Aloria Story Progression Trayan's Carts

The departure of the Synod’s carriages from Daenshore was solemn. They passed through the Avanthar horde camped outside, the Reverends inside peering out of the small carriage windows to gaze upon the fields now filled with horses and horsemen, trampled grain and downtrodden corn. There were four carriages in total, three carrying the Reverends, and one final one carrying the Emperor. The news that the Synod had subjected itself to the Avanthar for the Trail of Thorns had surprised many. Perhaps more so, as recent Synod politics had seen a more progressive High Reverend removed in favor of a very conservative one that strongly controlled the cloth’s political views. The Emperor’s presence further complicated public opinion. Rumor had it that the Emperor intended to walk the Trail of Thorns with the Reverends. If these rumors were true, it would be the first time in over 300 years, or indeed ever, that an Emperor would bow to a foreign power. The implication of the Emperor showing deference to a foreign invasion was a terrifying prospect, and one that stroked the Avanthar pride all too well. While the carriages slowly passed by in their unarmed state, the Avanthar along the rode hurled insults and provocations to which no answer came.

Certainly, the carts made by master cart-maker Eldric Trayan from Calemberg had been richly decorated with all kinds of markings and drawings on the outside panels which the Avanthar could not make out. Without the Emperor’s presence, the Avanthar would have likely led the Reverends in chains to the Royal Encampment. The Emperor being present, however, required them to show a certain protocol, this was a peace settlement after all, and embarrassing or humiliating the Emperor would only invite further conflict. While the Avanthar were wild, they were not stupid, and sentimentally satisfied with taking the supposed walk of atonement from the Emperor as well, not giving into greed to ask for more.

The carriages made their way through Caslin and the Basqlierra territories, before riding into the heartland of the Ullaren Wastes. The Royal Encampment belonging to the royal Avanthar tribe lay deep within, hidden through forests and ravines and shielded by outpost upon outpost of Avanthar scouts. Certainly, the security apparatus around the Royal Encampment was massive, but once the carriage actually made it through the final perimeter, there were barely any warriors in sight. The Royal Encampment was positioned near an ancient Estel temple, the Trail of Thorns itself extending from the temple where the thorns were formed from dead Nenya roots. The Royal Encampment itself was rather lavish for Avanthar terms. This would not surprise anyone, after all, the Royal Encampment was the epicenter of Avanthar politics. Their federation of five tribes was held together by the royal lineage of the Princes of the Royal Avanth, a lineage of Avanthar who claimed heritage to the last Elven Emperor.

When the carriages finally made their halt in front of the royal tent, only the last carriage’s door swung open, and the Emperor was the sole person to step out. As he paced slowly by the other carriages to the front, knocking twice fold on each door as he passed by, followed by a small audible click. The Avanthar paid no heed to it, as they expected no danger to come from a short manlet Emperor without weapons on him, and a number of carriages filled with old and not-warrior-like men who could have barely survived the road to the Encampment if they weren’t on the cushions of the carriage. Unbeknownst to the Avanthar present, however, inside the carriages, the Reverends locked the doors one by one with the inside mechanism. The High Reverend, in particular, smirked with caustic zeal on his face, knowing entirely what devious plan was about to unfold before them.

Once passing the last carriage, the Emperor made some headway onto the carpet that had been rolled out to the royal tent. Officially, the Avanthar intended to welcome the delegation before subjecting them to their ritual of atonement, they were after all still foreigners, and the Avanthar could never be accused of being bad hosts. The Emperor thus walked alone in rather simple clothing and sandals over the carpet, until about sixty feet away from the carriages, where the Reverends were still sitting inside. Once again, this fact did not raise any alarm. It was custom for the Regalians to present themselves in order of importance, and obviously, the Emperor walked first. He was eventually stopped by a group of the Avanthar Princes. The Avanthar Tribes did not have a singular leader, but a number of brothers, uncles, and fathers that all collectively made up the ruling council of Princes. Most of the Princes were gathered in front of the Emperor, while some were further up in the tent.

