The Falcons

Beginning during the early campaign in the founding of Andaria, The Falcons served Armior as an elite force until the conclusion of the campaign and even returned to protect the land from the first goblinoid invasion in the north of the kingdom, his actions earning the dedication of the northern city to his, naming it Arengrove. After the campaign they departed, Aren's oath fulfilled and searching for adventure.
The Falcons had many adventures over the succeeding years, climaxing in causing a slave revolt and casting down the Empire of Thar. Carving out a small portion of it for their own kingdom, naming it New Galiniad and the people renamed the capital city of Thar to The City of Aren.
With the founding of New Galiniad the party stopped adventuring to run their kingdom. Eventually culminating in Aren's suicide after the slaying of his longtime friend Armior who was possessed by fiends. With Aren's death, New Galiniad was renamed to Arenshold.

History

During the unification of Andaria Aren was the right hand of the gold dragon Armior and participated in many military engagements during the campaign. Early in the campaign Armior laid siege to the city of Highbridge, however without the ability to prevent resupply from the river at that time, Highbridge was able to trickle supplies into the city to make it so that the siege would take years. After a year of siege Aren decided an assault on the city was required, however the army from Wyrmgate was too small to directly assault the walls. So he devised a plan based on the intelligence he'd gathered all year and proposed it to Armior. Armior then accepted the plan and Aren put it into motion.
Aren took a dozen of his best men with the intent of stealthily infiltrating the city and opening the gate to allow the army to pour in at night. A storm sewer drain large enough to travel through singe file had been spotted by the rangers before, Aren decided this would likely be the best ingress point and began his attack. Much to their surprise the drain turned out not to be a drain at all, but instead a passage right into the castle that the king would use to smuggle his mistresses in and out of his chambers. The team eventually located the king and captured him, however the fight with the royal guards killed almost half of them before they were locked into the king's chambers with him and forced a surrender. The army from Wyrmgate occupied the city that day. Aren was given the epithet "The Bold" from that day on in recognition of the initiative and audacity displayed in his seizing of the king of Highbridge.
The seven survivors remained with Aren for the rest of their days and team took on the name of The Falcons. Their courage and skills caused them to be utilized as a special forces team for the kingdom during the campaign. Accomplishing tasks that an army could not.
The surviving members were:

Aren Swiftleaf "The Bold" (the leader Ranger/Fighter)

Cassius Noxheart "The Stalwart" (Fighter)

Piers Diggory "The Trickster" (Wizard)

Eric Mencari "The Humble" (Cleric)

Cedric Adruian "The Unseen" (Slayer/Rouge)

Jonathan Hane "The Quiet" (Fighter)

Acrond Milen "The Liberator" (Paladin)

Baderon Williams "The Unmoving" (Fighter)

