Stepping out into the burning, blood soaked battlefield, Corynne can see the flickering of the dead guard's spirits, coming to terms with their new state, the more centered of them heading off tho the great beyond. She can feel the eyes of the others on her, drawn to her power, her necklace pulsing with light.
Drawing the healing wand she approaches Elena resting a hand on her shoulder as she heals her. "It get's easier......not sure if that is a good thing or not, but it does."
Seeing Alice getting up from the blood-slicked ground and reloading, she wals over to her. "You know that going out in a blaze of glory is overrated right?"
Alice wipes her sword clean of blood and grins wickedly. "I went out in a blaze of glory, once, blew up my own ship. Didn't stop me. And I'd rather catch a bullet myself than have it get one of you youngsters."
"Anyway I don't have a scratch, got a potion before fighting. I'm not that reckless. Princess, you'd better gobble down one yourself before we're back in the fray, the ones Delft gave us."
She raises her voice towards those in the lighthouse, while pushing stacks of sand to assemble a makeshift shelter outside the lighthouse.
. As it turns out, that decision turns out to be a lifesaver as the newest forces include a grenadier. Your fortifications are blasted to pieces, but at least you remain mostly intact.
Round Three complete
Miselle attempted to rig some traps in the courtyard. Because it couldn't hurt.
Az makes use of the spare few moments to go search the corpse of the grenadier in the hope that the man didn't blow all his explosives in his charge. Even one of them on their side could significantly hamper the next wave.
If he has time enough after searching the enemy, he heads back to the stand of barricades and attempts to put another one together with the debris they have available.
Nodding in thanks at Corynne, Ellena does her best to smile a bit and busies herself helping Az with that barricade - after all, someone needs to be able to put things on top of it.
Should that fail, she'll grab what she can and move inside the lighthouse.
You get a few barricades assembled outside the lighthouse, although Miselle ended up having to contribute her trap components to tie everything together. The good news was that you should be able to funnel the oncoming enemies somewhat, creating a clump of bodies that'lll be a perfect target for the grenade Azaghal was able to scavenge. Of course, using it will destroy the barricade, but the sacrifice may be worth it.
The next wave of foes is almost upon you now, and they outnumber you almost two to one. Fortunately, you don't see any mages in this group, although more forces appear to be incoming.
Round Five complete
Shooting in the air to attract attention, Alice roars a challenge at the incoming soldiers.
Urgh, my throat is getting sore.
Moving back to her sniping post, Miselle rested her rifle in position and helped Alice's intimidate check...by shooting the next soldier dumb enough to pop a body part out of cover. It was their own fault, really.
Hunkering down behind the newest barricade, Ellena holds tight - when they try to rush the barricade again, she and Fabian will be ready.
Going back inside, Corynne sets herself up to shot from an upper level window.
After passing his grenade off to Alice, trusting her military experience in knowing when the right time to use it would be, Az joins with Miselle in trying to pick off a bad guy or two as they make their way up to the defensive position.
The enemies hesitated, contemplating the wisdom of pressing their assault. You had a rather defensible position, after all, and the improvised barricades would certainly slow them down. There was a long tense pause - until another group of the Duchess' troops arrived. You had the positional advantage, to be sure, but being outnumbered 3-1 may just turn the odds in their favor. The first few to charge forward were cut down, but the assault continued.
Rounds 6-7 complete
Clipping the grenade to her belt, Alice downs the potion that Jeb had passed her, the pleasant tingle of restorative magic spreading under her skin.
Standing at the chokepoint, she holds her ground ferociously, locked in duel against a tall axeman, whose skill with a blade matches hers. Blows are rapidly exchanged, steel clinging on steel, the man's large weapon easily blocking Alice's slender blade, but her speed preventing him from charging a proper swing. Suddenly, she drops the rapier, and the soldier steps forward, starting an overhead slash to end the fight and her in one blow. But he made a deadly mistake when he assumed her to be unarmed. With a flick of the wrist, a cold iron dagger whirls out of Alice's sleeve to be caught in her right hand, and with a serpentine motion she lunges towards her opponent's exposed side, plunging the knife deep into his neck.
What a waste. The Duchess will pay for forcing me to do this.
