The Green Tide
As Valor saw the green tide rush forward toward the gates below, he heard the captains of the archers shout "Fire," nearly in unison.
Valor loosed his first arrow, and it flew out in a shallow arc along with a volley of roughly five hundred others into the goblin rank behind the first, just as the first rank of goblins suddenly fell right into the vast pit trap that spanned the whole of the half-mile wide expanse of the pass.
The dwarf sappers had spent an entire day digging with their mole machine to create the great pit and used all their considerable skill in concealing it as solid ground. Now, however, the goblins were falling it to by the hundreds. Valor could hear their squeals of dismay where he was upon the battlements before the sudden explosions behind drowned them out.
Farther back, blasts caused by buried dwarf explosives were suddenly detonated among still charging goblins in the third rank, which quickly caused them to panic. Terrified, they rushed forward, trampling through the second rank that had been hit by the archers and slammed into the rear of the first rank causing more and more goblins to be knocked into the pit, which Valor had been told was more than forty feet deep.
Lowering his bow, Valor braced an armored boot on the parapet and leaned passed the crenellations to put a gauntleted hand over his eyes. Looking below, he could discern that the pit was beginning to be filled with dying goblins being crushed by ever more falling bodies.
More explosions farther back drove the fourth rank of goblins forward in another fearful mass, even as the dwarf mortar situated on the western bluffs began to launch its explosive shells down into places where the panicked goblins were tightly packed. Valor also noticed what could only be Robin in the distance above the eastern bluffs, launching fireballs down into the massed ranks, which caused even more havoc.
The archers above nocked another volley of arrows but were not ordered to aim and fire yet, since the explosion phase was still happening. Soon, explosions just seemed to go off at random all among the ranks, obliterating groups of goblins all over the pass. Robin and the mortar then seemed to concentrate on destroying siege engines, which were still being pulled up from much farther back. Valor was certain sturdier catapults would probably have had better range and wouldn't have needed to get so close in order to fire. However, good craftsmanship was unknown among greenskins, and the dwarf scouts had been astute in situating their mortar and Robin in the positions they had to rain fire down upon the goblin contraptions.
Feeling the vibrations below from explosion after explosion, the captains soon had the archers ready to aim again, and Valor stood back and took a second arrow, pulling it to sight. Soon, the buried explosives had been spent, and though it seemed the first four ranks of goblins had been greatly decimated, still about five full ranks remained from farther back.
There still had to be roughly seven thousand little monsters down there, not including the ogres and trolls, and the pit had to be getting nearly full. It wouldn't be long before it would be no more than a bridge toward the remaining fifty-foot stretch to the gates below.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The strain of casting was already beginning to be felt, as Robin summoned another fireball and launched it down into the shrieking ranks of goblin filth.
There were a lot of siege engines being brought up now. Shoddy though they were, they were likely easier to construct than stronger more finished machines, and, as was always the case for goblins, what they lacked in quality they made up for in quantity.
Robin could see the dwarf mortar situated across from her on the western bluffs. It was supposed to be her counterpart over there, taking out the siege engines down in the western half of the pass why she concentrated on destroying the ones on the eastern side. Still, like her, she knew it could only fire so many times.
Robin had to make her attacks last as long as possible so she concentrated on conjuring smaller fireballs that merely burned away at the shoddy machines instead of more powerful ones that caused explosions. Doing so, she lit up many more of the contraptions, though that did not stop them from being operated unlike the larger blasts. Still, a little fire added to shoddy workmanship made for a great deal of amusement.
One catapult had its main armature snap, its heavy stone coming down to crush a number of shrieking goblins. Other burning siege engines suffered similar breakdowns, either from tension ropes snapping or support structures weakening due to ravaging flames. No matter how many broke, however, more engines were being brought up to replace them in a similar fashion to how more goblins charged up passed the decimated ranks of their kin after the defenders initial attack.
Despite an excellent start, the green tide came on and Robin knew she wouldn't have nearly the stamina to keep casting as much as it would take to charbroil every last invader.
Still, the black mage kept summoning smaller fireballs, just as she noticed Brunwyr ready herself. The stout dwarf woman seemed to have been waiting for a line of siege engines to come up before a rune on her very forehead blazed to life. Robin knew from experience that this meant she was about to use her geomancy.
