Chapter 40: Where Angels Fear to Tread
The night. This night. It has been kind to you, it has sparked a revolution, it has returned part of your treasures to you and it has spared you loss and misery.
Yet you are not entirely here, the night pulls you away, back into years long gone. Perhaps that is the nature of the night, when the world shrinks around you, or perhaps your mind seeks an escape from the horrors that are likely to await you at your destination. In either case you chase your thoughts back, back to your earliest nights and the lessons they taught you.
As a small child your parents would terrify you with stories of the night, of the dark things and nameless horrors waiting to snatch up rebellious little girls. They told you tall tales of fairies and elves and goblins that would devour you whole or spirit you away to their mossy halls and clap you in the thick chains of eternal servitude.
As a child you had believed them. Early you would race to your bed with the setting sun, early you would rise with the day, but then such is life on the farm. There is very little to do when the light disappears and strange shapes dance in the corners of one's mind. So you learnt to hide from the night as so many do.
You were a good little girl in those years. In the end it mattered little.
Parents dead. Farm gone. You learnt.
In those early years you sought out the night, the fear; you explored the dark places. Your curiosity bloomed then and you sought to prove to yourself that there was nothing in the dark that was not there in the light. Fear and excitement were your constant companions and each spurred the other to greater heights. On the streets of Madrigal, Tyr and Covenant you learned to love the night. As long as you treated her with respect, as long as you approached her with cunning, as long as you paid her, her just due. So long as you did all that the night protected you, hid you and buried your secrets. For a few years that was enough, you lived without contemplating your fears and found peace in action without thought. Keen eyes, quick hands, it was enough.
Then in a tomb, cold and thick with the stench of the dead, you learnt again. You learnt that there are terrors in the dark that can not stand the light.
It was almost your last lesson.
Henry saved you, it was not the first time you met the mage and it would not be the last but it was the most important. It set you on your path.
"Understanding, child," he had said, "With understanding comes power. There are many monsters in this world: some big, some small, some seek the dark, some move in the light. All are real and all are dangerous but only to those that do not understand."
He had explained to you then that the path of the mage, of the true mage, is one of understanding. The men of the light, the beasts of the night, even the Dark Gods themselves are as nothing before the true mage. For the true mage understands them even as they fail to understand themselves.
On that dark night, in that tiny crypt, you learnt the most important lesson of your young life. Never again did fear touch you the same way, never again could it reach into your very soul and rob you of your sovereignty. You still felt it of course, it still pulled on you as it does on all those that live and still remain master of their own minds, but never again would it shape you.
For the first time you forced your absolute will upon the world, for the first time you cast a spell.
It worked. The world bent just a little, not enough to impress anyone, not enough to discourage the monsters of light and dark, but it was a start.
You can trace the exact road that has led you from there to here, the same road that is now leading you back to Fort Blackrock in spite of Nanshe's warnings. You need to understand what you are up against in order to beat it and the fort holds all the answers at the moment.
You hope this is not a trap.
You hope the fort still stands.
You hope you are not too late.
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You stop at the path that leads up to the fort, nearly half an hour away. The sky is black with smoke and crows. You will go no further until you have some idea of what you are up against.
"Are they still following us?" your friend asks Berty nervously.
"They sure are Taide," he shakes his head, "The bastards know we are headed to the fort, they know we do not have the time to go chasing after them and they know that they can easily fall on our rear the second we engage whatever forces they have besieging the fort."
"Assuming it still stands," you mutter.
The smoke coming from the top of the mountain has you all concerned but you have to maintain formation and take it slow up these mountain passes. The last thing you need is to get caught strung out on a trail with that signal still shadowing you.
"Ah, don't think like that Derry," he slaps you on the back, "First rule of war is ta never give up! Sometimes you can beat the other guy through sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. Ya' just got to refuse ta' die!"
"Wouldn't that give the advantage to our enemies though," Lyssa chimes in, "What with them being undead and all?"
"Bah! Let me at 'em!" he begins to hop around, shadowboxing, "Why I ain't met the stiff yet that the ol' one, two could not drop!"
As Berty dances about you ask Lyssa for an update, "Has your eagle seen anything at the fort?"
She shakes her head, "A lot of smoke and a lot of crows. That is all she has to report. She can not get us more information unless she get closer but she can not get closer with all the crows about," she lets out a frustrated sigh, "If I send her up again she probably won't come back."
You wave Myora over, "What about our scouts? Have they seen anything?"
The maul nods in satisfaction, "Yes, old Neel has managed to get almost to the gates without being spotted. Don't ask me how though with all those crows around," she lets out a short, harsh laugh, "He really is the best."
"So what does he have to say," Thaïs enquires.
Myora nods and her momentary mirth evaporates, yielding to her usual businesslike demeanour, "The fort has definitely fallen but perhaps I should let our scout give his report himself," she whistles twice and a short, grey man makes his way over to your group.
He does not bother to introduce himself or wait for permission, instead he simply nods and points at you, "You the one in charge now?"
You nod and he launches into his report, "The front gates have been smashed apart, looks like they took a couple blows from something big or powerful. The rest of the fort is completely intact from what I saw and there appears to be no actual damage to the rest of the structure. The smoke we are seeing does not seem to be coming from any fire I could spot. It may be a spell but I have no way of knowing. Good news is I did not see any undead while near the fort but the bad news is it is definitely occupied. While hiding under the wall I heard two individuals speaking in a tongue I am unfamiliar with. They were not speaking any human language and while I am no expert I am fairly certain it was not dwarven or maulish either. The crows are thick as flies around the fort as well but not one of them bothered to look at the ground, they are all scanning the skies, probably looking for your eagles."
