Duke Ari was not pleased. He should have been content with the way the war was going. The famous Warmaster vanquished. Colonel Fields was slain and his remaining troops were broken and gathered for a desperate last stand. Even Overlord Dalton's troops were poised to break the siege on McDunnalds.
Still, Ari's keen superior tactical mind knew that many things had gone wrong and could still go wrong. Most of his Erinyes were slain . Even his sometimes concubine/consort Dahana was missing. The surviving dark angels reported that the infamous Mistress of the Lion blade, and a mysterious archer on a jumping horse were responsible for this outrage. Also , the last battle was sloppy. After his stunning initial success his incompetent troops were too eager to press their advantage. The warmaster and his troops slew many of his legion and bearded devils after their initial surprise was over. He expected his tieflings to be slaughtered, they were after all shock troops , equipped and trained for maximum mobility and damage, but he did not expect his elite troops to be decimated. His bone devils suffered losses but they weren't serious. He could count on them to summon another lemure horde if necessary. Lastly, despite having a corpse wearing the warmaster's armor, and his hammer as a trophy, Ari wondered if his foe was truly vanquished. His divinations all produced ambiguous results. "How many roads must a man walk ? ", and the old stand by "Great danger brings great rewards. " He hated divination magic. He knew that even the Warmaster wouldn't abandon the hammer of Konrad the Fierce for a simple ruse, but still...his foe was a tricky opponent.
A dark clad imp appeared in front of Duke Ari and interrupted his train of thought, it bowed deeply and reported "The enemy has been reinforced with several companies of Armsmen mercenaries and Dwarven clansmen from Nazag Narg. They appeared to have with them several wagons of crates of rocks. We suspect its low grade adamant ore.", Ari nodded. It was a last ditch effort to stop his teleporting troops. High concentrations of adamant ore was known to disrupt conjuration magics. Ari wasn't too concerned though, at best it would only scatter his troops or reduce their accuracy. It would take high level magics to truly stop his minions traveling magics. The mistress of the Lion blades was a known sorceress , so he doubted she had that spell available. It was something a wizard would master not a sorcerer. Their other notable caster was the warmaster, regardless if he was alive or not it would take more then one high level caster to disrupt his troops.
Another imp appeared, it was annoyed the first imp was able to relay his message before him. It sneered at his fellow, but remained quiet till the first one finished his report." The enemy numbers by our estimate are as follows. 400 dwarven mercenaries. 300 dwarven clansmen. 300 soldiers of the 3rd army. And roughly 10 dragon golems and 25 stone and iron golems. This does not include their recent reinforcements. Also since Colonel Fields and the warmaster has been slain, their new leader is a Colonel Frank Hida a knight of the Order of the Crab." Ari, nodded the Order of the Crab was a minor clan, not like the mighty Mammoth he use to belong to. They had a proud lineage though, and had a reputation in the north to be masters of siege warfare, both offensive and defensive. He recalled a Frank of the Crab as one of the heroes of the Great Host.
The half fiend briefly reminisced about his past. He was a mighty knight of the Mammoth, but only became such due to his adopted father's status. He was born in the north and knew the knights strengths and weaknesses. Brute force was their forte, but their straight forward strength and drive could easily be mislead . He motioned for one of his imps to record this information.
A 3rd imp flew in , with damaged wings, and flying erratically. It saluted but took a minute to recover his breath before making his report. "The battle of McDunnalds rages . There are reports of a large force from Lower Lueders and Tornic approaching from the south. Their exact numbers are unknown. " it waited warily before continuing " Knight Commander Kerr is leading them ." Ari grimaced at this information. He was assured that at best, the southern cities would send only token forces to the defense of McDunnalds. A large force would not change their overall plan, but it would force them to fall back temporarily. Giving their opponent a chance to regroup their defenses. Lord Kerr was a definite wild card. Ari heard he was the senior royal adventurer of the north. Not just a mere despot like the satraps and stewards of Karlston and Baltar's Port, but a man possessing great resources , power and cunning. If the siege was prolonged, the goblin horde would most likely break up, however the frost giants would most likely receive reinforcements from Frosthaven.