Many of their tasks were to scour the lands of remaining goblinoids plaguing the countryside often going deep into woods and hills to do so. They also went abroad to gather historical documents and items, most notably the king's sword from the fallen kingdom of Galiniad, Oath's Razor. This was used as a badge of office for the king in Galiniad and Armior planned to use this as a symbol of the royal house of the kingdom he was creating.
For this they had to range north to the empty lands of Galiniad that had been empty for almost a hundred years. They found that it was a land anything but empty. In the time since the northern kingdom fell, the goblinoids from the mountains multiplied and occupied the ruins and lowlands. The fortress capital of Claushel was overrun with goblins and orcs, with hobgoblins occupying the keep. The Falcons renamed it Blackhold as they approached, seeing the ramparts lined with heads on spikes and a foul stench wafted from the ruin. The remaining population of men in the kingdom had been overrun and thousands were being used as slaves in the city. Just as often they were considered livestock as they were a source of labour. The Falcons were horrified by what they found and began planning, for the members, Acrond especially, refused to allow the continued existence of the people as slaves.
Jonathan and Eric set the fields beneath the city alight and stole off to their rendezvous location while the remainder of the party scaled the city walls with hooks and rope. Acrond and Cassius then headed towards the slave quarters, their cloaks obscuring them from a distance. The remainder made for the castle, intent on recovering Oath's Razor and any other artifacts they could. They slunk across the battlements and into the corridors of the keep. Avoiding the goblinoids as much as they could they used stealth to their advantage.
As they infiltrated the castle, Acrond an Cassius made it to the slave quarters where they began to rally the slaves to rebel against their brutal masters. Many were too malnourished to be effective fighters, but all chose to fight over dying under the regime of the goblinoids. Within minutes hundreds of men, women and children wielding tools as makeshift weapons, rushed the complacent guards around their quarters. The guards were torn apart in seconds and within minutes the angry slaves were burning and killing as they poured over the city. The castle emptied to put down the insurrection, unknowingly aiding the infiltration team into the castle.
With the majority of the goblinoids occupied and distracted by the chaos in the city, Aren led his team without incident deep into the castle. Until eventually reaching the throne room, where he spied an enormous hobgoblin sitting on the cracked throne. In the hobgoblin's hands he held both Oath's Razor and the Scepter of Massinias, the badge of office for the king of Galiniad. Upon this hobgoblin's head also sat the crown of the king of Galiniad. Clad in the royal symbols of the fallen kingdom and in mail, he ruled the land's goblinoids as it's new king. Seeing no other way than to slay the hobgoblin Aren, Piers and Cedric moved into position.
They struck simultaneously with Aren firing his longbow, Cedric his light crossbow and Piers a lighting bolt. This angered the hobgoblin greatly and it reacted immediately, drawing Oath's Razor and rushing the team. Aren drew his longsword and jumped in to meet the hobgoblin, knowing it would spell catastrophe if he came within reach of either of his companions. Oath's Razor burst into flame as it swung with unnatural speed and accuracy, with Aren barely able to dodge the powerful swings. Aren dodged and struck back as much as he could, cutting deeply into the hobgoblin with his strikes but eventually the hobgoblin landed a blow. With unnatural strength Aren was thrown across the room from the strike, flame bursting forth from the blade, burning Aren as his blood spilled onto the floor. As he lay gasping on the ground, Cedric drove a short blade into the back of the hobgoblin's neck. The hobgoblin swung the Scepter of Massinias, shattering Cedric's arm and dropping him to the ground. This bought Aren the time he needed to drive his sword through the rings of the mail in a mighty thrust and deep into the hobgoblin's chest, killing him.
The party recovered the royal symbols of Galiniad, however the commotion has attracted the attention of other denizens of the castle. With two members badly injured they couldn't fight or run far, so they hid in a side chamber. To their amazement, the orcs and hobgoblins rushing into the chamber began fighting each other over who would be the new king rather than looking for the killers. Over the next few days this would increasingly fracture the goblinoids of the region into dozens of separate tribes. Historians have often credited this action with saving the southern lands by staving off the first large scale goblinoid invasion by decades.
The surviving slaves left the land, most would not survive the journey south. The Falcons rallied the fighters among them and repelled seven raids against them until they reached the northern pass through the Shieldwalls. Only 300 of the freed slaves made it through the pass alive to the Kingdom of Lankor. The Falcons were aggrieved by the toll the rebellion and journey took on the people from the lands of Galiniad, however just when they had entered despair the last surviving elder addressed them on the far side of the pass.
"Today three hundred of us live, and we will be living free. Two weeks ago, there may have been ten times our number who drew breath, but none of us truly lived until gave us the will and the tools to take our liberty. We were not just given our freedom, but upon your wings we gained our lives." Moved by the words of the elder and the great sacrifices made by the people of Galiniad for their liberty, The Falcons taking Acrond's lead vowed never to turn from people held in chains. They would bring down any who held people in slavery or unjustly in bondage and free their subjects.
Upon reaching Lankor, The Falcons faded away into the countryside as the last people of Galiniad met the people of Lankor. The King of Lankor, being a man of great compassion, took them in and called them his own. Watching this action from a distance, Aren was satisfied and continued back to Wyrmgate, where he delivered the royal symbols to Armior. Aren never forgot the kindness of King Almeric of Lankor however and pledged to return it if he could.
The Falcons grew in fame and power as the stories of their adventures grew. Rendering safe villages, collecting ancient histories and killing monsters in the land their legend grew. Eventually however it was time for war again and the Falcons rode out at the head of an army rather than as a small team. On January 10th, they crossed the Eagle River into the Kingdom of Eddair with Armior and 2,000 troops. Taking ground quickly, they laid siege to Penfield, digging in before Eddair's army could muster. However time was not on Armior's side as an army of 2,000 began their march north from Fairport, intent on catching Armior's army between them and the 1,000 troops garrisoned at Penfield. Armior began fortifying his army's perimeter to repel the relief army.
Armior hastily had vast quantities of supplies moved into his fortifications as well; this proved wise as the relief army did not assault his position, but simply cut off his supply lines. With large quantities of food but still considerably less than stockpiled in the city, the stalemate lasted until the next winter. Seeing that they would starve before either the city or the surrounding army, Aren sallied out covertly with The Falcons, and using the stealth skills they had perfected over the preceding years, set alight enormous quantities of the Eddair army's food supplies. Armior used this commotion to get a courier through the lines to Highbridge. Being winter and with no longer any easy way to resupply the lost stocks, this forced them to attack Armior's army to ring a conclusion to the campaign. By this time Armior's army was walled in with palisade on both sides, guard towers dotting the walls.
Having learned from observing the disaster of the Battle of Girion, the Eddair army opened with catapult volleys for two days, breaking walls and felling towers to open up multiple points of entry into the palisade. Light cavalry then rode around the wall, forcing Armior's forces to divide to cover the entry points. Eddair's main force then advanced while continuing to launch rocks from catapults at the defenders preventing them from closing ranks into an effective formation until the last minute. Still, the volleys of arrow fire took their toll of the advancing infantry, inflicting several hundred casualties. Eventually however the infantry closed together and began to fight in melee.
Aren and the Falcons led the most mobile group, again sealing the breaches against the attacks threatening to penetrate the breach points in their fortifications. At one point in the thick of the fighting word began to spread that Aren had fallen, the effect of morale in the army was devastating and the line began to crumble. Hearing this, Aren threw aside his helmet and mounted his horse riding into the fray shouting "On our wings we shall prevail!" The troops instantly rallied and threw back that assault, even gaining so much ground they had to be ordered to withdraw in order to avoid exiting the protective works of the palisade. Fighting restlessly for two days, The Falcons repelled multiple attacks over he course of days, until eventually 200 heavy cavalry arrived from Highbridge and devastated the Eddair army's rear, routing a force almost ten times their size through the violence and shock of their arrival.
