy, and was excited. It was the Warmaster, one of the choicest souls of the lot. He aimed his lance and charged at his prey.
The young cleric, scrambled like a fleeing peasant away from Ari, ducking behind a tree to avoid his lance. Ari's spear pierced the tree, the spear blazed with black fire, then the tree was quickly engulfed in hellish flames. The mammoth tossed the charred tree aside and the pair saw no sign of the boy but they did see a carved entrance inside the ripped tree trunk. Ari bellowed in rage, he angrily rained spell after spell into the hole after his prey. A ball of fire exploded deep within first. Then billowing clouds poured into the hole. After 5 seconds the cloud ignited in an infernal blaze. The entire hill seemed to have shook as the cloud ignited. In several spots the hill caved in. Ari was sure his prey could not have escaped the conflagration. The fires were hellfire, even magical protections would not suffice to stop its unholy burning. Still, Ari respected his foe and considered it a possibility that he had survived.
A troop of tieflings and Narzugon rode towards him. "You've done it sir, you've dispelled the barrier." . Ari did no such thing, but then it dawned upon him. A spell could also be dispelled by the death of its caster.
Ari sifted through the rubble with his enchanted hell spear. He turned up a charred corpse wearing a breast plate with a massive stone hammer next to him. The infernal duke took a second to register his victory, but he then let out a loud an long victorious laugh .