Snake's Den Holdout

The Snake’s Den Holdout was an event that occurred during Roderick’s War, more specifically during his march on the Nirvan Republic at the end of **623PR**. The holdout lasted a total of 5 days and showed the determination many had to go against Roderick’s regime.

## Background

In **601PR** a vampire named Roderick Adrastos took over recently killed Armenius Zonaras on the Tarsalk council. Tarsalk, a large free city in Eastern Arlec, decided to hire the Aliquam Guild to investigate the murder and supsicious rise of Roderick, accumulating in a battle between the two forces in **602PR** and Roderick’s exile from the city.

In **616PR** the Viper’s Fang Guild was employed in the Northern regions of the Nirvan Republic to investigate the disappearance of many individuals. They eventually concluded it was done by Dark Elves in the area, searching for slaves in the Underdark. In reality it was Roderick just using the Drow as an easy distraction.

In **622PR** Roderick and his followers moved out with their army, seizing the city of Tarsalk. Happy with their accomplishments they decided to get revenge on the Nirvan Republic in **623PR**, marching on them. Already prepared with a countermeasure, a Nirvan consul named Servius Hilaris hired adventuring guilds to scout Roderick’s movements.

## Participants

There were three participating parties in the holdout. First was namely Roderick and his followers being harassed on their march to the Nirvan Republic. The main participants from Roderick’s army were Necromancers Eadulf and Zita along with their apprentices.

For the allies, they were represented in this encounter by a Viper’s Fang group and a Lucent group. These parties, both made up of 4 Awakened individuals, were mid B-Ranked at the time.

## Events

On Deamber 4 **623PR** Roderick and his forces had finally reached the South-Eastern Arlec region. In order to ensure they were halted as long as possible, the members from the guilds were to harass their enemy with everything they could possibly muster. As they had reached the position a week earlier, some of their traps and fortifications were already working as a large trench blocked the path. With the army stopped, the two adventuring groups began throwing explosions in the distance, distracting the undead and leading them away. When the Necromancers realised something was up, they came to investigate, getting attacked themselves.

While they were able to retreat back to safety, the army had been successfully stopped for one day.

The next day remained a stalemate, the Necromancers unable to locate and defeat the adventurers. By the end of the day, Roderick got involved, angry that his momentum was being stopped by such a simple thing.

On Deamber 6, Roderick finally had enough and pushed forward, simply using his undead to block the way and fill the trench. While the adventurers continued to attack, they were eventually spotted and chased by both Necromancer and undead, forcing them to hide in their base of operations for the time being.

Despite having traps prepared in case of this disaster, the undead were too overwhelming a siege began.

On Deamber 7 Roderick and the majority of his forces left, leaving behind Eadulf and Zita to deal with the adventurers.

By mid-day, the undead were ramping up their attacks, hitting their cave defenses non-stop and wearing down the defenders. Any time a break was about to happen, the adventurers pulled back to another set of walls, holding off the undead and wasting more of the Necromancers spells.

During the night the attacks kept going, exhausting both the adventurers and the Necromancers who just wanted to get this over with.

On Deamber 8 the adventurers were exhausted, fighting for their lives all night and day with very little gain. Realising they needed to do something, members of the Lucent guild decided to take an honorable stand, willing to rush the enemy and create an opening for the Viper’s Fang members to escape. Having a final hoorah the plan was set in motion, with the Lucent guild members jumping the defences and charging straight into the undead, even reaching the Necromancers themselves. At the same time, the Viper’s Fang members made a run for it, hauling their exhausted bodies out of the cave and into the open where they could better hide.

## Aftermath

It is unknown how long the Lucent members survived, but it is reported one of them gave Zita a large scar across her right eye and cost Eadulf a finger.

Otherwise their sacrifice was an honorary one, saving the lives of the Viper’s Fang guild members and allowing them to run around and report their findings to the Allied forces. The members would be rewarded for their efforts, bringing them to the higher end of B-Rank. The Lucent guild members were given a posthumous award and their funerals paid for by the Nirvan Republic.

## Legacy

The Snake’s Den Holdout has been remembered as a significant part of guild history, showing the grit and determination members from the 3 big guilds showed in the face of overwhelming odds.

For Lucent it showed that they are heroic and willing to sacrifice in order to get the task done, even to save the lives of their comrades. For the Viper’s Fang it showed that they always finish their objective, still returning to the Nirvans ahead of Roderick’s forces.