The Battle for Luciensburg: Taking the Checkpoint

[Sarcof 98]

THE BATTLE FOR LUCIENSBURG

SEIZURE OF THE UNDERGROUND PASS

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The men and women of Luciensburg waited in the abbey, watching as the Padre, Paco, give his sermon. Mixed amongst them were their allies from Hyspia and Yong Ping. Though few of them shared blood, battle had forged bonds not easily broken. The Lector walked amongst them, voice issuing from within his helm, splashing those around him with holy water, blessing them, anointing them. Preparing them for what they would find below. The Padre moved to the end of the abbey, his brief sermon finished.

 

An older human man stepped up in front of the crowd, his beard more salt than pepper, a knitted black watch cap pulled over his head, covering the white fuzz that serves as an excuse for hair. His hands folded behind his back, Grifter took the dais. The noise in the room died down, and his voice cut through what little that remained, projected with the mastery of an orator. Idly, in the back of his mind, he wondered which of the assembled force within the room, and those waiting outside beyond, would survive the next fraught hours of fighting. How many of them had the mettle and temper to withstand the desperate hell that is tunnel warfare.

 

"All of you, pay attention. This is your final briefing. The plan is simple. The majority of this combined force will assault the rats through the spider den that lies to the west of the city. Vicente, Duhu Tianrui, do you know the way?" The old man's eyes sought out and found the two individuals, the Li-Ren elf and the Hyspian commander. Both of them answered in the negative, and Grifter's jaw tightened.

"Very well. We'll assign a scout to lead your detachment too them, where you'll take over." A voice cut him off before he could say further, belonging to an Adunian standing by the front, none other than the Burgomaster himself, Quentin Brae.

"I'll lead them over to the dens, then if there's time, return and link up with the Checkpoint Team."

"Very well. Good on you, Quentin. Now, while we're on the topic of the Checkpoint, some of you may have deduced that the spider tunnels won't be our primary push. It's simply a feint, to draw as many guards as we can away from the checkpoint and the palace. A second team, much smaller, will push into the tunnels beneath the city and secure the checkpoint while the rats are busy, and hold it. Those of you selected, stay behind for further briefing. Are there any questions?"

 

There weren't many, and most of those were regarding who would be with which team. The final questions cleared up, Grifter looked to his left, before saying simply, "You've got them, Quentin. Checkpoint team, stay back for final checks."

"Tunnels squad! Meet me by the tavern!"

 

The majority of the people filed out, filling the square, the staircase up to the tavern, the tavern itself. Quentin stood in front of them, making sure everyone had gear, making sure everyone had weapons, that they knew their roles. The Duhu Tianrui and Vicente both marshaled their own forces, before waving the all ready to Quentin. He gave a shout, saying simply, "To the tunnels, everyone!"

 

At the abbey, as the crowd moved past, Grifter looked at the much smaller group. A contingent of Owynists, the nobleman Renault, and two women from Yong Ping, of the Watanabe family. He recognized all of them, had fought with most of them before, and knew just how little they knew of tunnel fighting. He would call off an item, and have them hold it up, a simple way of assessing who had what gear, and one that revealed a small handful of deficiencies, things such as a lack of lanterns or crossbows. The man readjusted the crossbow on his back, having brought a spare over as well, and led the party down, into the sewers, towards the secondary entrance into the checkpoint. They passed through a hidden hole, just beneath the surface of the muck, and emerged into a carved out chamber, carved stone bricks forming the chamber. They advanced forwards, tearing through a hastily constructed barricade.

 

As the barricade came down, the small team could already hear the screaming of men and women fighting and dying. The Adunian Burgomaster's voice carried along the tunnel, calling for Grifter and the others. A sense of urgency, of haste, took their actions as they began to attack those few rats that still occupied the checkpoint, striking and retreating back to the barricade where their numbers made little difference, before pushing further into the room. They came to a hole, from which more screaming issued, the sound of fighting echoing up, a few of the surviving members of the tunnel squad having hastily erected barricades, holding the enemy back. For the moment, anyways.

