Chapter 6
“Battle For Greendale”
10-15-2007 Edited by Chrisy Demaroney
11-3-2007 Edited by Ian Shirm
11-11-2007 Edited again by Ian Shirm
12-8-2007 Edited by Ian Shirm
(Old chapters 12b)
Philosophy according to Draven
After breakfast and an half an hour to get ready, The party left for Greendale. Dekari and Aiken on horseback, behind them Firatri and his ten paladins then Ancus driving a wagon filled with supplies, his five monks on horseback behind him. Behind them Dorlum drove one wagon and Torto drove the third wagon. Dredskif rode beside Draven. The ten Crimson Elves rode with Kane since Talon wouldn’t be taking the trip. Appius and Lepidus behind Kane and the Elves with the twenty Avengers riding infront of the three wagons and the remaining twenty riding behind of the wagons.
The party of seventy men with three wagons with over 100 horses left the Ironfist Family ranch. They passed the fenced in pastures and pens of sheep, pigs, cattle, horses, goats then passed the chicken coupe. For several thousand feet they passed farmers who had been hired by Numa, then began the ascending the large hill leading out of the valley, towards Greendale.
"Hope my horse doesn’t take one for the team on this little expedition. Cant afford another heavy warhorse, it was hard enough to find this one for my budget,"
Dredskif said. "Besides the fact that every smaller breed of horse I get ends up going lame then turns to dinner under my weight."
"I’m sure Dekari would issue you a new horse,” Draven said. “His grandfather Marcus set him up with enough money to buy a castle if he so wished. I‘ll bet Dekari and Aiken go far in this war, end up officers or politicians, must be nice to be born Princes of Del’Goth and have the blood of a god running through their veins besides.”
“Now that’s some luck,” Dredskif said. “The Ironfist twins were born with godly lineage as well as heirs to the throne of Del’Goth.”
"I don’t believe in luck,” Draven said. “Though it must be nice to be the grandsons of a god. I wonder if Draxis, Lord of Souls and ruling god of Purgatory alters the destiny of the two Ironfist twins, Or if the mere presence of his blood in their veins twists fate and destiny for the two enabling them greatness in their lifetimes.” he said as he ran his fingertips down the strip of knives on his chest, double checking that they were all secure in their sheaths, as he often did.
"Don’t believe in luck eh?" Dredskif said
"Divine Intervention," Draven said.
"Well if that isn’t optimistic thinking," Dredskif said.
"After the Godwars of Draxis, Paial, Xrakisis, Julia and Claudia against the Titans, roughly from the year 500 to the year 700, the 5 clerics turned gods formed a circle of power."
"I’ve heard this story before many a time." Dredskif said.
"Hear me out." Draven said
"Fine, out with it." Dredskif said.
"The gods of the time were Titans, from around the year 650 back to before time was recorded,“ Draven said. “When man lived in fear of the Titans, living in caves before the use of fire. The powerful cleric Draxis was lucky and he managed to kill a Titan as it slept. At the time Draxis was in his mid 40's and he had been practicing the elemental form of magic that all clerics of the time used, utilizing the power of fire, water, wind and earth. After Draxis learned that drinking Titan blood gave god-like abilities his two brothers Paial and Xrakisis and two powerful female clerics, Claudia and Julia drank their fill from the Titan Draxis slew. After the first Titans death the five new immortals hunted them down one by one and as they did so the five drank every slain Titan dry.”
"I’ve heard this part of the story already,” Dredskif said. “Skip to the parts I haven’t heard.”
"Anyway. Magic at the time came from fire, water, earth and air and it was drawn from the energies of nature,“ Draven said. “Xrakisis, Draxis, Paial, Julia and Claudia perfected this form of magic and with it they created a spell where the five of them could link together their power. From the link they created the magic we use today. Instead of spells coming from nature, today they come directly from the gods and the energies of their moons. I would make an educated guess that the gods wanted it this way incase they ever needed to remove power from a cleric or shaman."
"Pretty sneaky." Dredskif said only 1/2 paying attention since he'd heard the story a million times before and was growing disinterested. The race of Minotaur still used the old form of elemental magic to this day. "Minotaur Shaman‘s still use the elemental form of magic, so I know a little about both.”
