THE
BATTLE
OF
ALVANG
("WITCHKING'S
NIGHT") |
The Battle at Alvang (also called "Witchking's Night") occurred in 62 b.S. when Ac'rónn Serveran, the heir and son of the Móch'rónn Saban Blackcloak, a dark elf mage and warlord, guided an enormous army to the enclave of Alvang, an immense fortress located on an island in the midst of the stormy and violent Ancythrian Sea. Serveran's goal was to put an end to the Móch'rónn's plans to conquer the lands of Sarvonia. Severan commanded a contingent of elite elven archers and was joined by the armies of the human Helcrani leader Corvas and hundreds of dwarven warriors led by the renegade dwarf Gonthrol. This joined alliance of the races would later be a precursor of the "Sarvonian Alliance" that would become the key to the unification of the races later when Santharia was formed.
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A Survivor's Account.
The following account of the battle comes from the writings of Arasinya
Tuarwen, one of Serveran's chief lieutenants and one of the sole survivors of
the catastrophic disaster that befell the Alliance army. Her journals were kept
hidden for many years until she felt safe that they could be published. Along
with a few other survivors' accounts, Arasinya's journal tells a mostly complete
account of the battle.
Prologue.
The
Móch'rónn Saban Blackcloak
founded and built
the immense fortress of
Alvang
on a small island in the midst of the
Ancythrian Sea
in eastern South-Sarvonia. The fortress and
island were a place for
Saban
to build his power base and recruit and train an army to conquer the
Ylfferhim leader
Anthioullsn and his people. Some say
that Blackcloak was drawn to the
island by some magical essence, where that
essence came from is not known and possibly it never existed. After
Saban
took over the island he named the fort that he built "All'valán" (Styrásh
for "Above the Dream").
Saban
believed himself to be the true
Móch'rónn and demanded tribute and servitude of all the
elven tribes. Whether or not
Saban
actually believed the elves would declare him
their leader is unknown. Nevertheless, the elves
rejected Saban's overture and
placed a new leader of the High
Elven Circle, Anthioullsn, a
Ylfferhim bard. Enraged at being
rejected, Saban set about with a
plan to conquer the elven people by force. He
moved his group of darkling followers to a small island in the
Ancythrian Sea
and built up a large fortress and surrounding small town to house his armies and
servants. From here,
Saban Blackcloak
could build and send his armies to attack the
Ylfferhim people and later the
Quaelhoirhim and the
Maeverhim.
The Ylfferhim elves have never since
forgotten the time when
Saban Blackcloak
darkened their forests with his evil. A description of the dark elf as told by
Arasinya Tuarwen who saw him still is told to this day:
"He is
black as night, the dark one who descends upon our home like a violent
storm. I have never seen such a beautiful dark one... his eyes shone like
red jewels and his countenance was as midnight. I never saw him step upon
the ground. It was like the very earth
recoiled before him. As he turned his head to view the glorious home of my
people, I saw his hair blow in the breeze and I feared for I thought I saw
mists of sadness follow his wake. The very
wind quieted around him and as he passed me by, I could not look away
for his power held me in awe and I felt my very soul being pulled away by
his gaze..."
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"We had very little to see. The fog enshrouded us like a thick blanket. Everywhere I turned, the fog hugged me tight. I couldn't push it away and I felt as if my very breath was being taken from me. I pushed on, my crew pushed on and the Gale cut through the violent waves. It was our will alone that drove us forward. Our sister ships were torn asunder all around us as the waves ascended high above them and crashed down like a pair of steel jaws upon a piece of meat. We were fortunate... we suffered a loss of half the crew overboard. Never again will I sail that evil sea..." |
When the ships finally made
land, planks dropped open from the sides of the ships and the foot soldiers
streamed out to storm the beaches of the island. They were then met with fierce
resistance as the dark elf defenders rained down thousands of arrows and bolts
upon the attackers.
As the dwarven and
human soldiers took the brunt of the initial
counterattack, Serveran's archers took their places on the decks of the ships
and fired back. They had no good means of seeing the defenders, so they aimed
where they thought an archer would lie. They also aimed for the nearest fortress
buildings and windows hoping to hit something.
The attacking army, many of whom fell to the arrows, regrouped and made their
way slowly up the beaches until they reached the edge of the town surrounding
the fortress. From here, the Helcrani
general Corvus led the charge. His men encountered hordes of dark elf warriors
with which they engaged in fierce close combat.
Border Engagement.
The Helcrani men succeeded in
punching through the initial wave of defenders and began to spread out among the
small barracks and buildings that surrounded the fortress itself along the
northwestern side. Dark elf soldiers met them at every corner with drow archers
poised atop buildings shooting down arrows upon the
humans. The
humans knew that without reinforcements, they couldn't spread out enough to
secure the area and a victory. The dwarven
foot soldiers should have been following the
Helcrani, but were nowhere to be
found.
The dwarves were caught up along with
Serveran's archers battling the many drow mages that were unleashing powerful
bursts of elemental magic upon the invaders.
The western and southern sides of the landing area had become a chaotic mess of
Alliance soldiers attempting to close the gap between themselves and the mages
on higher ground.
