The ranks of the dragonarmy parted, and a massive figure came into view, walking arrogantly towards the dwarves as if it owned the battlefield. Easily the tallest form on the battlefield, it towered nine feet high from feet to plumed helmet. Clearly one of the Kin, its' size proclaimed its' relation to some kind of giant or ogre on the other side. It wore half-plate armour of magnificent make, and carried a huge single-handed battleaxe the size of a halberd and a shield like a cartwheel.
Halting between the two armies, it raked its' gaze across the dwarven warriors, picking out the taller figures of the five heroes. "I am Bleyn the Champion!" it roared, clearly audible across the whole battlefield. "It has come to my attention that there are 'heroes' among this army. I challenge you!" He pointed with his axe, singling out Surya, Sack, Kobort and Hildraft. "One at once or all together; I care not. Come ahead and die!"
The two armies pulled back to make room, and settled to watch. The tradition of a battle of champions ran deep into antiquity; even against the Elves, the armies of Varkar had been inclined to honour challenges. Of course, in many of such cases, the champion had been Varkar himself and the result a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, the likelihood was that the fight would be uninterrupted by cheating from either side.
Priests of Kord and Moradin hurried up, and aided Hildraft and Vollun to ease the wounds the heroes had suffered up to now. Bleyn waited, a picture of confidence, leaning upon his axe in the cleared ring between the armies. Then, as the five approached him, fanning out, he hefted the vast weapon and stood ready.
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Before he could charge, Kobort gathered his magic and invoked his Web spell. A vast, billowing cloud of sticky strands appeared above the Kin champion, and settled down around him, entangling him completely. With a roar, Bleyn reached out and gripped the webs, ripping himself a small space in the midst, and leaving him free to act, though still trapped in one spot. |
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Hildraft invoked Kord to root the Kin to the spot, but without success. Surya and Sack opened up with their bows - having to be cautious indeed that the strength-enhancing magics they were under the effects of didn't cause them to snap the weapons - and drove clothyard shafts into the trapped Kin. Sack in particular was using his newly-forged bowelraker arrows, to gruesome effect.
With a deafening crack, a massive lightning bolt arced across the cavern from Kobort, blasting into Bleyn and very nearly knocking him over. As Hildraft and Vollun loosed a shaft from their crossbows, Sack dipped in his belt pouch and got out a small vial of poison, looted from one of the Duergar they'd fought in Khundrukar. Hastily unstoppering it, he smeared the contents over his next two arrows and sent them on their way.
Hildraft invoked a different facet of Kord, and brought a beam of positive energy down from the heavens to smite their foe. This was far more effective than the Hold, leaving a great seared wound in Bleyn's chest.
Bleyn was starting to look as if he was in trouble. Arrows were sticking in him at all angles, and he was scorched in several places. Dipping in his pouch, he brought out a potion bottle, bit out the cork, and quaffed the contents, causing his wounds to recede noticeably. All to no avail, as Kobort mercilessly lashed another levinbolt into his armoured body, and Sack came within an ace of putting an arrow into his eye. The Kin scrabbled for another potion, but Hildraft blasted him again with the Light of Kord, making him drop it into the webbing.
Desperately, streaming blood and trailing smoke, the Kin champion dropped to one knee, lowered his head, and breathed the flame all Kin were capable of onto the webs, burning them away (and destroying his dropped potion). This was what Surya had been waiting for. Dropping his bow and drawing the Sword of the Dead Legions, the Tellaran charged forwards with a cry. Driving home with every ounce of the strength in his shoulder, he rammed the point of his Sword into Bleyn's chest, piercing his heart, and dodged adroitly back as the Kin crumpled lifeless to the ground.
A great roar went up from the watching dwarvish army, while the lizard army went quiet. Sack seized Bleyn's fallen shield and began to beat on it with his sword; behind him, four thousand dwarves took up the rythmn and began to hammer their weapons against their shields in defiance of the foe.
