The Vaults Campaign The Siege of Udolpho part 2

 Continued from part 1

Lady Angelica lead her demigryphs in a bounding charge and crashed into the blood knights, 2 were slain by the impact as well as the claws and lances, but one of the demigryphs was wounded by the vicious vampires. The remaining two vampires snarled and fought on.

Now the wraiths on the eastern wall charged at the halberdiers, who, without anyway to harm them, turned and fled down into the town. The eastern wall was now completely lost even as the first unit of ghouls scrabbled up. The spirit host on the western wall floated down into the town while the zombie horde began to awkwardly clime the walls, ignore the few who were basted by handguns on their way up. At the same time a volley of arrows from some bow armed skeletons struck one hand gunner from the wall. Sir Dan and his hand gunners beat the zombies back, though another hand gunners was dragged over the parapet.

Count Pavel commanding his troops from the rear

The blood knights faithful hounds charged into the demigryphs, and though the combat was fierce, the heavy armour of all the combatants protected them from harm. Lady Angelica found herself momentarily pushed back by the weight of numbers now the hounds had arrived, but she urged her men to hold and they did.

Seeing the crossbowmen standing, the halberdiers who had fled the eastern wall also rallied and prepared to meet the enemy. Frustrated by his previous failures Edward gathered a large amount of power to himself and unleashed a great wave of magic. All of the bolts of his crossbowmen began to glow with eldritch power, but he had over exerted himself and the magic whipped back against him. A second later he was shocked to find himself completely unharmed. His men did not notice his difficulty, instead, they unleashed a hail of bolts into the wraiths atop the wall, the now magical bolts impacting their shadow stuff and banishing more then half of them.

Edward and his crossbowmen shoot down the wraiths

In the western side of the town, the swordsmen turned to face the wraiths while the hand gunners shot at the zombies. In the centre the vampire knights again wounded a demigryph, but this time they were all dragged from their saddles and trampled into the dirt by the enraged creatures. Several of the hounds also collapsed, but yet still more remained.

Xebulon was growing impatient, the battle was going well, but time was dragging on. He waved his arms and summoned back many of the zombies who had fallen from the walls. At the same time yet more black arrows from the skeleton bow men pitched men from the walls. Over the gate the wraiths moved to the mortar, whose crew could do nothing against the terrible creatures. Meanwhile, below the gate the demigryphs finished the hounds and turned to face the skeletons that Count Pavel was hastily trying to hide behind. The ghouls on moved down off the eastern wall to face the halberdiers and crossbowmen. The spirit host charged into the swordsmen, and though the chill grasp of the spirits drain the life of two, the distance from their masters and the warmth of life all around began to push the spirits back out of the world of the living.

The spirit host attacks the swordsmen

Pavel's decision was not a moment too soon as seconds later the demigryphs crashed into the skeletons, splintering bone and smashing rusted armor in all directions. More than half crumbled under the impact, but it was not without loss. One of the demigryphs, pierced by a spear, fell to the ground, crushing its rider beneath its bulk.

The reformed line faces the ghouls

In the eastern section of town Edward once again enchanted his men's weapons, and their glowing bolts punched great holes in the wraiths, sending them all back to wherever they came from. At the same time the halberdiers smashed into the ghouls and cut down several, the ghouls wounded a couple before turning and running. Caught up against the wall the ghouls could not make their escape and the halberdiers cut down the gibbering creatures without mercy. The swordsmen struggling against the spirits lost another of their members, even as the spirits faded. On the wall, more of the handgunners were dragged down by the numberless zombies only 1 lone soul remained. Sir Dan began to realise that there was no hope for him, all he could do was buy time for the others to escape.

Lady Angelica and her demigryphs cut through skeletons to get to the vampire.

Pavel was growing desperate, the demigryphs were getting closer. He hastily ordered yet more skeletons into the combat even as the demigryphs smashed what was left of the first, now Pavel fund himself in the front rank. The second unit of ghouls crashed into the halberdiers, who had just finished the first. The ghouls dragged down half of the men, but lost as many ghouls, hacked apart by the brad blades of the halberds. The spirits attacking the swordsmen were finally forced back into shadow buy the mere presence of the swordsmen, who turned to face the wall.

The second unit of ghouls attacks.

On the wall Sir Dan stood alone as zombies climbed up all around him. Pierced by numerous black arrows he collapsed, his sword still in his hand. The walls to Udolpho had been completely overrun.

Sir Dan's last stand

Even though the walls were lost the men fought on. The swordsmen smashed into the zombies cutting down some, but loosing a few to the numberless hands reach out to grab them. Edward once again enchanted the blades of his men, this time the halberdiers who cut down another group of ghouls, though in the melee all but one of the men perished. The last survivor, screaming his defiance, fought on.

An animal is at its most dangerous when cornered, and this is doubly so of vampires. Pavel, with no where to run attacked, using his impossible strength he brutally beat down the demigryph of the standard bearer before casually snapping the man's neck. However, if he though he was safe, he was wrong. As he turned Lady Angelica's demigryph was upon him. It mauled him to the ground and pinned him down as Lady Angelica leaned forward and transfixed him through the heart with her lance. Count Pavel game a moan and the crumbed to dust, which scattered in the breeze. Despite her success, Lady Angelica had no time to celebrate as skeletons closed in around her, seemingly completely unaffected by their masters demise. With a sickening feeling she realised that it was not the vampire who animated this army, but he necromancer. With nothing else to do she turned and urged her demigryph away from the skeletons, who could do nothing to catch her.

Lady Angelica makes her escape.

The battle was nearly over, Edward could see Sir Dan had fallen, as zombies streamed over the wall. In a desperate attempt to buy time he urged his crossbowmen into a charge and the caught the ghouls, who had been circling around the last halberdier, in the flank. He gathered about himself as much power as he could and released it. The weapons of his men once again glowed with power even as his spell detonated wildly, bright light exploded from him blasting ghouls and men in every direction. The impact of the magic and the knives of the crossbowmen was too much for the ghouls who turned and fled, scampering up and over the walls, back out of the town.

In the west the swordsmen were slowly being dragged down by the zombies before they turned and fled, joining the last few townspeople still straggling to escape. Seeing that the battle was now hopeless, Edward ordered his surviving and shell shocked men to fall back. They may have lost the town, but the had held the entire time and he hoped as many as possible had escaped. The loss of Dan was a burden as they had been friends for a good many years.

As he entered the town, Xebulon considered the battle. While they had taken the town, it had taken longer then he had hoped. All of the spirits that had been given to him by the master and had accompanied the army had been banished, and it was beyond his skill to summon such creatures into this world. The blood knights too had fallen and their loss would be keenly felt. The ghouls too had been killed or had fled to some hiding place, but that troubled him less. In fact, the only forces he had left were his skeletons and zombies. “And that is all I need” he though to himself. Despite all that had happened he could not help but feel happy. That insufferable vampire Pavel was no longer around to trouble him.