"As the story goes the 5 clerics drank their fill of Titan blood and it got to the point where they were stronger than the Titans,” Draven said. “The part I was getting to is that on Draxis’s red, purgatory moon there is believed to be a secret dimension where titans are imprisoned. The goal of clerics aspiring to godhood is to reach that plane of existence and drink enough Titan blood to achieve the kind of immortality that the original 5 gods have."
"I thought that they were hunted to the point of extinction." Dredskif said.
"And that is what everyone believes. When we were at the Ironfist ranch I noticed a book, on one of the shelves in Lucila’s library,” Draven said. “The title was Rise to Immortality. Looked very old. Don’t tell anyone but I snagged it out of her library. It has some history of the world that I have never read or heard of before."
"I cant read so it could be a cook book for all I would know," Dredskif said.
"It has the detailed history of the 5 Supreme gods, and their offspring,” Draven said. “It only gets to the birth of Marcus, Dominus, Titus and Charlemagne, none of their offspring so I would guess the book to be hundreds of years old.”
"How does this have anything to do with there being divine intervention and there not being any luck?" Dredskif asked.
"In the book it says that the five supreme gods linked together their power to create the two heavens, two purgatories and turn the sun into the plane of hell. Paial, the god of Justice, Oaths, and Hospitality Created a Heaven with seven differant levels. Claudia, the god of beauty created a heaven moon with four levels. Draxis, god of blacksmithing has his own purgatory moon with three levels, Julia goddess of wisdom has her own red, Purgatory moon with 3 levels and Xrakisis with seven layers of hell on the sun. According to Barbarian, Kulanian and Republican religions the two red moons are purgatory and that is where you go when you first die. Then, depending on the purgatory moon the soul goes to, Draxis or Julia decide where if the soul should stay in purgatory or go on to hell or one of the heavens. Hell would mean one of the 7 layers of hell and heaven would be one of the two white moons. Where luck or divine intervention come into my story is that the five supreme gods and all the lesser-gods have influenced the lives of men to such a degree that it is foolish to believe that events will be left up to us. There are opportunities and tragedies that shape our destinies. I believe the gods may have let Bruce be killed so that his two sons may fulfill their destinies." Draven said.
"So if the gods are behind the scenes for everything then how do you know which it is fate or luck? Dredskif said.
"I don’t believe in luck or coincidence. So I would naturally chalk everything up to Divine Intervention and Destiny, pointing everyone in the path of their fate. The events of ones life leading them to their own destiny," Draven said.
"So if Otic at the Dragonstooth waters down his ale or if he falls asleep with a pipe in his hand and burns down the tavern then that’s not unlucky. That means its an act of fate, the gods deciding that he should have sober customers or no tavern at all." Dredskif said.
"Exactly." Draven said.
"That sounds like the biggest load of horse shit I’ve ever heard." Dredskif said
Draven laughed so hard that he was sure he would fall from his horse and land on the ground.
"What I’m saying is that I don’t believe in coincidences,“ Draven said. “Things happen for a reason and I believe the destiny of every man is intertwined with that of everyone he will ever meet during his life time. With millions of people alive, every interaction even one that appears insignificant and only lasts a moment could set into motion a chain of events that would set off any number of outcomes."
"Your starting to sound more like a philosopher rather than the cold methodical killer I know you to be." Dredskif said.
"I’ve had a lot of time to think about things and dabbling in philosophy doesn’t mean I’m a nice guy. To be honest the more people I meet and the more I travel the more I become jaded and resentful of everyone," Draven said.
We'll be coming into town in about 30 minutes. Dekari yelled back to the horsemen he was with.
"Thank Draxis!" Dredskif muttered "All this deep thinking is giving me a headache!"
"Looking forward to being able to use your sword more than your brain?" Draven asked.
Dredskif, though 180 lbs heavier than Draven chose silence, and was wondering why these conversations with Draven always left him with headaches. Then the thought occurred to him that his sword should be doing all the thinking, he’d have a heavier bag of coin and be happier.
