26/08/2020 - Death of the Chimaera (December 824)
The Chimaera at Bay
Vlad, Yuri and the survivors of Hamein reach Lakeport and Charrek gives orders for them to be welcomed and given accommodation as best they can.
A few days after they arrive and are trying to settle down, Charrek hears a rumour going around Rourke that a large beast, possibly the Chimaera, has crash landed in the vicinity of the Inn of the Seven of Swords in the village of Cross Point, where he has spies operating.
The Chimaera Crash Landed
He decides to muster about 100 troops and march down to aid her quickly. He sends a message to Yuri and Vlad in Lakeport telling them what he is planning and asks if they can muster any of their troops as well. They send a response saying they will muster what they can and follow as sooon as possible. Vlad and Yuri set about mustering who can they, mostly from the surviving soldiers, rather than Hamein militia.
Charrek has a small supply train with mining tools drawn up to accompany his troops, in case they are needed. He wants to create some sort of big stretcher for the Chimaera.
By early afternoon that day, Charrek has 60 men ready and heads off, messaging Vlad to follow when he can. The weather is windy, wet and cold. Vlad and Yuri have 30 men ready and start to march south as soon as they get the message.
Charrak arrives first at the Inn of the Seven of Swords. He sees a crowd around an area where something large has crashed into the mud. He proceeds slowly, expecting some sort of trap, warning his men to expect cavalry any time and use their spears.
Wounded Monster
As they approach, they see the wounded, mud-covered body of the Chimaera's feral, monster form, lying on the ground. The soldiers clear the crowd out of the way and Charrek carefully approaches the Chimaera in order to speak with her. She is panting heavily, growling a little and occasionally shifting around.
Charrek gets some people from the village to gather some meat and water for the Chimaera. He then uses rope and poles to drop then food and water near to the injured monster. She begins to eat and drink hungrily.
The Brother Mages Intervene
A soldier notices something odd in the sky. There is a Khinasi mage, floating on some sort of cloud, descending towards them. It is Averrica, the oldest of the Three Brother Mages, having flown here all the way from Mhowe. He pauses to take in what is happening.
Charrek calls out for an archer, who runs over to him. The dwarf instructs the archer to watch and not fire until the wizard is close and likely to be killed. There will be a 50gp reward for whoever kills the mage.
Vlad, Yuri and 30 soldiers are spotted approaching from the north. They meet up with Charrek and catch up with what is going on.
About the same time, another wizard on a flying carpet arrives. Vlad initially thinks it is Suleiman, but realises it is Rassan, the youngest of Brother Mages, with a pet Monkey. He has flown here from his Tower in the marshes east of Luandar. The two mages fly over to each other and begin conversing.
Djinn Summoning
The two mages begin gesturing and a point of light appears in the sky above them. One of the mages creates some sort of smoke that floats over to the point of light. The smoke forms into a Djinn, which the Council members have been before.
The Djinn starts to float down and then in a deep, booming voice tells everyone that his Master has told him to say this monster is an enemy, she has slain one of their Brothers and now they will have her blood. Hand her over and you will all be spared, then the realm will be rich and prosperous.
Charrek asks the crowd what their general answer to that is, but there is mostly silence. Many of the troops are too terrified to answer. Vlad and Charrek tell it to get lost, his Master started this and cannot be trusted.
The Djinn flies up and the Mages are clearly not happy with the response. They gesture further and there is distance rumblings of thunder.
Magic Skeletons
Charrek makes an inspirational speech and manages to get his soldiers to recover from their fear and stand firm. In response, Rassan begins to float lower, while holding a bag in his hand. He then grabs something out of the bag and throws it on the floor. There is a big puff of smoke and a bone skeleton with a sword and shield rises out of the ground and heads towards the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the archer that Charrek set up takes his shot at Rassan. The mage cries out in pain and throws another item from his bag, summoning a second skeleton in a puff of smoke. Rassan directs this second skeleton to go kill the archer, then he raises up to safety, clutching his wounded arm.
Charrek sends a few soldiers to protect the archer and leads the rest of the soldiers against the first skeleton. It is adept at blocking and the fight takes a while, but eventually the skeletons are surrounded, overwhelmed and destroyed.
Cavalry Arrive
Vlad then spots cavalry approaching from Cariene. He positions his militia to protect the Chimaera, raising their spears.
Mara is in command of them and she orders the Captain not to rush in, she is waiting for Sulieman. The two mages fly over to speak to Mara. They want her cavalry to clear away the soldiers so that they can kill the Chimaera, so the cavalry spread out and surround the village as best they can.
Charrek sends three riders north to summon reinforcements. The cavalry commander sends a few horsemen in pursuit, but the Rourke men have a head start on them.
The encirclement has gaps because there are not enough cavalry, but they circle in an intimidating fashion. The soldiers are too packed together for them to be prepared to charge in.
Chimaera under Attack
The two Mages decide to try to break the impasse. Avicerra sends down the Djinn, that transforms into a huge scorpion and moves to attack the Chimaera. Rassan transforms his monkey into a huge Gorilla and it jumps down to join the scorpion. The Chimaera musters from her slumber at this approaching threat and an epic fight breaks out between the three creatures. The Chimaera has an advantage in strength but is already significantly wounded, so things are fairly even.
