Siege of the Black Gates 3

Day 5

Augustus attacked in force. They built magically reinforced siege towers that were resistant to Synthara’s fireballs to scale the cliff face. The magical turrets and cannons easily destroyed any exposed infantry squares but they could not make a dent in the siege towers.

“No siege towers may be broken.” Augustus said as he activated his Lex Malleo.

The attackers were met with volley after volley of bullets. The few times they managed to get a breakthrough they were thrown back into the line of fire by her dedicated melee troops. Synthara noticed that the fallen Ougonites are consumed by holy fire when they die rather than leave behind a corpse. A worrying development.

Synthara and her Dark Paladins were focused on protecting their infantry lines from angels. The vampires were no match for an angel.

The vicious back and forth continued until nightfall when the siege towers retreated back to the Ougonite main camp.

Syntharan forces have lost 5,000 infantry and 2 vampires, bringing her down to 87,000 men. The Ougonite forces have taken heavy losses but more and more reinforcements are pouring in from their homeland with Fort Lynch unable to stop them due to being besieged.

They also received reports that their stolen Ventorum had been destroyed by angels, sinking them and any future reinforcements and supplies from the air. They also tried to sink their naval transports for days but only managed to sink two thanks to the efforts of the vampires who used to be naval commanders. Their only hope of reinforcement was the fleet that was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning. They had to ensure that it landed safely and were able to reach the gate.

Leaving Dark Paladin Murat in charge of the gate’s defense, went to the Teplyy with a small squad of vampires and a Dark Paladin. They make camp near the outskirts of the town as camping any deeper risks getting attacked by swamp creatures.

Day 6

By morning, Synthara’s small squad razed the town to the ground. Its original inhabitants were long slaughtered by Ougonites so they were free to unleash their full wrath on the Ougonite garrison. As the ships arrived, angels arrived to attack, which Synthara and her squad fought off. She now had to lead an army of 35,000 and 50 cannons through the swamp.

The swamp monsters were easy to kill for her and her paladins, but the regular infantry and vampires struggled against their surprise attacks. The terrain also made carrying the cannons difficult. Angels also harassed them from the sky. Synthara burned a path through the swamp, scaring away any swamp monsters and allowing her men to travel on a safe path. It attracted attention but they were sitting ducks outside of the gate.

Synthara also accidentally stepped in unidentified slime, she pouted at not having boots on.

“I hate swamps!” Synthara said tearfully as she exploded everything around her in a tantrum, much to the dismay of her men. Part of her yearned to fly back to the gate by herself but the men needed her to make a path through the swamp.

By the time they managed to leave the swamp, they lost 5000 men and 5 cannons. It was only thanks to Synthara and her paladin’s overwhelming might that the losses were not worse.

However, they came back to the gate to find it under heavy assault.

“The gate must always be open.” Augustus said, invoking his soul armament.

“This is the perfect time to try out our new cannon darlings, form up!”

Synthara’s column advanced under the cover fire of the cannons, blowing holes in the Ougonian ranks with explosive shots.

Fire, step, reload, step, ram, step, cock, step, fire. The advancing column of undead musketeers moved like a perfectly oiled machine, unloading countless volleys of shot per second into the Ougonite ranks.

“Guns are banned. Explosives are banned.” Augustus said.

Suddenly her army’s muskets and cannons felt heavier and more cumbersome. Their rate of fire reduced drastically. Synthara also heard the bugle sound, the instrument that commands cavalry. She saw that a line of cavalry was charging towards her column.

“Square up and prepare to receive cavalry!” She shouted at the musketeers.

The musketeers, being of singular mind and purpose, followed their orders with inhuman discipline and quickness. Within seconds their column had formed into seven separate squares of 5,000 men that were four ranks deep with the cannons safely inside the squares. With their bayonets fixed, the cavalry could only circle around the squares to find an opening to break through as their charges into packed squares only resulted in being stabbed by bayonets or being shot by infantry.

Synthara had to break through the center line before they recovered and make an opening for her reinforcements to enter the gate safely.

“Dark Paladins! To me! Charge!”

Synthara blew holes in the ranks of the enemy center which the paladins took advantage of. Combined with allied fire from atop the canyons, they laid into the infantry with such speed and power that they were forced back from the gate to regroup. The siege towers were also destroyed by fireballs.

Synthara took a moment to look back at her infantry squares, who sent the cavalry to flight but were now under attack by flying angels.

“Fall back into the gate!” Synthara cried out as she leapt in the air along with her paladins to beat off the angels.

After some brutal fighting, the reinforcements managed to retreat into the safety of the gates.

“Closing the gates is forbidden.” Augustus said.

Synthara’s gatekeepers found out to their horror that the controls to the gates no longer worked. They fell back to the 2nd gate as the Ougonites regrouped and charged again.

With their reinforcements, they were able to fend off the enemy at the end of the day. At the cost of 20,000 casualties. With their reinforcements they were now at 97,000 men. But Synthara could feel herself growing tired and running out of mana. She had to rest for one day and leave the defense of tomorrow to her officers.

Day 8

Two days passed and they were pushed back to the 4th gate. The Ougonites used the Sanctus Umbra to sneak in and open the gates at the cost of their lives by blowing themselves up. Synthara needed to do something to turn the tide around.

In the middle of the night she snuck past the angel sky patrols and flew all the way to Ort within a day without resting. She secretly snuck into the city, which was still holding fast albeit struggling, and talked to Jarl Zhuul who albeit reluctantly allowed her to take Nidhogg from Ort along with a small amount of Wyverns. When asked about the status of Wilhelm and Morgan, he said that Wilhelm has defeated the Qin forces in the east and is planning to relieve Ort in less than 2 weeks.

Synthara sighed internally even as she kept up her bravado. “That is sufficient, I can continue to hold off the enemy at gates now that I have Nidhogg.”

“Good, I can continue doing what I can here my lady. Thanks to you, Jupiter’s forces are losing their momentum, I think we can hold out for a little longer.”

‘At least my suffering is helpful I suppose.’

Synthara spent the night at Ort and flew back with Nidhogg in the morning. She arrived in style, starting off the battle with dragon fire destroying all of the Ougonite forces on one side of the canyon in one sweeping blast.

“Wake up boys! It's time for breakfast!”

Her undead forces immediately got to work attacking the enemy from atop the canyons.

Synthara flew into the main Ougonite force with a barrage of fire from her and her dragon, aiming to do as much damage as she could before they responded.

“Dragons are forbidden.” Augustus said.

When Synthara felt Nidhogg below her slacken and slowed down, she immediately had him fall back. However, due to her surprise attack, her forces were back at the first gate again.