A True Taste of Defeat - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
28/10/475
Log
The final straw has been drawn, an attack, an ambush, and now. They sit in open field with their weapons of war ready to fire. The cliffsiders no longer hide who they are and fly their flags high, wear their personal and strong armors proudly. Lancers, Swordmen, archers. They all stand at the ready. On the side of 'good' are the soulless, the men and women of Firmament stand to defender their homes, their lives, and their kingdom. Severall large divisions of Firmament troops, swordsman and archers stand at the ready to attack. some two hundred and fifty stand at the ready. The elite, the rookies, all stand shoulder to shoulder.
Sally reports to her superior officer, something she isn't called on to do, with a unit of her own and its independent goals, but in time of siege, such little liberties are surrendered. "Lightbringer Unit is ready to assist," she reports with a sharp salute, "We will keep them away from the walls, and make them bleed a gallon for every filthy foot print they dare to make on our sovereign soil."
Zevran follows behind Sally, his spiked heavy armor clinking as he moves. It seems he has shed his wings and claws for a suit of armor and a large horn on his nose. His signature large sword rests in its spot on his back. He stays silent as Sally addresses her superior, taking the opportunity to glance across the field at the Cliffsiders.
Bite looks out over the enemies, already prepping her firey magics. She shakes her head that it has come to this, like there aren't other problems to solve. Why they want to move in so bad when the shadow are so near is beyond her, but it is clear they are giving their all. She approaches a familiar group of individuals, and silently works on her magics. Long prep times would be better avoidied if possible.
Most of the Soulless are ready to fight, while others were mostly ready. mostly as in 'just needing to find the correct formulas' to be perfectly ready. One of those cases was the youn Mage Adept Linnefer, who had studied where all those that now faced the army of the land she lived in. "where I have those two... they are less complex than that one... should be easier to handle with one spell formula more at hand... ahh... here... the earthquacke... and the angered icewinds..." she muttered as she placed two reading singns in the book, removing one other for it.
Rainer plods right along behind Zevran, barely distinguishable from any other soldier of the Sweetwater Army clad all in a suit of heavy armour. He seems none too pleased with the outfit, though, and keeps fussing with its various parts, so preoccupied with it he fails to notice their unit coming to a stop and collides with the rhino's back. "Oof."
Walden the Armadillo is nicely armored, but he's not heavily armed with weapons or magic like most of the others. Instead the bulk of his gear appears to be medical supplies. "Wonder if anyone else I know is out there," he murmurs quietly, anxiously.
Linnefer walks some feet as she tries to gather to the group she was deignated to. The spells were all at hand, hopefully when they were needed. "uhm... Sergant? Commander? Chief? Sorry, I am not good with ranks. I was told to report for duty here. Linnefer my name." she tells the one that is closest and looks like he is in charge - which she decides by who has the most badass looking armor on him or her. And with all those spikes and thorns that is Zevan.
The commander of the Firmament forces looks at Sally. "Stand ready, they are strong. They have succeeded in several powerful attacks and strong ambushes against our forces." he looks at the man standing before him. A mix of reserve fighters and standing military forces stands here. A weakness that will cost them possibly. "Alight boys and girls. Across the field is the assault force of Cliffside, They are not a raiding force as we generally assumed when they first attack. That.. is a three hundred man .. standing assualt force. There are Rumors that they have calvery, as you can see around us.. there are simply no places for them to hide. So, with this wall out our back, we stand a chance to wipe them off the field and gain the upper than." She looks to the Soulless then. "Mages, If you could do long range support to keep their troops back, that would be wonderful, Warriors I would like you in the thick of it. Support our men and do what you do best, wreck the field." he looks to the healers. "Healers, Sadly, Most of you job will be the more.. painful one. Please assist our downed men in their final moments or get them back on their feet, We can't allow them to win here." From the enemy force a rider rides forward with a white flag.
A final salute, and Sally moves to guide her men away, "Play it smart. If we don't die, the fight will be ours. Make sure they're greeting the Creators before we do." She flashes her teeth, "Just pretend they're weak shadows. We can take on a mountain of those fiends, we can take a few conscripts sent on a suicide mission. Keep your head on straight and let's show the Good King just how good an army he has."
