[Defence] City Wall (In Defence of Zerdargia)

[Soldier]

OOC: This thread is for the Zerdargian defenders INSIDE the wall. Anyone wanting to take part, post HERE.

IC: The walls inside the Dwarven city were packed full of archers and pikemen, waiting for targets. The Dwarves were crouched behind the battlements, hearing the cries of their comrades dying at the front gate and unable to leave their parts of the wall defended. As Dhwae and her Rangers entered the cityc Captain Hammersmith, a stout Dwarf with shocking red hair and piercing green eyes, came jogging down the top of the wall. His heavy chain mail shirt clacked as he rushed up, saluting the Archdruidess, and explained their situation. "There's a large force o' the Orcs 'n Goblins out there. They tried ta probe us, and we lost a few men. They'll be back, though, sinse this part o' th' wall is the least defended. Even more so, sinse four o' our archers were killed and another ten soldiers wounded." He snagged a passing Dwarf and gave him a command, sending him running off. "I sent fer the Deputy Commander o' th' Veldar. The Commander's with the Veldar protectin' th' Emporess in Primus. As for-" The Captain was cut off by a fusilade of arrows sailing up to strike against the battlements, the Veldar archers answering in kind.

[Troy Finn]

Troy's mouth dropped slightly as a volley of arrows washed over the battlements of the city, some connecting with targets and others just clacking off the stone walls. Adrenaline bagan coursing through his veins like a liquid fire, spurring him forward despite his nervousness. He trotted forward, stopping when he was about fifteen meters from the massive city gates.
Putting the two pieces of his quarterstaff together, he set it down beside him and pulled out his bow, arming it with an arrow. If the creatures got inside the walls, he could at least take down a few opponents before he had to switch to melee combat.
So there he stood, bow in hand, standing in the empty streets of Zerdargia. How much difference would one man make? Would he just be overrun and killed?
"Can't think that way, Troy," He said to himself, "You're going to live. Someday this will make an excellent story to tell the children."

[Norin Beldwhig]

Norin had been patrolling the city of Zerdargia for brightenings in and for brightenings out. Most of the citizens had been evacuated and now there were few left. Norin had been posted near the wall this brightening and he could feel that there was something different happening. He wasn't looking forward to it.

He stood on the wall, he was no archer so he just held his large axe in both hands patrolling the walls and hoping that nothing too bad was going to happen. Then, he stopped. He saw the dwarf captain run up to the archdruidess. They spoke and before they were finished, Norin was surprised by a volley of arrows. If he had been a human, he would have been pierced through the eye so his size was his luck. He crashed against the battlements for cover and watched as the Veldar retaliated with a personal volley of arrows. Norin wondered wether these were the undead sent to destroy Zerdargia.

[Hannas Darkblade]

Hannas Darkblade had placed his horse against the outer wall where it should be safe from the fall of arrows. If the wall was breached then he would welcome having his war horse close at hand, since he was used to fighting from the saddle and the additional strength of a mount could prove most beneficial. He made his way quickly up the steps, wondering as he did so where his comrades had gone. They had become seperated after being provided with greek fire, and he had lost sight of them in the melee of preparations. Still, no doubt he would see them later, all the gods willing.

Hannas cocked his heavy crossbow as he ascended and crouched beside the battlements as the volley of arrows flew overhead. He stood immediately afterwards and added his own bolt to the Veldars reply. He did not aim particularly at any one opponent but at the largest mass of enemies he could see.

Hannas was greatful for the familiar weight of his helm, and the protection of his chain mail, although he wished that he had brought his breast plate, but the weight was prohibitive given the journey they had made to get here. Besides he had not had it with him when the call came.

As Hannas fired back, before ducking again behind the parapit, he considered that he was once again in battle! The familiar cold anger grew in him, rushing through his veins like ice water and driving away the fear and doubt. One day he would fall in battle, he vowed to himself as he always did when faced with death, but not today!

[Fineen Ishara]

Fineen lifted into a soft hovering flight, taking off from her perch on Auhren's arm. Searching around, Fineen tried to see if she could pick out any of her well-known friends, but was cut short by a volly of deadly missils, arrows, and she was forced to tuck in her wings as far as they would go, and leap to the ground, dropping on sombody's back. With a growl, she let herself up again, this time more cautious. She had work to do, but she would not do anything just yet. She should probably find Khelban; he was her partner in the command of the druids. They would then be able to discuss what they could do to prove most effective to Zergardia. . .

With a growl, Fineen took out her two daggers, just in case she had to block any more stray arrows, and set off to search for Khel. He shouldn't be too hard to find; she had come with the driuds and Khel was a druid, so he shouldn't be too far. . .