With the defeat of the relief army, the garrison at Penfield surrendered, ending the siege after a long and difficult year. With this The Falcons marched south with Armior towards the city of Fairport. After spending another year besieging the city word came of the eastern portion of the realm coming under attack from Melshire. Armior dispatched Aren, and by extension the Falcons to respond to the threat. Aren rode east in haste, gathering as many forces as he could as he traveled. By the time Aren reached Ansveil after it had fallen to Melshire's army. With a force of 500 infantry and 100 cavalry Aren prepared to retake the city, however the Melshire army was 800 strong and had superior equipment due to to steel foundries in Melshire's territory.
Aren devised another bold plan, heavily relying on The Falcons to infiltrate the city and create disruptions. The Falcons split up and infiltrated the city under the cover of darkness. Making their way to different parts of the city the Falcons prepared torches and spilled oil around until Piers cast a fireball into the wooden structure housing the command staff of the occupying army. Upon this signal the other members took the torch to other structures and wagons, causing chaos and the inexperienced occupying troops to look inwards, abandoning their watch on the city. Being unwalled it made it an easy matter for the relief army to rush the lines after moving into position near the city.
Meanwhile, The Falcons fought a desperate running battle through the city, evading the pursuing forces as they were pushed closer to the center. Eventually they made a stand in the town square, the statue of Dawtarr at their backs. They fought the army surrounding them for an hour before the relief army reached them and annihilated the occupying force. The Falcons rejoiced as their victory, however their joy quickly turned to sorrow as they turned inward and gazed into the unblinking eyes of Jonathan, having been felled by the accumulation of many blows. Jonathan Hane being the first of The Falcons to fall, was given a noble's funeral on Aren's order, with his pyre at the feet of Dawtarr's statue in the town square.
Grief being turned to Anger, Aren took the army he'd gathered and continued his march on Melshire immediately rather than waiting for reinforcements. The speed of the advance took Melshire entirely by surprise. With the annihilation of their army and without time to muster another, they surrendered upon seeing the now famous banner of The Falcons at the army's vanguard. Aren occupied the city and immediately began using the plentiful, high quality steel from the region to equip the army with better armour and weapons. With Armior still besieging Fairport, Aren was directed to consolidate the gained territory of Melshire and the recently taken lands in Eddair. Upon completion of this, Aren and the Falcons set about training more members for the army. Two years after the surrender of Melshire, and three years after the beginning of it's seige Fairport surrendered.
The only area left within the Shieldwall Mountain range was the kingdom of Lankor in the northern reaches. One year later, Armior and The Falcons marched north into Lankor. Upon arriving at Krestyl with a force of 6,000 men at arms, King Almeric of Lankor, recognizing that he was severely outnumbered surrendered to Armior. Remembering the kindness Almeric had shown years earlier to the last of the people of Galiniad, Aren counseled Armior to show the highest mercy and keep him in a position of leadership. Incorporating the Kingdom of Lankor into the realm was made as simple as declaring it to be a Grand Duchy and making Almeric the first Grand Duke. Grand Duke Almeric however, never forgave Armior for the domination of his realm and began plotting against him.
Upon the coronation of Armior as Andaria's first king, Aren's oath was fulfilled and he was free to pursue any path of his choosing. From here Aren knew not where he would go, however The Falcons pledged to travel with him. Aren decided to strike out independently with The Falcons to rid the realm of the more dangerous denizens still at large. Over the next few years The Falcons rid the countryside of many monsters and villains. However with the lasting peace and the kings soldiers patrolling the roads their need in the realm lessened and they stepped out of the borders in search of adventure.
Heading west into the Westlands the party traveled to the city of Halfmeet, a hub of information, trade and intrigue. Making stops at the Great Library and the Grand Covered Market they searched for a cause. Eventually, Eric brought them all into the Great Library and showed them something he was working on, the location of a series of lost ruins from the old Arkenian Empire. One reference in particular indicated an extensive complex beneath the Isle of Kross, the site of the ancient capital. Behind the Mural of Damodross it was claimed would be the vault of the emperor.
With a copy of the ancient text in tow the party made for the Tradesea and the free city of Kross. Long used as an important diplomatic and trading hub for the nations of the Tradesea, Kross was a bustling city filled with goods and people from all over Riela. The Falcons had made it to the city, however the challenge of entering the diplomatic halls remained. Eventually they found someone who could forge a diplomatic seal allowing them to access the great dome at the center of the city that was once the Emperor's palace and was now used as the seat for the Council of Kingdoms. The Council Dome is large diplomatic forum where ambassadors from every nation could come under a banner of peace to discuss the matters of trade and politics. Sometimes it even stayed peaceful, however the chambers that house visiting diplomats are no stranger to the assassin's touch, with poison and cut throats being a relatively common occurrence.
Putting on fine clothes and adorning their swords as if they were ceremonial, the party entered the chambers with Aren using his royal Andarian signet, the forged documents and claiming the others as his entourage. Admiring the vast chambers, the likes of which would not be seen in Andaria for another 200 years the party searched for the Mural of Damodross. Given the vastness of the building they searched for hours, eventually Cedric simply stopped a guard and asked politely for directions feigning scholarly interest. The guard was thrilled that a visitor to the building was interested in it's history and features and immediately led the party to a mural displaying the ancient hero Damodross driving a steak into the heart of the nosferatu Galitrax, the progenitor of all vampires.
Reflecting on the greatest of the stories of the epic myth of Damodross the party set about inspecting the mural. It appeared like any other mural, albeit an exceptionally well painted one. They searched for further hours before Cedric located a latch across the hall concealed in a statue of Damodross. Upon it's activation the mural swung outwards to reveal a spiral staircase heading straight into the earth. The party descended into the dark, into corridors that have not been entered in over a millennium that took them deep beneath the surface. Their journey took them through several gates and locked doors with bars and chains crossing them. Cedric marveled at the construction of the ancient locks and doors. With each trap disarmed and door unlocked the anticipation of what lay beyond increased. Eventually reaching a large metal door that was completely airtight and barred. Cedric unlocked it and the door swung in, causing a slight breeze as the air pressures equalized.
In the center of the room was a stone coffin with a caved relief of a warrior on the lid bearing a crown, the emperor's crown. Around the room adorning the walls were treasures and tomes. Wasting no time, the party pried off he lid of the coffin to find it empty to their great confusion. In a moment of confusion the party almost missed a mist making its way from the ceiling towards the door until Cedric's sharp eye spotted in, however not knowing what it was he pointed it out. Eric, being much better versed in such things immediately sprung into action, pulling out his holy symbol and forcing the mist to assume it's true form, a vampire, and the 36th emperor of the Arkenian Empire Angripend. The opening was sudden and brutal, with Eric and Cedric both being seriously injured in the first moves the ancient vampire made. The party battled with Angripend in the small chamber until the vampire managed to make his way to the doorway, turning to a bat he flew towards the open doorway to escape what was now clearly his prison rather than his tomb.
Only the actions of Acrond prevented the escape of the great and powerful evil as he interposed himself between the vampire and the door, presenting his holy symbol. Forcing the vampire back to his true form, however taking a hit from the vampire, caving in his breastplate in return. This allowed Aren to strike hard from behind, dropping Angripend and allowing Eric to drive a steak through his heart and remove his head. The ancient vampire was dead, however the party was severely injured, with Acrond requiring to be carried out, even after taking a potion of healing to stabilize his broken form. The treasures inside were plentiful and powerful however. Small chests of gold and gems uncounted, books of long forgotten lore, a hauberk of enchanted mithril, an adamantine longsword and the Crown of Kross.
Aren took the sword and armour of the emperor as his own, hiding the black blade within it's scabbard as to not draw attention to the exceedingly rare material of the sword. After making their way out of the prison the party emerged back into the halls of the Council of Kingdoms and back to the streets of Kross. Resting in the city for several weeks to recover their strength after their battle with the vampire they poured over the tomes recovered from the prison. Contained within them were histories and stories long forgotten, including a journal account of how Emperor Angripend was turned, discovered and eventually imprisoned for his condition (his family not having the heart to have him killed) in a tragic tale where his own guard eventually arrested him for the murders around the palace he committed to satiate his hunger for blood. Imprisoning him in secrecy within the chamber deep beneath the palace with his effects and personal wealth; sealing him away to be forgotten in time.
