Siege of Emberforge Citadel

The Siege of Emberforge Citadel was a conflict between Frostheim and Emberforge Citadel, and was actually the second Siege attempted by Princess Katerine. The siege lasted roughly two weeks and resulted in the death of the mighty dragon, Kai, and over 10,000 casualties on both sides, civilian and military alike. 
=== Background ===
Princess Katerine had attempted an invasion in her younger years, but her forces were shattered, and she was cursed to be a feline. Katerine would leave her home to gather a group strong enough to face the dragon. Eventually, she would get a group composing of Braznii, a powerful fire mage, Darling, a mercenary with a knack of raging, Edrogorim Pildorsorrow, a haunted wizard with a strategic mind, Fritz, the luckiest alive, and Milri, the Sea Princess and best friend of Katerine. The six would return to Frostheim, and gather a force thousands strong. 
=== First Encounters ===
The first challenge was to cross the waters which surrounded Emberforge. Katerine and her friends, code named "The Party", would cross, using a lumenite bomb to disabled shore defenses and establish a beach head and war camp. On the first night, Ed would create a set of plans, along with some potential technological pursuits and troop formations, detailing how the army could defeat Emberforge. These actions, along with other feats discussed later, would soon get him de facto promoted to General Ed. High Command decided to go with Ed's plan titled Operation Forged by Moonlight: Fortress of Moonlight variation, code name War Plan Silver Star Strike. The plan involved sneaking north towards the chimneys of Emberforge's forges and sneaking down them. From there they would secure the forge area, strike north and capture the siege tower, with further potential idea of capturing the magic crystal at the center and maybe the front gates. 
=== Chimneys and Forges ===
The Party would learn quickly the difficulty of what they faced. While sneaking down the chimneys, the Party had to fight through Emberforge musketeers, which could hit a target from a very far distance, a distance farther than most spells could travel. Still, the party would prevail, after a near death on Ed's part, and capture the forges. Ed would gain himself a musket, and send more back to be researched so Forstheim could make their own. After a well deserved rest, The Party would carry on with their mission, fighting through the forges, learning all too well the effectiveness of Emberforge's technology. The mages on Emberforge's side made the forges go haywire, blasting out magic at seemingly random, making it difficult to progress for The Party. As they reached the end of the forges, the Emberforge forces would retreat, but bring to a giant iron creature, one seemingly too strong for the party. It would take awhile, but the giant defeated through the ingenuity of Braznii, who dropped an anvil on it. Afterwards, The Party was notified of an attack upon the war camp, and would head back to the camp to help in its defense, while soldiers in the forges held the line.
==== Playing Defense ====
The Party would arrive at camp just in time to prepare for the attack. Braznii and Ed went upon the palisades where cannons were mounted, and began to shoot down upon more of the iron creatures faced in the forges. Princess Katerine, meanwhile, snuck around, blending in with the snow, and striking the supporting troops to the creatures. One creature would manage to make it to the gates, where Frtiz would bravely face it in head to head combat, sacrificing himself to give troops inside enough time to form a line. Ed, seeing Fritz go down, would quickly make it to the defensive line, telling Braznii to hold fire as to not harm Fritz, and lead his group of soldiers to secure Fritz. Ed would apply battlefield healing before Fritz was taken to the field hospital. The remaining attackers fled, their strongmen destroyed by cannon fire. The Party had once more secured a win.
==== The Siege Tower ====
Next on the agenda was to capture the Siege Tower in the northern reaches of the citadel. The Party first had to clear potential mines in the surrounding area, but once they got inside the place seemed abandoned. The Party reached the top, and as they did, a great metal machine was brought to the top with a system of pulleys. This machine is known as an armored land vehicle officially, and a tank unofficially, due to its resemblance to a fluid tank. Princess Katerine would very quickly run around, turning cannons to blast the great machine. After hard fought battle, the heat inside the vehicle became more than the crew could bare and they surrendered. The tank was captured and assessed but R&D was focused upon a new project Ed had in mind, Gun Team Six.
==== Gun Team Six ====
In short summary, as the Temporalium has a dedicated entry for this topic, Gun Team Six was an idea of Ed to get the greatest marksmen and healers of the Frostheimi army for a specialize division which would help The Party when facing Kai. This crew would consist of six members, four gunners and two healers. When asked why six, General Ed replied, "That's a good question. Guess I just went for the same mix as in The Party." The team would also be used as field command when The Party was busy, with the team leading and commanding many successful defensive missions while holding the Forge Line and Crystal Line.