Considering what the dwarf had said, before he had been cut off, it might be best to stay at this section of wall and buck it up a bit. But possibly there was a "something" that would allow the druids and rangers to gain an offense and put the goblins and orcs into a deffence? More arrows hurtled over the wall, and in an object of anger, Fineen plucked a melody that fit that of Scales of Dissonance, a crazed jumble of notes that were calculated to peirce the ears as a most distasteful song. As she did this, she had gone into a rather hurried state of clara and thrown a quick weave of Vis over a bundle of Ara that had come from the stone battlements themselves. After that, she had threaded the captured Ara into her notes a split second before they surfaced. This combination took but a couple seconds. If worked correctly, it should produce a wave of light damage into the ranks of the orcs and goblins below.

Her anger gone, suffocated by the calm state of clara that she had forced upon herself, Fineen still looked around half-heartedly for Khel as she wove her Song. Well, this was a start to the attack. Hopefully it would work. Fineen struck an especially jarring jumble of notes, and hummed a mixed tone of minor and major that complimented the "just wrong" Song very nicely.

[Janis Windrough]

Janis heard the steps off in the distance and watched as the dwarven soldiers began to prepare. He know now that this was it. Adenaline began to drip ever slowly into his veins. Before he knew it, however, he was alone. His companions had scattered in the scurry and he was left with nothing more then some weapons and a buch of starngers he was about to help defend their city. He set off quickly to the main wall.

As Jansi moved he took in everything, every little factoid he could see. What the curves of the city were, what the defenders of the city seemed ot be doing. When he reached the wall he was happy to see a familiar face there. That of his companion Hannas. Moving towards him Janis was about to let out a shout when a slight whistle could be heard in the distnace. Turning he saw a black wave heading towards him like a million crows flaying towards him over the horizon...Arrows. The enemy was here. Janis did the first thing he could think of which was to hit hte deck and fast. He dove towards Hannas hopefully landing somewhere near him.

Janis scurried next to his companion, trying to dart any arrows that may be heading in the general direction of his body. Pulling up next to him Janis let him know he was there. "Ah well hello Hannas, seems we've found the battle." With that Janis too took out his crossbow nad loaded in a bolt. Taking aim at the largest crowd he too began to unload what he could into the enemy before they got to close. He resorted to regular arrows now and not the special ones given to him by the dwarf before. At least now he had someone to watch his back when the melee fighting began.

[Alesdair]

When the small band of rangers and druids reached the wall they paused as Dhawe placed a few tiny seeds into the ground. Within a blink of an eye the arch-druidess had grown thick vines all the way up the outer Zerdargian wall. Alesdair and the others immediatley raced forward into a climb to the top. The bundles of arrows he carried on his back barley slowing him in the least with the adreneline at work form the excitment of the situation.

When Alesdair reached the top he stepped down onto the ledge on the other side and stood idle with other rangers as the druids in bird forms took perch on thier arms. The arch-druidess aged the vines until they were nothing more than dust in the wind, erasing all evidence of the method of their entrance. Then she quickly came forth to address the nearest Veldar and proclaim that they were Naturans and had arrived in answer to their call for aid.

Even as one of the dwarven defenders was telling the arch-druidess of thier situation he was cut off by an assulat of enemy fire. Alesdair still had his bow on his back and most of the rangers was not yet prepared to retaliate, but the Veldar archers answered back with their own volley. Alesdair had ducked for cover and when he looked back over the wall it seemed that the enemy was now backing off. A retreat perhaps, but only for the moment. He knew they would be back and they had only so far been given a taste of what was to come. Alesdair then heard a melody of notes and turned his head to look down the wall a ways where he saw a small feminine figure raising her voice in song. Alesdair smiled as he watched fineen sing, and he hoped that her bardic abilities would be effective.

There was little time to waste, the naturan rangers would need to get in position quickly and prepare for the next engagement with the enemy. All eyes turned to the arch-druidess as they awaited further instuction.

[Aian Natra]

The reinforcements that Natura had sent were organized into several different groups. The rangers, the druids, the clergy. And each contingent had it's own job to do. So where did that place Aian, the half Thelyri that had only so recently arrived in Natura and had somehow managed to find himself along for the journey as the rest of Natura had stood at the call for help from Zerdargia?

The ranger in training preferred to stay beside those whose ranks he would hopefully join in the future, and since no one else seemed to be paying the lone half-human much concern as they all went about their own duties, Aian decided to ascend to the walls of the city with the rangers and Dhawe. At first Aian considered attempting a spell of invisibility over himself, but he cast that notion aside quickly enough. The beginnings of his lessons in mysticism had come only a few brightenings before his departure from Midpoint, and so he hadn't gained much training at all. In fact, the spell to render him invisible was the only spell in specific he had been instructed in, and he hadn't practiced it at all since arriving in Natura.

