Fantasy Avalon: Land of Gods

[Quinlan63]

Needless to say the day was not the most ideal situation for the commander of the Mage Corp. Roland and his troops had been sent out to battle the orcs in tandem with the elven forces who were once again trying to cross the border after the numerous times they had to be chased off. Since themment they made contact with the Orc forces it has been constant wave after wave of troops coming at them with little time in between. And so this was effecting everyone especially the mages who needed to rest in-between battles so they can cast again. Roland was actually fine overall since he hadn't gotten himself into actual combat yet but his tendency to stay up late was coming back with a vengeance. He had sent a request a while ago to the capital for reinforcements to be sent so as to prevent his troops from becoming so overworked that they just fall out and die from exhaustion. He got a reply back saying they would be sending someone to reinforce the border as fast as possible but they couldn't give him an exact time due to all the fighting happening all at the same time. He was starting to wonder why things were ramping up a lot more than they were in the past months. Every battle was getting more dangerous that resulted in so much unnecessary death. The Orcs have been pressing their advance so much that they had to retreat from a few key points just to make sure they had troops to fight later on. Roland was lucky or unlucky enough to have not been there at the time.

He could not worry about what could have been through so instead he went over what kind of defences he could have laid out. Pulling out the map he had sketched out of the area was once again met with the sight of the surrounding forest. The fact that it was dense made it good since it was harder for large forces to march through with war machines since they would have to take the time to knock trees down which would slow them down and give away their position. The only thing they had to worry about was the potential of them trying to sneak up on them in smaller groups. Funny enough that was the complete opposite of what they have been doing. So far they just keep trying to rush us down into close range combat. With all the mages and archers they had they had the advantage for now but soon enough the mages will all be tired out and they will run out of arrows. He was not a devout follower of Ádh Mór but he could use a little luck right about now. If he could not be so blessed he might have to resort to fighting himself and if that happens there might not be a forest when he is down giving away one of there advantages.

Uasal Gaius Danius Griinia Athanas Ch3rryBlossom28 . D O V E Astrylan Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[Gaius Danius Griinia]

Kanan sat on a barrel with an empty tankard in his hand. Shaking it against his mouth, he tried to get the last dregs of alcohol into his system. Sighing and placing a hand on his cheek, he watched the people go about their morning. A good portion of them tended to avoid Kanan altogether. Half-Elves were an oddity here and Kanan hadn't found many like himself. This was a strictly Human Mage corp. Although a few mercenaries from the Heroes Guild had come along with him. So there were a few Elves sprinkled among the Mages. Although a hybrid, he felt no particular attachment to either race. "Bored are we?" said an elegant and gentlemanly voice. This was a voice Kanan knew well, one he heard whenever he looked to his hand. Nestled on his finger was a dark ring with detailing resembling a draconian face. In its maw was a gorgeous white gem that shone with an otherworldly light. "Well yes Goruba, how ever were you able to guess?" replied a bemused Kanan as he poked the gem with his finger. "Please refrain from touching that so casually.... I've told you how much I dislike it" said the irritated ring. Getting up from his seat, Kanan went on a brisk walk. First he passed the mess tent and covertly grabbed an apple and began eating it as he walked. The morning was rather dreary and it seemed as if it might rain at any moment. It was almost as if the heavens themselves could sense the doom and gloom surrounding the many skirmishes that occurred between the two armies. Discarding his food to a passing goat, Kanan put his hands behind his back as he walked. Yawning and blinking a few times, he checked out a group of mages going over spell tomes and battle plans.

