Aloria Story Progression The Charge On Saint Helena

On the still chilly morning of the 5th of January, A group of 42 Empire loyalists marched on Mount Saint Helena, just outside of Regalia with a mysterious goal, summoned there by the Imperial Steward with little to no explanation. The group was well armed, flanked by both leaders and mages, making the trek up Mount Saint Helena. The Mountain itself was not one of Regalia’s most imposing mountains, rather steady in its incline and lacking the traditional snowy peaks or sharp jagged lines. The path up had already started sprouting new life and plants with the absence of the cold, though many budding plants were trampled underfoot as the people marched on. The Mountain was also a popular place for Turall bladesmen to train, and the path up the mountain was quite passable. That being said, before long the group would realize that the road up the mountain would prove to be a struggle, straggler Dragon cultists were found along the path up with ever-increasing quantity the higher they reached. Eventually, the group crossed the final tree line that marked the border into the stony peak, coming in full sight of the horde of Dragon Cultists that lay before them, and the Dragon circling higher above.

The 42 spread out over four groups and an attachment. In the front charged Tristan Kade, accompanied by the Imperial Guards Oliver, Nathan, Maximus, Hannah, and Gerold. To their side, It was thus natural that the Imperial Guards clashed with the Dragon Cultists first, and took the brunt of the attacks. Tristan cleaved his way through the front hordes, however, Maximus was impaled twice with a spear and dragged onto the floor, while Hannah Lexen’s arm was nearly cut off by a particularly nasty Dragon Cultist with a cleaver. Raina Wodenstaff was remarkably quickly on the scene and not only managed to stop the bleeding of Hannah Lexen and Maximus Krupp both by herself, she also kept them stable while the other groups advanced in time for Jocelyn von Duerr and Shane Marth to arrive to ferry them to safety while the battle raged on. Nathan fought ferociously as well, lesser so to Tristan, but certainly more passionately than Gerold and Oliver, who despite not being excellent, still did well as they marched on in front.

The Imperial Guard Group was flanked by Garth Wodenstaff leading Darcie Wodenstaff, Caoess-alloa, Val’ Varius, Leon Claudio, Edmond du Pont and William Storm Hardt to charge at the Dragon Cultists who were using ranged weapons against the advancing groups. Unfortunately, right off the bat, Garth Wodenstaff was hit by a javelin bolt in the chest and impaled from a great distance. Again, Raina Wodenstaff charged into the scene setting herself apart from all other healers by stabilizing his wound and keeping him alive until other healers arrived to secure medical attention. All the while, the others were pinned down by heavy crossbow fire, until Darcie Wodenstaff, griefed by Garth’s wound, charged at the defensive barricade. Edmond du Pont also saw his moment in this distraction opportunity, charging with Darcie at the Dragon Cultists. Crossbow bolts flew overhead as they zigzagged up the hill, until they eventually reached their position, taking out the skirmishers just between the two of them before the rest eventually caught up and cleaned up after them.

The next group charged ahead to deal with the Dragon Cultist shock troopers, supported by the Mages Merina Marth, Mae Draylas, Khalid Nazari and Aesling Sylfina. Leah Kade commanded these troops, Leufred Reginar, Benjamin Journey, Silver Valentine, Kohen Kastel, Karsten Grauwald, Florianne Gris and Tullion Kearney. As the group advanced, the Dragon cultists broke their formation and ducked out to a sudden and unexpected volley of arrows. Before the group could scramble, arrows rained down on them. Leah Kade was the first one struck, an arrow in the thigh as she collapsed. Karsten Grauwald equally was impaled by one arrow in his shoulder and one in his forearm. Perhaps the worst struck of all was Mae Draylas. In full sight of Tullion, Khalid, and Aesling, an arrow first impaled her neck, then her chest, then another in her shoulder and finally one in her lower abdomen. Barely even a shriek left her body as she fell to the floor. As the line started collapsing from injuries and demoralization, Kohen Karstel raised his Feer-Drakken sword and charged head long into the enemy line. Emboldened by his charge and subsequent success to crash through the shield formation to stop the crossbows from being fired again, Tullion and Leufred, in particular, joined him to cut through the enemy lines. As Aesling and Khalid frantically tried to stop Mae’s bleeding while she was suffocating in her own blood, Asterion Fellmirr hurried from the nearby bushes to use his Mending Light to save Mae’s life, all the while praying intensely to Estel’s blessings to spare Mae. In a feat rarely seen before, his Light Magic was somehow emboldened and strengthened, not only keeping Mae alive but reverting some of the damage done to her at a much faster pace than normal Healing Magic would.