 

A rope was dropped down, allowing a way to quickly reach the bottom without suffering injury, but a truly poor method to return back topside. However, there wasn't much of an option for returning anyways. This was a make or break, a chance to recover the checkpoint and secure the top of the city, or else lose it for good. Most everyone there from Luciensburg knew that. Grifter knew it.

 

The push down the hallway was as grueling as what was expected. A slow, grinding advance ensued, consisting of pressing the Blackhide troopers back, further and further, step by step amidst a hail of thrusting spears and hacking swords. From close range, past the heads and over the shoulders of the front line, bolts and arrows were launched, shooting into the front ranks of Blackhide troopers. As each archway was reached, a barricade was constructed, the lead ranks falling back and bleeding the horde of troopers dry before advancing again.

 

After the fourth barricade, they made it to the room where the majority of the conscripts and soldiers had been killed. The floor lay thick with bodies, covered by corpses rat and human and elf. They didn't have time to inspect the room before drums sounded in the deep, and more rats flooded up from the floor directly below the stairs, pressing the contingent back to the barricades again. Fighting resumed, the barricades straining under the press of bodies, the cursing, shouting, and crying out of individuals slowly whittling one another down. The wave of ratmen broke, the Ratiki holding back for a bit longer, and the assaulting alliance pressed forwards, establishing more hasty barricades where they could, ripping up everything not nailed down to press into service.

 

From the support party, a cannon was lowered down, painstakingly brought below, lowered by ropes into the rear room and set up at the staircase that led down to the gate, aiming right at where the ratmen would assault from. As it was being loaded and set up, the next wave beat at the barricade, pressing in and against those formed on each of the separate stairwells. This wave broke, like those before it, and the cannon was loaded. More items were stacked in the doorway, blocking the way back inside, and the assaulters became the defenders, now reduced to weathering each successive assault by the rats.

 

This next one went better. They pressed into the barricades, tearing at it while a small contingent of members from the YPA slashed at those on the other side. The men on the staircase, up on the landing, and in the tunnel called for them to clear the hole, to allow a clean shot. They began to slowly pull back, reluctant to abandon the barricade, delaying the inevitable moment of firing, until Grifter finally gave the call to fire anyways. The few left were killed along with the rats, the older human scowling at the waste of their lives, before belting out more orders, coordinating the next assault. The Duhu Tianrui was leading his siege crew in disassembling their ballista, to bring it below where it could be used to help staunch the flow of further assaults.

 

The hours bled together and ran red. Those on the floor below were recovered as quickly as they could be, those still capable patched up and pressed back into service. The situation was as gritty, as unpleasant, as the more experienced hands had warned. There was no time to really relax, to stop and rest, to take a break. Grifter saw Vicente fall, covering one of his men. Another body to bury, or cremate. The stairs grew slick with blood, hands ran slick with sweat, and all the time the rats kept coming, trying to break the survivors. And then, suddenly, like a sluice gate being closed, the tide of stinking, malicious creatures stopped.

 

Those who had weathered the assault panted, the ballista being brought forwards and built. The checkpoint was theirs now, the rats deeming the assault not worth the cost of more lives for the moment. Another barricade was set up at the mouth of the gate, and the defenders relaxed for a moment, breathing easily for the first time in hours. Bodies were gathered, the dead catalogued and collected for last rites, the wounded patched up as best they could. Grifter directed the transport of some of the wounded peasants, directing the lifting, making final exchanges. He saw the Owynists bring up the body of their comrade, Bessol, a man he had operated on before, and the Hyspians bring up the body of Vicente. He bowed his head for a moment, before continuing his work, establishing a watch, an alert system.

 

He attended the final rites of Bessol and his cremation. And then, back to work. Isaac Jebediah and Padre Paco grabbed some of the mules and carts from their stables, and Grifter gathered those peasants who hadn't fought or had recovered, and led them to the blasted ruins of the keep. The initial supervision and briefings were provided by Grifter, however the lion's share of the work would be carried out by peasants, under the watchful eyes of the Owynists.

 

For the moment, the city was secured. No longer under threat of being immediately assaulted by the Ratiki below them, the people of Luciensburg breathed a sigh of relief, if only while they prepared for the next, inevitable assault.