On the battlements of Castle Eryth, the scene before you is one of chaos. The great green colossus, swirling with the lights of hundreds of souls, swirls before the great gate. It has taken a few giant steps back and now rushes the gate. A hundred figures stream from the distant treeline moving with the swiftness of Vorghol, led by six riders on white horses, each wearing the blazon of the barony of Northspike. Each Vorghol warrior is the equal of five or more Reith stalwarts.
Seeing the rushing horde of Vorghol, Khom-bei steps to the edge of the wall and calls out in a loud voice, "Great Father, cast down your vengeance on our enemies!" A lance of light springs from Khom-Bei's hands and a small squad of Vorghol stops dead in their charge. They fall back, shrieking and howling.
The Vorghol give a mighty cry of rage as they charge.
Kane turns to Thragga and says, "Finally something we can kill."
Thragga shifts his axe from his right hand to his left and grins toothily.
Garvin bellows, "Stand fast, you bastards! Or ye answer t'me!"
Rhyan, on the battlement next to Kane, orders his men, "Reinforcements, now! And fetch the OathKeeper chaplains, this Northclanner shaman cannot repel these Vorghol alone!"
The colossus races for the gate, roaring a sound that is an unearthly screech that seems to echo in the space between the stars. Fat, wet snowflakes pour down now. The big wet flakes turn slick and icy as they hit the castle stones.
The Vorghol use the colossus as cover as they race forward. Arrows fired from the Oathkeepers intercept them as they advance. The Beast's small army aims in a broad wedge for the gate. They clearly expected Raelere to have it open, but now plan to complete the job the colossus began.
Garvin wipes water from his bald crown and calls to Khom-Bei: "Nice work, lad. But doesn't yer Great Father have aught more powerful?"
Kane says to Rhyan, "We must Keep them from breaching the gates at all costs."
Rhyan nods. "If the gate is breached, we will retreat to the inner Keep. Reinforcements from Castle Morin should be here soon...look." He points in the southern distance to a far-off beacon fire, an answer to the one he lit earlier.
Khom-Bei calls out to Garvin without turning from the fight, "We are just getting started, old friend."
Rhyan shouts, "Ser Garvin! I leave you in command here. I have work to do about the castle. We guard!"
Garvin grins, determinedly. "Aye. We guard, Castellan."
Ser Rhyan stalks off through the dark, windy, snowy night to deploy his men. You hear his command voice carrying even from here.
Thragga studies the men below you, now reinforcing the gate that Khom-Bei secured earlier, with a great sliding bolt.
Garvin shouts, "Oathkeepers! Oaths you swore to the Protector! And oaths you shall uphold!" He signals to the archers, who lay down a withering fire at the oncoming colossus. But most of the arrows and bolts are lost in the glowing, ghostly substance of the creation.
Kane says, "I would like to get at their leaders, if there was a way of doing it without committing suicide."
Khom-Bei says, "A nice idea, Kane, but we need you here."
The colossus reaches the gate and slams into it. The great arm swings back, then forward, as if in slow motion. The gate shudders and a great fragment falls into the defenders below you, but it holds.
Thragga roars and swings his axe at the giant. He slashes open a glowing gash. Vapors issue from the giant abomination, swirling about you and the men on the wall.
Khom-Bei raises his hands again and calls down to the attackers, "By the word of the Great Father, be gone!"
Kane charges the creature of darkness slashing Light Bringer into its glowing substance.
Behind the great colossus, under cover of the swirling storm of souls, the Vorghol warriors hack at Eryth's gate with axes and swords, powered by the superhuman strength of the undead.
The colossus crashes the gate once more with a giant arm.
The Oathkeepers open a rain of fire on the Vorghol.
Beyond, two squads now wheel up great vats of rendered pig fat, but they are having a hard time stoking the fires to boil it in this weather.
Kane shouts "Fire your arrows true, men, and drive the Vorghol from the gates!"
