As the reserve platoon was losing ground and getting closer to the main battle line, a group of six of the hybrid giants stormed through the Morgathian army, hell bent to get to the Alliance formation. The archers who were able started to fire at the hulking brutes crashing toward them. Their hides, however, proved almost as difficult to penetrate as a chromatic’s, and many of the arrows and bolts were either bouncing off of them or only partially penetrating. Only the ballista spears from the land dragon crews were causing them serious injury or damage. By the time they had knocked the Morgathian soldiers aside in their maddened charge, only two had been killed by the land dragons. The four remaining smashed through the Alliance infantry, crushing many in their path, in spite of being hit by multiple spears and sword thrusts. The remaining two land dragons charged at the ferocious giants. The oversized fanged brutes snarled back and quickly moved to attack them.
As soon as the giants were clear of the infantry, the two land dragons breathed a cone of fire at two of the four hulking crimson-red monsters. The two hit were thrown back but then quickly got up, only suffering partial injury from the intense flames, and continued their attack. One of the giant hybrids hit a land dragon on the shoulder and side and actually knocked it down, attesting to the increased strength of these horrible half-breeds. The other land dragon was ready for its attacker. It caught it on the shoulder and neck with a well-placed bite and threw it down. In spite of the deep wounds from the land dragon’s fangs, which were pouring out greenish-black blood, it stood up and charged again.
The Draden Regiment’s soldiers desperately tried to close the hole in their line, but too many orcs and Morgathian soldiers had taken advantage of the penetration and dozens stormed through. A general melee started to break out, and the Alliance battle line began to crumble. Colonel Wierangan, with his sword drawn, leading his staff, met the Morgathian charge head-on and began hacking down the two orcs in front of him. He knew that his men would not stand long against the numbers of orcs and Morgathians streaming through their line but hoped that seeing him and his officers engage the enemy would give them the courage to close the gap. He was then distracted by a blue flash to his back. He skewered the orc to his right and quickly turned around to see the copper dragon Selenth with his rider Dkert standing in front of a mixed battalion of dwarves and Talinor Weir legionnaires. He shouted to the dragon and rider as he slew another orc with a downward stroke of his mithril-alloy dragonstone long sword and ran over to them.
“Selenth, Dkert, I have several holes in my line that need reinforced, and those demon giants are engaging my last two land dragons!” he yelled up to the copper dragon.
Looking at the battle, Selenth roared out to their battalion they had just teleported in. “Dremel, take our Talinor brothers and follow Colonel Wierangan to reinforce their battle line and push these devils back to Morgathia. My rider and I will deal with these cross-bred giants,” Selenth ordered the dwarf commander, who immediately acknowledged and led his battalion of over six hundred dwarves and weir soldiers forward, slaying the hundred or so orcs and Morgathians in front of them. Cries of joy rose up from the regiment soldiers as the dwarves began to close the gap in their lines.
Selenth leaped over to where the land dragons were fighting with the hybrid giants and breathed a fiery stream of acid at the nearest giant, basically melting it on the spot. He then jumped and tackled the next giant, sinking his fangs and thick talons into its crimson-scaled hide. The ferocity of the copper dragon was noted in how it matched the viciousness of the hybrid giants; as he roared in victory over his first opponent, the blackish-green blood dripped from his copper-hued jaws. He then leaped and grappled with another giant as it lunged at him. He again proceeded to rip it apart. The demonic giants seemed to be unaccustomed to fighting against so strong an opponent.
As Selenth was rendering the giant he just attacked, the third and last brute moved to the copper dragon’s left flank and jumped up on his shoulder and neck. Just as it was about to claw and bite the dragon’s hide, Dkert reached over and struck the foolish giant on its sloped forehead with his dragonstone pick hammer. The weapon delivered a disruption blast along with the force of the impact itself directly on its forehead. The strike was enough to crack the brute’s thick skull and force it to step back away from his dragon. Selenth followed up his rider’s attack with a tail strike to the giant’s back, knocking it to its knees; he then struck it in the head with his wing to finish it off. Selenth let out a loud victory roar as all the demon giants were now slain. The land dragons had also just killed the fourth hybrid brute.
