Haakon nods but nevertheless charges the second whirlwind with his axe doing some whirling of its own as he seeks to chop the whirlwind down into a zephyr, then nothing.

 Tugdual puts himself in a flanking position with Cirostis and Haakon, and keeps on harassing the whirlwind with his enchanted antlers.

 If possible, he will push the monstrosity towards the dwarven scout and have it fight on or near the water.

The fight is a strange one.  The whirlwind lashes out with biting, hot, dry currents of air.  When it hits it is like being scraped with a hot brick.  Now with multiple targets around it, it is less focused, and in the fight manages to hit Haakon.  It rips part of his armor and leaves a raw red mark on his thigh.  And like Cirostis, Haakon suddenly feels drained and thirsty.

The whirlwind is very reluctant to follow Cirostis into the water, even with encouragement from the others.

It is not barred from entering the water... just reluctant.  And in a moment, they see why.

Seeing no other choice, and committed to the attack, it pursues Cirostis as he backs up across the stream.  It is not deep, just a foot or so of water gurgling over rocks.

It sucks up water.

Clouds of moisture are drawn up into the thing, and when it hits Tugdual there is a noticable change: the speed and fury are still there, but satiated with water, it does not deliver its dessicating attack.

It also seems more vulnerable to the others attacks.

A few of the Elves show up to help- a volley of magic Missiles hits the creature.  And then, with Haakon, Cirostis, and Tugdual all ganging up on it, it is destroyed.
A

"Bugger", said Haakon, "I need a drink."

 Tugdual remains in cervid shape and takes a moment to drink a copious amount of water, in order to ease his sickly thirst.

 The tornadoes taken care of, the deer turns to Cirostis :
  "Brhâât now ?" he bellows interrogatively.

Cirostis looks up to see what the Orcs and Wargs are doing. He speaks to them.

Language Orcish:
Ha! look at the little elf flower garden on the hill! You must be like us - the leftovers put outside the battle you must be the weakest sorryest bunch of cleaner maid Orps I've ever seen! Let's have a party! Give us a real challenge so we can say we got to fight this silly battle!

He doesn't speak loud but his voice is magically carried up the cliff by his magical rune.

Haakon quenches his thirst in the stream, thoroughly disappointed at the stream's lack of beerishness.  Thirst quenched, he shrugged and stood beside Cirostis, bow drawn and a song on his lips... to be precise, the famous orcish ditty "I'm just sitting watching flowers in the rain."

Haakon, Cirostis, Tugdual, and the others take a break, where the little stream enters the Celibus.  They need to rest, and especially, drink.

Where the whirlwinds passed, the vegetation is dry, as if there had been no rain in a month…which in this part of the world, is bizarre.  Those who were hit by the whirlwind’s desiccation effect feel the same way.

Ilsyan crouches nearby.

“Are you alright?”  he asks.  “I thought at first something like an Air Elemental.  But that was different, wasn’t it?  Not just air, but… anti-water.  Like Dryness given form.  The Huns always surprise with unusual magic.  I had not known such things existed.”

“Well there’s two less of them, whatever they are,” Tawna says.  “Give us a minute.  Are those Huns still on the hill?”

“Not for long,” Ilsyan says.  “while they were engaged by the archers to the west, a number of Elves slipped in to the east, sent by our Marquis is among them.  I know who leads them- Tathlen, and he was a survivor of Beda.  He will make short work of them.  Further east is the Marquis’s force, and they have stalled… I don’t know why.”

The water is cold, and clear, and perfect for drinking.  It is the kind of winter mountain water they show in beer commercials.  They are fortunate they are well upstream of the battle to the south, because there the Celibus is red with blood.

Seeing there is little use of the taunting, Cirostis says:

Well, it seems there is no point in drawing this out, let's get to the high ground and be ready for our attack.

Has Styx brought news of the battle ahead?


Cirostis is ready to move when the elves are ready. He taps his horn gently thinking it will be heard today.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:04, Thu 31 Jan 2013.

While they wait to recover their wind, the Giant Owl does return.  At least once; the owls are flying around helping the Elves to coordinate with each other.

The Elven attacks are on both flanks of the Orc army, which is blocked by Heolstor’s fortified defenses.  The Elves are amazed at this; were the Dwarves really able to build up walls so quickly?
A lot of Elven eyes look at Cirostis with a new sense of appraisal.  Perhaps their reputation for industriousness is reality?

But here and there, the Elven attacks have stalled, and Stryx does not know why.  Some of the Elves seem to have decided that things can be “worked out” with the Huns.  Equally strange, the Huns are avoiding combat with these groups of “pacifists”.
It has Ilsyan very worried.

”Is it magic?” he asks.  “Some spell they are using?”

But the owl does not know.

”Petra mentioned a Demon,” Tawna says.  “Did you see it?”
The Owls do not even know what a Demon looks like.  They have nothing to offer.  No inexplicable monsters cropped up.

