You retreat back to the entrance were some of your men help you pull back and close the doors. Outside your forces are also being attacked by several of the swarms and are doing what they can to hold them off.
"These swarms are all over this place! We should retreat and push on towards Drezen."
"The swarms will likely not pursue us very as they will want to stay close to their queen but this passage will be blocked until we come back and kill the queen."
"We have no means of defeating them! Stand back!" - Tessai shouts at the men under attack - "Tomorrow will be another day men! And we will make sure these monstrosities do not stay behind to attack any others!" - she urges.
You are forced to retreat and the bugs continue to hunt and harass your forces as you make your way north towards Drezen. Sixteen men die to the bugs before you manage to get clear of them. You make camp and the next day you march on and make your way to drezen the city is now before you.
You are approaching the city from the south.
The castle is before you to the north across a bridge guarded by a small force.
To the north-west there is a large dome of negative energy surrounding what appears to be a mausoleum. A large group of zombies and ghouls roam the nearby graveyards.
To the north-east is what remains of the town itself. A large force of men is gathered here. Scouts report that they are a mix of humans and tieflings poorly armed and some starving but they outnumber you 2 to 1.
Orlando looked down at the map.
"Well, what do you think? Straight up the middle to the citadel, or deal with the outlying forces first with the citadel last?"
He looked up and grinned.
"My vote is to deal with the outlying forces first. That way if they prove too strong we can maneuver, or retreat. If we hit the citadel and we cant get in immediately, we might be surrounded and cut off."
Irabeth comes up "I agree, we should eliminate the forces south of the river to secure our side. The troops on the soutbank are just rabble if we charge them they wills scatter"
"Agreed - as Orlando has suggested I say we deal with the outlying forces to begin with" - Tessai nods - "Before proceeding however, I would like to have the cemetery and bridges scouted, so we can have an idea of what reinforcements may be upon us if we decide to take the south side of the river"
Varn examines the strange doom from a distance for a time while the others make their plans of attack. "I agree, scouting would be good. Also, see if you scouts are able to obtain any information on that strange doom of negative energy. I would like to know more about what is happening over there..."
Othello looks to forces in the east and speaks up, "If I may suggest, and this just a thought, but might we instead "convince" the rabble to join our side for this battle. Most of them are opportunists and not worshipers, they would know that they would be slaughtered by our better equipped and fed troops. Obviously, they cannot be trusted beyond filling our numbers and they would most likely fled during or after the battle. But it is better than wasting energy fighting against them.
"It's...Possible it could work...The reports we got seem to suggest a lack of food. If we offer then some they may agree to work for us. Of course we cant trust them either as they are likely to betray us at the first opportunity and too feed so many would greatly strain our supplies." replies Irabeth clearly not fond of the idea.
"I agree with Othello - such plan may deserve a chance. However I would not like to proceed into the area without first a thorough scouting of the cemetery and the bridges - if any conversations turn into a fight, we need to know what to expect from those directions"
"Also dame Irabeth speaks wisely, if we are given an opportunity to negotiate, it will be necessary to evaluate their intentions carefully - if the strain placed on the army would be too much, I would rather not have them with us at all" - she nods.
"This is a demon worshiping army inside the Worldwound, people! We are deep in enemy territory, with tenuous supply lines at best, and I wont go on short rations for the likes of such scum. I say we show them the same mercy as their fellows showed the citizens of Kenabres."
"Whatever we do, we must scout first."
Orlando will go with one of the scouting parties (he's gotta learn the craft after all).
Orlando and Anivian go out to examine the graveyards and the black dome while Aeron and Nurah go scout the bridge.
The black dome is somewhat transparent but you cant seem much other than a stone building with a large entrance. If orlando attempt to cross the treshold into the black dome I will let you know what happen otherwise not much more to say here.
The graveyard is filled with zombies, ghould and ghast around two hundred in number (ghould and ghast account for around 20% of that) they seems to be wandering about aimlessly for the moment waiting around. Some of the ghouls and ghast are digging up the graves looking for any inanimate corpses.
when you return to the main force Nurah and Aeron report that there is a small force of demons and humans gathered around the bridge. The bridge has 4 towers 2 on each end from were archers can fire down on anyone approaching or trying to cross and the bridge is only wide enough for around 8 men to stand in a line.
Orlando, with the scouting party inspecting the graveyards, decides to get in closer. He held up his hand to signal the other scouts to hold their positions as he stealthfully approached the stone necropolis through the black semitransparent dome, staying out of line of sight of the undead infesting the place.
He flattened beside the entranceway, trying to listen at what might be going on inside.