A 4th imp appeared from thin air after the third made his report. " Overlord Dalton is pleased with your progress Sir. He has sent ambassadors to negotiate with the cowards from Khazag Narg. Even if they don't join with us, they would most likely remain neutral or at worst delay the mobilization of the Hearth Guard. " Ari wasn't too sure of the imps prediction. Overlord Dalton was directly responsible for the theft of the Great Forge from Khazag Narg, his overtures at peace, might be met harshly and swiftly. "Dalton also reports that 10,000 various dragon spawn has begun marching from the Wyrmsteeth range. They should arrive at McDunnalds in 9 days. " Ari nodded, he wondered how strong was the overconfident Dalton's hold on the dragonspawn . They were diverse creatures , but it seemed to have taken a long time for them to mobilize for war. Perhaps unseen infighting or a power struggle was responsible. He motioned once again for his imp scribe to record his thoughts.
Ari waited for his final imp to make his report. The other imps whispered and snickered to themselves, when the last imp finally arrived. It was larger then the other imps. More scaled, and hulking in comparison with the other evil child looking imps. It angrily stalked forward, realizing its tardiness, as the other imps giggled at it. "Your Dark master , has reported that his infiltrations have been successful. He awaits news of your victory. Afterwards he commands you and a elite guard to goto the Eye of the Serpent, or white Ram Mountain. Further instructions will await you. " Ari, noted his commanders request. His master was mysterious unknown to all except himself , he often operated in secret. He motioned an imp to bring a map to him. He studied it for the location of White Ram Mountain. He wasn't familiar with this areas terrain, but he found the location easily. His dark lord had made agreements with the yuan ti several months ago, although Ari was unaware of the exact nature of this agreement. He suspected his curiosity was about to be sated. Soon their plans would come to fruition.
Ari dismissed the imps, and set about his plans . He thought the last imp acted a bit arrogantly, but he had more important things on his mind then to worry about silly imps.
The large imp bristled at the sneers behind his back, but showed Ari no disrespect till he was dismissed. Afterwards he stalked towards his 4 fellows. The scribe imp and the scroll imp flew to the pack . They stood together, daring him to fight them 6 on 1. A particularly sharp nosed imp taunted "What's the matter Baalphzon, you're not too high and mighty now are you? You're just a regular imp like the rest of us now. You better watch your step and follow wha...URRKKK"
The large scaley imp named Baalphzon crouched on all 4s, and sent his long tail snaking around the pointy nosed imps neck. Its tail was barbed with what appears to be silver hooks. Imps, were naturally repulsed by silver. Even its touch was painful to them. For Baalphzon to wear silver barbs on his tail, it must have been very painful to the creature. Still, it gave him an advantage when dealing with other denizens of the hells. It tightened its grip , dragging the gurgling imp towards him. His fellows were shocked at the violent display shown by Baalphzon. Their natural cowardly nature, prevented them from attacking. The threat of a swipe by a silver barb versus the mauling of their comrade was not great enough to motivate them to act. Baalphzon brought the weakly struggling creature close to his head, and savagely bit him on the top of his head. His large fangs didn't penetrate the screaming creatures head, but it did tear a large chunk of flesh from its scalp and ripped an ear off. It released its grip and spat out the ear. "Now I can call you One ear instead of pointy nose. " Baalphzon laughed. The black bile on his mouth bubbled on the damaged flesh , preventing it from healing. The wounded creature along with the rest of the imps scattered from the beastly imp.
Ari mobilized all most all his reserves for this final battle . He knew victory was almost certainly his, but he did not want his foes escaping like they did last time. A battalion of goblinoids and ogres from the Darkriver horde was sent to reinforce his forces. With his reserves committed , his Legion numbered close to 2000 tieflings 70 bone devils, and roughly 300 bearded and legion devils. His erinyes were almost all destroyed. The few that returned he had flayed, their wings mutilated , and their broken bodies tossed to his troops. He smiled at the thought of the cruel mercies their former subordinates must have shown them. His personal guard of narzugon and abishai were the least damaged of his troops. These grim hell warriors were fiendish knights mounted on flying black horses. He was unable to utilize them fully in the last fight due to the battlefield. He cursed this rough terrain and the high tree canopy.
His enemy was like his imp scouts had reported. Roughly 1000 dwarves and 500 Grommers. It seemed they conscripted another 200 merchants and peasants to their cause. Ari had expected this from his desperate foe. The only thing that surprised him was a small detachment of Orc mercenaries were seen amongst their ranks. Grom was one of the few "civilized" countries that employed Orcs to fight their wars. The Orcs in Grom were unlike the savage orcs of other nations, they were supposedly an ancient tribe , more organized and lawful then their relatively newer chaotic cousins . He counted roughly 100 of them. The entire Grommish forces were positioned around a small fortification known locally as the lake tower. It was a poor tactical choice thought Ari, the hills provided defense from his archers, but the Tower was in a clearing, making it possible for full mobilization of his elite narzugon.