Surya turned, grinning diabolically, and gestured upwards with his sword. Slowly and painfully, Bleyn hauled himself off the ground and stood up. The Tellaran gestured towards the Dragonarmy. "Attack them," he said simply. Turning, Bleyn the Champion lurched back across the battlefield towards his estrwhile comrades.
Confusion reigned in the Lizard army. Some were backing away; others called Bleyn's name, others moved towards him, trying to offer help to their apparently wounded champion. But when he reached the front rank and slaughtered five Dragonarmy warriors with one stroke of his axe, a great moan of despair arose from the demoralized foe.
Hildraft lifted his axe over his head. "Charge!!" he bellowed. With a mighty roar, the dwarvish army hurled itself across the intervening space and fell upon the invaders of Kobur.
Confused, demoralized and afraid, the dragonarmy withstood the assault only for a short time. Falling back, they retreated through the shattered gates and back into the valley. The dwarves pressed them the whole way, slaying almost unhindered. Somewhere in that bloody shambles, the violated body of Bleyn the Champion crumbled to dust, and his warrior spirit finally found its' rest.
Priests of Kord, equipped with powerful magics, came hastily to the front, and under their magic the shattered gates lifted, floated back into place, and seamlessly returned to the rock they had been carved from. The same treatment was applied to the secret tunnel network, and when all was done, the West Gate of Kobur was gone as if it had never been and a hundred feet of solid rock seperated the invaders from their goal.
The battle was over.
The next day, the band were summoned before the Regency Council of Kobur. It appeared that the matter of the throne had been set aside for the duration, with power remaining in the hands of the Council. Formally thanking the heroes for their part in the defence, the Council conferred formal citizenship of Kobur on them; something Sack appeared quite unimpressed with.
Dwarven scouts in the watchposts on the western slopes of Kobur had reported the army as heading off down the valley back towards the Desolation. Surya and Sack urged pursuit and harrasment of them, but the Council pointed out that there was no exit now on the Western side of Kobur where a force big enough to attack the army could exit the city. Kobort and Hildraft consulted, and asked the Council to summon Cardinal Axeedge, archpriest of Kord. When that worthy arrived, Hildraft asked him for all the scrolls of the spell Earthquake that the church had available. This turned out to be two.
Making their way to the top of the city, the party lined up in turn to receive Improved Invisibility and Fly spells from Kobort, before soaring out into the air in pursuit of the retreating Dragonarmy.
Five miles down the valley they found them, still in retreat, moving at the best speed they could manage away from the city. Hildraft picked his spot carefully, and unleashed the Earthquake spells at the cliffs to either side of the valley.
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The effects were spectacular. Vast chunks of rock detached themselves from the mountains, toppling slowly at first and then with increasing speed and violence into the valley below. Two great swathes of dust and rubble rushed down from above, obliterating a great chunk of the army below. |
Utter confusion gripped the army below, and it milled this way and that in the swirling dust. Keen to add to the effects, the group swooped down, looking for leader figures to try and pick off. As the dust began to clear, they descried an armoured figure, gripping a staff and with a sheathed greatsword across its' back, giving orders and trying to rally the troops in his immediate area. Diving recklessly from the sky, Sack swooped at him, striking with the Blade of the Sun as he did so. Unused to the momentum of such an attack, its' results came as a complete surprise to the half-orc. His sword smashed completely through the hapless Kin commander's upper body, which - the only applicable description - splashed. Bits and pieces of bloody flesh were hurled in all directions, the staff catapulted off into the crowd of soldiers, and the commander fell instantly dead.
Surya landed briefly, his eyes ranging for the staff, which he couldn't see. Drawing the greatsword free of its' scabbard, he launched himself into the sky again.
Kobort had managed to spot the lost staff; a lizard trooper had grabbed it. Siezing it from the air, he tried to wrench it from the soldier's arms, but the baffled creature hung on, unable to understand why the staff seemed to be suddenly straining upwards. Kobort slashed with the Dyvka, and the lizard let go; the sorcerer soared upwards again.