[BF] Cayanas - Archeos VS The Ekro

[E1Alpha]

Cayanas
Archeos VS The Ekro

Post Limit: 11 per participant - - - - - - Time Limit: Friday 04/01/2013
Maximum time in between posts: 48 hours


Armies:
Archeos
Commander: Orion, The Eternal Crusader & Commander Goldfelt
https://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1334/20/1334208208386.jpgArmy: Militia, Knights, Archers, Battle Priests, Paladins, Archons

Participants:
Archeos
Zhao Zilong (Cfavano) (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32533&p=1024147&viewfull=1#post1024147)
Hastur Tereth (DoughGuy) (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32533&p=1161283&viewfull=1#post1161283)

GM:
E1Alpha

Posting Order
Determined by rolls from 1 to 100. Highest go first.
Cfavano (93)
|
DoughGuy (88)
|
E1Alpha (GM)


Introductions:
The light of Archeos will still shining down upon Cayanas strongly. The only sign of the incoming battle was the shadow that came crawling over the ocean. Orion stood upon one of the cliffs further inland, his blade resting down on the stone as he leaned on it, his skeletal gaze aimed at the darkness. Commander Goldfelt was in the meantime organizing their forces. “I want palisade defenses set up along the shoreline. Put our archers up in those cliffs! When will our Archons arrive, dammit?!” The man was multitasking the entire set-up of their defense while Orion merely stood in place, like an ornamental statue.

Finally, Goldfelt turned his attention to the champion of Archeos. “My lord! What in the name of Alu’Terasa are you doing?! We must prepare for battle.” The unliving paladin slowly turned his gaze to the man, but answered only with silence as he gazed at the darkness again. Annoyed, Commander Goldfelt turned to his troops. “Warriors of Archeos! Now is the time for your fate to be put to the test! Darkness comes to cloud our faith and abolish our belief that the light of Alu’Terasa will guide us. We shall prove them wrong! We shall stand strong and beat back whatever awaits us! Now take up your positions! Paladins form a defensive line behind our palisade defenses! Soldiers, behind them in arrangement! Archers and longbows take your positions! Keep in mind we will be aided by the mighty Archon warriors! They shall arrive soon! Now prepare yourself…” Silently, the commander gazed up at the undead paladin, narrowing his eyes.

However, the undead soldier’s gaze rose up as he gazed into the darkness. “They come…” As he spoke this. The fog from across the ocean crept onto the beach. Soon, their faith would be truly tested, and they knew it.

[Cfavano]

Zilong gazes out at the dark fog, knowing that whatever is out there, could surely be a great challenge, and even if not, this will require all of his wit. A militiamen walks up to him, and drops to one knee. "My lord, the beach has been thoroughly mined, caltrops have been spread, the defensive trench has been dug, and spikes have been stuck in it as well." "Has it been soaked in oil?" "Yes, sir." "Good, now rejoin your brothers." The militiaman runs off and Zilong faces the men behind him. "Men, my brothers in arms. Today we face an enemy none of us has ever seen before, and some of you may be unsure of what we could expect. But take heart, my brothers. The spirit of Nayamee is with us, for the light of her purity transcends even death itself, and will banish these foul creatures." Turning back to face the approaching fog He focuses his ch'i and calls upon the power of the storm, and there it is, on the edge of his consciousness, all he needs to do, is activate it.

[DoughGuy]

It had come at last. The bastard Ekro were about to show their face to Archeos. Their dark clouds hovered out over the sea drawing ever closer with each passing second. Hastur was squatting in front of his men, playing with Aleia's daggers as he waited. His chained popped up and down twirling his daggers in the air. His squad of knights stood behind him on the palisade, a battle priest within their ranks giving blessings to the troops. On the cliff above dozens of archers waited protected by the line of knights. He pulled his dagger back at last as the fog is almost at the shore. His men are on the front line of the battle and it is time to prepare.

"They come at last men. The forces of darkness have harried our shores for years, already striking at Archeos. Today we will stand open these cliffs and we will drive them back. We will show them the error of their stupidity in attacking us. For the Sacred One, for Aleia!" his dagger shot into the air, flying from his outstretched arm. As the men behind him cheered he turned back to the shore and activated his emitters, the soft golden glow emerging from his back. It was time.