The sudden and unexplained disappearance of Emperor Angripend led to the wars of succession that began the decline and eventual collapse of the Arkenian Empire. The blade Falenthorn and the Crown of Kross were smuggled into the prison by his wife Cirial, who in her grief wished to search for a cure and desired the legendary blade and crown to stay with her husband until he could emerge and reclaim his birthright. The loss of the symbols of state however plunged the empire into chaos and the cure was never found; Cirial and their five year old daughter were killed in the ensuing power struggle less than a year later.
Returning to Andaria the party ran afoul of three ships of pirates shortly outside of Kross territorial waters. The attack was repelled by the Ravens who destroyed two of the ships and captured the third. After interrogation the surviving pirates were revealed to be operating under the auspices of the Empire of Thar as slavers. Slavers plagued The Tradesea constantly, seizing goods, ships and slaves to be sold to the Tharan Empire. Learning about the treatment of the people captured to be slaves, the Ravens began planning a campaign against the slavers. The surviving slavers were summarily executed by Aren's hand, in wrath driving Falenthorn into the captives.
Upon arriving in Wyrmgate, Armior greeted The Ravens at the castle and held a celebration for their return. Upon learning of The Ravens' plans Armior hesitated. "Our nation is young and is ill prepared for war with any large conventional force. Provoking war with the Tharan Empire would end in the sack of our coasts if luck smiled on us." Aren negotiated with his longtime friend and secured a caravel under an agreement of complete deniability.
Aren set about hiring a crew and then the party set out on the sea hunting for slavers. At first they were able to lure in the slavers by posing as a helpless transport ship. However as they destroyed and captured ship after ship, building a small fleet in the process and executing any slavers they had come across they developed a reputation. After two years of campaigning The Tradesea had become a much safer place to transport and many ports began paying The Falcons' Fleet to protect their ships and coasts from the slavers. However one day upon reaching Fairport, a message awaiting The Falcons recalled them in urgency to Wyrmgate.
The rangers sent north of The Shieldwalls in the last year have disappeared without explanation. A week and a half ago however, a watch on the north pass sent a message back to the capitol in haste. A team of rangers sent to find the others finally discovered their fate as they encountered massive numbers of militarized goblinoids amassing in The Beastlands. They spotted a colossal horde of goblinoids advancing from old Galiniad, they had finally unified and were gathering for war.
Armior had called his knights and dukes to his banner and was marshaling the bulk of his army at Highbridge. The Falcons docked their vessels and took their marines as their required men at arms nobles are to provide for defence of the realm. Arriving at Highbridge it was revealed that only about two thirds of the nobles fulfilled their oaths and arrived to form the Andarian army. 132 Knights arrived, forming an army of only 5,000. The men at arms were of exceeding disparate in equipment and training, the army that united the kingdom having been sewn across the kingdom to return to their homes under local lords.
Aren and the party arrived with 120 men, a larger force than any of the other banners; however being marines they were all lightly armed and armoured. The marines were ill equipped or trained for line fighting or stealth, however made for superb skirmishers. Aren arrived as a legend of the realm however and would ride with Armior as they marched north. Assisting the king in planning for the upcoming battle they intended to catch the goblinoid forces in the northern pass where they could canalize them into the steep and narrow terrain, taking away their numerical advantage. Unfortunately upon reaching Krestyl news reached the king, that the northern pass had been taken. The garrison at Ganalith was about to come under assault.
Ganalith had been reinforced by the army of the Duchy of Lankor, swelling it's garrison to a little over 1,000. Many of it's citizens have also fled or were forced out to extend Ganalith's food supply. Halfway between Krestyl and Ganalith the army reached a baggage train of over 20,000 refugees fleeing south. Two days out, news reached the army that Ganalith was under attack, and had been for a full day. Inspiring the army as the legend of Andaria's founding, Aren compelled them to march through the night and most of the next day, resting only 6 hours before deploying for battle. Aren's marines went ahead of the vanguard and took the goblinoid's scouts by surprise in force, slaying them before they had the chance to report back, allowing the army to deploy under Aren's direction undetected until they had crested the rise to witness an army of almost 20,000 goblinoids assaulting the city.
Duke Almeric insisted that they advance immediately and relieve the beleaguered defenders who had been fighting for almost three days. However Aren stayed the army from an ill fated charge and began ordering the archers to begin volleying arrows into the tightly packed horde surrounding the city, as he did, the marines attacked the siege engines and quickly withdrew, stopping the fire upon the city. As the longbows took their toll upon the horde, the men at arms were driving steaks into the ground, infront of the flanks. Before long however, the horde advanced upon them and charged. Again, Aren rallied the men, returning to the line those that wished to break and run from the charging mass and prepared for the armies to clash.
While the archers continued to put down withering fire upon the enemy the front lines formed a shieldwall, leveling pikes and spears against the charge. Eventually the armies met in a deafening crash, pushing the defending men backwards under the weight of the impact against them. Despite having killed thousands of goblinoids by arrow and taking a terrible toll of attrition upon them with the pikes, the men of Andaria will still severely outnumbered and were in danger of having their center pushed back.
King Armior then led his 132 knights in a cavalry charge that had circled around the trees of the right flank of the hill they were fighting on and they crashed into the rear flank of the assaulting force, withdrawing again before the goblinoids could react. Repeating this move multiple times, circling behind the hill to come out from different sides each time until much of the attacking force was devoted entirely to protecting the rear. Taking the weight off the Andarian center and allowing the formation to hold.
Eventually however the archers ran out of arrows, they then drew their swords and closed into the melee hitting the flanks of the goblinoids with aggression. The battle was now at a stalemate, and a battle of attrition would not favour the Andarian army. Aren took his 100 marines and 200 of the unengaged archers; circling around the terrain he approached from a separate angle. As the Andarian center began to buckle again, Baderon Williams charged to the front of the line, his great stature and bellowing voice rallying the formation to hold as if he was a great anchor, slaying goblinoids by the score with great swings of his claymore. Ensuring they took several horns he formed up his army only two ranks deep and had the horns in the rear rank. He then blew the horns as they crested the hill, spread thinly Aren waved his black sword towards the goblinoids still assaulting the walls as the army silhouetted against the top of the hill. The goblinoids at the walls believing that the army was much larger than it was broke and ran. The Falcons then charged towards the gates, taking their tiny force with them.
Aren, astride his horse then shouted to the exhausted defenders. "Heroes of Ganalith! All who have strength and all who have heart, hear me now! This is the culmination of all of your valour and all of your sacrifice, the time to ensure the fallen are not in vain. Ride out with me now!" Several long seconds passed, then the gates opened and 500 men at arms charged out, accompanied by another 800 armed citizens. Joining with the 300 men Aren brought with them they charged the rear of the goblinoid formation engaged with the relief army, effectively pincering them and breaking the force. Again it was a bitter triumph for The Falcons, as in his effort to save the main Andarian line, Baderon had given his life. In later years a great statue of him was erected where he had fallen.
The goblinoid army fled the field and were pursued north by the army until the pass was secured. Armior left 500 men at the pass to protect it from any remnants of the goblinoid army still at large. In recognition of Aren's efforts in saving the city of Ganalith, the king had it renamed Arengrove. The army had suffered almost 2,000 casualties in the battle, not including 500 from the garrison of Ganalith. Therefore king Armior returned home with 3,000 able men. Upon his return to Wyrmgate Armior set about summoning all of his knights and lords who broke their oaths and did not answer their summons to war.  Armior and Aren took forces to several fiefdoms and towns to bring the oathbreakers to justice and several small battles were fought in doing so. All oathbreakers were stripped of lands and titles, then were publicly executed. After this king Armior formed a professional standing army to be paid by the crown then implemented training and equipment standards for the men at arms that the knights would be required to bring to the field.
