Hells Armada

[ExSPlug]

(OOC:I know that spiders arn't insects, but consider the knowledge level of Medieval people... ::))

The first wave of the demon's counter end up as a failure, and they're now shutting themselves up. Suddendly Sealand turned from a noisy battlefield to a slient wasteland.

During the time the humand took advantage and regroup and resupply their forces. Well, at least the Riders did. Luster had finally returned with the wolves and his tale of finding them. Now that the recruits could finally mount on wolfbacks.

Wether to continue the assault or not would be a question after that though...

[GhostHunter]

"FIRE!" There were screams as the command echoed throughout the line. Thousands upon thousands of boulders crashed into the side of the wall-decimating it instantly, or at least a large portion. The ships began to move in transporting the Fenris riders and the Izuck forces. Thousands upon thousands of flaming arrows flew into the main defenses of the stronghold as the large ground invasion now began to hit the shores.

[Dante]

"Let them breach the outer wall." The order came. "I'm tired of this. I told them to go away and leave me alone but still they just keep on coming! Have the inner wall warded. I want boulders bouncing off that thing! In the meantime, deflect anything that comes our way but don't attack, reserve everything for defence. And where are those damn vampires?! Or Nagos for that matter... Enough. I want everything pulled in, the fortress magically warded, and the storm howling. No attacking. If we keep our priorities defensive perhaps they'll get the message and leave us alone."

"Oh, but just in case, send out a message that for every arrow they fire, every boulder and every metre of ground they tread on, I'll personally eat a small child alive. Or possibly make them eat each other."

[GhostHunter]

Post tommorow.

[GhostHunter]

(O.C.C - Excuse the bad grammar; I am tired and I just re-installed Windows and WORD isn't installed yet, so bear with me).

The storm now was furocious; lightning bolts began to hit the inside defenses.

"Get ready to aim..." Spoke Kalan waving his hand in the air as a good amount of the catipults came onshore. There was only the sounds of the distent lightning storm. He was lucky; the storm made visability for them deteriorate significantly. There was a anticipated pause as the men waited for his command.

"FIRE!" His voice bellowed down the lines as the rocks flew into the air. Some fell short, and others went over the wall hitting the inner-defense. He watched as the rocks collided into the wall-merely making dents. It would take HOURS of concentrated assualt to break through. His men looked a little less then happy about it, Kalan could almost hear the damn spider laughing now.

Kalan turned to face the Fenris Riders who only lost three men in the initial landings and take-over the the out-defenses.

"We've taken over 90% of the island easily...But they've sort of got us here..." Muttered one of the Fenris Riders. There were echoed crashes as more boulders collided into the wall; the same result came. Kalan sat down and thought for a second, the archers had rested for awhile now, streching out and relaxing their arms. Besides, it wasn't as if flaming arrows did much under rain and lightning.

"We found those ammo ducts in various places in the town with the huge amounts of gunpowder as storage for those cannons, correct?" Kalan turned towards the Fenris Rider who spoke before. He gazed at him slightly and then nodded.

"What do you prepose?" Kalan only turned around snickering.

"We use their own tactic against them..." The Rider didn't seem to really get what Kalan was talking about.

"Tell the wizards to lay off the storm and prepare their magic for any evil creature that comes along when..." He trailed off.

"...When, m'lord?" Spoke one of his newer recruits. The man had showed great promise by surviving this far. Kalan spoke without turning this time.

"Why when we bust through the wall of course dear lad!" The soldiers around him grined.

"Load the gunpowder in the catipults!" There was a slight reluctance but the men eagerly began to do so. The storm stopped and the wizards now prepared for a wave of any evil creature. However, now the enemy weapons were on them; nailing down a few line of soldiers...

"Archers, ready the flaming arrows!" There was a giant moaning from the bows as more then 45,000 men pulled back their arrows...

"Catipults aim inside the walls! And...FIRE!" Thousands of barrels of gunpowder flew at the wall, some landing short and some landing a few feet away from the wall; but most landed inside...There was a pause as Kalan grinned.

"Swordsmen get ready!" There were various melee weapon noises as they drew....