"And what of Jawbone, Rand or their men," you ask.
"Jawbone's dead," Neel spits, "His body is strung up over the main gate. A couple others are also hanging off the battlements. No idea what happened to Rand and the rest, though Rand is a sneaky bastard so he might be in there somewhere," Neel shakes his head, "A fucking shame too, Jawbone owed me fifty gold, now that old bastard will never pay up."
The fort fallen, the garrison defeated, it might just be wiser to withdraw.
As you contemplate giving the order your thoughts are interrupted by a howling and crashing of drums.
The signal that has been tailing you flares to life and it is reasonably powerful. Probably as strong as you or Thaïs alone. It seems that your stalker has finally chosen his moment to strike.
In response a curious and haunting melody descends from the fort on the mountain. Two signals flare to life from within the fort. The first is as strong as you and Thaïs put together, it has a slight quality to it that you recognize; a sort of clod flame, dancing but without warmth. You suspect it is the Creature Nanshe warned you about. The second signal, much to your dismay is stronger still. While it is nowhere near as powerful as the great archmages you have encountered it is still beyond you, Thaïs and Lyssa combined.
Discretion may well be the better part of valour here as it quickly becomes clear that you are outmatched. If you were dug in, with the advantage of thick walls and heavy artillery you believe you might just prevail by carefully timing your shots but out here on the side of the mountain you feel horribly exposed.
Myora races to your rear in attempt to form a steady front against your newly emboldened adversary while you turn to your supporters.
"I am open to ideas people," you gesture to the group.
Berty is the first to speak, "Attack the fort! They will never expect it and we need a proper wall between us and whatever is coming our way."
He obviously can't feel the two signals that have come to life within the fort, "Berty, that might be a bad idea," you and Thaïs reply together.
He arches an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Two more mages, stronger than the one behind us are up there," Lyssa whispers.
"Can you beat them?" he quickly asks.
"Maybe one of them if the three of us worked together," you shrug, "I don't know about both of them though. They might simply be too strong."
He nods in resignation, "Then we hit the smaller group and run like hell!"
"That might be the sounder course of action, yes," you nod before asking the question you all fear, "Do we have time though?"
Berty considers the question for a moment, "I would say we got about twenty minutes before whatever is in that fort can get all the way down here. Provided they don't got some means of rapid movement," he hesitates as an idea comes to him. He grunts, clearly unhappy with it but quickly resolves to tell you anyway. He leans in close to your ears, "We could always sacrifice the infantry and six of your escort. If they attack our pursuers then we should be able to smash right through with the chariots and carriage in the confusion. We would be abandoning them though."
You are loath to abandon your mercenaries, "It might be a bit of a gamble but what if the three of us attacked this mage together. Perhaps we could push past him or destroy him and rout his group. They are likely less powerful than we are if they refused to join battle until now."
"We would have to be very quick about it though," Lyssa adds, "All they have to do is hold us off until the group from the fort arrives and we are finished."
"None of these options are terribly encouraging," you are forced to acknowledge, "I just don't know w-"
Your eye catches movement as a large stone shifts to reveal a short, narrow tunnel. A figure steps out of the low tunnel, you have trouble placing him which means it could only be one man, "Rand?" you call hesitantly.
He gives you an inscrutable smile, "Glad you remembered. If you would please follow me I can escort you to safety."
You grin, "Let me marshal the men first."
He frowns and shakes his head, "I am afraid it must be only you and your friends. By now our enemies know that you are here, we will need the distraction provided by our men to safely escape."
"What about the King's men? What about Myora?" you demand.
"The Kings' men must stay, they will fight hardest and buy us the most time," he drops his gaze and for a second you sense sadness, then it is gone again, "Myora must also stay, the passages we must pass through are old and a maul simply will not fit. Please, we must leave quickly."
He looks ready to flee back into the tunnels at any moment, with or without you.
Above you, from the fort on the mountain, something powerful begins to move.
You have no more time.
You choose to:
A) Attack the Fort, it is certainly not what they will expect. But you will have to defeat whatever is up there and whatever is following you.
B) Attack the smaller group that has cut off your escape route. You will try to take out the enemy leaders in the hopes of breaking through with your entire force. The biggest concern is that you may run out of time and end up trapped between your enemies.
C) Order your infantry to attack the smaller force and push them out of your path. If they succeed you should be able to ride through with your carriage and chariots. You will have to abandon all your infantry, Myora and six of the Royal Guards though.
D) Spit your forces. One group (Group A) will engage the enemies coming down from the mountain while the other (Group B) tries to break through the smaller group. It might give Group B more time to escape but everyone in Group A is almost guaranteed to die or get captured. (In this option you are free to list your preferences on who will go in each group. For example, D: Group A: Berty, the Blackrock grenadiers, etc Group B: Myora, the mauls, etc )
E) You will take Rand's tunnels and trust him to lead you through the mountain. You will however have to abandon your infantry, your vehicles, Myora and the chests. Either because they will not fit or because they are needed to buy you time.
F) Ambush Plan: "We give all the remaining cubes to Lyssa with a ring of mass fear to fend off the crows and send her and a sapper team back to mine the whole trail. Lyssa's job is to use illusions to hide the team from crows and scare them off with her ring if that fails. Have Berty take as many volunteers as he needs to get the job done without keeping them hidden burdensome for Lyssa. Neel can take the shot but he should have a backup in case he is felled.
We hit the other group hard and fast and try to break through as quickly as possible. Our goal is to split or bottle their ranks and give ourselves and the sapper party an escape route. Thais and Derryth take out any mages while the troops do what they know how to do. Once the mage is down they opportunity fire as needed. If we hear explosions we give them some time and then withdraw."
G) freeform
