[HQ Ignorance] Scene 59: Dawn Approaching: The Chaos In Segurane City

[Lev Lafayette]

Firstly, I must give apologies once again to Damien
who is being incredibly patient! Your character will
come in scene very shortly!

Also, to everyone else. This post has been a long time
coming. For an excuse however I have a good one; last
week I was accepted as a co-author for a new edition
of Rolemaster's Campaign Law. The bad news was I the
deadline to finish the chapter is this Sunday. I have
been spending most of my time working on that.

Anyway, here it is. The long awaited Scene 59!

All the best,



Lev


Scene 59: Dawn Approaching: The Chaos In Segurane City

The thrice walled city was in a state of chaos. Within
the inner and middle wards, mercenary
soldiers looted with complete abandon, as the
remaining population had fleed underground upon
Anzhur's command. Giving chase them were a number of
undead and their Vampire leaders.

Some of the Vampires, turned to mist from various
battles in Seguarane Forest, have made also their
way here. Now regenerated the took upon themselves to
rounding up and regaining control of the
mindless undead who wandered aimlessly in the grounds
of the outer ward, the zombies feasting upon
the flesh of the fallen.

It was on this scene that Kalen, Aalmon and their
allies from the castle coast arrived.  They had
mostly travelled via the barges supplied by Ivar and
the Iron Dwarves, although a number of the  
Elves, Centaurs and Minatours chose to travel
alongside the river with Aalmon mopping up a few of
their opponents, militia and undead, as they went.

Assessing the situation Kalen and Aalmon quickly took
charge. Kalen organised the Dwarves in
formation with crossbowmen aiming their bolts at
Vampires and musketeers wrecking great havoc upon
the zombies and skeletons. With precision and a
methodical approach, the outnumbered Dwarves were
more than capable of disrupting the undead and forcing
the Vampires to take refuge in the inner
keep.

It was exactly that location however Aalmon and the
others charged. Aalmon had already discerned  
when Theoblanc himself was, although it seemed far
north from here and the connection was weak. It
confused him somewhat, but he did not let these
thoughts trouble him as he and his allies charged
into the fray. Taking a dangerous lead with the
beastmen following, Aalmon chased down the
remaining Vampires and wizards and smashed into the
surprised mercenaries, his flaming axe attacking with
great speed and perception with his starry eyes giving
an uncanny ability to find foes in the
moonlight.

It was in that process that he and Baros encountered a
small group of wizards and soldiers; at first
Aalmon was shocked when chaotic tentacles seem to
spring from the wizard's face, splashing acid wildly
and
causing deep burns. In the bloody fight that followed,
Aalmon and Baros were both sorely wounded,
the satyr critically. It was only through the sudden
arrival of a wild manticore that eventually   
defeated the mercenaries.

In his delerious state, Aalmon crawled over to
crumpled body of his Twinstar spirit, swearing
revenge. Looking upon the broken banner of a knight
upon the ground, his mind raced when he
recognised the herald. "A banner from the County of
Belstos!", he murmured. "They are supposed to be 
part of the forces of Railos - they're supposed to be
helping us!" And then, he passed out.

- - -

Initially the defense of the dungeons went well for
Anzhur and the knights of Segurane. The morale
of some of the knights seemed greated improved as
Anzhur bore the herald of the Barony of Gilboch,
and others noted that it also carried the mark of
Marianne.  Aided by the rubble rats, who acted as
scouts and guided escape routes, they were able to
easily out-maneuver the undead and their leaders
who knew little of the layout of the place. Great
numbers of the mindless were felled; and even
Vampires were cornered and set to the torch.

With the impetus in favour and with victory in sight,
the remaining Vampires turned the tables.
>From dungeons deep and gallows grim, many were those
who had been tortured and killed as heretics
under the rule of the Rokari. Using the magics
provided by Vivamort score of these souls were
summoned and controlled as ghosts who desired nothing
more than to take the revenge by possessing
the folk of Segurane. Jareena was first to recognise
in horror what was occurring, as bodies
fighting the possession contorted and friend turned
upon friend in a bloody orgy of violence.

- - -

With Thaneora sent north, far away from the wild
Telmori, Karala with deer horns on her head
and mounted on the white wolf, appeared in front of
the awakening Telmori in their wolfen form.
Knarl, with incredible will (and perhaps affected by
the potion) fought off the mentally
debilitating aspects of the Curse, quickly realised
what Karala was doing. Howling loudly, he
quickly awoke the other Telmori. As Karala took off,
Knarl set the charge against her, keeping the
pack at just enough distance to make the prey seem
enticing, but without endangering their ally.  

Charging through the woods at lighting speed, the
hundreds of Telmori and wolves were a magnificant
sight - but woe to any who stood in their way! A few
score Nolos militia, escpaing the carnage of
the battle did just that and each and every one was
torn from limb-to-limb and the cursed werewolves
continued on their rampage.

Entering in the gates of the city and in the outer
ward, Karala and Knarl directed the pack away
from the phalanx of Dwarves and towards the inner and
middle wards. A few of the werewolves attacked
the Dwarves anyway with chaotic results. The Dwarves
formed a defensibe square, their muskets
proving to be deadly against the werewolves with their
iron shot and those that did crash in, found
that the iron armour difficult to penetrate and the
iron axes especially sharp.

But inside the middle and inner keeps was worse; this
was the end of the line and as Karala made an
escape as best she could to the rear, the werewolves
fell upon mercenary and beastman alike, unable
to differentiate between friend and foe. Whilst the
beastmen were familiar with this madness, many   
who had seen it before, it did not prevent casualties
as ally fought ally, both above and below.



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