Garvin looks down with alarm at the gate below you. He grips his mace in both hands and shouts down at the men. "Stand fast, y'ugly bastards!"
Thragga screams and leaps again, on the crenellated wall. He slashes overhead with his axe.
The colossus reels under the withering fire and the blows from Thragga, Kane, and the men nearby.
Soldiers and knights race from the inner Keep towards the gate to reinforce the men holding it fast. A slim, dark female shape is among them, shouting out, "Khom-Bei! Kane!" Dhar-bo does not see you on the wall, but she seeks you out in the chaos and strife.
Khom-Bei moves closer to the edge of the wall, "Creatures of the dark, I command you to leave this place."
Kane draws back Light Bringer and stabs at the abomination. His blow goes wide as the creature slams the gate once more.
Below, the Vorghol see the Northclanner chanting on the battlements, and two of the riders draw bows and open fire, sending slim arrows slicing through the air. The arrows go wide as Khom-Bei dodges back.
One rider, an immense, burly figure, his red hair visible even at this remove is laughing savagely as he shouts out orders. He has a huge, gleaming two handed longsword that sparkles even in the murk and gloom.
The other Vorghol pound the gate. Parts of the Vulkah-built gate are beginning to crumble. The vats of boiling oil pour down on the attackers, scalding many, driving them to a terrible frenzy.
Garvin swears as the Vorghol batter the gate.
The colossus rears back. With an enormous roar, a screech, as green vapors swirl about, the mighty arm of the abomination smashes the fragments of the gate. Oathkeepers are hurled back, falling with a clatter of metal and a scream of flesh. A cheer goes up from the Vorghol line as they press forward into the breach.
Thragga cries, "They're in! Kaiiiii Hunters!" He races for a nearby ladder. Kane follows swiftly behind his green friend.
Khom-Bei moves to overlook the crumbling gate, "By the Great Father, be gone!" Khom-Bei's holy light drives back a handful of invaders.
Dhar-bo, in the courtyard below, pauses in horror at what now pours through the gates. The Vorghol and the colossus, all moving forward. You can see her make a small gesture of prayer.
Garvin cries, "Back! To th'Keep! Fall back, fighting! Stake th'feckers and fall ye back!"
The Vorghol press forward. A terrible melee begins before the remains of the gate as the Vorghol enter. Steel clashes with steel. The Oathkeepers, trained as you are to battle this foe, stand fast to cover the retreat of the others. Men die screaming as Vorghol die in clouds of dust.
The colossus cannot enter, yet, with the melee before the gate.
Thragga leaps from the ladder and into the fray. He lays about him with his axe. The great axe nearly dismembers one Vorghol as the rest crowd about him.
Garvin shouts at Khom-Bei, "Hie your Northclanner ass t'the Keep, lad!"
Khom-Bei takes Garvin's advice and runs from the wall, heading for the Keep.
Kane wades into battle behind Thragga, slashing at the first Vorghol he can get his hands on.
In the midst of the courtyard, Dhar-bo draws her slender dagger as Khom-Bei and a crowd of warriors and others push in the opposite direction, towards the Keep.
Kane strikes the head from Thragga's foe. The Vorghol explodes in a cloud of fetid dust and Thragga scowls. "That was mine!"
Kane says, "Not anymore! Besides, there's more where that came from."
Garvin is right behind Kane. Even injured as he is, fat, and aging, he is a demon in battle. He's dropped his mace and taken up a pair of swords, and impales his foe through the face.
Thragga goes down under a storm of Tol Nedran steel. Kane takes a blade in the ribs and falls back.
Garvin bows to seize Thragga, lifting him over one shoulder. The Oathkeepers form a ring of steel before the gate, centered on Garvin, to allow the others time to get inside the Keep.
Kane and some others battle on before the ring of steel.
Khom-Bei alters his course to herd Dhar-bo toward the Keep, "Get to safety, sister."