Maybe it is the False Peace we heard about, some staff or scepter stolen from the gods.

But ... Well I was expecting something less straightforward than this ....

The demon will be a very beautiful humanoid.

We must attack and shift the battle!

Cirostis looks to the elves not wishing to usurp their leadership.

If they agree he uses his voice rune to announce to the others.

They may have a demon, it has power to alter your mind promising peace to make you stop. It is here to destroy all the elves. ALL THE ELVES  Do Not forget this - you fight for your children today fight with all the hatred you can muster!!!!

When they attack he will blow his horn a dwarvish battle rhythm to announce their presence to those lost in reverie.

Haakon frowned.  "Is there any way to get a map showing where the Elves have become pacifists and more importantly when?" He scratched his head and added, "That might give us a clue about where the demon is."

In Dwarven legend, there is a mighty magical horn, the most powerful Dwarven implement of music ever created, the Uber-Tuba.  It is said that sound of its bone shaking honk will stir any Dwarf to heroic courage.  Cirostis’s horn is not it.

But it is made in its image.  And it can be heard for miles.

Among the Huns, legends of the Uber-Tuba do not exist.  This is mostly because when the Uber-Tuba was sounded, things usually went bad for them.  The tellers of legends tend to edit out the more embarrassing moments, and thus the Uber-Tuba, and its smaller, portable relatives, make no appearance in Hunnish lore.  Even so, they know, instinctively, that its sound is a bad portent for them.  They also know the Elves have nothing like it.   So they know at once that the Elves have friends.  That worries them.

The Hun guards on the bluff have taken casualties from Elven arrows, and they have seen their two Desert Wind Devils slain… and not by Elves.  Watching the northern flank was not supposed to be a suicide mission.  Besides, with that horn sounding, the Hun leaders can’t possibly be surprised from the north.  They’ve done their job.  Haakon, Cirostis, and Tugdual see the guards on the bluff retreat.

A cheer goes up from some nearby Elves.  They seem rather, well, invigorated, for Elves, who are usually not enthusiastic about battles even when the battle goes their way.

Ilsyan gives Cirostis and the horn a funny look.  Did they have some effect on Elves, too?

“That bluff is a good position,” he says.  “We should seize it before the Huns change their minds.  Perhaps from there we will have a better view of things ahead!”

* * * * * * *

Things are fluid, and scattered, as they usually are when Elves are attacking.  The Owls cannot provide a good map of what's where right now.

Aye!

Cirostis runs beside Ilsyan to take the position on the Bluff. The whole thing had not gone according to plan, but this does not bother him, plans are always a good place to start. But of course they will need a new plan that ensures they are not themselves attacked with no recourse and overcome by the demon. First things first, take the bluff - take in the view.

Then they will think, then they will act - keep the elves out of harms way - take the flanks - draw a charge from his brethren - or run like hell. All options are possible.

Haakon too rushes for the bluff.  It's a good place to watch certainly.  More to the point, it's a good place from which to send arrows down upon the Huns.  But of course, he'd rather see the map he just imagined, a map that might tell him and Tawna where the demon can be found.

The attain the strategic position the Huns so recently conceded.  Across the river to the west, they see that the Elves there, who were barraging the Huns with arrows  (there are lots of Elven arrows lying around up here) have realized that their services are no longer needed.  They are heading south.

It is hard to spot a specific adversary from a distance, but from up here they have a good view of what is going on.


Cleverly, we use the same map as before, but with the numbers having new meanings:

The party is currently located at position 3.

The Hun position on the hill at 4 fell to Brannoc, some Elven archers, and a cavalry assault.  Just south, the main attack of the Huns is proceeding- from here the party can see that it is a massive clash of arms.

The good news is, with their taking of the bluff, and Brannoc's victory at the hill, the way looks clear- if the party follows the river due south, it looks like they can reach the battle with no interference.

 

 Tugdual makes good use of his deer shape, providing stamina, speed and endurance,  to travel back and forth between either flanks of the group, between the rearguard and the vanguard, to make sure there's nothing aloof and the Huns are not cleverly double crossing the small troop.

 When they start moving south, he takes a vanguard position and scouts ahead, inconspicuously -or at least so he hopes. The Huns might still find it odd to see a deer scurrying around in the middle of their battle... especially when they know they are fighting elves and their sylvan allies.

 As before, he waits for Cirostis to call the shots. He trusts his military training and tactical way of thinking.

Illsyan, would you have your troops quickly reclaim any usable arrows as we go?
Cirostis is thinking small , get going and get down there, but then an idea occurs to him and he stops.

