Fall, 1392
As the sacrificial chamber of Kavi erupted into chaos with crowds of people trying to escape and cultists trying to help their leader, one cloaked figure stepped forward.
Gren had organized this venture to rescue the Children of the Stanton Dragon, having felt guilty of the whole venture. The half-Other Man also realized that if the dragons failed, then perhaps no one could face against the might of the Miscabbards, and that he would have to fight with the dragons, or flee.
Against all his better judgment, he elected to fight.
Well, there had also been the matter of the Stanton Dragon himself, having received word about the capture and scheduled execution of his children. For someone who burned a city to the ground and killed thousands over the death of his mate, Meratezatgh had taken this news surprisingly well. One day Gren was inventorying his supplies at the front porch of his fortified trading post, wondering what could be spent and what could be cached for an eventual escape or spent for defending himself, and the next minute the legendary dragon had landed in front of him, greatly irked but not furious.
“Gren. My children have been captured by the Miscabbards. I want you to help me save them and destroy the Lord of the Sky.” The dragon simply said.
The half-Trasgu nodded, scarcely breathing while wondering if he could grab his rocket launcher, and whether even using that would do more than annoy the dragon.
“We will meet on the Lord of the Sky’s appointed day, and you will infiltrate the crowd with your supporters.”
“As you say, my Lord.”Gren managed to utter.
“You told them about Kavi.” The dragon suddenly added. Gren turned ghostly white.
“That is your right, and I know my children can be enthusiastic. They are inexperienced, which was why I did not yet want our war to be renewed. But it seems that the heavens have decided that this is the time for revenge. Do me this favor, Child of the Prince Heathen.” Before waiting for a response, the Stanton Dragon flew off, leaving the stunned merchant trying to figure out what to make of the request.
***
Gren immediately began his plans to fight for his future, calculating his budget and timeframe and sending out a flurry of messages.
Spending as much as he could spare with his accumulated wealth, the merchant managed to assemble a surprisingly sizable force to face the Miscabbards. Gren had bought the service of some 300 mercenaries, mostly humans from all over Nalbin. Another 250 humans from the East Corioli River Triangle had joined, mostly friends of the dragon Asaewath, along with 400 others from throughout Nalbin eager for one reason or another to settle scores with the cultists. His army was also joined by other creatures. 200 goblins were sent by Smeasfe, 100 pixies sent with Queen Mog, five ogres, 40 cynos, 19 satyrs, and 9 minotaurs, even two dozen unicorns.
All had their differing agendas.
Queen Mog was an old friend of Gren’s and likewise assessed the threat to her people. When she received his message, the call went out immediately to the other forests. The Queen of the Fey Peoples offered up troops, but her strength was in intelligence and information. Within a few days, based on the location of Kavi that Gren had provided, Mog had mapped out the surrounding areas, sent feelers to the other peoples of the forest and had organized a plan of attack.
Instrumental to her plan was her friend the goblin Smeasfe, a rising force in the Piedmont who had assembled a massive, diverse band of followers. Her forces, made up of a diverse coalition of goblins irrespective of their old social order, had carved out a sizable territory in the Southern Piedmont from the void left by the old tribes crumbling under human expansion, and correspondingly Smeasfe’s main source of support and unity was in strongly opposing that expansion. This was an opportunity to strike back, and the goblin leader quickly rallied her people to join the fight.
Mog’s and Smeasfe’s forces were then joined by unicorns under Prince Sfelewi, having been freed from his captivity at the Tassajara River encampment. Upon his freedom from the Miscabbards he had immediately returned back to Mwelian Forest, bearing the news of the massive Miscabbard nerges. He also came determined to avenge Telsaeli’s death and his own torture and mutilation. What news the prince had brought was of great importance to all the unicorns and within a few weeks, Prince Sfelewi of Mwelian Forest was quickly able to assemble a strike force of as many unicorns as could be spared by the forests. Even during the Great War such a force had never been recruited among the unicorns, a dozen strikingly beautiful equines equipped in elements of war. The war armor was made of ironwood slats and bark, hammered with hooves to be as resistant to blades as iron. They would try to remove the rot before it spread further. When Gren’s efforts had filtered over from Queen Mog, Sfelewi formally joined up with the pixie auxiliaries, soon to be joined by the goblins and all matter of creatures eager to strike back at the cultists.
