The Battle of the Snowflake Keep

[NanTheDark]

OOC:

Our goal is to survive, so boosting both offense AND defence will help with that.

Go for it then!

[Harmless]

"Hngh." Harmless grunts, not taking the frost spell too kindly. "Don't prioritize me any further. Heal everyone else." With some strength, he gives the remaining of his orders.

"Spearmen, bunker from further ranged attacks. Afterwards, use your shields to shovel snow into that firewall so you can advance. Bow knights, keep prioritizing the commanders, like that mage that shot me earlier. Mages, target that small squad of mages over there - You have the numbers advantage." He mentions as he points towards Damien. "As for myself... don't put too much thought in what I'm about to do now." He signals to his squad.

He then retreats a tiny bit, still in view of the enemy commanders... and falls to the ground, not moving anymore.

[1018peter]

MELTING POINT

OOC: EDIT: Due to me mistaking what Harmless meant, the losses have been changed, along with bits of plot. Everything else's still generally the same, though.

Spoiler: show

Kerri and Karyete's men smashed the Decemian soldiers with a deadly pincer attack! The enchantments along with clerics backing them up allowed them to suffer no casualties during their counterattack.



The remaining Decemian Knights still held their ground before the paralyzed Novemian knights, as the Decemian mages hindered Novemians' progress with fireballs.


Meanwhile, outside the keep, Robin asked for healing measures for his shoulder. "Sorry, sir, our healing spells can only mend flesh wounds." One of the mages told him. The Novemians seemed to have the wounded men healed up.

Notes for Harmless - The healed-up men are still in the tunnels, waiting for orders.

Damien's mages tried to siphon enchantments from the Novemian soldiers, but there were none! They also cast some rainclouds, but to Damien's dismay, they merely turned into snow. He and Robin cast lightning bolts at the Novemians, zapping two mages to death, but the spearmen hunkered with their shields and resisted the barrage.

The Novemian mages concentrated their fireballs at Damien and his mages. With the number advantage, Damien lost all of his mages and was burned! The bow knights concentrated at Damien as well, skewering him with eight arrows! He bled out and collapsed! Damien is killed! The Decemians' morale dropped a bit, seeing one of their field commanders dying.

Harmless, after giving out orders, paced a few steps back, and collapsed. One of the Decemians yelled. "Their commander is down! GET'EM!" The Decemian cavalry saw the commander's fall, and received a boost in morale!

The Decemian spearmen rushed onward, clashing with the Novemians. Having the number advantage along with the mount advantage, they were able to kill ten more Novemian spearmen at a cost of five Decemian spearmen. The charge also torn out a clear path in the Novemians' formation. The Decemian bowmen concentrated fire at the unsuspecting mages, killing ten of them! The Decemian mages scattered their fire, taking out three bow knights and five spearmen, losing only two mages from stray arrows. One of the Decemian spearmen charged forward and grabbed Harmless' body with him, bringing him back before Otto. "A commander...and he's still alive, too." the general cast a stun spell, rendering Harmless' muscles numb and immobile. He raised the Novemian commander up in the air with a magical force, and yelled. "Cease!" The Decemians immediately reverted into a defensive formation, stopping their assault. "Novemians, surrender, or he dies!"

...

The snow was not letting up. In fact, it seemed like it would at least snow for three more days...

What's your choice?

OOC: Due to the repeated crashes, the deadline is now 12/28 0:00 UTC, estimated (Might bit a bit longer than that due to updating).

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COMMANDER UNIT LIST: show

Kerri: [ACTIVE] 23 Knights (15 paralyzed) + 15 Mages + 5 Clerics / [DEAD] 22 Bowmen + 2 Knights
Harmless: [ACTIVE] 25 Spearmen + 12 Bow Knights + 15 Clerics+ 6 Mages
/ [DEAD] 40 Spearmen + 13 Bow Knights + 16 Mages
Karyete: [ACTIVE] 25 Mages + 20 Axemen + 10 Knights / [DEAD] 8 Knights + 2 Bowmen
General Audrey: [ACTIVE] 5 Heavy Armors / [DEAD] 25 Heavy Armors

Damien [DEAD]: [ACTIVE] None / [DEAD] 8 Knights (Cavalry) + 12 Mages (Cavalry)
Robin: [ACTIVE]5 Mages / [DEAD] 6 Knights (Foot) + 7 Knights (Cavalry) + 6 Mages + 2 Bowmen
Axel [DYING]: [ACTIVE] Weasel / [DEAD] None / [RETREATED] 9 Bowmen
General Otto:
[ACTIVE] Squad 1 (Inside the Keep): 10 Knights (Cavalry) + 5 Mages (Cavalry) + 5 Mages (Foot) + 10 Bowmen
Squad 2 (Outside the Keep): 25 Mages (Cavalry) + 35 Spearmen (Cavalry) + 20 Bowmen (Cavalry)
/ [DEAD] 10 Spearmen (Cavalry) + 5 Bowmen (Cavalry) + 5 Knights (Cavalry) + 5 Knights (Foot)

[NanTheDark]

"Don't let up, Karyete!"

My Clerics keep doing their healing work on the paralyzed soldiers, my knights will keep attacking the enemy knights, my mages will buff my knights, and Kerri herself will use her music magic to debuff the enemy knights's defense.

[Megar]

Robin joins Otto and remarks that he should have his mages passively remove enemy enhancements, while having his do it too. He also just sorta tries to fix his shoulder by pushing it back in place.