King Armior once again placed the burden of training the new professional army on Aren's shoulders. Aren and The Falcons established the Highbridge military academy where the king's professional standing army would be trained. The Falcons spent the next year taking the veteran soldiers and instructing the initial 1,000 strong professional army. At years end the academy was handed off to Colonel Armachus for command. In return for the services rendered by The Falcons King Armior pledged the royal navy's assistance to securing The Tradesea against the slavers and pirates plundering the trade routes in the western reaches of the sea.
In the absence of The Falcons' fleet over the past year, the slaver ships had renewed their presence in the west Tradesea in an aggressive manner. All trade had almost entirely stopped to some ports due to the activity. The slavers had multiplied greatly in number, taking advantage of the absence of The Falcons' fleet to make up for lost profits. Upon capture and interrogation of several of the slave ships' crews it was revealed that the Tharan Empire had financed many of the crews from their coastal city of Lanzeport. Aren began planning for a raid on the Lanzerport harbour, intending to destroy the ships while they were in port and cripple their privateering capabilities. King Armior insisted that The Falcons use their private fleet to conduct the raid in order to maintain Andaria's neutrality with the kingdom still recovering from the goblinoid invasion.
The Falcons' fleet of over 50 vessels sailed out of Fairport, leaving the counter-piracy duties to the Andarian Royal Navy. Upon arrival at Lanzeport they found the harbour lightly defended, with the Tharan Empire not believing any would dare challenge their might. The enormous fleet of over 300 naval vessels and privateering slavers were put to the torch in dock in a surprise night raid by the fleet and the experienced marines. The fire cast a glow over the entire city and the waters, clearly lighting the flying banners of The Falcons' fleet.
The Tharan Empire however was well informed and knew that The Falcons were sponsored by Andaria, just as the slavers were sponsored by them. The formal declaration of war on Andaria arrived in Wyrmgate less than one month after the razing of the Lanzeport harbour. With the Tharan Empire's naval abilities almost entirely annihilated however, it would mean a long and arduous march on The Long Road for it's army, at the end of an absolutely colossal supply train, through the territory of it's rivals. The inability of the empire to now project it's enormous military might across the Tradesea meant that it was a cold war.
The Tharan Empire instead began marching it's forces west towards the coastal city state of Peert and the surrounding lands in an effort to seize the harbour and enslave it's population. Peert, capitulated within a month of siege with almost the entirety of it's 100,000 citizens being taken as slaves and taken back to the empire to be auctioned to the public. Upon learning of this The Falcons recalled the oath they had taken upon arriving in Lankor with the people of old Galiniad and began plotting against the Tharan Empire. A seemingly insurmountable task ahead of them as the Tharan Empire had a standing army over 70,000 strong and covered all of the land from the Tradesea to the everwaters and between the Great Desert and the Deepwood.
Taking several months to improve their ability to speak South Common the Falcons made their plans.  Eventually The Falcons disguised themselves as slavers and entered Lanzeport with 120 of their handpicked marines disguised as slaves. After successfully entering the empire, The Falcons split up, each taking 20 marines with them to different cities and familiarizing themselves with the empire. In this time they would come to know the different faction and most importantly, the slaves they held.
Aren took his men to the city of Thar, the capitol of the Tharan Empire and a city of great excess from the Tharan elites residing there. The slaves, despite being dressed in fine clothes and housed in comfortable quarters were still subject to great cruelty from the depravations of the wealthy highborns of the capitol.
Eric went to Grisarde in an effort to liberate the population of Peert who had arrived there and were being prepared for market (a process of many months for a group of that size). Being the main processing hub for new slaves entering the empire it had an absolutely enormous number of chained people at any given time living in some of the most terrible conditions of the empire.
Acrond stayed in Lanzeport to disrupt the trickle of slave ships still coming in to the surviving docks. Also infiltrating the slaves rebuilding the docks and shipyards, causing the construction to be disrupted as much as possible without arousing too much suspicion. The average slave had a standard and unremarkable life of servitude and labour in Lanzeport.
Piers traveled south to Espedae, a trading hub and crossroads to the empire's two southern coastal cities. Another processing hub, albeit smaller than Grisarde, meant that there was another large number of slaves in absolute squalor as they were being prepared to be sent to market.
Cedric went to Harrenville, a city where the slaves did hard labour and were often worked to death in the quarries and mines outside the city. As such there was a high number of slaves living in barracks like housing at the mines.
Cassius took his men to Saerlonge, an occupied metropilitan city with a light garrison.  While there were relatively few slaves in the city, there were many subjects who were opposed to Tharan rule and lived in fear.
Each of The Falcons began building networked cells of slaves who would begin organizing and gathering other slaves to their cause. Focusing on commuicating within their cities and then to the other cities with cells created by the Falcons. As the network expanded the members took to calling themselves the "Winged men" in reference to the members who had the freedom to move around and pass on messages between the cells.
After six months of preparation, it was revealed that the bulk of the slaves from Peert being processed in Grisarde were going to be distributed to the various markets across the empire within a month. The time to strike had come. The messages were passed along that the night before the slaves were moved they would simultaneously strike various high profile targets and appeal to the masses of slaves (who outnumbered the citizens more than 3 to 1) to rise up and cast down their masters. The hoarded weapons were distributed and targets identified.
A week before the operation was set to begin however, Acrond was captured along with his entire cell after one of the slaves betrayed them in hopes of gaining favour from his master. After being subjected to torture and interrogation, most of the Winged Men in the city were rounded up and captured within the week, including Armin Lacklay the man responsible for communicating with the other cities and the only man other than Acrond able to identify the operatives in other cities. Despite being subjected to unspeakable tortures he died without revealing the identities of his contacts in other cities. For this he was sainted by Cambraine, the god of liberty for his stoicism and courage in the face of death.
Another week passed and all of the captured slaves were publicly executed, Acrond and his marines were the last to be executed. In total, over 800 people were put to death in the Spearport city square that day. Only one of the marines survived and got word to the Falcons' fleet and Andarian Royal Navy by use of a scroll of sending he managed to escape with when their safehouse was raided.
Two nights later, the uprising began. Thousands of slaves killed their masters and took to the streets armed, assembling at their predesignated locations and assaulting their targets. At Lazeport the Andarian Royal Navy and Falcons' fleet arrived loaded with marines who then stormed the city and held it, freeing the slave population in the process. After discovering the cell in Lazeport security was tightened across the empire, thus instead of undefended targets the garrisons were prepared and waiting around the cities. The fighting was bloody and brutal all over, however the garrisons were not expecting the sheer number of slaves who would turn on them and were overwhelmed.
In the city of Thar Aren led his remaining marines and the slave population of the city in an assault on the palace. Taking heavy casualties from the elite palace guard they fought their way to the emperors chambers. Aren dragged the emperor out of the palace infront of the assembled crowd of slaves and lowborn citizens. Aren pronounced his judgement of the emperor and without allowing time for even final words, decapitated the emperor with one swift strike from Falenthorn. The former slaves then went about exacting vengeance on their masters and in some cities the slaughter lasted until well into the morning.
In the cities of Allsmarth and Ceadermonte however the rebellion was less successful, with the cells of Ceadermonte being taken by surprise by the sudden return of the 40,000 troops that were campaigning in the west, stopping the rebellion before it could properly begin. In Allsmarth the city guard fought the rebelling slaves to a bloody last stand, their lack of initial success making the other slaves reticent to join.
At the head of the returning Tharan army was Agrinnas Panigas the emperors nephew, the closest known living relative who was declaring himself the rightful emperor of Thar. As he pushed his army on he swiftly assaulted the ill prepared city of Bolhaven swelling it to 50,000 from the Ceadermonte and Bolhaven garrisons, he sent an ultimatum ahead. It was simply, surrender or every single slave in the cities will be impaled on stakes upon taking them.
