Battle for Tvintiir
The Battle for Tvintiir began at precisely noon on the 19th of the Festival of the Gods. The Sandpack spend over an hour on the slopes beneath the city chanting and stamping to a tune only they could hear.
As the sounds of the chant intensified and the threat of attack increased, the Awakened realized that they needed to set their plans in motion. Professor Urnotaren, the Dean of the Library of Technological Advances and Mechanic Durntleton of the School of Coal-Gem Science set up and activated the machine. None of them found the flaw that had been imbued in the system by Garlo Greenblood (partially due to the magical influence Garlo held over both of their minds).
As the Awakened activated their machine, all of the Coal Gems in the city, including those powering the cannon defenses, airships, lights, and hand weapons, were drained of power with the energy surging into the Dean’s and Mechanic’s bodies. No power limit had been installed in the device and both people were instantly vaporized. The machine overheated and exploded, killing nearly every single member of the Awakened and destroying the entirety of the School of Archaeology.
The Coal Crushers arrived on the scene only a minute too late, having seen the explosion from the central spire of the Library. They came into the ruins of the archaeology building and gave aid to those they could before rushing to the city’s defenses.
For, as the explosion occurred, the Sandpack had attacked.
The Battle of Tvintiir had three distinct levels. The battle for the undercity which controlled the city’s main gates and most of the city’s accommodations. The battle for the walls which controlled the cliff faces leading up to the city. The final was the battle for the air which was the first recorded airship battle in Tangearin history.
The cliff face surrounding Tvintiir rose nearly 100ft above the hills below in most places and was reinforced with turrets and magical traps to make scaling them virtually impossible. However, when the Coal Gem defenses collapsed all of these additional measures were gone. The troops on the wall were defenseless as even the weapons that they wielded powered down and became useless lumps of metal and crystal.
Captain Glimmerspark who headed the city’s overall defenses tried to rally the defenders and get new weapons issued but was too late. In a wave of ladders, monsters magically enhanced to climb the cliffs, and magical effects the defenders were pushed back off the walls or killed where they stood. Captain Glimmerspark disappeared in a wave of cold energy that froze a full fourth of the defenders.
The defenders fled through the streets of Tvintiir, offering little resistance to the Sandpack that followed. Civilians who had been hiding in their homes and shops were chopped down left right and center. The few bands of organized resistance rallied outside the Library of Technological Advances and the two entrances to the undercity. Those near the undercity ended up sealing the entrances with as many civilians as they could manage inside, slowing the Sandpack’s advance into the undercity but also trapping all of the defenders who had been on the lower defenses.
The defenders who rallied outside the Library of Technological Advances were disorganized. All of the military leaders were missing and most of the higher ranking members of the Library were either missing or dead (many having been taken down on the walls or the explosion caused by the Awakened). They offered little resistance to the Sandpack and were butchered.
It took just over half an hour for the upper city to fall.
The Undercity of Tvintiir is composed of a single central gate and passageway that gives access to the cliffs before a ton of winding passages lead up to the over city. The defenses here were, again, heavily reliant on Coal-gems. When these were drained many of the cannons and strengtheners on the gates collapsed.
However, unlike in the over city, the defenders managed to salvage their situation in the undercity. The guards, while primarily composed of Tvintiirian troops, were supplemented by the personal guard of the Stonebrook Dynasty Overviewer and commanded by Captain Lundo Carver, a person more acquainted with traditional warfare then with Coal Gems. Captain Carver managed to hold the Sandpack off for long enough to get the useless Coal gem weapons replaced. Although the gates to the city fell to hulking members of the Sandpack in the first half hour, the entire entry passage became a battlefield that Captain Carver slowly retreated down, using walls created from the bodies of the dead and dying, Sandpack, gnome, human, and elf, for cover. Even when the hall was finally lost and Captain Carver realized that they had been sealed in the undercity with no means to escape he managed to organize a defense, using the twisting tunnels of the undercity to lead ambushes into the attacking Sandpack.