Suddenly, a huge mass of loose stones down and to the left of the two was nudged into a vast rockslide that caused even the shrieking horde below to be drowned out as the earth itself seemed to yawn and shudder. The cascade of loose earth quickly gained momentum, boulders and stones of all sizes crashing down into the horde, crushing a good half dozen siege engines and pulverizing hundreds of panicked little goblins.
After Robin managed to swipe away the dust, she saw the dwarf runecaster looking at her rather smugly. A huge portion of the pass below had been filled with earthen debris, making it impossible for any more siege engines to be brought up along the eastern portion of the pass. The machines needed relatively flat ground in order to operate and so a large portion of the eastern pass had been denied to them.
Yes, in one attack, the dwarf had caused far more damage than Robin had since she had started casting, and all with little more than plain old momentum.
Robin narrowed her glowing eyes, meeting the hard dark gaze of the dwarf woman. "Very well, it is impressive what you can do with a little preparation. Still, you would never be able to adapt to the variety of situations that I could in true combat."
The dwarf woman grinned wickedly at her. "Sounds like a bloody wager to me, ya wee bairn."
Robin's yellow eyes blazed. "A contest then, to see which of us can wipe out more goblin slime through straight power alone."
Brunwyr nodded. "Aye, let's get down to the second slope then, closer to the action."
Robin gave a sharp nod. "Agreed."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Even though he had known to expect it, the massive landslide had still surprised Valor with its sheer ferocity. It had come down from the eastern bluffs in a shuddering torrent of earth hurtling down the sheer side of the bluffs and crashing upon the eastern ranks of the goblin horde, wiping out hundreds in the blink of an eye and devastating a line of goblin war machines.
Still, after the dust cleared, the little beasts came on, spurred by their troll enforcers. Finally able to ford the pit below, the remaining mass of goblins rushed forward in a howling fury, and smashed against the gates. They did no damage initially, many hacking away with their crude little spears or stone knives at the solid wooden obstructions.
The archers above were now firing volley after volley in practiced rhythm, but Valor was not. He perched at the edge of the battlements instead, looking below while trying to stifle despair. There were so many of the little beasts, but if the gates held, the defenders of Truce would eventually be able to defeat the green tide.
The gates holding together were the key.
The dwarfs manning the mortar on the western bluffs were flying a red flag, which meant the war machine was out of shells to fire. Still, it looked as if three goblin catapults had survived. These contraptions were also out of range of Robin and her fireballs. They would be able to launch. Valor also noticed a large group of trolls pushing their way through the goblin mass to the point where they could start pounding at the gates with their monstrous clubs. Still, even with their much greater strength, Valor knew the gates were thick and strong enough to hold… if it weren't for the catapults.
Damnit! If only he could do something, but the war machines were a hundred and fifty feet back in the pass! He could never get to them in time. If only the defenders had had more than a few days to prepare, they could have dug more pits or put more explosives in place, but there was no matter for it now, the goblin catapults were getting ready to fire.
The first one to launch a large stone had trouble executing a decent arc of fire. The stone went up at a sharp angle, clearing only about eighty feet before it plummeted down into the ranks of the green tide, crushing dozens before it rolled to a stop, far from the gates. Afterward, there was some kind of mechanical failure and that particular contraption collapsed.
The last two were different stories, however.
"Incoming!" screamed a dozen archers to Valor's left, and everyone ducked as what looked to be a three hundred pound stone slashed down over the battlements, just too high to strike anything, and slammed down into the bailey behind the defenders. The shudder from the strike could be felt even up on the battlements, but the stone had done nothing but make a shallow impact crater in a perfectly empty space.
Valor traced the arc of the second stone, however, bracing for impact when he knew it would strike the gates below. The impact was so strong that Valor could feel the shudder in his bones. Looking over, however, he noticed that the gates had been splintered severely, yet the stone had failed to penetrate them...
But another hit like that would blast a hole through the gates for sure.