"Archers, FIRE!" The flaming arrows soared into the inner defenses, hundreds of various blasts could be heard and large explosions cratered the defense. Many large sections of the wall instantly fell and the main defenses were hit bad.

"CHARGE!!!" Yelled Kalan drawing his blade and running in, 245,000 men followed.

[cobrajc]

Nagos fed on the souls of one of the Izuck patrols. She had caught them trying to sneak into the city and had consumed their souls. As she fed she heard a sound coming from the forest and swooped up and disappeared.

Below her walked another Illis!

She dropped down and stopped in front of it.

"Hello, my name is Nagos."

"I know who you are Nagos. I was sent here to find you."

"Find me? Why?"

"Because you are now the leader of all of the Illis!"

[Anathema]

Gunpowder was invented in 1260, though it took some years before practical cannons were developped.

Finally, it was dawn. Rhom was just over a few hundred metres away, and the attack would commence before long.

The order soldiers had pitched camp out of archer range from the city of Rhom, and had gathered all refugees from the direct area to assist in taking back their own homes.

General Angelus was leading the assault personally. He looked down the hilltop to the city of Rhom, once a thriving trade post, now a ghost town. Who knows what creatures might have taken refuge in the city...

A mounted messenger arrived at the camp. He bore the insignia of the order, so he was allowed to speak to the general.

"Sir, Lord Ragnar informs you that the assault on Razaal has ended. We are victorious!" the messenger said, slightly thrilled.

"Excellent- ride back to Lord Ragnar and tell him to leave a small force at Razaal and then pitch camp south of the city of Kelthos. The peasant militia of Razaal and some of our men should be able to handle Razaals defense. After my army has retaken the city of Rhom I will ride to Kelthos as well to meet him, and together we will take the third city."

An hour later the army gathered near the walls of Rhom. With the soldiers and the peasant militia well rested and their morale strenghtened by the good news that morning the general was eager to attack- but patient as ever.

From their position they could see demons patrolling over the city walls, carrying crossbows they undoubtedly looted from fallen soldiers. Or worse, the general thought, the patrolling guards might be subdued soldiers that fell in the name of Rhom and then brought back by vile demons. Angelus shuddered at the thought, and decided that it wouldn't matter wich was true. Killing them would be saving them from a fate worse then death.

"Ready the mangonels" Angelus said. Engineers loaded the two massive machines of wars with multiple smaller stones, so they would not further damage any buildings or walls but would kill or criple any demons that were unlucky enough to be hit by them.

"Fire!" general Angelus yelled. A flock of stones catapulted over the walls and into the city. A second barage hit the walls instead and took out several crossbowmen. After a while the general decided it was time to move in.

"Bring on the battering ram, we're bringing down the gates! Swordsmen, forward!"

The battering ram, flanked by men in heavy armour was rolled to the gates. Crossbow bolts rained from above and unto the order men, killing several of them. The battering ram hammered itself onto the gate a few times and breached it surprisingly quickly- now the battle would truly begin.

The swordsmen charged through the gatehouse and into the city, some of them climbed the walls and butchered the crossbowmen. Hundreds of order soldiers ran through the streets and cut down the demoralised demons like animals. Maces cracked demon skulls, swords severed libs from bodies and cold iron axes cut through warm flesh.

By the end of the morning not a single demon was alive in Rhom.

[The_Sadukar]

As soon as Ragnar recived the letter he left with his forces for Kelthos, he left 1.000 order soldiers to guard the city, and he also sendt reply to general

Angelus

[hide]General

I Have recived your messenge and are now heading to Kelthos. You should know that after my capture of Razaal a vast demon army tried to retake the city, we defeatd them, and I belive it was the demons' main force in the region, so should you should not fear any counter attack by demonic forces[/hide]

Ragnar's coprs

1 hero, Orm

1.200 huskarls

3.000 order troops

15.000 mark silver

Fleet

(the fleet is back at the citadel)

150 ships

[Dante]

"Didn't I give specific orders that nothing was to be stored outside the castle walls? Didn't I?" Latarodectus Hesperus shrieked. "There's shouldn't even have been any gunpowder, those cannons don't need it!" She growled in anger, and carried out her earlier threat on another small child. At this rate she would need to store them for later. She had had the remains thrown over the walls to discourage the advancing army. Or give them something to eat, whatever. "Will someone get Nagos and those damn vampires out and working!"

