If DP's answer means what I think it does, I don't think we can easily blow the mists away because they're physically linked to the corporeal Undead marching for our forces. A Control Winds spell could still do it, though. It just needs to be strong enough to blow the corporeal Undead back, too.
One of the reasons every attack being used against the Rat King is an AoE is that they cannot be reflected using Spell Turning effects. They're also able to strike from much further away, limiting options for retaliation.
Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Aug 7, 2020 at 4:56 AM, finished with 35 posts and 14 votes.
[X] Kill him at once, the lines will hold -[X] Dany will target him with a Dimensional Lock using Inspired Spell, while Viserys targets him with a Maximized Shadow of the Doom, and Lya and Tyene both target him with Sunburst spells. They all use Assay Spell Resistance. If the Rat King is destroyed, they will all reorient and move to destroy the Devouring Mists as quickly as possible, primarily using Sunburst spells where possible. -[X] Nirah joins the battle, Teleporting himself, Yrael, and the four Guardian Nagas who had been with the Reserve forces. He will prepare to help blunt the attack from the remaining Undead and the Devouring Mist, along with the Heralds, Fiery Dragonbeasts, and Plant servitors who have not yet used their Sunburst SLAs. --[X] Plant servitors will also use their Entangle SLAs to hinder and trap the approaching Undead. If the Devouring Mists are indeed physically linked to their corporeal fellows, slowing their advance will affect the Mists as well and give our forces more time to eliminate them.
Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Aug 7, 2020 at 4:56 AM, finished with 35 posts and 14 votes.
[X] Kill him at once, the lines will hold -[X] Dany will target him with a Dimensional Lock using Inspired Spell, while Viserys targets him with a Maximized Shadow of the Doom, and Lya and Tyene both target him with Sunburst spells. They all use Assay Spell Resistance. If the Rat King is destroyed, they will all reorient and move to destroy the Devouring Mists as quickly as possible, primarily using Sunburst spells where possible. -[X] Nirah joins the battle, Teleporting himself, Yrael, and the four Guardian Nagas who had been with the Reserve forces. He will prepare to help blunt the attack from the remaining Undead and the Devouring Mist, along with the Heralds, Fiery Dragonbeasts, and Plant servitors who have not yet used their Sunburst SLAs. --[X] Plant servitors will also use their Entangle SLAs to hinder and trap the approaching Undead. If the Devouring Mists are indeed physically linked to their corporeal fellows, slowing their advance will affect the Mists as well and give our forces more time to eliminate them.
It would not be until much later that Jaelar would learn what had caused the earth to weep blood and the enemy to strike with all the power of the damned. They said the Rat King of Gornath perished in fire and light, and his malice came upon the army making them more than they were.
In that one moment all the young corporal could do was fight and kill, draw every breath as though it were his last and in his mind pray with all his heart to Snake, Sea and Tree, for he had not the breath to do otherwise. Skulls, not dry but somehow still dripping with gore, leered at the Torchbearers like the promise of their inevitable deaths.
They did not smash against the line, they did not need to. The things could vanish in one place and rise in another out of a puddle of blood. Legionaries died screaming as their backs were torn open, others were pushed into nests of dead rats, but none were quite as horrifying as the ones who fell to the mists. Mouths open unnaturally wide they breathed in the foul stuff, they twitched and writhed and something spoke through them: "YoU CAnnot kILL US fOr WE ARE LEGION!"
Jaelar would also never forget the time when a minotaur of the first assault company cut the poor bastard's head off shouting: "We's the Legion, not you!"
Naga mages swift as golden streams through the chaos of the battle added their strange magics to the fray, here breaking an enchantment, there spitting poison fit to melt steel. With his own eyes Jaelar watched the light fade from one's gaze and he could find no fear there even as it bled out onto the cursed earth, only a detached sort of frustration.
"I will not long remain in death's embrace, young one, see... to... yourself," the serpent mage hissed with its dying breath. Jaelar, who had been ready to defend the corpse as he would have one of his own squad, stepped back surprised but in no small measure relieved, the enemy was pressing hard through the holes the bloody bones had made in the lines of the ranks of the Torchbearers. If it had not been for the valor of the assault companies and the magics of the Legion's own sorcerers the defense might have shattered entirely.
Golden lights shone above like new-made stars. At first each had seemed bright enough to sear the eye that looked directly upon it... but they seemed dimmer by the moment. With a start Jaelar realized that it was his own sight that was dimming. Might not be able to keep my promise to the snake after all...
Like a curtain suddenly raising healing fire descended upon him and theirs, almost directly above his embattled squad was Wisdom Vee looking very different from the only other time he had seen her in the Houses of Healing, as a immigrant new come to Sorcerer's Deep hoping magic might help his mother's wasting sickness. Not that one would think to disrespect the Lady of Beasts even then no matter how young she looked, but here in the midst of battle she seemed like a spirit of the wild raised in wrath.
The earth heaved like seawater and giants of stone and soil were birthed from it, smashing at the dead with firsts of stone. Then the great darkenbeasts descended from the sky, big as dragons and just as fierce, but ridden by Legion men all. A torrent of fire poured upon the breach so fierce that even though Jaelar was thirty paces back from it he felt the sweat and blood dry on his face.
Oh, I was bleeding from the head, that explained why he hadn't noticed. Da always said better to lose a hand than smash you head, the soldier thought.
The horns sounded the regroup, the red mist was growing thinner under the power of the magics above. They would win this, the corporal thought trying to block out the faces of men and women he had been jesting and laughing with just a day before. He would see them in his dreams of that he was certain, but that was the night's trouble and now he had to ensure he would see sunset.