The slaves in Grisarde still numbering over 100,000 even after the night of bloody fighting insisted on meeting the army in the field against Eric's pleas for them to remain behind the city walls. The mob of slaves were armed with makeshift weapons and wholly unarmoured. Even after plundering the city armoury it was only enough to arm and armour about 5,000 of them, and very few had any previous fighting experience. So six days after the rebellion, a disorganized mob flooded out of the city gates and made an attempt at lining up on the arid plains north of the city. The professional Tharan army in well drilled movements deployed for battle, holding their ground in front of the makeshift slave army.
The Tharan army then began to volley arrows into the unarmoured mob, killing thousands. The rebel army still having high morale from their seizure of the city charged forward towards the Tharan lines in an effort to take away the Tharan archery advantage. However without clear commanders or discipline, they advanced in a piecemeal fashion and were cut down upon contact with the well drilled veterans they faced. The following was an absolute massacre of the makeshift rebel army. Before noon, the rebels were routed and were fleeing not just the field, but abandoning the city. Having lost over 30,000 of their number while only inflicting about 1,000 casualties on the Tharan army, the rebel army made south as fast as they could.
Eric rallied several thousand of the leading elements of the general retreat and salvaged some of the routing force, turning it into a somewhat more organized retreat. The trailing rebels were being run down and slaughtered by the Tharan cavalry still and Eric had to take to the field with his marines and some of the more organized rebels bearing pikes to stall the cavalry charges. Even with the intervention of the pikemen, an estimated 5,000 more rebels were killed in their withdrawal. Now, following Eric the rebels fled south, the rear elements constantly in fear of pursuing Tharan forces. This fear was not realized however, as the Tharan army stopped to seize the city. The Tharans, true to their word they found every slave that didn't escape the city and spent the evening impaling every man woman and child on stakes outside the city gates.
Communication was being established between cities that successfully rebelled at this time and as the rebels fled south, Aren was developing a wider strategic picture. Directing the rebels to concentrate their forces at the city of Thar. As the forces moved, the Falcons were busy organizing the forces as best they could. Not having time to arm and train the makeshift rebel army with forged weapons, the tools used in every day life were repurposed for warfare. Organizing the untrained rebels along the lines of their chosen tools and those with any prior martial experience. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the city, pledging themselves to the fight. Until the army had swelled to almost 400,000 men. Having less than a week before the arrival of the Tharan army after the rebels from Grisarde arrived, organizing of the rebel army was an enormous and frantic task.
The arrival of the rebels from Harrenville was an entirely different matter however. The majority of the 20,000 rebels arriving from Harrenville were disciplined, strong and highly skilled in handling their tools from their years working the mines in hard physical labour. A disproportionately high number of these slaves were former military members from the regions the Tharan Empire had conquered due to having extremely high physical and organizational capabilities upon capture. Aren, despite protests from many of the rebel leaders did not incorporate this force into the main rebel army.
Fearing traitors of spies sending intelligence to the advancing army, Aren instead secretly ordered the Harrenvile contingent into the arid hills above Thar independently rather than utilizing them into the rebel's tactical center. The appearance to the rest of the rebel army was that of Aren turning away the contingent of strongest and most experienced fighters. Some of the rebel leaders started theorizing that Aren feared any that could challenge his authority and were beginning to worry that they had deposed one emperor for another. This came to a head two days later when a group of rebel leaders (commanding a combined 40,000 men) calling themselves the Free Peoples' Brigade attacked the palace where The Falcons had made their headquarters.
The battle raged for an entire night, with the small force of rebels in the palace desperately holding the building against the Free Peoples' Brigade. The rhetoric the Free People's Brigade leaders were repeating was that Aren had occupied the palace to crown himself a new emperor, this unfortunately had the effect of swaying more members to their cause. Unfortunately for the defenders of the palace, it was not designed to be a protective structure. Any defensive properties it may have once held had long been renovated over in favour of opulence and decoration. It took almost an hour for the rebels remaining loyal to Aren to muster and assault the rear lines of the Free Peoples' Brigade. By this time the outer walls of the palace had been taken and the main structure was under attack. The lack of machiculations on the towers or walls, no portcullis on the main gate, and large windows on the ground floor meant the palace proper simply could not be held as the door was breached and men entered the windows within minutes of taking the largely decorative outer wall.
The Falcons and their contingent of rebels had to withdraw to the cellars and attempt to bar the doors in the narrower corridors of the cellars. The Free Peoples' Brigade when not engaged in fighting the rebels loyal to Aren, went about slaughtering the civilians who were citizens of the empire before in a rage fueled vengeance., killing almost half of the remaining citizens. The fighting was absolute chaos and confusion as there were no uniforms telling the factions apart and fires raged through parts of the city. Due to the complete lack of identification it was just as common for friendly forces to be fighting eachother as they were the enemy in both factions. The fighting raged for the entire night destroying almost a quarter of the city in the process, including one of the city's large strategic granaries. By the time dawn broke and the fighting was over almost 80,000 rebels were killed or had fled, severely weakening the army's numbers and causing a massive reduction in morale.
Come the morning, the surviving Free Peoples' Brigade leaders were publicly executed in the city square by Aren personally, once again swinging Falenthorn in judgement. Aren and his remaining commanders then set about preparing the forces for the upcoming battle, having to reorganize several contingents due to casualties and desertion. Having very little time to do so, Aren and The Falcons worked tirelessly the next two days and night until at last a scout rode in haste to the city. The empire's army was only a day's march away.
Before long the Tharan army arrived at Thar. The rebels manned the wall of the city, however the army made no immediate moves to assault the city. Instead, they began digging in defenses around the city and setting up camp. It was clear that the Tharan army intended to siege the city while the enormous rebel army was inside it. The city's remaining food reserves would last less than two weeks with the numbers in the city at that time. The Tharan army gave no demands or calls for surrender. It was clear they intended to kill every last rebel in the city, by starving them out if necessary.
By the end of the second day, the rebel forces were beginning to give in to despair. A contingent of 500 left the city intending to dessert the rebellion, however were captured by the empire's forces and impaled within sight of the city. The next morning, Aren marched out against the pleas of several of the rebel leaders. The fractured manner of the rebellion ensured that many of the leaders simply refused to order their members onto the field. Aren walked out in front of the rebel army after his meeting with the leaders.
"Men of Tralonce, Harwain, Oridrea, Arbios, Peert and of lands far away or now forgotten! You have a choice in front of you now. You may march out with me and face the men who have held you, your families and your lands in thrall. Or you may stay behind, safe behind these walls. You may live, for a couple weeks, maybe even a couple months. But soon here you will die, die without the strength to raise your arms, without the strength to embrace those you love. Most certainly without the strength to defend the walls. The longer we wait, the more the men outside these walls can dig in and make repelling us all the easier. I choose to sally forth, and face them in battle, where if I am to meet my end, I will meet it so that I may enter the Halls of Peace with my weapon sheathed and my head held high, knowing that it was by the wings of liberty that I was brought there. How do you choose to enter the afterlife? If you wish to enter proud, and perhaps win, then follow me!"
In a testament to Aren's oration skills and the confidence in him as a leader by the rebels, 250,000 rebels marched out with him. Lacking the training and coordination for complex maneuvers the rebels formed up and marched their superior numbers forward in an enormous mas against the Tharan lines. When reaching 300 paces out, the Tharan army began volleying arrows into the poorly armoured rebel army. The Tharans had deployed stakes in front of their positions and as such the rebel's charge had much of it's momentum removed from it's charge. The colossal rebel army however engaged with the professional Tharan army nonetheless. The rebels were being cut down in their hundreds in the first minutes. Their passion, their rage, and their desperation pushed them forwards as they fell upon the Tharan ranks. Unfortunately, it appeared hopeless as the rebels were being cut down in droves, their dead piling up infront of the steaks.