Battle for Greendale
"Hold!" Dekari said in a loud voice, brining the caravan to a halt.
"Kane, get up here with that spyglass of yours," Dekari said loud enough for his his voice to reach the Crimson Elf.
Kane brought his horse up beside Aiken and Dekari and slid his spyglass out from his pack.
"I’d say about 300 goblins, 50 Hobgoblins, and probably 5 minotaur have broken ranks on the western edge of town and are attempting to take Greendale. Right now their fighting local militia.
Dorlum, Torto and Ancus follow us in with the wagons,” Dekari said. The goblin force is sweeping east through the town headed for the center. We're north of Greendale, lets reinforce the militia in the west end of town. We have the advantage of a cavalry charge. Paladins under direction of Firatri, attack. Avengers come with me to the center of the town and we'll fight our way west. Monks heal the wounded. Crimson Rangers guard the paladins and monks with archer fire. Aiken, Draven, Dredskif, Kane, Appius, Lepidus ride down the side streets and kill the enemy wherever you find them. Five medium horse with you Aiken, 10 heavy horse with Firatri give the enemy no quarter." Dekari said
Firatri gave a quick nod and rode into town in a row of eleven men towards the largest mass of goblins. Aiken commanding the five mercenaries rode to the Northwestern part of town and Dekari led the forty avengers into town. Kane, who was a Crimson Elf himself led the ten elves after the Firatri and the Paladins.
Firatri, with ten Paladins charged the mass of swarming goblins followed by Kane and ten Crimson Elves, all on horseback. As the Heavy Cavalry crashed into the goblin horde the eleven Paladins began to trample and cut down of the enemy with great efficiency. As the eleven heavy horse with archer support pushed west the local militia of thirty men in this part of town fell back behind the 21 horsemen.
Firatri saw a tall muscular man who still stood fighting goblins with a shortsword in each hand and rode over to him.
"Who leads this militia?" Firatri asked.
"I do. Names Henry," the man said.
"Pleased to meet you. How many militia do you have?" Firatri asked.
"We had about 100, now down to about half of that." Henry said
"Tell your men to fall back and give the goblin the spear and the arrow. My Paladins and these Elven Rangers will fight on the western front." Firatri said.
"All Militia! Fall back and use missiles!" Henry yelled
Firatri dug his heal into his horse and reeled his horse to one side. With a upswing of his broadsword Firatri cleaved the jaw of a minotaur clean off. The Beast who had stood eye to eye with Firatri reeled with the power of the slash, Firatri then brought the blade down and cleaved the Minotaur’s skull in two.
"Direct your forces Henry I'll see to my paladins." Firatri said.
"Thank you and good luck." Henry yelled over the sound of screams and metal striking metal.
Firatri rode over to his Paladins and the Crimson Elves that were fighting on the main road. Over fifty goblins, a few hobgoblins and a few minotaur were fighting his ten Paladins and the Eleven Crimson Elves.
“Take to the rooftops!“ Kane ordered, his Crimson elves taking up positions on two rooftops. Five elven Rangers on the roof of the bakery and six on the roof of the leatherworking shop. The Rangers fired arrow after arrow mostly looking for minotaur or hobgoblin targets, but as they fell back or died they had to discriminate less among their targets.
On light horses the forty Avengers rode through the center of the town in a formation of four lines, ten men each. Dekari wore his fathers suit of white full plate with a Great Helm, light blue cloak and large bronze roundshield. Several arrows fired from goblin shortbows splintered on Dekari's armor as he rode at the head of his 40 men. With his golden broadsword, ‘Retribution’, in his right hand and his large bronze shield in his left Dekari rode with the 40 avengers behind him.
“Keep close ranks, Reinforce Firatri!“ Dekari yelled.
Along the stretch of road to Firatri’s position Dekari and his avengers cut down over 100 goblins and slew several hobgoblins. The goblins, hobgoblins and minotaur fell back a few streets and gathered strength.
"The Goblins are falling back!" Firatri yelled. "Press the attack forward.”
"Militia! Take up positions behind the Knights, attack with missile weapons!" Henry yelled
"Crimson Elves! Re-mount and reinforce the Paladins" Kane Yelled. "That many shortbows can still find a weak-spot in armor."