And so Aian decided to simply rely on stealth, which he had also been trained in during his time in the military as a scout. The ranger hopeful moved off alongside the rest of his fellows as they made their way towards the wall, keeping his head low and trying his best to match the better trained rangers while still staying concealed. Likely through more luck than skill, Aian gained the wall along with the others, and found the climb up Dhawe's enchanted vines easy enough.

Upon reaching the top of the city's wall, Aian spotted the Archdruidess herself and moved over to hear the words passed between his leader and the dwarf standing before her. Just as he began towards Dhawe though, the first wave of arrows came up to rain down upon the city. Unlike those fully trained rangers Aian had not carried with him a bow, for he had little training in ranged combat and held much more experience and faith in the scimitar strapped to his hip. So as the arrows arched towards them, the half Thelyri ducked and moved forward behind the cover of the battlements, throwing his back against the protective stone as he crouched right next to one of the city's dwarven defenders, Norin Beldwhig.

Noticing that the dwarf suffered from much the same predicament as he, the lack of a ranged weapon, Aian managed a bit of a cynical smirk as he peered over the lip of the wall to their enemies down below.

"We're not much favored in this sort of battle, are we friend?

Then again the way things were looking, and from all reports, it was undeniable that at some point the battle would be joined in such a way that those defenders preferring melee combat would have no lack of business to take care of.

[Soldier]

OOC: Sorry for the wait. I was out of town for a few days, so I'll be catching up.

[Soldier]

OOC: To let everyone know, Norin and Troy are at the front gates, the Rangers are on the side wall, and the Hoplites are close by to the Naturans. Sinse Norin and troy neglected to post where they were, I took the liberty of using them to bolster the defenders there.

Troy and Norin
OOC: You two are together to make it easier.

IC:As the missiles bounced off the battlements around them, the Dwarf and Human were pressed into the stone by a mass of Dwarven soldiers, each armed with a heavy pike. A Sergeant bellowed out as he grabbed Norin and Troy by the scruffs of their necks, literally dragging them over to the steps down to the streets. "We needs ye to help man the gates, boys! They's comin' up, an' we needs men on guard down there ta makes sure they's don't get in!" He pointed a mail-clad finger down at the gate, where a swarm of Dwarves were swinging logs up against the heavy oak gates to brace them. "If'n that gate falls, we're in trouble," said the Sergeant as he headed back to his troops.

Fineen, Alisdair and Aian
The arrows came in a thick rain, as Dwarves pitched off the ledge to fall into the city, arrows sticking out of chests, necks and arms. A Dwarf collapsed onto Alisdair, gurgling around the blood pouring from his mouth as he collapsed into a twitching mass. Fineen's music created a pitch high enough to cause nearby soldiers to clasp their hands over their ears as a piercing light darted into the Humanoids below, their archers collapsing in heaps. With curses in their gutteral languages, the archers retreated, and the Veldar soldiers let out a loud cheer... Until the next troops walked out of the trees to face the defenders. Four thirty-foot Giants plowed out of the forest, huge clubs over their shoulders, snapping the branches of trees as they passed. Rotting flesh hung in strips from their yellowed bones, while filthy hides covered these rotting corpses. They merely stood there for several minutes before heading towards the wall, covering the distance quickly. "HERE THEY COME, BOYS! BE READY!" bellowed a Sergeant as the Veldar prepared for the advancing monstrosities.

Janin and Hannas
The crossbowmen's missiles streaked into the mass of Goblinoids retreating from the light beam, one of the archers lying in a mass just outside the protection of the forest. As the two were reloading, there was a shuddering in the earth as four huge masses walked out of the trees into the open. The stench of decay told these two what they were, and from down the wall, they heard a Dwarf call out. "HERE THEY COME, BOYS! BE READY!"

[Norin Beldwhig]

Norin was taking cover behind the large battlement not knowing exactly what he was supposed to do. He was no archer and his axe served no purpose at a distance. Then, a sergeant came up to him and brought him down into the streets. With his, he brought a human. Norin's heart was pounding and he was confused but when the sergeant spoke, everything was enlightened and Norin knew what he was supposed to do.

"Okay people. I am Beldwhig. I want this to go faster so make a long line between the gate and the logs. I want five men by the gate ready to reinforce it with the incoming logs. Come on, we've all done this before in our military training. It shouldn't be too hard. Put some effort into it, sweat for your city and stay ready to grab arms if the gate is breeched." With these words, Norin made an effort to make a line so that the logs would go from person to persona and thus much faster although it had not been part of the training. Still, he deemed this tactic faster and hoped it would work.

He motioned to three dwarfs and the human that had accompanied the sergeant that they were to help him set up the logs. He wanted them in a triangular position so that the gate would hold best but also in such a way that if the gates were broken, they were broken low down and the creatures would crawl into a space between the logs and the gates giving the Veldar an advantage.

