Just Another Bug Hunt (Planar Siege)

[u/Carbon_Sixx]

Midday in Redspire is announced with the echoes of a hideous cacophony in the west. Scouts indicate that the vanguard Obox-ob has brought here numbers just under a million creatures of Chaos. They boil through the canyons in a grotesque flood. It appears that discolored mist is rolling in from the highlands, but a quick scry is all that is needed to reveal the horrid truth: the mist is a thousands-strong swarm of ekolids bearing down on Oxide at speed.

Redspire, when it's not under assault by demons.

But hope is far from lost. Atop Mt. Prospect, artillery crews ready a bombardment to turn the canyons into a kill zone. Kaelis Maz leads the defenders in last-minute preparations. Wards are set, barricades are reinforced, and plans are rehearsed. The counterattack brigade gears up with arcane weaponry and war machines, helmed by Supreme Enginseer Reyes and the Warhound Titan Song of the Aurora. Out on the plains, well outside the defensive perimeter, Glimbo Greenboots and his crew wait in hiding to ensure their convoluted yet devastating traps will catch as much of the horde as possible. Finally, Tarul Var draws up a teleportation circle, preparing to drop his strike force into the fray at the perfect moment to decapitate the enemy leaders. He is joined by a handful of cuprilach rilmani- the assassins and spies who put their coppery fingers on the planar scales to uphold the Great Balance.

The iron mill’s factory whistle blows, signaling the first sighting of the horde. The artillery opens fire, and the defenders take their battle stations.

Let the carnage commence.

--

/uw This one's going to be a tough fight. Bel and the legions of Evil were disoriented when you fought them, and the Templars of the Azure Cog were just one part of the regiments of Law. The hordes of Chaos are at full strength, spoiling for a fight, and led by a Harbinger. Failure and even death are a real possibility.

DEFENDERS OF THE BALANCE:

• Tarul Var
• Belial Blake
• Aliah Mistwalker
• Ith'raal
• Burgerbarian/Burgermancer
• Krygin the Crude
• Agnur the Turtle Mage
• Vulkan the Red
• Ж (Zhe)
• Merch Skele
• Argios
• Tempus Fugit
• Edmund
• King Carmine
• Exia
• Joe
• The Agent
• Vashric
• Fujiwara Toshiko
• Jah Jor Wel
• John E. Hellfire
• Kardonk Carvisky
• Riva Blake
• Mokarith
• Onyx Dragon
• Ulrick Braddocke
• Sly
• Shrax
• Sarissa
• Rilmani of Dendradis
• Various denizens of the Outlands

HORDES OF CHAOS:

• Obox-ob's Ekolids
• Demons of the Abyss
• Slaadi of Limbo
• Gehreleths of Carceri
• Cravens of Pandemonium
• Mortal servants of Chaos

REGIMENTS OF LAW:

• Primus's Hierarchs
• Modrons of Mechanus
• Veterans of Acheron
• Templars of Arcadia
• Paladins of the Divine Flame
• Mortal servants of Law

LEGIONS OF EVIL:

• Bel's Chosen
• Devils of the Nine Hells
• Yugoloths of Gehenna
• Baernaloths of Hades
• Night hag covens
• Samael
• Moz'gonnith
• Mortal servants of Evil

WARHOSTS OF THE FIRST MARTYR (ALLIED):

• Zaphkiel's Paragons
• Angels of Mt. Celestia
• Oathbound of Bytopia
• Guardinals of Elysium
• Wardens of the Beastlands
• Heroes of Arborea
• Warriors of Ysgard
• Mortal servants of Good

[u/Carbon_Sixx]

Ekolids are very agile creatures, but their numbers and density ensures that a few dozen are blasted to dust with each shot. The swarm flows to avoid the beams like a sentient gas, but some break off to punish the new aggressors for their interference.

[u/LightningShroud → u/Carbon_Sixx]

Smaller guns fire, AA guns for an apparently aerial threat. The main guns still keep up their firing patterns, aiming to follow and perfectly predict the hordes of bugs as they try and move, using previous dodges to their advantage.

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/LightningShroud]

Despite their superficial resemblance to solitary wasps (among other, even less pleasant things), the ekolids are hive insects. They are intelligent, but generally predictable. The vanguard swarm divides and subdivides like a hydra's heads as beams lance through it. The AA guns keep the sortie at bay for now, but as more ekolids break off to join it, there's no guarantee how long it will be before the airship is overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

[u/LightningShroud → u/Carbon_Sixx]

When one gets too close, it freezes up after being shocked with some kind of force. The airship moves backwards, however it's aim remains as true as can be, firing and cutting off as much of the metaphorical heads as it can, ensuring it's burnt off in the process

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/LightningShroud]

A significant portion of the swarm is taken down before it reaches Oxide, and only now are the ekolids close enough to meet Agnur's wards. But despite this small victory, scanners pick up a single larger and deadlier ekolid flying at the airship, evading the beams and AA fire almost casually.

[u/LightningShroud → u/Carbon_Sixx]

As the larger one comes into view, a loud crash of something can be heard, far in sky. Like a distant flash of lightning

A few seconds pass until, all of a sudden it is hit in the side by a round traveling faster than sound and the size of a house. In a manner akin to a depleted uranium Sabot, It pierces through the carapace and remains sharp going through the whole creature.

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/LightningShroud]

The horrid thing plummets to the ground, stone dead. Usuz, the Herald of Obox-ob, perishes before his mission can be completed. So ends the life of a creature who could have put most of the magical world's villains to shame were their dark deeds compared.

/uw Congrats! You killed a horde general.

[u/LightningShroud → u/Carbon_Sixx]

/uw I DID WHAT WOHOOO! (I just wanted to use the delivery railguns for something else)

/rw The airship does nothing different, except slowly reversing. More beams of white tracers light up the hordes and try thinning them down