"Avengers!" Dekari yelled. "Form two, 20 man wings. One wing left of the paladins one wing right of the paladins. "Henry, arm your men with any kind of bow they can find and support the cavalry with archer support. Also arm the civilians with bows and have them take to the rooftops.”
"Militia get to the barracks and arm yourselves with bows!" Henry yelled
Dekari looked towards the center of town and saw Aiken being helped to walk by Draven and Dredskif. Dekari rode to his brother and at once noticed an arrow sticking out of Aiken’s calf. As Dekari inspected the wound he heard "Step aside for a moment Dekari." He looked behind him to see Ancus. Dekari stood and gave Ancus some room. The Monk snapped the head of the arrow and pulled the arrows shaft through Aikens leg in a quick motion. Aiken gritted his teeth cracking a chunk off one. Ancus put a hand over both the entry and the exit wound and started saying a prayer to Paial. After a moment Ancus removed his hands and Aikens leg was healed, though scared where he had taken the arrow.
"That had to hurt." Dekari said
"If there hadn’t been healers with us I could have lost my leg or worse," Aiken said. "Thank you Ancus. I am in your debt."
"You owe me nothing. The power to heal comes from Paial. If anything you are in debt to him."
"I doubt he would have come down from heaven to heal me if you hadn’t been here." Aiken
"I’ve heard you dabble with magic some. My healing ability comes from my religious devotion to Paial, Any magic you possess would be through religious devotion to a deity as well. Who is your patron deity?" Ancus asked.
"Victor, the god of war. Though I do pray a good deal to Draxis as well." Aiken said
"Its good that you consider it prayer because the power can be revoked at any time if you offend Victor or Draxis." Ancus said.
"All the same, thanks. I’m more put more of my energies into swordsmanship rather than magic. Though I dabble with magic I wouldn’t consider myself a cleric by any stretch of the imagination,” Aiken said.
Dekari left his brother and Ancus to their talk and tied his horse off near the leatherworking shop. Dekari walked over to a mounted Kane.
"The goblins have retreated, take your 10 rangers and scout everything within 3 miles of us south, west and north." Dekari said.
"Alright." Kane told Dekari in a voice loud enough for him to hear.
Over the next 2 hours the riders started coming back with self-made maps of the surrounding countryside. The maps showed a force of near 500 goblins amassing near a previously hidden goblin hole. The Elven scout who came back with the map said that there were a few large hills nearby and it looked from his quick reconnaissance to be a labyrinth of underground tunnels with an unknown amount of the enemy.
Dekari met with Aiken, Firatri, Henry, Kane and Draven.
"Reports from a scout show a large valley with occupied hills around it." Dekari said. "The scout also said that 500 goblins were there as a small standing army. We don’t leave until there is no longer a threat to Greendale."
"At last count I have 45 men left in the Greendale militia,” Henry said. “I thank you Dekair for staying until there is no longer a threat to the town.”
"Aid to this village is in my best interests. I grew up here. This is my hometown, there’s no way I’m going to watch some greasy goblins take control of it." Dekari said.
CONTINUE EDITING HERE
The 6 men sat in the town hall building where normally people were brought before the justice of the peace and the sheriff or complaints were heard. It was a square building with poor construction. The town hall building was a large longhouse with makeshift rooms built a while back. The smell of pipe tobacco was present in the room where the 6 men met as Firatri was smoking tobacco in his pipe.
"As head of the local militia and sheriff of Greendale i suggest we draft every able bodied man to either serve as a spearman or an archer. There’s no shortage of bows and we still have a town to clean up. Corpses everywhere and that’s just going to lead to disease."
"I’m familiar with the mercenaries guild in town i can go there if i can get funding and add them to the militia until they’re no longer needed." Aiken said
"I'll send you with a few hundred gold." Dekari said. "Marcus said the 10,000 gold was for trip expenses, might-as-well use it on protection of our hometown."
"Often enough goblins live underground. Its always better to go on the offensive but who knows how many goblins are in those hills. We could get drawn out of town engage them and have the town get attacked from another direction." Draven said
"I can have my crimson elven rangers set up a 2 mile perimeter as scouts to warn if there is an immanent attack." Kane said.
