B
Belomar
Guest
[Note: This is the first part of a four-part chronicle I am writing of this Friday's (August 2nd) events. The next parts will follow as I finish them.]
The day was young when your humble chronicler arrived on the telepad in the Albion portal keep in the Hibernian frontier, eager for action. I had spent the previous night entertaining a war-weary audience at The Crown and The Lion Inn in Camelot, bringing a smile to the faces of even the most desolate-looking street urchin, and I was now intent on exacting revenge on the Hibernian scum for the sake of these poor orphans crowding the streets of our once so beautiful capital. Arriving at the Albion Mile Gate and coming upon a small but powerful group of Albion crusaders under the able command of the armsman Aikmore of the Herfolge Boldklub, I knew I had found a perfect way to avenge them.
Combining our forces, we quickly took to patrolling the northern approaches to the mile gate, vanquishing all resistance as far as to the Midgard Mile Gate with relative ease. However, upon finding elements of the Black Falcons guarding the Midgard wall, we concluded that our own force was better employed elsewhere, and set course upon the blood-soaked grounds surrounding the ominous Dun Crauchon, now once again firmly in Hibernian hands. By assaulting this keep, we hoped to bring out the enemy forces and provoke a full-scale battle against the hated Hibernians. As we approached the keep, we noticed a number of defenders manning the walls, and we knew that reinforcements would not be long in coming.
Moving in from the southern flank of Dun Crauchon, our small but determined force engaged the Hibernian guards protecting the entrance to the keep and quickly dispatched of them, your chronicler keeping them carefully mesmerized while each was battled in turn. Soon, we were able to move up to the gate itself, dodging the arrows of the few defenders inside the keep. As the armsmen in our band moved up and started to work on the outer keep door, the scout Aussie and the infiltrator Hysteric arrived to help suppress those pesky Hibernian defenders pestering us with their bows. While Aussie engaged the enemy rangers with his powerful longbow, Hysteric quickly scaled the keep walls and went hunting for the enemy bard lurking inside the keep, skillfully using the shadows to cloak her approach.
It did not take long for the outer gate to yield to the combined onslaught of the Albion armsmen attacking it, and soon we were able to go to work on the inner gate for the final push. However, meanwhile, Albion crusaders who had received the news of our ongoing siege and were rushing to reinforce our force, encountered a Midgard force at the Albion Mile Gate and were unable to break free. Upon hearing of this threat to our rear, we quickly redeployed and made for the Albion wall at a forced march, arriving just in time to execute a perfect ambush of the Midgard forces attempting to encroach on the Albion side of the gate. Gathering up the Albion crusaders waiting at the wall, we formed a second siege group, and returned with haste to Dun Crauchon to resume our siege.
To our dismay, we found that the inner door at the keep had now been repaired fully, and that the Hibernian defenses had been bolstered by the arrival of the Celt Silver Hand Elesias, an infamous Hibernian ranger wielding a wicked bow. We were forced to run the gauntlet under a hail of arrows to reach the gatehouse and resume our pounding on the door, fortunately protected by the chants of the theurgist Xion. The Hibernian defenders continued to try and repair the door from the inside, but we soon got word that Hysteric had managed to assassinate the enemy bard before succumbing herself. We mourned the loss of our brave infiltrator friend but saluted her final kill, knowing that the Hibernian defenders would now be hard-pressed to repell our attack without a healer to revive their broken bodies.
When at last the sturdy keep doors of Dun Crauchon flew open, the Albion assault force stormed in before the dust had even settled, quickly engaging the guards occupying the battlements and courtyard of the mighty keep. One can only imagine the dread the Hibernian defenders must have felt at the sight of that powerful force bashing in the huge keep gates and moving in with shining weapons drawn, plate armor irridiscent in the warm sun. Within minutes, the lower levels of the keep had been cleared out, while the Hibernian defenders had withdrawn to the room of Lord Crauchon in the top of the keep tower, preparing for their final stand.
This time, however, there was no stopping the Albion force, not even for the vile fiend Elesias. The command to charge the lord room went out, and soon his broken body was crushed beneath the plated boots of the advancing armsmen the likes of Cupid, Frostor, and Radium that were leading the charge, and the Albion force rejoiced as we engaged the keep lord. Then he, as well, fell bleeding to the floor, mortally wounded and beyond all help, and the powerful Dun Crauchon, poised at the very crossroads of the realms of Albion and Midgard in the Hibernian frontier, was transferred into our hands. It was only later that we would grasp the importance of that first victory.