Valor looked off at the catapults. They had to be destroyed! Still, he was too far away to do anything about them. Instead, he turned back and went to look down into the bailey, the place where the goblins would flood if the gates fell. The great silvery doors of the Citadel were closed, of course, the only barrier that would keep the town of Truce safe should the goblins get through the front gates and into the bailey.
If the goblins got in, the defenders would have to about face and start shooting down into the bailey, but the goblins would be able to ascend the staircases up onto the wall-walks. Once on the battlements, they would be able to threaten the defenders directly. Fortunately, the battlements were narrow enough that not much of the horde could fit upon them at a time, and more heavily armed and armored defenders were clustered just above the staircases to meet any attempts.
Valor didn't like the idea of the goblins ever getting in since even with all the defender's preparations, the horde's sheer numbers still made defeat very likely.
Regardless, Valor knew the catapults had to be getting ready to fire again.
He shook his head, dreading what two more heavy stones could do and prayed to the Crystals that something could be done about them. The last two goblin siege engines were out of his hands, however, and so he moved to his secondary position, summoning his bastard sword and shield in twin flashes of light.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Robin Magus took a final draught from her leather flask, letting the cool liquid flow down her throat. She emptied it completely, feeling her strength be restored. She would be able to cast again at full strength.
Currently, most the of the horde had swept below passed the two women, the green tide having pressed up against the gates of the defenders. Still there were stragglers below, and two more operable catapults in the distance, having set up next to the western bluffs across from the black mage and the dwarf runecaster.
Robin pointed them out with her charred rod. "We have to descend into the pass proper and make our way to those siege engines. They must be destroyed!"
"We needn't bother, humie, the mole machine already has those two in its sights."
Robin shook her head. "Then we should meet up with it and help it plow through the ranks of the goblins from behind once its neutralized the catapults."
The dwarf woman gave her a grudging nod. "Aye, we should at that. Still far too many goblin filth out here and they have already managed to splinter the gates."
Robin nodded sharply. "Right, let us move!"
They did so, Robin descending the rest of the way haphazardly, almost losing her footing as she slid down to the floor of the pass, just south of the huge debris mound caused by the rockslide. Much to her ire, Brunwyr's descent was much more graceful, but she quashed such petty resentment in the face of her current mission.
The two took off running toward the western bluffs where Robin noticed the crews of the final two catapults getting ready to fire two more heavy stones. Suddenly, however, shrill cries from a good twenty goblins suddenly brought her up short as the little beasts scrambled over the debris mound toward the black mage and the dwarf.
The filthy little cretins did not try to cohere into a unit, but instead ran at the two in an unruly mob. Robin laughed wickedly, fiery runes suddenly springing up around her as her hatred and contempt surged.
With an outstretched hand, she summoned a cone of searing flame that blasted into the charging green filth and set them alight in shrieking agony.
Likewise, Brunwyr used her power to pull a sizable boulder from the earthen debris and directed it to roll over the remaining eight goblins that had escaped the fire, crushing them into green and black paste.
The two were then moving again. In a matter of minutes, they neared the final two remaining war machines just as one looked ready to launch a stone. Seconds later, the ground started rumbling and a strange metal machine suddenly plunged up from the earth beneath the far catapult. A huge spinning metal cone on the front of the dwarf machine shredded the flimsy goblin contraption and a good number of the crew as well, just as Robin and Brunwyr slid to a stop before the last operable goblin war machine. Wasting no time, Robin summoned a fireball as large as her head and lobbed it at the goblin siege engine. It struck the machine with a resounding boom, blasting the shoddy device to splinters and sending out a fiery wave to engulf the crew.
Still, that was only the beginning of the battle as a cadre of armored gray-skinned ogres suddenly came up as a vanguard for a huge wicked battering ram that was being pushed by ten massive trolls.
At the same time, a metal hatch on the dwarf mole machine opened and a dozen dwarves in leather armor with reinforced pick axes scuttled out just as the machine dove down into the earth again. The dwarf miners of the Digger's Free Company formed into a solid formation just as Robin and Brunwyr came up to their side to face this new enemy.