"Good idea." Dekari said. "Its only nearing noon, we should build up defenses in the town and use our men for a garrison. What we need are more laborers. Lets set up construction of barricades in the road and set up archer contingents at key locations. I have a feeling we're going to get swarmed with more than we can handle."
"This town is large enough where we could use the entire male population as workers to put up a wooden wall. We could surround the town with it and start with all the entryways by road. I have 10,000 gold. In Kulan i could buy a castle and property with that." Aiken said.
"Sounds most agreeable to me. I’m worried about a town of near 2000 population, but a wall and garrison would greatly help against being swarmed by goblins. We should put up stairwells and have a walkway on our side of the wall for archers. Even someone with very little experience with a bow could do damage to the enemy from a fortified point." Henry said
"My brother and I have been doing carpentry and mortar work for our father for a good long while we can oversee the labor." Dekari said.
"First i would go about a draft to raise more men then use those same men for labor and confiscate everything from the weapons shop to arm them with. There’s a few hundred shortbows lying around. They would work for now if merchandise is an issue." Dekari said.
"Depending on how much of that 10,000 your looking to spend we could have a paid standing mercenary army as well as civilian militia with constant supplies from Mohawk." Henry said
With a nod Dekari stood. "We need to get to work. I'll organize military efforts in the town for now, Aiken, your better at dealing with people, see to the wall construction and defenses." Dekari said.
The men shook hands and went their separate ways.
10 Days of Peace
(The Battle for Greendale)
--------------------------------------------------------
Over the next 5 days while spending near 2000 gold Dekari and Aiken achieved a lot with both organizing efforts as well as planning and scouting. Crimson elf scouts were constantly writting down troop movements of the enemy. a force of 800 goblins above ground with more joining all the time.
Henry drafted 600 men to be used as spearmen or archers, some were being trained in the use of their weapon by either Dekari or Aiken who were taught themselves by Bruce, a paladin and their father. On the west, north, south and east entrances into town the militia of 645 men were working under the supervision of Torto and Dorlum and had built several small wooden look-out towers that could hold about 10 men each for archer fire. Each had a trapdoor that locked so they would be harder to capture. There were 8 towers total, and a wall was still under construction connecting all the towers with a walkway from each. The foundation had been put in place for another 8 fortified towers along the wall in what Dekari had said were 'weak spots'. When the 645 man militia wasn’t working on building the walls and the next 8 towers they were being trained by the Avengers as well as the Paladins.
The first day after the battle, which was 4 days ago Aiken went to the Mercenaries guild and spoke with the guildmaster. In exchange for 500 gold the Guildmaster, Tiberius Billenus Magnus, joined the cause of protection of the village with 50 rogues under his charge. Dekari ordered Tiberius to have his 50 men aid in the construction of the 8 new fortified outposts in the wall as well as the wall itself. Dekari ordered the 20 Avengers to also work on the construction of the wall. The other 20 avengers and the 10 paladins as well as the 10 crimson elves trained the militia night and day. The avengers, paladins and Crimson elves, 2 of each at a time would train the local militia with the sword, the bow and the spear.
After another 5 days marking 10 since the battle, Kane's scouts reported troop-movements. He said that the force of 1000 goblins was moving east towards them with 5 blood elven commanders as well as about 50 hobgoblin officers. The scout reported that he saw no minotaur in the small force and that they were expected to arrive in less than 2 hours.
The wall was comming along nicely and the foundation, frame and walls were completed. The Wall ran around the small town in the shape of a square. There were 16 completed small lookout towers along the wall with one per corner, two per entrace to the town making 8 and the rest of the towers evenly spaced along the wall. From outside the wall it looked finished, as you could not see into town, from the inside the final touches were still being put on the walkway on the inside of the wall and some of the towers were being fortified further.
Upon the news that the force of 1000 goblins were headed that way Dekari put the town on full alert and Henrys 645 men took to the walkways on the inside of the wall, some taking towers for better protected places to make shortbow shots.
