The contingent of shadows

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Lostshadow
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The contingent of shadows

Post by Lostshadow »

Ok so heres the fluff for my battle report found here:
http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=70206

Please tell me what you think of both the battle and the fluff




The contingent of shadows

The screams of the dying echoed through the now empty streets, blood and ash stained the surface of a poorly contructed road through the centre of the town. Little moved save the crows feasting on the recently dead, those that had been spared the terror that was to come after the initial slaughter.
A weiry face emerged from the doorway to an burnt out house, which remarkably stood tall after fires had spread. The figure stepped out cautiously, human and ragged, two deep slashes on his left side where a sickly blade has striken him moments before.
In his hand he held a drucchii blade, taken from the corpse of his foe that lay somewhere in the depths of the basement behind him. He staggered to a crumbling wall, glancing around he saw nothing through the veil of smoke billowing across the town.
'They are gone,' he breathed, stumbling towards the stables, he had to warn the duke.
As he stepped into the open, a sound erupted from the thick smoke, somethng like he had never heard before. The man stopped, freezing and holding the sword so tight it hurt his knarled fingers.
The sound came again, this time closer, it was much like the sound of waves hitting the shore except there was no majesty of peace about this noise, it was cold and evil.
Suddenly a red glow lit up the fog, a blinding swirling vortex of red and black hit the ground in front of the human, he fell back, the sword flying from his grasp. His head cracked on the stone surface and he lay looking up into the endless smog, blood trickling from his head..
Able to glance up at the last moment before the last of his life ebbed away, he saw a monsterous creature, a horse wrapped in red and black flames and upon it's back was one of them......the druchii.

