Death Song
Despite your fears, you've always had a sense of duty and responsibility, something that probably won't ever completely go away due to how you grew up. You're not running away, you did join to help provide for your family after all.
Before your company packs up and leaves Retlad, you write a quick letter to your family and hand it off to a messenger. Many of the Retlad citizens aren't too pleased to see you leave, but they don't really have any say in the matter, just like you don't. There isn't much talking on the trip, though, everyone is pretty silent. Wessel however is doing enough for everyone.
"I can't believe something like this happened! Nuro was a beacon of enlightenment and well prepared for situations like this! I can't believe this didn't occur without some sort of demonic influence. I'll bet that Mr. Demar had something to do with this! I remember taking his class and he was always a creepy bastard. Before I could graduate I had to take his conjuration 101 class and he didn't like me because I had made several logical arguments to as why that branch of magic should be outlawed altogether. And it's obvious by what happened recently that I was right! Nevertheless I did all the required work in the class and I still got a B! Way to fuck up my perfect record! I get the same grade as some bumbling idiot who summoned up a Nurk Beast that he lost control over and bit off someone's hand! Where is the fucking justice?"
Once again, Wessel has turned the topic to focus on himself. Happily Captain Vahlat tells him to shut the fuck up.
You'll be near Nuro soon and your company makes camp for the night. While all of you are on edge from what will come tomorrow, someone finally says something.
"Hey farmboy, play us a song on that thing."
" what did you want to hear?" you ask, not expecting to be called to play under these circumstances. In fact it just occurred to you that you've never played for anyone in your company! You assume that they all knew that you did, but they just were never interested enough to stick around and listen to you before.
"I dunno, play whatever it was you used to play for the Retlad citizens it seemed to make them happy."
You pull out your lute and take a deep breath and start playing. At first you're just concentrating on the strings and making sure you don't mess anything up, but when you look up, you can see that everyone in the camp is listening intently to your music, even Wessel. Tensions seem to have decreased. It's like a wave of calmness has struck the camp. You never believed your playing could have that much of an effect on people. Eventually the song ends and the Captain tells everyone who isn't on watch to get some sleep. He then takes you aside.
"Heard your playing damn shame that you're here. You really should be doing that instead." Valhlat remarks.
"I know."
"Hm. I know you joined mainly to help support your family."
"Yeah, I just hope I get to see them again."
"Bah, don't start talking like that. I've seen you with a bow, you pluck that thing even better than that lute. You've been in battle before and survived, I see you doing it again."
"I sure hope so, its just I dunno the undead I've heard stories."
"Yeah, everyone's heard the stories, but stories tend to be exaggerated. Now I dunno about what happened centuries ago, since I wasn't there, but I HAVE fought the undead before. One of my first assignments was taking care of some minor undead incursion in a little village. Some asshole stumbled upon an ancient scroll and started reading the goddamn words on it out loud. They look a lot worse than they actually are. Most of the time they're incredibly slow, and easily dispatched. Its mainly a psychological advantage from all the stories people have told about them that cause this quaking fear in most folks."
"Well I suppose, but what about the necromancers?"
"Feh, they're wizards and just like all the rest their arrogance is their undoing. Most of these so-called necromancers are half-assed ones that get killed by their own undead troops. Anyway, get to sleep; you want to be fully alert for tomorrow's battle. It still won't be a walk in the park, but it's not going to be a death sentence."
You take the Captain's words into consideration, but in the back of your mind before you go to sleep, you're thinking "But they can't be that half-assed, they successfully took over Nuro "
The next day arrives and you finish your trip to Nuro and that's when you see the city for the first time. You always wanted to visit it after hearing about it from Wessel, but even from this distance it doesn't look like anything he described.
"By the gods what " Wessel slowly whispers.
The stench of death is thick in the air. You see thousands of bodies outside the city gates and they aren't lying down either. They aren't advancing either though. There just standing there like well zombies.
Your company isn't the only one here though, there are a few others awaiting orders. You see one from the Brot Kingdom and another from the Azi Republic. Thankfully there's another Zalan one as well to boost your numbers.
The respective captains acknowledge each other's presence, a short meeting is made and then the inevitable comes. The attack.
At first things seem to go well. All ranged troops are ordered to fire upon the enemy who are still just standing there. Arrows pierce zombie brains, gunshots destroy skeleton bones, spells blast at walls and it seems very easy.
Then from the battlements of Nuro a few figures begin casting a few offensive spells of their own. It's at this point a charge is made towards the city.