Slowing her breathing, Miselle headed to the top of the tower, prearing to pour the oil on the opposing forces. Once there, it was a slightly more awkward angle to fire down on the opposing forces. It did, however, allow an awful lot of head shots.
Ellena chugs the potion, tossing the empty bottle into the harbor. Hunkering down behind their makeshift barricade, all she can think is, That is a lot of soldiers...
She holds, though, and when they rush the wall again she kicks a crate into their path and impales the man who trips on it. I'm sorry...
Heading upstairs as well and checking on the wizard's bonds and gag, Corynne gets into position to join Miselle in dumping and igniting the oil, though they would need a bit more help.
It was...almost...a marksman's dream. A target-rich environment in a relatively close, confined space meant that he was all but guaranteed to hit an enemy, whether it was the one he aimed at or not. It was as easy as using a blunderbuss to shoot fish in a barrel.
Of course...when the barrel was full to overflowing with fish carrying swords and axes, that suddenly developed the ability to breathe air and seek their vengeance...well, that would be where the "almost" came in.
|
Waiting behind the barricades, Jeb lights the fuse on his grenade as the enemy gathers
Timing...Timing is everything he thinks as he keeps one eye on the fuse and another on the gathering enemies. Just as the flame gets close to the grenade, they charge and he throws. After the smoke clears and the ringing in his ears stop, he sees one lying dead, one moaning unconsciously and one lying in a heap of blood looking at the stump of his arm, the others having dived back into cover. Nodding grimly at the Butchers bill, and happy that one front had been stymied for now, Jeb retreats to the lighthouse, rushes up the stairs and gets ready to help with the oil...
The grenade throw is perfectly executed and explodes right in the middle of a large group of oncoming enemies, scattering shrapnel and body parts in all directions. Predictably, the barricades are annihilated, but the cover they provided mitigated the worst effects of the blast for those who were able to duck behind their temporary cover. When the smoke clears, about half of your enemies have perished, and quite a few of the survivors are nursing injuries of various levels of severity. You didn't escape unscathed, though, as the explosion was rather larger than anticipated. Still, you should be able to get to the safety of the lighthouse before the Duchess' troops recover.
The sea gate is almost completely open, and you can see Risuri ships approaching. Help will be here soon; you just have to hold out a little longer. But enemy reinforcements are also incoming....
Round 8 complete
Alice yells a sequence of strong words at Jeb, the mildest of which involves a rather unflattering comparison between his head and a donkey's lower body. "You WARN before you let explosives loose!"
Coughing dust and checking that magic had protected her against the blow, she picks her sword back up and unclasps the grenade Azaghal had given her. "Get back in the tower" she snarls at the two standing close. "I should survive this."
Miselle winced as their own people were caught in the blast. That was one of the reasons why she so preferred the direct fire of a gun to undirected, unfocused blasts of bombs.
Scanning the remaining enemy combatants, she hunted for anyone who looked important - shiny robes, fancy hat, better equipment - and put a hole in them.
Cringing at the damage the explosion does to some of their own, Corynne readies to run down to heal them once they fall back to the light house, still standing by the oil with Miselle and aiming her crossbow.
After taking the blast of the grenade, Az moves toward the lighthouse, coughing as he goes. [b]"Bloody hells! Whatever happened to 'Fire in the hole'?!" he shouted.
Once he was back inside the lighthouse, reloading as he went, he turned and fired out toward the crowd of enemies again.
|
|
Blown off his feet by the size of the unexpectedly large blast, Jeb slams into the lighthouse doorframe with bone cracking force. His analytical mind notes the large blast while simultaneously cataloguing the extent of his injuries
Broken ribs...multiple contusions...lacerations from shrapnel...
dazed, he rummages in his pack while limping into the lighthouse, pulling out a flask and quickly downing it. As the healing properties course through his body, he feels invigorated and continues up the stairs to where the oil is kept, ready to help pour it on the attackers.
Stunned by the light and sheer noise of the explosion, like when she was little Ellena reaches up to twiddle with her hair. Her grasping fingers find charred and raggend ends, an entire chunk burned away. You complete and utter bastard!
Alice's invective gets her head back in gear, and she makes for the inner lighthouse.
