Snippet #2576581

Xavier Lent

"This rope needs repair, it wont take the strain if we have to launch any of the larger stones." Xavier pointed out the damaged coil rope on the catapult to one of the engineers under his command. The soldier marked the item on his to do list and followed Xavier down the wall of the third level as he made his rounds. Dusk was settling by now, and he was getting exhausted from the constant walking back and forth across the walls to inspect the goings on of the defensive set up. He had already received the kings orders half way through his examination and had to go back to re-align the castle's walls to suit the needs.

This was luckily his last check and afterwards he would be awaiting the arrival of both the Rangers and the soldiers from Inae. He hoped all was well outside the walls, but until news came he would have to sit tight. Moving to the very last installment on the list to check Xavier inspected everything on the catapult from the gears for signs of rust to the ropes for signs of damage, he even did a test fire without ammunition to make sure the whole thing did not simply come apart when needed. Finding nothing out of order he sent the engineer away to prepare the repairs needed and took a well needed sigh of relief. He walked his way down to the front gates where he usually stood on post and sat on a wooden bench where a flask of wine was waiting for him and a small ration of bread. He ate and drank in silence as he stared off at the distance of the plains and forests of Acatia, where it was peaceful except for the demon's camp fires in the distance....

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Gorain

"RHUUUAG!" The humans who dared intrude on Gorain's warband were scattering out of his way, fearful of the arc of his bone hammer as it swung and crushed yet another mortals body into the dirt. His sudden reappearance even surprised his own troops, as he had been down by the river in front of his army for quite some time. He only took a small notice of his Lord's spell weaver in the mix of his troops, but he did not care as there were humans in need of bludgeoning. Taking out another with the strike of his Bell Hammer he spooked the rest off with a wave of demon flame from his mouth, setting several trees ablaze and scorching several of the humans, boiling them alive in their metal suits.

After another minute of battle Gorain, the spell weaver, and the rest of his troops had scared off the band of humans while a patch of forest burned down to their East. Gorain was in a rage, and needed another outlet. Luckily there was the spell weaver there who he could target. "YOU! What is your business with my hogs!" He charged up to the female with a deadly gate, looking to be in the mood that he would smash her where she stood if he did not like her answer. His loud voice boomed across the plains even ending up at the castle where it seemed to stir the humans into an unrest.

Just as Gorain was about to knock the female mage out of his sight, the rest of his army arrived at their position in the woods and brought plenty of siege weapons with them, from iron ballistas to hooked siege ladders, and even a Dragon Tongue Mortar which could combine a Pyromancer's magic and mechanical might into a powerful catapult like weapon. Gorain forgot about the mage and turned to his troops, one of whom brought a message to Gorain's ears. "Sir, a battalion of humans have left the castle and have traveled north, we think to bring the rest of their forces from Inae. Some of the demons have also found a small band of archers several miles off the road moving towards Valens."

At this news Gorain was enraged, roaring a battle cry into the night that once again reached the citadel of Castle Valens. He spoke now to all of his troops at once. "We shall stop the humans from regrouping! Assault their front gate! Block the road with barricades and prepare to feast on man-flesh!" His battalions roared as he did and began to chop down trees to bring with them to construct the barricades. After several dozen trees were being carried by his hogs, Gorain led them to the main road infront of Castle Valens.

His orcs set up the logs several hundred meters infront of the main gate and silently constructed walls of logs approximately 3 meters wide and tall, linked together with rope and supported from behind with more logs. Three of these spanned the road, and the hogs hid behind them. All this was done in the dark and as silent as could be so not to alert the humans until well after their completion. As soon as the barricades were complete, Gorain stepped out from behind one with the siege weapons either on the ends and in between, with the dragon mortar hidden far in back. Gorain ignited the mortar with his fire and launched it up at the castle just as the giant iron spears of the ballistas were fired at the castle's second and third layers. The mortar sailed right over a humans head to crash inside the courtyard on the other side of the humans front gate. The war had begun anew.

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Xavier Lent


Xavier had been just about to snooze on the bench as he was beyond tired from his examinations. The darkness all looked the same to him, or maybe it was just the back of his eyelids. His sleep would have to wait however, as a bright light suddenly sparked infront of his eyes. A giant fireball was coming right at him from the road infront of the castle. Rolling off the bench the giant sphere of flame nearly missed him as it crashed with a resounding boom in the courtyard, cracking the stone and sending balls of burning slag rolling across the courtyard.

Xavier looked back out at the road half blinded by the fire so he could not see what was attacking them. It did not matter what however, it just mattered that something was. A soldier on a higher level must have seen the attack, as he rang a bell to alert the rest of the castle that it was being sieged. Xavier looked up at the bell just in time to see it's ringer be impaled by an iron barbed ballista javelin. Another javelin hit the third level getting it's tip stuck in the stone wall and knocking some of it loose. Xavier yelled for his troops on the walls to evacuate the lower levels and get the civilians to the upper floors. He sent a runner to the war room where King Valens was surely to be and drew his sword, ready to fight.

"To the walls! Arm the defenses! Fight back!" Charging magic into his hands, Xavier sent a beam of white holy magic out into the blackness, illuminating the barricades and the thousands of orcs behind them. Xavier was taken aback at how many orcs could have snuck up on them so quickly, but already he was formulating a plan.