[E1Alpha]

The armies of Archeos seemed to be ready for anything. Their morale was up high. Minor squads being commanded by Zhao and Hastur, while the main was being led by Commander Goldfelt and Orion. The soldiers felt they couldn't fail. Their light would guide, would shield them and protect.

And that was the first to be taken away...

The fog came creeping in closer, but dark clouds seemed to swirl up in the sky aswell, blotting out the light of the sun bit by bit, until Cayanas was fully covered in the dark of an artificial night, only illuminated by the torches that were burning around them. This noticably had an effect on the morale of the many militia present, but the stalward knights and paladins held their ground. Commander Goldfelt in the front lines with them, recited ancient lines from an Archeon sermon, hoping these words would guide his men to victory. Orion still held his static position, silently gazing at the coming storm.

"Death... has... come..."

The fog slowly spread further onto the beachhead, consuming the trap-filled beach in its covering shroud, until the sounds of hollow howls and screams rang through the air, following by dark silhouettes taking shape, as viscious masked beasts came charging out of the fog, sporting all sorts of weapon, seemingly knowing even less fear than the zealous paladins they were about to face.

http://dscanio.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/speed_paint01.jpg

"Archers! Loose! Knights! Hoooold tight! Lock your shields! Swords and lances at the ready!" In perfect unison, the first rows of knights and paladins followed the orders perfectly, their shields and blades forming a mighty barrier between them and the creatures. Arrows came soaring through the air, digging into the flesh of the dark beings, reducing them to hissing fog once more, only to be replaced by yet more warriors. "Hold your shields! Aaaaaaand... Push!" Once more, in perfect unison, the Archeon forces shoved their shields forward, smashing a large number of beasts backwards, before striking them all down, once more stepping back and locking their shields as an unstoppable barrier.

[Cfavano]

"So, this is the Ekro, interesting." Being behind the shield wall, he had not yet been engaged. He calls upon the readied storm, and a strong wind blows toward the sea, increasing the archers' range, and slowing any landward assaults. He also hopes that the wind blows back the fog at least some. If nothing else, it could possibly boost morale.

He calls forth a ball of lightning, and sends it over the paladins. he shoots forward once it is clear of the line. It pierces the chest of a mist warrior, dissolving him, but, itself remaining solid. It then shots west along the line, turning a quad of mist warriors back into mist. Safely behind the line, he continues to use the ball of lightning to attack at range. "Let's see how you handle that."

[DoughGuy]

As the fog cloud of the Ekro rolled in the knights with Hastur jumped off the palisade to join the others below. Hastur himself did not move, his own skills making him a better fighter from a distance. Finally the Ekro appeared, seemingly forming from the mist they charged the Archeon lines recklessly. Above him archers loosed volleys into the the charging horde, where their arrows struck down the beasts they simply returned to the fog. As they charged Hastur looked around himself in worry. If the Ekro were made of this fog then they could appear behind their defences.

He shook his head to clear his mind, now was not the time for those thoughts. It was time for revenge. As the Ekro clawed closer to the Archeos shield wall Hastur readied his daggers picking out targets. And then he released them. The blades flew true, striking the 3 Ekro he had targeted returning them to the mist. His vengeance had begun. He drew his daggers back, picked 3 new targets and launched again.

[E1Alpha]

The tide of masked beasts continued onwards, like there was no end to them, their harrowing howls and screams filling the air, as the temperature dropped faster and faster, but the air felt tense aswell, as if something in it was stirring up, and it wasn't caused by the Aeregosian traitor.

The Archeon shield wall remained firm however, pushing and pulling repeatingly, not giving the mist warriors a single step. Orion however, had not moved even once. Commander Goldfelt was more than annoyed with this, but maintained his command. "Rinse and repeat, men! Do not give these beasts a single step! The Chosen One and Alu'Terasa watch over us! Let their light guide you! Let your faith in them bolster your defenses! Let-..."
The man was cut short as an ear deafening screech followed.

The ball of lightning Zhao had sent out in the field suddenly disobeyed his commands, as it split up and struck multiple armored paladins, the thunder surging through their armor, striking them till deep in their core, making them drop dead, weakening Archeos' defenses slowly but surely.

It was then that illuminating silhouettes could be seen in the darkness of the fog, slowly marching closer, yet still obscured by the fog, which seemed to press more onto the beach even with the raging winds.

