Godomar and Gordian concentrated on maintaining the spells they had cast. Eberulf changed his focus from the second wall to the scorching ray he directed at orc fighter mob 5. Six of the evil creatures were burned and heavily wounded. Lina hurled a fireball at orc fighter mob 10, wounding all ten but not felling any of them. Willichar tried to drive off orc mob 5 with a fear spell, but the orcs proved impossible to daunt in this manner. Still the orcs and their allies came on.
Meanwhile, Green arrow had unsheathed his sword and, battling the winds, had set himself down on the city walls next to Fulk. Many of the city archers were knocked down by the howling windstorm; the others held in place, gripping the walls for support. Ballista crews shot bolts at the advancing enemy, but missed.
Before the city walls, soldier troops 1-3 tried to maintain position, but many were blown down by the wind. The veteran fighters and their captain likewise were buffeted about, but held as best they could. Soldier troop 4 held, and from their position called out for the city archers to shoot at approaching enemies. All felt more rumbling from underground, growing steadily more intense.
Not bothered by the tempestuous weather, the air elemental monolith flew rapidly toward Edward, farther out on the battlefield. The mighty paladin had flown down to the battering ram, landed, and begun attacking the giant crew. One of the giants took heavy damage from the attack. The rest of the crew rushed to engage Edward. The other siege engine crews, seeing Edward occupied, reloaded and prepared to fire again.
Ardaric, heavily wounded, teleported to Fulk, seeking healing. But Fulk saw a more pressing need: the weather that continued to assail the city and its defenders. He raised his arms high and called on the power of Pholtus. "Oh mighty Pholtus! Let your miraculous power show forth! End this storm that besets us, I beseech you!"
The Pholtan cleric’s prayer was heard. The weather suddenly became calm!
Cheering rose up from the city’s defenders as the evil weather abated. Taking advantage of the calm, Firiona flew down from the city walls to the battlefield, landed and ran to Edward, ready to join the fight. Godomar kept concentrating on maintaining his wall of force, but Gordian stopped maintaining his storm of vengeance, seeing a new need. "Willichar! A fly, please!" he called out to the wizard. Willichar ran toward him in response to his call.
While Eberulf ran toward the gate tower to reposition himself, Audovald dismissed Evard’s black tentacles and readied for the advancing enemy. Archer band 7 shot one of the advancing orc fighters. The other archer bands climbed back to their feet; those already standing shot at the marching orcs, but missed, as did the ballistae.
Lina flew down from the wall to the same unit and attacked, wounding one of the evil creatures. "Time to die!" she screamed. Fulk held on the wall and cast heal on Ardaric. The wily veteran, now fully restored, took a defensive stance, and observed the fighting below. He watched soldier troops 1-4 get back on their feet and take their own defensive stances, and likewise the veteran fighters and their leader.
Surviving orc mobs all kept advancing on the city, running between the walls of fire and taking minor fire damage. Some carried ladders for scaling. Archer bands 7 and 8 tried to pick off some of the orc veteran fighters, but their arrows went wide. Four survivors of the other veteran orc fighter mob managed to reach the city wall, threw up ladders, and started climbing. They didn’t get far before Audovald’s widened cloudkill gassed all four. They fell from the ladders, choking with their last breaths. Meanwhile, Eberulf cast force missiles at the remaining orc veteran fighters, slightly wounding four of them.
Gordian received fly from Willichar. He readied an action, then flew at speed toward the larger battlefield before the city to join Edward. Ardaric beat the cleric to the battlefield, teleporting to Edward with Fulk accompanying him.
While the three defenders left the city for the battlefield beyond, soldier troops 1-3 held defensively, as did the captain and the veteran fighters. Soldier troop 4 braced themselves for the onslaught of the more ferocious-looking orc veterans and took their charge, losing three of their members and suffering heavy damage. They struck back as best they could, but failed to wound any of the orcs. The other mobs of orc fighters kept running toward city walls, accompanied by their marshall.