High high above, Karlat the black-robed master of human magics snarled as his walls crumbled under the explosion. He of all people knew that there shouldn't have been any gunpowder around. Heads were going to roll for this... As the storm beganto diminish, he waved his hand and siezed the spell, forcing it to even greater lengths, bringing the lightening around to strike the advancing foe. "Get rid of my walls will you? Have at thee!" He waved forward the eight minor sorcerers under his command. As one they stepped forwrd, preparing themselves. Eight fireballs launched from the tower, exploding on contact with the masses below.

"They're running out of boulders! Make sure the walls hold!" Karlat shouted back, "And ready the defenses! I want boiling oil, caltraps, spiked pits, everything!" He growled as the high winds threw his hair around wildly. A lightening bolt struck the roof above him, and deflected madly to one side. He grinned, the blue orb was ready. Of course hopefully it would not need to be deployed...

"Send out the mutants!" Karlat shouted. It would make an interesting distraction, and a test run.

Below him, two massive gates opened, and the masses poured through. There were only about a hundred of them, maybe slightly more. They were... offspring. Hideous crossbreeds of demon, spider, and the humans of what had once been Sealand. Some had more legs, others had more arms or eyes. Some span webs as they lurched forward. All possessed venom-coated fangs, claws, and swords. The venom sizzled as it hit the bare earth, the word 'deadly' hardly covered it. On the other hand, they were new, barely a few weeks old.

Behind them, came the humans. Two hundred of them. They were the old, the feeble, the dying. Brains no longer opperational (or even there in some cases), they wandered blindly forward, filled only with the urge to kill. They were simply zombies who had not yet died. They carried all the scavengings from Sealand before it became Arinaedi. Carving knives, small daggers, even knitting needles. All coated in the same venom. Behind them, the gates slammed shut, and the stone wrapped around them, crushing the stragglers.

As the armies of Izuck struggled through the crater of their own creation, the monsters advanced. And as the first soldiers reached the battleground in front of the inner wall, they screamed, plunging into booby traps. Spiked pits, rope traps... and of course, the millions of tiny spiders that crawled from their nooks and into the chinks of the armour.

Deep, deep below... "He won't be pleased if I lose my first conquest. Not pleased at all..." The spider-Queen frowned, examining the outside world through a small mirror. "Prepare the orb. If I can't have this island, nobody can."

[GhostHunter]

Post later today, gtg to school.

[Dante]

I am in school. ;)

[ExSPlug]

Being nomads, the The Riders were never good at siege warfare. All they could do is to help guard the mangonals, and help clear the path for Izuck soldiers to breach the walls.

The cropse of the young children landed infront of Qilan as he slains a huge demon spider. Without a word, he ripped open the abdomen of the fallen spider, pulled out it's egg sack. It ended up along with an arrow in the chest of a demon on the wall.

"You vile demons shall die the most painful death!"

Karlat laughed sinisterly as he heard Qilan. He would have nothing to fear before they get thtough the wall, which is quite impossible, at least in his mind. He then ordered the mutants to be sent out...

Screams of fear and pain could be heard from the from the front as the mutants and zombies poured out from the gates and start their masscare.

"Spearhead! Charge!"

Qilan immediately commanded his men to get into formation and charged towards the gates. He must make use of the chance to get inside the walls, there won't be another. As the of the Riders contact with the enemies, Qilan lead his men from the rear of the formation to leap over the mutants. They crushed quite a number of the zombies and they landed onto the rear of their ranks.

220 Fenris Riders got through before rocks falled from above and wrapped the gates. The remaining 440 Riders are now attacking the zombies and mutants from the front and their backs.

