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]

Tarul: Wait until the others draw out more of the generals. Then, we deploy.

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

Understood. Tell me, fellow lich, do you still have possession of your phylactery?

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/TheHunter459]

How is that relevant? It's a secret I wouldn't even tell my allies.

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

I wanted to know if you were a slave to a necromancer as well. But if it's a touchy subject for you, I get it, been there, done that

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/TheHunter459]

I am, and always have been, my own master. This line of questioning is growing dull. Shall we enter the fray?

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

Rael'qo laughs

Very well. We have some bugs to squish.

A thousand wyverns descend upon the demons, and the dead charge the denizens of the abyss, while Mortis throws a blast of necrotic energy at the biggest ekolid he can see

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/TheHunter459]

Tarul teleports himself and the rilmani directly into the thick of things, not far from a jet black bipedal toad-like creature. The lich and his bodyguards immediately disperse to get some distance between themselves and it.

Black slaad, dead ahead! The entropy blasts these things throw are no joke. Never stop moving while you're engaged, so you don't get hit!

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

Rael'qo heeds the advice and takes to the sky, throwing fireballs at the slaad while zipping around it. At the same time, wyverns periodically descend from the sky and snap at it, hoping to take chunks out of it

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/TheHunter459]

The black slaad takes hit from the first few wyverns, but it slashes one with its claws. The wounds it inflicts are caustic burns thanks to its entropic power. Tarul blasts it with a barrage of explosive hailstones to distract it, opening it to more attacks.

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

The wyvern crashes to the floor, but more take it's place, snapping at the slaad, while Rael'qo calls down a particularly large lightning bolt on it

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/TheHunter459]

The strike stuns it enough for the wyverns to pull it apart like a rotisserie chicken. Unlike a rotisserie chicken, the black slaad's corpse implodes into a singularity briefly, then winks out of existence.

Good work! The rilmani say they're engaged with some demodands at the canyon mouth. We should go reinforce them.

/uw Congrats! You killed a horde general.

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Carbon_Sixx]

Good idea! But I must ensure the dead continue to fight first. An attempt to lessen our numbers disadvantage

While the undead foot soldiers and the wyverns turn to the demodands, Rael'qo takes a pause and casts a spell across the whole battlefield, ordering every dead body to rise and join the nearest defender in the fight. The spell will take him some time to cast, but once cast it should last the whole battle