Lina swung at the orc fighters, killing one and wounding another; while taking no damage from return swings.
All the fighters could now feel the strong rumblings coming from underground, just before the city walls. Something was approaching from below.
South of the city, combat raged on the primary battlefield. Edward flew over the battering ram crew, taking opportunistic but minor damage, then unleashed his helm of brilliance’s prismatic spray. Four were driven insane, two suffered heavy damage, and one was turned to stone! Those crew giants who were able attacked Edward. Some babbled insanely. One of the insane giants attacked his own comrades. Another fled the battle.
Pressing his advantage, Edward hacked and slashed at the battering ram’s giant crew, killing another one, cleaving into still another and dropping him, cleaving into yet another and slaying a fourth with a critical hit! At that point the air elemental monolith arrived at Edward’s position and joined the paladin in battle. It lifted two giants off the battlefield. They swung back at the elemental to little effect.
Then Firiona rushed down to Edward. "Any more room in the pool?" she laughed as she landed, ready to join the melee. And high above the battlefield, Green Arrow had flown overhead from the city walls.
The battering ram crew was devastated. One kept fleeing. Another attacked Firiona but missed. A third, insane, attacked the monolith, also missing
The crews of the siege engines, who had managed to avoid being drawn into melee, all fired at Firiona. But only one hit her, and that only scratched her. Angered at their failure, the crews reloaded.
Meanwhile, Elana and Arimir had their hands full on the north walls.
Elana landed inside the city, behind the wall, then took cover against the wind. Arimir landed on the north wall, where he could observe the advancing giants, some of whom were also checked by the windstorm. When the winds suddenly abated, Elana flew up above the wall and cast mirror image on herself. Suddenly seven more Elanas appeared!
Realizing the need for reinforcement, Arimir gated in another air elemental monolith before the north wall. The airy creature immediately created a whirlwind, picking up one of the advancing giants. Yet the remainder of the five advancing battalions of giants, each with a nominal strength of nine fighters, ran right up to the city walls, and brought scaling ladders with them.
A lightning bolt from Elana seriously wounded three of the giant battalions attempting to scale the city walls, doing serious damage but not killing any. Arimir’s chain lightning severely wounded one of the giants in the first battalion and seriously damaged the other eight.
As Elana and Arimir were defending the city walls, the air elemental monolith picked up two more giants from battalion 3, wounding them in the process
But still they came on. All five battalions now raised scaling ladders and began climbing. Four giants reached the top of the city walls! Trying to stop the escalade, Elana succeeded in striking two battalions of giants with lightning bolts. Arimir sent more chain lightning against the first battalion.
The air elemental monolith moved back away from the city walls, then ejected the giants it held, dropping them to the ground. They struck the earth for heavy damage. Then the elemental took two more giants and their ladders! And still the battle continued.
Back at the south wall, Eberulf sent force missiles at the stronger orc veteran fighters, striking five times for heavy damage. Audovald sent a swarm of fire spiders at the orc marshall, but the wily orc evaded their attack.
A sudden shout from one of the archer bands drew attention upward. Two of the white dragons had returned to the battle yet again!
Both of the winged monsters breathed at Godomar and Audovald, freezing them for major damage. Seeing the attack, Willichar defended himself with resist energy (cold).
On the field before the main gate, the stronger orc veteran fighters killed three more soldiers of troop 4, suffering only one wound in return. Lina, near the city wall, maintained her attack on the same mob of orc fighters, killing another. Gordian flew back toward Lina, ready to assist her.
Farther out on the battlefield, the fighting raged between the adventurers and the oncoming siege engines and their crews. Firiona attacked another of the giants, then Edward finished him off. Ardaric hurled his hammer at the last giant standing and struck him dead!
Nearby, Green Arrow readied an action. The air elemental monolith repositioned itself, still inflicting damage on the giants it held.
