The Story of Souls: A Sweboz AAR

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Chapter Twenty: Hatred's Destiny (Part Two)
(From the Runic book:)
Spring 382AD
Its over. Finally, its over. As i sit here and look at the clear skies i see peace and beauty in the restored Sun. And as i look over the field of chaos i see death and destruction all over, burning trees, dessicated corpses, and the burning bodies of undead and demons. I think to myself that at least no one will ever have to go through this again.
Attila is finally dead. And the Huns in the Roman Empire destroyed for good. I will do my best to relate the events of the past days in this book to the best of my abilities.
About a week ago we continued our pursuit of the Huns towards the coasts of Gaul. We finally caught up with them outside of a forest only 30 miles from the coast, which i believe they did not know to be there. Otherwise they would have outflanked us to continue towards Hispania or Italy. Anyways the Huns took up positions outside of a forest to try and funnel us towards their undead.

However what they didn't count on was the fact the the Roman infantry could manage to fight within the woods well. They were to march through the woods and ambush the Huns from behind...

...while we were to hammer them towards the ambush.

I rode with the High King's guard and the other cavalry. As the battle began we surged forwards towards the Huns.

The fighting was brutal. These were no slaves or undead but pureblooded Huns, and they fought like it. Many good Germans were killed bringing down the Hunnic heavy cavalry.

However in the woods things were not going as well as we expected. The Huns, seeing what was about to happen, sent their undead into the woods after the Romans. This light troops moved twice as fast as the Roman heavy soldiers could within the dense trees. As such they pinned down thee Romans. It was then that Attila must have gotten the idea to use his cavalry in what is possibly the most insane stroke of brilliance since Megas Alexander. His cavalry poured into the woods and somehow got the upper hand on much of the Roman army. This forced us to move into the woods to save the Roman army from total destruction. It was barley enough for we rescued a Roman army torn to bits, but still willing to fight on. The fight then shifted again. The Veiled Elves, the highest order that an Elf can aspire to, came under heavy attack by a band of Heavy Hunnic cavalry. We expected them to be destroyed. however they fought off their attackers. rallied the rest of the archers to them and started raining death amongst the Huns. The Huns in return rained death upon the archers.
Then Attila himself entered the field. Immediately the battle swung in their favor as his guard destroyed a full band of spear men, and a cohort of Romans as well. However the High King saw this and immediately charged Attila's men. When we collided with them it was the most brutality i think i have ever seen.

Then the High King was flung from his horse. He fell to the Earth and was immediately stomped upon by one of the demon horses. The hoof crushed his skull in. And so, Harmazez, High King and defender of Germania, was taken into the next world. Even so the men kept fighting, for they refused to give in when they were so close to finally putting an end to the Hunnic threat to their families once and for all.
There was death everywhere. In desperation the demons set the trees aflame. Many, many men, undead and even a few demons, burned to death due to this act. As the Huns fled out of sheer terror, Attila broke off and went after them to rally as many as he could.

He began braking harsh, evil words. Immediately the entire force halted and regrouped. However this is what in the end doomed them. For they had stopped in front of the burning forest, and the archers, led by the Veiled Elves and Runic Hand, had surrounded them. They poured three sets of arrows into the grouped Huns. Attila died from one of those arrows.

The sky immediately shattered and began to return to normal. The undead exploded or turned on the Huns themselves until they dissolved all the way. Black flames erupted from nowhere. Trees shattered, bodies exploded. All was chaos on the battlefield.
The arrows didn't stop until all the Huns were dead at that point.

And so it ended. It finally ended. We spent the next three day resting in the cool spring air and regrouping form our wounds. The Roman had lost many, many brave men to these demons. This was probably their greatest victory in ages.
However i must go now for there are many things left to attend to. One of the biggest ones is the Ascension of the new High Queen.

[HunGeneral]

Congratulations on your victory.

High Queen?!?! - I wonder if the Germans will follow her..... ore is there a chance of a german Civil war?