The contrast between the Emperor and the Princes could not be greater. Decked in jewelry and finery while the Emperor maintained a very spartan appearance, the Avanthar towered well over a foot taller than the Emperor when they stood opposite each other. These large tanned men made the Emperor appear like a small child in front of them, and there was even an air of derision and ridicule among the Princes as they had expected the Emperor of Regalia to certainly be a much greater man in stature. The exact conversation between the Avanthar and the Emperor was unclear, but there was a very obvious sentiment of astonishment among the Avanthar. It seemed as if the Emperor was giving the Avanthar one last chance to surrender, and in their astonishment, most of them simply started laughing or making lewd horse related gestures at the Emperor. The oldest of the Princes called forth his horse mounted it and was preparing to have the party set out to retrieve the Reverends from their carriages. Then, as the started passing by the Emperor, however, the Emperor gave a call out that the Reverends were all too trained in hearing.

When the call was made, events started spinning out of control for the Avanthar, and even too fast to react. Behind or among them, the Emperor shapeshifted into a Feathered Dragon, the same which had attacked the Dragon Rikkira, and the same that had assisted in the defense of Naserna’s coastal Elven raid. The Dragon crushed two Avanthar Princes upon shapeshifting, purely because of his size displacement, before his massive jaws snapped out at the oldest Prince and his horse before biting down, crushing both of them in half and tossing their limp bodies aside. Terror struck among the other Princes that survived the first carnage, one of them drawing a bow and the other brandishing an axe in an attempt to defend themselves. The Dragon once again lifted its leg, impaling the axe wielder with its large talons, and swinging its tail around to crush the other one against the ground. When the Princes were dead, the Dragon spread its wings and lifted off the ground with the impaled corpse of one of the Princes still attached to its talons, slowly sliding off as it raised off the ground.

While this was ongoing, the Reverends started doing their thing, calling out the Elemental Mages supplied by the Azure Order that had been disguised as slaves. One by one, they activated the Elemental Gateways of Elemental Magic that had been inscribed on the panels of the carriages, on the back, on the sides, and even one on the roof. As soon as these gates activated with the loud thunder claps, they caused further confusion among the Avanthar who now started to raise the alarm when a Dragon started flying overhead, occasionally swooping down and crushing an archery tower with its strong legs, while it drew all the fire from the Avanthar bows. As soon as the Gateways opened, the Reverends dared to pull back the curtains to watch the display that was about to unfold before them.

The Gateways fizzled into action as soldiers came pouring through. The first to march through the gates were Vulmar Ravenstad, Leufred Reginar, Carolyne Typhonus and Albus du Pont, Lancyon Halberd warriors all to secure the safety of the Reverends. Immediately after came Nathan Deceres and Hannah Lexen, both Blackmark with Spiked Flails and Imperial Armor, and Nicolas Rubens with a similar non-Imperial Guard equipment who were used to create space between the approaching Avanthar who intended to seize the Reverends to hold them hostage. The first wave met with mixed results as the axe-wielding Avanthar approached.

Vulmar Ravenstad was shot in the shoulder with an arrow when he tried to block three Avanthar from breaching Aelfric Aherne’s carriage, and while Nicolas Rubens was able to fend them off to give Vulmar breathing space, it was not until Albus du Pont and Carolyne Typhonus came to reinforce that they were able to repulse the attack. Leufred Reginar meanwhile was engaged in a fight by himself against two Avanthar axe-wielders. He was battered badly against them, until the Dragon swooped in from above, tossing a wooden log picked up from some tower at the Avanthar. Unfortunately the log’s momentum caused it to crash not only against the Avanthar, killing them instantly, but also against Leufred and the carriage afterward, pinning Leufred’s leg against the wheel and breaking it in two places while the carriage toppled sideways.

Next out of the gate came Khalid Nazari practically on leash distance of Edward Estelluanar who came shortly after. Edward cast a barrier high enough to shield Khalid Nazari from the incoming arrows of the Avanthar who had managed to grab their horses while he took a knee and deployed his Tawaq Construct Magic device, took aim, and shot the first salvo at the Dragon. The Dragon meanwhile, flying overhead at dangerously low altitudes was hit by the Tawaq projectile, experienced a sudden rush of speed and vigor as he took a dive and quite literally smashed into the central royal tent, crushing those that tried to seek shelter and rally a counter-offensive towards the carts, and savaging them with claw and maw.

