Eternal
The gnomes do need to be dealt with, the sooner the better. You agree with Kivan.
“Well Kivan, if this turns out successfully you may get promoted to be a war advisor.” You say.
“I’d certainly be honored, but I believe my talents are still better served on the domestic issues. This was just an extension of those concerns.” He says.
“Okay, so how do you want to handle this? Because if we are going to attack that mountain, we’re going to have to still deal with those city states.” Warrick asks you.
“Those are still going to be no problem, we’re going to overrun those and then move on to New Dessle. We probably won’t need the airships at all for the city-states; we’ll just handle it conventionally. And while we’re taking care of those, I’ll send the airships to attack New Dessle. Attacking a mountain is going to be no easy feat, but with the airships we could at least blow enough holes in it to cause not only external damage but more importantly internal structural damage that could hopefully cause portions of it to come crashing down on their heads. Soften them up at least until our armies to arrive.”
Warrick goes on to ask which offensive you’re going to be personally overseeing and if you want Decena’s army called in to help. You tell Warrick that Decena still need to concentrate on mopping up Torite resistance lest they somehow regroup. And as you said, you don’t anticipate many problems from the city-states anyway.
As for which offensive you’re going to oversee, you’re not sure. Before this gnome business came up you were going to just oversee the fall of the city-states, but with the gnomes now being attacked, you wonder if you shouldn’t be there to oversee that instead.
You then remember Warrick wanting to be involved in some of the frontline stuff recently.
“Well Warrick how would you like to over see the destruction of the city states? You’ve always said you wanted more work outside that office and get back in the middle of things, well here’s a big thing to get right in the middle of Warrick.” ”
Warrick is surprised and honored by your decision.
“I…I thank you my Emperor and it will be my honor to command such a task. Does this mean you’ll be travelling to New Dessel?”
“Yes, I mean as much as I’d like to personally see the destruction of the svelk and ex-Felkans I believe the gnomes are a bigger threat and as such my attendance in our first attack against them is in order. I do request however that if at all possible, bring that bitch Eldolith to me in chains if possible. If not, dead is just as good.”
“I think that can certainly be arranged, my Emperor.”
Invasion of the Confederacy of the Free Cities. (Which you didn’t even know that’s what this little group of city-states was even called until Eldolith’s message) is prepared. You know Warrick has the skill to lead an army and will not falter at this task; you just hope that he will indeed be able to capture Eldolith alive.
As for you, this will be your first time boarding one of these airships. Since you had that purge of traitors (and potential traitors) you’re not so apprehensive about boarding one of them now.
The Storm II is a grand ship and equipped with the best and latest weapons. The other five ships coming with you are equipped in a similar manner. You figure while the gnomes will certainly have cannons of their own, you’ll at least be able to protect the Storm II with your magic somewhat.
Eventually you are on your way and the first thing you fly over is your army on the march toward the Confederacy’s territory. The next thing you fly over is the Confederacy’s territory itself where you see small groups of troops desperately preparing for the invasion.
When you fly overhead you can only imagine the excessive fear they must feel followed by the confusion when you by pass them entirely. The fact that you didn’t attack might even worry them more, since now they’ll wonder if you’ll be coming back.
Your air fleet continues to fly towards New Dessel which looms in the distance. Part of you wonders just how much of a fight the gnomes will put up and how much damage you’ll actually be able to do. You have it set up though for the airships to signal each other on where to fire so coordination will not be a problem.
When you arrive before the mountain, all the airships stop and prepare for your next command. To be quite honest, while the mountain is big enough that peak still looms above your fleet’s current height the mountain is far from being something as impressive as the ones you’ve seen in Rask. Concentrated fire in a few locations should probably have the desired effect you want, and if all goes well, you might get closer to drop a few bombs.
“Well we didn’t come here to sight see this marvel of nature, let’s get on with it blowing it up.” You remark and tell your crew to start signaling the other ships.
Within moments, all the airships are concentrating their fire on particular place on the mountain. Take a while, but you definitely start causing damage as boulders, dirt, rocks and debris all begin to rumble and fall causing the start of a rockslide in one area of the mountain.
You manage to do this on two more sections of the mountain before you actually start encountering any kind of resistance. Several “windows” in the mountain open up revealing cannons, which fire upon your ships. It really isn’t too bad though.
“Start telling the other ships to fire at the cannons. Even if their mountain city seems to be holding up from the inside, we can still deprive them of their defenses.” You command.
A few minutes after you give this command you sense a change in the air. Almost like that of lightning storm. You even begin to feel a little static…
Suddenly a flash of light eminates from the top of the peak and huge bolt of lightning hits one of your airships to the left causing it to explode spectacularly.
It didn’t get hit and slowly make a fiery descent towards the ground, it actually exploded.
“SHIT!” you suddenly shout, probably along with several of your crew. You then turn your attention to the shining piece of metal on top of the mountain peak where the lightning blast came from.
“EVERYONE TURN AROUND! RETREAT!” you shout and tell your crew to signal the remaining airships to do likewise.
You’re a sitting duck and you know it right now. You can’t put up a barrier large enough to cover the entire airship, so as your airship begins to turn you attempt to directly aim your own magic bolts in the direction of the gnome’s apparent “lightning rod” weapon.
Your magic hits around and even directly on target, but it just isn’t enough to destroy it. You then have that feeling of electricity in the air again. Your hair begins to stand up and this time thanks to your attempt to destroy the rod, the gnomes direct their next blast towards the Storm II.
You see a bright flash and feel a brief sizzle throughout your entire body and then nothing at all.