[Cfavano]

Zilong cringes, feeling his attack split off from his will. "Well, that's disheartening. But, there is more than one way to skin a cat, after all." He moves away from his position, so that he approaches the two commanders. "I would refrain from using sustained magic, as you can clearly see it's effects. They seem to fall easily, but they keep on coming. They are nothing like I have ever seen before, but how they act is reminiscent of an ancient Aeregosian legend of a group known as 'the great devourers'. They would sweep over the land in massive numbers, leaving whole countries a barren waste. Their main strategy was to wear the defenders down with waves and waves of weak and meaningless troops, while the larger ones advanced. I suggest that, we keep a defensive line, but switch out with fresh troop every quarter hour. And have the archers less focused on accuracy, and more on volume. Because, as you can see." He gestures to the Ekro Horde. "A blind man could be shooting and hit a target every time. Volleys would work well. As well, we should have a chain of wagons constantly bringing in fresh ammunition, and hope that whatever they rally around arrives before we run out of ammunition. Lighting up the trench might prove a good idea as well."

[DoughGuy]

Hastur's daggers swept out again, one piercing an Ekro through the head and turning it to mist. The other 2 smacked into armoured areas and did little damage. Cursing he retracted the daggers but one of them was too deep in the Ekro's armour and pulled the Ekro back with it. He planted a foot against the pallisade as the Ekro struggled to pull him down. Just as he was tipping over a knight jumped out and crushed the Ekro's skull with a mace before falling back into the shield wall. Hastur breathed a silent thanks and took note of the knights heraldry. He owed that man a drink.

Readying himself for another shot Zhao's errant lightning ball caught his attention. "What the hell?" he whispered looking back out into the fog. He could see silhouettes out there in the fog, shapes that hadn't been there before. Was their appearance linked? Probably. He threw a single chain out, the dagger going straight through an Ekro and turning it back into fog. The enemy were without number, simply pouring from the slowly advancing fog. Suddenly an idea appeared. Hastur searched the battle for the traitor, spotting him up near the 2 commanders. With his emitters empowering him he took off, running along the palisade before leaping off it over to where the Zhao stood.

"Zhao!" he yelled trying to get the man's attention through the noise of battle. The man was talking at the 2 commanders. "Zhao!" he yelled again, by now he was within 10 metres of the man. "The fog! Blow it away with your magic! They're spawning from it. If you drive it back they won't be able to attack us."

[E1Alpha]

Commander Goldfelt looked over at Zhao, narrowing his eyes as he listened to the man. "Good thinking with the archers, but lighting the trench on fire will prove problematic." The man gestured over to the fog, which had covered the entire beachhead by now, completely obscuring view of the trench Zhao had previously ordered to be built. "Unless you want to risk a suicide mission and head into the fog yourself, there's no way we're getting close enough to set the trench on fire... And this so-called hero here is not being much use either." He muttered, looking up at Orion, who had hardly moved since the start of the battle.

When Goldfelt next turned his attention to the battle frontier, his eyes widened, as hulking being appeared. Ethereal goliaths, surging with lightning and energy, marching slowly amongst the masked beasts. Each of them sported staffs, which seemed to produce more of the omnious fog, while also bursting with energy.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6rxptlQvt1qk58l7.jpg

The faceless beasts slowly made their advance, as one rose his staff up, before casting chains of lightning down at the plated paladins and knights, whose armor conducted the energy perfectly, overcharging their bodies and killing them. All the while, the mist warriors continued their relentless assault.

[Cfavano]

"Be patient, Commander Goldfelt. Haste will only increase our likelihood of defeat." As the new Ekro appear, and show off their talents, he blinks. "Well, that explains why my lightning refused to heed me. New plan, focus all fire on those new ekro. Do you agree, Commander Goldfelt? While You think about it, I shall do what I do." He turns to the voice calling him and addresses the question.

"Can you not feel that? How all the wind is blowing in one prevailing direction?" He points to the storm callers. "They are fooling around with my magic in some way. But I do have a plan." He approachesa small mound from which he can see the entire beach, and calms the wind as he calls upon his power to call forth a different storm.

[DoughGuy]

"If the fog is still advancing then your winds aren't strong enough!" Cursing as Zhao walks away Hastur turns back to the battle. Archeos's heavily armoured knights don't stand a chance against these new Ekro, the knights and paladins will be slaughtered and then the militia will run. He took off at a run again, but this time towards the front lines. Nothing he had was conductive apart from his daggers and he could avoid touching those.

