Battle of River Marilla

The following is a description of the Battle of the River Marilla by an elven historian of Sannr Alfheim.

 The Battle of River Marilla

The Battle of River Marilla was the first clash between the forces of The Grand County of Chrisvania and Sannr Alfheim in the War of Chrisvanian Aggression.

Prince Lylas Tyrnea’mitore declared mobilisation of all forces following Count Voloch’s declaration of war against his people in the summer of Year 0 AGC. The Elven prince knew it was only a matter of time before the vampires would try to benefit from the collapse of the Great Council, but was still surprised with the foolhardiness of Count Voloch.

Lylas could never accept being on the back foot in any conflict, and so true to his nature he ordered his uncle Narmacil to move north east from Orod Thand and retaliate against the vampiric aggression with his full might. Similarly Angol’tur would move his forces east towards the border as a support force.

Lylas also mobilised his army and moved towards the vampire castle located north east of his capital. His strategy was simple; force Voloch to fight in multiple fronts at once as Lylas was well aware of the isolation of Castle Chrisvania, Voloch’s capital.

Narmacil’s force advanced towards the country without any issues. The border seemed deserted… The capital of Count Voloch was only a week’s march away and the absence of defenders troubled Narmacil, suspecting some cunning plan in play Narmacil sent a messenger to Lylas.

Upon receiving his uncle’s message Lylas ordered his scouts to advance further ahead of his army hoping to monitor greater area. Grey watchers noticed the unnatural darkness shrouding the vampire host only a couple of days march from Lylas’ army. Voloch had positioned his host along the banks of River Marilla, poised to sneak thorough the elven borders. Lylas hadn’t have any time to set up an advantageous defensive post, and so the battle had to be quick and decisive. Losing here would leave the elven lands without protection.

The two armies met on the fields near River Marilla the next day, under the magical darkness emitting from the vampire host it was near impossible to tell if it was midmorning or midnight. Aran’ro was eager to finally show his father his martial prowess and proud to carry their house’s banner to the battle. After a quick nod from his father, Aran’ro joined the elite force of elven knights, Rochir taking them to protect the left wing of the army. Gilith, on the other hand was unnerved by the enemy, but Lylas reminded her that Angol’tur and her mother had taught her everything and asked her to unleash the power that flowed in her veins. Gilith joined the archer unit in the middle of the elven battle line. After assembling his army Lylas took position towards the right wing of his army, he was confident with Aran’ro but wanted to be near Gilith to provide her encouragement should she need it.

The elven army took the initiative and moved in to action, and the army held its position after some subtle maneuvering. The fast cavalry moved too far too quick, leaving their flanks exposed to an enemy Varkolak.

Lylas was nervous with leaving Aran’ro in left flank practically on his own. Ehtarin and his seaguard joined by Goredhwin were positioned just to their right but Voloch on top of his Shrieking horror had positioned himself exactly opposite of Aran’ro. Additionally a unit of vampire spawn and a black coach were also positioned on the enemy’s right flank. The elven centre was held by Ehtarin, archers, and Macil Tuir's sword masters, from left to right. Lylas was acutely aware of the fact that Rochir and his son were going to struggle to protect the left wing on their own.

Goredhwin enchanted the bows of the archers but the enemy general stopped her other attempts at casting. Noticing the enemy had focused too much on stopping Goredhwin, Gilith started casting her own spell. She channeled all her power towards the foul creature that Voloch rode to battle. A beam of light penetrated through the darkness and shone on Gilith. Voloch noticed what was happening too late and the brightness emitting from Gilith enveloped him. He could feel his mount's bones crushing under the strength of the beam and a deep burning sensation.

Voloch’s mount was shrieking in pain and flailing its tattered wings. Two seaguard reaper crew took advantage of the wounded creature and unleashed a volley of bolts. Once the dust was settled there was nothing left of Voloch or his shrieking horror. Lylas’ vision was blurred due to a sudden bright light, and he was unable to tell if Voloch was slain or he had turned tail and fled…

With Voloch gone, the magic binding his army together started to dissipate, but before too long a Vampire Courtier hiding amongst ghouls managed to take control of the magical bond and the rest of the vampire army.

The courtier ordered the army to move forward, and the varkolak attacked the fast cavalry. The reavers decided to flee, however, their mounts were unnerved by the foul creature and ran too close to the Lion chariot protecting their rear. The charioteers had to turn around and move before the reavers would crash into the chariot.

The vampire courtier tried to resurrect fallen ghouls and zombies but drew too much magical energy. The magical backlash was so strong the courtier lost all the magical knowledge it had.

Lylas was well aware of his shooting superiority and wanted to make the most of this advantage, so he delayed close combat as much as possible. However, the vampire spawn was moving aggressively and it was only a matter of time before they reached the sea guard reapers. Aran’ro moved Rochir into a position to counter attack should the spawn unit attack the sea guard reaper. The elves continued shooting and taking wounds off the enemy, killing half of the ethereal unit. The mages moved out of their units and the units on the right flank reorganised to face the enemy.

The vampire host continued with their advance, with a unit of knights charging the reavers and the vampire spawn charging the sea guard reaper. The spawn finished off the reaper easily and overran towards the Rochir, but a great eagle landed between the two units preventing the vampire spawn from rampaging further. The barrow knights failed to kill the reavers, but the unnerved elven cavalry broke from the battle. This time they were caught by the pursuing knights. Aran’ro spurred his horse towards the spawn and Rochir joined him with his charge, while on the right flank the lion chariot charged the burrow knights. Macil Tuir tried to charge the ethereal host, however they failed to reach their target.

Rochir felled three of the spawn but couldn’t save the noble eagle. The vampire spawn held their ground and Aran’ro repositioned his unit to better engage the enemy. The lion chariot killed all remaining barrow knights and overran to move out of the varkolak’s charge arc.

The vampire host failed a couple of charges in the centre but the varkolak on right wing managed to attack and kill the single seaguard reaper that remained. Close combat continued between Rochir and the vampire spawn. Rochir killed all of the spawn and reformed to face the black coach. Lylas decided it was time to push forward - Macil Tuir charged the ethereal host and Rochir charged the black coach. Both units finished off their enemies with ease. Rochir then reformed to face towards the middle of the enemy line, but Macil Tuir had to stop their overrun before reaching the winged reapers as they were too close to impassible terrain.

The varkolak saw this as an opportunity and attacked Macil Tuir from the rear and winged reapers tried to charge Ehtarin but failed. Macil Tuir killed the varkolak and reformed to face the winged reapers. A large unit of skeletons attacked the giant eagle which protected the flank of Rochir, but the eagle managed to halt the skeleton unit.

Rochir attacked a unit of zombies that had emerged from a nearby forest, while Macil Tuir attacked the winged reapers. Goredhwin cast a fireball toward the ghoul unit, and Ehtarin, the sea guard reaper, and the archers unleashed a hail of arrows on the same unit. Once the ranged attacks stopped more than the half of ghoul unit had been slain.

Both Rochir and Macil Tuir killed their enemies. Rochir reformed once again pointing to the right flank of the skeleton unit, which continued its fight against the great eagle. Macil Tuir overran into the ghoul unit and killed the last of them as well as the Vampire Courtier, then reformed to point to the left flank of the skeleton unit.

Triumphant, Lylas gave the signal to his units to finish of the last remaining enemy unit. Rochir and Macil Tuir charged to flanks of the skeletons and Aran’ro slew the last skeleton standing.

A decisive victory for Prince Lylas! His army had slain every single enemy on the battle field, but the fate of Voloch was still unknown.