With the Talinor Weir battalion now firming up the battle line of the Draden Regiment and 29th Legion, Selenth moved over to where the zombies were attacking and quickly dispatched many of them with one wide blast of his acid breath. He then waded into the remainder; crushing and slamming them to either crack their heads open or break their spines. Soon, all the chromatic-animated undead were destroyed. The copper dragon then took to the sky in pursuit of the remaining dragon spawn. The tide of the main battle had now shifted in favor of the Alliance.
“Where in Tiamat’s name did those dwarves come from? And that copper dragon? Why didn’t our scouts inform us of that reserve they had?” the Morgathian commander screamed at his subordinates.
“Marlok, I need a dragon or reinforcements here now. The Alliance Army has just pushed their reserve dwarf battalion in and a copper dragon with them. The hybrid giants are slain, and those catapults on the ridge are still raining down on us!” Molotoc yelled into his dark crystal.
“What happened to the regiment you sent up there to destroy them?” Marlok snapped back.
“They ran into an Alliance battalion with elves and land dragons and are heavily engaged!” he shouted back.
“We are fighting hard here as well, Warlord! We still have the metallic dragons outnumbered, but I just lost my three demon dragons and we already called in the reserve two squadrons of blacks. The dragons I sent to attack the Alliance Army from the back were stopped by their reserve wing. However, since I have grown to accept your incompetence, I have already sent my personal guard with a company of orcs over the mountain as a fail-safe to ensure our victory. My bodyguard captain has told me that they will be emerging from the old dwarf cave soon and will dispatch the Alliance contingent. I have also sent my apprentice Sadok and his death knight partner Ablomar to ensure they get to their destination. I will also spare one of the younger reds and two black dragons to deal with your catapult and copper dragon problem, but there will be no more help until we can defeat these metallics and this Alliance wizard. This means if the fighting gets harder, you will lead your men and orcs personally,” the Talon sorcerer emphasized to the senior death knight and ended the conversation.
Marlok then called to the youngest and smallest red dragon to disengage and fly to destroy the Alliance catapults on the side of the mountains and then to aid the two black dragons in slaying the copper. The three dragons immediately moved away from the aerial fight and started to fly toward their assigned portion of the main battle.
Captain Vicasek had just arrived with the resupply of catapult stones and dragons’ fire canisters to Lieutenant Willaward’s section and began to transfer the ammunition to his caisson floating wagons. These new carts made the process much easier, as they were much more maneuverable than the horse-drawn wagons and could traverse much rougher terrain. Captain Vicasek walked over to the catapult section leader for a quick discussion; for she knew he was busy directing his men’s fires.
“You are really giving them hell down there, as evidenced by the regiment they threw at our weir,” she said to him.
“Are they doing all right?” Lieutenant Willaward asked.
“They’re holding their own, but Lieutenant Howrek was captured,” she replied.
“How?” he asked in astonishment.
“He apparently charged in front
of the infantry’s battle line to fight four death knights and was taken,” she answered. “Mkel and Gallanth were in a heavy fight, to the point where his wife and Silvanth teleported in from the weir and blasted three chromatics that were trying to bring them down. And this was after they defeated a white dragon wolf pack by themselves,” she added.
“This has morphed into a ferocious fight, but I am glad we are giving it back to them down there,” he stated as one of his catapults fired off a dragons’ fire canister. However, just then, a lightning bolt shot out seemingly from the side of the mountain and struck one of the support corps’ floating wagons parked beside a catapult, blowing a large hole in the back of it and sending three weir support soldiers flying. Immediately after, hoards of orcs started to stream out the mouth of a freshly opened cave and charged toward the Draden Weir soldiers.
“I’ll pull my men off their engines and help you fight this off, ma’am,” Willaward offered the support corps captain.
