Empires of Ashes

*Relative to the other points on the wall, the Southern rim is relatively unscathed, Legionaires attempting to cross from the towers to the wall are showered in javelins, causing many to fall to their deaths. Those that do make it are swarmed by angry citizens.
Elsewhere on the wall the opposition is somewhat light, their morale having been shattered by the siege engines*

*A wounded guardsman investigates*

*the immortals stream from the palace gates, a solid wall of shields ad spears, slamming through the few guards facing them, and making their way to the walls*

OOC: and there goes my plan for fucking everyone over in urban combat

*They comes across a unit of nobles defending a thin street, their flanks blocked by large multi-storey buildings*

*the block of immortals breaks into a run, and then a sprint, throwing their full weight into a charge* "send these spineless curs to the grave!" *ket is on the frontline of the charge, slathered to the elbows in blood, and a bright red splater of arterial blood is sprayed across his face and helm*

*the first wave onto the walls are the clavae. They butcher their way through the defenders, causing such shock and awe that the legionarries are able to board the walls with little competition, forming up and fighting in their typically well coordinated fashion*

he finds the place strewn with kelthrovi corpses and blood

*The survivors flee into the city's maze like streets*

*The immortals crash into the Nobles, and they begin retreating deeper into the street*

*The guard flees*

with the walls secured, the scutarii redeploy to atop them, raining fire on the fleeing kelthrovi as the legionarries redeploy to the streets

*Due to the rather haphhazard nature of the lower city, many of the Scutarii simply cannot find targets leaving the legionaries open to constant ambushes and basic guerrilla warfare tactics*

the legionaries are compact and organised, steam-rolling through the streets like serpents of steel, making both direct assaults, and the expected ambushes have minimal effect before they are crushed

*With casualties running into the thousands many of the citizen militia flee to try and protect their families. The few who don't are slaughtered, civilians attempt to protect their homes and suffer the same fate. With no leadership and morale dropping quickly only the nobles remain as they try to blunt to blunt the immortals charge*

/Elsewhere\

*The Prince and his Cymriacs begin clearing the streets and suffer rather heavy casualties compared to their Dracian allies. Many going down due to surprise volleys of javelins from militia hiding on rooftops. For them the fighting is tough, unused to truely urban combat the Cymriacs don't do particularly well*

LI remains by Mordred's side, ensuring his safety, even taking a javelin to the shoulder which penetrates her armour. She looks at it, slightly annoyed, and snaps off the shaft before continuing

*Much to her surprise he has relinquished command to his cousin Brochael. Who is getting rather noticeably pissed off, ordering that the men pursue and cut down every single enemy soldier. Mordred is not overly happy at losing command but his men seem pleased that they're under the command of a veteran warrior*

this is the first time most of the cymriacs have seen a clavae in combat, and those close enough are awestruck. LI has already managed over 2 dozen kills, mostly defensively keeping the prince safe. Men have been cleaved in half shoulder to groin in a single swing, arms broken as they raise their sword to try and parry her mighty swing
all throughout she has been silent, calculating, and unstoppable

*well they're awestruck... What else can I say?*

*Slowly but surely, they clear the streets. The Prince's retinue and soldiers having taken a severe beating in the process*

*into more detail methinks*
Li blocks another javelin aimed for the prince, with her shield this time

*With most of the city under Dracian control, it is safe to say that the city fell*

*Another group ambush the Cymriacs and LI notices the soldiers actually making an effort to protect her, namely in stopping the enemy from getting a chance to take her by surprise*

she is momentarily surprised by this before getting back to the fighting, quickly ending 3 slave soldiers who try to face her

*With yet another ambush crushed, the Cymriacs finally make it to a somewhat large square, filled with the remains of market stalls. Brochael orders that the army rest and deal with any injuries before proceeding on*

LI turns to mordred to see if he is wounded

*He has an arrow sticking out of a small piece of plate that he strapped over his heart.*
"....going to be honest, I need to hurry up with building my chest piece"

she smiles slightly at that under the helm, only to be confused by her own reaction instantly after, before regaining composure. the helm has masked all this
"Are you hurt?"

"Perfectly fine, for the most part. Thanks for taking the javelin"

*the immortals set to work in a bloody melee, groups from the back of the force circling around to completely surround the nobles, crushing them closer and closer together*

*with the immortals now surrounded by the buildings, waves of javelins and arrows erupt from the upper levels crashing into the unsuspecting immortals below. All along the blob? Of men immortals are brought down by the surprise assault, with their foes distracted yet more militia enter the fray, dragging the immortals through doors and windows before silencing them with a swift dagger through the neck*

Mordred: I really do wish this didn't cost most of my warriors.
*Only now does she realise that his archers are nowhere to be seen*

/elsewhere\

*With the minor skirmishes over and key landmarks secured the true offensive begins with the numerically superior Rebels assaulting loyalist forces all over Cymria*

/also\
*Trajan recieves an intercepted message that was intended for the Prince*

LI: It was nothing. But you have my.....*pauses to think of the word* sympathies

Trajan has the seal gently pried off so as not to break it and reads it

"Yeah...still victory is victory. Hopefully it was worth it"



*It's a letter from his sister to his nephew. Apart from the typical "I'm fine how are you?". She begins discussion the state of affairs, and notes that the number of loyalist lords are dropping by the day, many either being killed or switching allegiance to an unknown contender for the throne. This is then followed a long list of lords all of whom are labelled as traitor.
She then tells him that the construction of his flagship has finished and is awaiting it's naming ceremony at the neutral port owned by his Grandmother.
Before bidding him farewell she orders him to stay close to Trajan, as the risk of interception from rebel forces is growing exponentially.*

OOC: I DO NOT LIKE WRITING LETTERS. IRL OR IN CHARACTER.

LI: *nods* Your first large casualty rate?

Trajan reseals it and decides to deliver it personally

"Yeah, I've never lost more than a handful no matter the enemy"

LI: I've been in worse battles. Open war always ends with a high body count.

"True..."

she pats him on the back, attempting to comfort him

"You don't have to comfort me you know, it's the price of leadership"

"............" *shrugs*

"I'm going to count the dead, go get your wound treated"

"It can wait"

*the immortals scatter under the assault, running into houses in small groups, slaughtering the militia, who are no match on even terms, and holding doorways and stairwells when the nobles persue*

with the blow of a warhorn, the silver legion advance into the streets where the immortals are, in typical semi-phalanx shieldwall formation, slaughtering the militia in droves

*with the militia dealt with and the rest of the defenders crushed by the dracian advance, the immortals leave their defensive positions, and encircle the nobles, the last defenders standing, ket steps forward from the phalanx* "you are defeated, lay down arms and no more blood may be spilled"

*Some their down their arms but others charge, preferring death to poverty*

*those who charge are slaughtered mercilessly, and those who surrendered are handed to the dracians* *the battle won, ket tries to find the consul, prince and LI*

he sees trajan at the head of the silver legion force who arrived, cleaning the blood from his blade

*After the Prince leaves she is approaches by a pair of fairly older looking Cymraic warriors*

"Oi"

"Trajan!" *ket walks over, sword dripping blood as he walks, and running in rivulets down his armour*

she turns to them, slighttly surprised

Trajan: ah, Ket, good to see you survived

OOC about over a week ago I stopped caring to actually read what been's going on this thread, so now I have no idea what's going on and I can't be bothered to read up on what's been happening

"Thanks, you did pretty well out there"

"Thankyou."

"You thought you could get rid of me that easily? I'll sooner lay down and die than the dragons will come back"

he laughs
"Good man"