Avicerra then tells Mara it is time for her cavalry to attack and the order is given. By now Vlad and Charrek have arranged their troops into a solid block and are ready for them. The initial charge does not go that well, as the infantry hold ranks and keep the cavalry at bay with their spears. The cavalry retain an advantage of height and reach with their spears.
Vlad decides to send some his men to help the Chimaera, while rest of his and Charrak's men hold off the cavalry. This gives the cavalry an advantage and are able to cut off some of the infantry and take them down, but they over extend themselves and find some of their horseman are killed too.
Battles Rage
The battle between the cavalry and infantry goes back and forth, each time both sides losing a few men in a grinding fight of attrition.
The Chimaera is able to rip one of the arms off the gorilla and while it is in shock, Vlad’s men are able to kill it. The scorpion though is able to wound one of the Chimaera’s wings and then stabs her repeatedly with its sting. She is staggering and weakened, but manages to muster her strength, grabbing one of the scorpion’s claws and rip it off.
Rassan then decides to intervene against the Chimaera directly. He flies down and throws a golden, magical spear at her, which crackles with energy and wounds her further.
Charrek has his men change tactic and chase after the cavalry when they try pull back for another charge, taking them by surprise and killing a dozen or more of them. The cavalry then back further away, spooked.
Vlad is frustrated that his men are struggling to injure the scorpion due to its quick movement and tough, chitinous armour.
Rassan Mortally Wounded
Rassan then positions himself over the Chimaera and throws balls from this sack to the floor, causing four skeletons to rise in puffs of smoke. Charrek shouts for any people with throwing weapons to attack the mage, which is highly successful and Rassan is wounded and falls off his carpet.
Soldiers then close in on the young mage. Avicerra demands Mara rescue Rassam with her cavalry, but by the time they can, Rassan is mortally wounded. The older Mage swears a terrible oath to avenge the death of both of his brothers.
Charrek and Vlad are primarily concerned with protecting the Chimaera from the new threat of the skeleton warriors and their men are able to cut them down. They then try to work out a way to use rope to pull the scorpion away from the Chimaera.
Orogs!
Suddenly a dozen large orogs come running towards the Chimaera, screaming and swinging huge weapons. Charrek tries to rally his men to stand firm, pointing out that they can see reinforcements from Rourke are in sight on the northern road.
The orog charge breaks the infantry formation, scattering Charrek’s men. The cavalry then charges in to take advantage of the broken formation. Many of Charrek and Vlad’s men are killed or wounded. Charrek, Vlad and Yuri retreat with the few surviving soldiers into a building for protection.
Chimaera Killed
The Chimaera and the scorpion are locked together grappling until the Chimaera grabs its head and rips it off, killing it. It turns to mist and returns to a lamp in the ownership of Avicerra.
The Chimaera then collapses, exhausted and near death. Avicerra flies down to her, wielding a staff and delivers a killing blow on the Blood Abomination.
Dark Transformation
Then some strange magical effect begins, the blood power of the Chimaera passing into Avicerra. He cries out in horror as he absorbs her dark blood power and it begins to change him. He grows and his hair takes on a top-not effect, like a Djinn. Another strand of power snakes from the Chimaera and hits the body of Rassan, causing it to rise and merge into that of his brother, saving his life. A third strand of power goes flying off over the mountains, to the dead body of Meganno, the third Brother.
Avicerra and Rassan then merge together into a larger being with two heads, but they look more like Djinns. The transformation is causing the mages to scream in terror and pain.
Everyone in the area watches this spectacle in fascination – except for the orogs who, fearing magic, run away.
The body of the Chimaera shrinks and changes into the body of a young, elven woman, impaled by a staff, lying in a pool of blood.
Two-Headed Djinn
The two-headed Djinn growls monstrously, disorientated. Its neck and shoulders have grown large enough that it is clear there should be a third head on the right hand side, but it is currently missing.
Mara has her bugler to signal the cavalry to fall back to her. Charrek decides to attack the Djinn, along with Vlad and a couple of soldiers brave enough to go with them.
They manage to land some blows on the creature but not enough to kill it, snapping it out of its confusion and it fights back. Charrek is able to use his pick on Rassan’s head and kill it, just leaving Avicerra’s head.
Then the cavalry stage another charge, causing confusion amongst the infantry and Charrek and Vlad hesitate. Vlad is knocked down first by the Djinn then by the cavalry and is exhausted.
Charrek attempts to finish off the Djinn, but the Djinn strikes him down with a huge blow from his staff, badly wounding him.
Djinn Escapes
The cavalry then charge again, this time attacking the Djinn. The Djinn takes a cork out of a bottle, causing smoke to appear under its feet and it flies away to the south.
Reinforcements from Rourke arrive in the form of 50 more soldiers. Yuri takes command of them nd rallies all the Rourke soldiers together. Cariene’s cavalry withdraw in the face of these reinforcements and Yuri proposes a truce, which Mara accepts.