Back in Thar, a pillar of crimson smoke billowed from the city as Piers and Eric fed a magical fire. As the battle was engaged, the rebels used their numbers to threaten the Tharan flanks, forcing them to commit their reserves to hold the line. The attrition rate on the line was not looking favourable to the rebels, until a horn blew from behind the Tharan lines. As the eyes of the battle and of the city turned East, the 20,000 men form Harrenville charged down from the hills, brandishing their tools and weapons they sang a song of vengeance.
-insert song here-
The men of Harrendale crashed ihnto the rear lines of the Tharan army's left flank. The men of Harrendale being sturdier and better disciplined than most ensured they began to roll up the Tharan flank. From there the Tharan army was readily overwhelmed. The Tharan ranks broke and many began to flee, by midday the siege of Thar was broken. The Tharan army simply withdrew after losing over 10,000 of it's number and it's entire baggage train. Within two weeks, the starving Tharan army surrendered due to it's loss of logistical capabilities. Agrinas Panigas was taken into custody by Aren and the next day Aren sentenced him to death in the city square.
Aren gripped Falenthorn, feeling a thirst for death as he plunged his black blade through the last remaining descendant of the emperor, ending the line that had ruled with such a grip of fear. With this the people renamed Thar to The City of Aren and proclaimed him their liberator and king.  Aren gazed out on the fields, his hand gripping Falenthorn tighter as his eyes fell upon the fields of spikes outside the city, men, women and children still impaled upon them and proclaimed that any man who had a hand in the impaling at Thar or at Grisarde would meet justice. Over the next several weeks, Aren interrogated and publicly executed thousands of Tharan soldiers and commanders, his desire for vengeance seemingly growing with each execution as he brought Falenthorn down in justice.
Cassius Noxheart in time came to reject Aren's rule, telling him he has become simply another tyrant with a bloody reign. Aren drew Falenthorn with the intention of striking him down in anger. Only due to the intervention of the other party members was he restrained. Cassius departed the City of Aren with his closest retainers and rode north before sailing west. In the northern Westlands Cassius united several villages who were being raided by orcs from the mountains and led a campaign to make the region safe. Carving out a small kingdom in the region he named The Eyrie, he also constructed Eyrielight Castle and named his right hand man Mournimal Rathmore and his line as the commander of the realm's army. Rathmore had been with Noxheart since the beginning of their naval campaign against the slavers and had grown powerful in arms and influence in his own right. Rathmore gave the oath that him and his line shall serve the house of Noxheart until the end of their line. For almost 500 years they did, until the tragic events of the Eyrie crisis of 4862 Where Mantrik Rathmore murdered the tyrant child Dommick Noxheart in revenge for the execution of his family and was cursed with unnatural life, ruling the Eyrie since that day.
While still grieving for the departure of his friend and armsman, Aren was eventually confronted by the family of a Tharan soldier who he had condemned to death, begging him to reverse his execution order. Gribpping his blade he angrily outbursts that the family shall be put to death as well and ordered that the guards prepare them for execution along with the others. When the guards simply stood wide eyed and unmoving, Aren yelled at them, "Disobey my orders and usurp my authority, and I shall carry out another private execution in my own halls." As he unsheathed Falenthorn, feeling wrath and a hunger for death. With this outburst, the guards hastened to drag the family including the soldier's mother, wife, son and twin nine year old daughters to the dungeon where they would await their execution in the morning.
That night Aren undressed and dropped his gear in his quarters. As he crawled into bed he was overcome with grief and guilt, unable to fathom the person he had become. He never would have imagined sentencing the average rank and file soldier to death just a few years prior, to say nothing of innocent women and children. He thought long and hard about where it changed. Working through all of the people who he had put to death over the recent years, until he reached the slavers of the Tradesea. He started to revel in his memories at some point, looking forward to more executions the next day, feeling blood lust more intense than he had ever experienced prior. He snapped himself to, discovering that he had unconsciously gripped Falenthorn as he pondered. And then, he sensed the malice in the sword, the malevolence emanating from the black metal, and then Aren knew.
Aren's will had been eroded slowly over the years by the malevolent intelligence of the blade, having him slay the worst people first, then slowly pushing Aren to kill easier and easier. Aren felt his anger rise, but quelled it and steeled the last vestiges of his will. When prepared, he closed his eyed and squeezed the hilt of Falenthorn, concentrating solely on the sword. Formulating his thoughts, they began to flow from his head like speech.
"So you have hidden from me and manipulated me like an abyssal puppeteer. However now I am aware of you, and will not allow it any further. You will hold no power over me."
To some surprise, a voice filed his head, both silent and louder than a hundred drums. "Aye, I have led you, however I have only manipulated you to glory. Just as I did the emperors before you. Do you think it a coincidence the empire fell when I was hidden away? Do you think it a coincidence that you raised armies and toppled countries only after taking me and wielding my power?" Falenthorn assaulted Aren's will like a tidal wave of speech.
Aren felt himself stagger under the onslaught and struck back. "Nay, I followed my will, based on an oath I took long before I even knew you existed. I lead not for glory, but for liberty of people."
"And where is that liberty now? Are you not simply the emperor now? The capitol city is even renamed after you. But is that so terrible? Do you not know that you can lead justly and with more prosperity than the slavers you deposed?" Falenthron reasoned and Aren could feel the last vestiges of his will collapsing.
Until, at that moment of despair, Aren rallied his will and assaulted back. Aye, but I know who can rule the kingdoms of the Tharan empire better than I ever could."
Falenthorn faltered for a second, then replied in an obvious hunger, "Who might that be?"
Aren grinned in triumph as he shot back, "The people of those kingdoms! May they restore their own lines and rule under no foreign lands ever again. Their lands and sovereignty shall be restored, just as that of my mind shall be as of now!" With this proclamation, Aren defeated Falenthorn in his battle of wills and snapped back to reality in a cold sweat. Piers, Eric and Cedric surrounded him. Having heard a commotion in Aren's chambers they rushed in to assist, only finding Aren vocalizing his battle of wills with Falenthorn. Eric proved instrumental in Falenthorn's defeat, as Aren's will had been too far eroded to triumph on his own. Eric used his divine powers to bolster Aren's resolve at the moment all seemed lost, giving him the spirit to break free of Falenthorn's influence.
That morning on April 6th, 4287, a sleepless Aren marched out onto the stained executioner's platform with Falenthorn in hand. Aren pronounced an end to the executions to the stunned audience and pardoned the prisoners of the war. As he made his statement, he sheathed Falenthorn and had the people's shackles removed. He then publicly made the proclomaation of national freedom for the various kingdoms that fell within the borders of the Tharan Empire, releasing them from all bonds from the capitol.
With the proclomation and the subsequent signing into law, the kingdoms of Tralonce, Thilk, Arbios, Harwen and Oridrea were restored as independent powers. In addition, the city of Byrville was returned to Solmarch and Peert was restored as an indpendent city. Drumachampe, Harrenville and the City of Aren were formed into their own independant Kingdom. Aren called it New Galiniad and ran the emergency government for three years. These first few years were full of hardships as the kingdoms by this point had evolved to rely on eachother as part of a larger empire. This was felt keenly in New Galiniad as during the time of the Tharan Empire these cities relied soley on slaves and the flow of resources from the kingdoms to sustain itself. Famines struck the first two years, decimating the population and making farming the land even harder on the survivours. However, the survivours persevered, and in that third year it began to change. A time of prosperity had begun.
At the end of the three years, Aren was crowned as New Galiniad's king at the insistence of the new noble and merchant class that had developed over the forming of the nation. After all, Aren's actions leading the provisional government had made them all wealthy, and his overthrowing of the Tharan Empire had made him very popular with the common people who were by vast majority either freed slaves or Tharan citizens who could not afford slaves in the first place. By this time most of the major slave owners were either executed through due process of the courts that had been erected or extrajudicially slaughtered by mobs of freed slaves. Unfortunately these mobs murdered many common Tharan citizens as well and by the end of the three years, the prisons had more freed slaves that had turned to violence than Tharan citizens in them.