Just by looking at his enemy he knew they were readied to flee. Their positions were lightly entrenched, and it looked like they were ready for another withdrawal. The heavily armored dwarves and slow moving golems were positioned in the rear. A thin line of Grommers and orcs were lined up in front. Ari knew the Grommers were lightly armored and mobile , he suspected they would harass his advancing troops with missile fire, before withdrawing with the rest of the army. The duke smiled at his prey," You won't escape me this time." His enemies skulls and trophies would adorn his tent tonight. One of the reasons he agreed to this campaign was the promise of souls and plunder. Grommer souls were sufficiently tainted enough to make them valuable commodities in the lower planes, but the tales of their vast treasury was legendary even in the great wheel. Here was a nation that has their most powerful knights and heroes serve as an elite tax collector force. Ari's own ancestors once invaded Grom, their victories were legendary, but they were eventually placated and returned to the north after vast tributes from the Grommers were paid to them.
A knight in battered full plate and a red tabard slowly rode past the Grommish lines and stopped halfway between the 2 armies. In front of him was a chained eriynes, Ari could tell it was Dahana. The half fiend was intrigued , did this fool think to parlay or negotiate with this fallen mistress's life ? Several of his tiefling crossbowmen aimed at the knight , but Ari signaled them to stand down.
"This is Colonel Frank, Knight of the Crab, also known as the Seigeirr. I wish to speak with your leader.", shouted the knight in a booming voice, while yanking the chained devils neck.
Ari waved one of his Narzugon forward, and nodded to him. The fiendish creature nodded in silent understanding, drew his lance and charged the Grommish commander.
Frank didn't seem comfortable on a horse. Even though he was a knight, his order was not known for their proficiency of mounted combat. They were masters of the naval arts and siege warfare. Frank cursed and tried to steady his mount as the dark horsemen galloped towards him. The fiendish knights mount left fiery hoof marks on the ground, and billowed dark smoke towards Frank. Ari's vision was briefly obstructed, but he heard a loud clang and a sickening crunch. As the smoke cleared he saw the dark mount twisted painfully on the ground, its spine appeared to have broken and it was slightly twitching in pain. Frank was crouched over the fallen Narzugon with his sword embedded in its neck. He withdrew his blade, and a small jet of black blood and maggots erupted from the dead fiends wound. The knight then did a showman flourish, spinning his blade and bowing at spectators from both sides . The Grommers and dwarves cheered at their commanders easy victory. A loud girlish voice could be heard shouting, "Stop showing off already , and talk to their leader!"
Most infernal's were normally twisted looking creatures, they look like mortals but theirs forms and visages were normally warped to visions of savagery and ugliness. Some however, were considered quite beautiful to mortals. The dark Erinyes, the devious Contract devils, and certain Infernal nobles to name a few . Duke Ari was considered to be amongst the most handsome of devils, his transformation from an assimar to a half fiend did not appear to affect his good looks. However his features contorted and he looked as fierce as any barbazu or bearded devil after Frank dispatched his knight . His imp attendants seemed worried , wondering if their masters rage would be taken out on them. Ari stopped and composed himself, and he reverted back to his handsome self. He calmly rode on his Fiendish war mammoth to greet his foe. Ari's massive mount was adorned with heavy plate barding, the sides of its armor was adorned with trophies from vanquished foes, chipped weapons, a demonic horn, an angel's halo, even a familiar massive stone hammer.
Frank whistled, and tried several times to corral his panicked horse before finally mounting it to face Ari. The mammoth stopped 20 feet away, with its rider staring coldly down on the Grommish commander. Frank looked up, returned the stare at Ari and studied his foe , the dark knights armor seemed to be composed of some armored skeletal creature rather then armor. He had a shield supposedly made of stretched skin , and he wielded a wicked fiery spear. Frank considered himself ruggedly handsome, but his face was scarred and battered from his numerous battles. Ari however had an almost angelic unblemished face.