********************************************************************

Some time had passed since the raid, and Amaranth watched boardly as three of the warriors dragged away a dead slave. The fool had tried to escape, but one more dead slave meant little for their overall goal.
For they had not come here for slaves, it was just a lucky stroke of fate that the Dark Elf Renegade sorcerer they were hunting had taken refuge in a human settlement. The sorcerer was a member of a new rebellion against Malakith, the group were known as the the contingent of shadows, who only used illusions and trickerly and it was this strength that had kept them hidden for almost a century.
But the armies of the Witch King had discovered an artifact of ancient times, and bestowed this magical ring upon Amaranth, it was capable of disrupting magic and detecting a mage. They were hoping to use it to find the wizard.
A small task group was assembled and sent to the last place the wizard had been seen, however by some luck they heard a rumour that a strange elf had been selling his services in the human lands, an elf illusionist.
Amaranth took a bite from some dry bread, taken from the houses of the humans. It tasted like dirt, but he didnt care, food had already been scarce on this journey and anything would do for now.
A sudden blast of wind signalled the arrival of their commander, Cobet.
He landed his flying steed in the centre of the camp and within seconds four or five slaves rushed to help him out of his saddle watched closely by two black guards who stood silent, caressing their halberds with their chainmail gloves to remind the slaves that any attempt to injure their lord would be met with pain.
"Lord Cobet," Amaranth said, not exactly a greeting as such.
Amaranth was jealous, he had been waiting for years to prove himself and had been told this force would be under his command, but whether by bribery or some other sadistic route to power, Cobet had somehow gained command of this mission. It was well known amoungst the troops that Cobet was a Reckless leader, and would sacrifice anything for glory and gold. Amaranth was not much different, but he would not sacrifice his own troops for his own personal glory. True he cared nothing for his men and their expendable lives, but to waste troops was not his stlye, but Cobet would return to Malakith alone and tell of his victory before giving any second thought to his men.
"Hmmppth," Cobet said, barely showing he had even seen his second in command.
"Gather round!" Cobet said, signalling his commanding officers of each of his units around.
Amaranth stepped up to listen, standing to the left of his commander.
Cobet began talking, for he had scouted out the nearby towns on his flying steed, a creature unlike anthing even their kind had seen. It was made of some whispy black and red fire, mostly likely some kind of malicious spirit. Cobet had tamed the creature in a duel some years ago, and the creature had never since left his side.
As Amaranth zoned out of the chatter, a few laughs echoed from the listeners as Cobet recounted how he had run down some farmers as they fled in terror. But as he stood, the ring on his finger sent a small shock through his hand. For a moment surprise was shown on his face, but none of the other elves had noticed. He frowned, wondering why the ring had done that, for the only time it was supposed to was when magic was nearby that meant harm to the bearer.
He looked around the camp, from elf to elf. One or two caught his eye, but quickly looked away and continued their duties, knowing that the wrong kind of glance at one of their officers could and would most likely be fatal.
The ring surged again, this time with far greater force that Amaranth almost cried out.
"Lo for Seras," he heard a voice mutter.
An explosion rocked the camp and Amaranth quickly grasped the hilt of Sinreaver, his magical blade. As the debris and smoke cleared, everyone gathered round to see a stunned robed figure laying in the centre of the camp, it was Lahthor, the very rouge mage they were hunting.
"On your feet dog!" Amaranth growled, dragging the mage to this feet.
"Ka-," Began Lahthor, possibily an attempt to teleport away or become invisible.
But as he did his robes caught fire and the ring Amaranth wore shone with a cold blue light.
"So," Cobet said, stepping forwards towards the mage," you thought you could sneak in and kill us mage? You see this ring? It was given to us to capture you, go ahead and try to escape, you will find only death down that path,"
"No," the mage said, trying to get away from Amaranth's grip.
A punch to the face quickly sated his appertite for fighting and he fell to his knees.
"What is that thing?" Lahthor asked," I cant......grasp any power!"
"Good," Cobet replied," then we know it works......get him back to the ships and....,"
At that very second a horn blast echoed through the hills, every elf there froze, both the look of surprise and dark satisfaction on their faces, for it was a horn of the Asur, the High Elves. As the horn blasting subsided, Lahthor began to chuckle.
"You," Amaranth said," you led them here didnt you?"
"Thats right," Lahthor grinned," and now that your mages are dead, you will all suffer at their hands,"
Cobet looked towards the mages tents, and sure enough moments later guards emerged dragging two lifeless sorceresses.
"Too bad for you Lahthor," Cobet said,"you cant escape, and neither can we, you will die first. Tie him to a horse and send him to the enemy, take his staff and gear and Amaranth give him your ring and make him swallow it,"
"Lord...," Amaranth began.
"It was not a question," Cobet said.
"The ring," Amaranth said, holding up his hand. It was now blazing with yellow light.
"What?" Cobet asked.
"There is a Asur mage in that army, far more powerful than any this ring has ever encountered," Amaranth said," we need mages to stop magic, we wont stand a chance without a mage on our side,"
"They are dead," Cobet said, more like he had misplaced a tool or one of his weapons than the lives of two sorceresses.
"Lahthor can dispell their magic," Amaranth said," we have no choice, we cannot even get close to their forces with the power they have on their side,"
"I will fight for you," Lahthor said slyly," I-,"
"Shut up," Cobet said," we do need a mage, but if you betray us......you will not make it back to suffer Malakith's justice.....alive,"
"Go," Amaranth said, throwing the wizard towards the assembling black guards,
Lahthor knew that the enemy wizard would be able to track him now that he was so close as he had known nothing of Amaranth's ring and so thought his escape would be easy and that the Asur and Druchii would kill each other off, so if he did flee now he would most likely die anyway, at least with this army he might be able to sway the battle in their favour and escape later.
The black guard grasped the wizard by the arms and dragged him into their regiment, for a moment he looked around at them and they stared back without expression, simply observing him for every moment and every small move that he made.
******************************************************************************