As news of the venture also spread in hushed tones across taverns and mercenary camps, other humans opposed to the Miscabbards, but also wary enough of Gren and his efforts appeared as well. They joined the merchant’s coalition, but distinctly refused to be guided by him. By far the most fearsome of these were the 500 men-at-arms under the former Stratego Walter Shields. Titling themselves the Vengeance of Nicholas, these troops were from the supporters of the former emperor who had been purged out following the Miscabbard Coup of the dynasty. Shields himself was a tough but capable subordinate under Nicholas Jamerson dating back to the War of the Lion and Bear and appointed head of the Imperial Theme of Cnaeus. Narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, he had fled into the Wilds with his band of loyalists, and gradually he became the Dominion center of resistance against the Lord of the Sky-dominated Imperial Court, fighting against their former comrades as well as the Walkerites, while awaiting a counterstrike. Gren the Merchant’s efforts were large enough to gain Shield’s attention, and after some exchange of messages the Stratego deployed his forces. Shields hoped to exact revenge on the cultists and the Lord of the Sky in particular, everything else being incidental to that objective. Gren’s supporters viewed them with immense suspicion.
If possible, even greater suspicion was cast on the 600 Brown Miscabbards, under David Strang the remaining supporters of the Lord of the Earth that survived the coup and had likewise fled the fury of the Lord of the Sky, plotted revenge, and sought opportunity with the effort against Kavi. Strang seemed half mad, obsessed with his righteousness and so eager to purge out his opponents that he would join up with creatures of the Wilds to do so. Neither Gren nor Shields trusted Strang, but they added numbers to the attackers.
***
The humans in Gren’s force and those of his coalition had successfully infiltrated the crowd watching the sacrifice, and as the free dragon and the demon dueled above the sacrificial chamber and the crowds fled, they stood still, awaiting Gren's signal. The merchant advanced, opening his cloak as he walked forward to reveal chain mail with a breastplate. As he put on his sallet, Gren felt like a fool in deeply over his head. He probably was, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The merchant idly touched a mace in his belt that Synder had given to him, but which he had little skill in using. Instead he grabbed his rocket launcher hanging loosely to one side.
As he watched the cultists attempt to regroup and set up war machines to down the dragon, the half- Trasgu readied his launcher, lit his fuse and breathed deeply.
It was time.
Despite his secrecy, the Miscabbards must have heard about his efforts, yet nothing had stopped him from reaching this point. Were his deceptions successful in throwing off the cultists? Did they know? Were they setting a trap for him? There was no way to know for certain.
He had to trust in himself.
He would fight for what is good in this world. He would rather fight for dreams of light than accept nightmares in the dark.
With that, he yelled into caverns of Kavi.
“Attack!”
That call was all but swallowed up by the din of the fighting ahead of him, but the rockets he fired gave the signal, erupting screaming forward in dozens of long arcs of red-burning projectiles before exploding among the Miscabbards, throwing up a shower of body parts.
That was the signal. Immediately hundreds of mercenaries, supporters, soldiers and fanatics revealed themselves and charged at the confused Miscabbard ranks.
Then from the open gates of Kavi charged in the rest of Gren’s coalition.
In the lead of Gren’s forces was Prince Sfelewi of Mwelian Forest, leading his strike force. With a neigh, the prince lowered his head, his four-foot lancelike horn shining in the torchlight, and charged. The dozen unicorns formed a wedge, and began advancing, breaking into a trot, then canter, before finally reaching a full gallop just as they slammed into the Miscabbard lines, cutting through the cultists ranks like a plow through a soil. Prince Sfelewi immediately impaled three cultists, and with a flick of his neck sent them hurtling into the enemy ahead of him.
Following came the goblins and pixies, waving spears and falchions and firing their shortbows with poison arrows, along with the pixies, with their stones that ignited, toxic powders, ironwood javelins and thorn whips. With a cheer, the humans joined their fey allies, quickly widening the breach and driving the Miscabbards back and destroying the cultists' remaining ballistas and scorpions. One of the pixies was riding a roaring bear. With a swipe, the bear tore off the arm of one cultist, then bit off the head of another.
Still, even with this force, Gren did not have the strength to take on Kavi alone. Already the Miscabbards were regrouping into a battle line, the Crusaders charging forward to challenge the upstart forces. The fight would now begin in earnest. As Gren reloaded his launcher, he hoped that the dragons he was trying to help would be able to help him in turn.
Gren fired his rocket launcher, and with a boom a storm of rockets and arrows were soaring through the air cutting down the mob of cultists. The merchant gamely smiled.
Hope.
That was something that had been in short supply lately.
The Mountain Goats - Unicorn Tolerance
Reference from theroguez!