The next group used a side path, led by Benefictus d’Vaud to flank the enemies further up the hill. Lucien Rosendahl also equally charged his men on the other flank with the intention to create a pincer movement. Both leaders were supported by Wilfre Vaendit, Come Ombre, Hadrian Grey, Endrai’ll Zask, Brydon Howlester, Tua Kapena, Solaine d’Vaud, Leonzio Wodenstaff, Sophie Perrot, Erwald Ravenstad, Jason S Aurum, Daniel White, Gideon Hackett and Lazarus Lupenzi. The two groups performed the move adequately but were surprised to find that the enemy position had a foe they had not anticipated from the beginning: a Dragon Knight. Blessed by the blood of the Dragon Lord, one of the cultists had assumed the form of an Aspect and merged with another Cultis to form a Dragon Knight, whose slitted eyes now stared down on the attackers that would try to break through. Benedictus d’Vaud was the first to be struck by the Dragon Knight, slashing his arms open and knocking him back with great force. Next, Leonzio Wodenstaff and Sophia Perrot both attacked simultaneously, only for their weapons to be deflected off the Dragon Knight’s armored skin, before he turned on them and knocked them out with one strong swing of his armored gauntlet to the face. Jason S Aurum tried to assist Leonzio who was falling from a ledge, and while breaking his fall, accidentally misplaced his foot and broke his ankle while helping Leonzio. Lazarus Lupenzi also toppled over the edge of a cliff while fighting a cultist, though came off with some mere bruises. The others fought valiantly, but the only one who truly distinguished himself was Erwald Ravenstad, using the distractions caused by the others to forcefully thrust a sword into the back of the Dragon Knight’s head, killing him instantly, before pulling his sword out and then impaling also the Dragon Aspect who was materializing out of the dying Dragon Knight’s corpse in one slash.

It was after that final act that the warriors who excelled reached the top: Tristan Kade, Darcie Wodenstaff, Edmond du Pont, Kohen Karstel and Erwald Ravenstad. While the healers still took care of the wounded, the rest of the fighters held off the Dragon Cultists who had come to reinforce to try and counter-attack, notably Come Ombre, Tullion Kearney, Val’ Varius, Achranack l’Araignee and Nathan Deceres showing skill in the defense. The five that reached the top encroached on the Dragon’s Lair, or what was presumed to be its lair. Atop Mount Saint Helena, they found a a gnarled woman seated atop a pile of rocks. She started cursing the people present with a forked tongue in a language not known to them, until Erwald Ravenstad stabbed her in the face with his sword, killing her. It appeared that she was holding two infants, Tristan grabbing hold of one while Edmond du Pont seized another. Tristan tried to wrap in a short explanation that the Dragon had seized the Emperor’s offspring by Imperial Paramours to try and corrupt them to seize the throne of the Empire, and that they had arrived on time, though there was little time for more explanation as the group was attacked by the Dragon who had reached them.

The retreat from the mountain became chaotic. Tristan called for the retreat while the wounded were being carried to safety. The whole group tried to descend the mountain, all the while fending off Dragon Cultists on their heels and using magic tricks to mislead the Dragon as to where they were. It was halfway through that the mages were exhausted and the Dragon came down, claws wide, imminently crashing into the crowd below that was trying to escape back to the city. It was in that moment that Asterion stepped forward, praying to Estel once more and calling upon her protections as he cast a Light Barrier. The Light Barrier that came forth was no normal barrier, however, it’s visage in the image of a statue of Estel and far larger than any normal Light Barrier as it enveloped all of the crowd for the split second that the Dragon was about to crash into them. As the Dragon made contact with the spell, a bright flash of light and a thunderclap was observed, the Dragon abruptly ejected from the area as if it had just smashed into a wall and received a heavy punch to boot. Asterion fell unconscious after the feat, supported by Tullion Kearney as they continued the descent.

Reaching the treeline, their trial was not over yet, as the Dragon continued to come after them. As it was about to swoop down again, however, it interrupted its charge to look up, only to be crashed into by the other dragon who then started clawing at the Dragon’s neck. Tristan and the Imperial Guards turned around to charge back and help the other Dragon attack the Rikkira Dragon, but the other Dragon turned its head in the direction to the Imperials, letting out a loud Draconic roar, as if to urge them on. Uncertain but obeying, the Imperial Guards turned and hurried with the other people back to the city. Upon returning to the city, Tristan and the other Imperials helped tend to the wounded, but the chaos of their retreat had split up various groups. To make matters worse, Edmond and Tristan were both split up, not knowing of one another whether they had survived or whether the infants they carried were still with them. The two Dragons continued to fight overhead as the people ran through the streets, occasionally crashing into a clocktower or watchtower before finally the Rikkira Dragon managed to overpower the other Dragon and eject it down into the Crown River. Wounded but still flying, and seemingly seething over losing the infants, she retreated back to the mountain range beyond.

OOC Info:

• Only those present at the event witnessed the actions.
• Anyone not present at the event might have seen the Dragons fight in the sky above the city, with Rikkira winning and dumping the other Dragon in the river.
• Everything at the event witnessed Edmond and Tristan carry a bundle of cloth with them down from the peak, but do not know what it was.
• The 5 people who were at the top and witnessed the gnarled woman are the only ones who IC'ly know what the bundles were, unless they tell anyone afterwards.
• This event chronologically took place this morning.
• Rolls decided the performance on this.

 

Rolls.