Chapter 28: Spear vs Ax
The plains south of Gazahanar are filled with soldiers. To the south, Vosk’s army forms a curve around the Emperor’s own, utilizing positional advantage. In exchange for that advantage, however, The Emperor’s forces can retreat to the city wall at any time, such as to extract their wounded from the battlefield or make a last stand.
Vosk is keeping his forces together, but even then, he has less humans deployed than the capital’s army. He’s declined to split his forces, so the Emperor doesn’t have to worry about splitting his own units up to defend the western approach to the city. As a result, nearly every able-bodied man is attached to the main defensive force due south of the capital.
The numbers are nearly even if you count monsters. If you take the true combat potential of the monsters into account, they may even shift the balance of power in favor of Vosk. Controlling monsters on the battlefield is quite different than commanding humans; the worth of the monsters will depend a great deal on how they are managed.
Vosk gives the order to attack. Ranks of monsters charge imperial soldiers, followed closely by the bulk of humans serving in the rebellion. Shortly before the two armies meet, the imperial soldiers create gaps, allowing mercenaries hired from the Guild to take the front line. These warriors and their parties are far more adept at fighting monsters than career soldiers.
At the rate the monsters are advancing, first blood is barely ten seconds away. Eight. Five. The monsters lock on to their targets, as do the defending adventurers. Imperial archers prepare to release the first salvo over the heads of their companions.
The monsters all along the lines of battle come to an abrupt stop just a few meters short of the enemy. The human soldiers behind them are forced to wait as well. Confused squad leaders hesitate, unsure if they should give the command to fire at will. Each monster turns around, facing the rebels they were leading just a moment before. The rebels instinctively attempt to step back, but they simply bump into the people behind them.
The monsters attack. Minotaurs swing their axes. Kobolds grapple for any weapons or armor they can get their paws on. A few monsters even shapeshift to look just like the rebels. The humans are too shocked by the sudden development to organize a proper resistance.
This is the perfect time for the adventurers and imperial soldiers to charge, but they too are too perplexed to react quickly. They tighten their formation while monitoring the odd behavior of the monsters. The gap between them and the monsters grows wider.
Then the imperial commanders to the rear start panicking. They just received reports from the city that additional armies are approaching Gazahanar from the northwest. In addition, a small fleet of warships is bearing down on Gazahanar from the northeast, unopposed. There’s still time; the Empire needs to send a portion of the soldiers from this battlefield to the northwest wall and another portion to the harbor. If they can stall on those two fronts, help will arrive. For the moment, the flow of battle is oddly in the Empire’s favor.
Those same commanders look back at the city and see smoke rising from various locations. Although the reports haven’t arrived yet, they can surely guess that spies have started fires at key points in the city to weaken the defenses. Depending on how far the spies have infiltrated, it’s even possible there’s been an attempt on the Emperor’s life at this critical moment.
Although hundreds of Vosk’s soldiers have fallen in just a couple of minutes, the monsters are taking serious losses too. Despite the interference of various tentacles spawning out of the ground, the humans are turning the tide. Soon, they’ll be stepping over the corpses of inhuman creatures as they resume their charge against the enemy. The adventurers have already begun retreating behind the imperial soldiers after seeing the fate of all the monsters.
Meanwhile, an sixth of the army’s rear is being redirected to the north to reinforce the city’s northwest wall. Another eighth or so is being sent northeast toward the harbor. The main imperial army won’t be able to hold with these numbers, even after considering the damage the out-of-control monsters caused at the start.
Just as the Empire’s main army comes to the realization that they won’t be able to hold, everyone’s attention is drawn to a spectacle above the capital. Thousands, no, tens of thousands of soldiers are dropping from the sky. Each one is strapped to a large round tapestry that helps arrest their descent. Even from the air, they rain down destruction on Vosk’s forces. Continuous popping noises herald the release of invisible projectiles which pierce most armor and shred the enemy. Now that the new arrivals have allied themselves with the defenders, it’s clear that the Emperor is going to emerge victorious.
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DM’s mental simulation got a little silly toward the end there, but it was pretty obvious that simply having his monsters change sides at the last moment wasn’t going to be enough to save Gazahanar from Vosk’s rebellion. Further, just winning wasn’t enough to satisfy DM. Letting so many thousands of people die unnecessarily, even if the capital was ultimately defended, seemed like a big failure.
DM was going to need to consider several alternatives. One, a method proven at the Battle for the Twin Cities, was to share with the Emperor intelligence regarding the enemy’s plans. That alone would make a huge difference. Two, DM could personally sabotage the foot soldiers northwest of Gazahanar and the fleet near Zaranar. Third, the cooperation of monsters and the Emperor’s defenders could be pre-planned to prevent the problems that occurred in DM’s simulation.