He pushed his way to the front planning on how to get to the storm callers. He would have to fight his way to them but they were still at the rear of the Ekro army, it would be suicide to approach alone and any knights he brought with him wouldn't last long. He pointed to a squad of knights near the back of the shield line, "You men with me!". The knights pushed to the front and assembled next to Hastur. "We're going in to take out those new ones. Form up and charge!" The knights nodded and formed a shield of iron before plunging into no mans land with Hastur just behind.

[E1Alpha]

Commander Goldfelt snarled. Was a traitor of Aeregos lecturing how to do battle? Scoffing, he acted like he disregarded anything the man said, but in the end, he called out: "Archers! Focus upon the lightning fiends! Loose!" At his command, a hail of arrows flew over and struck the beings, but they seemed hardly phased by it, as the metallic heads of the arrows seemed to be directed away from the beasts. They did strike a number of mist warriors, but none of the arrows seemed to even get close to the beasts.

The knights that joined up with Hastur managed to succesfully break through a large portion of the mist warriors, but as the gaze of one of the storm callers lowered to him, it could be seen he was preparing to obliterate the knights, as massive bolt of lightning came curving down towards the group of knights. Were the bolt to strike, the electricity would surge through the armor of the knights, and probably fry Hastur in the middle.

"By Alu'Terasa... HOOOOLD!" A thundering voice suddenly called out, as a massive burst of light collided with the lightning bolt, deflecting it away from the knights.

As a source of this counter-attack, Orion could be seen, having aimed his blade towards the group of knights, his hollow eyes burning with holy fire, before they set upon a large wave of the mist warriors, as the undead paladin brought his great blade up in front of him, horizontally. "Burn, heretics!" As he called this out, a powerful wave of light washed from his blade, over the advancing troops, which seemed to disperse into nothingness once more as they were hit.

Goldfelt looked up at Orion, smirking. "Took you long enough, sir!"

[Cfavano]

Having the storm charge, he begins calling it forth. But it is different this time. He begins waving his fan around in slow, but precise movements. A wind begins to blow along the beach, as particles of sand begin to become airborne. More and more raise into the air, as Zilong continues calling it forth. Soon, a large swirling mas of sand is blowing about over the mist warriors. Every now and then, a few poof out of existence from the ripping particles. But, this storm is different. Instead of spreading, it remains confined to one area. This is because, instead of just letting it spread, Zilong is focusing his concentration on it, keeping it in this one area. The paladins and soldiers closest to the contained storm can feel the hair on the back of their necks begin to stand up, as static electricity builds. The next volley of arrows shoots through the sand, and a crackling sound is hear, as the metal heads are charged with a negative polarity as they fly toward the storm callers. All this while, Zilong keeps moving and controlling the storm, pouring his will into it, and keeps his eyes on the giants.

[DoughGuy]

"See how we are protected by the light of Alu'Terasa knights! Push forward!" cried Hastur as Orion deflected the bolt headed for them. The knights, emboldened by Orion's strike roared and pushed ever closer to the Storm Callers just as the arrows soared overhead. To Hastur's dismay he watched the metal headed arrows swerve from their paths and the Callers were left untouched. He'd known the knights would not be able to fight the Callers but had hoped his own attacks may have worked. Still he may be able to hurt them.

"Spread out into a semi circle and hold knights." Hastur ordered as the group came close to the callers. With the knights spreading out it would hopefully prevent them all being struck down by a single lightning bolt while still providing a defensive wall. Of the original 10 knights 7 had made it this far. With the knights in position Hastur charged forward to meet the Caller who had originally attacked them.

Dropping Aleia's daggers back into their sheaths, leaving the military issue one still on its chains. Taking aim he threw his chains out, the armed one straight for the beasts centre while one of the unarmed ones aimed for the staff top and the other for the beasts head. Whether they hit or not Hastur readies himself to dodge a counterattack by leaping into the air to his left or right.

[E1Alpha]

The charged up arrows seemed to be deflected even more, soaring to the side as they didn't even get remotely close to striking the lightning behemoths. The behemoth roared out, but was interrupted in a counter attack as chains hooked into his staff, and lower and upper chest, roaring out. One fatal error, though, was that the beast seemed to surge with energy more, as he sent waves of thundering energy down along the chains to completely fry Hastur with his own chains.