It was then that Serveran ordered the elven
archers to form up in a line and prepare a volley of arrows while the
dwarves provided a defensive wall. The
dwarves pushed upwards, many of them falling
quickly to the onslaught of fireballs and tremors of
earth beneath their feet.
The archers were prepared and Serveran's arm fell in a signal to fire. The
arrows were let loose forming a thick cloud of raining death that fell upon the
high ground and the mages formed up there. Using the temporary distraction,
Gonthrol led the dwarves up the beach and
over craggy rocks to the town border where they met with drow foot soldiers
there.
Serveran's Charge.
Serveran led his archers behind the dwarves
and joined Gonthrol in hand to hand combat against the drow. As he rounded a
corner, he saw to his left a few streets distant the
Helcrani pinned down behind a
crumbling wall. Drow archers and mages were firing off arrow and spell in an
attempt to break the Helcrani
shield.
Serveran cast about, satisfied that his area was secure, and motioned to
Gonthrol where the Helcrani were
trapped. The dwarves gathered up and formed a
line with the archers behind them. Serveran gave the order and the group charged
through the streets in a ferocious attack upon the drow defensive. Many of
Serveran's men moved to the rooftops to better gain a line of attack. The thick
line of dwarves weaved in and out of alleys
and streets and found their target and the slaughter began again.
Corvas appeared from behind the wall and approached Serveran for orders. The
elf moved off to confer with the
human about the next stage of the attack.
The Undead Army.
After three hours of fighting, the border town was securely in the hands of the
Alliance. Many dead and wounded of both sides lay in the streets. The pitiful
wailing and screaming echoed throughout the night.
The Allied leaders took the time to regroup and plan the next stage of the
attack - upon Alvang itself. Serveran
chose to lead a group of archers and humans
directly to the gates of the fortress and enter there. The
dwarves were chosen to attack from the
underworks and tunnels rumored to exist underneath the fortress as the
dwarves were adept at underground movement
within tunnels. Corvas was chosen to stay behind and secure the town further and
provide reinforcement if needed.
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With the plan in place, the Alliance moved forwards towards the gates. Gonthrol
and his men found a tunnel entrance and lined up to move down and under into the
fortress where they would meet the humans and
elves within.
It was then that the sound of movement could be heard behind them. To their
horror, the dead that lay in the streets began to move and stand. The corpses
arose, still bloodied and fresh with dripping wounds.
Elves, drow,
dwarves and human corpses shuffled slowly
towards the Alliance group.
Serveran knew full well the powers of his father and cast a defiant glare
upwards into the fortress towers. There in the many windows dotting the walls,
he saw cloaked faces and malicious eyes staring back at him. Necromancers.
The air was heavy with necromantic
magic. Serveran knew that the necromancers were
using foul magic to animate the dead into a
second, larger army as a desperate attempt to keep the Alliance away from
Alvang. Corvas, shocked, but
undeterred, took up arms and rallied his men. They charged the undead. The
corpses were not agile and did not fight as they once did when they were living
and did not give the Alliance much trouble. But, it took time for the Alliance
to fight off the undead giving the enemy time to regroup and form a final
defense within the fortress.
The Trap. What
happened once the Alliance reached the gates of the fortress is uncertain. The
forces of Saban Blackcloak knew of
the attack and also knew of the powerful magical
trap that lay in wait once any intruders dared pass through the fortress's
gates. What exactly the trap was remains subject to myth.
What the trap did, however, is clear. A traitor from within the army of Serveran
had betrayed the elves and informed
Saban of the impending invasion of
the fortress. The fortress defenders prepared to meet the Alliance once they
broke through. Serveran and Corvas succeeded in pushing back the undead and
gathered at the gates. They broke through and poured into the open area within
the fortress walls.
A Helcrani soldier later said this
of the breeching of the gates:
"We broke the gates
through after what seemed like many hours battling the walking dead. Oh
how my memories are forever seared with watching my former comrades die
not once, but rise and die a second time by my own
blade! I still see the agony in the
eyes of the dead... their pain at having their torn and pierced bodies
trapped by dark magics and forced to walk
again against their will... how an undead can exist I shall never know.
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The trap was sprung and
magical energy filled the island in a massive
blast of power that nearly destroyed every living being within the fortress and
the surrounding town.
Serveran, Corvas and a few others survived, however, and it is not know how they
did so. Legend has it that the survivors possessed enormous willpower and
resisted the magic that was unleashed. Some say
that the gods themselves protected them. The remaining members of the Alliance
had no time to figure it out. From the writings and symbols within the fortress
walls, Serveran knew that his father was bent on taking the power of the Earth
Titans and had to be stopped.
Aftermath. Serveran,
Corvas and the remaining archers and soldiers conducted a search for the
dwarves who had gone under the tunnels but
could not find them. It is assumed that Gonthrol did not survive the mysterious
magical trap that killed nearly everyone else.
Sadly, there was little time to grieve or honor the dead. Serveran ordered all
those alive to board the ships awaiting nearby for the journey to follow
Saban and stop him.
Serveran left the island of
Alvang
littered with the bodies of the dead. The fortress and surrounding town was left
to the ravages of time to be shrouded in myth and legend.
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