The Battle of Miragliano Part 4

The Last Stand at Miragliano

The city was eerily quite. After the walls fell, there was panic and pandemonium, but now the streets were empty. All the citizenry who could move and had not already fled were gathered at the port, trying to find any vessel to carry them out of the clutches of the undead.

 

In the streets, the remnants of the defenders gathered. Many of the militia had fled to the docks, but many of the professional soldiers remained. The remnants of the River Watch were gathered up into units of hand gunners, archers and crossbowmen joined by the wizards Bly and Shine. Leonard was leading the great sword wielding City Guard and the small bands of halberdiers and bravos who followed them. Marshal Sigurd lead the entirety of his surviving chapter, all the knights gathered into one mighty hammer, while the young initiates prepared to ride out as pistoleers. Sigured wielded a massive glowing sword that he had removed from its case in the centre of the chapter house. He had claimed that it rivaled the Runefangs of the empire in power. All had scoffed at that claim before, but now, seeing it unleashed, some began to hope that it might be true. Finally a dated war machine, an antique of Imperial design had been found and wheeled out of storage for one last battle.

 

Below the walls, Zebulon gathered his forces for the final push. He was once again irritated. “Could the foolish mortals not see that they had lost, why must they continue to resist his mighty power.” Behind him his “lord” the vampire Stroganov stared into the distance. It seems to Zebulon that Stroganov had lost some of his wits when he had fallen from the walls during the assault, but he dared not mention it. The other vampire, Blood Tooth, prowled around in the shadows, much as it always did. Hvitskirt followed Zebulon silently while somewhere there was the banshee Esmeralda, Zebulon did not know here. Gauk was following the skeletons.

The undead forces mad made up of blocks of skeletons and a huge hoard of zombies as well as Hvitskirt's grave guard. Wolves and bats summoned by the vampires had appeared and the great skeletal abomination had been re-summoned, not without great effort, by Zebylon. He had also bound some wondering spirits to him and summoned black robed wriaths from beyond. Some of the surviving ghouls from the assault had gathered in a pack, anticipating the coming feast.

 

With a thought, Zebulon had this forces start the attack, before the human defenders were ready. “Another advantage of undead” he thought. The spirit hosts, tried to catch the pistoleers, who had ridden out too far, but the young humans turned their horses about and skillfully rode back to end up in front of the knights. The other unit of pistoleers was caught by the dire wolves, but only 2 fell. The men and their bucking horse struck down 4 wolves, and another crumbed away as the vampires' influence faded.

Seeing the young men escape, Blood Tooth suddenly was taken by a fit of rage and unleashed a dark beam of magic that felled two of the pistoleers. However, in his anger, the vampire had lost control and magical energy erupted outwards, wounding him and lasting 3 skeletons to dust. At the same time Zebulon, using his senses to find hidden graves, summoned 9 zombies who gathered in front of the crossbowmen. Any arrows fired by the skeleton archers failed to find any marks.

The immediate reaction to the undead advance was taken by the handunners and Shine the wizard, who all rushed forwards and took up position in the large tavern in the centre of the wide street. The pistolieers ralied and returned to their position The rest of the line opened up with zombies falling to a storm of missiles. Zebulon dispelled a fireball from Shine, but Bly, using his power stone unreleased a mighty burning gaze on the wraiths. However, he was crestfallen to see only 3 of the spirits were banished. The helblaster fired at the undead colossus but it had a mechanical fault and failed to do anything. The melee between the pistoleers and wolves was brutal with 2 falling each side leaving only the outrider facing 3 wolves.

The zombie horde now surged forward and caught the pistoleers who had just rallied in front of them while the bat swarms reached the archers, despite some of the diminutive blood suckers being struck by arrows on the way.

 

Zebulon used his magical power to empower the remaining wolves and heal the wounded Blood Tooth. His attempt at a magic missile was stopped by Bly and a mighty invocation was stopped by a dispels scroll read by Shine. Against the zombies, only 1 pistoleer was dragged down, but against the pressing hoard there was little they could do. They broke and fled back through the entire army, only stopping once they reached safely behind the lines. The brain dead zombies could only stumble forward slightly and stopped in front of the knights. The last pistoleer fighting against the wolves failed to hurt them, but his armour saved him from their attempts to pull him from his horse. The bat swarms took a terrible toll on the lightly armoured archers, killing 7. However, many of the bats were also killed and the archers held.