The knights around Hastur weren't able to do much as they could not risk getting close to the beast, so they turned to keeping the mist warriors at a distance, as to give Hastur more pause to try and help him do his thing.
Orion's eyes set upon another one of the storm callers, that was getting too close to their defensive lines, slashing his blade to send a powerful arch of light towards the beast, striking it, but not killing it, as the behemoth stumbled back for a moment.

Commander Goldfelt held the line along with his men, focusing on striking down the encroaching mist warriors. The archers and divine longbows in the back tried their best to still the tides of mist warriors, while still aiming for the the storm callers occasionally.

[Cfavano]

Thinking differently, He alters his movements, and moves the storm towards the giants. Wrapping them in the biting sands. With the one that orion wounded, the damaging particulates work on making the wound wider, peeling it open inch by inch, they also would damage easily the softer areas, like the eyes. He has done this for two reasons. The first, obviously was to hinder the giants. The second, was, that, if the giants used any more electrical attack, the static electricity in the sandstorm would dissipate it

[DoughGuy]

Hastur had hoped the fact his chains were made of magic would protect him from the Caller's lightning but as the energy surged down towards him he realised that the Caller's lightning was simply powerful enough to strike him through the air using the chains for direction. Unable to withdraw his chain he settled for simply unwrapping them from the Caller as he leapt into the air, throwing himself upwards and backwards in an attempt to rob the blast of its strength before it struck.

The blast struck him in mid air, the lightning itself robbed of some of its strength without a path to move down but the shear energy of the blast was still there. Hastur was blown backwards and thrown into the dirt, his motion only arrested when his tumbling body hit one of the knights defending him. The knight, seeing Hastur was unconscious, called to his fellows. The first knight scooped Hastur up as the others formed a shield around him and they began moving back towards the Archeos line.

<Hastur is now unconscious for 3 turns or until healed by a battle priest>

[E1Alpha]

The Storm Caller cried out as the sandstorm consumed it, as he slowly could be seen losing power, before disipating into nothingness as his entire essence had been dispersed. The essence of the beast lingered in the air however, causing the very air itself to begin jolting, causing the fog to seem to begin turning more into a thunder cloud. This led however, to the other storm callers seemingly getting empowered by this, as their electric beings and especially their attacks became ever more powerful.

Orion's eyes darted down to the unconscious man that was being brought in, leaping down as he dismissed one of the priests. "I shall tend to him. His courage deserves that much." With that, Orion's hand hovered over Hastur, as he channeled his holy essence into him, restoring his wounds and his stamina.

Goldfelt still held the line, before looking over at the thunder giants, his eyes locking on one a bit further back, who was seen crouching down and gathering together the particles left behind by the beast just slain by Zhao. "Alu'Terasa protect us..." He whispered as the beast shrunk just a bit, but seemed to grow more and more dense with eletric energies.

[Cfavano]

As he continues to move, Zilong feels himself getting fatigued, but his faith and the desire to fight on in the name of Nayamee keeps him going. Noticing that one has fallen, he refocuses the shifting sands, so that they are less spread out, and the flesh-rending particles are more concentrated on the ones that remain. He slows his movements, as he has had to stretch the sands out less. He calls a militiaman over. "Tell archer unit 25-Alpha to remove their arrowheads, and sharpen the tips of the shafts, then fire them at the giants. I have an idea." The militiaman nods, and runs off. The specific archer unit looks perplexed, but does what they are told, and fires their sharpened wooden arrows at one of the giants.

[DoughGuy]

Hastur's eyes opened slowly, the sounds of battle slowly returning to him through his ears. He blinked twice to try and clear the blurred edges from his vision before he bolted upright. He looked around, seeing a battle priest and Orion, whose hand was still hovering over his chest, the faint afterglow of magic fading from his fingertips.

"S-Sir Orion!" he stammered, shocked to see the great knight himself was healing him, “I … what happened?” Hastur looked around, seeing that the battle had continued. He could see far down where the Storm Callers stood that one was now missing but he doubted his actions had helped in that.