As the sacrificial chamber of Kavi erupted into chaos with crowds of people trying to escape and cultists trying to help their leader, one cloaked figure stepped forward.
Gren had organized this venture to rescue the Children of the Stanton Dragon, having felt guilty of the whole venture. The half-Other Man also realized that if the dragons failed, then perhaps no one could face against the might of the Miscabbards, and that he would have to fight with the dragons, or flee.
Against all his better judgment, he elected to fight.
Well, there had also been the matter of the Stanton Dragon himself, having received word about the capture and scheduled execution of his children. For someone who burned a city to the ground and killed thousands over the death of his mate, Meratezatgh had taken this news surprisingly well. One day Gren was inventorying his supplies at the front porch of his fortified trading post, wondering what could be spent and what could be cached for an eventual escape or spent for defending himself, and the next minute the legendary dragon had landed in front of him, greatly irked but not furious.
“Gren. My children have been captured by the Miscabbards. I want you to help me save them and destroy the Lord of the Sky.” The dragon simply said.
The half-Trasgu nodded, scarcely breathing while wondering if he could grab his rocket launcher, and whether even using that would do more than annoy the dragon.
“We will meet on the Lord of the Sky’s appointed day, and you will infiltrate the crowd with your supporters.”
“As you say, my Lord.”Gren managed to utter.
“You told them about Kavi.” The dragon suddenly added. Gren turned ghostly white.
“That is your right, and I know my children can be enthusiastic. They are inexperienced, which was why I did not yet want our war to be renewed. But it seems that the heavens have decided that this is the time for revenge. Do me this favor, Child of the Prince Heathen.” Before waiting for a response, the Stanton Dragon flew off, leaving the stunned merchant trying to figure out what to make of the request.
***
Gren immediately began his plans to fight for his future, calculating his budget and timeframe and sending out a flurry of messages.
Spending as much as he could spare with his accumulated wealth, the merchant managed to assemble a surprisingly sizable force to face the Miscabbards. Gren had bought the service of some 300 mercenaries, mostly humans from all over Nalbin. Another 250 humans from the East Corioli River Triangle had joined, mostly friends of the dragon Asaewath, along with 400 others from throughout Nalbin eager for one reason or another to settle scores with the cultists. His army was also joined by other creatures. 200 goblins were sent by Smeasfe, 100 pixies sent with Queen Mog, five ogres, 40 cynos, 19 satyrs, and 9 minotaurs, even two dozen unicorns.
All had their differing agendas.
Queen Mog was an old friend of Gren’s and likewise assessed the threat to her people. When she received his message, the call went out immediately to the other forests. The Queen of the Fey Peoples offered up troops, but her strength was in intelligence and information. Within a few days, based on the location of Kavi that Gren had provided, Mog had mapped out the surrounding areas, sent feelers to the other peoples of the forest and had organized a plan of attack.
Instrumental to her plan was her friend the goblin Smeasfe, a rising force in the Piedmont who had assembled a massive, diverse band of followers. Her forces, made up of a diverse coalition of goblins irrespective of their old social order, had carved out a sizable territory in the Southern Piedmont from the void left by the old tribes crumbling under human expansion, and correspondingly Smeasfe’s main source of support and unity was in strongly opposing that expansion. This was an opportunity to strike back, and the goblin leader quickly rallied her people to join the fight.
Mog’s and Smeasfe’s forces were then joined by unicorns under Prince Sfelewi, having been freed from his captivity at the Tassajara River encampment. Upon his freedom from the Miscabbards he had immediately returned back to Mwelian Forest, bearing the news of the massive Miscabbard nerges. He also came determined to avenge Telsaeli’s death and his own torture and mutilation. What news the prince had brought was of great importance to all the unicorns and within a few weeks, Prince Sfelewi of Mwelian Forest was quickly able to assemble a strike force of as many unicorns as could be spared by the forests. Even during the Great War such a force had never been recruited among the unicorns, a dozen strikingly beautiful equines equipped in elements of war. The war armor was made of ironwood slats and bark, hammered with hooves to be as resistant to blades as iron. They would try to remove the rot before it spread further. When Gren’s efforts had filtered over from Queen Mog, Sfelewi formally joined up with the pixie auxiliaries, soon to be joined by the goblins and all matter of creatures eager to strike back at the cultists.