"When you get in range aim for the fucking wizards! Don't fear these rotting meat sacks! We're the fucking Zalan army! We don't lose!" Captain Valhlat shouts.
Fine words, but they do little to uplift your impending sense of doom. It doesn't help that the sky goes completely dark while you're marching towards a bunch of undead and at the same time hoping you don't get hit by a wizard's spell. In the distance you briefly see a cleric from the Azi Republic riding a horse by himself. He appears to be calling upon some sort of holy might from whatever god he worships since a blue protective sphere appears around him. The next moment he's hit by a black ray that goes straight through the sphere and his life is gone. Not even his god could protect him.
As you get closer, you see that the undead soldiers still haven't moved, but there are significantly less of them as they continue to fall from ranged attacks. However, now other undead pop up on the walls of Nuro holding bows of their own.
"SHIELDS!" Captain Valhlat shouts.
More of your side falls and now you're so close you can smell the death in the air. The undead troops are now finally moving to do battle with your side. You attempt to target the robed figures on the battlements, but of course it's very difficult in all this chaos and your fear.
You mostly only get the undead archers. Wessel is a little more successful is downing an enemy wizard.
"Ha ha! Don't you realize I graduated top of my class?!" you hear him shout.
The gates of Nuro are being broken down and despite the horror you've already seen, this battle still seems hopeful.
Then a black cloaked hooded figure sudden appears on the battlements. You see him merely raise his arms briefly and that's when you get the very real feeling that hope is lost.
Ghostly spirits come through the walls of Nuro making worse shrieks than when you fought the Quillars. At least they were living creatures. These drain lives at but a touch and there isn't enough magic to fight the incorporeal creatures properly. You see the Brot Kingdom's company break and run, but unfortunately for them and you, your possible retreat has been blocked. All the soldiers on your side that fell have now suddenly been raised, the undead soldiers that were killed have been raised as well. You're fighting in the front, from behind and in some cases from within. It's chaos.
"Shit, I'm going to die today " you whisper to yourself.
Captain Valhlat is knee deep in the dead, but this figure who's apparently changed the tide of battle hasn't escaped his attention. He points to the figure and barks orders at the top of his lungs.
"KILL HIM! SHOOT THE FUCKER! DO IT! NOW!"
Before your company packs up and leaves Retlad, you write a quick letter to your family and hand it off to a messenger. Many of the Retlad citizens aren't too pleased to see you leave, but they don't really have any say in the matter, just like you don't. There isn't much talking on the trip, though, everyone is pretty silent. Wessel however is doing enough for everyone.
"I can't believe something like this happened! Nuro was a beacon of enlightenment and well prepared for situations like this! I can't believe this didn't occur without some sort of demonic influence. I'll bet that Mr. Demar had something to do with this! I remember taking his class and he was always a creepy bastard. Before I could graduate I had to take his conjuration 101 class and he didn't like me because I had made several logical arguments to as why that branch of magic should be outlawed altogether. And it's obvious by what happened recently that I was right! Nevertheless I did all the required work in the class and I still got a B! Way to fuck up my perfect record! I get the same grade as some bumbling idiot who summoned up a Nurk Beast that he lost control over and bit off someone's hand! Where is the fucking justice?"
Once again, Wessel has turned the topic to focus on himself. Happily Captain Vahlat tells him to shut the fuck up.
You'll be near Nuro soon and your company makes camp for the night. While all of you are on edge from what will come tomorrow, someone finally says something.
"Hey farmboy, play us a song on that thing."
" what did you want to hear?" you ask, not expecting to be called to play under these circumstances. In fact it just occurred to you that you've never played for anyone in your company! You assume that they all knew that you did, but they just were never interested enough to stick around and listen to you before.
"I dunno, play whatever it was you used to play for the Retlad citizens it seemed to make them happy."
You pull out your lute and take a deep breath and start playing. At first you're just concentrating on the strings and making sure you don't mess anything up, but when you look up, you can see that everyone in the camp is listening intently to your music, even Wessel. Tensions seem to have decreased. It's like a wave of calmness has struck the camp. You never believed your playing could have that much of an effect on people. Eventually the song ends and the Captain tells everyone who isn't on watch to get some sleep. He then takes you aside.
"Heard your playing damn shame that you're here. You really should be doing that instead." Valhlat remarks.
"I know."
"Hm. I know you joined mainly to help support your family."