The day was young when your humble chronicler arrived on the telepad in the Albion portal keep in the Hibernian frontier, eager for action. I had spent the previous night entertaining a war-weary audience at The Crown and The Lion Inn in Camelot, bringing a smile to the faces of even the most desolate-looking street urchin, and I was now intent on exacting revenge on the Hibernian scum for the sake of these poor orphans crowding the streets of our once so beautiful capital. Arriving at the Albion Mile Gate and coming upon a small but powerful group of Albion crusaders under the able command of the armsman Aikmore of the Herfolge Boldklub, I knew I had found a perfect way to avenge them.
Combining our forces, we quickly took to patrolling the northern approaches to the mile gate, vanquishing all resistance as far as to the Midgard Mile Gate with relative ease. However, upon finding elements of the Black Falcons guarding the Midgard wall, we concluded that our own force was better employed elsewhere, and set course upon the blood-soaked grounds surrounding the ominous Dun Crauchon, now once again firmly in Hibernian hands. By assaulting this keep, we hoped to bring out the enemy forces and provoke a full-scale battle against the hated Hibernians. As we approached the keep, we noticed a number of defenders manning the walls, and we knew that reinforcements would not be long in coming.
Moving in from the southern flank of Dun Crauchon, our small but determined force engaged the Hibernian guards protecting the entrance to the keep and quickly dispatched of them, your chronicler keeping them carefully mesmerized while each was battled in turn. Soon, we were able to move up to the gate itself, dodging the arrows of the few defenders inside the keep. As the armsmen in our band moved up and started to work on the outer keep door, the scout Aussie and the infiltrator Hysteric arrived to help suppress those pesky Hibernian defenders pestering us with their bows. While Aussie engaged the enemy rangers with his powerful longbow, Hysteric quickly scaled the keep walls and went hunting for the enemy bard lurking inside the keep, skillfully using the shadows to cloak her approach.
It did not take long for the outer gate to yield to the combined onslaught of the Albion armsmen attacking it, and soon we were able to go to work on the inner gate for the final push. However, meanwhile, Albion crusaders who had received the news of our ongoing siege and were rushing to reinforce our force, encountered a Midgard force at the Albion Mile Gate and were unable to break free. Upon hearing of this threat to our rear, we quickly redeployed and made for the Albion wall at a forced march, arriving just in time to execute a perfect ambush of the Midgard forces attempting to encroach on the Albion side of the gate. Gathering up the Albion crusaders waiting at the wall, we formed a second siege group, and returned with haste to Dun Crauchon to resume our siege.
To our dismay, we found that the inner door at the keep had now been repaired fully, and that the Hibernian defenses had been bolstered by the arrival of the Celt Silver Hand Elesias, an infamous Hibernian ranger wielding a wicked bow. We were forced to run the gauntlet under a hail of arrows to reach the gatehouse and resume our pounding on the door, fortunately protected by the chants of the theurgist Xion. The Hibernian defenders continued to try and repair the door from the inside, but we soon got word that Hysteric had managed to assassinate the enemy bard before succumbing herself. We mourned the loss of our brave infiltrator friend but saluted her final kill, knowing that the Hibernian defenders would now be hard-pressed to repell our attack without a healer to revive their broken bodies.
When at last the sturdy keep doors of Dun Crauchon flew open, the Albion assault force stormed in before the dust had even settled, quickly engaging the guards occupying the battlements and courtyard of the mighty keep. One can only imagine the dread the Hibernian defenders must have felt at the sight of that powerful force bashing in the huge keep gates and moving in with shining weapons drawn, plate armor irridiscent in the warm sun. Within minutes, the lower levels of the keep had been cleared out, while the Hibernian defenders had withdrawn to the room of Lord Crauchon in the top of the keep tower, preparing for their final stand.
This time, however, there was no stopping the Albion force, not even for the vile fiend Elesias. The command to charge the lord room went out, and soon his broken body was crushed beneath the plated boots of the advancing armsmen the likes of Cupid, Frostor, and Radium that were leading the charge, and the Albion force rejoiced as we engaged the keep lord. Then he, as well, fell bleeding to the floor, mortally wounded and beyond all help, and the powerful Dun Crauchon, poised at the very crossroads of the realms of Albion and Midgard in the Hibernian frontier, was transferred into our hands. It was only later that we would grasp the importance of that first victory.