"So...Duke Ari is it? I'm the commanding officer, captain...err sorry Colonel Hida. Err you can call me Frank. ... I'm here to para laid down err parlay. Discuss what it would take for you leave, and never return to Grom. Here we'll even give you this prisoner, she claims to be your consort. ", he paused uncomfortably unsure what to say next," I'm sorry I'm not good at this commander stuff. My stupid Lieutenant Bram told me to say that. Look I know you guys can't be bribed. So as one knight to another , lets just settle it old school , like the way we do things up north. A battle between commanders. Loser leaves. Winner takes the field. How about it...huh huh?", Frank said with open arms and a smile.
Dahana was released, and she hobbled towards Ari. She seemed happy to escape her Grommish captors, but when she reached Ari, his mammoth mount grasped her head and threw her towards the Grommish lines. She landed painfully, in a crumpled pile. A Grommish soldier , jumped the fortification and dragged the prisoner back towards their lines.
Ari calmly replied ,"I will not duel you, champion duels are between equals, and you are far beneath me. We do not wish to take the field, we wish to take your lives. Anything you have to "bribe " us with , we can take from your corpses. We will lay waste to your cities, your lands , and your people. Those we do not enslave , will become larvae to feed our armies. The women that we chose to spare, will be ravished and the seed of a future legion of half fiends and tieflings will be implanted onto your spoiled lands."
"Err so I take it as a no? ", said a disappointed Frank.
"Prepare yourselves, we will attack soon, make peace with whatever pagan gods you worship. Death will come swiftly and with no mercy." said Ari as he swung his mammoth around and marched back to his lines.
Frank yelled back at the withdrawing half Fiend, "Look...Ari is it? I don't blame you if you don't follow our traditions. It must be hard to be given your knight hood and not earning it like everyone else, I'm sure you were teased mercilessly by the squires in the village . You know knighthood isn't easy to achieve , even Fetch wasn't knighted. The rest of us real knights had to earn our title. I don't expect you to follow all our traditions if you hadn't gone through all the tests and trials. And another thing, a lot of the guys shake their heads when they heard Ari the assimar had fallen and became a half fiend , but c'mon...what do they expect. I met your mother, shes one hot smoking babe. One of the sexiest ladies in the north. No wonder the Knight Commander Sealhbach took her as a wife, even though she had like what a half dozen kids already. Whew she was an assimar breeding factory that woman was, but hey she didn't lose her figure, she was still the hottest milf in the north. It must have been really hard growing up with a mom looking like that. My mother,..bless her soul...she was a battle maiden and took a few blows to the face, and after she gave birth to Tank, well lets say she wore the plus plus armor after that. Your mother, I bet everyone in the village would jack off to her, not you of course...you wouldn't do that would you... Must have been hard growing up like that. So it doesn't surprise me at all if you grew up all screwed up in the head and go all bat shit crazy evil at the first opportunity. So here you are now,Mister Bigshot leading a big devil army trying to live up to impossible standards set up for you. Your mother, like I said , great woman, super hot, and lead Mammoth Keep through the dangerous winter. Even went to war with the great host. Her bodyguards Aethulwulf and Bartog respected veterans of a hundred battles. Your adopted father Sealhbach, he was the founder of the Knights of Winter, countless tales are told about him. But you...like seriously what have you done? I heard you screwed a princess of hell to gain your position. Yep Ari the stud, got his big ass hell army by being a man whore. If I were you I would be a hateful son of a bitch too. So really I don't blame you for anything, your a product of your own sad existence."
Frank waited but was disappointed his taunts didn't enrage Duke Ari. He simply swung his horse around, and rode back to his lines. The battle would be engaged soon.
"Man Whore? Really ? Was that your master stroke? Calling Duke Ari a man whore?", said Ymir as she helped Frank off his horse.
Ari returned to his lines, he summoned his imps, "Tell the troops 100 larvae bonus to whoever brings me that mans head." he said , visibly shaking with rage.
Several scouts reported to Ari, their goblinoid allies were in position to intercept any fleeing troops. The goblins were inferior troops to his legion , but their worg and wolf riders were skilled at navigating this terrain.
A cloaked devil appeared, and reported that the battlefield seemed unaffected by any anti teleporting magics. Whatever the Grommers were attempting seemed to have failed.
A tiefling woman who looked almost fully human reported that there was no sign of the Warmaster in the enemy camp. She wasn't beautiful but certainly not unattractive , the only hint of her fiendish heritage was small horns, a sulfurous scent and her cruel yellow eyes. Ari made a mental note to possibly take her as a consort if she survived the battle.
