Death of the Chimaera (December)
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 that is 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 been cultivating contacts on the main road to Lyssan.
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. Vlad starts to muster some men.
Charrek has a small supply train with mining tools drawn up, 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 and wet and cold. The two groups begin marching and meet up on the southern road, to the Inn of the Seven of Swords.
They see a crowd around an area where something large has crashed into the mud. Charrek proceeds slowly, expecting some sort of trap. He warns 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 lying in a ditch. The soldiers slowly 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, but that usually causes a pained, unfriendly roar.
He decides it would be wise to get some people from the village to get some meat and water for the Chimaera first. He carefully gets it closer to her using rope and poles and she begins to eat and drink hungrily.
The Brother Mages Intervene
At that point, a soldier notices something odd in the sky. A Khinasi wizard, floating on some sort of cloud, is descending from the sky. He pauses to take in what is happening.
Charrek calls out if there are any archer, but instructs him to watch and not fire until the wizard is close and likely to be killed. He will pay 50gp if he manages to kill the wizard.
Vlad and Yuri are arriving with around 30 men, as many as they could muster at such short notice. 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 one of the Brother Mages, with a pet Monkey. The two wizards 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 the shape of some sort of 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, the Mage on the carpet, 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 while one of the mages is low and hits. The mage cries out in pain, throws another puff of smoke, summoning a second skeleton. The Mage 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.
Mara is in command of them and she orders her command not to rush in, she is waiting for Sulieman. The two mages fly over and low down, 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. The older Mage, Avicerra, sends down the Djinn and transforms into a huge scorpion, moving to attack the Chimaera. The younger Mage, Rassan, transforms his monkey into a huge Gorilla and it goes to help 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 it is 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 mustered 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 the horses will not just charge them down. The cavalry retain an advantage of height and reach with their spears.
Vlad decides to send some his men to help the Chimaera, while Charrek’s men and the rest of his 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 staggered and weakened, but manages to must her strength, grab one of the scorpion’s claws and rip it off.
Rassan then decides to intervene against the Chimaera directly and 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 backs further away, spooked.
Vlad is frustrated that his men are struggling to injure the scorpion due to its quick movement and tough, chitinous armour.
Mage Killed
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.
Avicerra has Mara rescue his brother with her cavalry. The older Mage swears a terrible oath to avenge the death of both of his brothers, as it looks like Rassan is mortally wounded.
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 and they retreats with a few men 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 returned to a lamp in the ownership of Avicerra.
The Chimaera then collapses, exhausted and near death. Avicerra then flies down, wielding a staff and delivers a killing blow on the Blood Abomination. In her death throes, she is able to grab him by the throat and try to strangle him.
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 his evil 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. A third strand of power goes flying off over the mountains.
Avicerra and Rassan then merge together into a large 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.
Two-Headed Djinn
The two-headed Djinn growls monstrously, disorientated. Its neck has 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 take this opportunity to get his brother dwarves, Vlad and what men he can muster to attack the Djinn while it is in shock.
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 what causes smoke to appear by its feet and it starts to float. Then it claps its hands above its head and there is a clap of thunder. The Djinn then flies away to the south.
Yuri has taken command of the soldiers arriving from the north and rallies all the Rourke soldiers together. Cariene’s cavalry withdraw in the face of these reinforcements and Yuri proposes a truce, which Mara accepts.