Nathan Deceres and Hannah Lexen held off numerous Avanthar from the front carriage until Nathan was trampled by a horse, his heavy armor weighing him down, and the horse hooves trodding him into the dirt. As Hannah tried desperately to hold off the Avanthar, Nathan nearly drowned in the mud that encased him and was practically defenseless until the second wave would come through the portals.

The second wave was led by Imperial Commander Tristan Kade, who was followed by Leah Kade his wife, Wuland aep Latsen and another Imperial Guard Maximus Krupp, all four of them with Feer-Drakken Greatswords. They bull rushed out of the defensive line with the intent of pushing back the counter-offensive of the Avanthar, though met with stiff resistance from all sides. The only one who managed to inflict heavy casualties on the Avanthar was Wyland, though he himself was struck down when an axe cut cleaved his side, and Tristan Kade was knocked out by a horse trampling against him. Leah Kade and Maximus Krupp, however, showcased brilliant defense by mauling at the enemies with great swings of their Greatswords. While their weapons were not made for defense, their wide arches and long reach held back the Avanthar just in time for the third wave to arrive.

The Dragon meanwhile had descended to the ground and had started smashing through the tents, killing dozens of Avanthar as it ravaged from one side of the camp to the other, before quickly charging at the front carriage. When the Dragon came close and to a halt, High Reverend Balthazar opened the door, walked out with holy relics and his brother Duke Edmond du Pont (who despite missing a hand) was disguised as a servant and had now brandished a sword. The Elemental Mages who had opened the gates them proceeded to mount the back of the Dragon with a sense of trepidation though with trained precision as if this had all been rehearsed and took to the skies with the Dragon. Khalid Nazari quickly adjusted his position and activated a clockwork mechanism that was attached to the front carriage, causing the side panels to burst out, and a whole clockwork mechanism on the inside to unfold. As the roof slid off, A small clockwork design scorpion emerged from the carriage basin and unfolded itself ready for use. High Reverend Balthazar mounted the scorpion while his brother Edmond loaded the device. After a quick blessing of the device in the Spirit’s name, he shot bolt after bolt at the Avanthar horsemen who eluded the warriors who had already been deployed, shouting aloud Sancella blessings in between each shot.

The Mages on the back of the Dragon meanwhile circled the Avanthar camp, casting Fire Wave after Fire Wave to set the forests around the camp on fire, creating a circle inferno that kept all Avanthar inside, and reinforcements outside. Remaining Princes that tried to flee on horseback were met with towering currents of fire and turned back in an ever more desperate situation for them. The war against the Ailor had drained the basin of the Ullaren Wastes of all of its troops, the 100,000 Avanthar horsemen were all on the frontlines, and the Royal Encampment had only been left with a token defense force, as the Avanthar had always been proud and hubris in the impenetrability of their defense lines.

The Dragon deposited the Mages back at the carriages where the defense line had properly been secured and the Court Arcanist had started tending to the wounded to ensure there would be no fatalities. As the Dragon took off again, a wave of arrows pierced its wings and chest, causing it to buckle in mid-air and crash back to the ground again, landing with a loud crash. While it recovered, the third wave of Regalians made its way through, the Knights of the Orders and the other heavy warriors. The Bloodcast Knights came first, Alexander Donsly and Hengest Harhold, quickly followed by the Viridians Percival Ravenstad and Wulfram Kehlen. Finally, the last few came through, Magnus Viduggla (who was woefully unequipped for this battle with his pathetic mace), the Dwarf Nikkidroth Bristlemaille and Imperial Guard Gerold Ravenstad, who simply came through with spiked gauntlets. Wulfram Kehlen and Hengest Harhold remained at the carriage, being instrumental in defending the wounded near the Court Arcanist, while the others pressed on.

