[M] Siege of Joetel

[Tolvo]

Cassandra arrived at the walls. She looked like she dressed in a rush but was here now. Rushing over, she hopped atop a riderless demon horse and joined beside Destrin. The former Destruin sorcerers among Destrin's ranks took to joining with the mage muskets. They weren't able to produce beams but did manage to fire hellfire shots at the flying enemy. It did more damage apparently. He'd have to remember that. A corrupter joined with Destrin and Cassandra as commanded. The aerial fight was starting to turn a bit in their favor but the flying Aqueduct Snakes had taken a beating. This had tied up the enemy flying units at least.

In the battle of firepower the Dominion had the advantage. One of the gunships suddenly exploded and spiraled down into the army marching towards the walls. Behind them trenches were being work on where it looked like the walls were weak. Someone appeared in the sky. It was a large woman dressed in crimson with red hair, eyes, and wings. In her hands a large mass of blood was gathering. Cassandra gave it one look and shouted to everyone around. "Scatter, she'll kill us all!" Everyone started to disengage and take evasive flight trajectories as best as they could.

[Eddren]

Destrin cursed silently, "Alright, Corrupter--Ah don't know if ya can do yer job from here. If ya can't corrupt souls from way over 'ere, then ah need ya ta do somethin' else. Most o' those things should be flyin' by magic. Ah need ya ta figure out a way ta corrupt tha magic of them. " Destrin continued riding toward the woman undaunted, and rose a hand, turning the mass of blood into a ball of steel. Then he steeled her horse. Then he pulled out his battle-pick and swung it at her in a ride-by.

As he did so, he called out "Keep bloody battlin'! Aqueduct Snakes, if ya can, make fer a landin' on one o' those ships! Those're Demon Horses yer ridin'--Don't forget that you can fly, an' they can't! Jus' 'cause their ship can fly doesn't mean ya can't climb aboard an' give 'em hell!"

[Tolvo]

The ball of blood fell to the battle below as the vampiress hissed at Destrin. Her hands turned into gigantic metallic claws that she swiped at him as he rode by. His pickaxe thankfully deflected the blow but she ended up unharmed in the process. After he flew by with her wings she began to give chase. Cassandra followed behind the vampire woman and cast some sort of spell that slowed her down. The corrupter began casting and the ground around one of the orbs started to mutate beneath it. On one gunship the Aqueduct Snakes landed. They began to hammer it with pipes which did little until they began to attack the flying mechanisms and gizmos. One airship fell from the skies as they took off from it and it crashed and exploded below.

[Eddren]

Destrin grinned as the woman gave chase. He gave Jessie a pat on the neck, "Ya jus' keep up tha good work, an' make sure tha Corrupter 'ere can keep up 'is work. Ya've earned a reward already, but ah'll make it up ta ya somehow after, alright?" Finally, he leaned over and pulled out the pistol once more. "OI! He shouted at the flying blood-mage, "If ya think ya can come up 'ere with yer unclipped fingernails an' half-assed blood magic, an' rule my skies, ya don't know tha first thing about that Southern Kingdoms! Jus' cause ya can grind up some fuckin' Dominion dicks wit' yer vagina teeth don't mean ya'll be ave a shite chance against us! Ya might as well fuckin' give up an' go hiss yer ugly ass back inta tha grave ya crawled up outta, and rejoin tha fuckin' breasts ya must 'ave left behind!"

Channeling the sheer quantity of insults into the pistol, he would actually rapidly fire as he was releasing a torrent of insults, looking to slow her down with sheer volume of gunfire. It was heartening to see, though, that the Aqueduct Snakes were hitting their stride. "Once ya've got enough of 'em down ta maneuver, leave tha rest ta the Sorcerers and Musketeers! Focus yer efforts wit' those chains, an' try an' wrap up tha dead ones wit' tha Flying Horses! Tangle 'em up good enough an' ya should be able ta' pull 'em right off o' their saddles!"

[Tolvo]

Bullets hit the vampire but she didn't seem to slow. As he continued to taunt her she stopped in place. "You're a distraction!" She spun around in the air and returned to joining with the flying battle. With ease she ripped one of Destrin's soldiers in half and drank from the spraying blood. But without her attention Destrin had made it to the enemy cannon positions along with Cassandra and the corrupter. Below archers were starting to notice them and were getting in position to fire volleys their way. Cassandra tossed an exploding fireball at them that had them scattering to survive. "Destrin whatever you need to do do it quick we can't stay over here!"

