Ravelin/saved posts
Posts relating to the Ravelin.
Reports from the Ravelin
Topic: Ta'Vaalor
Message #: 72
Author: Webstaff
Date: 8/12/2007 1:02:05 PM
Subject: Reports from the Ravelin
Creeping slowly from day to evening, dusk canopies the landscape in hues of plum, rose, and tangerine. Standing at his post, a Vaalorian guard turns his head to watch the sun sink as it has done every day of his fifty years of service. The horizon ripples one last time and the dieing day is done.
Something about the end of this day, ending much as it has before, nags at the back of the guard's mind. He strains his senses to resolve the riddle and listens intently to the clues he can gain from the encroaching evening. Only the Misty Deep River and its nearby waterfall respond, the sound of the waters passage ever present and eternal.
Suddenly, the guard realizes that he can only hear the river. Gone are the crickets, cicada, and birds of the evening chorus. Resting his hand upon his sheathed sword he watches the tree line and freezes all other movement, his body alert.
Behind him, others make the same observation and they too turn statuesque in anticipation.
Cries from the small community that has risen around the Ravelin draw their attention and they move as one towards the chaotic sounds.
Orcs! This far North? The guard thinks to himself. What could they possible want here?
Later that night, when order is returned to the Ravelin, the guard will write his report of how two dozen oddly courageous orcs wearing strange amulets brazenly attempted to claim the Ravelin for their own.
At dawn another attempt will be made, and other soldiers and guards will notice that the eastern, southern, and northern approaches have far more orcs than is typical.
News will be sent to the King.
Ravelin Abandoned
Topic: Ta'Vaalor
Message #: 73
Author: Webstaff
Date: 8/17/2007 3:05:20 PM
Subject: The Ravelin is Abandoned!
Tendrils of sunlight slip across the horizon and illuminate the landscape, its warm fingers dispelling the pre-dawn mist and ushering it back into the Misty Deep River. The dawn chorus begins its sweet song and the soldiers of the Ravelin change shifts with little to nothing to report. Another normal night has transitioned into another normal morning.
Hours pass and the day progresses as it always has in the small fort. The mess hall clears out, and the night's guards head to their bunks for their much deserved rest.
As the fort settles into its normal routine strange popping sounds can be heard within the stone walls of the Ravelin followed by grunts and snorts. Massive orcs, larger than anything seen in the Neartofar Forest, emerge from various rooms within the sprawling fort--their swords steeped in blood. They attack from within and slowly overpower the surprised Vaalorian guards, their numbers simply two massive to resist them.
Hours pass and the orcs begin to make their way through the community that surrounds the Ravelin. They take what they can and destroy the rest.
A strange, gnarled orc moves amongst the much larger creatures. They respectfully defer to him as he passes and follow his every command. He stands before several survivors of the morning's raid and crouches low to speak to them, his black robes pooling around his bulbous feet.
"Tell them," he says in perfect common, "That the Ravelin is mine now and that I claim it for the Orcs. Now go."
Standing, he turns away from the elves and begins to incant a spell. The orcs around him ignore the elves in favor of watching the robed orc.
Not wasting any time, the elves collect themselves and begin to run towards Vaalor as quickly as their bruised bodies will allow them. One man turns back, his features set in a mask of hatred, and watches as hundreds of orcs pour through a shimmering blue portal. He watches for a short time, counting their numbers as quickly as he can, and then he too abandons the Ravelin.
Ravelin Freed
Topic: Ta'Vaalor
Message #: 78
Author: Webstaff
Date: 8/25/2007 12:32:40 PM
Subject: Ravelin Freed
Led by Captain Frentilein, forces from Ta'Vaalor moved out of the city last night and made an assault on the Ravelin. The Captain generously allowed citizens and foreign militias to join under her banner and swell the already formidable forces of the Vaalorian Army. All present, rightfully, deferred to the Captain in decisions for tactical combat and advancements.
Lieutenant Thissa's scouts made several reports through the evening about the dwindling forces of the orc occupation forces and as a result few casualties were received. The final barricade rose ominously before them, however, Lieutenant Atharin met the match much as he had the other barricades and the structure was removed in now time.
As the last of the orc forces were decimated, the orc elder appeared and taunted the combined forces of Vaalor. With no more orcs at his disposal, the elder grew irate and began to speak, in the common tongue, of the destruction that was owed to Vaalor for all that she had done to his people.
It came as a great surprise to many that the defeated orc elder was not as he seemed. Working under the illusion of an elder, the mastermind behind the occupation of the Ravelin was none other than a Faendryl bent on the destruction of Vaalor. He was quickly apprehended and thrown in stocks, where he lamented on all he was losing. His threats were many and the Vaalorian Army has kept him in the Citadel under arrest so that they might garner more information from him.
Denizens of the Ravelin were moved back into their homes early in the morning following the freedom of her streets.