Ser Joric, the King's nephew, is at Kane's shoulder. Hung over, red-eyed with terror, he still fights on with his Ress kinsmen.
Kane calls "Prepare to draw back to the Keep, men of Ress!"
Dhar-bo's eyes go wide at the sight of Khom-Bei. The girl throws her arms about him. She is terrified by the clamor, even for a woman of the plains. "Brother, I thought you dead. Thank the Great Father!! Where are the others?"
Khom-Bei says, "They follow, sister. Come, now."
Kane attacks another of the Vorghol invaders intent on buying the retreating troops more time.Kane takes two swift blows as the Vorghol swarm the defenders, their fangs slashing and biting as their swords cut into the Ressi.
Joric's fine sword lashes out and cuts the spine of Kane's enemy, slaying him with a roar. A cloud of dust spills over the man, his eyes wide with surprise as he stares at Kane, covered with blood, filth and sweat. His first Vorghol kill.
Kane grabs Joric by the shoulder and shouts, "Time to go!", then he heads for the Keep, sword held before him.
Entering the Keep, Khom-bei turns to await his fellow Hunters.
The Beast rides into the remains of the gate, with his lieutenant, two huge Vorghol, terrifying to behold for the soldiers. The Beast, on horseback, gives out a horrid laugh, his red hair tossed back, his sword gleaming. He's enjoying this.
A hunting horn sounds. Then an order and the sound of heavy hooves. Rhyan's voice bellows, "Charge!" From the far side of the castle, from the darkness where even Khom-Bei couldn't see, the heavy cavalry have arrived. They race forward across the inner bailey, slamming into the Vorghol flank, shocking and striking down all in their way.
The Vorghol fall back, routed. Even the Beast is taken aback and recoils. Nothing stands before Ress heavy cavalry. They are the masters of horse.
As the Vorghol spill back to the gate, Rhyan shouts orders. Garvin and Thragga are taken up on horseback. Kane is offered a hand by a burly knight, and Joric beside him.Kane hops up behind the rider.
Dhar-bo shelters in the hollow of Khom-Bei's arm and points to the terrible battle in the courtyard.
Holy fire shoots from Khom-Bei's hands, suffusing more of the foe with its burning light.
The riders with additional passengers, including Kane, Garvin, Thragga and Joric, turn and pull back towards the Keep doors.
Rhyan stays to see that the rescue is complete, as additional knights drive the Vorghol back towards the shattered gate.
Dhar-bo cheers Khom-Bei. "The Father is strong with you, my brother!"
Knights and soldiers press about the Keep, as Rhyan's squadrons effect a fighting retreat into the safety of the Keep.
Garvin slides off his mount, spent, Thragga held in his arms, the two collapsing at Khom-Bei's feet.
When Kane and the last have entered, the great Keep doors are closed and bolted. The portcullis is thrown, and archers take up station at the murder holes.
Khom-Bei kneels next to Thragga, "Great Father, grant this servant life and heal him."
The courtyard is a ruin, with Oathkeeper and soldier bodies, some dead horses, and the bodies of some dead camp followers strewn about. The Vorghol lurk within, gathering for another attack.
As Kane dismounts, chatter goes up among the people in the Keep. Smeared with blood, drenched with wet snow, chill with the winter's wind,Kane is a fearsome sight.
Kane staggers up to where Thragga is being healed and says, "How is he?", he stumbles to one knee and then sits down where he is.
Khom-Bei says, "He'll live, but he's going to be sore in the morning."
Kane looks grim and nods.
A voice challenges the last riders to enter. "Who has lost my castle?" King Garrovic demands, now awake from his stupor and furious. His eyes are red, his hair a tangle, his breath reeking of wine. He has seen none of the battle this night. "My fortress! Heads will roll. And we will start with those! They should never have been let within!"
He draws his Kingly blade and points at where Kane and Khom-Bei tend to Thragga. "Death to the Nedri!"