Perhaps the plan with the greatest potential return on investment was to try and prevent the battle from ever happening. It seemed to DM like everyone was just taking Vosk’s word for it that the Emperor had usurped the throne. If he could convince them, either with words or a tentacle, that the Emperor was innocent, Vosk’s alliance could fall apart at a crucial moment. While DM was thinking about how to accomplish that, his aerial scout noticed something surprising in the hills northwest of Baram.
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Sasha’s party led Lupy and the rest of her friends out the western gate of Baram so they wouldn’t cause any trouble for the local population. Knowing that the south was currently off limits, they walked to a clearing northwest of the city in the direction of Nazibarar. Once they were out of sight, Lupy unsheathed her axes and awaited instructions.
“Remember, this is just a sparring match. We stop when one of us is the obvious victor, or if blood is drawn, or if either of us give up. I swear on this spear that I will fight honorably. Will you do the same?”
Lupy shook her head. “Why would I swear on your spear? I’ll swear on my axes.”
“Th–That’s good.” The older brother turned to Sasha. “Would you do the honors?”
“Oh, uh, sure. Get ready! Start!”
The younger brother placed his hand on the falcon’s feet, anchoring the bird in place and signaling it not to fly off or attack anyone even as the sparring match progressed.
Without delay, the spear flew at Lupy’s shoulder. When it was just a forearm’s length shy, both of Lupy’s axes rose from below and intercepted the spear at the socket, attempting to snap the blade off at the weapon’s weakest point.
Her opponent’s attack deflected, he pulled the spear back and leaped away. Since Lupy did not immediately pursue, he pulled in his spear close to examine the damage. He could see two indents where the bit of each ax cut into the metal slightly. The weapon wouldn’t be able to survive many exchanges like that one. As it was, he would need to bring the spear in for repairs. Still, he wasn’t giving up.
Meanwhile, Lupy glanced at her axes. They were fine; the bits were still sharp and hardly nicked, so she stepped toward her opponent. Slowly. When she was a few paces away her opponent sprung to action again.
He spun around once while closing the distance between them, swinging his spear in a big arc so the blade would approach Lupy from her left side. As it closed in on the side of her upper arm, she turned to face the attack. The socket once again made contact with Lupy’s axes, except this time it was the corners between the head and shaft that stopped the spear. Surfaces like those wouldn’t do any damage to the socket while defending, but that wasn’t Lupy’s aim.
She twisted her right wrist to change the positioning of her ax. The spear was now caught in between the head and shaft of the two axes.
He yanked the spear back, trying to slip it back out through the space between the two opposed axes, but the spear’s wings caught. He yanked harder, trying to overpower Lupy.
Her feet slid along the grass. Although she was unusually strong for her age, her opponent still had a clear bodyweight advantage over her. Fortunately for her, winning a straight-up tug of war wasn’t necessary for victory. She let go of her right ax and transferred her hand to the spear’s shaft. Just as her right ax swung free and fell head-first toward the ground, she caught it on the top of her foot and launched it at her opponent with a kick. Her balance was spoiled, but her opponent’s attention was drawn to the approaching ax and he failed to capitalize.
While the ax was flying, Lupy wiggled her left ax free from the spear and pivoted counterclockwise, raising the ax above her head in an arc. At the same time, she used her right hand as a pivot point, pushing on the spear to give herself additional speed. The change from pulling to pushing the spear was so abrupt and her opponent was so distracted by the projectile ax that he failed to interrupt her motion.
Just as he leaned his body out of the way of the flying ax, he noticed a second ax descending at his waist from an angle. He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, bracing for the unavoidable impact which could possibly claim his leg in one go. In the final moment before contact, he prayed that his opponent would stop the ax immediately before drawing blood and declare victory.
That’s not what happened. The ax struck his side quite forcefully. However, it wasn’t the bit that made contact—it was the butt. Instead of a blade digging into his body, the full weight of the ax’s attack transferred to his side through the heavy rear of the ax head.
Just as he was taking the impact, Lupy pulled again on the spear with her right hand, this time wresting it free from his grip. She swung the spear in an arc, tracing the path her left arm had just taken, now using her right arm. As the spear was approaching, he fell down to the ground from the first blow by the ax.
Lupy stabbed the spear’s point into her opponent’s collar, pinning his head and neck to the ground. With her left hand, she brought her ax back around and lowered the bit menacingly to his neck. She released the spear, which remained vertical with the blade buried in the ground, and brought her right hand to his chin, twisting his head to look her in the eyes. “I forgot to ask how many rounds we’re doing.”