The battle Begins!

Kali had decided to present herself to Abraxas, the Red-Eyes leader of the 11th Legion as nothing more than herself, as in her mortal, everyday – Dis appearing self, for a good number of reasons. One, the growing anger and frustration that an ‘undesirable’ female blacksmith had somehow been put in charge of his legion would feed not only her ego, but her appetite as a kinn.  And while she did not need the charges to act in battle thanks to her Network of Sin that was in place now in the city of Dis, she was not one to go out unprepared on an untested anything. If her network failed, then she could use the charges from the armies themselves to act. Backups, for her backups.
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Now this meant that while Abraxas was listening to her plans and words, he wasn’t really ‘listening’ to her, she was fine with that, for now. The end goal of course, was for the 11th Legion to not only decimate the Vitus forces, which she had no doubt they would do, but to have them worship not only her as the goddess and Kinn she was, but to worship and honor the All Father, and one of the things she had learned the first time around, was that to be followed, you must be worthy. So, she had to prove herself. Rise from her ‘meager’ standing to that of the most powerful creature these beings had ever seen or worked with, and be respectable while doing it, and that was going to take time, patience, and work.
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Along the way to the battlefront, Kali was careful to lay down the suspicions of her ‘otherness’. She never ate or drank, never seemed to sleep, never used the latrine, and despite the harsh traveling conditions, herself and her armor always appeared immaculately clean. Abraxas had not failed to notice these things, nor had most of the higher ranking officers, in fact, it set a few of them on edge to the point that they had taken to spying on her from time to time. A thing which she was fully aware of, yet allowed, to further her ‘otherness’, laying the seeds as it were. By the time they reached the front, many of them already believed her to be some sort of magical immortal, and she did nothing to quell the growing rumors about her through their camp. It was a game that would pay off in the end, or so she hoped.
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The Front
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Arriving at the front, Kali could not have hoped for better conditions, the Virtus had set up their camp and line in a valley flanked on the west by sheer mountains, and on the east by a thick bog. They were about 500 feet below the plateau that the Fallen had arrived on directly to the south with about a quarter mile of flat but rock-strewn land between the Fallen and the Vitus trebuchet lined trench. Of course this set up left Kali and the Fallen leadership a little confused. Sure, the valley and bog had once been a Fallen outpost, and for their side, a good choice, but it was terrible placement for the Virtus. The only way to take the plateau would be to either pick their way through a quarter mile of boulder, rock, fallen trees and brush, which would seriously hinder any sort of troop movement to then scale the 500 foot rocky cliff, or to trudge through the deep, thick, reed and marsh infested bog to the east, again hampering and slowing them down, to then climb a very unstable looking hillside to reach the top of the plateau. Neither route provided any sort of safety or cover for advancing troops, especially not from the Fallen army which was perched at the top of the plateau.
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Now perhaps the Virtus had meant to press further and take the plateau and only entrenched themselves where they had because of reports of the Fallen on the move, Kali didn’t know, and didn’t particularly care about the ‘why’ of the situation. It was clear though they thought to take the plateau with use of the catapault like trebuchets. At an initial count there were approx. 75 of the damn things interspersed with multiple empty trenches with barricades. Perhaps they were simply attempting to keep the Fallen from taking back what was rightfully theirs. Again though it didn’t matter. Both encampments were protected on the west by the sheer impenetrable cliffs of the mountain range, there would be no troop movement there. Or so . . both armies would believe.
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Kali smiled darkly as she knelt near the edge of the cliff, observing their surroundings, opportunities and ideas rolling through her mind as Abraxas muttered about the favorable conditions for the Fallen but also bitching about how hard it would be to advance, their own conditions both a blessing and a curse. Abraxas and the rest of the Fallen WANTED close combat, craved it as a thing of warrior’s pride. Kali’s suggestions of long distance attacks were frowned upon, and she was called a coward more than once during their war meetings. It was the third time that got under her skin, her eyes turning a solid black and her aura peeking out under the edges of her control that backed Abraxas and his officers up a few steps and got them to finally look at her with a hint of respect. Several hours later, Kali had asserted herself enough as the leader of the Legion and plans had been hashed out that pleased all parties.