The Dragon meanwhile recovered and charged like a rabid dog at the formation of horsemen who had shot at it with their bows, thrashing through it with the screams of the Avanthar soon following. The Knights all spread out and started moving into the camp, taking their sword and shield to cleanse the camp of any surviving Avanthar who had survived the Dragon’s first assault. Alexander Donsly and Gerold Ravenstad were however taken by surprise when a group of Altalar archers emerged from a tent off by the side, followed by some Mages, who opened fire with their arrows at both. Gerold suffered five arrows in the back, while Alexander Donsly was pinned to the ground with a grand total of seven arrows in various positions in his legs. It was the timely arrival of Percival Ravenstad who not only shielded them from further arrows with his shield but pressed on, taking charge of the others to clear out the Altalar. The Mages had meanwhile set up to cast their magics at the Dragon, attempting to kill it with fire and ice, though were quickly cleared out by Percival’s timely arrival together with Nikkidroth Bristlemaille.

Towards the end, those that were still standing roved the camp to kill any wounded left on the ground, but the carnage had been a success. After the Knights came though, regular Regalian Tenpenny soldiers had marched out as well, and though their numbers were only a few dozen early on, towards the end of the battle it had swelled to several hundred. The entire Royal Encampment was now completely leveled. The Dragon’s thrashing had flattened practically all tents and the palisade walls around the camp had burned down. The Reverends had abandoned their carriages when the all-clear was given and were performing last rites for the deceased and blessing those that had survived.

The Dragon had meanwhile calmed from the battle as well, though battered it appeared. One eye was closed and it was bleeding all over the place, though not all blood was of itself. It slowly walked towards the larger crowd of people who had been warned this would occur before, though halfway to meeting with the others, the Dragon shapeshifted back into its human form, presenting the Emperor. The Emperor seemed fine, albeit severely beaten. He had cuts and wounds all over him and looked as if he had just run through a bush made of blades. The crowd fell silent as the event occurred before them until the silence was broken by High Reverend Balthazar’s fervent sermon to speak of the virtues of the Dragon Emperor, and the sound of hounds mauling a still breathing Avanthar in the background while Hengest Harhold was watching them with glee. The Emperor meanwhile sluggishly made his way to the wounded tent, sat down on a stretcher and then promptly passed out from exhaustion, while the Imperial Guards formed a somewhat equally wounded and exhausted wall around him as the Arcanist tended to his wounds.

The effects of the brilliantly executed strategy had immediate effects. In Regalian, the heralds announced a great victory delivered by the Synod, a plan cleverly conceived of by the shrewd and magnanimous Reverends under the leadership of the High Reverend. Casualties had remained somewhat minimal, and while there were a lot of wounded, a victory had been secured within almost two hours of battle. While the actual death count for the Avanthar was small, merely a few hundred on over a hundred thousand war-able warriors, the effect had been profound. The only factor holding the Avanthar together was the Royal Tribe which unified them politically under the heritage of the Elven Empire, the claim to greatness because of what had come before. The Four remaining tribes which were never directly involved with rule over the Avanthar as a whole suddenly all made claims to become the new Royal Tribe, and before the very eyes of the Daendroquins in Catalon, Daenshore and the smaller settlements that still held out in Caslin and Basqlierra, the Avanthar descended into chaos and started murdering each other in the field. The whole Avanthar social structure started collapsing all over the Ullaren Wastes, and the hordes all retreated en-masse from the frontlines and from the Regalian occupied zones. The lands were liberated quickly by the Daendroquin Junistas moving in after to secure their borderlands, and the war against the Avanthar had seemingly ended in a status quo, though no formal declaration was made on each side since the Avanthar simply did not have a leading authority left.

It had seemed that the Sancella Synod and a single Dragon had achieved what a hundred and fifty thousand Regalian soldiers could not, and with minimal losses. The Avanthar had been made to fear Regalia, the Synod’s clever ruse had completely trampled on the Avanthar pride, and the world was now aware that a Dragon fought for the faith of Unionism, the Dragon Emperor no less. The coming days would certainly be filled with speculation, as many soldiers witnessed the Emperor first hand, and brought tales back of the battle at the Royal Encampment. The Reverends and curates flocked the streets to announce the Synod’s latest Holy Bull to the people.

Reference for the rolls performed by my lovely assistant BillyTheScroofy in the witness presence of Discord filled with players for validity.