The Dawn Of Battle

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"ALL TOGETHER! GODS! WITH! US!", came the call from the west, answered it was by the east, and it echoed from the south, as the fleet broke out of hiding, out of invisibility, 20000 mercenaries, golems, intelligent undead from underwater, and even demons and devils that still owed him and were promised to be even with him once they succeed, him Valerion Turingskar, Lord of Vestalla, Archmage and Keeper of the Tower, the pale lord comes crashing down with his fleet onto the fleet of Leguardia, the blockade to break, four dragons (Red, Lich, Fog, Black) circling the sky, raining fire, acid, negative energy and fog on the enemies.

It as night, it was dark, it was going to be death or glory!

His allies knew this would happen today, the great dragon of Kragsfel, the vampires, the Lich that even overpowers him, the Trolls, the Drow on his side, the Ogres, the dwarves, the citadel, and everyone that was allied with him in any way, he had decided to die or at least leave without ever coming back...so he said, but it has persuaded enough additional forces to help him...with their eyes on the rewards of him or his tower if he ever left it, if they would come in time, or if they would concentrate on the enemy force from the north, he would see, NOW it was the fleet he had his eyes upon, and he would not let anyone flee who was responsible for the starving of men, women and children, not in HIS Realm.

Valerion has licked blood, and he was going to use every trick and secret he had, to liberate them, Leguardia should see how stupid it was to declare war over a minor shortcoming, shall the Adventurers find out the truth and use it to take the wind out of their sails, HE was not going to let this stand.


"ONCE IN REACH, FIRE AT WILL!" *Shouted the Golem commanders standing in the ports, dropping the invisibility once the enemy ships were close enough, magicians specially taught by Valerion those few spells to have as much as possible in a short time ready, Silver provided by the dwarves and the Lord Varren Evington, his ally after a fashion, Iron by his own mines, Adamantinum by his alliance with some drow houses and Mithral again by the dwarves, they had more than enough material, and they also knew how to make them fly, therefore his orders were clear, once driven close enough to the ports, they were supposed to open fire, for the special design of Valerion ships would ensure that....this was not an attack were they would circle each other, but were they would drive them in front of them towards the shore, the one who designed them lovingly calling them "Battering Ram Ships" not very original but pragmatic, they could sink ships by ramming them...and survive the impact but also drive fleets in front of them towards a target.


Sitting on the great black dragon under his command, he raised the scepter of destruction and swung it forward, screaming with a magic enhanced voice that is literally came from all directions, booming and doom promising.

"YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR! IF YOU FALL YOU SHALL RISE AGAIN AND AGAIN! SO I ISSUE TRIPLE PAY FOR ALL! FORWARD! TO HELL AND BACK!"

*An insane, but satisfied grin spread on his face as his minions, undead or not, raised their weapons and answered the call with "GODS WITH US! AS WE ALL STAND UNITED! ALL TOGETHER! GODS! WITH! US!"

And thus, the army stormed forward, magical winds driving the ships with great power, parting the waves in front of them, while the rest of the 12000 sat on their posts, 6000 in Humfoo hidden and ready to ambush the strikeforce, and 6000 aiding the defense of the Citadel and surrounding lands. Vestalla was left with the additional 10000 he had hired...but only to be sure, Vestalla was going to be left alone if he was not there, why?
Because the small fort, the little bits of land surrounding it they were able to conquer to provide for themselves were not of interest, and his tower, too well defended and too much of a risk itself to go close....why....well even tho in the tower were only his absolute elite forces to defend it...outside, was an island of full of mighty monsters. If there was ONE of interest for Leguardia, it was Valerion himself as the head of the dragon...but he was coming to THEM.

*Whispering as the dragon on which he rode shot downward in at a steep angle to cover another ship with his burning acid, he grinned*

"I always was a bit too impatient"

The victory at sea for the troops under Valerion's command was Devastating. Not only breaking the Leguardian blockade but outright sinking most of the naval force and sending the rest into full retreat.


The war In the foothills of Humfoo however was wrought by indecision and infighting among local Nobility attempting to assert themselves. Men from Tivook were already stretched thin from the hunters and Leaving the lord of Esergo to hold the second line alone.. Limited dwarven troops from the citadel though making an appearance did so only in time to hold ground for the retreat twords Humfoo fortress and the borders of tivook.

Strangest of all the Leguardian troops have suddenly halted in there advance just short of the Tivook - Humfoo boarder and begun requesting "peace talks".  More telling is the sudden withdrawal of nearly half the legardian forces back across the mountains.

A message intercepted by local troops is revealing of this...

"New information on Senator Pontifous has been reviewed. Proceed with caution and acquire more information on this delicate matter."

*Standing at the railing on his flagships, Valerion watched as rubble passed by, it stunk from bloody, sweat, corpses and more, all would be washed out into the sea sooner or later, picked by the birds, devoured by fish and shark, and the rubble would be cannibalized to serve other construction, war never was a glorious thing...as much as they all may believe it in speech, in rallying cries, now again, Valerion remembered this.*

"It is suprising..."

"What is?" *One of his commanders asked staying by his side, staring at him, he was waiting already for half an hour for Valerion to give the order to hunt the retreating forces down, he knew the Archmage more or less at least, he knew his smile over a defeated enemy, he knew the satisfied look on the face of his Lord by payment, and he begun to become nervous that he did not even see a hint of it from the mage*

"How I got here...how I began, how it all will end eventually"

"Well you are the lord with the money, and you saved this city!"

"Saved...they could have abandoned it...they could have gotten all what they need from a longer taking land trade, that was not the purpose, the purpose was to send Leguardia a sign, a sign that you do NOT attack this realm on behalf of ONE man"

*Valerion looks at his commander, the gleam over his eyes vanishing, and a frown appearing on his face that made the battlehardened Veteran go pale as the two black orbs in the eyesockets of the Mage turned to him and away again*

"Call off the hunt, we have to lick our wounds and reform, I want a full report how many died, the payment of those who died is to be spread among the companies they were a part of, the family of the men and women that died receive the payment without being spread thin over the companies."

My Lord, what about..." *The Veteran gulped looking at the things circling the sky, watching Valerion with utter hatred burning in their eyes*

*A slight smile crept over Valerions face...but a contract was a contract*

"Dismissed, they are all dismissed, back to your realms! You too Commander, the fleet is to be assigned to their ships you get to...bask in the almost sincere gratitude of the city and then we are heading to Humfoo, I want to put an end to this, once and for all. "

*Alone at the side of the flagship Valerion continued to stare into the Water, watching the corpses drift along with the waves, tomorrow they all would be gone, as his troops or just to be food for the fish, the stench would fly away, the water would clear and the rubble would be set aside, and the hardworking populus of the city would build something out of it and forget this ever happened in a few centuries...and he...Valerion...he would go on, he would fight, he would slay, he would rampage over his enemies...and for whom...or for what and for how long?*

"Now I understand...why elves keep to themselves..."

*In the darkness of the ship, a single person watched as his father leaned on the railing, sobbing*