Undeterred, the remaining mobs of common orc fighters reached the city walls, then raised scaling ladders! The orc marshall incited the orcs to faster action, and they seemed to suddenly speed up as if moving twice.
Farther south, the siege engines all shot at the air elemental monolith, but only one hit, doing minor damage. The battering ram crew held by the monolith were now only the survivors of that crew. They kept striking the monolith, but only for minor damage
And as the city defenders gazed off into the distance, still more attackers came into view. Far south, but rapidly approaching, the defenders could make out the form of a giant riding a mammoth! Accompanying the mounted giant was another, two-headed giant (!!), along with additional battalions of giant fighters, among other reinforcements.
The giant riding the mammoth made mystical gestures. Suddenly, about 500 feet from city, a gate opened. A gigantic creature emerged from the gate. It appeared to be a great wyrm white dragon, but it had eyes like red fire.
And then, from the ground before main city gate, in a shower of rocks and dirt there burst into the air a gargantuan form. The defenders were astonished. Before the city there writhed a frost worm. It was the largest frost worm ever seen!
The city defenders desperately struggled against the combined onslaught of the enemy forces. Godomar ceased concentrating on maintaining his wall of fire, and instead cast prismatic spray at the dragons. It had no effect. Audovald ran toward the gate tower. He pointed his finger at the first of the dragons overhead and spoke words of dread power. Immediately a black ball sped toward the dragon: a sphere of ultimate destruction! The dragon tried to evade the deadly sphere, but failed. The sphere struck the flying beast. With a terrible shriek, the dragon disappeared, utterly destroyed!
But Audovald had little time to savor his victory. The second dragon swooped down upon the wizard and grappled him in its mighty jaws. Eberulf attempted to drive it off with a barrage of force missiles. Two missiles struck the beast, but they also wounded the still-grappled Audovald.
Archer band 7 fired at the mobs of orc fighters trying to scale the city walls. They struck four, but killed only one. While they dealt with the orc escalade, Fulk saw that Edward would soon be in need. He flew up to Edward and readied a heal spell
Still on the city walls, Godomar withdrew inside the gate tower, where he located two potions of cure critical wounds. He quaffed one of them.
The floating sphere of ultimate destruction grazed the surviving white dragon, but the winged monster managed to survive. Enraged, the beast then breathed again. The hapless Audovald, trapped in the jaws of the creature, was killed instantly. The dragon dropped its frozen victim, then flew away from the city and toward the gargantuan newcomer that had just flown in through the gate above the main battlefield. Eberulf’s parting magic missiles wounded the fleeing monster, but failed to bring it down.
As Willichar ran into gate tower and other defenders watched the dragon fly away, Eberulf witnessed a terrifying sight. Audovald, just now slain by the dragon, suddenly sprang back to his feet. By some unknown and unseen agency, the wizard had risen as an undead! Instantly, the undead wizard began to prepare a spell.
A shocked Eberulf quickly cast prismatic spray at undead Audovald. By ill luck, the ray caused poisoning, which had no effect on the undead. But from the gate tower, Willichar had also observed the re-animation of his former colleague. His cone of cold did inflict damage on the undead caster.
Below the city walls, the frost worm moved at incredible speed toward the city gate, far faster than a gargantuan worm should be able to move. Once it reached the vicinity of the gate, it rose up, then began to emit an unearthly, terrifying, trilling sound. The creature’s trill struck the nearby defenders on wall and field like a hammer, stunning soldier, archer, veteran and captain alike! Few were the defenders who managed to stand firm against the monster’s sonic attack and not fall to the ground, stunned.
Out of range of the frost worm’s trill, the fierce orc veteran fighters continued to melee with the soldiers of troop 4, killing eleven more. The hapless soldiers lost morale and were shaked by the attack. All they could do was try to defend themselves. Their defense proved inadequate, unfortunately. The veteran orcs continued to attacked ferociously, and killed all of the remaining soldiers.
