Vol V: Brink of Defeat
12th year of wolf
As the way from the west was barred by forest and the supply lines in the north were long and prone to frequent raids, the main portion of the army returned to attacking Vesper from the south, and in the early days of the war the defenders were very hard pressed. The numbers of the Empire seemed endless and the defenders were sorely lacking in equipment. Most of the fighters having been untrained civilians before the war, the bulk of the army of these days were made up from dwarves and elves. Losses were high and many famous heroes like the half-dragon sorceress Imaerla Llora'en and the monk Derney Fearlias gave their lives then.
After several months in which it seemed like nothing would be able to stop the invaders, it came to what is today known as the Battle of Vesper.
After storming against the defenses at the river for all of the day, all the while taking huge casualties from the spells of the mages and the elven arrows, the army breached the defender’s lines and streamed into the city. Guardian Thenthen had been sorely wounded and taken to safety by her loving husband Lord *crossed out* Sir *crossed out* Mr. Jursten. All seemed lost and the invaders were already starting to enter the subterranean complex, where Seekers Annalina Gaidin and Adamus Tenderbottum were coordinating the defence of the civilians who had been evacuated there, when out of the setting sun aid was coming at last:
Lady Celia Liamyn had returned from Ferder at the head of a flight of dragons – most of them golden in colour, but also reds, blues, greens and silvers. Almost 50 dragons tore into the attacking Orcs, gouts of flame incinerated soldiers by the score, dozens of others choked to death in gaseous clouds, were reduced to an oily mass in the dragon’s acid or simply rent to shreds by their claws. At the end of the day, about half of the dragons who had come to our aid lay dead, and most buildings in Vesper were burned down or burning, but of the Empire’s forces who had crossed the Vesper River very few returned to their camp that night…