The Fifth Battle of Rethis
The Fifth Battle of Rethis was a pivotal battle in the Great War that led to the Destruction of the Anchor that protects the Iron Hills and ended in the complete destruction of much of the city.
The Conflict
Prelude
By 1722, Rethis had already borne the brunt of 4 major assaults. After the Fourth Battle of Rethis liberated the city from Chelestran control, the Kinilan Army had pushed Chelestran lines back to the western reaches of the Iron Hills, not far from the original Chelestran border. Thus, Chelestran general Gavin Tethren came up with a plan to change the course of the war dramatically: a surgical strike at Rethis to infiltrate the city, destroy the anchor, and use strategically positioned archmagi along the line to strike hard at the Kinilan Army before they realized what happened.
Deployment
With the front line so far to the west, Rethis was left mostly in the hands of the quartermaster corps, with a minimal garrison of troops patrolling the city walls. Similarly, Chelestra was unable to send a large force so far behind enemy lines, leaving this mission almost entirely to General Tethren's White Hawks. A couple of Chelestran Archmagi were sufficiently impressed by the proposal to volunteer to join in the operation, to strike against Kinilan's major supply hub after the Anchor was located and destroyed.
The Engagement
The White Hawks divided their force into two groups. The larger, led by General Tethren, was comprised of the Hawks' cavalry, magi, and two battalions of their mounted infantry, launching a diversionary attack on the walls. The smaller was comprised of the Hawks 5th and 6th battalions, under the overall command of Captain Ryllan, which circled around and approached the city from the far side, slipping in through a collapsed portion of wall that was destroyed several years before in an an earlier battle. One of the archmagi accompanied each group.
With the diversionary force drawing all eyes to the far side of the city, Ryllan's forces managed to infiltrate the city without being spotted, and the archmage accompanying them was able to detect the magic veiling the hidden location of the Rethis Anchor: a hidden complex under the Old Bastion, the city's oldest fortification. There they met stiff resistance, as the Bastion was held by a reserve of 60 soldiers who took full advantage of the building's fortifications. Ryllan's forces won through and found their way down to the complex below. There they faced a series of traps and a powerful golem set to defend the Anchor. They took heavy losses, but eventually managed to defeat the creature and the archmage hit the anchor with a powerful spell, disintegrating it into a fine powder. Then, they quickly fled the city.
Outcome
With the anchor destroyed, the archmage positioned with the diversionary force immediately began a ritual of High Magic to call up a devestating earthquake directly under the city, with devestating consequences. The city's walls collapsed, along with more than half the buildings in the city. The earthquake also destroyed the loading docks for the Rethis Canal, causing major logistical problems for Kinilan for the rest of the war. Ryllan and about 20 survivors from the infiltration force managed to escape, as did maybe a hundred of the defending Kinilani soldiers. General Tethen's diversionary force, on the other hand, managed to avoid significant casualties.
Out at the front lines, Chelestran archmagi felt the destruction of the anchor and unleashed a variety of similarly devestating rituals of High Magic on the Kinilan Army. Tens of thousands died that day, and the Kinilan Army was routed almost all the way back to Rethis before Kinilani Archmagi could be brought in to even things out, ushering in a terrifying new phase of the war. It is ironic that, in the most devestating war in Irion since the Fall of the Ancoran Empire, a war where most major battles saw upwards of a hundred thousand soldiers on each side, the single biggest turning point in the war was a battle involving less than 2000 people.
Included under Conflict
Battlefield Type
Urban
Start Date
August 2nd, 1722 AE
Ending Date
August 4th, 1722 AE
Conflict Result
Decisive Chelestran Victory
Location
Comments