Archer band 7, meanwhile, continued firing on the orc fighters as they climbed, wounding another but not bringing any down.
Lina, witnessing the arrival of the huge frost worm, left battle with the orcs and rushed toward the giant creature. Gordian followed closely after her. The frost worm raced toward Lina. It struck her with its massive jaws, slashing her arm–a wound partially regenerated by Lina’s shapechanged form. Lina responded by defensively casting avasculate at the frost worm, but failed to damage it. The worm bit at Lina again, doing more heavy damage.
Watching Lina’s combat with the worm, Gordian kept a heal spell readied.
From the gate on the battlefield, the great wyrm white dragon flew high up into the air to survey the activity in the area. The great wyrm hissed draconic words of mystic power. Firiona attempted to pursue the dragon, and when in range tried to cast greater dispel magic on the beast. She failed to affect it.
Edward flew up to the left of Firiona. He called out to the great wyrm, "Oh mighty dragon! Disclose your name!" Green Arrow and Ardaric flew up to join Edward.
The dragon looked down at Edward, and roared in its draconic voice, "Foolish paladin! I am Haxiasssskaash, Father of White Dragons!" With that, the dragon raced over the city, turned 180 degrees, and soared 200 feet above the gate tower. From high over the tower, the dragon looked down and spotted Lina and Gordian battling the frost worm. He hissed more draconic syllables.
Suddenly an obedient avalanche of snow and ice poured down on the two defenders! Both were buried, taking heavy damage. Having cast the spell, the fiendish dragon noble sped at back toward the battlefield and Edward.
From under the avalanche, Lina was somehow able to cast dimension door to a point some 500 feet above the battle before the city walls. Her companion, however, was unable to dig himself out.
As Lina appeared above the city, she watched as all the remaining mobs of orc fighters attempted to scale the city walls. But as soon as the scaling ladders touched the city wall, they activated the walls’ defenses! A cloudkill spell, triggered by the assault, killed several of the orc attackers and drained many others of vigor. Still, at least one orc made it to the top of walls, while still others continued climbing the latters, motivated by their marshal.
The orcs kept up their escalade. All suffered damage to their orcish constitutions, but still they climbed. Many more reached the top and went over, rushing toward the bands of archer defenders. The fierce orc veteran fighters ran toward the city wall, anxious to join the escalade.
They kept on. All the surviving mobs of orc fighters reached the top of the city walls. Archer band 5 came under attack. Two fell and a third was injured. The orc marshall now ran toward the city walls, eager to follow his orc fighters and join in the melee.
As the city defenders struggled against the orc escalade, back on the battlefield Firiona, Edward and Green Arrow hovered in mid-air, watching Haxiasssskaash depart, as did Ardaric and Fulk. Firiona readied a spell.
The stone giant, mounted on his mammoth, continued charging toward the city, with the ettin beside him and four stone giant fighter battalions running ahead of them in a flying wedge formation. Green Arrow could now make out yet another attacker with his elf-eyes: a strange, cat-like creature, covered in greyish scales, with huge claws and long fangs. "Great," said Green Arrow. "They have a sirrush!" The creature ran at incredible speed toward the battlefield, leading even the flying wedge of giant fighters.
Suddenly, from the piles of corpses that lay on the battlefield, a large group of dead orcs leap to their feet and begin to run toward the city walls!
Green Arrow launched a volley of arrows at the oncoming sirrush, landing two critical hits! Yet the beast didn’t seem to take as much damage as it should have. However, the strange creature turned around and raced back to its giant allies.
Edward, holding his action, called out to Ardaric. "Master Ardaric, use your teleportation power! Take us next to the great wyrm!" The venerable fighter did as asked. Materializing within striking distance of the dragon, Edward slashed at the winged monster massive damage!
A sudden burst of flame surrounded the dragon. Fulk had cast firestorm at the great wyrm. And yet, fire-vulnerable though it was, the creature took no damage!