Three large bonedevils appeared before Ari, they didn't bow, but that was partially due to their fierce pride and the fact they preferred to travel crouched. They considered themselves amongst the most powerful of devils, and Ari would not tempt their wrath by taking their pride away from them. They were only considered lesser devils, but that was like considering lions as mere cats. The Osyluth told him that the lemure horde was ready to be summoned at his command.
His company commanders had already informed Ari of their readiness. The Duke was still seething at Franks insults. Most of his army heard them as well, but Ari didn't care. He would not be tricked into a duel with a lesser warrior. He thought of the tortures he could inflict on him. He summoned his imps for a final order. "A 200 larvae bonus if someone can bring me the enemy commander alive."
Ari thought the initial battle proceeded according to his expert plan. Colonel Frank had hid himself, amongst his troops, but Ari suspected he was hiding in the lake tower, or possibly with the dwarves. The initial Lemure assault went badly. The Grommers were ready for the mindless beasts and had simple traps and dug trenches to use as choke points for the ooze like creatures. They were quickly dispatched. His tieflings moved in under the cover of magical mists and fog. The Grommers were undeterred and kept steady volleys of sling and golem fire into their ranks. They utilized their dwarves fairly effectively before the battle, many hidden pits and trenches were dug to slow their advance, giving the Grommers plenty of opportunity to rain missile fire on them. Ari was familiar with crossbows and slings, but not dragon golems. They were similar to a wand, but weren't inherently magical. They barked like an angry dragon and delivered a powerful punch capable of dropping even armored knights. They came in various sizes from hand held pseudo dragons to powerful siege dragons. Ari had only seen the smaller ones, but heard the large ones were capable of destroying a city wall from 400 yards away. The duke hoped to capture some of these weapons to study later.
His imps reported the tiefling advance was slowing , but Ari expected that. Since the fog proved insufficient cover for his troops, he ordered the Osyluths to form magical walls of ice to provide cover . This tactic proved more effective, but a devastating volley of what could only be from the larger dragon golems easily shattered the icy walls.
Ari was getting impatient, he knew once his troops were in melee the battle would be over, but he didn't want to tip his hand with his elite troops yet. He suspected more traps were laid for him. He ordered his reserve tieflings and the remaining Osyluths into the battle. Their losses would be staggering but they were easily replaced.
The battle raged fiercely for a few more minutes , till finally the tieflings rushed the Grommish lines. As expected, the battle was fierce but the sheer numbers of the tieflings and Osyluths forced some of the Grommers to abandon their simple fortifications. Ari smiled, and signaled his hell knights to begin harassment of the enemy. The knights gave a ghastly cheer as their nightmare mounts flew into the sky and descended on the fleeing enemy . The dwarven units provided some crossbow fire in the initial stages of the battle, but Ari could see they were abandoning their Grommish allies now. They were already staging an orderly retreat.
Several units of Grommers broke rank and fled. Ari noticed one group , led by a dwarf, stubbornly refused to fall back. Their bravery would spell their doom. His troops would outflank , then surround the brave company and butcher them all. The narzugon reached the fleeing foes first but were hampered by withering fire from the Lake tower. Ari recognized the tactical problem the tower represented. It would be difficult to assault it by conventional means, and in the meantime it would rain suppressive fire onto his troops. Their volleys struck several nightmares and hell knights, they screamed in pain as even their planar resistances were shattered. Ari would make quick work of his foes, he estimated at most 20 or 30 men were in the tower, he gave the signal for a company of his legion devils to teleport into the tower. The withering fire from the tower stopped , and it was replaced by sounds of fierce melee. After a minute the melee stopped, and a cheer came from the tower.
"Hey Ari, your gonna have to do better then that! ", said a bloodied but smiling Frank as he stood atop of the tower. "These guys are tough, but aren't so bad when you figure out how to beat them. Just stun one , and start wailing the shit out of him. Seems all his buddies share the damage. You might have to get your hands dirty afterall. " . A volley of crossbow bolts flew at Frank, but he easily dodged under a parapet. A deadly return volley of arrows and golem fire started erupting from the tower once again.
"Orders sir?", asked a nervous imp.