Little is known about the later stages of the Battle for the Undercity. Few have managed to venture further than a couple hundred of feet within the undercity due to the toxic spores that now fill its passages. The body of Captain Carver was never recovered. Neither were any civilian bodies though. All of those found dead within the passages seemed to be warriors and the success of Captain Carver as a tactician can probably be shown in how he managed to remove all of the civilians from harm, at least in the early stages of the fight. It is likely that, even if they had managed to hide in some cranny deep within the undercity, the rise of the spores several days after the battle killed any remaining survivors.
From the onset, this was the toughest of the three battles. After the draining of the Coal Gems, Tvintiir had just two operational air ships which had been far enough away from the explosion at the time to avoid being drained. The Sandpack had twelve ships. Although the Tvintiirian pilots were far more skilled and the quality of their ships was far higher they were still hopelessly outnumbered. It was this battle that the Coal Crushers joined.
The Coal Crushers, with the aid of Gerald the Brave (a mage from the Library), teleported onto the Sandpack’s flag ship. They killed the crew and captured the ship, using it as a platform to destroy three other ships that crashed into the cliff and city below. The other airships destroyed another four of the Sandpack airships before they were overwhelmed. This left four Sandpack ships that successfully landed in Tvintiir, releasing a hoard of Sandpack warriors from their holds behind the defender’s lines and hastened the defeat of the city.
The Coal Crushers, still commanding a heavily damaged flag ship, managed to delay some of the land attacks before they noticed that the Sandpack had launched is final command ship, a giant dragon skeleton that had been reinforced with metal and wooden plating. The Coal Crushers managed to crash their captured ship into the dragon and board it without harm. In the resulting battle the Sandpack general and senior henchmen were all killed. However, as the battle ended, only Tellian was left conscious and the dragon ship, its steering destroyed beyond repair, carried the Coal Crushers west and away from the destruction of Tvintiir.
The fall of Tvintiir was a massive blow to Tangearin. The magical, medicinal, and technological development of western Tangearin was, metaphorically, put back nearly a hundred years in that single moment. The amount of knowledge lost in the great fires started by the Sandpack in their victory celebrations is incalculable. The number of lives, both of the Stonebrook Dynasty refugees and of Tvintiir, that were lost that day are in the tens of thousands. The number of unrefined Coal gems (and, thus, safe from the draining effect) that were pilfered from the city’s stores by the Cult of the Black Bone and the Sandpack is unknown but several ships are recorded as having been travelling north to the Hall of Names carrying the stones and prisoners whose very lives were fed into the temple upon their arrival.
The fall of Tvintiir was a disaster with consequences yet to be unfurled.
As the sounds of the chant intensified and the threat of attack increased, the Awakened realized that they needed to set their plans in motion. Professor Urnotaren, the Dean of the Library of Technological Advances and Mechanic Durntleton of the School of Coal-Gem Science set up and activated the machine. None of them found the flaw that had been imbued in the system by Garlo Greenblood (partially due to the magical influence Garlo held over both of their minds).
As the Awakened activated their machine, all of the Coal Gems in the city, including those powering the cannon defenses, airships, lights, and hand weapons, were drained of power with the energy surging into the Dean’s and Mechanic’s bodies. No power limit had been installed in the device and both people were instantly vaporized. The machine overheated and exploded, killing nearly every single member of the Awakened and destroying the entirety of the School of Archaeology.
The Coal Crushers arrived on the scene only a minute too late, having seen the explosion from the central spire of the Library. They came into the ruins of the archaeology building and gave aid to those they could before rushing to the city’s defenses.
For, as the explosion occurred, the Sandpack had attacked.
The Battle of Tvintiir had three distinct levels. The battle for the undercity which controlled the city’s main gates and most of the city’s accommodations. The battle for the walls which controlled the cliff faces leading up to the city. The final was the battle for the air which was the first recorded airship battle in Tangearin history.