Fenris Riders

660/750 fenris riders

220 inside the walls

440 outside

1140/1800 Fenris wolves as reserves

[Dante]

I'm sorry, but didn't I specifically say

the gates slammed shut

before? How exactly do wolves go about getting over huge, sharp cast iron walls when the gates are shut? Nonetheless, what's done is done so I'll just shut the gates now... Right, gates shut. And BTW, there aren't any zombies. I just used the term to give an accurate description of their movements and thinking capability.

"Enough, ENOUGH, ENOUGH!" The spider-Queen shrieked. "Now they've breached the inner walls? What's going wrong here? Everything I do is countered. They haven't even camped outside! She growled and glared at the mirror. It began to grow... and the view changed to that of a grassy hill, with a forest in the background. It never hurt to be too careful... After the fall of the sea as a defence, and the outer wall, and with the inner wall not as stable, she was taking no chances.

"Pour the oil!" Karlat grinned as the wolves howled in agony, the oil splashing down on them from the stone walls. They shouldn't have been so eager to get inside... He looked behind him at a flash of energy, the blue orb was beganning to become unstable, and still the order to use it had not come. He frowned, and watched as the last of the wolves was hit by the oil, while the rest continued to writhe, their riders thrown about, only the best hanging on.

Another boulder flew forward, but it was one of the last. It bounced away and rolled into the Izuck's fighting the mutants. Of course many mutants were crushed as well... but all in the name of winning.

Karlat sighed. It looked like the orb would be used...

Message to Izuck and Fenris forces, spelt out in black clouds;

LEAVE NOW OR CONSEQUENCES WILL BE DIRE.

[Seal89999]

Meanwhile back at the Arden base camp in Izuck...........

Thousands of men were traning, the most challenging and hardcore traning any troops could recive.

The king observed the progress from a hill*

King Meathos: We may not have alot of men but we will be elite....our soldiers will be stronger, faster, smarter, and more powerful than most......

We will be the best of the best......

The Commander approached the king*

Commander: Sire, traning is going well...

King: I can see that commander..

Commander: Very good sir, M'lord there is word that we may move out soon....

King: I see, well in that case we must train harder...im putting you in charge of working the men harder...

Commander: Yes sire, I will see to it..

Meathos: King Baleck will come down and inform me of when we are to move out...

We will be ready when we are called apon..

The commander bowed and ran down the hill*

The king looked over the troops and slowly headed down the hill*

[ExSPlug]

OOC: I got my men in while you opened the gates and release the mutants...If that's unacceptable, I'll delete the post.

[Dante]

After they opened I did shut them. It was in the post. However, since I've fixed it now, ;) we can continue.

[GhostHunter]

(Would really love to see a working oil derrick) ::)

The bulk of the forces by the wall retreated back to the lines before the charge, but 35,000 men still remained inside, and safetly away from the walls. They began to charge the castle which was the last structure standing. The door opened and a few thousand Demons charged the human lines. There were crashes of blades as the forces smashed head-on into one another.

Arrows flew in behind them, nailing down the occupants of the wall and the rest of the forces began to flow in. The oil was not a threat now to anyone but the Fenris Riders, and Kalan had a feeling that they could protect themselves.

"Kill them all!" He yelled, slashing through three of the cold-blooded enemies, they instantly fell lifeless. A few hundred men managed to slip in before they shut the wall. They were greeted by a few surprises they didn't wish, such as giant creatures. Yelling the monster threw down a giant bat killing twenty bunched up men. The Izuck soldiers kept they're calm and ran in all directions, finding the device to open the door they did it before the bat smashed and killed them.

All the Izuck forces began to pour in, archers which had been long-range were now a part of close-range conflict; covered by the swordsmen. Hundreds of arrows flew into the creatures before they could get another swing off and they moaned, hitting the ground with a large THUD. A few last demon defenders came out but were cut down. Now they gazed at the last structure of the Demons; the large tower. It possesed a large steel gate, but boulders had conviently made a few openings in the sides and the forces began to pour in, opening the door as they went. They began to climb staircase after staircase meeting little evil surprises as arrows coming through the walls and rocks coming down staircases. Fortunately, a few of them were taken care of the wizards who now had a dedication to get this over with. Besides, the some men would die but the rest could charge. They finally reached the last staircase and went up.