As news of the venture also spread in hushed tones across taverns and mercenary camps, other humans opposed to the Miscabbards, but also wary enough of Gren and his efforts appeared as well. They joined the merchant’s coalition, but distinctly refused to be guided by him. By far the most fearsome of these were the 500 men-at-arms under the former Stratego Walter Shields. Titling themselves the Vengeance of Nicholas, these troops were from the supporters of the former emperor who had been purged out following the Miscabbard Coup of the dynasty. Shields himself was a tough but capable subordinate under Nicholas Jamerson dating back to the War of the Lion and Bear and appointed head of the Imperial Theme of Cnaeus. Narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, he had fled into the Wilds with his band of loyalists, and gradually he became the Dominion center of resistance against the Lord of the Sky-dominated Imperial Court, fighting against their former comrades as well as the Walkerites, while awaiting a counterstrike. Gren the Merchant’s efforts were large enough to gain Shield’s attention, and after some exchange of messages the Stratego deployed his forces. Shields hoped to exact revenge on the cultists and the Lord of the Sky in particular, everything else being incidental to that objective. Gren’s supporters viewed them with immense suspicion.
If possible, even greater suspicion was cast on the 600 Brown Miscabbards, under David Strang the remaining supporters of the Lord of the Earth that survived the coup and had likewise fled the fury of the Lord of the Sky, plotted revenge, and sought opportunity with the effort against Kavi. Strang seemed half mad, obsessed with his righteousness and so eager to purge out his opponents that he would join up with creatures of the Wilds to do so. Neither Gren nor Shields trusted Strang, but they added numbers to the attackers.
***
The humans in Gren’s force and those of his coalition had successfully infiltrated the crowd watching the sacrifice, and as the free dragon and the demon dueled above the sacrificial chamber and the crowds fled, they stood still, awaiting Gren's signal. The merchant advanced, opening his cloak as he walked forward to reveal chain mail with a breastplate. As he put on his sallet, Gren felt like a fool in deeply over his head. He probably was, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The merchant idly touched a mace in his belt that Synder had given to him, but which he had little skill in using. Instead he grabbed his rocket launcher hanging loosely to one side.
As he watched the cultists attempt to regroup and set up war machines to down the dragon, the half- Trasgu readied his launcher, lit his fuse and breathed deeply.
It was time.
Despite his secrecy, the Miscabbards must have heard about his efforts, yet nothing had stopped him from reaching this point. Were his deceptions successful in throwing off the cultists? Did they know? Were they setting a trap for him? There was no way to know for certain.
He had to trust in himself.
He would fight for what is good in this world. He would rather fight for dreams of light than accept nightmares in the dark.
With that, he yelled into caverns of Kavi.
“Attack!”
That call was all but swallowed up by the din of the fighting ahead of him, but the rockets he fired gave the signal, erupting screaming forward in dozens of long arcs of red-burning projectiles before exploding among the Miscabbards, throwing up a shower of body parts.
That was the signal. Immediately hundreds of mercenaries, supporters, soldiers and fanatics revealed themselves and charged at the confused Miscabbard ranks.
Then from the open gates of Kavi charged in the rest of Gren’s coalition.
In the lead of Gren’s forces was Prince Sfelewi of Mwelian Forest, leading his strike force. With a neigh, the prince lowered his head, his four-foot lancelike horn shining in the torchlight, and charged. The dozen unicorns formed a wedge, and began advancing, breaking into a trot, then canter, before finally reaching a full gallop just as they slammed into the Miscabbard lines, cutting through the cultists ranks like a plow through a soil. Prince Sfelewi immediately impaled three cultists, and with a flick of his neck sent them hurtling into the enemy ahead of him.
Following came the goblins and pixies, waving spears and falchions and firing their shortbows with poison arrows, along with the pixies, with their stones that ignited, toxic powders, ironwood javelins and thorn whips. With a cheer, the humans joined their fey allies, quickly widening the breach and driving the Miscabbards back and destroying the cultists' remaining ballistas and scorpions. One of the pixies was riding a roaring bear. With a swipe, the bear tore off the arm of one cultist, then bit off the head of another.
Still, even with this force, Gren did not have the strength to take on Kavi alone. Already the Miscabbards were regrouping into a battle line, the Crusaders charging forward to challenge the upstart forces. The fight would now begin in earnest. As Gren reloaded his launcher, he hoped that the dragons he was trying to help would be able to help him in turn.
Gren fired his rocket launcher, and with a boom a storm of rockets and arrows were soaring through the air cutting down the mob of cultists. The merchant gamely smiled.
Hope.
That was something that had been in short supply lately.
The Mountain Goats - Unicorn Tolerance
Reference from theroguez!
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Unicorn
Gender Non-Binary
Size 1280 x 860px
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