[Mkguild] MK story - sort of

[Christian Okane]

My thinking runs in odd ways sometimes. this is far different from my usual
stuff. This story started out as a small mind exercise in researching
background history for Metamor Keep. It has developed into a full blown
story all its own! This is set in the Metamor Keep story universe. It shows
a side of Metamor Keep and the MK valley rarely seen before as it is set
some 675 years before the present stories in the archive. You can find the
MK Story archive here: http://metamorkeep.com/


Feel free to make comments!

Christian O'Kane
The Lurking Fox


************


The Fall of Maractania
by Christian O'Kane


CR 75

   The wall was young compared to the ancient structure later generations
would call Metamor Keep. A mere few centuries old. This wall stood some
twelve miles north of the mysterious Keep was the mouth of the valley. Where
the tight mountain pass gave way to the rough hills and forests of the
Giantdowns. It was at this point that the Seuilman empire had stopped it's
expansion. Later generations would know this place as Metamor Valley but for
now it is known as Maractania.

   Ahead lay the wild and dangerous lands of Tirurcium behind them lay the
settled and civilized lands of the empire. The capital was a long way away
and the legions had come this far conquering all but could go no further. So
to guard the lands behind they built a wall of earth, timber and stone that
ran from one side of the valley mouth to the other. Separating the two
lands. The wall was of stone, thick and large and well mortared. In front of
that they dug a ditch, deep and wide. In front of the ditch they placed vast
fields of small spikes to slow down or cripple an attacker.

   For centuries these defenses and the legionaries who manned them stood
firm protecting the civilized places from the wildlands For a long time
troops sent from the south keep the wall strong and clear of trouble. But
Pyralis is a long way away and all too soon emperors forgot about the wall
and the people who guarded it. The number of replacements slowly went down
and finally stopped altogether. Legionnaires who guarded the wall were the
sons of those who had guarded it before them. Just as their sons would after
them. Still there were important tasks to be done. Ditches cleared and
redug, stone to be repaired, patrols to be ridden and the ever present
sentry duty.

   The first attack came on a moonless night. A force of lutins over ten
thousand strong came slinking out of the darkness. They crept through the
spikes and past the ditch without a sound. Then they climbed the walls with
their hands and feet. They made no noise as they climbed but the sentries
were ready for them. A shower of arrows, pilums and sling stones rained down
on them sending hundreds to their deaths. But still more followed climbing
over the dead and wiping the blood from the stones as they climbed. they
were only driven off when five hundred cavalry raced out to slaughter them.

   The respite lasted a mere two hours before they next attack started. This
time behind the waves of lutins came scores of ogres and giants some
throwing stones and others pushing massive siege towers ahead of them.

   In front of the wall was a ditch. Deep and wide this ditch stopped all
towers and other siege engine. but thousands of lutins rushed up to the edge
and started tossing in rocks, wood, brush and buckets of dirt. No matter how
many died still others quickly took their places and kept on filling the
ditch. Soon the ditch was no longer an obstacle and the siege towers rolled
towards the walls in a dozen places.

   Catapults thumped as ballistae slammed and bows twanged filling the air
with rocks, arrows, flaming balls of pitch and yard long bolts. Towers
burned as battering rams were smashed and everywhere lay the dead and the
dying. Their shrieks and screams could be heard over the roar of the battle.
A section of wall was taken, then retaken, then taken again. A tower, it's
battlements smashed and its based pounded by a ram collapsed into a heap of
rubble. A thousand lutins charged into the breach only to be met by
legionnaires, their shields locked into a wall. The attackers slammed
against it like a wave crashing against a tide washed rock. The soldiers
slowly, step by step were pushed back by the lutins. sheer weight doing what
skill could not. Each step the attackers gained was paid for in blood. A
score of lutins lay dead for each foot of ground taken.

   Two giants stepped forward and smashed at a section of wall with their
bare hands, each punch smashing stone and wood. Chips and splinters flying
in all directions. A well aimed bolt from a ballista slammed into one giants
throat and the monster tumbled backward. It's fall smashing a hundred lutins
to pulp. A streak of flames raced from a nearby tower and struck the other
giant in the chest. The massive figure burst suddenly into flames. Bellowing
with a roar that deafened everyone nearby it stumbled backward, racing away
from the wall. Everywhere it went flames sprang up till a trail of death,
flames and destruction could be seen.

   But the respite was brief. The flames were extinguished and the wall had
already been badly damaged. Before it could be shored up the stones
collapsed into a heap making yet another breach. More lutins charged forward
heedless of the storm of projectiles that rained down on them. the great
holes torn in their ranks were instantly filled and they charged onward.

   Finally there were just too many breaches and not enough legionnaires to
fill them. Some soldiers stood their ground to the end trying to take as
many lutins with them as possible before they died. Many fled trying to make
the perceived safety of a walled fort of town. Some made it, others did not.
By nightfall only the main gate held. Its defenders fighting with their all
their energies. All night they kept driving off the attacks till it's walls
were battered down. It did not truly fall till the last of its defenders lay
dead.

   Long before then the invaders had pulled down the wall and poured into
the valley itself burning homes, villas, farms and towns. but the day long
delay in taking the wall had not been wasted. Outlying farms, villas and
buildings were empty and all the towns and cities had their gates closed and
walls lined with soldiers. But it did the people little good. Walls meant to
withstand an occasional raid were of little good against an horde of this
magnitude. Some held out for most of the night but most fell before
midnight. In the city of Camulodunum capital of the province the fighting
was at its worst. No one had any illusions about being able to withstand the
assault but still they fought on seeking anything to help them survive.
Desperate people do desperate things. Spells were cast and rituals performed
in a last effort to keep all in the city safe. It failed.

   Dawn in the valley was as dark as twilight with the massive pall of smoke
from thousands of fires. Everywhere there swarmed lutins, giants and ogres.
Here and there small islands of resistance held out but not for long. Soon
the entire valley was in flames. All that stood untouched was Metamor Keep
itself. The tall, mysterious structure stood untouched amidst the burning
town that surrounded it. The massive edifice provided an unexpected refuge
as none of the attackers would get near it. Mindful of it's frightening
legend and terrifying looks. Many frightened survivors huddled close to
those old and mysterious walls watching their world burn down around them.
they were safe from harm but not from the sights and sounds of the
devastation.

   Where the capital had been hung a deadly pall of gloom and shadow that
covered everything. Of those who had been in it whether attacker, defender
or simple bystander nothing remained nor had escaped the darkness. Neither
human, lutin, ogre or giant. All inside were dead and its treasures were now
guarded by something even the hordes could not assail. The mages and shamans
with the invaders said that some terrible magic had taken effect but that it
might dissipate with time.

   But the invaders did not wait. There were more easily attacked and richer
towns to south. The invaders moved south burning and looting as they went
till they reached the end of the valley. Stretched out in front of them was
all of the Midlands.

the end



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