[1018peter]

(Waiting on Karyete and Harmless)

[Karyete]

Karyete instructed all of his soldiers to continue attacking - all but one. He told this soldier that Harmless was in grave danger, and that this soldier was to pass on this message to the remaining archers and mages - as well as Kerri.

[Harmless]

(I mean what is there for me to do)

[1018peter]

OOC: Robin’s mage count corrected from 5 to 2.

DECISIVE STAND

Spoiler: show

Karyete's message quickly passed through the ranks, reaching Audrey in no time.

"Otto...here's my answer." Audrey threw one of her lances at Otto, piercing his chest. The blood spilled everywhere. The bounding magic was lifted from Harmless, causing him to fall on the barren hill, yet conscious.

"You...YOU! DECEMIANS, TAKE NO QUARTERS! WIPE THEM OUT!" The Decemian general lost all of his composure, calling for his cavalry to charge. He pulled out the lance and desperately tried to balance the loss of blood with excessive healing magic. The cavalry hesitated for a moment, before charging into the gate. The command of the Decemian cavalry is now in Robin's hands!

"Fall back!" Audrey shouted, calling for all Novemians to retreat into the keep. She, however, quickly sneaked up to the top of the keep, patiently observing the retreat and the Decemian's advance.

Meanwhile, in the keep, Kerri and the retreating soldiers caught the remaining Decemians in the keep in a pincer attack, annihilating them. The paralyzed knights were quickly recovered, with the rubble on them destroyed.

The advancing Decemians quickly marched in, with the mages destroying two walls from afar, connecting all three passages together. The Novemian soldiers near the rear gate could hear the rallying noises of Novemian reinforcements all the way back in the Novemia side of the mountains. If the Novemians could keep the rear gate under control, the reinforcement could march in and push the Decemians away. However, if they fail, the Decemians would be able to lock the gate, rout them out, and establish firm control of the keep. The next moves will create decisive outcomes...

OOC: Legends: Upward triangle -> Ladders to the top / Downward triangle -> Ladders to the basement floors / Brown tiles -> Breakable doors and gates / Gray tiles -> Fort walls / Six-pointed black stars -> Piles of rubble blocking the way / Cyan dotted lines -> Secret tunnels

OOC: See the texts over the units? For example:

O denotes the commander of the unit, which, in this case, is Otto.
15 denotes the amount of soldiers in the unit. In this case, the unit consists of 15 knights.
M denotes the unit being all mounted. If the unit isn't mounted, there won't be any letter in the bottom right corner. In this case, the 15 knights are all mounted.

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COMMANDER UNIT LIST: show

Kerri: [ACTIVE] 23 Knights + 15 Mages + 5 Clerics / [DEAD] 22 Bowmen + 2 Knights
Harmless: [ACTIVE] 25 Spearmen + 12 Bow Knights + 15 Clerics+ 6 Mages
/ [DEAD] 40 Spearmen + 13 Bow Knights + 16 Mages
Karyete: [ACTIVE] 25 Mages + 20 Axemen + 10 Knights / [DEAD] 8 Knights + 2 Bowmen
General Audrey: [ACTIVE] 5 Heavy Armors / [DEAD] 25 Heavy Armors

Damien [DEAD]: [ACTIVE] None / [DEAD] 8 Knights (Cavalry) + 12 Mages (Cavalry)
Robin: [ACTIVE]2 Mages / [DEAD] 6 Knights (Foot) + 7 Knights (Cavalry) + 6 Mages + 2 Bowmen
Axel [DYING]: [ACTIVE] Weasel / [DEAD] None / [RETREATED] 9 Bowmen
General Otto (Forces under Robin's control):
[ACTIVE]: 25 Mages (Cavalry) + 35 Spearmen (Cavalry) + 20 Bowmen (Cavalry)
/ [DEAD] 10 Spearmen (Cavalry) + 5 Bowmen (Cavalry) + 15 Knights (Cavalry) + 5 Knights (Foot) + 5 Mages (Cavalry) + 5 Mages (Foot) + 10 Bowmen (Foot)

OOC: The next update will be the last. Make your moves count!

[Megar]

"Good grief... I was going to just get in a little stab and then make my exit." Robin groans. "Alright, the two of you who were already with me, do what you must to finish off the weird one on the floor right now: surround him with fire walls, freeze and smash, whatever. Anything goes. We're not letting him get in the way. A few of you keep an eye out to see if he somehow gets himself moving." He initially commands.

"Spearmen in the middle path, take out those in front of you now while you have the numerical advantage! Mages and bowmen behind, pick off things ahead to shorten the numbers so you can advance to the rear gate with ease! Those on the side paths... spearmen, hold off the narrow passageway and use it as a chokepoint! Let the mages and bowmen get through the southern doors and climb up where they can take the enemy down from above, but said mages and bowmen still need to cover the spearmen before they start climbing! From there, just keep moving forward. I know the mages and bowmen can't exactly climb when mounted, so for now the horses will need to hang at the back. It'd be nice if the poor things don't get had, but don't lose any sleep if they do, protecting them is a waste of our limited resources as it is. Two mages on each side stay at the top of the ladders and prevent the enemy from climbing up, the rest advance to the way back down so we can claim the rear gate from both sides in a pincer attack! When they're up there, the teams in the middle need to watch their back for any enemies that can now get there, but continue focusing on the advance!"

Robin steps back slightly, assisting by summoning some icicles in the air to rain on the enemy wherever he can. "This way, they're basically surrounded... I might not have the numerical advantage, but their poor positioning means they've set themselves up for this." He remarks to himself, before looking at Harmless. 'Once he's gone and things are looking good, I'll make my leave. I don't need to see the victory anyway, this is hardly my fight.'