Zevran doesn't even move as Rainer bumps into him. "Not used to wearing all that armor? You should be glad for it. It'll probably save your life today." He says to Rainer, turning around to face the wolf. His attention is drawn by the female who addressed him. "Commander? I'm merely a soldier. She's the one you might want to talk to. Name's Zevran by the way." He replies to Linnefer before turning to listen to the commander's orders. As he hears the order for warriors, he cracks his knuckles and starts to smile. "This will be fun." He replies to Sally as he follows her. He seems as eager and confident as usual, but the look in his eyes shows that he is completely serious about the battle.
Bite nods to the commander and then looks back to the enemies, ready to move in behind the warriors. Purification almost ready, she will assist when it is time. She giggles at something and then shakes her head, refocusing.
Walden shakes his head slowly looking all somber and morose. "Nothing fun about taking the lives of fellow people," the armadillo medic states. "I'd be happiest if nobody died today on either side..."
Rainer is still rubbing his face where he got jabbed by one of the numerous armour spikes when Zevran turns to address him. "Mf. I'm not worried about that. I can't die before I've become the most famous explorer in all of Promise." He smiles lopsidedly as he falls back into step with his group, commenting cheerfully to Lin as he passes her, "If you're half as good against soldiers as you are against golems, they haven't got a chance." The sight of the rider under the white flag soon catches his eye, and he calls ahead to the vixen leading him, pointing towards the approaching soldier, "Hey! Sally! Have a look at that!"
Linnefer did her best to follow the group without dropping her tome. The Formulas were at hand and ready, she just... uhm... would need a target and line to fire along. And she was more then ready to pull her aid from the bluestream. "I just hope this new and improved formulas do their work. Tweaked them a bit at some points." she answers to Rainer, eying where he pointed "that seems to be... a Messanger of some sorts."
The rider approaches, a whitle Cheetah as she pulls her massive steed to a halt. "I've been sent to request your surrender. Upon surrender you'd be treated fairly and your city will become apart of Cliffside, You will be protected wiht our armed forces." she stands and waits. "I await your responce." She says softly while lookinga t the woman. She is wearing Heavy armor but seemling designed for agility as well, leaving some weak points in the armor.
Bite sneers. "Sounds like martial law." she hisses as she looks him over. She looks to the commander for his swift rejection.
Sally lifts her shoulders, "Get ye gone and tell your masters that the people of Firmament will not bow down to snooty scholars that wouldn't know justice from their own back ends." She unslings her sheath and raises it, lantern swinging, "You'll find no defectors in this Creator blessed land!"
Zevran snorts at the Cheetah's offer of surrender. He takes a moment to glance at the Cheetah, wondering if it was the same one he ran into before. Upon seeing Sally's reaction, his hand raises to the handle of his own weapon. He does not draw it yet, instead watching to see what the Cheetah will do.
Walden hangs his head dejectedly. "So the truth comes out," he says with a quiet sigh. "It's just power-hungry, greedy leadership. They don't care who they hurt, who they kill. Insults disguised as 'mercy.' I feel sorry for their soldiers- but they need to be stopped. Right here. Right now."
The woman smiles. "Then, I hope you have friends." She pulls back alittle, it was the commander of the forces. "You will need them by the end of the day." She smiles and turns, heading back to the forces and just then, three trebuchets fire, their archs are off for direct hits, but all of the bolders are on fire. The woman seems to take her time getting back as the loud motion of the enemy army readies. Lancers and heavy swordsman upfront.
Rainer watches the exchange in contemplative silence, humming thoughtfully as the tigress rides away. "Well that was unproductive." he remarks to no-one imparticular. His ears perk to attention at the distant but unmistakenable sound of the trebuchets opening fire, his eyes darting directly to the sky, and the giant, flaming rocks now filling it. "Oh... dear..."
Bite make sure she is not going to be hit by the incoming fire or any likely rubble it will cause before she curses. "Well... sssweeties shall we? They're sure to sit there until they've destroyed the walls if nothing is done."
Zevran recognizes the Cheetah as the commander as she is walking away from them. "Damn it. We should have killed her." He mutters to himself, almost too low for anyone else to hear.Tthe sound of the trebuchet draws his eyes to the flaming boulders. He mutters a few expletives before looking towards the Cliffsiders. He seems as though he is about to charge, but seems to remember he isn't alone at the last minute. He glances towards Sally, as though silently asking for permission.