He listened to Orion quickly explain what had transpired before leaping up. He had to get back into the battle but there was no way for him to do anything to the real threat, the Storm Callers. “Sir Orion what would you have me do?” he asked, “My armour allows me to engage the callers more safely, but alone I cannot kill one. Yet they need to be struck down to win the battle.”

[E1Alpha]

With Zhao making the conjured up sandstorm focus together more, the only thing he succeeded in was killing more of the mist warriors. The Storm Callers, on the contrary, seemed to be less affected by the attack, if any.
It wasn't long however until the archers who had just been ordered to remove their metal arrowheads realised that it did help keep their arrows on track, but the arrows that were sent flying towards the giants seemed to go right through them, without even causing a single scratch.

Orion gazed on at the battle, and just as he was about to answer Hastur, Commander Goldfelt came running over. "My lord! Something is happening to one of those Storm Giants." The undead paladin turned his eyes to the new being that was being created.
The Storm Caller that had been attracting the essence left in the air by the Storm Caller that was just slain seemed to take on a completely new and smaller shape, wings extending from his back, as the being transformed into a metallic humanoid, with a avian head and viscious claws, lightning jolting over the being's skin as it gazed onward with glowing eyes, letting out a loud screech.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7696/battleofgodsbyrandis.jpg

Orion simply gazed at the being, as it came charging closer. "The storm giants... Are no longer our primary concern..." His attention turned to Hastur. "Our armored Paladins cannot stand that being." He aimed at the metallic avian, which came charging at lightning fast speed, wings extended. "If you can pin it in one place, I shall try to purge it. But fall back when you realise you are being overwhelmed. Understood?"
The undead paladin hardly waited for an answer, as he returned to his position, gazing down at the the metallic beast.
Goldfelt turned to the archers behind him. "Focus your fire on that bird! Slow it down until that man gets to it!" He gestured to Hastur aswell, as the archers quickly responded, launching their arrows off, though the arrows seemed to just bounce off of the metallic skin of the beast.

[Cfavano]

He stops his dance, and at his command the sandstorm dies down. He takes a few minutes to catch his breath, and he calls forward a messenger. He orders the messenger to collect a squad of paladins, and to have their metal shield replaced with wooden tower shields made from extra planks that weren't used in the barricade. These shields are made from two layers of wood, with ceramic from the officers' table sets, wrapped in paper and the inside gaps are filled with sand, and sealed with clay, which is hardened using the heat made from the holy light from the priests' spells. All in all, the shields take a short time to be made. Once the paladin squad is assembled, They form a wedge, and charge through the line, cutting down the mist warriors, and Zilong follows after them. They head for the nearest storm Giant, and Zilong gets close enough to attack them, and he waves his fan at it, as a blast of wind blades hit the back of its left knee.

[DoughGuy]

Hastur nodded at Orion's commands and took off towards the beast as it charged the Archeos lines. At least this one wasn't protected by the metal shield like the Callers were he thought as he ran. He climbed up the cliffs near the edge of the Archeos palisade where it met the natural earth wall, getting as close to the avian's altitude as possible. He waited for it to pass close by, suddenly aware of the limited reach of his chains. As before he equipped a single dagger on his third chain, leaving the other 2 without weapons. He made sure to anchor himself in the dirt, digging small holes for his feet to lock into and crouching to lower his centre of gravity. If he wasn't careful here he could be thrown off the cliff by the avian's momentum.

As the avian passed him he shot his chains out in a complex pattern. The first chain, without a dagger, encircled the beasts wing, Hastur manipulating his control to wrap it tightly around the wing's middle. He used the hook that sprouted from the centre of its wing to secure it further. The second chain, also without a dagger and from his other hand, wrapped itself around the avian's leg at the knee. The third chain, this one with a dagger, flew straight at the avian's free wing, the dagger aimed at it in an attempt to cripple the softer looking wing part.

As the chains connected Hastur immediately felt the pull and crouched lower, digging his feet further into the ground. He attempted to swing the avian his way altering the course of its flight downwards. If he was successful the avian would crash into the cliff, the ground or the palisade.

[E1Alpha]

How much Zhao Zilong would like it or not, the fully armored paladins did not have the time to follow his commands and reequip. Zhao Zilong was still a traitor to them, and if he thought they would just drop their high quality weaponry and switch it out for some wooden trash, then he was wrong. He was of no rank to them. Some knights however had caught of the idea, and while the paladins were stuck-up and stubborn in their own right, the knights thought it was worth a shot, as they prepared the shields. They had to do without the spells of the priests, however, as those were too busy to keep their troops to full strength.
The shields however weren't finished as fast as Zhao had hoped, seeing as they were in the midst of a battlefield, and they had to use torches to have the clay dry up.