==== The Crystal ====
During the first landings, The Party had managed to capture a captain of Emberforge. Ed had treated the captain with humility and decided to ask for assistance in making the war as short as possible. The Captain told Ed of an archmage who disliked Kai and guarded the crystal, who may just hear out Ed's pleas. Ed would follow this plan, talking to the mage who would pull back his forces, giving The Party ample time to disable the crystal. This crystal was a major source of magic for the mages of Emberforge, and disabling it was a very key advantage for the rest of the siege.
==== The Storage ====
The citadel was, at this point, rather destroyed. As a final act before facing Kai, The Party would very easily raid the armory of Emberforge. Ed would order food be distributed to those left destitute from the siege, those whose homes had been reduced to ash and rubble. Though High Command, and Katerine, disagreed, believing the Dwarves as at best ignorable, Ed firmly pushed for the civilians to not be left to rot. The Party would also secure health potions during this raid, and after that, the finale could begin.
==== Last Minute Preparations ====
Katerine would call upon a mage from Shimmerhand Association, Emrica Louisan, to help against Kai. The Party would then reenable the crystal to help fuel Emrica's power, and most of The Party would eat the Moby Duck Roast they had gotten during the holidays. This mighty feast would give The Party great strengths. Gun Team Six was assembled, and cannoneers were positioned upon the Siege Tower, ready for a Sending message from Ed on where to strike.
==== The Finale ====
The time had arrived, the Party went to confront Kai. After the mighty dragon gave an egotistical and boring monologue, the real action would begin, with The Party heroically fighting from all accounts gathered. General Ed would stand defiantly against the dragon, taking one of its mighty Flame Breath attacks head on, and not flitching a bit. Fritz would teleport Ed to safety, and Ed would maneuver himself to Gun Team Six, giving general positioning advice to the troops as Ed called in shots from the sky. Milri, Fritz, Katerine, and Braznii would fight the dragon up close, Fritz using every trick in his arsenal to avoid certain doom, Braznii fighting fire with fire, Milri and Katerine using their magic to assist and strike critical blows. Darling would shoot from afar, using muskets secured from surrendered Emberforge soldiers, adding constant pressure to the dragon. Soon, the floor would collapse due to the air strikes, causing The Party to fall into the treasury. The Party used the rare jewels located there to be able to cast mystical spells, Braznii in particular using a very powerful fire blast against the dragon. Emrica would charge a magical blast, pushing the dragon and sending it back to its den, where The Party would pursue it. Fritz would deal a fatal blow to the beast, yet the beast, too, had tricks up its sleeves. With a call to its master, it would keep fighting past death, turning the entire city into a terrible lava filled wasteland. The Party would retreat, with only a single member of Gun Team Six, Anna Larsen, surviving the encounter thus far. As the den began to collapse, Ed, Braznii, and Anna repositioned through the front door to the outside to assess the situation, while the rest of The Party, in a move of tactical genius to distract the dragon and gain more resources for powerful spells, would reposition back to the gold horde. Once outside, Ed would send a general message to his commanders to help the civilians and military personnel escape the city, and had Anna return to camp, telling her to use her medical skills to help the injury. Ed and Braznii would then go back to the hole above the horde, waiting for a good opportunity to strike the Dragon, which the foolish beast would give. The dragon shamefully retreated, heading for the crystal. The Party would meet it there, and in a display of pure heroism, Braznii would sacrifice himself, blowing up the crystal and keeping Kai there to get caught in it, very severely wounding the beast. Braznii would be brought back to life, curtesy of Milri, and The Party would tell a well deserved rest. Once they awakened they learned Kai wished to recapture the Siege Tower, but The Party was too clever for him. They scaled the side of the tower, and send Kai falling a very fair distance as he tried to climb the tower. Kai would finally try to head for the forges, desperate for a win. Yet her, The Party would strike him from all directions, and the hero Braznii would deliver the killing blow. The War was over.
==== Celebrations ====
The Party Et Al. would celebrate the victory over the dragon, with Emrica getting completely drunk, along with other members getting drunk as well. Some just celebrated normally though, but Ed was not one for celebration. He seemed almost haunted by something, but never revealed what to anybody on record. Still, the night was lively and the troops would prepare to return to Frostheim. There, an award ceremony would be held for the Six Heroes of Frostheim. Princess Katerine would stay in Forstheim permanently, while General Ed would disappear from the public eye entirely. Anna Larsen, for her part, would join The Party, and cannoneer Freya would do the same. With that, The Party set out from Frostheim to find the wife of Milri.