A Plague of Ghosts [Finn, Aleksandr]
Saun 8, 719 / Outside of Rhakros
There had been no official policy of "scorched earth" decreed by Marshall Webb. But the frequent encounters with acres of insects carpeting the ground gave little choice in implementing this measure as the Etzori host made its way south. Once again, to serve in this capacity, Calaglin, the Igniter offered his services.
A true-born aukari, his mercenary mindset made him a pariah to his homeland of Sirothelle. They hated that he would ever serve the cause of Etzos, even when it did them no direct disservice. It did little to assuage this loathing that he embraced the very essence of Faldrun's element. This was embodied in the unique weapon he carried. Essentially a fuel pump that ignited the stream of incendiary fluid as it spouted forth, it not only had a good-sized, and well-insulated bladder; it was also charmed to absorb flaming energy and store it briefly for a "strategic return" to the world when needed.
This aspect of the weapon had been dormant during the Emean block, but now that Emea was restored he was as enthusiastic to indulge in his mystic skills as any mage. This war had come along at just the right time for his tastes. Many mages were struggling to exert discipline over themselves. This was not only from having been denied the pleasure, but also the urge had been greatly increased among many of them due to the discovery of "alternate flaying". It had very nearly the same addictive quality as traditional flaying.
But Calaglin did not flay...he incinerated....It was not proven if he was actually a mage. And he was not telling. All that was known was that he had some transformational or illusory skills, in addition to his flaming weapon, whose origins were unknown. Did he possess some artifact of illusions? A stone of Syroa? Aelig? Some thought the latter for his domain of chaos, for Calaglin seemed ever ready to take up ANY cause to bring flame and ruin to ANY location.
Even now, his visage was demonic; charred, leathery wings jutting from his back; his 8-1/2 foot appearance near half again that of his real build of a more common 6 foot. And flaming beasts carved paths of incinerating ruin on each side. Having reached relatively secured ground, he diminished to his true height; and the beasts winked out, not really being anything more than illusory distractions to draw fire from hidden ambushes, so that Calaglin could spray them down with the deadly flammable fuel stored in the insulated bladder of his ignition tool.
The host had split into four groups, taking attack points more or less in line with the fundamental compass points. The signal would be seen by all, there was no doubt. The effect would take a little more time, but was expected to reduce resistance greatly at all but one location. Calaglin's group faced what was probably the most difficult spot to breach. Most of Rhakros had only earth or wooden walls. The soldiers within, assuming that The incinerator would go for the wooden defenses, and had amassed a larger portion of their numbers there than anywhere else.
It made sense. It was also predictable, which was death in war. Four identical wagons had been constructed, one with each of the four groups. Only one had the enormous cargo of alchemical explosive within. At the setting of one of the suns, every group advanced with their wagon. It became quickly obvious that the defenders had manufactured as many copper-headed arrows as they could. But Calaglin's location was not where the defenders had predicted the attack to take place, so their archery fire there was not nearly as bad as it might have been.
Still, their toll on the ghostly accompaniment was heavy, but while their ectoplasm was tattered by this contact, it was not truly deadly. And for those that were stricken to near whisper status, there were many citizen followers that had volunteered to be available for emotional, or in some cases, even life-force syphoning, so deep was their commitment to this vengeance. Few of the ghosts were hurt beyond the need for a recuperation period. Though most lamented that they would "miss the fight" as a result.
In three of the locations, the defenders were allowed to be taken in by the deception that they had thwarted the Etzori assault, when the wagons were abandoned by fleeing troops, both living and undead. But Calaglin now resorted to his trickery. As his party pushed the wagon toward the wall, he overlaid its existence with an identical image. He then, lifted a large wooden case overhead. It had been alchemically treated to be both extremely light and extremely thick; and with his trickery turned himself and the case invisible. He then marched toward a different location at the base of the wall.
To the defenders, they saw inconsistency in the look of the visible wagon, an occasional flicker of double image. The Attuner present saw the frequency of an illusion. But more importantly, he saw a different frequency, of a long wooden thing, far off to his left, clearly radiating a mask of invisibility. From the high vantage point, there was only very poor perception of details beyond it being identical to the wagon in size, and radiating alchemy of some sort. All of Rhakros knew that Etzos used alchemical explosive powder.
The archers poured fire onto the "invisible" wagon, forcing it to turn away again and again. Its repeated attempts to get close only convinced the defenders all the more that they had unmasked their enemy's strategy. Misguided cheers heralded their naive belief in their success, as the ignored wagon continued on to reach the wall almost entirely unopposed...Exactly as predicted.
A fuse was lit, a half-dozen Etzori engineers ran as they had never run before, to get as far from the wagon as they could, and on the tops of the walls, realization of their error struck the defenders like a battering ram to the gut. They were too resigned to their fate to even bother to launch arrows at the retreating squad.
A streak of flame lit the sky, easily seen by the three other groups, even with the remaining Saun sun. The ground shook slightly beneath them, and a half bit or so later, an echoing explosion confirmed the signal.
The defenders, predictably assuming that the breached stone wall would now be the entry point of the invasion, sent the bulk of the numbers in that direction. In the other three locations, ghosts could now convey themselves nearly unopposed through the mostly undefended walls. Once inside, those that had developed fighting skills would employ them. Others who had focused on materialization would release whatever mechanisms held gates and portcullises in place to allow their living allies entrance; assuming that these others were not now already finding their own ways in around the now token resistance.
Off Topic
Okay, I wanted to at least get the intro down, so you guys would know I haven't forgotten. I will get groups sorted out, start separate threads for each one, and link them above as I do. But I have had an ungodly complicated last week, full of RL distractions, interruptions and errands. A single hour of unbroken train of thought has been an impossibility for me. And the Washington State Midsummer Renaissance Faire's final weekend starts this coming Friday. I am not missing it. It's a pirate's life for me. Dare I say...? YARRRrrrrr.....