Draven called Henry, Tiberius, Ancus, Firatri, Aiken and Kane into the town hall for a meeting as soon as they received news of the 2 hour deadline until the enemy arrived.
"Greetings All. We must prepare for battle in haste, the fortifications unguarded will not hold. Henry i want you to use your mercenary force for archer support at the beginning of the battle. If the wall is breached have all your men fall back to the center of town. Then utilize your force as a phalanx against the enemy. As Sheriff of this town you will take any orders that Firatri gives you." Dekari said. "Ancus, use the town hall as a makeshift hospital, between the 6 monks the wounded should be seen to as they arrive. Tiberius hold the center of town and await orders from myself or Firatri. You and your 50 men will be a reserve. Your men will be needed in case the enemy breaks through one of the walls in a location of town away from our men. Understand?" Dekari asked
"Yes." Tiberius said.
"Kane, use the 10 crimson elves under your charge as archers and swordsmen on the western wall. Crimson elves are renown for their courage and discipline in battle as well as their expert swordsmanship and archery skills. "Aiken you take Draven, Dredskif, Appius, Lepidus, Torto, and Dorlum as well as 45 of the militia on horseback and patrol the town. If you see anything out of the ordinary or see any of the enemy breach the walls send a messenger to me and engage them." Dekari said.
"Any questions?" Dekari asked.
"I’m supposed to ride around town twiddling my thumbs throughout the whole battle and just wait or them to breach the walls?" Aiken asked
"Why don’t you give that job to a woman! I'll take the men assigned to me and leave town as a cavalry division." From a vantage spot i will watch the enemy then harass them. I will go to one side of the enemy and attack them with spear and arrow then fall back and attack them at a new spot. While 1000 goblins try to climb your thinly defended walls i'll be setting fire to their ladders, and raining archer fire down upon them from a safe distance. If they come from the west little brother have the remaining 600 militia fire shortbow arrows in volleys over the walls of town from inside going out. If its raining arrow fire in volleys they will have thin lines and my 50 horse will have an easier time with an offensive." Aiken said.
"Very well." Dekari said irritated that Aiken had found a better plan for his men than he had.
"Wave the red flag to signal no-archer-fire in the hot zone then when my men are off the field i will signal back with a red flag to show that you may resume archer fire. There are 600 men behind your walls with shortbows and tons of arrows. With every wave of the enemy you will have hundreds of arrows going over the wall with each volley.
"Will do." Dekari said.
"I’m to use my men primarily as archers then fall back to the center of town if the walls breached and use my force as a phalanx, correct?" Henry asked.
"Yes, should work well. You have a lot more spears and arrows here in the town than you do swords. Make good use of the weapons you have available to you." Dekari said
"Understood."
"Lets get to preparing." Dekari said and with that they all left the town hall and relayed orders to all the officers under their command.
Dekari once again chose to command the force of avengers. Dekari had his 40 Avengers get their horses ready and prepare for battle. Dekari set up a makeshift stable with buckets of water and poles to tie the horses off with and the 40 avengers and himself took up positions on the west wall.
Time passed and 3 hours later 1000 Goblins, 50 Hobgoblins and 5 blood elves could be seen marching towards the town. To the towns west the blood elves gave orders which the hobgoblins relayed to the small army of goblins.
Henry, sheriff of Greendale, Tiberius, guildsmaster of the mercenaries guild in town, Firatri, Kane, Draven, Dredskif, Aiken, Dekari stood upon the west wall and watched.
"Those goblins have to be 2000 feet away. The Paladins, Mercs and Avengers should do a cavalry charge before the battle starts then fall back to inside the town walls. Firatri and Tiberius how long to ready for a cavalry charge?" Dekari asked
"Couple minutes." Firatri said
"We can start getting into lines now." Tiberius said.
"Do so, I'll have my 40 Avengers behind your two divisions as a reserve." Dekari said.
"The goblins dont seem to be in any rush to form lines or prepare for battle in any way." Draven said.
"They cant see in our walls, they dont know how many we have id wager." Dredskif said to Draven.
"After the last battle for this town they probably think were disorganized and vastly outnumbered" Draven said .