"SEND THE REMAINING LEGION DEVILS, THE BEARDED DEVILS...EVEN THE BONE DEVILS AND THE RESERVE PLATOON OF ORTHONS WE HAVE ! ANYONE THAT CAN TELEPORT THAT ISN'T ENGAGED I WANT IN THAT TOWER ! I WANT THAT TOWER DESTROYED!", growled Ari. The imp vanished, and relayed his orders to other imps who then relayed the orders to battle ready devils.
Soon the tower was swarming with evil outsiders. Fierce fighting noises could be heard, but they were drowned out by hellish warchants. A mighty infernal warcry could be heard from the tower.
*KRAKBOOOM!*
Rocks, gravel, debris , and pieces of devils rained onto the battlefield. Ari was momentarily stunned , then he realized that the lake tower had exploded. The entire battlefield was in shock, then mighty dwarven horns were heard from the distance. The retreating dwarves stopped their feint, and started advancing towards the confused Tiefling army. They were led by a company of Grommish iron and stone golems. The Grommers that held the line began pouring out of their fortifications. More enemies were hidden then the duke expected. Their fortifications must be more extensive then he thought. He would punish his imps and that tiefling spy later. A piercing bird cry filled the skies as dwarven griffons soared into the sky to engage the narzugon. There were only 50 of them, but Ari could see they were led by the Mistress of the Lion blade, herself and an elven archer mounted on a strange leaping horse. It would be a tough fight even for his elite knights.
Suddenly Aris blood ran cold, from the ruins of the destroyed tower, he saw a single stationary door. It opened and out stepped the supposedly vanquished Warmaster, followed by Colonel Frank, a dwarf maiden, a metal halfling, a balding merchant , and scores of Grommish troops.
"Its a trap", Ari suddenly realized. He summoned an imp to give the order to retreat, but none came. He doubted the explosion reached his command tent. He looked around and saw a large scaled imp pummeling and scattering his imp messengers. It stopped and smiled a toothy maw at Ari, before it fled behind a tree.
"Traitors!",screamed Ari. He motioned for the few remaining Narzugon and Abishai at his side to follow him. He marched his way to his Tiefling sorcerers. He would have to get one to teleport him away, he would regroup what was left of his incompetent forces and fight another day. His dark master would not be happy , and he would most likely be punished or possibly demoted, but he still held favor with Princess Fierina . His association with her would allow him to avoid the harshest punishments.
When he reached the sorcerer tent, he was greeted by the sound of screaming tieflings. One staggered out of the tent blood gushing from a clean piercing wound to its neck. An abishai ripped the tent door opened, and Ari saw it was the tiefling spy. She wielded a bloodied rapier and a dagger and stood over 3 more dead tieflings. She calmly threw her dagger which embedded itself into the abishais head. The creature snarled, and yanked the dagger out. Its inhuman physique would not be felled by such a simple blow. However, its prey was gone . The tiefling traitor/assassin had vanished from sight.
Ari looked back on the battlefield. Despite having a tower exploded on them, the otherworldly toughness of his troops were frightening to behold. Roughly half survived , but they were disorientated and wounded. The dwarves and golems crashed into them head long. He could spy fierce barbazu swinging their glaives in wide arcs at their attackers, but they were confused, injured and outnumbered . He wondered why they didn't teleport away, but realized that the warmaster most likely invoked a powerful teleportation ward to trap his troops. Ari knew that the battle had turned now. Their numbers were roughly equal now. However most of his elite troops were slain or caught in the dwarven charge. His command group was compromised by traitors and spies. His tieflings were stuck fighting hand to hand in enemy trenches. At least his Narzugon appeared to be winning. Griffon riders were amongst the most elite of mortal flying troops , but they paled in comparison to the elite hell knights. Ari could already see several griffons fall before his knights lances.
The duke considered mounting a nightmare and attempting to flee, but he was enraged. He ordered his remaining elite guard and what was left of his reserves to follow him into battle. The battle wasn't lost yet.
Between the dust cloud of the exploding tower, the magical mists and fogs of the tieflings, and the thick smoke from the dragon golems, the area around the former Lake tower was obscured to say the least.
