The invaders had now come into range of Lina’s magic, and she did not hesitate. She pointed toward the front row of the advancing hobgoblins. A meteor swarm crashed into the four hobgoblin companies in the van of the invaders. Of the one hundred hobgoblins in the first four companies, only five survived the onslaught! Yet still they came, hobgoblins, orcs, goblins, all kept running toward the city. Now twenty mobs of orcs could be distinguished, all running toward the city behind the hobgoblins.
"Here they come!" Edward called out. He re-cast death ward on himself, then flew up one hundred feet above the city, getting a better view of the advancing enemy. Green Arrow flew up to the same level.
The city casters set up magical defenses. Godomar and Eberulf created walls of force, ten feet high, on either side of the main gate. The captain, his veterans and soldier troops 1 and 3 quickly repositioned themselves behind the barriers, as did Ardaric. Soldier troops 2 and 4 withdrew toward the force walls. Audovald summoned Evard’s black tentacles at the east end of the eastern wall of force, extending the defensive barriers. Fulk, inside the gate tower, ordered the main gate closed.
Elana maintained her singing, repositioning herself on the east side of the gate tower near archer band 5.
With the city defenses now augmented, Lina sent another meteor swarm toward the oncoming hobgoblins. The fiery projectiles exploded among the second rank of the enemy fighters, devastating four more companies and leaving only three survivors.
Yet still the enemy continued toward the city. Two hobgoblin leaders, more powerful-looking than the rest, came into view, rallying their fighters and the orcs and goblins accompanying them.
While Green Arrow held position, Edward flew about 400 feet out over the battlefield before the city walls, still 100 feet up. From his new vantage point, the paladin could discern still more enemy units marching toward the city. Battalions of giants, some pushing huge siege engines! He shouted his observations back to the city defenders.
When the remaining soldier troops had repositioned themselves behind the walls of force, Godomar and Eberulf further reinforced the city defenses. A doubled wall of fire, twenty feet high, sprang up in front of the city gate, where they covered the gap between the walls of force and overlapped the previously-created barriers.
While the city archers readied shots, and Willichar prepared himself for flying, Firiona activated her staff of evocation again, sending a huge fireball at hobgoblin company 12, in the previously-untouched third row. No longer untouched: the entire company died fiery deaths!
Now Arimir hit the devastated hobgoblins. He quickly cast gate, then flew up 100 feet above the battlefield. The gate opened in front of the advancing fighters, and an air elemental monolith flew through! The monolith immediately created a whirlwind that swept away the surviving hobgoblins from the first four companies in the front rank of the enemy force.
And still the enemy marched on, undeterred. Gangs of goblin archers could now be seen, running behind the mobs of orcs. The apparent leader of the hobgoblins shouted up to Edward, flying overhead. "Come down and fight!" he screamed at the flying paladin.
Green Arrow flew to meet up with Arimir, as did Elana from the city wall. From their vantage point above the battlefield, they watched as Edward responded to the hobgoblin leader’s challenge. The hulking paladin landed before the brutal fighter. "Here I am!" he announced. And without further ado, he slashed the hobgoblin into a bloody wreck, then cleaved through him and took out his lieutenant as well!
The air elemental monolith continued its rampage through the hobgoblin ranks, blowing away all twenty-five fighters of hobgoblin company 10. Firiona’s next fireball likewise incinerated company 11. But still the enemy kept marching toward the city, mobs of orcs and gangs of goblin archers now coming into full view of the defenders.
But something else was coming into view: two of the white dragons had rejoined the attack on the city! The first breathed at soldier troop 4, severely wounding the entire squad and even putting out part of the wall of fire they had been standing hear. The second breathed at soldier troop 3 and chilled most of them. "Ice requires fire," said Arimir, who hurled an empowered chain fireball at the dragons, frying them for heavy damage in return.
Firiona sent an empowered fireball at the second returned dragon. "Got you!" she cried as the fire singed the monster. But . . . the dragon didn’t stop its flight. It landed on the city wall, reached out with its snaky neck and bit Eberulf, wounding him severely! From above, Green Arrow struck the dragon with five arrows. It began to bleed massively from major abdominal wounds.
From the dragon’s jaws, Eberulf tried to cast greater dispel magic against the dragon, but it had no effect. More effective was the orb of force Audovald directed against the monster. And when Lina blasted the cold creature with a maximized scorcing ray, the dragon was driven to flee from the battle again.
Willichar quickly teleported to Lina’s position on the city wall.
