The Temple of Nergal, Part Six:
...and the Army of Nergal Shall Not Pour From the Hills
...and the Army of Nergal Shall Not Pour From the Hills
Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Klak, KlikKlik's Flying Snake construct
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Thea, Dax's red Faerie Dragon familiar
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight and Abjurationist Wizard
Baxter, Xara's red Faerie Dragon familiar
Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.
***** Thrimidge 25, 480, Demonsclaw Mountains outside the Temple of Nergal
The four of us sat down to hammer out a plan that would hopefully keep the fucking undead from pouring from the hills. We sent two people out to get more gunpowder, ammo, and other supplies, Bor to Silverton and Shanairra to Deadwood. The gunpowder was so we could blow the tunnels on the left and right again, to hopefully keep them contained.
On the way back from Silverton, Bor was attacked by a giant eagle, but he managed to defeat it. Shanairra was attacked by a vrock on her way back to camp, and hid in the trees until she lost it. It took her a little longer to return to camp, but at least she came back.
We set groups up at the front entrance and all three back entrances. The front had Illior and Manus, along with three of Klik's fighters, and a team of four from myself, Taryn, and Xara. They were instructed to hold their positions until the door opened.
The left exit had Elas and Dagna, plus five rangers and three barbarians from Klik, a team of four from Taryn, Xara, and I, and the four of us also planned to begin there. We were going to blow the tunnel when it became clear that the zombies were about to bust out. Xara really wanted to use her obnoxious didgeridoo to make the earth shake and cave in the tunnel, but that wasn't controlled enough for us to do- to appease her we said we'd let her use it as a last resort.
The center exit, which was full of the dumber zombies, we put Nar, Uthar, three druids from Klik, plus teams from the the other 3 of us. Nar was going to summon giant crabs or something to drop on the zombies when they were getting too close to escaping. The druids would also be summoning crap to help detain the zombies, and everyone else was just there for backup.
At the right tunnel we assigned Bilba, Flint, and teams from myself, Xara, and Taryn. The zombies on that side weren't quite as far along in their digging as the ones on the left were.
By the time the charges were set up it sounded like the zombies were about ten feet away from the entrance on the left, so we knew we'd have to blow this soon. Eventually I saw a small rock wiggle and go missing, so I yelled "now" at Klik and they blew the tunnel. That bought us more time, but we didn't know how much.
It was getting well into the evening when we realized we'd need to distract the zombies to prevent them from digging. At about the fourteenth hour since the mountains had shook, we began an assault. Everyone with ranged weaponry lined up at the top of the opening and we began shooting the zombies. I had one of my clerics for a sending to the mayor of Silverton while we began the fight, telling him that he had sixteen hours to evacuate before the undead were upon his town.
Our first hour of fighting went well, we only had some minor wounds on our side, and seemed to be doing some decent damage to the zombies. For the next two hours it seemed Eilistraee was smiling upon us, we were completely untouched, but they took some heavy casualties. At four hours into the battle we took some minor injuries, and we heard an explosion that announced the right side had blown their tunnel .
By our fifth hour we were starting to run low on ammo, so I did a sending to the Mage's Tower and Klik negotiated to get them to send us supplies. Aside from running low on ammo we were doing quite well thus far in this war.
It was getting very dark by the sixth hour of the war, so we had to set up light spells so we could see the damn zombies. Once the ammo arrived we were back to a constant stream of arrows, bullets, and bolts flying at the zombies. The center reported that they received a large glass sphere, with instructions on it- it sounded like a bomb. The front door reported getting a huge energy gun. Both the left and right sides were replenished with bullets.
The next three hours went really well for us, we were slaughtering the fuckers. Around the tenth hour of the fight, we received a report from the center that the zombies were about 3/4 of the way up from top.
***** Thrimidge 26, Temple of Nergal
Dawn was breaking over the horizon, making me realize it had been 25 hours since the mountain shook. We'd been fighting for eleven hours straight now, and there was no sign that the fighting would die down anytime soon. The archers on the left side were all dead, so the others began to retreat. Taryn decided to sneak around the tunnels to follow them and find out what they were up to. We left Kronthud and Elas at this side in case anythign else happened, and the rest of us took off for the right side, where there was still a fight going on. We brought Westra, Salleek, and Errich with us in flight, while the rest of our people had to take the long way around.