Ari's mighty mammoth trampled through enemy and friend as he and his remaining personal guard advanced towards his target. He was determine to regain his honor and victory by slaying Colonel Hida and the Warmaster . He first reached the Grommish fortification. Tiefling bodies were scattered everywhere. Their losses were heavy when they attempted to break through the concealed Grommish fort. Sling stones and dragon fire, pierced his mammoth hide, but it kept advancing. It easily smashed through the forts simple low walls, and its tusks and trunk pierced and tossed Grommers like dolls. The dwarven commander of the dwarves shouted a battle cry and leaped at Ari. An abishai intercepted him, and the two crashed heavily into the ground. Ari watched in surprise as the dwarf overpowered the bestial devil. The dwarf even managed to hold the creatures head to the ground, and sawed its neck off with his sword. He was laughing manically even as 2 more Abishai advanced and knocked him down. The fight was fierce , the dwarf even managed to slay another devil, but the remaining abishai eventually emerged with a bloody beard in his hand.
Ari ordered his reserves to mop up the remaining defenders. He rallied his surviving tieflings and together they surged towards the dwarves and golems. His enemy was obscured by the smoke of the battlefield, but it provided Ari's troops with cover to advance toward their foe.
*Crunch*...Ari turned to see one of his personal guard replaced by a grey blue horse. The horses rider sent a glowing arrow at Ari, but his heavy armor easily deflected it. Before he could pierce the pair with his spear, they hopped away, leaving a crushed pile of nightmare and devil. Ari snarled and continued his charge.
A dwarven maid charged from the cover of smoke at his mammoth. A glowing dwarven great axe pierced Ari's mounts armor and thick hide. The beast didn't seem to care , despite the river of blood flowing from its side. Ari took aim with his spear, and jabbed the dwarf a few times. She barely avoided his first few jabs, but they were meant to push her back into an open position. A few impressive leaps from the dwarf put her a fair distance from Ari, however this was all a set up for a final thrust . His spears sudden swift moves changed suddenly to a strong forceful strike. It pierced the dwarf in the chest and she staggered back and fell with a mortal wound. Ari smiled, a heart or a lung wound he thought, she would die painfully.
He surveyed the battlefield, and saw dwarves and golems engaging his narzugon and abishai. There was no sign of the tieflings he rallied. Did they run? Or were they cut down? Ari pondered this as his massive mount rammed a stone golem. The stone giant fell crushing dwarves and devils alike. The mammoth crushed the thrashing golem with its massive feet. The golem got a few strikes from the ground onto the mammoth, and even snapped a tusk in half, but the construct was promptly destroyed for its effort. Ari was the master of the battlefield. No one could challenge him, even if his entire army were scattered, he felt he could win the battle by himself.
"Hey what's that on your face?".said a familiar annoying voice through the mists. It was followed by a devilish scream and then it continued "Oh my sword is on your face. My bad."
Ari swung his mammoth around, his hearing and sight was superior to mortals, but he still had trouble pin pointing the sound of his tormentor through the battle and smoke. He made a guess and sent his steed crushing all in its path toward his hated foe.
Ari only caught a glimpse of Frank, he was dispatching a Narzugon. They were both dismounted. Narzugons were fierce fighters mounted or on foot, but Frank was a master swordsman. The Narzugon waved his hand and attempted to scorch Frank with hellfire, but Frank stepped up and punished the creature with a sword to the gut and a shield to the face. He quickly withdrew his sword, and slashed the knight with an unexpected backhanded swing to its unprotected side. The blade bit deeply it wasn't a fatal strike but the relentless combination of the blows overwhelmed the devil as it fell writhing to the ground.
"Never bring a spell to a sword fight!", said Frank lecturing the dead knight"...Oh shit!"
Ari's mammoth charged the distracted knight, but he managed to barely jump out of the way in time. Frank fled into the darkness. The mammoths wide turning arc gave him a few second head start, but Ari was hot in pursuit.
"Give up coward! You can't outrun my invincible mammoth. You can't even reach me from the ground. Save yourself the trouble and die like a man, instead of fleeing like a worm.", exclaimed the confident Ari.
Ari spotted several dwarves in his peripheral vision, they seemed to realize the danger they were in , and they retreated back into the mists. The Duke gave a chuckle at his cowardly foes.
"You talk pretty tough when riding a giant mammoth ! I wonder how tough you are when you're on the ground! ", said Frank through the mists. Ari smiled as his foe gave up his position. He spurred his mount forward.
Once again Frank found himself in the cross hairs of a charging mammoth and an angry Half fiend knight. He barely dodged the mammoths tusks and tree trunk like feet , but Ari managed to pierce his arm with his spear. Despite the thickness of his armor, the hell spear easily ripped through his armor tearing flesh and blood . Frank grunted in pain , and stumbled back into the smoke.