Overall Result: Torchbearer lines briefly in danger of breaking due to teleporting foes. Reinforcements from the 6th and 7th legions advancing to help the front hold.
Legion Losses:
Moderate to the First and Eighth Assault Infantry
Light to the Ninth Assault Infantry the First and Eighth Heavy Infantry
Minor to the Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Assault infantry
Special Forces Loses:
3 Nagas
17 Minotaurs
1 Erinyes
What do you do next?
[] Focus on getting rid of the mist, that seems to be what is binding everything together
[] Focus on getting killing the Bloody Bones, enemies that can teleport make it difficult to hold a coherent line
[] Focus on the rat swarms, while not the most dangerous foe physically thanks to the banners, they have a much larger effect on morale
[] Write in
OOC: This one cost you a lot more in terms of Legion deaths, though surprisingly no minor PCs. I almost wrote this part about how Morwyn and Tuin coming in from the reserves saved Thoros of Myr, but that happened too late in the phase to give you guys a proper idea of what happened strategically.
Overall Result: Torchbearer lines briefly in danger of breaking doe to teleporting foes. Reinforcements from the 6th and 7th legions advancing to help the front hold.
Legion Losses:
Moderate to the First and Eight Assault Infantry
Light to the Ninth Assault infantry the First and Eight Heavy infantry
Minor to the Sixth and Seventh and Ninth Assault infantry
It would not be until much later that Jaelar would learn what had caused the earth to weep blood and the enemy to strike with all the power of the damned. They said the Rat King of Gornath perished in fire and light and his malice came upon the army, making them more than they were.
In that one moment all the young corporal could do was fight and kill, draw every breath as though it were his last and in his mind pray with all his heart to Snake, Sea, and Tree, for he had not the breath to do otherwise. Skulls not dry but somehow still dripping gore leered at the Torchbearers like the promise of their inevitable death.
They did not smash against the line, they did not need to. The things could vanish in one place and rise in another out of a puddle of blood. Legionaries died screaming as their backs were torn open, others were pushed into nests of dead rats, but none were quite as horrifying as the ones who fell to the mists. Mouths open unnaturally wide they breathed in the foul stuff, they twitched and writhed and something spoke through them, "YoU CAnnot kILL US, fOr WE ARE LEGION!"
Jaelar would also never forget the time when a minotaur of the First Assault company cut the poor bastard's head off shouting, "We's the Legion, not you!"
Naga mages swift as golden screams through the chaos of the battle added their strange magics to the fray, here breaking an enchantment, there spitting poison fit to melt steel. With his own eyes, Jaelar watched the light fade from one's gaze and he could find no fear there even as it bled out into the cursed earth, only a detached sort of frustration.
"I will not long remain in death's embrace, young one, see... to... yourself," the serpent mage hisses with its dying breath. Jaelar, who had been ready to defend the corpse as he would have one of his own squad, stepped back, surprised but in no small measure relieved, as the enemy was pressing hard through the holes the bloody bones had made in the lines of the ranks of the Torchbearers. If it had not been for the valor of the assault companies and the magics of the legion's own sorcerers, the defense might have shattered entirely.
Golden lights shone above, like new-made stars. At first each had seemed bright enough to sear the eye that looked directly upon it... but they seemed dimmer by the moment. With a start, Jaelar realized it was his own sight that was dimming. Might not be able to keep my promise to the snake after all...
Like a curtain suddenly raising, healing fire descended upon him and there, almost directly above his embattled squad, was Wisdom Vee looking very different from the only other time he had seen her in the Houses of Healing as an immigrant new come to Sorcerer's Deep, hoping magic might help his mother's wasting sickness. Not that one would think to disrespect the Lady of Beasts even then, no matter how young she looked, but here in the midst of battle she seemed like a spirit of the wild raised in wrath.
The earth heaved like sea water and giants of stone and soil were birthed from it, smashing at the dead with firsts of stone. Then the Great Darkenbeasts descended from the sky, big as dragons and just as fierce, but ridden by legion men all. A torrent of fire poured upon the breach so fierce that though Jaelar was thirty paces back from it, he felt the sweat and blood dry on his face.
Oh, I was bleeding from the head. That explained why he hadn't noticed. Da always said better to lose a hand than smash your head, the soldier thought. The horns sounded the call to regroup, the red mist was growing thinner under the power of the magics above. They would win this, the corporal thought, trying to block out the faces of men and women he had been jesting and laughing with just a day before. He would see them in his dreams of that he was certain, but that was the night's trouble and now he had to ensure he would see sunset.
Overall Result: Torchbearer lines briefly in danger of breaking due to teleporting foes. Reinforcements from the 6th and 7th legions advancing to help the front hold.
Legion Losses:
Moderate to the First and Eight Assault Infantry
Light to the Ninth Assault infantry the First and Eight Heavy infantry
Minor to the Sixth and Seventh and Ninth Assault infantry
Special Forces Loses:
3 Nagas
17 Minotaurs
1 Erinyes
What do you do next?
[] Focus on getting rid of the mist, that seems to be what is binding everything together
[] Focus on getting killing the Bloody Bones, enemies that can teleport make it difficult to hold a coherent line
[] Focus on the rat swarms, while not the most dangerous foe physically thanks to the banners, they have a much larger effect on morale
[] Write in
OOC: This one cost you a lot more in terms of legion deaths, though surprisingly no minor PCs. I almost wrote this part about how Morwyn and Tuin coming in from the reserves saved Thoros of Myr, but that happened too late in the phase to give you guys a proper idea of what happened strategically. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