And you never do get the pleasure of executing Eldolith yourself when Warrick captures her alive.
“Well Kivan, if this turns out successfully you may get promoted to be a war advisor.” You say.
“I’d certainly be honored, but I believe my talents are still better served on the domestic issues. This was just an extension of those concerns.” He says.
“Okay, so how do you want to handle this? Because if we are going to attack that mountain, we’re going to have to still deal with those city states.” Warrick asks you.
“Those are still going to be no problem, we’re going to overrun those and then move on to New Dessle. We probably won’t need the airships at all for the city-states; we’ll just handle it conventionally. And while we’re taking care of those, I’ll send the airships to attack New Dessle. Attacking a mountain is going to be no easy feat, but with the airships we could at least blow enough holes in it to cause not only external damage but more importantly internal structural damage that could hopefully cause portions of it to come crashing down on their heads. Soften them up at least until our armies to arrive.”
Warrick goes on to ask which offensive you’re going to be personally overseeing and if you want Decena’s army called in to help. You tell Warrick that Decena still need to concentrate on mopping up Torite resistance lest they somehow regroup. And as you said, you don’t anticipate many problems from the city-states anyway.
As for which offensive you’re going to oversee, you’re not sure. Before this gnome business came up you were going to just oversee the fall of the city-states, but with the gnomes now being attacked, you wonder if you shouldn’t be there to oversee that instead.
You then remember Warrick wanting to be involved in some of the frontline stuff recently.
“Well Warrick how would you like to over see the destruction of the city states? You’ve always said you wanted more work outside that office and get back in the middle of things, well here’s a big thing to get right in the middle of Warrick.” ”
Warrick is surprised and honored by your decision.
“I…I thank you my Emperor and it will be my honor to command such a task. Does this mean you’ll be travelling to New Dessel?”
“Yes, I mean as much as I’d like to personally see the destruction of the svelk and ex-Felkans I believe the gnomes are a bigger threat and as such my attendance in our first attack against them is in order. I do request however that if at all possible, bring that bitch Eldolith to me in chains if possible. If not, dead is just as good.”
“I think that can certainly be arranged, my Emperor.”
Invasion of the Confederacy of the Free Cities. (Which you didn’t even know that’s what this little group of city-states was even called until Eldolith’s message) is prepared. You know Warrick has the skill to lead an army and will not falter at this task; you just hope that he will indeed be able to capture Eldolith alive.
As for you, this will be your first time boarding one of these airships. Since you had that purge of traitors (and potential traitors) you’re not so apprehensive about boarding one of them now.
The Storm II is a grand ship and equipped with the best and latest weapons. The other five ships coming with you are equipped in a similar manner. You figure while the gnomes will certainly have cannons of their own, you’ll at least be able to protect the Storm II with your magic somewhat.
Eventually you are on your way and the first thing you fly over is your army on the march toward the Confederacy’s territory. The next thing you fly over is the Confederacy’s territory itself where you see small groups of troops desperately preparing for the invasion.
When you fly overhead you can only imagine the excessive fear they must feel followed by the confusion when you by pass them entirely. The fact that you didn’t attack might even worry them more, since now they’ll wonder if you’ll be coming back.
Your air fleet continues to fly towards New Dessel which looms in the distance. Part of you wonders just how much of a fight the gnomes will put up and how much damage you’ll actually be able to do. You have it set up though for the airships to signal each other on where to fire so coordination will not be a problem.
When you arrive before the mountain, all the airships stop and prepare for your next command. To be quite honest, while the mountain is big enough that peak still looms above your fleet’s current height the mountain is far from being something as impressive as the ones you’ve seen in Rask. Concentrated fire in a few locations should probably have the desired effect you want, and if all goes well, you might get closer to drop a few bombs.
“Well we didn’t come here to sight see this marvel of nature, let’s get on with it blowing it up.” You remark and tell your crew to start signaling the other ships.
Within moments, all the airships are concentrating their fire on particular place on the mountain. Take a while, but you definitely start causing damage as boulders, dirt, rocks and debris all begin to rumble and fall causing the start of a rockslide in one area of the mountain.
You manage to do this on two more sections of the mountain before you actually start encountering any kind of resistance. Several “windows” in the mountain open up revealing cannons, which fire upon your ships. It really isn’t too bad though.
“Start telling the other ships to fire at the cannons. Even if their mountain city seems to be holding up from the inside, we can still deprive them of their defenses.” You command.
A few minutes after you give this command you sense a change in the air. Almost like that of lightning storm. You even begin to feel a little static…
Suddenly a flash of light eminates from the top of the peak and huge bolt of lightning hits one of your airships to the left causing it to explode spectacularly.
It didn’t get hit and slowly make a fiery descent towards the ground, it actually exploded.
“SHIT!” you suddenly shout, probably along with several of your crew. You then turn your attention to the shining piece of metal on top of the mountain peak where the lightning blast came from.
“EVERYONE TURN AROUND! RETREAT!” you shout and tell your crew to signal the remaining airships to do likewise.
You’re a sitting duck and you know it right now. You can’t put up a barrier large enough to cover the entire airship, so as your airship begins to turn you attempt to directly aim your own magic bolts in the direction of the gnome’s apparent “lightning rod” weapon.
Your magic hits around and even directly on target, but it just isn’t enough to destroy it. You then have that feeling of electricity in the air again. Your hair begins to stand up and this time thanks to your attempt to destroy the rod, the gnomes direct their next blast towards the Storm II.
You see a bright flash and feel a brief sizzle throughout your entire body and then nothing at all.
And you never do get the pleasure of executing Eldolith yourself when Warrick captures her alive.