They entered a large, oval room with a color scheme of blue and black, it had various evil things that Kalan didn't even want to imagine. He gazed onto four demon defenders, a vampire, two bulked up spiders and one larger spider.

"Your time has ended evil ones" Kalan yelled.

[Danuary]

( I think he meant vegetable oil ;) )

[Dante]

"Oh really, this is too much." Latarodectus Hesperus growled. "Did you really think I'd just let you waltz in here without a backup plan?"

High above, Karlat watched with horror as the last of his defenders fell. He turned, just in time to watch the last of his sorcerers fall to the guards on the stairs. Suddenly, his mind stood still, he was recieving a message... The time has come, Karlat. Activate the orb on my signal... Shaking his head Karlat growled at the approaching soliders, and his hands burst into flame. "Alright then, come on!" He shouted.

"Your walls and armies have fallen, bitch." Kalen grinned. "Your castle is no more, your demonic hordes and spiders slaughtered. You have no hope."

"All I asked was some land to myself on the material plane, with slaves that I rightly won." The spider-Queen snapped. "I left repeated messages, warning for you to leave. Your refusal to listen has not only destroyed my efforts here, it has destroyed yourself."

Though the humans had all but captured the castle, the warrens underground proved to be a different matter. The maze-like twists and turns with not a torch to be seen was a perfect ambushing ground for the subterranean spiders. After only a few victories, the invaders had to fall back.

There was a flash of darkness, and an ebon-skinned man-demon in tattered black robes appeared next to his mistress. Karlat panted heavily, and bled from several major wounds, but he still grinned widely.

"It is done, mistress." He wheezed. Latarodectus smiled broadly, revealing pointed black teeth.

"I warned you." She said archly to Kalan, "I warned you again and again. I thought you humans claimed to be tolerant! Still, it does not matter now, I have an old enemy to pursue, and you shall not stop me." As Kalan started forward, she held up a small mirror in her hand, it grew in an instant to hide her completely, and then shrank back to it's normal size at once. It hovered for a moment, then smashed on the stone floor. The spider-Queen, the vampires, Karlat and one of the two guardian spiders, were simply not there anymore. The mirror's shards turned black, their power gone.

The remaining spider started forward, only to find that the room was now empty.

High above, Nagos flew. She was injured from the battle, but giddy with her own success. Leader of the illis... then she saw something that caught her attention.

The top of the castle was... throbbing. It pulsed with a blue light, getting stronger all the time. Nagos swooped in for a closer look, she could see the men wondering what was causing it. Some of them were panicking. The blue orb had grown from the size of an orange to that of a basketball, and with each pulse it grew some more. The white lightning inside it could be heard, striking and crashing... Nagos saw it for what it was. Turning around at full speed, she raced away from the island.

On second it wasn't there... and then it was. The orb of energy engulfed the island of Arinaedi, completely surrounding it. And then it burst.

The first to die were those in the tower. They had been closest to the orb's position. Then those on the stairs, falling helplessly as the magic that had built up for days washed over them and evaporated their flesh, leaving only bloodied bones and armour behind.

The magic swept through the interior of the castle, killing everything. The giant spider in the HQ room fell to the ground with a thud.

It passed through stone, it passed through earth, nothing was a barrier to it. It killed every man, every demon, every spider. Even the things that it was not directed at; mice, horses, worms in the soil, each and every creature died. The remaining demons were not spared, they too fell.

Deep in the tunnels, the spiders sensed their doom, and tried desperately to escape. None did. They died in their hundreds as the waves of blue death cascaded down from the tower, killing any humans that had survived their torturous existance.

Those boats that had been too close to the island were deprived of their crews at once. But those that had been further away, out to sea, they watched. They saw the expansion of the orb, and it's subsequent slaughter. And when it was over, a mere few minutes later, they knew that there was not a single survivor. Not one. Not a man, a spider, not a single bacterium was alive on that island. And none every would be again. The blue sphere was gone, but the influence remained. The island that had once been Sealand was tainted, forever devoid of life. It could never be settled on again.