“No, you need to keep up your fires. We’ll defend against this attack until the paladins can reinforce us,” she answered and moved to rally her soldiers into a defense. She quickly called to Beckann to move up and fend off whatever enemy sorcerer was with the orcs and then directed Lenor to move quickly with his paladins to reinforce her soldiers. She also called Heathiret to be ready to come to their aid if something bigger moved against them. All responded and started to move at full speed to their comrades. Vicasek then directed her soldiers with crossbows to keep firing from the wagons, while she gathered her remaining personnel to form a spear line and prepare for the assault. She readied her mithril dragonstone pole arm, its blade at the end of the six-foot elm-wood shaft gleaming in the sunlight. The support corps shooters delivered a good rate of fire with dozens of orcs falling to the new repeating crossbows. This, however, did not deter or slow down their rush, and they soon reached the waiting support corps soldiers.
The first rank of orcs was skewered on the support soldiers’ spears, with Vicasek freeze-striking several with her powerful lance. However, they were soon forced back simply because of the overwhelming numbers of the insect like enemy but then held them in front of their wagons as they were reinforced by the sappers who were working with the catapult section. All seventy of the support corps soldiers present and thirty-six sappers were now fighting for their lives and holding their own against three times their number, with the female soldiers also putting up a staunch defense.
“Ablomar, look at how the Alliance gives women swords and bows. How tough can they be to kill? But only after we have a little fun with them. Send in our men and the beholder, we need to destroy those catapults quickly, for they are inflicting consistent casualties on the army. Once we crush this group, we should move to attack the battalion down the trail that Molotoc’s regiment was to silence but hasn’t,” Sadok stated to his death knight, who then ordered the over one hundred personal guards of Marlok forward. They were led by a hideous bulbous creature floating just ahead of the black-armor-clad Morgathian soldiers. These were among the best-equipped troops the Morgathian army had; their armor and weapons were made of their strongest steel or black iron. Sadok was surprised that Marlok allowed them to be committed to battle but not surprised he sent him to lead this attack, as this small a mission was too insignificant for Marlok to attend to.
Just as the sorcerer’s guards reached the orcs fighting the weir’s support and sapper soldiers, the ground started to rumble a bit from down the narrow mountain pass. Within seconds, Lenor and his platoon of knights rounded the turn and moved into their battle charge wedge formation with the wiry paladin leader at its apex. As the heavily armored knights bore down on the hastily forming Morgathian guards, the beholder cast a dark energy beam at the charging heavy cavalry. The renowned collective magic shield from the paladins’ holy swords easily absorbed the beholder’s spell as they lowered their lances and cut through the black shields and armor of the Morgathian guards. The support corps troops that were not heavily engaged cheered at the sight of the weir paladins mowing down the Morgathian reinforcements.
The beholder then moved away from the weir knights and aimed a disintegration beam at one of the support corps wagons. Just as the beam was about to strike the wagon and surely kill the three soldiers firing their crossbows from it, the ray was stopped by a magic shield. The puzzled soldiers looked at each other and while grateful that they were alive, wondered what had stopped the beholder’s spell. Their question was answered as the gleaming white unicorn stepped out from behind the wagon with the Draden elf clan matron, Lady Beckann, mounted astride the magical horned horse, her staff’s dragonstone scintillating brightly.
The beholder hovered back while preparing another spell to fire at the elf wizard, but Beckann was faster and a bright-yellow disruption beam emanated from her outstretched fingers as channeled from her staff. The powerful beam of light struck the beholder’s shield, rupturing it. The hideous creature roared in astonishment that his magic force field had been decimated so easily. The monster aimed one of its eyestalks at the elf and her unicorn and cast a death ray at the pair. The black beam hit the unicorn with no effect. In its rage, the foul creature had forgotten that unicorns were immune to death magic and basically wasted a spell.