So you enter the black dome? Alright make a will save.
"This is a demon worshiping army inside the Worldwound, people! We are deep in enemy territory, with tenuous supply lines at best, and I wont go on short rations for the likes of such scum. I say we show them the same mercy as their fellows showed the citizens of Kenabres."
Tessai nods at Aeron - "I agree with you Aeron, but there may be others cowed, or simply dragged into their service. Mayhaps unwillingly... So, a single chance to recover their freedom may be in order"
As Orlando crosses the threshold of the dome of darkness he is wracked with intense pain and takes 36 damage.
Orlando screamed in pain and reversed course, trying to get away from the horrible pain of the black dome.
Orlando makes it without any further damage and you head back to camp I assume.
So whats your next move?
Adalric gasps in horror at Orlando's injuries. "What happened?" During Orlando's report, he begins tending his wounds.
EDIT:
"I don't know what it was; All I could feel was the pain!" He cried out in anguish.
You give the order and you men mount up and charge towards the city. In one fell swoop they manage to clear out the main street however many of the cultist have time to get out of the way and enter the buildings and the alleys some of them attempt a counter-attack and the fighting seems to break down when out of the Inn comes a massive horned demon. The paladins focus their fire on the thing but even so several of them fall before it can be brought low. When the creature dies the remaining cultist flee towards the northern bridge with less than half their number remaining.
"We have bloodied them, shall we pursue we can catch them on the bridge and slaughter them."
"Aye commander; if we're still in good order, my vote is we should pursue."
"Let us follow" - Tessai agrees - "The scouts reported only a small force on the bridge. Perhaps we can take them also down, and secure the passage" - she adds.
Varn agrees with Tessai. "I say continue the fight, there is no sense in allowing our foes to flee, only to regroup and bring the fight back to us. If we can end them upon the bridge, then let us do so."
The bridge has 4 towers 2 on each end from were archers can fire down on anyone approaching or trying to cross and the bridge is only wide enough for around 8 men to stand in a line.
Orlando bows gratefully to 'Adalric in relief.
You give chase and try to run down the fleeing cultist as they run to the bridge. Many more of them fall but as you men arrive at the bridge arrows are rained on them from the two closest towers and a fireballs is launched from the eastern one.
"Caster on the tower! shouts a soldier"
The riders to the front make their way to the closest towers, dismount and try to make their way inside. They manages to break open the doors and go into the towers but you can tell that's thing are not going well and most of them are backing away from the tower doors and several didn't make it back out.
"Go investigate or give the order to retreat! I will stand ready to counter any more fireballs from the tower but beware of the caster he may decide to try a different spell next"
"Damn!" - Tessai roars when she realizes they are suffering casualties from those that attempted an assault on the Tower - "Let us move in ourselves!" - she shouts to her companions, riding up to the entrance, dismounting and casting a protective spell - "Iomedae bless us"
"If any of you can fly, assault the upper part of the tower!" - she urges her companions.
Varn watches grimly as several more of their paladins fall in battle, gritting his teeth as he spots the fireball detonate amidst their forces. "We should bring our forces back, the six of us (assuming Othello is still with us?) will take down whatever force is holding the tower!"
The wizard nods to Tessai, but grabs her shoulder just as she makes to run off. "Wait just a moment!" Varn casts Haste upon the group. "I shall assault the tower tops and rejoin you as soon as I am able. Good luck!" With that, Varn draws into the reserve of his newly found power to cast a spell to give him flight! He then begins moving upward as quickly as he can!
Fly - 70/70 rounds.
In the room at the bottom of the tower Tessai sees two men in black armor wielding twin bladded swords from their manner, their outfits and from the dead paladins at their feet you can tell these are no ordinary cultist. They are clearly very skilled warriors...Elite cultist if you will or perharps something more judging by those glowing eyes...Elite cultist
edit: I see varn managed to sneak in a post while I was making mine. Thats ok lets say your about 40 feet up in that space.
In the room at the bottom of the tower Tessai sees two men in black armor wielding twin bladded swords from their manner, their outfits and from the dead paladins at their feet you can tell these are no ordinary cultist. They are clearly very skilled warriors...Elite cultist if you will or perharps something more judging by those glowing eyes...Elite cultist
edit: I see varn managed to sneak in a post while I was making mine. Thats ok lets say your about 40 feet up in that space.
I also realized I forgot to add coordinates and to roll init for combat.
Here is init:
Will add the coordinates to the map a bit later.
Aeron darts in the tower and swings around to attack the cultist from behind. . His massive sword swings in causing terrible damage.