Kalan sat up. He tickled funnily, and when he rubbed his face, he found... spider's web... Leaping up, he reached for his sword, to find it missing. It was the he realised, that everything was missing! He stood underneath a lush tree, his feet on grass, wearing nothing but his underwear.

An itch made itself felt. He reached behind him, and removed a note from his back, stuck their with the same material used to cover him. It was written not in blood, but ink, and read:

A small note to point out that I could have killed you. It would have been all too easy. I am hoping that this gesture of mercy will encourage you to leave me alone in future. Your sword can be found in the branches of the tree above you, I didn't want you hurting yourself when you awoke. Please excuse the... underclothed state you find yourself in, I have a suspicion that if you had been able to, you would have tried to follow us. Trust me, not a good idea.

The land you find yourself in is friendly to you, although the wildlife may not be. If you walk North for a day you should come across the newly-humanised city of Rhom, they should probably be all too happy to return you to your own people.

I harbour no illusions as to your desires of revenge, being human it is only to be expected. But please temper it. I have decided not to kill you, and I have allowed you to escape the... consequences of your actions in Arinaedi. I only wish to be left alone.

With regards,

Spider Queen Latarodectus Hesperus, demoness.

[OCC: I'm sorry if some of you think this is a little extreme, but after all I did lose everything as well, including my task force. I won't be able to build anything like that again. And anyway, you have other places to go to. I did not.]

[GhostHunter]

That's it Dust Scout. According to your post you just killed about 320,000 men in one post. I would have a larger tolerance level for that if it did include your leader in that, but it does not. Further more, despite the fact that your post goes under God modding soley for the fact that you just took down legions of men, your post also includes the death of the Fenris Riders. You did not have my permission to kill off a characters group, and I am decently sure that he wouldn't have agreed to it either.

Since you just pretty much annhiliated two characters. So you have two choices now:

- Modify the post, signing your defeat without using any more God modding (Your main character can still escape somehow, I have no issue with this)

- Resign from the thread

Your choice.

[Dante]

You stated in a very recent post that you have thousands of other men ready to fight. And the extent of your empire (not my own words) is childishly large. Person X's exact words were... "but stil it is strange that mankind can be inperil what Izuck controls aobut half of the world."

I believe that the Fenris riders would have had backup on the surviving ships, if their entire forces went to the island at all. Izuck certainly does; therefore I did not wipe out two characters. You have backup, I most certainly did not. So I removed my three most useful characters and your leader and my allies from the line of fire, and I went out with a bang. That was by no means your entire army, and it was the whole of my army. It was also my ability to construct another, my ability to construct anything, everything I needed to create another Arinaedi like the last was destroyed in that. You still have your armies, your training centres, you have everything you had before, except a few unimportant men. As for the wolves, I'm sure you can write in that a significant number did not leave the outer ships due to weather problems (likely, since both of us were hurling storms at each other).

And if you wanted to do something about it, you should have noticed the constant references to the buildup of power in the orb over several posts, and done something about it. Even better, you could have taken heed to the many many warnings that were thrown your way. The last one even mentioned dire consequences. Can it get any more obvious?

I believe that I was justified in doing what I did for these reasons. It is certainly a powerful attack, but you must remember that it destroyed an army far bigger than yours in the process. I don't think it qualifies as god-modding, since it took several posts to prepare and many warnings were given. These are my justifications. Your choice now; you can accept them, and allow the thread to continue, knowing that I am not alone due to Person X among others; or you can reject them, and doom the thread to other members quitting after my 'resignation.' And of course you never said that if I quit, the post is changed. If I go, it stays.

One more final thing; I'm not an unfair person. I am prepared to negotiate. If Latarodectus Hesperus is destroyed (by my own method), will you allow this matter to drop?

[ExSPlug]

I doubt we can do anything to the orb even if we took notice of it earlier on...considering that it's high on the top of the castle and heavily guarded.

The post would be acceptable if, IMO, the blast radius of the orb decreases. It just like using nukes...

Leav the underground tunnel network and the abandoned cities untouched(or a small scale damage, definitely not as great as in the post).

