The Trio appeared in a swirl of magic just outside the city of the Shadowthicket, a blanket of twilight covering their arrival. Akil immediately cast a spell to understand the situation, his detection magic items were going off all over the Shadowthicket.
[Farsight]
As his vision expanded to encompass the Shadowthicket a veritable army of robed figures appeared. There was a quarter circle of them encompassing the north to the west of the city where the Shadowthicket was thickest. His cursory count gave him over 1500 figures.
He turned and faced the siblings who were waiting for him expectantly. “Prepare yourselves, Graycott is partially surrounded, there is going to be a battle.” They both looked at him solemnly, “How long do we have?” Tristan asked. Akil put up one finger, indicating that it would take a moment.
Akil cast a spell to send a message to Lord Oberyn.
[Sending]
“Muster the troops, Graycott is about to be engaged by an enemy. Also, I am about to do some major renovations to the outside of the town, relay the message to those manning the gates not to stop me.”
Akil began casting spells to prepare for the invaders.
[Undetectable Scrying]
First he sent a scrying spell to the area where he saw their leader, this allowed him to hear the conversations they were having. Through this he learned that they would begin their attack at midnight which gave them about 4 hours of preparations. He conveyed this to the siblings who began their own preparations.
[Major Illusion]
While he was scrying he covered the area in front of the Shadowthicket with a large curtain of an illusion. This illusion would throw off any attempt at scouting that the enemy did during this time period.
[Heroic Spell: Delayed Daylight]
Then he placed a miniature sun above the northwestern ramparts to illuminate the outside and remove the advantage they would receive for attacking under the cover of night. He attached it to a command word so he could trigger it when the attack started.
[Quickened Spell: Planar Binding - Bardic Lamia] x 4
Next he summoned and bound 4 Lamia bards, he reached into his pack and gave them each a magical Lyre of Building then handed two of them decanters of endless water. The lyres would allow them to do the work that a hundred laborers could do in an hour in only ten minutes. He told them to begin digging two trenches around the city, prioritizing the western and northern walls, the inner one filled with water and the outer filled with stone spikes. At the beginning there was frantic scuttling around on top of the walls but Lord Oberyn's decree reached the rank and file guards causing them to calm down slightly. They ended up just watching the lamia’s work in awe. It wasn’t the first time they had seen monsters on their side via summoners and monster tamers but this was the first time most of them had seen such a wealth of magic items.
The work continued for 3 and 50 minutes, the moat and the spike trench was finished so he repositioned the lamia on top of the wall to inspire the troops using their bardic power. Akil covered the spike trench in another Major Illusion effectively creating a trap for the first wave of enemies.
The siblings started to refresh the buffs they had on themselves as well as cast some higher level ones that they had been holding back on in front of The Righteous Flame. Lord Oberyn had managed to gather troops from the city and had gathered around 500 strong defenders ready with longbows on top of the ramparts. They even managed to gather around 25 hunters through emergency hunter missions.
The nervous calm before battle fell over the defenders, an eerie silence hung in the air as they prepared themselves mentally for the upcoming battle. Akil had told Oberyn about the numbers and composition of the incoming attackers so the force knew they were outnumbered. Luckily they had the element of surprise, the attackers were also lightly armored which would have been useful if they were able to infiltrate the city without much fighting but would be a liability in pitched combat.
The minutes ticked by, Akil saw through his scrying and farsight that the force began to encircle the city as midnight struck. The attackers moved silently through the shadowthicket. There was some magical support assisting in their silent approach. Akil had mentally marked the mages he saw, he planned to take care of them alongside the siblings. He saw them break the tree line and approach the walls, slinking through the open field like mice. Under their pitch black robes, daggers and shortswords could be seen, ready to slit the throats of the unsuspecting guardsman on the wall. Certain groups of the cultists carried large siege ladders to scale the large walls outside the city.
Akil was telepathically communicating with Lord Oberyn, having him hold the soldiers back from firing their arrows, his hand was held up in the air ready to be dropped at a moment's notice.
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A series of surprised screams rang out through the night as the vanguard fell through the illusory ground that hid the spiked trench. Akil simultaneously triggered the daylight spell and signaled to begin firing. Bright light washed over the battlefield causing the attackers to have a look akin to a deer caught in headlights right before a curtain of arrows turned them into pincushions. The first wave dropped before the surprised expression even left their face.
Those behind the first wave froze up, unsure of how to proceed, nothing was going according to plan. They looked behind them to their leader who was sitting in the back with a silver mask. Even through the mask it was plain to see he was just as flabbergasted as the rest of his assault crew, they expected this operation to be a massacre. They knew a justicar and a primogen had gone missing in this town and they had planned to put the city to the sword, slaughtering everyone, as a message to anyone who dared to cross their organization. From all their scouting it seemed that the city had no idea of what was about to happen, how could things have gone so wrong?
