To Fight in the Sunlight [WC VID]

[FlemishSupremacy 6115]

 

 

To Fight in the Sunlight A Mori’Quessir’s taste of surface warfare.

 

Keralth stood on the earthen mounds behind the Imperial palisades, staring at the fort ahead… So bright today, he thought, looking over the arrayed siege guns. Their black color betrayed their frequent use, and their crews seemed to know their way around them. Ahead, the Urguani fortress rose up to the sky. A practical thing, mostly gray, crawling with precious few defenders. Even from this distance, Keralth saw the flaws. Breaches would follow quickly, if these gunners were as competent as first glance indicated they were. This type of fighting was not familiar to Keralth. He had fought in ambushes, skirmishes, and even duels in the street, but nothing of this scale.

 

⧽ ♨ ⧼

 

The roar of cannon heralded the start of the battle. Keralth had joined a prince’s retinue, which moved towards the base of the wall. The retinue’s skirmishers exchanged bolts and arrows with the defenders on the lower  battlements, as cannons smashed into the walls above. Keralth remained in cover, eyes squinting through his visor at the brightness above. He glanced around from his position, seeing some Imperials push up to the walls besides his position. Arrows kept the Imperial attackers at a distance, for now, though some brave groups pushed ladders up against the wall, only for them to be pushed back down or fall short. A dwarven berserker jumped onto the group, before being swiftly cut down. Cannonballs smashed into the walls, causing rubble to fall down near him. He glanced up. A breach? 

 

The prince who’s group he had joined, Martinus ( @helldiving) , suddenly roared; “Up, up!” whilst gesturing to the nearest breach in the wall. Keralth helped three knights in Imperial regalia push a ladder against the wall, and then started mounting it after a few of them had gone up. Glancing sideways, he saw other ladders going up, armored figures streaming towards the fortifications from the siege camp like lines of cave ants towards from a corpse to their colonies. Soon, he found himself on the first battlements, trading blows with a dwarf in heavy armor, managing to knock him off his balance right before a trio of Imperial bannermen joined in and overwhelmed the warrior, stabbing him in the gaps of his armor and bringing him down. The fighting shifted to a constructed ramp, leading up to the central tower. Imperials were trying to scale it, but the dwarves were holding the top, pushing the Imperials back. Keralth had joined the fray, climbing to the top of the ramp and trying to push dwarves out of the way, or pull them down off their fortifications, into the waiting polearms of the men-at-arms below. Suddenly, with their numbers dwindling, the dam of dwarves broke, and the Imperials poured through, with Keralth joining them. Once at the top of the tower, the Imperials made short work of the few defenders that remained. Few were taken prisoner, most slain. Keralth observed how quickly the Imperials set about stripping the bodies, taking weapons and armor, jewelry and whatever else was at hand.

The battle had come to a close, with Keralth looking down upon the now smouldering fortress from a nearby hill, sat in the shade of a pine tree stubbornly growing upon the mountain side. He’d strum his lyre, and watch as the Imperials, once again resembling cave ants, packed up their camp and loaded up their loot, moving east towards the Urguani capital. Soon, he’d finish his song, and find his horse, keen on joining them for the next contest. Perhaps fighting in the caves would suit him better.

 

⧽ ♨ ⧼

 

[Navigator 4260]

Szorruil welcomed his kin back with a smile on his face;

"Honoring our kin. Good job."

[Morigung-oog 5697]

Somewhere, an elf glanced to her bloodied blade, her wounds tended to by her husband. A smile pulled at her lips. In comparison to the labyrinthian intricacies of politics, those of war were thankfully stark and  rather simple.  Each of her allies were granted a note with no fanfare, no elaborate congratulations, only a rather humorous, casual acknowledgement.

 

"Same time next week, lads?"