Wait, this Demon... It wants elves, it will use this peace nonsense. We have Dwarves down there and a few other ill tempered friends but they are being sorely pressed. If he thinks ... What do you think about getting the whole mass of troops on the march, some of your magicians can make the illusion that you are men or dwarves. I will play signals on the horn as we go and ready for a charge ... Ill be willing to bet he will shift his heavy forces to take that charge, it would pull some pressure off the fort and when I yell charge you can launch arrows instead then disperse and take them your way!

Ilsyan is intrigued by Cirostis’s plan.  “An interesting ruse,” he says.  “We can pretend to be Dwarf reinforcements, instead of Elves, to confuse the adversary.”  He does a quick survey of available Elven magic users, and finds some have illusion spells available.  A few even have spells that will physically alter the appearance of a few of their front line to make them appear as Dwarves.

“And you have to walk like Dwarves,” Tawna suggests.  “Like you’re wearing iron boots and you don’t care what you step on.  Or in.”

They don’t have time to make it perfect; the Dwarf Illusion is done on the fly, because every moment spent in preparation, the battle rages on to the south.  But as fast as they can make the switch, Ilsyan, now calling himself Ilsyan-Prince-of-Stone-Mountain (he can’t resist getting “in character”) leads a pack of Dwarves southwards.

“I’ve never played a Dwarf before,” the Elf says to Cirostis.  “I trust you’ll tell me if I’m getting it wrong.”

They get closer.  Ahead, they can see it.  Heolstor, Dunduin, and Arctos used the fallen giant Home Trees of Beda to create a fortress.  It is something no Elves would have done, because to create walls from these fallen trees, to them, is almost like building with the bones of fallen friends.  And yet… it’s working.

“It is irony,” Ilsyan says.  “The savage destruction of Beda by the Huns…  provides the materials through which the Dwarves now defend Beda.”

Cirostis speeds them along not wanting to waste time discussing how to walk.
They will see what they expect to see, and what they fear, it needn't be perfect.

He activates his voice rune calling out commands like FORWARD!  and  DOUBLE FAST! And KEEP THAT LINE YOU STINKING MAGGOT! His commands are loud, extremely loud and that's before the magical enhancement of the rune which blasts every word as if through a megaphone. When he yells there is a thrill of pride in his chest - oh what a story this will be for his lads.

He makes his commands very clear and follows up with blasts on the horn to signal preparation for a charge the army of Dwarflooking elves moves rapidly south to combat.

He yells again
MANY STORIES WILL BE TOLD OF TODAY - MAKE EM GOOD ONES!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Tue 05 Feb 2013.

 Tugdual approves of the plan.

 For someone who is not a soldier, any attempt at using ruse or outsmarting the enemy instead of relying purely on the clash of steel and wood is good and worth trying.

 He resumes his human shape, and meddles with the dwarven elves. His thick beard would make him pass as a dwarf, if it weren't for his very high stature. But lost in a running crowd, it should suffice.

 The druid does nor rely on his spell this time, rather on his large oaken club. Well, maybe a bit of both... as the troop moves southwards, Tugdual calls on an all-time classic of druidic weaponry ; the shillelagh.

 He now moves with an oversized greatclub that shines a pale white light when he waves it.

Haakon wields his axe in the most Dwarven way he can imagine and he keeps quiet because he doesn't speak Dwarven.

As best they can, the Elves try to be Dwarves.

Tugdual overhears confused comments as they hurry along.

”I am at a loss.  Which is the stinking maggot?”

”Isn’t that a type of Dwarven cheese?”

”I am still trying to understand two times fast, if I don’t know how fast is fast for a Dwarf.”


They continue along the Celibus.  With the steep slopes along the river most of they, they cannot travel more than a few abreast.  But they make good time, as there are no more Hun watchposts between them and the main battle.  Very soon, they see the hill on their side of the river, and the fortress on the other side:  And they see the ford, the low broad rocky area of the Celibus where it is easier to cross.

From the hill, down into the ford, and into a knot of Huns, a troop of Cavalry, mixed Human and Elven, charges.

Cirostis had expected some response from the Huns to their attack, it may be good news that they are too busy to do anything. But he decides to get into the battle as fast as he can anyway.

He sounds the horn once more.
He says to Ilsyan, I'm going into that knot, you may want to move your troops differently.

He sees his kin on the walls and is bouyed by the homecoming. He uses his voice rune to shout something intimidating and terrible in Orcish but his happiness shines through.


He sets his shield dancing magically and raises his axe with both hands as he charges into the Huns.

In the knot, the recognize Callidus, and there is Brannoc on the hill with the Elves.

Callidus is focused on working his way through the virtual forest of Orc warriors to reach that tall, red cloaked thing in the middle, the one holding up that staff made of braided olive branches.

But Brannoc certainly notices the group as they join the battle.

At this point, this party is on the map used by the other thread  (The Encounter at Beda) even though they don't actually appear on that map (Hey, they were disguised)

You are at about location U1-11.

You can post in that thread, if you wish.