"Yeah, I just hope I get to see them again."
"Bah, don't start talking like that. I've seen you with a bow, you pluck that thing even better than that lute. You've been in battle before and survived, I see you doing it again."
"I sure hope so, its just I dunno the undead I've heard stories."
"Yeah, everyone's heard the stories, but stories tend to be exaggerated. Now I dunno about what happened centuries ago, since I wasn't there, but I HAVE fought the undead before. One of my first assignments was taking care of some minor undead incursion in a little village. Some asshole stumbled upon an ancient scroll and started reading the goddamn words on it out loud. They look a lot worse than they actually are. Most of the time they're incredibly slow, and easily dispatched. Its mainly a psychological advantage from all the stories people have told about them that cause this quaking fear in most folks."
"Well I suppose, but what about the necromancers?"
"Feh, they're wizards and just like all the rest their arrogance is their undoing. Most of these so-called necromancers are half-assed ones that get killed by their own undead troops. Anyway, get to sleep; you want to be fully alert for tomorrow's battle. It still won't be a walk in the park, but it's not going to be a death sentence."
You take the Captain's words into consideration, but in the back of your mind before you go to sleep, you're thinking "But they can't be that half-assed, they successfully took over Nuro "
The next day arrives and you finish your trip to Nuro and that's when you see the city for the first time. You always wanted to visit it after hearing about it from Wessel, but even from this distance it doesn't look like anything he described.
"By the gods what " Wessel slowly whispers.
The stench of death is thick in the air. You see thousands of bodies outside the city gates and they aren't lying down either. They aren't advancing either though. There just standing there like well zombies.
Your company isn't the only one here though, there are a few others awaiting orders. You see one from the Brot Kingdom and another from the Azi Republic. Thankfully there's another Zalan one as well to boost your numbers.
The respective captains acknowledge each other's presence, a short meeting is made and then the inevitable comes. The attack.
At first things seem to go well. All ranged troops are ordered to fire upon the enemy who are still just standing there. Arrows pierce zombie brains, gunshots destroy skeleton bones, spells blast at walls and it seems very easy.
Then from the battlements of Nuro a few figures begin casting a few offensive spells of their own. It's at this point a charge is made towards the city.
"When you get in range aim for the fucking wizards! Don't fear these rotting meat sacks! We're the fucking Zalan army! We don't lose!" Captain Valhlat shouts.
Fine words, but they do little to uplift your impending sense of doom. It doesn't help that the sky goes completely dark while you're marching towards a bunch of undead and at the same time hoping you don't get hit by a wizard's spell. In the distance you briefly see a cleric from the Azi Republic riding a horse by himself. He appears to be calling upon some sort of holy might from whatever god he worships since a blue protective sphere appears around him. The next moment he's hit by a black ray that goes straight through the sphere and his life is gone. Not even his god could protect him.
As you get closer, you see that the undead soldiers still haven't moved, but there are significantly less of them as they continue to fall from ranged attacks. However, now other undead pop up on the walls of Nuro holding bows of their own.
"SHIELDS!" Captain Valhlat shouts.
More of your side falls and now you're so close you can smell the death in the air. The undead troops are now finally moving to do battle with your side. You attempt to target the robed figures on the battlements, but of course it's very difficult in all this chaos and your fear.
You mostly only get the undead archers. Wessel is a little more successful is downing an enemy wizard.
"Ha ha! Don't you realize I graduated top of my class?!" you hear him shout.
The gates of Nuro are being broken down and despite the horror you've already seen, this battle still seems hopeful.
Then a black cloaked hooded figure sudden appears on the battlements. You see him merely raise his arms briefly and that's when you get the very real feeling that hope is lost.
Ghostly spirits come through the walls of Nuro making worse shrieks than when you fought the Quillars. At least they were living creatures. These drain lives at but a touch and there isn't enough magic to fight the incorporeal creatures properly. You see the Brot Kingdom's company break and run, but unfortunately for them and you, your possible retreat has been blocked. All the soldiers on your side that fell have now suddenly been raised, the undead soldiers that were killed have been raised as well. You're fighting in the front, from behind and in some cases from within. It's chaos.
"Shit, I'm going to die today " you whisper to yourself.
Captain Valhlat is knee deep in the dead, but this figure who's apparently changed the tide of battle hasn't escaped his attention. He points to the figure and barks orders at the top of his lungs.
"KILL HIM! SHOOT THE FUCKER! DO IT! NOW!"