And so the battlelines were drawn, the enemy force it seemed had landed some twenty miles down the shore, they had recieved word of an attack and were the only forces nearby so they chose to come and investigate what had happend to the town.
One the right flank, Amaranth stood with the black guard and their common troops who were now holding the wizard in their unit. Cobet didnt want the wizard using his tricks and killing off some of the finer warriors. Amaranth held their banner, their battle standard as he watched the Asur form their lines just beyond the woods.
Cobet was hovering above thier own lines, shouting orders to their chariots. Far across the battlefield, Amaranth could see a strange green glow coming from one of the enemy units. Sorcerous power was around them in an erie mist, he had never seen anything like it before.
Cobet's war horn shook the air around them and Amaranth drew his sword.
"March!" Amaranth ordered and the black guard followed him closely as he moved towards the trees, the unit of spear elves to his left containing their new untrustworthy companion.
Amaranth's ring would let him know if the wizard was trying anything to escape, the ring it seemed was controlled by the mind of the bearer, if another mage tried something nearby that the wearer considered hostile it would alert him.
The elf glanced to his left to see the spear elves, a mass of hundreds of citizen levy, marching ahead of their battle line.
"Slow down you dogs!" Amaranth called across the lines," dont be so eager to slay our prancing cousins, hold your formations!"
The troops fell back into line, the minds of the lesser warriors were easily corrupted by hate and they would only get themselves killed without gaining anything if they went ahead foolishly and charged the waiting Asur lines.
To his right, Amaranth caught movement and turned his head to see Asur soldiers moving through the woodland. From this distance, even his keen eyes could not make out their unit, but they were Asur.
"RRRGGHHH!" came a cry from the citezen soldiers and they began a jog towards the trees.
"Hold!" Amaranth cried in vain, for the noise was too great for his voice to be heard as the lowly minded warriors headed for the trees.
Blocking his view of the rest of the field, Amaranth could see nothing past the spear elves save Cobet flying fast towards the enemy lines.....alone.
"That fool will get us killed," Amaranth spoke aloud, realising a moment after he turned to the black guard.
"If one of you so much as thinks of going to save him...," Amaranth said trailing off.
"We are with you Lord Amaranth," one of the black guards said, a few of the others nodded in agreement and grasped their weapons tightly as the warriors slowed down, seemingly hesitant.
Then Amaranth saw why, the troops appeared from out of the trees. A long thin line of Asur swordmasters stood just inside the tree line, they stopped calmly and rested their great swords on the ground, standing watching the warriors as they stood a few mere metres from the enemy.
Both units stood in silence until suddenly a wave of black smoke started to appear all around them. As if from nowhere, the warrior's unit now seemed to have doubled in size. Ghostly apparations of Druchii soldiers joined their ranks and became solid, an illusion of course, but now the swordmasters didnt know who was real and who was a magical clone.
A roar erupted from the swordmasters and they charged into the warriors line, thier lesser numbers mattering little. Amaranth was about to give the order to march and asisst when Lahthor appeared in a flash in front of Amaranth, grasping hold of him.
"Your not getting me today!" the wizard chuckled.
The world spun in a blurr of grey and blue and Amaranth fell to the ground, raising his head just in time to see a swordmaster's blade stroke. The damm wizard had teleported Amaranth into the midst of the fighting.
He rose his shield and the blow struck home, shattering it into pieces he staggered back, dropping the battle standard and rolling back to his feet. The blade came again and this time he was prepared, he drew his blade Sinreaver in a flash, ducking under the blade and striking the Asur warrior through the gut. His blade quickly removed, two more warriors saw their chance to kill a commanding officer. He parried one blade and narrowly dodged the second blade, his own blade hit hard on the swordmaster's leg, severing it from his body, he fell screaming to the ground, dropping his blade and holding his stump. The second swordmaster rose his sword again and Amaranth saw a shimmer of metal from the corner of his eye and struck to this right instead, driving his sword through the chest of an Asur warrior. Turning back to the other he knocked aside the enemy blow and it bounced off his magical sword hitting his shoulder. The heavy blade struck his armour and broke the platemail leaving a slash down his right arm. Swapping arms he struck out at the High Elf with his left arm, causing the him to stagger back from the blows he tripped and fell, his sword falling from his grasp. Amaranth thrust his blade into the elf, who screamed drawing his dagger he struck out in a desperate attempt to kill Amaranth, but he could not reach having been driven into the ground and pinned by his sword. He heard a clatter behind him and Amaranth turned, stirking low at the Swordmaster warrior, who fell legless like his comrade. A second warrior struck Amaranth, but as he blocked, a spear drove into the neck of the swordmaster and he fell clutching his wound.