Beckann then spurred Desiran forward in a headlong charge toward the beholder. She cast a shocking spell on herself and her unicorn, which caused any orcs they touched as they rode through them to be blown back. The white-horned horse waded through them like a boat parting water. As the orb-like creature tried to evade the unicorn bearing down on it, Beckann began to cast a domination spell on it. Beholders were magically very powerful creatures, and to control them was difficult at best, but without its magic shield, it was harder for it to resist her spell. This bold act did manage to hold it in place and allowed Desiran to impale the spherical monster. The unicorn quickly withdrew and shook the black blood off the white-gold spiraled horn. The injured beholder moved erratically away from the pair, but its wounds made it even less able to fight the domination spell now fully enveloping it, and soon, it was completely under her control.
She then directed it to protect its new master, upon which it cast a stone spell over six orcs in its immediate vicinity, turning them to solid rock. It then moved toward another orc almost biting it in half as it gathered the power for another spell.
“The elf witch gained control over the beholder; we must move in now, for Marlok’s guards and the orcs will not last long against it and a she-elf wizard of such power,” Sadok hurriedly explained to his death knight companion, and they both started to move toward the battle. The black-armor-clad Morgathian guards were not faring too well against the paladins, with many of their numbers being cut down by the knights’ glowing holy swords. The Alliance paladins’ armor also proved difficult to pierce. Sadok ran to the side of the fighting and fired four magic missiles at the beholder, which was just enough to slay it but not drain his dark-crystal staff. He then made sure his magic shield was at full strength while he began to conjure one of his more powerful spells.
Beckann spurred her unicorn forward to confront the Talon sorcerer and took a wide angle run to draw the effects of their fight away from the Draden Weir soldiers. As they broke away from the general melee, Sadok cast a firestorm spell at the elf and her mount. Sheets of unnatural flame shot from his dark-crystal-mounted staff and spread over a large area to engulf the speeding unicorn. Their combined magic shields took the spell’s energy until the horned horse teleported out and immediately reappeared on the other side of the Morgathian sorcerer.
Beckann then unleashed a fiery response of her own with a barrage of powerful enhanced fireballs. The first two struck the Morgathian’s anti magic shell directly and almost knocked him off his feet. The next two were glancing hits as the somewhat nimble sorcerer dove and tried to roll away from the flaming projectiles. The power of the spell quickly made him realize that he was dealin
g with a formidable foe. As he stood back up and prepared a disruption spell, the young red dragon Marlok had sent roared from overhead and dove toward Beckann and her unicorn.
Desiran whirled around as they faced the powerful chromatic diving toward them. “Desiran, when the dragon’s fire just reaches us, teleport fifty yards to the front of us, facing the direction we came from. My shield will take his fire for a short time, and then raise your shield as I give this crimson demon a spell of my own, for that sorcerer is still behind us,” she spoke to the shimmering unicorn as it looked skyward and prepared to execute their plan.
The young red dragon roared as it dove and breathed out its deadly cone of searing-hot fire. The plume of flame had just barely engulfed the elf and her steed when they disappeared and then reappeared just outside the dragon’s fiery blast. Beckann quickly whispered a short incantation in Draconic, and a large bolt of lightning emanated from the sapphire dragonstone of her staff. The main electrical pulse struck the dragon at the base of its tail on the left side, searing into the crimson hide and flesh. The next dozen smaller bolts pummeled the young red dragon’s magic shield, which was ruptured and broken and then started to strike the chromatic directly.
The red started to bank and quickly maneuver to get away from the barrage of lightning strikes, which had already left several deep, painful wounds in its hide. A blast from an icy beam then struck the unicorn’s shield, which weakened it, but it still held. Beckann had taken advantage of the chromatic dragon’s weakness, which few knew about, in that when they used their powerful breath weapons, their shields went down for those few seconds. Her first bolt hit during that time. This strike was not what the young dragon expected, and as an inexperienced member of its species, it also didn’t know that unicorns could teleport at will and under all circumstances. While a unicorn by itself was no match for a fully grown dragon, they proved very difficult creatures to strike. Most chromatics actually avoided the lengthy confrontations, which were usually a waste of their time.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 41