In-Character Forums > The Dragon Storm Campaign
Nesar-Hilm
Dezza:
// A week prior to the big plot quests
Razeriem looked up as a shadow fell over him to see Tralek standing before him bags packed.
"I can't wait any longer Raz, Sir Polamics over a week behind schedule and Wrens contacted me. Things are moving up north I need to get up there to help out with a special mission. Hardraghs coming over this morning too to talk to you about something. I'm sorry."
Razeriem nodded with a slight frown, "Hey, you were honest with me from the start, I'm going to stay here though and see what I can salvage from this standoff. Good luck."
Tralek nodded, guilt plainly evident on his face then turned to leave.
Hours later Hardragh sauntered into the camp and spoke with Raz. After some small chit chat and updates on the situation in his camp Hardragh got down to the serious stuff.
"I'm letting you know I'm pulling out and heading north, Wrens got a mission lined up that I won't miss. Its a waste of time us hanging around here. They've got Sundance locked up nice and tight and we dont have the soldiers necessary to crack it open and Sir Polamic still isnt here. Far as I see it its a stalemate. I've left Gork in charge up there. I know how you feel about him but its not my problem anymore. I even had a favour I could call on to help out but the situation never came. Gork figures if you need it he can take some men back to the dams and bring a few down, problem is that the volume of water up there could very well flood us out as well so its a tricky business. Thats it then, I'm off."
Razeriem watched him leave, suddenly feeling alone in the midst of all the hubbub of the camp. Supplies were running low, fresh water was hard to get since Sundance sat on the river itself and Raz had to send people far to the north or south to get water and bring it back to the camp and on top of that Sir Polamic had still not arrived.
Dezza:
// 3 days later
"Raz! There's a large body of soldiers over to the west."
"Standards?" Razeriem fairly leapt out of his chair near the command tent and ran to the edge of the camp fumbling to take out his looking glass as he ran.
Soldiers joined him running alongside forming a group as they did, all around the camp work spread and soon soldiers were standing, wondering what was going on.
Raz reached the spot and gazed down over the inhospitable terrain. Sure enough soldiers were moving along a shallow ravine out to the west. Moving up and down the column he paused on the standards and smiled.
"It's them." He handed the looking glass around to the excited soldiers. "Killian! Get some men together and come with me we're going down to meet them."
"Sure thing Raz." Over the last few weeks Razeriem had insisted the men call him Raz, the elfs carefree attitude and relaxed approach to things had won over a good deal of the soldiers with him while some of the older more seasoned veterans complained about the lack of proper army discipline.
Two hours later Raz approached the rocky bluffs where Sir Polamics force were slowly setting up their campsites. Raz noticed that they were tired and battered, morale seemed very low and there were a great deal of wounded with the army. Many looked up at him with despondant faces as he and his group moved amongst them.
Raz finally reached Sir Polamics tent, one of the first to be raised and the solemn faced guards allowed him entry. Inside were most of the man's main staffers all standing around his bed where a cleric of Aeridin from Northpoint knelt over the man.
Sir Danyl, Sir Polamics second in charge from Fort Miritrix moved over to Raz and shook hands. "Razeriem, good to see you made it safely here. Sorry we were late but we have had a demon of a time getting here. We've been attacked by Tesak, Myr'drach, Ori and regular Kuhl soldiers the entire trip. We've lost just over quarter of the army and another portion are wounded in some way or another. We've not slept in two days and Sir Polamic's badly wounded. But we are here."
Razeriem nodded and moved through the group to the mans side. He was unconscious, his face pale and wan. He appeared a shadow of the man he was when they left Fort Miritrix almost a month ago. Raz glanced at the cleric.
"Can't you heal him?"
The cleric looked up, she was young and her eyes haunted as if she had seen more in the last few weeks to last her a lifetime. War had a tendency to do that to people.
Raz's face softened and he helped her stand putting a comforting hand around her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I did mean that accusatory, I just mean't can you help him in any way?"