The next seven years however were characterized by peace, economic growth and prosperity of the common citizen. The mobs had ceased slaughtering citizens after several of the leaders were sentenced to death by the standing judiciary. The crops were yeilding high enough to even store away much of them for winter and trade was blossoming with the neighbouring kingdoms. The members of the Falcons took positions within the kingdom as recognition for their part in the revolution. Eric at Drummachampe, Cedric at Harrenville, and Piers taking on a background magical advisory role within the capitol. However, at this time the Duke Almeric in Andaria was seeing his long planned vengeance come to fruition.
Almeric had taxed his subjects into poverty in order to secure deals with arch-fiends of terrible power, his soul not being enough for the plans he had set in motion. The once kind and generous king now twisted to evil. During a visit of his lands Armior stayed in Krestyl Castle where Almeric resided, that night Armior's guards were silently disposed of and replaced by Almeric's men, now twisted into fiendish forms. Upon entering Armior's chamber, Almeric conducted the rites to let an arch-fiend enter Armior's body. Almeric was also deceived however, though the fiend knew Armior's identity it was a surprise to Almeric to have Armior leap out of his window and change form. The fiendinsh guards slew Almeric and seized control of the duchy, sending out orders for the lords to assemble their forces to march against the crown. The twisted and possessed dragon swept over swathes of Krestyl, incinerating people and houses, igniting fires that would spread from their origin. Taking wing over the city, he then set off south and would terrorize the land. After the army raised by the Duke of Highbridge was annihilated, message was sent to Aren in a desperate plea for asisstance.
Unable to beleive his friend would turn so suddenly against his own realm, Aren gathered Piers, Cedric and Eric. Piers then used his magic to transport them to Andaria in haste, arriving in a panicked Wyrmgate the party soon learned that the dragon was spotted flying towards them, having already torched several villages. The professional army and the lords have assembled a force of 3,000 in haste, however with only two heavy ballista, the likelihood of stopping the marauding dragon was low indeed. The party set off north, accompanied by only six knights and their retinues. Only 100 men at arms, 6 squires, 6 knights and one of Wyrmgate's heavy ballistas. Carrying with them a pavise and longbow or heavy crossbow for every member.
Reaching Girion, the village where Aren made his stand against a superior army over two decades prior, Aren had the small force occupy it and begin to fortify it. The village was deserted as the people had already fled south to Wyrmgate. The church of Peridine near the town center had been expanded upon in the last decade to include a belltower taller than the other structures in the village. He also noted that one of the churches stained glass windows bore his likeness in a tribute to his defence of the village against the orcs of the region. The bell was removed to make room for the ballista, covered under a blanket to conceal it and it's crew. The knights and men at arms dismounted their horses, spreading them throught the town as to not provide a too tempting target for the airborne dragon. The pavises were emplaced around the town, with heavy crossbows and longbows held by every man. They then ate and waited; that night Armior swept down upon the town.
The battle was fierce, a hail of arrows and bolts bounced off Armior's hard scales, only a few managing to penetrate the hide of the enraged dragon. Armior strafed the town, engulfing troops and houses in flames. Aren strode back and forth over the lines, encouraging the defenders. Despite the pavises saving many of the men, several were still incinerated by the swooping dragon attacking from off angles. It was only a few minutes, however felt like an eternity as the terrible form struck terror into the hearts of the men below, only holding their ground under the leadership of the Falcons on the line. After those few minutes, Armior howered in the air long enough for the ballista crew to reveal themselves, aiming at the wing of the dragon the enormous bolt punched deep into the joint of Armior's left wing.
Armior was forced to the ground by his injury. At this point the Falcons struck, under a hail of powerful magics and arrows Aren's advance was covered. He drew Falenthorn for the first time in seven years, feeling the swords hunger he forced it's comlpiance again. Aren then did battle with the fiendish version of his longtime friend, Falenthorn bit deep into Armior multiple times, Cedric also entered the fray, attacking where and when he could. Eventually, the combined assault forced Armior down, vulnerable before Aren. Aren could hear Falenthorn in his thoughts, urging him to strike a mortal blow. Aren denied the sword, angry that it would seek to corrupt him again. This hesitation proved tragic however, as the possessed Armior lashed out, engulfing Cedric in flame. Cedric's final scream was cut off after several seconds as his flesh was stripped away under the fire. Aren then hesitated no longer and drove Falenthorn deep into Armior.
With this great blow Armior was rendered helpless, where Eric advanced, using his divine magic to draw out the arch-fiend. The assembled forces all witnessing the arch-fiend being drawn out of Armior and banished. With this act, Armior resumed his human form, Falenthorn still lodged through his body. With his final words he told a weeping Aren about Almerics's betrayal. Aren took Armior's body south wrapped in a simple cloth and delivered it to Wyrmgate. He then gathered the assembled army and marched north in haste. In the fields outside Highbridge, the two armies met. The Lankor forces were fewer in number (only 2,000), however sat on a pair of hills and were content to wait as they knew Aren's army had marched north eschewing much of a baggage train in their haste to prevent the Lankor army from reaching Highbridge unopposed. Aren, knowing the advantageous position of the Lankor army couldn't be overcome by the Andarian army by blunt force came up with a plan.
Allowing the army to be led by the Duke of Fairport and the royal army commander while they formed their battle lines, Aren had Piers take him and Eric to the rear of the Lankor army through magical means. At dawn the armies formed their battle lines and the Andarian army slowly advanced towards the hills. The andarian army took heavy casualties by the Lankoran longbows as they advanced. Holding up their kite shields prevented annihilation under the hail of arrows, however slowed their advance considerably. While the attention was on the battle, The Falcons swept into the rear where the grand duke's tent was located. Upon bursting in, The Falcons surprised the assembled fiends impersonating the now deceased Almeric. With fury, Aren cut a swath through the fiends, banishing them until he reached the one impersonating Almeric.
At this time, the fair form of Almeric gave way to one of fire and evil. Great batlike wings unfurled from a large orange body wreathed in flame. As the demon before them grew the tent ignited and was swept away, revealing the identity to the assembled men charging the tent. The sight of the great demon of legend before them struck fear in the assembled men. The Falcons however, stood unwavering and attacked the great demon in a rage. Dodging sword and whip wreathed in flame, the Falcons did battle against the fiend. The Lankoran army broke upon learning the news of the fight behind them, believing they were outmanouvered until they beheld the battle before them, paralyzed in fear. They watched as the great demon brought his blasde down and forced Aren to the ground, helpless before the demon, Aren awaited his fate as he feebly raised Falenthorn to parry.
Darron, the Baron of Girion then found his strength and was the only man who rode forth into the fray, screaming a battle cry he unsheathed his cold iron sword and rushed the demon, landing a single blow biting deep into the demon before he was snatched by a large hand and pulled into the air, the heat from the demon burning him to death. This however gave Eric all the time he needed to use the last of his divine magic to reinvigourate Aren, who lept to his feet and with all of his strength, plunged Falenthorn deep into the demon's chest. With this act, the demon exploded into a fireball, engulfing Aren and nearly killing him. Eric rushed to save his friend, potion in hand as Piers recovered the Andarian royal symbols from the demon's chest.
Upon returning to Wyrmgate, Armior's 15 year old son Endrian was crowned, succeding Armior to the Andarian throne. Aren left the next week, but did not return to New Galiniad. Aren took Eric and Piers to the east coast of Riela into a mountain of fire. Standing above the crater to the volcano, Aren handed Eric the crown of New Galiniad and gave him one final order. "Rule well," Aren told him as he stepped off the ledge and plunged into the lava beneath him, gripping Falenthorn and destroying the malevolent blade in the process.  Aren entered the celestial realms where he was reunited with Armior and his fallen Falcon; and there Aren walked in peace.
The shocked men returned to New Galiniad in mourning. Eric was coronated as king and renamed the land yet again to Arenshold in memory of the man who had led so many to liberty and victory. Eric ruled until his death 30 years later, when the crown passed to his son. Piers had two sons, the youngest of which went on to be the Andarian royal court mage.

Disbandment

With the suicide of Aren Swiftleaf after saving the realm by slaying his old friend and King Armior, who was demon possessed. That was the last time The Falcons came together and after their mourning they went their separate ways, never to adventure again.

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

By the Wings of Liberty

4472 - 4493

Type

Adventuring Party

Alternative Names

Aren's Company