Then Kanan passed a young mage hitting a rod against an pile of misshapen rock. "DAMN IT! Why doesn't it move and act like I want it to?" said the aggravated boy. "Hello Frain, having trouble with your Golems again?" said Kanan as he leaned against the tree. The youth turned to look at the smiling Kanan, like a deer caught in lantern-light. The ashy haired mousey adolescent seemed a bit young to join the Mage Corps, yet Kanan knew his skill as a Golemancer was reliable. "Oh hello Mr Kanan....you too Mr Goruba" said a sheepish Frain. Kanan and Frain had become acquainted when Frain was tasked with showing the Heroes Guild Mercs around. He was amazed at Goruba's powers and by Kanan's tales (Some of which were embellished for added flair). Kanan tapped the back of his hand on the rock pile and looked down at Frain. "Lieutenant Rodrigue asked me to set up Golems to help defend the perimeter.....but the recent fights with the Orcs have proven that the reaction time and fighting capabilities aren't nearly good enough to keep up with these Orcs" said Frain as he twiddled the magic rod between his fingers. "So you thought to try and improve their capabilties via improving their thaumaturgical formulae?" responded Kanan as Frain nodded sadly. "No matter what I do though... they're always either too slow or too stupid!" yelled the ashen haired youth as he punches the golem. Seeing the distraught boy reminded Kanan of himself trying to figure something complicated out when he was much younger.

"Goruba can you analyze this formula and gave me some detail?" said Kanan to the shock of a surprised Frain. Crouching down and holding out his ringed fist, an arrangement of glowing script appears atop the stone. Taking a moment to check it out, something came to Kanan. "Ah yes, I think I know something that might help" said the Half-Elf as he scratched his chin. Frain grabbed his hands and looked at him with proverbial stars in his eyes. "Really? You know how to fix these Golems so they work?!" said an excited Frain as he stared into Kanan's amused gaze. Separating, Kanan had Frain use his rod to alter the formula in a few spots. "I'm by no means a Golemancer like yourself...but one of my teachers was an extremely skilled Puppet Maker and she taught me about Animation Formula. Instead of trying to get them to focus their all on a single action, program them to act accordingly with their surroundings like a regular soldier would" responded Kanan as he pointed out a few spots to alter the script. Soon Frain used his rod to activate the Golem and the magically linked grouping of rocks stood up. Kanan threw a stick at it, the Golem knocked it away with humanlike reflex. Next Frain shot a basic magical blast at it, which it ducked under. Finally Kanan ran at it before jumping over it. The moment he touched the ground, he saw the Golem twist its stony torso around to face him. "IT WORKS!!! IT REALLY WORKS!!!" screeched Frain as Kanan began to walk away. Frain had a bunch of Golems to get up and running, no time for Kanan's shenanigans.

 

[Uasal]

The stomping of feet, the rattle of heavy plate, the clatter of hooves, the humming and singing of hundreds, it all echoed out across the valley as Fortuna's army marched. The army stood four thousand five hundred strong and despite the massive number moved perfectly in sync as it moved across the landscape. The army had been traveling for days now in response to a reinforcement request from the mage core. in front of the huge army rode Fortuna, the captain and respected war hero. Aside her rode four males, two on each side trailing a few steps behind and each adorned with various trinkets that made it obvious they too were distinguished in their service to the empire. These men were no other than Fortuna's lieutenants, her most trusted comrades and subordinate leaders of her army.

Spoiler: visual comparison

It was with all this noise Fortuna both intimidated her foes and announced to them that her army was ready for war. As the army approached the mage camp it was quite obvious the orcs had been taunted by this. They too began stamping and signing out across the forest valley. The two armies were creating quite a racket and the mage camp was caught right in the middle. After an hour or two Fortuna's army finally reached the camp and as Fortuna raised her hand everything came to a halt instantly.

Looking around the camp from atop her horse Fortuna took in everything she could, the current state of moral, the visible rations, the physical state of the forces assembled and hoe many forces the camp had at it's disposal. After a few seconds of silence

Fortuna dismounted her horse and her lieutenants followed suit. Once firmly on the ground and with her reins in hand Fortuna Issued her orders "Bring the supplies forward and set up your tents.
Sapientia, take one thousand men and fortify the position, take down as many trees as needed and set pit falls for the war machines in key choke points. Veritas, take our crossbowmen and stand guard I don't want any putrid OrC disturbing the reinforcement process. Equitem the forest is too dense for our heavy and light cavalry that leaves us five hundred men down. Take the horses and settle them in the back out of harms way then get our cavalry swapped out to pikes. Sobre that leaves you with the remaining two thousand foot soldiers, take one thousand five hundred and run training drills. Be ready to deploy at any time. I'll take the remaining five hundred and our eighteen musket men. Now get moving! When my troops have been decided send them to the mess tent! I'll meet them there."