With the way in front now clear, the Knights lead by Sigurd crashed into the spirit hosts. Bly's attempt to cast time warp was stopped, but Shine forced through small fireball which banished the last 2 wraiths. The pistoleers behind the army rallied, and shot down 1 of the fell bats that were lucking near by. The empire line opened up with bullet and bolt, felling 5 ghouls and sending all the newly raised zombies back to true death. The helblaster gave a mighty roar, but after the smoke had cleared the crew were disheartened to see that the mighty colossus had only barely been injured. They would not get another chance. The bats and archers continued their fight, with both sides taking losses and staying in place. The wolves and last pistoleer could not harm each other but Sigurd easily banished the spirit hosts with his magic sword and the knights crashed through into the zombies.

There was nothing the crew of the antique helbalster could do as the undead colossus crushed them and the antiquated machine underfoot. The beast then unnaturally turned and faced back towards the centre of the battlefield. The ghouls charged into the tavern, where the hand gunners had taken position, 3 were lost on the way in and 2 more fell in combat, but 5 hand gunners were dragged down in the swirling melee and the rest, with Bly, fled out the back door. All the undead magic failed or was blocked but the archers' arrows struck down 5 crossbowmen. The last pistoleer and wolf killed each other with their final blows while the knights crushed fully half the zombies without loss.

 

The battle was becoming a confused mess but Leonard saw the banshee Esmeralda and his rage took over. He lead his men in a charge, even as 5 of them collapsed due to the banshee's ghostly wail. She disappeared almost as soon as his sword found her and the unit continued on, into the skeletons behind. A fireball from Shine wounded the colossus while Bly took cover among the small band of Bravos and then cast a powerful Timewarp on the nights which Zebulon failed to stop. The crossbowmen felled 4 skeleton archers and the boosted knights finished off the remaining zombies with ease.

 

The Knights and Sigurd found themselves charged on all sides by skeletons, the grave guard lead by Hvitskirt and Count Stroganov. The colossus struck the bravos in its pursuit of Bly and the bats and pistoleers became involved in a melee behind the lines. All magical attempts to aid the grave guard were thwarted by Shine, but a magic missile stuck down 4 halberdiers. 8 skeletons were hacked down for the loss of 1 greatsword. The skeletons held, but their numbers were thinning rapidly. 1 pistoleer fell to the bats, but the others held. The knights, enchanted by Bly's Timewarp, hacked down 2 skeletons and 2 graveguard. Hvitskirt's wicked greatsword felled 2 knights. Seeing his chance, Stroganov arrogantly moved to slay the leader of the enemy army, but under the effect of Timewarp, Sigurd effortlessly cut him down with his magic sword. Despite the undead numbers, the knights held. The undead colossus, singled out Bly and struck him direct with its tusks. Bly failed to dodge the attack but, to the amazement of those around him, remained unscathed. 2 Bravos were crushed by the colossus, but one managed to wound the beast with a well placed strike and they held.

 

The battle was now reaching a tipping point. The last pistoleer fell to the bats, and Bly and his men were crushed by the colossus. However, before he fell, Bly blasted out another Timewarp onto the knights. The feedback wounded him and the colossus as well. The great swords and Leonard wiped out the skeletons and turned back to the centre. In the centre combat 6 halberdiers joined in fighting the graveguard. Another knight fell, but Sigured and his knights wiped out all of the undead save for Hvitskirt.

 

In a last attempt to break the defenders, the undead through everything at the knights. Blood Tooth charged from one side as the ghouls near from the inn charged the halberdiers. The undead colossus crashed into the read of the knights. Spells from Zebulon and Gauk helped heal some of the damage to the colossus. In the massive centeral combat, Sigurd cut down Hvitskirt, who had proved so much of a challenge to the defenders until now. All the hebadiers fell, as did 2 knights to Blood Tooth. 1 ghoul was also chopped down. Despite this, surrounded on all sides, it seemed like the knights might break, but this time, Sigurd did not run. His voice steadied the ranks and his men held.

 

The knights had not run, and Zebulon knew that there was now no hope of victory. In front of him the colossus was cut down as the crazed Leonard and his men charged its rear, while the rest of the ghouls were scattered. He had come so close, but this was a far as he would go, for now. With the loyal Gauk in tow, he turned and made for the broken gates and walls as the last of the undead in the city crumbled or fled if they had the wits to do so.

On the road out the city, Zebulon was strangely cheerful. He was now free of all those irritating vampires that had so vexed him. Even more, the ghouls had found him something in the tavern. On his withered feet he now sported a pair of fine pointed boots. Cherry red with gold buckles, he finally had footwear suitable for such a powerful sorcerer such as he. Next, he mused, he needed a hat.