Sally eyeballs the incoming balls of fire, "Want to play with fire. Very well." She draws out a parchment from the depths of her clothing, unfurling a new fire sorcery, "We'll see who is burnt today."
Linnefer lifts her eyes to the flying balls of fire, mumbling some words as she grips for the bluestream. her hands open the book at a very well known page, fingers trailing along the glyps and signs that glow under the hand as she worked her magic to call forth a spirit of a dragon and donate him a body of water. "On the Boulders or the enemy?!" she asks nearly yelling against the uprising sounds of pre combat preparation.
Walden grits his teeth and clutches onto his beloved trauma kit protectively. "If only I could shake the boulders," he mutters. "Not today. I put everything I've got into doing what I do best."
The enemy forces starts to move, sheilds interlocked, lancers and heavy swords men moving slowly as they prepare to attack. Three more bolders are let fly, it seems their target is somewhere near the group but exactly where is hard to tell. Seems the cliffsiders had a plan set for this. The sound of motion, some of the rookies and reservest seeming to back up alittle only to have the commander yell 'HOLD THE LIFE!'
Sally looks over her paper a moment before she begins to work the numbers, spewing a violent diatribe of mathematics as she moves forward, tracing bright lines with each motion of finger and staff. She's probably starting something stupid(ly awesome), but it seems spellcasting leaves little room for sharing the idea with others.
Rainer rustles and shifts uncomfortably as the giant flaming rocks grow steadily closer, doing his damnedest to figure out if they're standing in the immediate line of fire. Swallowing audibly, then uttering in a raspy, barely audible voice, "Adventuring Rule #26, don't stay in one place for too long--!"
Bite holds her spell at ready, unsure how her mass of flames would affect the already burning projectile. She does however attempt to move away from the incoming possibility of being hit.
Linnefer eyes her watery servant for a minute, then sending him against the enemy forces with a mere gesture, turnign pages to open the book at the new bookmark. the one that promised a short but cruel shock of the earth. Hopefully it would break the enemies lines when they would stumble over the moving field, but as likely as that the own forces would be hindered in advance. Another time she pulled on the bluestream, leading the magical energies into the spellbook's formula that glow in dark yellow as they sink though the book dripping to the earth. Slow but steady she followed the forward dashing group, hoping for quick results. but all people know how it is with untested formulas, right?
Zevran glances towards Sally as she starts her incantation of Divine Math. He assumes that this is her way of telling him to go ahead, so he starts to advance on the Cliffside forces. He turns to Rainer as he hears the wolf spout another of his Adventuring Rules. "Well then let's go." He says to Rainer as he starts to work his own Dark Magic, preparing a hex that would make his opponents regret fighting with him.
All the bolders finally impact the ground Instantly, several locations catch fire and becoming a roaring blaze while others kinda falter and do nada. The battle field now a dangerous place to be for atleast one side. The enemy troops fall back and fall over, but they are quickly put out with medics cometing to assit those that had been set on fire. a quarter of the enemy forces now down for the count as light infinitry and archers moves up. The archers harder to see how ever. The Commander yells, Sweetwater, "Keep your ground, but sadly some of the recurits and rookies have already retreated, they are farmers and smiths, not warriors, damn cowards.
Walden takes a few slow, deep breaths, keeping an eye on the situation for now. "I'm gonna have to start writing down these rules," he states. He hangs out near the back, for now simply keeping a lookout until he's needed.
Zevran completes his equations and his form is surrounded by darkness (Shaded Hex). "Damn rookies." He mutters as he hears the commander. He seems a bit annoyed, but not very angry at the deserters. With the hex now offering him some form of retaliation against his enemy, he breaks into a full-on charge towards the Cliffsiders, taking care to stay away from the firey areas of the battlefield, and areas that the fire may be spreading to.