With her orders issued everyone began dispersing in all directions. Fortuna's lieutenants taking control of the situation with ease. The entire army was like one big war machine that ran as intended without delay. Following the dispersal Fortuna moved towards what was obviously Roland's tent. Securing her horse outside Fortuna quickly made her way inside and sealed the tend behind her. Turning to Roland Fortuna let out a sigh before taking a seat "Do you have any idea how far we had to travel to reinforce you here today? Me and you both know you could wipe out the orcs camp alone, so why.... why have the emperor send me all the way out here to the middle of no where? You better have a good excuse!"
Quinlan63 Gaius Danius Griinia​

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

The mountains were a din with the sounds of chanting carried through the passes and chasms amplify the sound to a great howling that thunder down the mountain pass, it was known that the dwarves had begun to rally behind a single leader. even the most distant of holds had leaned there support a vast army of armour-clad warriors each brandishing there great axes and war hammers as they sang there ancient songs of war. In recent months, worship of scrane and gul’baraz had increased tenfold. Stepping out from the balcony the oversaw the awaiting forces was another dwarf this one's armour of a different sort inscribed with marking that showed him to be part of the cult of the damned “my bothers we all know what must be done, the elves have for too long kept land that is rightfully ours they tried to take over the world and for the good of everyone for the gold of our ancestors and successors we shall destroy the knife ears once and for all” nor'dul announced to the thunderous applause Of the crowed each one seeking to settle there own grips and grudges fuelled by vengeance for a slight long overdue.

unannounced to the forces of the human or the elves the dwarves has made an unlikely if temporary ally in the orcish hordes they did know that once the other races were dealt with they would turn on them but it was a risk they were willing to take, with that speech the dwarven forces began there march forward there war chants following them as they went a somewhat eerie sight to behold. the force in truth was small... while their idea has supported is was only form select groups of dwarves from each hold but none the less there was a substantial army... and there was always back up.

-----TRANSITION----
outside the walls of a border city, one populated by elves the dwarven army has arrived they had been there for a while the place was lightly defended thanks to many of its forces being pulled away to help with the orcish horde, now they were under siege by a large force of angry dwarves cannons moved into positions as to being battering down the walls blasting them to pieces to the sound of cheering dwarven warriors "you knife ears surrender this land to us or we will level this city and everyone in it" Nor'dul screamed out to the defenders.

 

[Quinlan63]

Roland using all his focus to stay awake while going over his charts that he didn't see Fortuna walk into his tent. Really it was only a miracle that he could even see the map only inches from his face. Honestly if he didn't have people posted up guarding the camp anyone could of just walked in and stabbed him in the back without having to try. Plans kept spinning in his head over and over and over but he only one saw one course of action. If only Fortuna was.... Shaking his head to snap himself out of the trance he heard a familiar voice behind him, turning to see that in fact it was her. And of course the first thing she goes about doing is wondering why the most powerful mage in the empire called upon her when he should have ended it days ago.

"Well you would know if you read the whole letter that i sent out explaining that the emperor doesn't want me to destroy the forest since it is our main advantage in keeping the Orc forces at bay," he replied. "If not for that I would have simply placed explosive runes all about the forest and let them burn themselves to death. But now that you are here (which seriously was very lucky with your timing) I have a plan that should end this in no time. Currently with the amount of magic my mages can perform they will only be able to help with the first part which is where the rest of my fighters and your forces come into play. Since the orcs like so much to be direct with their approach I have devised a series of locations going from one to the other end of the valley where special runic symbols will be placed in large circle. Once they get inside the circle I will activate the magic transforming them all into rabbits. From there it should be simple enough for your forces to go in and sweep the area." It was a bit simple and might have worked a lot sooner but he didn't want to show that such a thing was possible on such a large scale. Something like that just seemed out of place in normal combat that the idea to some was a bit strange. Roland on the other hand was not one to think that such things were strange but creative ways to get things done with quickly. "Worst comes to worst I'll just destroy them all most likely destroying the trees and having to replant every last one of them."

Uasal Gaius Danius Griinia