[Eddren]

Destrin grinned and nodded, "Cassandra, have ya noticed what our Corrupter friend's doin' underneath tha Orb over there? Ya think ya can speed it along? We need that work done quick-like." While they were working on that, Destrin once more set out to accomplish what he'd come here for--Tossing the torch into their munitions storage and quickly gaining altitude. Quickly, he'd work on closing distance with Cassandra so he didn't have to shout out his plans to the enemy. "We're gunna take tha Orb back ta our side o' tha battlefield--An' then we're gunna teach 'em a lil' trick." He grinned, "See, that thing takes souls, right? Then ah bet ya we can probably use it ta keep 'em from reanimating our men. An' that means, we can use it fer a Cavalry Charge."

[Tolvo]

Bang, kablamo, boom, bang, kabamo! A third of the enemies cannons went up in an explosion that shook the ground. Destrin couldn't feel it because he was flying, but he was hit by the shockwave. Jessie and him were sent tumbling while the corrupter held on for dear life. Eventually Jessie regained control when Destrin noticed something troubling. The Aqueduct Snakes were retreating. Leading the retreat, was Destrin. He could see himself clearly doing it riding atop Jessie leading them back to the city. Only that didn't make sense, how could there be two Destrins? The most logical conclusion being that his evil twin had finally found him. The vampire woman was missing.

[Eddren]

"Shite," Destrin muttered, "Jessie. Ah need ya ta take charge o' tha situation. This battle's in your hands." He gave the horse a pat, then looked to the Corrupter, "Follow Cassandra's lead. Ah've got a lil' problem ta solve." Destrin swung his feet out from the stirrups and jumped off the horse, turning himself into steel for the ride. Once he impacted from the ground, he un-steeled and cast Earth Rebound, Splitting the Earth so he could pursue his doppleganger. He'd repeat this process as many times as he needed to, until he was in range to turn "Destrin" into steel, and, if that didn't stop "him," "his" mount as well. Great, ah'm gunna 'ave ta keep an eye out for illusions from now on. Fuckin' 'ell.

[Tolvo]

Destrin managed to reached the fake and turning them into steel did the same for their horse. They landed among the defenders who looked very perplexed at the sight of the two of them. When he arrived the Aqueduct Snakes in particular were shaken. "Boss?" "Two bosses?" "But there can be only one boss!" "One's bigger than the other." "Let's call that one large boss." They weren't sure what to make of it. Other Destrin changed from steel back to normal. "Oi you chowda heads the fuck ya thinkin'? He's a fake, one o' them undead fucks usin' magic or somethin'! Kill him an be done wit' it!" At first they moved towards the real Destrin but they weren't sure if they should believe the other Destrin or not. One smart soldier waved her arms. "Say something only the real Destrin would say!"

[Eddren]

Destrin turned the fake Destrin back into steel, before turning to his men, "Ya fuckin' moron, tha fake Destrin's pretty much fuckin' proved itself already! WHO THA FUCK EVER TAUGHT YA TA FUCKIN' RETREAT FROM A FIGHT YER WINNING, EH?! You jus' let them gain fuckin' Aerial superiority! Now go get new riders fer tha riderless fuckin' mounts, an' go grab Sorcerers fer tha next wave, an' go fuckin' finish off those aerial units!" Veins were bulging from his forehead he was so pissed at this point, "And while yer fuckin' at it, maybe check ta see which fuckin' Destrin is TURNING PEOPLE TA STEEL. LIKE AH'VE BEEN DOING THA ENTIRE FUCKIN' DESTRUIN CAMPAIGN." Grumbling, he pulled out his battle-pick and braced himself for the fight, giving himself patterned-steel scales. "An' when yer done wit' tha air-battle, make sure ta go reinforce Cassandra an' tha Corrupter! Ah 'ad ta leave 'em behind ta fix this fuck's little trick!"

The Baron produced a Spectral Duplicate of his pick. As soon as the not-Destrin would un-steel himself, Destrin would lash out with the pick, this time purposefully aiming for one of the arms he knew would produce a claw, keeping the other in reserve for defending against the second claw. "An' someone bring me a few musketmen ta help finish off tha fuckin' imposter!"