This would allow all of us to not be wiped out(including the vampires ans Illus, doubt they would be posting still... :(), and have a chance to rebuilt. We may have troop reserves left in the tunnels and the camps in the cities, and you may allow a number of your demons and slaves to escape, maybe through a Hell's Gate under the castle.

About the "landing on Arinaedi, then set up camp before siege" part which I've missed and may seemed like god-modding, Ghosthunter had moved my troops in with his men in previous posts. I assume that days had passed between the landing and the siege, and we've set up camp before siege(which I think is too boring to write about in the middle of a battle...), so I didn't mention anything about it...

[GhostHunter]

I doubt we can do anything to the orb even if we took notice of it earlier on...considering that it's high on the top of the castle and heavily guarded.

The post would be acceptable if, IMO, the blast radius of the orb decreases. It just like using nukes...

Leav the underground tunnel network and the abandoned cities untouched(or a small scale damage, definitely not as great as in the post).

This would allow all of us to not be wiped out(including the vampires ans Illus, doubt they would be posting still... :(), and have a chance to rebuilt. We may have troop reserves left in the tunnels and the camps in the cities, and you may allow a number of your demons and slaves to escape, maybe through a Hell's Gate under the castle.

About the "landing on Arinaedi, then set up camp before siege" part which I've missed and may seemed like god-modding, Ghosthunter had moved my troops in with his men in previous posts. I assume that days had passed between the landing and the siege, and we've set up camp before siege(which I think is too boring to write about in the middle of a battle...), so I didn't mention anything about it...

Exackly, and that was the Fenris Riders total, they moved with my forces. I saw no real need to say "We're setting up camp" in a large, blietzkrege-type move. And I've saved this before and I'll say it again, the map is fair considering anything in white could be held together by less then a few thousand men from various Kingdoms not even fighting together. And yes, referring to Exs.'s comment; how am I supposed to destroy something in a tower thats heavily gaurded and is the last thing I get to, and when I finally get to it the whole island gets nuked over?

I leave you with the previous two choices.

[Dante]

Just because all the wolves were there, doesn't mean that they were all fighting.

As to the buildup of my forces, that was in fact posted some time ago, but due to internet troubles at my end the post came up blank and had to be deleted. It took so long to get it working again that by the time I was ready you had already got there. So I just kept going, taking it as if the internet trouble had never happened.

And I destroyed everything on the island because it had to be rendered uninhabitable. The battle could be lost, but the territory was more a "If I can't have it, nobody can." kind of thing. And like I said before, I destroyed my own army in the process, far larger than either of yours put together could be. I think that balances it out, don't you?

And I deliberately posted how the vampires and Illus escaped. Nagos flew, the vampires teleported with the demoness since they did absolutely nothing to help in the battle.

As for the orb, I simply said that you should have done something about it. Considering how easily you seemed to get past both of my walls with nonexistant gunpowder and through shut gates, not to mention breaking through the fortress which was supposed to be heavily defended; you'd think that merely getting to the orb would be easy considering what else you've done.

I got myself into the seat of power there by working over several posts. My 'move-in' may have been late but it was never meant to be. I tried to warn you, I tried to make a peace settlement and you ignored me every time to concentrate on bashing my forces without giving me a chance to defend myself. Down goes one wall, down go thousands of ballooning spiderlings, down goes another wall, the fortress is invaded. What did I do during this? I sent out an easily-crushed army, and hurled a few thunderbolts and balls of brimstone. Which didn't even seem to dent you. If anyone's been god-modding here it isn't me. I've just been responding to what's been thrown at me.

New offer: The portal didn't open in time. Latarodectus Hesperus was destroyed by her own weapon, along with Kalan, Karlat, and every single organism on that island. The Vampires survived, being dead already, and Nagos was too high up to be effected. The wolves possessed back-up further out to sea.

There. Death comes to all but all four of you still possess your forces. Seems fair to me.

[Anathema]

I hope this doesn't mean the end of this thread :-

At midnight the army of Ragnar reached the camp site south of Kelthos. A chilling breeze and complete silence around them appeared to Ragnar as a poor omen of what's to come.