While the adventures hovered, the undead mob of orcs continued running toward the city walls. No cause or source of of the animation was in sight!
The air elemental monolith left the battlefield and raced back toward the city to confront the frost worm. As it left, it picked up the last of the battering ram crew. The trapped crew giants all attacked the monolith, but only one hit, doing minor damage. The five siege engine crews all fired at the departing monolith. Again, only one hit, and only for minor damage.
Turning round, the air elemental monolith ejected the held giants, then attacked two of the catapults, picking them up! The four survivors of the battering ram crew were hurled to the ground. They took heavy damage, but managed to get back to their feet. The remaining crew of the siege engines took the opportunity to flee the battlefield and save themselves, abandoning the war engines.
As the city defenders on the south wall and the adjacent battlefields fought on, Elana and Arimir continued their defense against the giant battalions on the north wall.
The five battalions of giants continued the assault on the city. The giant fighter who had reached the wall jumped down into the city! He raced inward, looking for opportunities to wreak havoc on the deserted structures within. Others reached the wall and climbed the huge scaling ladders.
Elana flew up about twenty feet and sent a greater shout at giant battalions 4 and 5, doing heavy damage to the giants and their ladders. Then, in a bizarre turn, the scaling ladder of giant battalion 2 began to blur and stretch! Arimir had cast polymorph object on the ladder. It turned into a treant, which moved to attack and trample the giants!
The air elemental monolith picked up four more giants from the third giant battalion, removing them from the escalade.
And still they came. Two more giant fighters came up and over the wall. Others reached the top of the wall. Trying to slow the assault, Elana dominated one of the giants from the fourth battalion who had reached the top of the wall. The now-dominated giant pushed the scaling ladder away from the city wall!
Arimir flew up over the first giant battalion and repeated his polymorph trick on that battalion’s ladder. This one transformed into an earth elemental monolith! The earth monolith immediately attacked the giant fighters.
Next to the first battalion, the remaining giant fighters of the second battalions attacked and killed the treant. Its stock returned to its original ladder form.
Before the walls, the air elemental monolith picked up the seventeen remaining loose giant fighters, then tossed them out for heavy damage.
The dominated giant, under Elana’s order, attacked giant battalion 5, which it did, inflicting serious damage on one giant. Elana then dominated another giant, and ordered it to defend the city! Instantly, the enchanted giant took up a defensive stance.
The remaining giant fighters continued the escalade, battling to smash through into the city. Arimir, flying above the wall, cast cone of electricity at the two giants who had broken into the city, severely wounding them. But then, the earth elemental monolith passed right through the city wall, and slammed one of the two giants inside the city. The giant roared in pain.
Back at the south walls, Godomar quaffed another potion of cure critical wounds and readied himself for returning to battle.
Astonishingly, undead Audovald also suddenly appeared to heal some of the damage he had suffered. He also assumed some kind of aura of authority, almost as if he were alive again! The undead wizard then teleported down to the battlefield and joined with the approaching undead orcs! But the air elemental monolith sped to where dead Audovald had landed, picked him up and battered him!
Eberulf quickly ran down from the gate tower back to wall level, ready to support the beleaguered archer bands. Orcs on the wall assaulted archer band 5 again, killing two defenders. The rest stepped back and fired at the orcs, wounding many.
Down before the city walls, the frost worm burrowed under the wall of force, seeking an easier way into the city. Gordian remained buried under the avalanche. Lina took flight toward undead Audovald and blasted him with a fireball.
To the west of the main city gate, soldier troops 1-3 readied attacks. On the opposite side, the fierce orc veteran fighters at last reached city wall, then raised a ladder and began climbing upward. All the other orc mobs who hadn’t yet reached the city walls now did so, and likewise began another escalade, followed by their marshal. Horrifically, so did the undead orc mob!
To the south, above the larger battlefield, Firiona flew at great speed back toward the city walls. Green Arrow flew along with her.
Suddenly, another figure appeared above the battlefield, near Edward!
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