The sixteen ogres stood roughly nine feet tall, not as massive or as muscled as the trolls. They were pudgier as well, but still well muscled in shoddy mismatched armor. Their ugly porcine faces were lumpy and misshapen, and they seemed to have sloppy splotches of white paint splattered haphazardly over their gray skin in places. Whether war paint or something else, it added to the smell of the beasts and was assaulting Robin's nostrils. She wondered if smelling so horrible was actually a tactic on the ogre's part. If so, it was a potent one.
Soon, the ogres started bellowing what could only be taunts and insults in their guttural language, none of which Robin could understand. The dwarfs said nothing in reply, merely tightening their grips on the hafts of their weapons.
Suddenly, one ogre gave a huge wail, lifting a crude maul above his head before charging the dwarf formation. The other ogres followed suit, a haphazard charge at best for the lumbering brutes, but the dwarfs stood their ground.
That is when the shaking started.
Between the two enemy units, the mole machine suddenly plunged up through the ground in an uproarious display of dust and earth, plowing into the center of the ogre's charge, stunting it completely. With the ogres shocked and bewildered, the dwarfs counter-charged with their own guttural war cries.
A melee was soon joined.
Still outside the combat, Robin felt a tug on her shoulder. She looked back to see Brunwyr pulling at her. "We cannae do any good in that melee, not with our powers. We need to take down the battering ram before it gets anywhere near the gates!"
Robin glanced back at the melee, knowing she would hit the dwarfs if she flung any magic into it. She looked back at the runecaster to nod and they both raced toward the battering ram.
It was huge, and much more solid than the goblin catapults, its weight so great that even with ten mighty trolls pushing it could only go forward at a walking pace…
This would give Robin and the runecaster the ability to intercept.
Just passed the smoldering ruin of a catapult, however, Robin stopped running so abruptly that she slid to stop.
The dwarf runecaster glanced back at her furiously. "What in the bloody realm did ye stop for?"
Robin grit her teeth. "I… didn't… something… made me…"
From behind the smoldering wreck, a strange creature appeared. Tall and cadaverously thin in elaborate black robes, a squid-headed abomination levitated forward, wielding a wicked staff in one long-fingered hand. "I am sorry, mortals, but I cannot allow you to interfere with my ram. It is needed to conquer my new fortress, you see."
The thing spoke only in Robin's mind, a vile and invasive sensation.
Brunwyr suddenly growled, and the rune on her forehead glowed to life, but the wicked yellow gaze of the fiend quickly switched to her and the rune's light died. Suddenly, both of them were locked in place by the fiend's horrid power as the battering ram continued to trundle toward Truce's wall in the distance.
Fighting against the fiend's mental assault, Robin growled, forcing a foot forward. The creature focused on her and she quivered, but summoned all of her will to fight against the abomination's influence over her body.
With its focus on her, Brunwyr managed to gain a step forward, before the fiend's nightmarish gaze switched to back to the dwarf.
The black mage barked a laugh. "You… cannot… stop us both. We will… reach… you!"
"You will try and fail, you pathetic swine! The time of the fiends will come again," the creature declared through its grotesque telepathy.
Suddenly, the illithid pointed its staff at the two and Robin felt as if she were being blasted by gale force winds. Her peaked hat flew off, revealing her short orange hair, and she had to put both arms up to try and ward off the battering force.
The mental blast was unrelenting, shoving the black mage back several inches, causing the loose material of her black robes to flap wildly about. Still, Robin could sense that this was no true wind, but a type of magical assault. The nature of the magic was alien to her, as was the creature that wielded it, but there was a sliver of familiarity in the force being brought against her. In this, she knew she could resist. Still the effort of doing so drained her stamina at a prodigious rate.
When the assault finally stopped, Robin collapsed to one knee, breathing hard. Brunwyr was doing the same, her dark gaze filled with seething hatred directed at the illithid. The abomination itself no longer hovered, standing upon the ground also apparently winded, gripping its staff with both hands as if propping itself up.
The tentacles of its lower face writhed. "You will not survive another assault, mortals. I will be the end of you. It is only a matter of time."
Robin growled before forcing herself to her feet, leaning on her rod. "Your time has run out, shadow-spawn, now feel the flames of my wrath!" With an outstretched hand, Robin summoned a blast of fire that roared toward the abomination.