The avian beast's eyes were thundering as he raced past Hastur, before suddenly, chains wrapped around him, causing the beast to screech as he crashed down into the soil. He was not downed however, as he was quick to push himself up, chains wrapped around him as he turned to Hastur, before letting out a thundering screech as he grasped the chains, and sought to yank them, to fling Hastur towards him. Had his plan, then he would launch a lightning engulfed, steel fist towards the man.

Orion kept his eyes on Hastur's battle, as he began chanting, his hollow eyes lighting up. It seemed like the man would need more time.
Goldfelt simply continued with keeping his troops organised, staying at the back to order their defenses around.

[Cfavano]

"It's not enough. Go back into position, it's best to not to perform a risky maneuver. We'll just have to hold the line long enough until the Archons decide to act. I hope it's soon though. Maybe when enough of them fall, perhaps the Paladins will finally learn some humility."

He walks away from the staging area, back to the spot he was standing at, and watches the battle.

[DoughGuy]

As the beast crashed Hastur rapidly withdrew his dagger chain though he kept the other 2 wrapped around the avian. He knew know he had to hold it for Orion, but as pressure increased from the beast pulling back he wondered if he could. Already his feet were being pulled out of the holes he had dug and if this continued he'd lost his standing entirely.

Knowing this was a losing battle Hastur took the initiative. He gave one mighty tug on the chains affording himself a second of slack to remove his feet from the ground and charged the avian, his emmiters littering the ground behind him with gold sparks.. As he ran he readied the dagger chain. Once he got close he would attempt to leap over the beast striking at its eyes with the dagger.

[E1Alpha]

The avian beast let out a short, intruiged, metallic kaw. The tug on the chains hardly affected him, and as the man was charging towards him, the avian's eyes ignited even brighter, before a surge of electrical energy surged along the chain, trying to halt the man in his steps.

Orion however kept his gaze fixed on the beast, unable to interrupt its lightning attack, but after it was executed, a blade made out of pure light was shot out from his own, aimed directly at the beast, crashing in his back to send the metallic avian stumbling forward, aswell as revealing a massive crack along his spine.

Commander Goldfelt continued holding the line, snarling. "Where are those damn Archon?! They should have arrived by no-..." In the distance, flashes of light, first mistaken as lightning, now began to show themselves as being too bright gold for lightning, as winged warriors came soaring out of the mist, many of them wounded. A few came flying back, only to be visibly engaged in battle with more of the avian warriors.

[Cfavano]

"I see. It seems our leaders have underestimated our enemy, and thus we come to this." He calls forth a messenger, who kneels before him. "Tell commander Goldfelt, that perhaps retreat could be a viable option. To die in this battle would give no glory, and mayhap the next time, we would be more prepared. T'would be better to fall back, than to die like dogs, on a beach that none shall remember us." The messenger nods and runs off to Goldfelt, and delivers the message.

[DoughGuy]

The electricity ran down the chain towards Hastur. Knowing how painful that energy was Hastur took a deep breath, placed his dagger chain on the one which had energy running along it and shot the dagger forward. Weakened by the strain of the tug of war the dagger punched through the links, both the dagger blade and the chain shattering. Bits of shrapnel slashed his face but the energy could no longer reach him.

Spotting the beam of light from Orion's weapon Hastur quickly unbound his chain from the avian's wing before it was blasted away. Wincing from the pain of his shattered chain re-entering his palm for mending he drew Aleia's daggers again and equipped them on his 2 remaining chains as he stalked forward to where the Avian lay. Seeing the avian's wounded spine he raised his weapons and shot them at the crack.

<His chain will regenerate the turn after next>

[E1Alpha]

With the messenger, Goldfelt was soon to dismiss him. "We shall not retreat! If we would, we would disgrace Nayamee, who fought to conquer this place in the first place! We will fight on! We must!"

The Archons continued fighting off the majority of the winged beasts, though it seemed they were outmatched five to one.
The Avian struck down by Orion however was easily destroy by the blades digging into his back, turning into a solid, lifeless, metal shell, its eyes losing their glow.