It took those of us who flew about an hour to arrive at the right side. They seemed to be doing well, there weren't any casualties, which was always a good thing. After another hour of fighting, a green glow came from the center exit, then I received a sending that they had dropped the bomb and killed tons of zombies.
After two more hours we'd finished off the archers on the right side, and the others began retreating like their friends on the left had. I sent a sending to Taryn, letting her know we were going to be heading to the front door. She said that the zombies were all heading to the front and the center and that she'd meet us at the center. We sent Xara and all of her people to the front, left Bilba and Amafrey at the right, then Klik, myself, and everyone else who wasn't assigned to Xara headed to the center.
We'd just gotten to the center when Taryn exited the tunnels and told us we needed to head to the front. Klik and I grabbed Westra, Salleek, and Errich again and went to the front, leaving everyone else where they were.
We reached the front at about the same time Xara's people did. After about an hour of discussion we decided to open up the door, and Taryn would blast them with the lightning gun thingy. I put my bards on rest rotations so they could keep inspiration going throughout our fight with whatever was waiting for us on the other side of that door. By the time everything was in place it had been thirty-seven hours since the mountain had shook, and twenty-five since our fight had begun.
On the other side of the door were six mundane zombies with busted swords- they'd been nothing but a distraction. Taryn destroyed them right away with that gun. It took about twenty minutes before anymore zombies came up, and once they were dead there was another pause before more arrived. Once the next wave came up the grease and web traps were triggered, slowing them down while Taryn played with the gun. After about an hour the bodies had piled up enough that the door was plugged. We decided to take a breather while the zombies worked to clear their fallen comrades.
The center was doing well at keeping the zombies at bay, but they were about 2/3 of the way to the top again. The acid bomb had only been a temporary setback for the undead. After a couple more hours they had to create walls of holy water and holy fog to hurt the swarming horde of undead. They did really well for the next five hours of battle.
It took another hour before the body heap went sliding down the stairs- but there any zombies waiting immediately on the other side of the pileup. A few heartbeats passed before a flood of zombies came pouring through the door- there ones were much better equipped than the last batch. Taryn giggled madly as she blasted them with her new toy. These guys didn't create a new plug, but we took them all down. Around the time they were dead the fancy gun stopped working- much to Taryn's disappointment.
The insane rogue ran closer to the zombies and began shooting at them, and eventually a new plug of bodies was created. We enjoyed a brief break while the undead spent another hour clearing away the plug of their redead. The next couple of hours were difficult, since there were generals coming through now. Eventually we took them out, but they certainly weren't making it easy on us. Around the thirty-fourth hour of combat we had the rogues get traps ready so we could fall back to our next barricade. We'd taken down a couple of generals, but they certainly weren't making this easy on us.
After we fell back and set off the traps, Klik used her javelin of lightning, which damaged the generals- or possibly major generals, these guys were more powerful- hurting their forces enough that they began to retreat. I received a sending that the army was finally fucking here, so we sent them all to the center. Leaving everyone to hold the front, Taryn, Klik, Xara, and I went to the center to help them; I'd received a report that they were nearly overwhelmed and had to fall back.
***** Thrimidge 27, Temple of Nergal
When we got to the center we saw undead swarming over the the side of the mountain, over the first barricade, and going straight for our troops. Everyone but Taryn jumped in to help fight them back at that point- she had a plan and was waiting for the guys who had retreated to arrive at this tunnel.
I summoned a planetar in the form of a beautiful, nude, drow woman with wings and a beautiful longsword. She began hacking at the undead while I started using my gifts from Eilistraee to destroy them in bunches. We beat the undead back, pushing them back over the battlements. Things were looking up when a massive explosion rocked the mountain- Taryn.
Taryn had been waiting for the bigger zombies to arrive, and as soon as they appeared she dropped a massive bomb on them. It was a bag of holding filled with 200 pounds of gunpowder and 900 bullets, and it destroyed everything in its path.
All that were left at this point were the smaller zombies, which we had the military take over. It had been forty-nine hours since the mountain had split, and thirty-seven of that was battle; we needed a rest. Klik said we needed to resign from the military now, and we all agreed. War fucking sucks.