Linnefer flips some more pages untill she reaches another spell she had not tested too far. the call on the icy blizards of the north. Although a headache was starting to pour in, she led once again power into the spellbooks preaaranged sigils , signs and numbers, forcing them to glow up in a gaint icy blue. Drifting up to the sky, they formed the enchantment. (cutting wind) Unlike earth wind was so much faster to react, but so much more unreliable. If it would put the fires out or freeze the enemies it would be good. but if it would set them ablaze or direct them to the walls, that would be quite opposite and verry bad.
Rainer swallows hard, flattening his ears and, with some effort, untucking his tail from between his legs. With a breath he steels himself, rattling his scabbard as he takes hold of and draws his sword. "I've got your back, big guy!" he manages to sound fully confident, even though he doesn't completely look the part, and when the rhino is ready to charge the enemy, so will he be.
Abruptly, a second tail sprouts from Sally as she waves her hands, working further trickery as she gestures towards one of the ballista, staring intently at it as if she could set it on fire with her thoughts. Perhaps she could.
Walden winces at all the flames on the battlefield. "Oh geez. What were they thinking?" he wonders out loud as he rushes over to assist in the retrieval of Sweetwater soldiers hurt by the flames, grabbing a towel from his supply pack and getting it wet before helping to put out anyone he can.
Bite slithers forward slightly, avoiding the fire as she moves to unleash a widespread flame across their frontline, giggling with glee as she watches the flames flicker. (Battlefield purification)
Zevran continues his charge, but is unable to avoid some of the flames that seem to miraculously spring up in his way. The smell of singed skin and fur drifts through the air as he emerges from the other side of the flames. The areas of bare skin on his body such as his hands and face appear to be singed, but he continues his charge at the Cliffsiders, unleashing a diagonal strike with his greatsword once he gets within range of one of the soldiers.
Sally advances forward to keep with the thick of her fellows, avoiding the flames as best as she can. As the enemy soldiers come into easier casting range, she begins to hurl the fire at them more steadily, bathing the field in hostile numerology, seeking out those hostile to the city and giving them warm greeting.
Rainer shields his face with his arms best as he may as he follows the charging rhino through the flames, that Zev is partially trampling the fire ahead of him only a minor saving grace. There's an extra spring added to his step by the searing heat underfoot. "Oof yow ah hot hot wow!" Emerging from the other side of the inferno still ... hot on the heels ... of the dark knight, he readies his weapon again, panting feverishly, "We're gonna bake before we get to 'em!"
A storm is summoned, thunder rolls over head as the commands of each unit starts to assist their men. The lancer grinning darkly as the choices before her, she seems entirely to feral. The Red panda sighs as she drags a heavy mace, two handed. The Timber Wolf shakes his head. "War... War never ends." he mutters softly and then looks at his battered unit. Some of them dead the rest getting up after the rain starts. The Heavy swordsmen commands and Lancer commander move their troops to the side as the archers open fire directly into the oncoming Sweetwater troops, leveling the front line in one go, the soulless emerging with no harm surprisingly. The Trebuchets no longer fire as the Sweetwater troops moves in closer. But the White Cheetah comes into view again. "Surrender.. You are out numbered and you will all die here if you continue your attack." She offers them a second chance, to give up as the calvery units sweep in finally."
Bite begins prepwork on an explosive spell, defying the peace offer. She stays well behind the warriors, shaking her head at the offer.
Sally has little reason to play nice with the Cliffside aggressors. With a twist of her tails, she befuddles the senses of one of the enemy medics tending to the fires of his fellows, distracting them towards his enemies instead. If he gets killed in the attempt, victory, if he dispenses care to a friendly soldier, also victory.
Walden remains behind the charging forces. That's not his place today. While he silently fears for them, knowing he has many friends up ahead, he focuses instead on the wounded calling for a medic. He kneels down beside a soldier succumbing to arrow wounds; the armadillo does not look happy. But he produces a little amount of a salve and uses it to treat the wound to relieve the soldier's pain. "It's okay... we've got you. You're going to be fine," he lies quietly and helps him lie back in a more comfortable position. Nothing more to do here. He lets out a sigh and seeks out his next "patient", trying to be mindful of threats.
Zevran completely ignores the Cheetah's offer and continues his charge at an enemy soldier in front of him. As he nears the soldier, he lowers his head and attempts to gore his enemy with his horn. The dark hex surrounding him might make the eight-foot tall Rhino in spiked armor look even more intimidating.
