Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

The enemy moved after two days of reorganization.  From what I could tell using the telescope, they spent most of their time getting the new soldiers into better shape.  Many of the soldiers are still suffering from a cough, and it seems like we did a pretty good job of damaging their supplies.  Unfortunately for us, their numbers are still insanely larger than ours.

As their attack began, it became apparent just how overwhelming their strength is.  I was hoping we could hold them off from reaching our citadel for at least a few hours.  Instead, I found myself calling for the retreat to the citadel within twenty minutes, and from there, we sounded the final retreat through the secret tunnel nearly immediately.

They threw their full force at us from the start, with their mages capable of sieging us mixed in among the rest of their troops indistinguishably.  This shock tactic played well for them, as we barely had any time to react to their strongest individuals before we began suffering under their magic.

Not that we didn't get them back to some degree.  As soon as their siege individuals were identified, we threw as much force at them as we could, but given their army numbered in the tens of thousands, it was just too overwhelming.  We managed to kill another thousand or so of their troops as we retreated thanks to our defensive siege weapons.

Thankfully, the retreat went well.  It seems like the enemy didn't find our actual escape route.  We monitored the tunnel through the rest of the day, and didn't see any indication that they found it.  From further up in the valley, using a telescope, it does seem like the enemy bought our feint that we escaped back towards the beach using the sewers.  We dug a few extra tunnels in that route as well, just to make it seem more believable.

The main enemy force seems wary of occupying our city though.  Likely due to the damage they suffered on the beach with the fort.  From up here, it's clear they're carefully searching every house and building to make sure we haven't hidden explosives or any other dangerous materials inside that we'd potentially use to sabotage them.  We sealed the secret tunnel off for quite some distance behind us as we retreated, so it'd take quite the extensive mapping and digging effort for it to look any different than a sewer tunnel to someone using something like tectonic sense, so I hope that their attempt at finding anything hidden doesn't reveal it.

I'm hoping that after they don't find anything immediately amiss, they'll take to using our city as another base of operations.  Ultimately, with an army of their size, they would need to spend a significant amount of labor to make a large enough camp for a long term base.  They could attempt a staged retreat, where they send a large number of soldiers home, and wait for more ships to take the rest of their soldiers home too, that would be acceptable for us as well, since it would reduce the occupying army size considerably.

Ultimately, we're waiting to see what they do next while we continue our guerilla warfare on the enemy.  As of right now I estimate we've directly and indirectly killed about seven thousand enemies while suffering a bit over one hundred casualties ourselves.  Not record breaking, but definitely within the range of historic victories.  That is, if we are to actually win.

As a few days dragged by, I think the enemy realized the predicament they were in.  Without enough supplies to properly support their massive army, and a decent chunk of the army suffering from a persistent cough, they maneuvered a large number of their ships to the city's side of the island, and sent back about two thirds of their troops packed in half of the ships.  It looked like they sent the remaining troops back with only enough food to make the return trip, and nothing extra.  Almost all of the flags save for Rathland and two others seem to be leaving the island.  I presume they consider they've contributed enough that Rathland would have a hard time strong arming them into staying further.

The enemy has also started using the city as a base of operations, but only the outer ring.  They haven't moved anything into the central area, and are generally avoiding it.  I noticed that the dark elves are still present, but are remaining in the scouting base rather than the city, but the other scouting parties have largely consolidated with the remaining army in the city.

Overall, the city is a good strategic base for a large army.  It has central access to our roads, warehouses, walls, houses, cooking areas, and fresh water.  Almost everything you could want.  We've decided that we'll attempt to use the dark elves to turn the tide again now that a large number of the enemy have left on ships.  We're currently sending two contingents of about one hundred and fifty troops out in an attempt to get the enemy to split their army out of the city.  One is headed toward the craggy section of road, and the other is going to go the long way around the city to be spotted closer to the artificial tide pools, but headed toward the other valley.

Our goal is to appear to be moving our forces away from this valley, as if to set up more traps and fight in even more difficult terrain.  Ultimately, that's exactly what those troops will do when they get to where they're going, but we're hoping to take extra advantage of our movement.  The enemy currently has around fifteen-thousand troops left in the city by my estimates, give or take a few thousand.  If they send out more than half their troops, we'll release the water in the reservoir on the city in an attempt to catch their leadership off guard.

After two days, both the contingents seem to have been spotted, and the enemy has sent out their own groups.  Luck seems to be on our side yet again, as they've sent out about three-quarters of their total force.  Judging from the size of their groups, I don't expect that all the soldiers are focused on going after our two contingents though.  If I had to guess, some are headed to their ships for logistic reasons, and others are likely going to split off and fan out in an attempt to clear a larger portion of the island of all our traps.

So, without further ado, we started opening all the valves in the dam, releasing a massive torrent of water.  Just the bottom valve would have been enough to slowly flood the city with the reservoir as full as it is.  With that Zeb, Zaka, the dwarven commanders, myself, and most of our elite troops totaling about one hundred individuals made our way down to attempt an ambush.

There are still a few thousand enemy troops, so it's not like we're safe in what we're doing, but if the dark elves also catch on, then we can potentially end the war now.  If we can capture and kill most of their leadership and retake the city, then we can attempt to negotiate a surrender.  

As we reached the city, the water level was already rapidly rising within the walls.  Outside the city walls, water was running around the city and making the area exceptionally muddy.  It seems as though the dark elves picked up on our potential ploy as we ran into a few of them on the way here, and they seem to be gathering their forces.

Quite a few of the enemy troops were positioned up on the city walls, away from the water.  Those troops are actually trapped currently though.  As the water level continues to rise in the city wall, many of their troops spill out of the city through the gates while those on the wall are stuck, unable to get out through the crowds and rising water.  As more chaos takes root, we watch from our ambush position, looking for the enemy commanders.

A few commanders are on the walls, but most are spilling out from the walls making their way further from the city to escape the flood waters.  Among the soldiers on the wall, I recognize at least one important looking individual, the Baron we met before.  Among those on the ground though, there is one individual who stands out considerably compared to others.

It's very obvious from the way the soldiers around them are behaving that they're important.  They look relatively young, but look like they can handle themselves well.  We've caught most of the enemies off guard, with most individuals not having any armor or weapons.  Fifteen of the soldiers around this individual are fully equipped, however.

As our group began our ambush on the important looking individual, the dark elves also began their betrayal.  Perhaps thanks to the fact they used to be allies with the humans, they know who the majority of the enemy commanders are, and a few enemy individuals die immediately from magic and precision arrow strikes.

As we get closer to our target, it becomes apparent that the soldiers around them are quite skilled, as they've already picked up on the situation and have identified not only our attack, but the dark elf betrayal.  They form a protective circle around our target, and we prepare ourselves for a tough fight.