Riding into the encampment Ragnar only encountered a few men, general Angelus included. What had happened? Where were the rest of his men?

"Greetings, Lord Ragnar" said Angelus, sitting on a barrel. "You missed the action- or whatever you call it. When we arrived we found the city completely deserted, not a single demon was inside. We garrisoned the city, and me and a few men are ferrying the last of the supplies from the camp into the city."

"You don't sound exactly happy about the course of events general- what's wrong?"

Angelus rose from his barrel. His voice sounded just as ominous as the wind, full of suspicion and perhaps a little bit of fear.

"Just like we did at Rhom we went to look for any surviving militia or refugees prior to taking the city- we found only a few, and those were in no condition to even speak normally, let alone fight with us. They kept talking about zombies and demons, it didn't make any sense. I sent out scouts to..."

His sentence was cut short by a mounted scout riding into the camp, screaming.

"They're coming! They're coming, we must arm ourselves!"

"Who are coming? What are you talking about?"

The scout looked at the general as if he had seen a ghost.

"A legion of undead soldiers, lead by the demons! We're no match for them, we have to retreat to the castle!"

So they did.

The last of the men had taken garrison in the deserted city and manned the walls. From a perimiter tower Angelus and Ragnar could see the demon army marching onwards. The general took a nifty device out of a sack, that he had bought from an eastern trader a few months before the demon incursion. The trader had called it a binocular, and it could be used to view distant objects as if they were very close.

Angelus felt grieved and demoralised as he took a better look at the uncoming army- the soldiers in it were wearing peasant clothes, and armour bearing the insignia of the Kelthos militia guard- they were fallen men and women, slain by the demons and then brought back to serve them, just like the crossbowmen in Rhom. Dishearted he put the device back in the sack. Ragnar looked at him, confused.

"What's wrong general Angelus? Surely you have been in far more perilous battles then this one."

"It's not the numbers that bother me Lord Ragnar...the demons have resurrected undead warriors from the corpses of the local population...but they must be slain, they are nothing but soulless slaves now."

Ragnar was horrified by this news- what an awful fate! Quickly he changed the subject.

"How soon can we expect reinforcements from the Citadel?"

"No earlier then tomorrow evening. By then it will be over, whatever the outcome."

The undead marched forward with 2 giant wooden stairs on wheels, mean to gain acces to the city walls. They also carried forward a battering ram. 2 mangonels mounted on fortification turrets hurled huge boulders at the contraption in an attempt to destroy them. Order arbalesters fired volleys of bolts towards the uncoming foe. The bolts penetrated the armour of the fiendish zombies with ease and masses of them fell- but an endless stream of undead warriors followed.

A loud crack occured as a huge chunck of stone hit one of the stairs in a direct hit, the other one however reached the walls intact. The undead horde rushed over the stairs and unto the walls, battling the order troops and huskarls. A few of the order men started throwing ceramic pots with volitile fluids at the giant stairs, setting it afflame- neverheless undead soldiers fanaticly walked through the flames and charged the defenders whilst burning. Finally the burning contraption collapsed, taking down a lot of undead soldiers with it.

Below the walls the battering ram hammered itself against the gate again and broke it. Immediately walking corpses charged through the gatehouse only to run themselves to oblivion in a line of pikemen. Nevertheless the undead hordes seemed countless and the pikemen were quickly overwhelmed, leaving it up to the huskarls and order swordsmen to engage the enemy in melee combat. At first dishearted by the thought of having to fight fallen comrades, the defenders now viciously fought the undead out of sheer disgust of these revived creatures and burning hatred towards the demon foe that forced them to do this. Blood filled the streets like a small river and the battle raged on well through the night.

The next morning general Angelus walked stould before the broken gates where such great a battle had been fought the night before. They had survived the enemy onslaught, but at what price? Their army had been decimated, half of the combined order and huskarl army lay dead in the streets, between the rotting corpses of the undead hordes. And what had they ultimately gained? Nothing. They had liberated a ghost town of wich its inhabitants were either scattered or dead (or undead) and the homes would remain empty for a long, long time. Angelus sat down, head between his knees and wept.