The gunners in the lighthouse pick off a few troops, and Alice's grenade finishes off the rest. The Sea Gate is less than a minute from opening enough to allow Risuri ships through, but it looks like half the garrison is headed your way. Your prior sabotage of the gate controls enures your allies will make landfall without significant opposition. The question is: will you still be alive when they get here....
Round 9 complete
Staying on the bottom floor, Ellena braces herself as best she can against the remaining barricades and tries to remember what Corynne had yelled about the traps and how not to trigger them.
Clothes smoking from the second explosion, a trickle of blood flowing from a ruptured eardrum, Alice rushes inside the lighthouse. "Brace! We'll need more barricades, to hold on 'til the rest of the army gets in! Spooky, on healing! We've done our duty, now we just have to survive!"
Az sticks to Alice's plan, trying to get some more barricades thrown together in the moments before the Risuri fleet arrives.
Already racing down the stairs before Alice starts barking orders, Corynne only rolls her eyes slightly before beginning to heal the injured.
Shouldering her huge rifle, Miselle headed upstairs to aid in moving the boiling oil into position and pouring it. She couldn't help but feel bad - this was a horrible way to die, and would likely be a slow, lingering death for any who felt its touch.
...but they were traitors. And frankly, better them than one of the Constables.
Following Miselle's lead, the dwarf shoulders his own musket and heads up after her, joining with Jeb as the trio overturns the vat of boiling oil over on the enemies charging toward them.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Your enemies surge forward and are met with a shower of boiling oil that wreaks havoc among their ranks - especially when Corynne's door trap activates and ignites the first few soldiers. Shortly thereafter, you hear screams from the top floor of the lighthouse, followed by the crash of falling bodies. Corynne's vengeful spirit seems to have been quite effective. There's still a great many foes remaining, however, and you're hard-pressed to defend yourselves until help finally arrives. The Risuri ships sail through the open sea gate, and archers and mages begin attacking. It only takes a few minutes for them to reach your position; you'd managed to hold the attention of most of the garrison, so resistance elsewhere was almost nonexistent.
Over the next half hour or so, Risuri warships bombard any of the Duchess' troops who dare break cover. Her forces gradually fall back to the walls of the Outer Fort, while your ships enter the mouth of the harbor and set up gangplanks. Soon, over a thousand soldiers have reached the mainland. With a five-to-one numerical advantage, they plan to surround the fort and attack from multiple fronts. This should create an opening in the formidable defenses which will quickly be exploited.
The six of you aren't participating in this stage of the invasion, however. Instead, after receiving some time for rest and healing, you're summoned before Captain Rutger Smith of the Impossible for a debriefing.
Heavily panting, Alice wipes blood from her sword before sheating it and lights a cigarette from a burning scrap of debris, puffing a cloud of smoke towards the sky. "Bloody good work, all in all. Jebediah, next time you feel like throwing high explosives when we're in the blast radius, I'll give you some advice on where to shove them. C'mere a second, Princess."
Hands moving with the practiced motions of an older sister, she ties Ellena's blonde hair into a ponytail, trimming away the burned ends at the side before tucking those strands under the longer ones. "There. Can't have you looking as if you got into a fistfight with a goblin, and it's more practical for scuffles."
Grateful for Risur's healers taking exercise pain away from her muscles, she gulps down half a waterskin and follwos it with a swig from her belt flask. "Ten silvers say the Philosopher Captain will try to get credit for the battle. Who's willing to bet?"
Miselle was glad that she wasn't involved in cracking the fortress. Even outnumbered and unused to its defences it would like as not be a hellish task. Stil, on the plus side none of them had been too badly hurt holding the lighthouse. Hopefully, the other forces would have an easy time of things. The artillery on the ships would likely help.
"I shall take that," Miselle replied to Alice's bet. "He strikes me as a fair enough man, if a touch pretentious."
Her eyes occasionally darting to seemingly nothing as she notes a lingering spirit here and there, Corynne's heightened sense of death leaves her acutely aware, yet somewhat tired as she sits recuperating.
"This will be remembered for a very long time."
Ellena doesn't really respond to Alice; now that the adrenaline's died down she's just quiet and staring into space, shaking a little bit. What Corynne says rings a small bell though, and she answers without looking up.
"I don't think we're supposed to tell stories about this... I think it'll be forgotten as quickly as possible."