The Battle (March 835)

The forces Aitun and Mallein gathered march on the fortress of the Defiler. The night before they are set to reach the battlefield Aitun and Temuchar ask for the dwarf mage Nordor to attend them. They ask her what manner of magics she wields and receive from her several runes of blasting which Aitun gives to his lieutenants in hopes they will help break the charge. Nordor is asked to ride with Aitun's elite unit when the time for battle comes. As their conversation is coming to a close Groz arrives. He has come ahead of the forest orc forces to gather information about where they will fight in the battle. The three (Aitun, Temuchar, and Groz) decide that the levies will be front and center with Aitun's warriors of Aeoman backing them up. The Wolves of Cherinal (the mercenary company) will be held in reserve. The spearmen will be split into two companies on each side of the main force. It is suggested that the orc forces split and each take a flank. Groz promises to discuss this with the orcs. During their conversation a great racket begins outside. The mercenary company that has been hired to do battle with them has picked a fight with one of Aitun's men. Aitun and Temuchar break up the fight with promises that there will be plenty of bloodshed tomorrow if they can just contain themselves until then. 

The next day the company is joined by the orcs and arrives in the field before the Wall. Smoke is billowing from the door in the cliff where the Defiler dwells. As they arrive an eye is seen flying towards them from the door. Nordor shoots it out of the sky with a lucky shot and the company goes about setting up for battle. As the day progresses more and more smoke pours out of the door. Finally, a group emerges from the door. An army of the dead rises from corpses piled around the door and they are joined by cave trolls. The army readies itself as the cave trolls charge. Those of Aitun's men given blasting runes prepare to use them. The cave trolls charge forward followed closely by an army of the dead. The lines hold steady against the tide rushing toward them. Aitun's men hurl their blasting runes and the oncoming front falters. Several of the trolls go down but still the army comes on. The armies meet and the charge breaks against the forces of good.

The irregulars at the center are dangerously depleted by the charge and Aitun sends the Wolves forward to hold the center against the enemy. A runner brings news that the pikemen on either side are faltering. The party splits, Aitun and Groz going to one side and Temuchar and Nordor going to the other (each accompanied by some of Aitun's warriors). Aitun heroically charges through the faltering line yelling encouragements to the troops and helps to bring down a troll. With his help the pikemen push forward and retake the ground they lost. Temuchar and Nordor find the line crumbling and rush to shore it up. Temuchar is unseated from her mount and the situation looks dire. She sends a messenger to get help and fights with the pikemen against two oncoming trolls. They are soon joined by Aitun and Groz and together they bring down the trolls and hold the line. As the second troll falls they see a huge cave troll coming towards them out of the smoke that covers the battlefield surrounded by a guard of orcs, two of which have gems inset into one of their eye sockets. The troll carries a stone on its back that glows with the same light as the gems do. The the troll and its guard almost manage to push through the line, but one by one the party picks them off. At last the troll falls when the stone it carries is shattered. 

Having stabilized the lines the party moves back towards the center, only to be met by an orc runner from the right flank. He tells the party that the right flank is breaking and that there are balls of fire demolishing their forces. The party splits again, leaving Aitun and his warriors to help hold the center, Temuchar, Groz, and Nordor move to shore up the right flank. Upon arrival they find that things are worse than they thought. Three balls of fire are moving through the field, advancing on them and the few orcs left defending. One of them stops and in a flash of fire two orcs standing near the party are burned away. The party watches as another rolls forward and consumes another orc. Temuchar tries to shoot at the flame to no effect. Nordor enchants Groz so that he cannot be harmed by flame (temporarily) and Groz takes on one of the balls of flame with his axe. Stepping into it, he finds that there is a skull and spinal cord in the heart of the blaze. Though it resists Groz is able to destroy the skull. When he does so the fire is extinguished. He moves to another and struggles with it while Nordor throws a blast of force at the other. The blast wafts the flame away from the skull and in that moment Temuchar shoots, wounding it. Groz still struggles with the other, and the enchantment is close to fading. At last he defeats it, and then, with almost no time left, he moves to kill the third. Just as it begins to burn him he deals it a devastating blow, killing the last of them. At the center of the battle, Aitun holds the line for a last, desperate push from the enemy. Just as the last wave falls, through the door in the cliff come eight floating, glowing eyes that raise in a circle over the battlefield, directly over Aitun and his men...