The Camdorian Attack on Arlessa

It was nightfall before they managed to reach the outskirts of Arlessa, camping amongst the hills. The force was a small one, as this was supposed to be a stealth mission more than a full battle. Gregor looked at his men and told them what was needed to be done. Just as he finished explaining what would happen if they should succeed, he saw and heard a commotion near their horses, and a figure rode off in the night, towards the capital.

“A spy!” the returning rebel soldier cried out as men made ready to give chase. “Leave him! We shall never capture him in the dark...we must now work quickly to bind these nodes!” Gregor shouted, The map was consulted one final time before the men mounted, and rode toward the first target. As they arrived at the small obelisk, Gregor chanted the spell. Upon completing it, nothing happened. He turned to the Deva. "Is it working? Do we move to the next?" The Deva touched his arm in complete silence. He felt a rush of heat and pain travel through his body. His vision blurred as he mustered his control to try and speak the cantation again. The Obelisk shot a small orb of light up into the clouds and began to hum quietly.

They repeated the process for another two, but as they finished, they noticed a large group of soldiers carrying torches arriving at the next position, likely around ten to fifty times their number. Gregor turned to the Deva. “Elyssia! Can you do anything with just three nodes?” Gregor asked, and saw that armed Imperialists were advancing towards their node, he knew they wouldn’t be able to hold them off.

“Perhaps destroy a portion of the city, but we must hold out, only with five will victory be granted to you!”

"We don’t have time to wait!” Gregor shouted, and as if to be proven correct an arrow nearly hit the Deva in the head. She then closed her eyes and chanted with words that were too hard for Gregor to follow. She began to glow and the ground shook all around them. In the distance, the city began to catch fire, and buildings collapsed and screams could be heard the citizens cried out in fear. The Imperials, confused as to what was happening, fell back to their city.

“Fall back!” Gregor cried and he saw the majority of his men already running back into the hills. He saw the Deva instead watching the city and the flames that lapped at it's peaks. “My lady, we must fall back while we can, or else we shall be destroyed!” She did not acknowledge him. "I’m sorry for this my lady, but we must go” he said, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her away, Elyssia whispered a chant and flicked her hand towards the Imperials, a lump of earth ripped from the ground and flung Imperial soldiers in all direction as it crashed back down again.

Gregor and the group arrived at camp which was packed and ready to leave and then left for their main camp, knowing that today was not a defeat, but not a victory either. The sun had risen once more by the time they had made it back to the main camp, and they were greeted warmly, since the mission was a success in a pinch. The men of Gregor’s group went back to their socializing, and Gregor was of like mind until he noticed a messenger approached him, telling him the King wanted to see him. He followed the messenger to the command tent, which was full of people. As Gregor bowed, he heard the King say “Leave us” and the men and women surrounding the planning table left. Gregor still kept his head down, waiting for the command that he could rise. Instead, he felt a hand on his shoulder and was pulled up and put into an embrace “Come now Son, there is no need for such ceremonies when alone!” King Rendon smiled at Gregor.

“No, I guess not...sorry I failed you” Gregor replied, looking down in shame.

“Failed?!, you managed to destroy part of Arlessa, something none of us have achieved anything like that since this war began, be proud of yourself, boy!” Rendon quickly responded, grabbing a goblet of wine and giving it to Gregor.

“But we could have ended this war with a single stroke!”

“And now the Imperials will need time to recover, and they shall now fear us...besides, I already have another plan of how to end the war...”

The imperial forces put up a valiant defense in the face of great odds, denying the king of total victory, yet a large part of Arlessa, shining jewel of the Empire was badly damaged. The deva left with the retreating forces as they trailed into the hills, defeated yet not totally lost. A brave fight was made by all, as the battlefield fell silent once more, the burning wrecks of the outer city filled the sky as the imperials mobilised to create a forward camp and plan their next move…