Rainer has likely gone largely, if not completely unseen, hidden in the shadow of the mighty Heavy Clanner. Zevran may register weight being applied to his armour briefly, or he may not at all, as the wolf nibly springs ahead, landing upon one of the numerous spikes protruding from the knight's armour, hopping to the next, landing upon shoulder before giving one last thrust, launching himself into the air, a loud cry surging from his throat as he goes into a spin, both blades drawn, coming down amidst the first line of Cliffside forces like a top. A sharp, cutty top. Of slicing and pain.
Many of the troops around the charging Rihno miss him as he charges by, except the one lander that put up his shield and lanced readied to couter, The counter worked except the lancer was now being plowed over by Zevran. The soldier in Walden's arms slowly slips away, his last breath coming as soon his eyes go completely unfocused. Several other of the arrow riddled men live how ever, having taken fewer arrows than this one. The medic that Sally fiddles with is actually helping out a Sweetwater soilder and completely tends him before one of the commanders grabs the woman and throws her some ten feet before moving on to deal with any resisting forces. And against all this NO WE WON"T GIVE UP actions a few, twenty, of the rookies and reservist do give up and are taken prisoners. The calvery slowly moving in until there is a LOUD ban and the horses startle and all hell breaks loose on their ends after the sweet water commander orders the retreat of the remaining forces. Rainer's actions are not completely expected as man of the archers are injured or dead, it's impossible to tell, after the whirling dervish that just landed amoungst them.
What is there to do but to battle on? Sally draws erratic lines in the air, malformed numbers and bad math congeal to form the unstable elemental, screaming in torment of its very own, wrong, existance, and ready to unleash its fury upon her enemies. She directs it towards the cavalry and elemental energies gather swiftly, exploding outward towards them, the math more of a fireball than an elemental with its short lived ferocity.
Bite unleashes her explosive force upon the enemy, backing it with everything she has in her. Her targets are the incoming foes.
The Sweetwater troops start retreating at their commands orders. The forces of the attack long since scattering from the elemental and the heavy assult alot of people are scattered but. Many of the Cliffside forces remain standing. "RETREAT!" is ordered by a female voice, but not the cliff side commander. It's another person, on of hidden features and sand colored armor.
Walden helps one last person up. He sounds concerned about the order to retreat; orders are orders, though. He grabs someone after applying just enough medicine to stabilize him, and he carries this patient back to get him on a stretcher. "This sounds bad..."
Sally peers up at the unknown figure. They have no authority, but who else remains, not enough. She moves to follow her withdrawing countrymen, weaving a protective shell of stone to wrap over her fuzzy form as she goes.
Bite giggles and summons an unstable elemental as a parting gift as she follows orders.
Zevran gives the trampled lancer one more good stomp. He starts to follow after his retreating fellows, but a sharp pain in his side stops him before he even takes a step. He reaches his hand down, feeling a hole in his armor and a warm, slightly sticky liquid oozing between his fingertips. He glances to the ground near the lancer, spotting a lance with blood on it. He removes his hand, looking down to see his fingers covered with blood. "Hey, Rainer. You mind giving me a hand?" He asks the wolf, placing his hand back over his wound.
Rainer wobbles and stumbles a couple steps as he comes out of his spin, nearly tripping over one of the corpses he just created. "Haaaa~" A quick shake of his head and he's parrying counter-attacks with his swords, edging his way back towards Zevran with every step he's able to take. "Ergh..." he grunts at the sight of their allies withdrawing frown quickly turning to a snarl as he dispatches one of the Cliffsiders still advancing on him. "Dammit, we were--" The rhino's call interrupts him, and without a second thought he sheathes his weapons and comes to Zev's side, putting one arm over the larger being's back and using the other to heft Zevran's free arm over him, hastening the big lug along as best he can, mumbling something about not leaving anyone else behind.
The escape for all the Sweetwater forces is not absolute as some of the vets get rounded up before the full retreat can take place. Some fourty soldiers lost to the Cliffside forces. A yell comes from the forces. "YOU SHOULD HAVE SURRENDERED!" the voice male." Then the men, prisoners and cliffsiders all retreat, each making their way to another location. many wounded left on the battle field, no cliffside forces were left.