The silver masked leader straightened up, raised their hand in front forward and yelled in an androgynous voice. “The plan hasn’t changed, even with their full garrison they shouldn't be a match for this force of ours.”
The attackers all seemed to get a renewed vigor at their leader's reassurance. They moved forward, covering the illusionary trap pit with half of their ladders. Mages began casting spells to protect from the volleys of arrows that continued to rain down, severely reducing the casualties it caused. Mages from the tower went to work, dispelling the protection spells covering the attackers and occasionally casting offensive spells. The lamia bards began performing, inspiring and empowering the defenders. The sounds of pitched battle filled the air, anguished screams, the clang of metal and the swishing of arrows.
The attackers closed in on the walls where they were met with another surprise, the moat. Not only did the moat itself make it impossible to attach ladders to the wall, the area in front of the moat quickly became a muddy mess. The attackers' despair came back redoubled, it seemed like there was no way to successfully scale the wall. Some of the invaders started to turn to run, but before the first one could even reach their brains exploded out of their skull, the rest of the ones that turned to leave snapped to the silver masked leader who was holding a smoking revolver.
Meanwhile an intelligent mage on the raiders side had frozen a portion of the moat, hardening the water and the mud both. Siege ladders had finally landed on the wall. There was already a large group scaling the wall. It was at that moment that Akil decided that it was time for them to join the fray. He signaled to the siblings and all three of them took to the skies.
[Widened Intense Spell: Fireball], [Chain Lightning], [Holy Ice]
They rained down fire, lighting and ice on the attackers, taking out large swaths of enemies with each spell. Selena’s Chain Lighting was aimed at those climbing the walls, jumping from each climber, frying them instantly. Tristan was firing lances of Holy Ice, strategically skewering the mages that were covering the attackers in defensive spells. Finally Akil was dropping Fireballs focusing on large, clumped together groups. This new circumstance caused the morale of the attackers to break fully, their numbers had dwindled down to below that of the defenders and they had barely even caused any damage to them. They were routed, all running in different directions. Not even the silver masked leader executing some of those running stopped them. Akil flickered over behind the silver masked one scimitar in hand.
Broken Mirror 8th Tier: Shattered Dreams
Akil swung his scimitar through the masked figure but instead of blood and gore an illusionary effect that looked like shattered glass appeared around them. The leader crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Akil swiftly picked up the collapsed figure and teleported him to a prison on Jamiea using the chaos of the battlefield to hide his actions. Akil flew back up and rendezvoused with the siblings who then flew with him to the ramparts. The cheers of the defenders followed their flight, they recognized their contributions are what kept most of them alive. If they had known that they were the ones who warned Lord Oberyn and mustered the troops the reverence would have changed to hero worship but Akil preferred it this way.
They reached the area where Lord Oberyn had been leading, he gave a big show of waving them down to thank them. They landed in front of the chubby lord and his bleak bodyguard and gave their own show of bowing down to him.
The Lord said in his most regal voice. “Thank all three of you for your great service to my fine city. I will be sure to convey your contributions to the guild.”
“There is no need for your thanks my lord, it is our duty to protect the city we are based out of.” Akil replied smoothly.
“Nonetheless you have done a great deed today. I will be sure that everyone in the city knows of the deeds of your party.” Lord Oberyn replied.
“Thank you my lord.” The trio all answered simultaneously. Lord Oberyn nodded his head and turned to leave, his retinue moving with him.
Akil and the siblings waited several moments before flying off towards the hunters guild. Because most able bodied citizens were drafted into the defenders the streets were basically empty. They reached the guild without incident as they went through the front door, greeted with an abnormally empty guildhall. A flustered looking Marisha was sitting behind the counter, a look of relief washed over her face when the trio walked in.
“Thank the gods you guys are alright! Has the fighting ended?” She asked frantically looking at Tristan.
“Yeah the fighting has ended, there should be people returning soon, the losses were minimal on our side.” Tristan answered.
She sighed deeply, the look of worry on her face melting away like a block of ice in a furnace. “That's good to hear. I have also heard crazy things about you guys from the hunters guild in Cardended, you guys managed to take down a dungeon alongside the gold ranked party The Righteous Flame. They also wouldn’t stop singing your praises saying that you guys basically did all the work by yourself. I have been advised by the guild to immediately increase your rank to gold and to let you know that you only need to take an assessment to rank up to platinum.”