The Paladins, Mercenaries and Avengers formed a large column inside the town wall door and once open the men filed out onto the flat field in-front of the western side of the fortress and started forming lines.
"A cavalry charge with Elite Paladins in Full plate, Avengers who are Del'Goth Elite and 50 veteran mercenaries must be quite the sight for those greasy little goblins." Draven said.
"What are the odds?" Dredskif asked
"10 goblins per one cavalryman on our side." Draven said.
"Id place my bet on our side, there might be 10 goblins for any one of them but most of those goblins dont even reach 5 feet tall, and theyre going to somehow stop a heavy cavalry charge. I think not." Dredskif said
The harsh sound of a goblin trumpet sounded and from the woods to the north of the goblin army a second goblin force of equil size and also commanded by blood elves took to the field.
"Dont speak too soon. This just got interesting." Draven said.
"Looks to be another force of near 1000 goblins, now thats a 20 to 1 ratio of goblins to humans." Dredskif said.
"Care to place a wager on who does better?" Draven asked.
"I wager 20 silver and 5 iron pieces that Dekari, Firatri and Tiberius leave the field first." Draven said.
"Why would our guys leave the field first. Goblins are horrible fighters, i bet ya we cut em down like grass. 20 silver and 5 iron?" Dredskif said.
"Thats right." Draven said.
"Deal." So as soon as those crummy little goblins break formation and run then i get my coin?" Dredskif said.
"Thats right. Who ever leaves the field first ends the bet. Dekari leaves first i get 25 coin if the goblins flee and you get the coin." Draven said
"Done." Dredskif said
"Lets watch and see. With a little money on it this is starting to get interesting." Draven said.
"We dont have long, their two forces arnt even together yet." Dekari said
"Plan same as it was?" Firatri asked.
"No. We need this charge to be over before the two groups come together." Dekari said.
"Form lines only 2 deep, my avengers will make the left wing, Paladins center and your men tiberius make the right wing. Do Not break lines! Quick charge before they get into lines and before those 2 groups of goblins converge." Dekari said. "Form Lines, 2 Deep"! Dekari yelled. "2 Deep avengers on the left! 2 Deep paladins in the middle! 2 Deep Mercenaries on the right!"
After a moment the lines were formed the three commanders standing in-front of their respective forces all charged the group of goblins that had been there first and had been making camp. As the distance closed Terror struck the new camp of goblins. Most formed uneven lines and grabbed spears. Each goblin was sticking the handle of their spears in the dirt and putting a foot over the butt of the spear to hold it in the dirt. A tactic they learned from having never rode a horse and having had to deal with cavalry. The goblins, most standing shorter than the average man hunched down and all pointed their spears skyward facing the cavalry charge.
When the first line of 50 horsemen charged into the lines the second remained behind by about 50 feet. The second force of 1000 goblins charged as fast as their little legs would carry them to reinforce the 1000 that was under attack. The force of 50 currently engaged broke the goblin lines and were using their horses to trample any goblins that they could while using using regular melee weapons to fight the vile creatures. With Tiberius and Firatri and their 50 men engaged for the moment Dekari fell back from the swarm of goblins he had been fighting and rode up to the 50 men waiting in reserve.
"Reserve Force! engage the charging goblins with missile weapons. Fire Arrows at will into the oncoming force!" Dekari yelled. His force clanked weapons against shields and the avengers screamed a war-cry then they began knocking arrows and loading crossbows.
Dekari rode back to the 50 men engaged in battle and yelled "Fall Back Behind the Reserve force!" The remaining men of the first wave made a hasty retreat to fall back behind the reserve force.
"Reserve force!" Dekari yelled. "Draw weapons and form lines!" Second force form lines behind the reserve force"
After a short time later Dekari was ready for another cavalry charge. 1000 goblins that had arrived second and were rushing to meet with the first force had another 1000 feet til they reached their weakened allied force.
Dekari yelled "Second line remain out of battle as reserve, first line attack their fresh force." then Dekari yelled "Second line use bows to cover the first line and await furthar orders" Then Dekari yelled "Charge."