She was clearly exhausted and Raz felt her sag against him "I've tried everything I know, but one of the Ori appeared in the middle of us several days ago, right next to him and stabbed him with a poison coated dagger. Since then he's been comatosed and life fading. His muscles seem to act with a life of their own in spasming and he regularly coughs up blood."
Razeriem suddenly grew concerned, keeping a steadying hand on the young female cleric he turned to Sir Danyl. "If whats been done to Sir Polamic is what I think has been done to him, he's already dead. You need to burn the body before he infects all of you."
Angry faces of his command staff turned to him shouting abuse and denying that it should happen until Raz bellowed over them and cut them off.
"You fools! He's infected with the poison. Leave him long enough and he'll change into a mad thing and tear you all apart or worse, turn you into them too! Burn him or I'll do it."
An hour later a short solemn ceremony was held and Sir Polamics body burnt on a pyre outside the camp. Sir Danyl assumed command. Razeriem gave him three days to get organised and rest his soldiers and then they would decide how to deal with Sundance. In the meantime Raz went to try and find a way to get more food supplies as quickly as possible.
In the middle of this the earth trembled and rumbled and to the east the armies watched as a volcano in the southern Orsgaunt mountains began spewing smoke and ash into the sky.
As Raz stood in his camp black dust and soot raining down over the landscape, the sky above dark with angry looking clouds from the volcano to the east he wondered. "What else could happen to make things anymore difficult?"
Dezza:
// On the last day of the 3 day assault on Castle Hilm
Raz cursed bitterly as the water sluiced its way through he city and continued through the many ravines, gulleys and gorges that made up the roughlands. Torrents and torrents of the stuff just kept coming. Filled with red dirt, dust, debris, ash and soot it carved its own paths through the region and for the third time in the last week Raz and his limited armies were forced to withdraw from the lands surrounding Sundance.
Three days after they burnt Sir Polamics corrupted body Sir Danyl and Raz had formulated a plan to assault the city with the limited soldiers they had. The plan was not so much as to try and take the city but to try and at least capture some of the cities food supplies for them to use for their own soldiers.
And so the assault had progressed with Gork leading his soldiers close to the city near the eastern edge before mounting a suprise attack. Sir Danyl had led his to the west near the grain silos and Raz had taken a select group of soldiers and adventurers he knew could handle themselves and headed straight for the main gates confident his spells and sheer bravado could give Sir Danyl the distraction he needed.
The entire assault had gone off like clockwork until four Drach ori had appreared near the main gates and countered everything Raz threw at them then the gates had opened and five hundred cavalry had poured forth.
Raz decided then it was time to retreat but Gorks force missed the signal and took heavy losses before they could gain some distance and escape the enemy cavalry. Reports to Raz indicated that Gork almost single handedly held off the pursuing cavalry until his soldiers had got clear.
They had successfully managed to plunder some of the grain stores however which gave them more chance at feeding their men for the length of time needed to break into Sundance, but not much more.
The next assault Raz tried stealth, taking again a select group with him to try and enter the city from the river side. They reached the docks filled with fishing boats and managed to get close to the shore line where the beach quickly turned into the edge of the city but found it heavily defended by Myr'drachs and were forced to withdraw once again.
After that Raz decided to give Gork the green light to go north and break some of the damns and see if they could flood the city and force them out.
Now, as he watched some of the rivers water did break its banks and flow into the city but only the streets close to its edge. Sadly it broke its banks further upstream and poured out into the Roughlands gouging new paths and ravines in its path and flooding the area all the way around the city forming a man made moat and turning the area into a sodden mass of red and ash stained mud.
It would be days now before the water found its natural path again and more time before the mud dried enough to give them any sort of chance of getting near the city.
Dezza:
// There will be a plot quest coming soon to deal with this problem here. Waiting on responses from people who might wish to try and help since this is now moving into times where Molvarens withdrawing soldiers from Castle Hilm and back to Kuhl.
jrizz:
//How do people that were/are in Hilm get word of this so as to try to help?
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