The Last Stand

The final battle took place at Willendorf. Though the reavers of Clan Dumahim had once been stationed there, they had gone silent. Reports from the Razielim confirmed that this was the fault of humans. Having taken Coorhagen and organized themselves for revolt, the human armies had ambushed the walled city with the Red Sisters' liquid fire leading the assault. The Dumahim were overwhelmed and humankind stole the old kingdom out of their sadistic clutches.

While the Razielim elder Eskandor eventually alerted Dumah to the reality of the human uprising, the Council's petty rivalries and disputes meant that the vampires did not mobilize in time. The humans at Willendorf had taken full advantage of their fortified city, manufacturing all manner of war supplies and keeping a heavy supply of rations. While the vampires eventually came for the settlement, they ultimately found its capture too difficult. The Watchers took down their winged sentinels while any attempting to scale the walls were met with immolation by naphtha cast down from the battlements. The Rahabim forces, who had cleverly crossed Willendorf's lake on three sides to overwhelm the walls, were forced into a rapid retreat by this particular weapon due to their exceptional susceptibility to the flames.

Indeed, it seemed as if the humans would win easily but while they excelled at keeping their enemies off the walls, the Melchahim summoners shielded themselves with spectral energies and unleashed eldritch ghouls upon the alchemists and scouts. Those summoners who conquered the walls found themselves faced with the sharpened bolts of Ironguard crossbows. Razielim sentinels who got over the walls were splashed with toxic blood that weakened them and sent them plummeting to a bone-shattering landing, easy prey for bullets. Turelim tyrants charged through the walls and gates only to be blockaded by heavy shields and torn apart by Vanguard steel.

But for every vampire downed, a new one was raised. The Zephonim, making skillful use of their new multi-limbed forms and mind-bending abilities easily took to the battlements and enslaved human thralls to drag out their dead, allowing the fresh human corpses to be raised anew as fledglings dedicated to Kain's cause. And though the humans made a point to dismember vampires fallen within the city, those corpses outside the walls not incinerated by naphtha were left in a state from which they could be easily resurrected with new otherworldly strength. No amount of steel and fire could break the vampire armies yet the stronghold full of morale and supplies kept the humans able and willing to fight until sheer resilience might win out and gain their victory.

Ultimately, it was Rahab who made the call. With his clan retreated and the others averse to water, three of Willendorf's four walls were protected by a natural moat. Any attempting to go around and scale them was eliminated while still grounded and these walls were left largely unattended in their assumed safety. Returning to the battleground without his clan, Rahab was able to quietly infiltrate the city over the southern wall and make his way toward one of the leading humans in the Ironguard. Keeping his posture subdued and claws clasped meekly behind his back, the patriarch of the Rahabim offered a proposal: Peace. He had seen his clan decimated in alchemical flames, fledglings made into fleshy pincushions full of splinters and steel, human dead risen anew as servants of whichever clan had restored them. And for all of it, no progress on either side.

While Dumah and Turel's arrogance would never allow such a consideration, Rahab was always the more rational of Kain's children. He could live with an alliance so long as he lived at all. With the humans receptive to this idea, Rahab ordered a ceasefire from the vampire armies and called the Council together. Melchiah was receptive to a truce, being ever-more concerned with the literal decaying state of his clan and worried about sustaining greater losses. Zephon, while reluctant, was easily convinced when faced with the reality of the stalemate. Dumah was swayed by the increasing waste of noble vampire blood. And Turel, the sole dissenter, had little choice left to him.

Upon delivering this news to the human leaders, Rahab opened the gates to Willendorf. The clan patriarchs alone, among which Eskandor was now included, were granted entry. As the hours passed with alternate murmuring and clamoring from humans and vampires alike, the patriarchs met with faction delegates to resolve the terms. Though neither side left with new affection for the other, a passable treaty was formed at last. The various groups assembled at Willendorf departed, puzzled but obedient and trusting in their leaders. And Willendorf, as a show of sincerity for this resolution and historically a renowned bastion of humanity, was officially conceded to the humans.