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Siege at Kvatch
The town of Kvatch has been besieged for two weeks, outside the great wood and iron gate amasses a daedric army, both foreign and terrifying. Citizens sit in their homes in terror as they wait for the gates to succumb to the powerful force outside. Soldiers line barricades behind the gate, hungry and tired, cold and wet from the storm that has raged on since three days before the dark gate opened outside their city. Supplies have run out, the reserves were not prepared to feed the countless people inside the city for more than a week without any caravans to resupply them and the remaining food stores are being reserved for the royal family and the inner castle's defenders. Count Ormellius, Kvatch's count hides deep within the keep with his most trusted knights and bodyguards as the common soldiers and militia stand their positions bravely. Tensions run high, none among them have faced the fierce daedra, nor have any felt battle before on such a scale. Archers once lined the walls but no arrows remain so they have taken up blades and joined the main force in the courtyard, only a few scouts remain atop the walls to watch enemy movements. Commonfolk have taken up arms and stand next to the armored soldiers with nothing but their clothes to protect them. Townspeople eat roots from the courtyard and leaves from the trees, trying desperately to fend off starvation.
Berich Inian, previously one of the town guards stands silently beside the soldiers. A man who had only previously seen combat only with local goblins and bandits and has not eaten in three days or slept in two. He remembers the town before when the sun lit the streets and children laughed as they ran around the courtyard, now the place seems foreign and hostile even to him. Even in their final hours the storm refuses to break, he feels cursed and depressed, having taken this assignment and being transfered from Anvil only three months before. His joints ache and his head pounds, his eyes burn from lack of sleep and he is almost as dizzy as he is weak...almost as weak as he is hungry. He is afraid, he sits propped up against the barricade with his hand on the hilt of his sword as he waits for his inevitable death. Unlike many of the citzens and soldiers that defended the barricades, he had been to the battlements and seen the army amassing outside the gate, he had watched the gates to oblivion open and the foul creatures pour out, filling the hillside with demons and turning the skies red. Yet still he stood with the defenders and waited. Hours ago a massive gate, twice the size of the others had appeared, yet no daedra had emerged from it.
Then something terrifying happened, the remaining scouts on the wall ran down the stairway as if terrified beyond belief, reporting what they had seen to the nearby officer. A massive hulking machine had crawled through the largest gate and was now spinning its way towards the gate slowly crawling as if intentionally delaying its arrival in order to instill fear on the populace. Berich remembered that Savlian Matius, captain of the guard had been helping people to evacuate the castle before the main force of the daedra had arrived but was now trapped outside the castle with only a handful of loyal guards at his side, a quarter of the guard had renounced their allegiance and abandoned the castle, Berich now wished he had gone with them, though he felt ashamed to even harbor such thoughts. He had imagined such battles as a child, charging some terrifying enemy and meeting them head on in battle, the bliss of his prior ignorance amazed him and he cracked a small but broken smile, feeling more desperate than he had ever felt before.
The ground shook violently, the machine was near now, close to breaking through the gates. It crawled forward and slowly but extremely powerfully crashed into the town's gate sending splenters of wood and iron braces flying across the courtyard. The gate had crumbled effortlessly beneath the power and size of the machine, bolts of fire flew through the newly formed opening and set the town ablaze even in the rain as if by some sort of unholy magic. Daedra poured through and the soldiers lept into action, a tide of grey metal clashing into a wave of black humanoid daedric soldiers. Blood ran the streets and Berich charged the enemy lines with the rest of the reserve force near the church. The clanging of metal and the growling of massive lizard like monsters filled his ears, he slipped on the mud beneath his feet but managed to keep standing as he met the oncoming force. A creature that looked almost human, a daedric Kynreeve stood before him, both evil and menacing. Berich gripped the handle of his family's blade tightly and closed the distance between them quickly, attempting a hard downward blow upon the creature but failing, seeing his attack slapped away effortlessly by the demon. It laughed deep and frighteningly and came forward, swinging ferociously at Berich but he managed to move from the path of the blade each time. After several blows were exchanged Berich managed to get a lucky blow in under the arm of the creature, where its armor had a small gap. The demon fell, coughing as it squirmed and struggled to breathe on the ground, dying. Berich grabbed his blade and killed two more demons with surprising ease, then turned to look upon the armies clashing next to him.
He froze in fear, the number of soldiers had fallen quickly to the destructive force pouring through their broken gates and it seemed that he could count the number of surviving men using just his hands. The tower of the church was struck with a brilliantly bright projectile and crumbled, blocking the path to the castle, the only way to get around was through the church itself. Berich sheathed his sword and fled to the church, grabbing a nearby soldier and dragging her inside with him. He yelled for others to retreat but so few remained that the call fell upon only the enemy force that was now quickly sprawling the courtyard. Berich grabbed the large iron bar from the floor and secured the door of the church, then instructed the other survivors to do the same to all other entrances. Monsters pounded on the door relentlessly but the doors held strong at least for the moment. Berich looked around, of all the people that had once inhabited the city, eight remained aside from himself. A priest, two legion soldiers, an imperial archer, two refugees that hadn't manged to escape, another city guard, a healer, and Berich were all that remained this side of the church.
Everyone was terrified, Martin, the local priest approached Berich quietly and asked him only one question.
"Since we're trapped here what do we do now?"
"Pray for our deaths to be swift and painless." Berich said in a flat and depressing tone
They had given up, broken and defeated they awaited their final hour, when the creatures would break through and finish them off. Berich drank some water as it collected in a barrel beneath the gap in the top of the church and wished he had some food to stop his hunger. The priest lead the refugees in prayer and the soldiers held their positions, hoping to slow their attackers for at least a second before they got to the civilians and then on to the castle. In times of such desparation, when no hope could be found even in the heart of a priest, they realized how valuable life was, how much they feared losing it, and that nothing they had done up to this point had any meaning. They were driven by the need to survive but all the while Berich knew that if someone did not come soon, they would not last the night.