This one small victory seemed to hardly make a difference, as the Storm Callers continued their slow march, lightning striking down any who would oppose them. Orion gazed over at the field, he could not strike down this many foes all at once. While in his opinion, Goldfelt was right, defending might be a foolish act, but given the circumstances, should Archeos lose, then all their enemies would be right at their borders, and a direct assault upon their capital would be inevitable.

[Cfavano]

The messenger returns to Zilong, and he shakes his head at Goldfelt's reply. "Fool, he is. But there is naught can be done. I have done what I can, but, until I am taken seriously, my usefulness is limited. Maybe the Ekro will lose their steam, but it is unlikely they will retreat. But I will not be caught up in the slaughter." He turns to the boy. "Messenger, inform my retinue to make preparations for a retreat." The messenger nods, and runs off. "Maybe I can save a few lives, at least. I must survive, for my greatest plan to come to fruition..." He gazes over the battlefield again.

[DoughGuy]

Hastur approached the fallen avian daggers in his hands. Through a combination of kicks and dagger cuts he decapitated the corpse and pulled its metallic head free as a trophy. It was only one ill, but he felt it was an important one. No matter what the Ekro threw at them they could, and would, kill them.

He stood on his cliff, the wind whipping past him, the pervasive fog of the Ekro mist still blocking the light and hanging down on him like a lead weight. He arms were pained by the strain of holding the beast down and his inner self hurt from severing his own chain, the temptation to withdraw from battle was very tempting. But he wouldn't. He had vowed to drive the Ekro back into the sea and drown them and while they still lived he would fight.

He descended back the way he had come, the avian's head tied to his belt. If the sun could break through it would shine proudly off the metallic sheen. As he walked back to Orion he made sure the head was exposed to give his fellows the confidence to fight on. "The beast is felled sir." he reported to Orion, holding the head up to show him before tying it back to his waist. "If the archons can lure more down here I will repeat the ambush for as long as I have strength. Until then I will rejoin the battle." He saluted and walked back to the palisade, his 2 chains sliding out with Aleia's daggers linked on the ends. Unless he was needed he would spend the rest of the battle making the Ekro pay for every step.

[E1Alpha]

<Post Limit Has been reached>

<Thread is now subject to judging>

<Refrain from posting until further notice>

[E1Alpha]

The battle went on and on, holy blade clashing with tainted magic repeatingly. However, the holy armies were inching further and further back, as lightning blasted through the air, striking into the ground before the rows of paladins. Although some succesful blows were delivered, some of the higher ranked paladins began talking amongst eachother, though Goldfelt immediatly intercepted. "Cowards! Hold the line! Hold the li-aaah!" He was interrupted as a clawed, steel hand extended from the man's chest, holding his heart, before it was squashed into a bloody pulp. When the hand was pulled back, it was revealed to be coming from one of the avian beasts that roamed the field, leaving Goldfelt to drop dead.

Orion turned his attention around, rushing forward to strike down the steel avian from behind, before leaping up. "Archeos! This battle is not worth our sacrifice! Retreat to the borders of Archeos and defend our lines there!" At that call, the Archeon troops began to form up and retreat in orderly manner, as the lightning infused beasts kept on coming.

<Every player is granted one final post before the closing tag is posted. Same time limits apply.>

[Cfavano]

At Orion's call, Zilong quickly ran, using his wind-borne speed, back to his tent as his few attendants finished packing. At a nod, they join the caravan of retreating soldiers.

[DoughGuy]

Hastur heard Orion's call for retreat and was dismayed. "We cannot fall back! We cannot allow the Ekro to claim any of our lands, we cannot give them victory!"

A nearby knight heard his cry of dismay and placed an armoured hand on his shoulder. "We fought Hastur but we cannot stand unprepared like this. Please we must fall back."

Hastur turned to face the knight, recognising them as the one who had saved him earlier in the battle. He turned back to the battle, feeling the urge in him to disobey orders and charge headlong into the mist rather than retreat but he also felt the knight's grip on his shoulder tighten, "There will be more battles in the future Hastur, do not throw your life away when you can live to fight again."

His face dropping as tears welled in his eyes Hastur followed the knights in their retreat, swearing next time he would not let the Ekro go.

[E1Alpha]

http://i47.tinypic.com/e8vqj6.png