While, Norin was pulling and pushing and banging and setting the butt end of the logs into the ground, trying to dig them down a little so that they got really stuck, he looked around for some kind of leader. Innerly he hoped there were none for he liked to be in command, but he would never disobey a higher ranking officer of the Allerian Army, and even less from the Veldar Elite.

[Hannas Darkblade]

Hannas took one look over the battlements and slung his crossbow. It would do nothing against these things, he was sure. Instead he took one of the bottles of greek fire from his belt and jammed a fuse into it. Unhurriedly he took his flint from his belt and then stood, keeping as much under cover as possible. He would not throw yet, not until he was fairly sure he could actually hit one of those things. He did not have many of these flasks and he was determined not to waste them.

Glancing at Janis, he grinned. "I think battle has rather found us..." he responded dryly. The big humans grin was wolfish and his eyes shone with a bright intensity. When all was said and done, the fact was Hannas loved battle. It was one of those times when he felt fully alive. It was not something that he liked in himself, but it was nonetheless true. He did not like killing. But he did have a talent for it! But how does one kill that which is already dead. Hannas guessed he would soon find out.

Keeping cover as much as he could from the enemies bowshot, Hannas watched the creatures approach the walls. He paid particular attention to what effect or not, any of the bow or magic attacks had on them. If they had vulnerabilities, it would be useful to know what they were ahead of having to face them up close. Hopefully the fire would work, but if it came to hand to hand, then he would try taking their heads off. It was amazing how many things that worked on...

[Baldor Dar'alok]

OOC: Sorry for being late, if it's not a problem I'll be in the same place as Norin and Troy.

IC: So war had come, it seemed. He was ready. He had not expected his first actual battle to be of this size at all, but it would serve as good experience. His strength and resolve were as strong as any dwarf's, and he was ready to face the attacker. He took part in the line as Norin said with the others. Goblins, orcs... he hated them. He was ready to fight. His training was not particularly impressive yet, and as Setik had said, it was the one with the most training who would emerge victorious.

If this notion was actually true, Baldor would surely perish in the battle. But strength, inner and outer, had a part in this too. He would not die to these foul creatures. Countless of them would fall before them. And in the end, they would be repeled, unable to take Zerdargia. And if this was not possible... If Zerdargia could not be defended... He would at least die trying.

[Alesdair]

Alesdair reached out to catch the dwarf but as he twitched and death took him, the dwarf jerked out of Alesdair's grasp and fell at his feet. Alesdair bent down to roll the dwarf over and see if he was still alive. His blood covered face was answer enough, and Alesdair winced at the sight. With two fingers he closed the dwarve's eyelids and said a short prayer for the fallen soldier's soul. It was then that he heard the warning cry. Alesdair looked over the wall to see what had emerged from the woods. The shock of the sight made him back away and nearly fall off the ledge. Alesdair regained his senses, he had been in battle before. Not of this measure, but he wasn't about to loose hs head, he knew what had to be done.

Alesdair swung his bow and the bundles of arrows off his back and went quickly to work. He had his bow strung in no time and cut the bindings loose on one of the five bundles of arrows at his feet. He then took his container of the substance given to each of them by the arch-druidess. With this he coated the tips of his arrows before taking a few handfuls of them and filling his quiver. As he prepared he glanced out at the zombie giants, a sight that was new to him, and very scary. Alesdair wondered if they would even fell arrows. But he knew that the arch-druidess was smart, she would not have given this to them if it were ineffective. The rangers would be able to ignite thier arrows with the help of the druids and hopefully these giants would burn.

Alesdair wondered if zombies still needed to see... they were dead, but could they be blinded? If so then aiming for the eyes was still a good stradegy. Although some of the undead were nothing more than skeletons so it was doubtful that anything of the sort would weaken them save for taking their heads off. He would find out soon enough. From what he had gathered, burning was effective, as well as light magic. And with a lack of arcane skills, Alesdair would have to rely on using flame arrows.

[Troy Finn]

Troy was slightly confused when he was grasped by a dwarf Sergeant. He hurriedly slung his bow and staff onto his back before being half-drug to the gates. The dwarf that was with him semed to know what he was doing. Troy, not quite sure what was happeining outside of the city, began to take orders from the dwarf.
He called himself Beldwhig, and was setting up a sequence for barracading the door with big wooden logs. Without questioning the dwarf, Troy rushed over to the logs, pulling one up and setting it against the gate with a huge grunt of effort.
It seemed almost natural for him to follow the lead of someone else. If there was one thing Troy did well, it was taking orders. He had thought about a career in the military after all.
He gritted his teeth together, following Beldwhig's lead by planting the end into the dirt for better bracing effectiveness.
He finished about the same time Beldwhig did, and stepped up next to him, "By the way, Troy Finn at your service, Sir," He said to the dwarf.