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Chapter Twenty One: Thermopylae the Second
(From the Greek book:)
Winter 381AD
As i write these words there is Chaos in Hellas. The barbaroi are seeming to repeat the Akkadian invasions of old. They were first met on the fields before Thessaloniki. Unfortunately both they and the city were destroyed. The next fight was a near total repeat of the first one. With that Makedonia fell.
The next site where the barbaroi were met was Thermopylae. The site of the greatest triumph and tragedy of those old wars. Where the brave Leonidas and his Spartans stood against the might of the evil Akkadians. Until they were surrounded and crushed they were doing an excellent job too. This time around however it was the advance forces of General Agenor that held the pass. Against them were 30000 barbaroi horsemen, and an untold number of slave soldiers. The barbaroi also have a habit of defiling graves and raising the dead to fight for them. These monsters force sons to fight long dead fathers and grandfathers. How can God allow such an evil to exist?
Anyway as the battle began the barbaroi outright charged the spearmen that held the pass, probably expecting to mow them down and force the pass. However Mount Koliodromos made sure that they could not out flank our forces. The barbaroi were flung back with HUGE losses. As they fled out of the pass in terror their commander whipped them back into line. He then decided to send in his slave forces to displace the Greeks within the pass. All this got him was a lot of dead slaves and risen. While his evil witchmen brought the corpses up again and again nothing was going to get through the pass like that. As the day ended the commander was forced to call off all important troops. He let the risen continue for they didnt not care that night had come. So Greeks were forced to fight these risen for many hours into the night. The next day the rest of General Agenor's forces hadnt arrived yet. So these worn and tired men were forced to continue fighting the risen for much of the day.
In fact it was almost two more days before the first of the generals troops arrived. By this time the barbaroi had found the goatpath behind the pass. However some brave citizens of Phoica had blocked it as well. The risen however did manage to brush them aside unlike the main force. They then proceeded to surround the poor advanced forces. At least one of those men survived the battle and lived to tell me of the story. The barbaros commander then demanded the surrender of the Greeks that held the pass. What was said next i will record here.
"FOOLISH SLAVES!!! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND YOU WILL NOT DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH!!!", the barbaros commander roared. The Greek commander, a man named Parotes, came forward and said to the monster, "We, like our ancestors before us will never surrender this pass to the likes of you! If it must be then we will lay down our lives like the Spartans before us." The monster looked perplexed. "Why is it that you resist my will dog?", he said to Parotes. Parotes looked at the thing and said,"do you honestly think this is the first time that we have fought beasts like you? NO!!! Once before in this exact spot another man was made the same offer you make to me, vile barbaros. This man was surround by monster and demons as i am. And he stay, fought and died, to save his country. So honestly why would i let my people down and submit to your slavery or the long and painful death that awaits me if i do?" The barbaros looked at the commander enraged. "Dog", he spat,"you WILL serve me in this life or the next it does not matter. And when i finally get my hands on you i will make sure to do the most unspeakable things to you that are possible, rest assured of that."
And with that the battle began. The Greeks fought the risen for nearly an hour. However they were getting pushed down the pass ever so slowly. At the point it looked like they would get pushed out completely.
However it was then that the main body arrived. They immediately assaulted the risen at the eastern end of the pass. They went for the surrounded troops in a desperate attempt to save them and the position. However by the time that they reached the troops, they had already lost the pass to the risen. It was then that the barbaroi charged the pass. All seemed lost. However Parotes had sent a few men onto the lookout position on Mount Koliodromos to keep a watch on the enemy and gather boulders for just such an occasion as this. The men dumped many of the large boulders onto the barbaroi as they hit the pass. Death was everywhere, almost 3000 died in the first landslide, nearly 5000 in the second and third ones. However they also hit many of the advanced men as well. However this stopped the barbaroi advance dead in it tracks. This allowed the main Greek army to advance back up the pass and onto the western plain. They drove the devastated barbaroi back into Thessaly. My cousin has given what men that survived the pass the greatest riches the Arche can offer. These men are the greatest heroes of the day. As the barbaroi are forced back toward Konstantinopolis we will soon be receiving them. The attacks are growing more evil and fierce by the day as well. Ive seen them attempt to fling monsters over the walls to create chaos. In one instance one of them almost opened the gates before we could stop it. Also there has been attempts on the lives of many of the leaders of this city. Three attacked my cousin.
But i have to go and organize the award ceremonies now for the heroes of the second Thermopylae.