Livestock space requirements, stampedes, nuisance

[Icelander]

Working together with a smooth and practised ease, Ankhapet and Mickey account for two of their four foes in the next few seconds. Well, Ankhapet draws their attacks and Mickey takes advantage of any openings to put them both down with mighty blows from Cairlachan. Buikhu's savage axe strokes threathen both of them on numerous occasions, but some combination of luck and skill enables them to escape injury.

The Bronzehand finishes his spell, blasting three of his foes into smithereens with a flickering lance of pure magical energy. The other three on the mages' side of the tunnel have gotten up and are about to reach Teltree and the observer from the Enclave, Esarheddon Fireheart. They call upon their god for strength with ululating shouts, but just before they charge home, a circular rift in reality opens up around them. They disappear and the rift with them. Both Teltree and the Bronzehand appear surprised at this turn of events, as Teltree is just finishing a protective spell on himself and Ubarum had just begun to cast his next spell after a well-timed Lance of Disruption.

After catching a thrust with one scimitar and deflecting a cut with the other, Ankhapet swings both swords low at his man. His foe catches one on his shield, but the other cuts deep into a thigh and blood wells out through the kalasiris. Before the Mulan man can recover, Ankhapet slices his upper right arm, but he still manages to get his shield in the way of a slash to the neck. It avails him but little, as Ankhapet follows up with a double thrust to the face and one scimitar finds a home somewhere between nose and mouth.

Mickey presses Buihu with a series of rapid slashes, but not even the addition of Ubarum's magical glowing blade to harry that doughty Mulan officer can reveal any flaws in his defence. His shield moves like lightning and he is unnaturally quick on his feet for such a large man. Added to that, it is as if some divine favor causes Cairlachan to be deflected at exactly the right angles. Even though Mickey can clearly feel that he is the superior swordsman, Buikhu almost manages to land a blow of his axe to his extended arm once.

Ankhapet, now free from any other threats, jumps to Buikhu's side and alights on the body of a fallen foe. From his flanking position, he proceeds to rain down a rapid series of slashes as the glowing magical sword and Mickey assail Buikhu from the other side. Finally, a slight misjudgment on Buikhu's part results in his axe sliding from his grip. Ankhapet and Mickey redouble their furious efforts, but incredibly, Buikhu somehow manages to block or dodge all their attacks as he crouches down to reclaim his axe. Hoping to take advatange of his momentary crouch, Mickey leaps to the side where Ankhapet was standing and Ankhapet, as if he read his mind, steps back a pace. Mickey beats down Buikhu's shield and follows up with cuts at his shoulders, his chest and his side. Buikhu avoids them all by dodging nimbly.

Wishing to take better advantage of their superior numbers, Ankhapet comes up with a daring plan. He uses his Boots of Dragonflight to give a brief spurt of lift and attempts to vault over Buikhu and land facing him on the other side. His acrobatic maneuver is beautifully executed, but unfortunately, Buikhu manages to interpose his axe where his head was passing through. Instead of a dextrous somersault landing, Ankhapet hits the ground with a wet splat as blood fountains from his broken skull. The inexorable ranks of marching pikemen are now making their way over the first bodies in the tunnel proper and will reach the heroes within seconds.

Buikhu appears uninterested in duelling Sir Michael, who is clearly the finest warrior on the side of the PCs, but instead makes a rush for the knot of wizards standing to the other side of the tunnel. Teltree is deep in concentration as he intones magical imprecations and the ineffable Esarheddon has resumed his casual leaning stance against the tunnel wall. Buikhu's fearsome charge is deflected with the Bronzehand's staff, now tipped with a lance of magical energy.

Mickey, desperate to prevent Buikhu from cutting down the wizards, who despite their undoubted skill were still no match for the divinely-powered war priest, jumps after him and cuts at his knee. Even he appears a bit surprised when the attack bites home and sheers through knee guard, bone and flesh to cut the leg from under the red priest.

As Buikhu falls, Sir Michael hammers at him. Another blow scores his shield deeply, the second splits it and hacks into Buikhu's arm and the third cleaves his skull. The final thrust finds the gap between cheekpiece and nasal guard, penetrating deep enough so that the tip bangs on the back of the helmet.

Teltree finishes his spell and a wave of molten metal droplets shoots from his open palm. In the close confines of the tunnel, the hundreds of eyeball-sized projectiles at face-level wreak fearful havoc among the pikemen. The first few ranks are massacred and most of the rest are either wounded, killed or thrown into terrific confusion. What used to be a phalanx of disciplined troops numbering over a hundred is now a shambles.

Not stopping for a moment to enjoy his victory, Mickey rushes to look at Ankhapet. From the bleeding, he hopes he is still alive, but he has no way to be sure. Shouting 'Someone help him!', Mickey turns to the drawbridge. He can see that Abadas has managed to melt the chains and blast through the bars, but some of the metal reinforcing the bars is still whole. Figuring that it would take too long to hack through all four metal supports, Mickey guesses that the comparatively thin iron bracings are not enough to hold the drawbridge if it starts to move. He activates his Dragonflight Boots and flies over the former phalanx, turns around in the courtyard outside and then accelerates toward the drawbridge at 80 mph, aiming at the upmost part of it. With a crash heard through most of the battlefield, Mickey slams into the drawbridge. The metal groans and wood splinters, but the structure does not fall down. Sighing, a very battered Mickey repeats the maneuver.

This time, the massive blow proves sufficient. The drawbridge is thrown open with enough force to cause it to half-crack in the middle. On the other side of the moat, Mickey can see the phalangists of his Untheri ally, Azam Bahadur Oriseus, marching eagerly toward the now open way into the fort.