The fiend reacted by standing straight and putting a hand out before it and the flames seemed to part around the creature before dissipating, doing no harm.
Robin shrieked in fury, quickly reminded of the time Sana-Lynn had summoned a magic barrier to deflect her flame back when the Light Warriors had first met the engineer Cidolphus. This time, however, Robin had not held back, yet still the creature had countered her flames with ease.
The creature quickly hovered away, however, as a several spikes of earth suddenly shot from the ground where it had just stood. Brunwyr then made several sharp gestures, bringing up more earthen spikes to try skewer the abomination, but the fiend flitted about with tremendous agility, getting sprayed with dust and debris, but dodging each earthen attack.
The three were soon in another stare down, panting with exhaustion.
"Why do you persist in this foolishness, mortals, you have neither the numbers nor the strength to best my forces. Your destruction is inevitable!"
"I'll be buggered if I'd let ye bloody snots get a foothold topside!" Brunwyr growled, her accent so thick it was difficult for Robin to understand all of what she said.
The general message was clear enough, however, and Robin switched her runes to those of electric blue. The surrounding air grew energized and Robin nodded toward the runecaster at her side. "We attack together, dwarf, and give this abomination more than it can handle!"
Brunwyr merely nodded.
The fiend was off again, flitting about as earthen spikes shot up from the ground. The fiend's reflexes were uncanny as it dodged each earthen spear near flawlessly… until Robin struck with a bolt of lightning. The fiend actually managed to deflect the bolt, but the effort caused it to stay motionless just long enough to be grazed by a stone spike.
With a truly alien shriek, the monster was flung off in a flip to land on the dusty earth, its staff clattering away from it. Now bleeding some brackish fluid from a gash in its scalp, the creature reached feebly for its staff. The implement twitched as if responding to its master's call, but that was before Robin managed to plant a foot squarely on the fiend's back to keep it down.
Brunwyr then took up the fiend's staff before snapping it in two with her beefy hands, tossing both pieces aside in contempt.
"You should not have underestimated us, fiend," Robin spat. "Now nothing will remain of you but ash." She pointed an electrified hand down at the fiend's back.
Suddenly a terrible, mind-ripping shriek blasted out from the creature, striking both Robin and the dwarf with staggering force.
Robin was knocked back, dropping her rod to grip her head with both hands, falling to her knees. A sudden collage of madness whirled through her mind and she knew she was under the grip of a mental assault unlike anything she could have anticipated. Gritting her teeth, she forced her glowing eyes open and saw the fiend stand. It was clearly in pain, but reached out and summoned its staff to it. The two broken pieces flew together to fuse instantly just as the fiend grabbed it from the air. "You overestimated yourselves, mortal swine. Now die!"
It raised a hand, and Robin knew there was little chance she could weather another barrage just as she managed to shake off the effects of the psychic shriek.
Still, a distorted wave of shredding force approached and Robin found her sluggish body would not allow her to get out of the way, let alone brace against it.
Brunwyr was soon before her, however, ragged and bloodied, shielding Robin from the attack. The blast struck with unbridled force but the dwarf stood her ground even as blood began to run from her ears. Robin knew the dwarf was being shredded and wasted no time, fumbling for her rod before summoning electric blue runes just as the attack ended and the dwarf runecaster crumpled into a heap on the ground before her.
With one final roar, Robin unleashed a storm of electric arcs that flashed toward the abomination. The fiend deflected them with difficulty, but Robin forced the arcs to loop about jarring against the creature's defenses. Soon, it seemed the creature was trying to use its staff as a lightning rod to help ground the arcs, but electric energy was now crackling about the creature endlessly, seeming to entrap it in a ring of a lightning.
Robin could feel the fiend's resistance weakening and redoubled her efforts, sending more arcs to sizzle through the energized air and join the buzzing dynamo that now encased the abomination.
Suddenly, the creature's staff simply disintegrated and the looping arcs collapsed about the fiend in the blink of an eye. It gave one final horrid shriek before the crackling power converged in an explosion that left nothing behind but a sharp scent in the air.
Utterly spent, Robin's runes winked out and she collapsed besides the dwarf runecaster, unable to keep her glowing eyes open as the shadows of others fell over her.