The Great Siege of Radasanth (FQ Main thread)

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Permission to jump ahead of Phi granted, also some minor bunnying permitted by Storm

"Yeah, she’s in there alright," Shinsou muttered his response to the electromancer amongst the cacophony of the Brotherhood's assault, "and let me tell you this; Philomel will not be leaving that city in any sort of friendly capacity. Hayate can try, but I ran into her on the way up from Tylmerande, and she made it clear where her loyalties lie. We have to prepare for that. I hope he is ready too...Hayate is strong, but Philomel could be a handful."

As he mulled over the implications of his own words, the Telgradian frowned as the cinders of the welcome wagon scattered to the wind. His irritation at his failure to placate the faun a few days prior was now somewhat dampened by the need to think about the task at hand; the siege of the fair city of Radasanth, and how best to proceed. He waved Storm closer to him as the no longer functioning wagon smoldered a good distance away from the main gate.

"I’d bet that most of the minor gates in the inner wall have been closed since your forces began encamping nearby, for security," he mused. Shaking his coat, the Telgradian trotted forward slightly, pointing at three separate points of the city wall; one east, another straight ahead, and one west. Swinging his sheath in perhaps a too-nonchalant way, he leaned toward the intrigued electromancer and continued his line of thinking.

“Those points, there, are where I think the gates are. If we concentrate on raining fire down on those parts, we’ll flush their flanks from the sides of the city into the middle because they’ll have nowhere else to go. I’ll finish off your plan and obliterate the gate to create a vent, because it won’t be long before those soldiers decide they prefer to take their chances out here with us. When they do, as you said, we’ll decimate their open charge.”

The brief break this initiated gave Storm a chance to fill his pipe with that familiar cherry tobacco, his blue eyes meeting Shinsou’s. There was a silent nod in agreement. The Telgradian held back for a few seconds, apparently steadying himself.

“You know, it could just be bullshit but I heard that the soldiers in there switched to rubber and leather armor once they heard it was you out here. Cute of them to think of you, really, especially as you are the quiet one of us,” Shinsou said with a grin and a hint of irony, “Seems a bit pointless, though. Rubber not only smolders, but it’s really easy to pierce with dark matter or ice. Or small, homemade iron bullets.”

Storm snorted lightly, the best he could do under the stress that chugging his pipe was putting his lungs through, and sallied forth. "Nice of them to pay me the compliment, but I don’t much care if it’s rubber, iron, wood or human shit. If they come out here for me and you, and they will, it won't matter what they're wearing. They’re only coming to die.”

"Right," Shinsou responded, "Well, if we’re in agreement, tell your cannons and ballistas to focus on those easterly and westerly points. I’m going to open that gate."

It’s been a while since I’ve done this...hopefully it puts the fear of god into whoever is standing around to watch. Shinsou thought to himself, a smile crossing his lips. Even though he could only maintain it for very short periods of time, his Starflare Pulsar was one of the strongest spells in his arsenal, able to generate such powerful gravitational force that even diamond struggled to maintain its physical form for long under its weight. The gates of Radasanth would be a sinch, and the sheer spectacle of the attack would surely give the armed resistance of Radasanth second thoughts about what they were coming up against.

The main gate could take the cynicism out of any man, at least for a few minutes. Shinsou could only compare its grandeur to the Citadel. It stood at least three times the height of the wall on either side of it that encircled the outer city of Radasanth. As he approached it, the Telgradian estimated its height as between seventy and eighty feet. Shinsou rested his eyes as an ethereal wind suddenly picked up from around his feet, howling and tearing at everything within five feet of him, with himself in the ‘eye’. Even as this localised but violent gale ensued, the inner wall never expanded inwards, ensuring that his storm never flayed his own skin, much less clip at his soul.

Fill the arrogant vessel with madness, deny the seething urge to crawl. Unite, repent, fill the ground and know your own powerlessness.

The incantation was never heard, but its effects were immediate. Manifesting in the center of Radasanth’s wrought iron front door was a rapidly expanding and viciously hissing black mass, born of a marble of dozens of distinct colors. Seven orbs of dark matter materialized above this black core, swirling and orbiting before suddenly striking the black hole with such force that everything within two hundred feet shook violently and the resulting shockwave knocked Shinsou off his feet. As the Telgradian stumbled back to an upright position, the chaotic aftermath quickly became apparent. A swirling, oily mist drifted around a super-heated heap of crumpled, twisted iron that once comprised the gate. Amongst the devastated brickwork were once finely carved statues, representing important events in the history of the city, that now lay in ruinous piles around the edges of a breach almost fifty feet across. The gloomy cloud of residual dark magic made it difficult for Shinsou to make anything out beyond the destroyed gate, but he had used this spell before, and knew the destruction would have eaten another fifty feet into the city boundaries.

Turning slowly back to Storm and his men, his lungs heaving and his muscles aching with the sheer effort of the conjuring and its aftermath, Shinsou cast his eyes over a watching Brotherhood. Some of the horses had spooked and brayed harshly. The men were slightly rattled, having only seen this once before, but before long were stoic and ready again.

“…I screwed up; used up too much damn energy,” Shinsou admitted as he limped past Storm and clasped a hand on his shoulder, “That one is tough to control and is a hell of a drain, but the gate is open. I’m going to need a few minutes to get my breath back.”