While the defenders struggled against the dragons, still more threats to the city arose. Literally. Three of the dead white wolves suddenly sprang up from where they had been dropped, and began running toward the city!
"What the . . . ," muttered Green Arrow. "Someone–or something–out there must be able to animate dead. But who?"
Edward flew up 60 feet into the air above the battlefield to survey the current scene. Ardaric used his helm to teleport next to Edward. The few surviving hobgoblins, along with the orcs and goblins were still advancing toward the city. Nothing seemed to deter them! And beyond them, Edward could now make out five catapults, plus a battering ram, moving steadily into range, each crewed by a team of giants.
Focusing on the nearer threats, Gordian cast storm of vengeance at the advancing mass of hobgoblins, orcs and goblins! Almost all of the surviving hobgoblins were destroyed, and most of the orcs and goblins, including several of their leaders, were deafened! Those few hobgoblins who survived the storm suffered further heavy casualties from archer bands 2 and 3. Yet some still survived! The few hobgoblins still on the field charged toward soldier troop 3. The orc mobs and goblin gangs behind them took less damage, but were almost all deafened by the storm. They kept running toward the city too.
The archer bands brought down more of the few surviving hobgoblins, as well as the reanimated wolves. From the gate tower, Fulk sent a firestorm to incinerate orc mob 4. The air elemental monolith rushed through the air toward the advancing orcs
While the rest of the defenders were engaged, Elana thought she heard something, very faint, coming from the city. Or from behind the city! She flew back up to the city wall and listened again. There it was: the sound of marching coming from the opposite side of the city!
"Arimir," Elana called to the elemental adventurer, "let’s see what’s coming up from behind us!" Arimir promptly flew to Elana, then took her as he dimension door’d to the opposite side of the city. They landed on the northern city wall and looked north of the city.
There they were: stone giant fighters. Five battalions of nine giants each. "Not good, "said Elana. "We will do what we can," replied Arimir.
The wind howled. Snow flurried. Elana cast greater dispel magic, hoping to dispel the control weather spell she thought was in effect, but failed. Arimir sent a messenger from the few city defenders on the north wall of the city to the south side and the primary battle theater. "Warn them of the approaching danger," said Arimir.
The messenger ran south into the city. As he approached the south wall and the main city gate, he witnessed Firiona fire a darkbolt at the second returned dragon, striking it for heavy damage and dazing the flying monster. With reduced defenses, it was an easy target for Green Arrow’s next volley of arrows, launched by the elven archer after he flew up above the main gate tower. The dragon howled in pain as the arrows found their marks in its vitals. It flapped its wings uselessly before crashing to ruin onto the wreckage of a poor man’s home.
The messenger ran into the gate tower and climbed the stairs inside to reach the top of the city walls. He conveyed Arimir’s report to Audovald, who in turn spread the word to the remaining defenders and the adventurers. While the messenger reported, Eberulf concentrated on maintaining the wall of fire he had cast. Gordian likewise concentrated on maintaining the storm of vengeance. His concentration ended the lives of more orcs, and destroyed all of the advancing gangs of goblin archers. He even managed to wound the orc’s marshall and his veterans, who were all still deafened by the storm. A huge pile of corpses grew on the battlefield.
Fulk continued to maintain the firestorm he had cast, blasting even more of the advancing enemy. Yet still they rushed toward the city, crazed to do battle. The surviving hobgoblins finally ran around the end of the western wall of force and reached soldier troop 3, who had taken defensive positions. None of the hobgoblins managed to land a blow. Troop 3, on the other hand, did, and all the remaining hobgoblin attackers fell to their swords. The remaining orcs likewise advanced, and the air elemental monolith flew toward them, ready to confront the enemy.
"Must do something about those catapults," thought Edward. He re-cast find the gap on himself, then asked Ardaric, "Venerable Ardaric, the time is now. Use your power to move us from this storm toward those siege engines yonder." "Aye, time it is," replied Ardaric, as he honored Edward’s request. None too soon, as the siege engines began to fire projectiles at the city walls. One hit, though the damage was slight.
But stones came from other sources than just the catapults. The crew of the advancing battering ram--ten mighty stone giants--took huge rocks out of their bags and threw them at Ardaric! Three hit the venerable warrior, one of them battering him severely. He shook his head, trying to recover from the blows.
And the weather continued to deteriorate. The city and the battlefield were now engulfed in a major windstorm! Visibility shrank practically to nothing. Arrows flew wildly off-target. Fliers themselves were blown about. The very ground of the battlefield began to rumble. And still the enemy kept coming.
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