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The rest of the day was spent fortifying their own encampment. A suitable cave with very sturdy walls, and only one entrance and exit was found to house their food and other supplies, One hundred men were ordered to guard it and the supply lines in rotating shifts and 24 hour coverage. At no time would their supplies or supply lines be unguarded. Another hundred men of that unit was also set on rotating shifts to guard and protect the camp, which was backed up against one of the sheer cliffs of the mountain side. Fifty Guards were posted also on the few paths that were accessible from above, a mixture of fighters, archers and scouts. This too would be protected 24 hours a day on rotating shifts. (1/2 of 10th unit assignment – guard duties)
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The rest of the 10th unit (250 men) was sent to protect the bottom of the sloping hill that ran from the plateau into the bog. They were to hold the hill against those coming through the bog itself. They were also sent there to fortify the bottom of said hill. Here a deep trench (approx. 20ft ) was dug under the cover of night that spanned a 75ft line from the cliff edge of the plateau to the impassable edge of the bog. Wooden spikes were set in a crisscross fashion in the bottom of the pit and a thin, woven, reed matt was laid across the entire length and width and then covered with bog moss to make it appear as though nothing was out of place and this expanse was simply more bog. The reed matt would hold about fifty people before collapsing, or about 15 mounted troops. The final precaution taken by the unit at the foot of the hill was to move as many large boulders as they could to protect the outer (bogside) edge of the trench, making it appear as if there was no way to pass to the side of the area, the boulders held the edges of the mat, and were also placed along the cliff side to make the area appear ‘natural’.
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Now as for the fortifications at the plateau, that was another story all together. As a general concern, they were unsure of where the trebuchet projectiles would land. The assumption was the very edge of the cliff face to collapse the plateau edge or the center where most of the troops -should- be stationed. Plans were then made on how to defend the plateau and how they would attack in the coming day. But, most importantly, plans were made for their night raid.
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The first thing that needed to be done, was for Kali to pull upon the Network of Sinn to gain battle charges for the coming encounter. Kali smiled as she felt the network come alive, her very being humming with the power of 140,400 active charges. It was enough power that it literally melted her ‘mortal’ form and allowed her true form to come forth. The shock and awe of the Fallen forces all but dropping to their knees to grovel at the feet of one of the Dark Ones. Thick, purple and black whisps swirled around the four armed Kaileera as her weapons and armor formed out of the Umbra that held them, consuming nothing more than a meager thought.
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“You doubted me, but let me bless you with the Darkness, let me lead you to the glory of the Truth!” she said to her troops as they rose to their feet, more invigorated by her meager words than they had been in days.  She swept her arms across the army, blessing each of the soldiers with power and courage. (no actual affect). She then turned to the enemy encampment, enacted her natural ability to hasten herself (doubling her actions from three to six per round) and drifting to the edge of the plateau. She pulled her hand to her lips and blew across her palm. A wave of darkness summoned from her own umbra slid across the battlefield like a dense fog, consuming all normal light from the camp below. (spellbook: Book of Vile darkness Spell: No Light Level: 0/1 area: 20ft radius number of casts: 100 charges consumed: 100 total area of darkness: 2,000 square feet)
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But the fog carried with it another thing, the spell of Sleep. (spellbook: players handbook spell: sleep level: 1 area: one or more living creatures within a 10ft radius. Number of casts: 200 charges consumed: 200 total area of sleep 2,000 sq ft) The spell would put to sleep, or keep asleep ((55 % or 1100 of 2000)) of the enemy troops, making the troops helpless, slapping or wounding them would awaken them but normal noise would not.
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But Kali was an insidious little thing, she was kinn after all, and out to prove herself as a Goddess of war. The fog held a tertiary effect, that of greater teleportation. ((spellbook: players handbook, spell: greater teleportation level: 7 number of casts: 1500  total charges consumed 10,500 )) As the fog rolled through the encampment it would deposit 1500 Fallen troops among the ranks of the remaining Virtus. 300 of these troops were tasked with disabling the trebuchets and the rest were sent to raid and kill the Virtus troops.
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At the top of the Plateau, Kali’s troops were busy rolling in their own siege works. 50 trebuchets and 30 ballistae were lined up to begin the aerial attack if needed. For now, they were concerned with getting the things into position and loaded.
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Charge Count: battle total: 140,400
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 total charges for rounds 1&2 – 75,816,  round one consumed: 10,800  remaining for round 2: 65,016
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–end post--