"Fall back!" A shout came from somewhere and Amaranth stopped to observe the battle, the swordmasters were retreating.
Grasping the battle standard that somehow stood, dug into the ground with two warriors guarding it. Amaranth let out a roar, not showing any signs of his shoudler wound he charged after the Swordmasters as they threw aside their swords and tried to escape through the woods. The wizard's spell had worked, it had confused the swordmaster's so much they had been unable to determine who was real and who was an illusion, meaning they had suffered heavy casulties in trying to figure it out.
The spear elves join Amaranth in the pursuit of the swordmasters, the woods were thick but it didnt slow them as much as they thought.
All around him, Druchii were driving their spears into swordmasters as some fell while trying to run, others turned and tried to make a final stand but their ranks were so disorganised that they had no support and Druchii numbers overwhelmed indervidual Asur soldiers.
"Rally! Reform the lines!" Amaranth ordered, and with much reluctance in their spree of murderous hatred, the spear elves rallied to him and started to organise their ranks again.
Another cry rang out, and more Asur soldiers appeared. A large group of civilian levy by the looks of things. The illusion had worn off now and Amaranth could see the enemy had greater numbers, a few of the Dark Elves looked around at each other, but it wasnt fear they felt, it was pure hatred burning in their eyes.
A few swordmasters joined the ranks of approaching troops, and soon their advance became a run and Amaranth joined the front ranks and waited, for he had a plan.
"Hold!" He ordered as the Asur closed the gap
"Hold!"
The gap was now just a few metres.
"SHIELDWALL!" Amaranth shouted and the shields went up, spears pointing at the advance, too late for the Asur to slow and avoid the spears facing them. For if he had risen the spear too early, the enemy would have slowed and avoided them.
The Asur smashed into their ranks with a crash that echoed through the trees, spears impaling elves by the tenfold as they tried to scramble over the top. Sinreaver found the neck of an Asur warrior as he leapt over the shieldwall at him, a second and third thrust their spears through the shieldwall, Amaranth cutting the ends from both and driving his sword frantically through the gaps he felt it hit flesh more than once.
A Druchii warrior fell into him, her gut pouring with blood, he kicked her aside as she lay dying. Another Asur warrior breached the line, ducking under the shields he struck one of the spear elves with his own spear and preceeded to draw his sword. Amaranth ended his life with a quick triple strike, one severing his sword arm, the second his leg and the last decapitating him leaving his body to thud into the ground.
Bodies fell from both sides, but his own soldiers suffered little more deaths. Amaranth watched as one warrior in his unit, having lost his spear and shield was now smashing a long dead Asur warrior over and over with his own helm in a uncontrollable frenzy, the hatred of his kind seemed to know no limets.
The Asur were backing away slowly, their unit not broken. But they had seen the fate of their swordmasters and the Druchii spear unit was holding them well, causing more casulties then the losses they were suffering.
Amaranth observed the battlefield, a chariot lay smashed and broken, surrounded by slain Asur warriors while a trail of dust left the telltail signs of another chariot fleeing. Phoneix guard warrirors were casually walking away, despite corsairs throwing some last insults across the field as they retreated.
Cobet was flying back and the black guard had already returned to the camp, dragging a robed figure with them.
It would not be until later that Amaranth found out that Lahthor had not only teleported Amaranth into the battle, but had teleported himself right into the middle of the Black Guard ranks, and suffering a number of blunt traumors to the head from halberd butts as he tried to make his escape.[i]
[/i]
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Drainial
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Post by Drainial »

Not bad writing, though if you are looking for rouge mages take a skim through the old Nemesis crown forum for more worthy prey.

On writing critique there is some verb confusion and a few mistakes here and there, nothing major. Also it is better to delineate paragraphs with lines rather than indents here as Druchii.net doesn't recognise indents for some reason. All in all though nicely written and a good accompaniment to your battle report.
Moding a group of Druchii.net players is much like directing the musical 'Cats' using actual cats. Frustrating, difficult, chaotic but ultimatley satisfying and a great deal of fun.

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Sulla
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Post by Sulla »

Drainial wrote:Not bad writing, though if you are looking for rouge mages
Assuming you meant rogue mages, not the hybrid DnD dual class of mage/prostitute... ;) :P
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Drainial
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Post by Drainial »

My own writing is not without errors of of course,
Moding a group of Druchii.net players is much like directing the musical 'Cats' using actual cats. Frustrating, difficult, chaotic but ultimatley satisfying and a great deal of fun.

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