While the slightly depleted force of 100 cavalry rushing across the field in two long lines a blood elf in the fresh goblin force ordered his 1000 goblins to hold and make lines and prepare spears. A blood elf in the now 760 strong goblin force ordered his goblins to rush to the other goblin force and form one larger force.
Dekari watched as the 1000 new goblins formed 4 thick lines and spread out spear tips to await the cavalry and he watched as the previously engaged goblin force now down to 760, charged towards the 1000.
"Firatri! Tiberius" Dekari yelled. "Follow me and break left! attack the same force again!"
Upon his order the three units of cavalry broke from their charge towards the 1000 fresh goblins and charged the 760 strong force.
"Form One line!" Dekari said.
Tiberius and Firatri relayed the order and those of the remaining cavalry made one long line.
The 760 goblins were spread out over about a square mile of the field. The slightly depleted cavalry crashed into the mass of 760 goblins who were very disorganized and the cavalry engaged for a moment before Dekari noticed the 1000 fresh goblins were charging their position.
"Fall Back to the Village!" Dekari yelled; the order being repeated by Firatri and Tiberius.
Firatri had lost no paladins, Dekari had lost only 2 Avengers and Tiberius had lost near 10 mercenaries. Between the horses trampling the small goblins and the very well trained Paladins and Avengers and the veteran mercenaries they had started well. Dekari led all the cavalry inside the town gate and it was closed behind the force.
About 450 goblins had been killed and the force led by Dekari had lost less than 15. The horses of both the Avengers and the Paladins had armor and they didn’t lose as many horses as the mercenaries. The remaining 1550 goblins made camp and the officers tents, of traditional blood elf design were stationed in the middle of the encampment.
With the sun going down lanterns were lit in the 16 towers in the town walls and hundreds of camp fires could be seen across the field coming from the goblins, hobgoblins and their blood elven commanders.
"Looks like you owe me 20 silver and 5 iron pieces big guy" Draven said to Dredskif.
"Our side still lost almost noone in the battle" Dredskif said.
"Doesnt matter it was who leaves the field first. I bet Dekari leaves the field first and i won." Draven.
"Thats some tricky shit, as i remember it, it was who wins or loses" Dredskif said
"Sorry about your luck. I’m not going to argue over a wager as small as 20 silver and 5 iron. We both know I won now pay up." Draven said
Dredskif mumbled something about thieving humans and tricky wording and paid Draven his sum of 25 coin.
450 goblins, 35 Hobgoblins and 5 blood elves
1000 goblins, 50 Hobgoblins and 5 blood elves
+
1450 Goblins 85 hobgoblins 10 bloodelves
VS
Henry: 645
Tiberius, 40 mercs
Ancus:Monks: 5
Firatri: Paladins: 10
Kane: Crimson Elves: 10
Dekari: Avengers: 38
Aiken: Draven, Dredskif, Kane, Appius, Lepidus
Wagons: Torto, Dorlum, Ancus
Appius Hortensius Serpentis: (Human) (Drifter/Mercenary) (Deserter)
Lepidus Servius Serpentis. (Human) (Drifter/Mercenary) (Deserter)
Party:
Dekari: Human Fighter (Bear)
Aiken: Human Thief-Mage (Bear)
Firatri: Human Paladin Rockport
10 Paladins
Ancus: Human Monk Rockport
5 Monks
Dorlum: (Mountain Dwarf) clan of Buhrodar: Empire of Haraxis (Drifter/Mercenary)
Torto: (Hill Dwarf) Clan of Syrkyst: Empire of Palaxis (Drifter/Mercenary)
Dredskif: (Minotaur) the Clan of Warlord Bolthorpe (Drifter/Mercenary)
Kane: Crimson Elf Ranger (Bear/Qualistay) Aikens friend
20 Crimson Elf Rangers
4 Mercenarys Hired from greendale
Draven: Human Fighter (Hellgoth) Drifter/Mercenary
Appius Hortensius Serpentis: (Human) (Drifter/Mercenary) (Deserter)
Lepidus Servius Serpentis. (Human) (Drifter/Mercenary) (Deserter)
-Ties to Assassins guild and Kulan Underworld
Web hosting is powered by Free Web Hosting | Donate