134 Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Four – Warlord Briggs (1/2)
Eight different warbands were taken out in one day. It was a new record for combats, and Sama or a Void Brother were present at all of them. Demons were Summoned, and the lesser ones Fed the Land all the way around. The Greaters were sent packing back to the Warp, howling angrily at such cheaty tactics... except for the two fights Sama was at, where their howls took on completely different tenors as the Land eagerly lunched them.
The survivors spread all over the place, naturally some finding other warbands, or converged onto the great siege of Ironheim. News spread quickly.
The besieging force was immediately caught in a quandary. They were clearly making headway against these Rockborn, tenacious as they might be, but multiple forces spread all over the place were encircling them, and their lines of reinforcements had been cut off. Further reports indicated that every warband gathering to them was being intercepted, one by one, and dealt with.
They had the choice of being the nut caught between a hammer and an anvil, or charging out and winning glory and freedom by their own strength, before their enemies united.
Naturally they sought glory, and the siege ended as the champions of the Warp slaughtered enough of one another to divide up their forces equitably, and fell upon the armies surrounding them before such could link up. The dwarves of Ironholme cheered to see them go, sallying to clean up the scavengers and demons left behind, like an infestation to be cleansed, and to mourn their dead, and their lost king.
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”For now, we hold here.”
Briggs' deep voice carried to every person there, the holo that Maga Skycloud put up was clearly visible to those not Marked... which, in this force, were quite few.
His fighting force was eclectic and mixed, with human heavy cavalry, hyn stealth units, elven light infantry and caster, Rangers and Borderguard archers, Dwarven spears and bolt-throwers, and even all the Ancients of his tribe, pulling at new scaled mail wrought from Cleansed dragonhide.
”The rest of the armies of the Northguard Alliance are busy fighting the siegers of Ironholme as they scurry across the lands. They'll be here within three days, but in those three days, we will have at least three incoming warbands of our own to fight.
”Nobody is here who does not want to be here. Here are your preliminary assignments, as we deal with the Warp Mutants in the first band.” Unit assignments were visible to everyone on where to place themselves for the fight to come. The enemy was still an hour away, but those in forward positions immediately stood up and left, knowing they had to get into position early and lure the Warped into the rest of the army.
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The Warped were growing more cautious, as the tales of the few survivors came back to them. Naturally, they disregarded on the tales of their enemy's fighting prowess as overblown complaints from the weak, focusing on their magic and shameless tactics and ambushes, and the like.
There were a lot of scouts sent out to find the watchers that seemed to be everywhere, dogging their moves and leading their enemies in. Eventually, they stumbled across some, and savage combat swirled between the trees. Ropes choked, tripped, and triggered traps of logs, spikes, and branches, cunning nets collapsed or drew up, and beastmen died in new and interesting ways as the scouts had fun with them.
The fliers of the main force soon located them, riders of giant bats who soon found themselves with a certain crown of wild griffons not at all happy with their presence. The griffons ravaged the packs of bats and dirge of harpies accompanying the force. Driving them off was only temporary, as the griffons were very proud and very incensed at the intrusion. The head shaman tried to bind one's will, to use as a mount or slave, but the griffons were wary of his magic, and it failed utterly.
Unfortunately, to do so, he had to reveal his position, and ten Arrows guided by True Seeking, boosted with Bane to the Warped and a bit of Holy power, found unerring homes in his chest, killing him from more then two hundred yards away in one conjoined strike. The Warped had to be wary of elven archery for a damn good reason!
The harpies immediately tried to attack the snipers, but that meant they had to get in among the trees, and the elves punished them mercilessly for it. They straggled out with less then half their numbers remaining, none of whom included any who had actually dived on the elves to fight them. A great deal of rainbow voltage had done for all of those...
Briggs watched the fight from afar with the rest, pieces moving in place here and there, the appearance of scouts teasing this troop forward, but they hesitated on entering the trees. When the dwarven soldiers popped out of their little holes in the ground and hacked the shocked horned mutates down in close quarters, they were unpleasantly surprised.
The dwarves retreated into the trees, and the slavering dire wolves of the army were unleashed after them. That wasn't too bright, as the dwarves were merely running to get their spears, and when the mutated lupines reached them, all they found were some very nasty spears lunging for their throats and sides, in the hands of Rockborn who simply weren't going to be moved by then. When the retreating elves caught up and showered them with merciless arrow fire from the side, they could only howl and retreat, sniped down before both elves and dwarves withdrew at a comfortable trot.
The beastmen who ran in after them found more traps waiting for them, and quiet knives taking them down in moments of confusion. The hyn were like smoke, and in face of the irritating losses, the Warped could only proceed slowly and let their opponents get away.
If they knew that behind one nasty wall of thorns two hundred heavy cavalry were waiting and listening as they trooped by, they might have been quite annoyed. The Knights of the Golden Hart were eager, but patient. They had more fights to win then just the one today, so casualties had to be minimized if at all possible, and the slaughtering needed to be as lopsided as possible.
They were quite pleased when they saw the assembled forces up ahead, and pressed forwards eagerly, ready for some bloodshed.
Briggs was serving as Warlord. Estemar was with the cavalry reserves, holding a lance and looking to smite. Briggs didn't have dual mind tracks like Sama, so he couldn't fight and Warlord at the same level, and opted to just stand there next to the Chanter who was pounding out an empowering rhythm on his drums, while Endure sat under his hands, beating in time.
With Courageous.