"The smoke won't last forever you know. My superior senses are greater then yours, my superior reach is greater then yours, and my superior mount is unrivaled in this battlefield. I am every way your superior! The next time I catch you , you won't be so lucky!", shouted Ari into the smoke.
Ari listened to the battle field. Focusing on his opponents location. He could hear the sound of griffons and nightmares engaged in a fierce battle overhead. He heard the sound of iron clashing with claws around him. He frowned when he realized he heard more dwarven and human voices then infernal ones. Ari focused some more, and he thought he heard a light flapping of wings, and a large bulk moving.
Ari smiled as Frank gave his location away again. "Molly? What are you doing here?"
Ari and his steed strode forward. No one dared bar his path. The smoke cleared slightly as he saw his foe in front of him. The enraged Duke paused as he realized his prey was riding atop of a large greenish drake. It looked partially like a dragon, but its wings were way too small. They appeared to be vestigial or underdeveloped. The beast gave a deafening screech as it pounced at Ari's mammoth. Frank was atop the beast but was without a saddle. He barely hung on as it bounded towards the half fiend..
Ari quickly recovered from the shock of the sudden appearance of a war drake on the battlefield. His spurred his mount forward, as the two titans rushed headlong towards each other. The mammoth was much larger then the drake, but the creature was agile like a snake. At the last moment it shifted its momentum and it sidestepped the mammoths charge and then sent tooth and claw raking the hairy creatures hide. Ari's spear aim was true though. It was propelled straight towards Frank heart, however Frank managed to tuck his guard under the spears tip and struck the spears shaft with the top of his shield. The spears aim narrowly missed Frank. The Crab knight swung his blade in return, it was still too short to reach Ari, but it instead tore open one of the mammoths eyes and severed its ear.
The mammoth roared in pain and anger. It thrashed and bucked, throwing Ari to the ground. Ari hit the ground hard, and took a few seconds to recover. When his vision cleared he could see the drake raking his mount while perched on top of it. Its reptilian jaws gripped firmly onto the Mammoths neck. The beast spun and bellowed, but it finally crashed to the ground. The drake easily shifted its mass to avoid being trapped underneath the falling colossus, as it continued its savage mauling.
"Hey! Stop watching the other fight! I'm your opponent remember!",said a voice as a boot connected to Ari's face. The half fiend was stunned again , he felt teeth falling out of his jaw. He touched his perfect face and felt blood and terrible wounds on it. " Now you look like a warrior. Before you looked like a male model or something. "
Ari's anger cleared his mind, his face contorted to a horrible visage. He arose swiftly like a cat and despite not seeing his foe, he jumped at his enemy relying on instinct and his hearing . He was rewarded as he crashed heavily onto Frank. His bestial jaws bit deeply into Franks wounded arm. Frank head butted Ari with his helmet and both opponents rolled away dazed.
Ari was weaponless, but his teeth and claws grew to monstrous proportions, he snarled and hissed at Frank as he readied for another charge. Frank had dropped his sword from the initial charge, and the last bite rendered his shield arm useless. He crouched his body , turning to his side , with his right foot forward. His battle instincts told him to present the smallest profile possible to his opponent. His options were limited, he might attempt a throw, or maybe even a punch with his gauntlet at his foe. The battle would soon be over, but he wasn't going to quit.
Ari hissed growing slightly larger and more bestial, "I will take everything from you . Your life, your friends life, I will track your family and slay them one by one. I will take all your precious possessions and burn them in hellfire. Any book bearing your name will be burned, any plaque bearing your memory will be smashed. You will rue this day in your afterlife. The day you dared challenge a superior foe."
Ari jumped at Frank, however at the last moment a silver blade flew into Franks hand. Frank was prepared to use Ari's momentum against him, his weapon masters taught him various unarmed combat techniques. However with the blade in hand things were different. Frank reactively sidestepped and swung the blade at Ari's exposed side. The blade however twisted in Franks grip and it deftly severed Ari's neck in one clean blow.
Ari gave a surprised gasp as his body fell heavily on the ground. Frank was breathing heavy from the pain and his near escape. He turned and looked at his sword.
"Sorry I know you had everything in hand, and I didn't mean to interfere ...but that guy was REALLY full of himself and was really getting annoying.", said Galatea apologetically.