- Blue: Cult of the Flaming Excess
- Yellow: Ashlan Militia
- White: Conflict Zones
MERCY OF THE FAITHFUL
CITY OF ELBURN: HAST
"Crack....Bang...Boom!"
Those were the sounds heard by the Ashlan Assembled Militia as another round of motors slammed into the walls of the upper courtyard. The walls held after such a deadly assault upon them only due to the blessings of ashla placed upon them by the faithful protectors of the city of elburn. Outnumbered and outgunned as the only place they really had control was the upper courtyard, where the ancient cathedral lay. The Cult of Flaming Excess had struck where the ashlan's patrols were most weakest. Bypassing their surveillance systems that no doubt monitored the region for sith activity. How they had managed to do it was a mystery that had to be answered but for now the city was in critical state with much of the populace having been butchered or taken as slaves for the Cult. The brave people that remained to fight the invading cult had been united underneath the flames of ashla and would not surrender until their very breaths gave out.
However brave they might be, fear gripped them like a tide. Small in number they were and poorly trained due to them being hastily assembled as the city was under siege. The elderly and the woman and children had made the dangerous journey through the streets to seek protection from the ashlan militia. Welcoming them inside with haste before resealing the gates to the upper courtyard, they had been hidden within the ancient cathedral to Saint Edith. Among them would be the Grand Theogonist of Rites, Hemmel Barnathor the VIII who had left the borders of the Ashlan Crusade on a pilgrimage across the stars to turn more people into worshipping ashla as their patron deity. Having arrived on hast to convert the population into worship of ashla to prevent them from turning to bogan in desperate times. The cult seemed to know when the theogonist had arrived, as the city was under siege by their forces within the hour.
Sir Celtic would arrive within the cathedral, where the Grand Theogonist was performing wards to protect the people inside the cathedral from the taint of bogan that was now spreading throughout the city. His armor dirty and torn from the fierce fighting within the lower courtyard and the city, having returned back after clearing an alleyway near the upper courtyard gate of sabotagers. Placing his rapier back into its sheath, as he climbed up the steps to the solute of the Holy Guardsman of the Militia at the door. "Your Holiness, we have lost several sectors of the lower courtyard and the cult's forces are rapidly advancing." Sir Celtic said as he opened up the doors into the mighty cathedral of faith. "Our forces are dwindly by the hour, and I fear the city will fall by the hour if help does not arrive." He further added to inform hemmel of the disaster waiting to happen.
"Trust in your faith, Sir Celtic. We will survive the siege to come. However we are in a dire situation and must pull back our remaining forces within the lower courtyard and the city in order to reinforce our position here." Hemmel said with a soldem expression, turning to face the Captain of the Ashlan Militia. He didn't want to abandon the citizens still trapped inside the war zones but he couldn't let the cult have access to the women and children underneath his protection. They would no doubt make them work with heavy machinery and industry or much worse things such as slavery. "Your Holiness, we cannot abandon the city to the invaders. We swore an oath to these people to stand with them through the hard times." Sir Celtic replied back with a slight shock expression on his bearded face, he himself was from hast but fortunately had some form of military training to become the overall commander of the Militia Assembled.
"We have no other choice, Sir Celtic. Unless we can get the cathedrals transponder tower working." Hemmel replied back, moving on his walking wooden stick. Looking over to the small control panel that activated the transponder tower, and moving closer with Sir Celtic not far behind him. "But that thing is eons old at this point, we cannot reach the ashlan crusade with such a weak signal." Sir Celtic replied, concerned about the age and model of the control panel. Besides they didn't have the new transmissions code for the crusade to even reach them. Hemmel would agree with a sigh, praying to ashla that someone would respond to the weak signal from the tower as he turned it on and input his old ashlan codes. Hemmel's faith would not be shaken, no matter how the situation turned out. He would gladly lay down his life to protect the people within the cathedral.
[POV: Urgaust the Enchanter]
The Cult of Flaming Excess had struck when the iron was most weakest, when the faith of ashla was lowest and when the crusade was too busy to stop them. They had chosen the world of hast due to its proximity to the ashlan crusade's borders but far enough away to avoid detection. The Elixir of Revelation, the mind crushing substance would build them an army of loyal followers of the Aethru. Disturbing them throughout the planet was not hard due to the lack of a trained army to challenge them. The very people of the planet had been transformed into a legion of unwavering excess, ready to throw themselves at the defenders of Elburn and tear the cathedral down. To replace the ancient religion with the power that they craved. Although the legion had only basic weaponry such as pikes, swords, mauls, slug rifle. The quality of the troop didn't matter as they evenly matched the untrained militia assembled by Hemmel and Sir Celtic.
Out of all the Lieutenants of the Three Magisters of Excess, The Gruag Shaman Urgaust the Enchanter had been chosen due to his power of the elements and natural drive to succeed. Standing upon a rocky outcrop, where his assembled camp was. His legions had made good progress within the city, having complete control of the outlands. Bombarding the city with motors by the hour, leaving nothing for the defenders to hide under.
However he snarled at the lack of progress of breaking the upper courtyard, but was quite pleased with himself when the ashlan militia had started to withdraw from the combat zone of the lower courtyard and the main city. Any smart commander wouldn't press the attack, but he wanted to end this fight quickly and thus sent the order for the mortars to fire around the clock never stopping until the walls fell and they flooded the city with foul worship.
"RAIN DOWN DEATH UPON MY ENEMIES, FIREBALL STORM!"
Urgaust shouted with a bellow that no doubt shook the very landscape, raising his bone staff within the air as the foul sorcery contained within would be unleashed into the sky. Unnatural Storm Clouds would emerge above the city as the skies poured fire using a combination of alter environment and pyrokinesis to achieve this effect. The fireballs slammed into house after house and into the streets. Slaying dozens of his own supporters but they were worthless within his eyes, as they glowed green with immense power. His dusty robes flew behind him. He kept up the attack upon the city to force them into surrendering and personally slay the Grand Theogonist with his own hands.
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