15th Hematite: Final Battle
Arzez was shocked to see the Warriors under Wok and Sir Nil's command so banged up and worn out. As his squad settled on the ground to rest Sir Nil came over to him.
"These battles have been hard on our Warriors. The Undead squad to the North show no signs of retreating despit the fact that we've destroyed their companions. Your Warriors appear to be in the best shape to continue the fight." Sir Nil said as he gazed at the Warriors sitting around them.
"Take your squad to the North and end this siege Arzez. We won't be able to give you any backup so you'll have to make do with your squad as it is. Good luck." With a nod to the Deputy Arzez turned to his Warriors and repeated Nil's orders before leading them off toward the chasm.
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Arzez let loose a battle cry as he led the charge at the Undead forces. As the Warriors passed from the open field into the valley where the Undead waited they were forced to bunch together. As more Undead suddenly appeared behind them Arzez realized they had charged right into a trap.
Halting the charge Arzez ordered Keshan and Tamunshin to guard Giken. The Marksdwarf let loose a trio of bolts which crashed into the skeletons, shatteing bones and sending several to the ground with missing legs while Arzez jumped into the middle of the closest group of Undead and lashed out with his sword.
Felling 3 before they could retaliate the Swordsman went on the defensive, ducking and parrying the blows of mace and sword. He was overwhelmed by the numbers though and eventually a mace smashed into his left leg snapping the bone and twisting it to a weird angle. Screaming at the sudden pain the Warrior fell to the ground, pulling his shield in to block the blows that continued to rain down on him.
Seeing his captain fall Tamunshin charged into battle with Keshan at his side. The 2 Dwarves quickly decimated 5 skeletons between them before they drew to much attention to themselves and were pounced on by several Lashers.
Seeing the skeleton's attention turning away from him Arzez took a chance and swept his sword along the ground, cleaving the legs from under a couple surprised Axemen before beheading them. Seeing Giken about to be stabbed in the back by a skeleton Arzez drew and tossed his dagger with as much strength as he could before he fell into darkness.
The young Warrior would have been proud to see the result of his effort. The dagger plunged into the skull of the backstabbing skeleton, smashing the bone and continuing into the next grinning skull.
Scanning the area and seeing heavily armored Undead coming at him he pulled the last 2 bolts from his quiver and fitting them onto his crossbow. The skeletons saw the movement and raised their shields, knowing that normal bolts could never get through their armor.
Had they been able to think they might have noticed that the heads of these bolts was different from most. Instead of being a simple point the heads split into 4 hooks surrounding the normal point.
Firing Giken smailed as he watched the Sarek's experiment punch straight through the iron helmets the Undead wore and into the skulls beneath. After watching for another moment Giken raced toward his fallen captain.
Keshan and Tamunshin joined him at Arzez's side. There was a great deal of blood running down Tamunshin's right arm and Keshan was favoring his shoulder where a hammer had hit it. Giken quickly dsicovered that Arzez was alive but uncouncious. Slinging his friend over his shoulders Giken started back toward the fortress.
Halting for a moment he reached for the iron trumpet hanging off of Arzez's belt and blew a loud note on it, signalling the all clear to Sir Nil and Fireheart.
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We still haven't lost any Warriors though about half of them are injured now. The siege is broken though.
Arzez: 9
Tamunshin 2
Keshan 3
Giken 2
The new Total Kills Table follows:
Wok: 52
Nil: 73
Hawkfrost: 24
Vabok: 25
Kornash: 24
Speardwarf: 36
Iton: 9
Bob: 45
Arzez: 23
Tamunshin: 21
Keshan: 4
Giken: 3