The Battle for the Wall
The cliff face surrounding Tvintiir rose nearly 100ft above the hills below in most places and was reinforced with turrets and magical traps to make scaling them virtually impossible. However, when the Coal Gem defenses collapsed all of these additional measures were gone. The troops on the wall were defenseless as even the weapons that they wielded powered down and became useless lumps of metal and crystal.
Captain Glimmerspark who headed the city’s overall defenses tried to rally the defenders and get new weapons issued but was too late. In a wave of ladders, monsters magically enhanced to climb the cliffs, and magical effects the defenders were pushed back off the walls or killed where they stood. Captain Glimmerspark disappeared in a wave of cold energy that froze a full fourth of the defenders.
The defenders fled through the streets of Tvintiir, offering little resistance to the Sandpack that followed. Civilians who had been hiding in their homes and shops were chopped down left right and center. The few bands of organized resistance rallied outside the Library of Technological Advances and the two entrances to the undercity. Those near the undercity ended up sealing the entrances with as many civilians as they could manage inside, slowing the Sandpack’s advance into the undercity but also trapping all of the defenders who had been on the lower defenses.
The defenders who rallied outside the Library of Technological Advances were disorganized. All of the military leaders were missing and most of the higher ranking members of the Library were either missing or dead (many having been taken down on the walls or the explosion caused by the Awakened). They offered little resistance to the Sandpack and were butchered.
It took just over half an hour for the upper city to fall.
The Battle for the Undercity
The Undercity of Tvintiir is composed of a single central gate and passageway that gives access to the cliffs before a ton of winding passages lead up to the over city. The defenses here were, again, heavily reliant on Coal-gems. When these were drained many of the cannons and strengtheners on the gates collapsed.
However, unlike in the over city, the defenders managed to salvage their situation in the undercity. The guards, while primarily composed of Tvintiirian troops, were supplemented by the personal guard of the Stonebrook Dynasty Overviewer and commanded by Captain Lundo Carver, a person more acquainted with traditional warfare then with Coal Gems. Captain Carver managed to hold the Sandpack off for long enough to get the useless Coal gem weapons replaced. Although the gates to the city fell to hulking members of the Sandpack in the first half hour, the entire entry passage became a battlefield that Captain Carver slowly retreated down, using walls created from the bodies of the dead and dying, Sandpack, gnome, human, and elf, for cover. Even when the hall was finally lost and Captain Carver realized that they had been sealed in the undercity with no means to escape he managed to organize a defense, using the twisting tunnels of the undercity to lead ambushes into the attacking Sandpack.
Little is known about the later stages of the Battle for the Undercity. Few have managed to venture further than a couple hundred of feet within the undercity due to the toxic spores that now fill its passages. The body of Captain Carver was never recovered. Neither were any civilian bodies though. All of those found dead within the passages seemed to be warriors and the success of Captain Carver as a tactician can probably be shown in how he managed to remove all of the civilians from harm, at least in the early stages of the fight. It is likely that, even if they had managed to hide in some cranny deep within the undercity, the rise of the spores several days after the battle killed any remaining survivors.
The Battle for the Air
From the onset, this was the toughest of the three battles. After the draining of the Coal Gems, Tvintiir had just two operational air ships which had been far enough away from the explosion at the time to avoid being drained. The Sandpack had twelve ships. Although the Tvintiirian pilots were far more skilled and the quality of their ships was far higher they were still hopelessly outnumbered. It was this battle that the Coal Crushers joined.
The Coal Crushers, with the aid of Gerald the Brave (a mage from the Library), teleported onto the Sandpack’s flag ship. They killed the crew and captured the ship, using it as a platform to destroy three other ships that crashed into the cliff and city below. The other airships destroyed another four of the Sandpack airships before they were overwhelmed. This left four Sandpack ships that successfully landed in Tvintiir, releasing a hoard of Sandpack warriors from their holds behind the defender’s lines and hastened the defeat of the city.
The Coal Crushers, still commanding a heavily damaged flag ship, managed to delay some of the land attacks before they noticed that the Sandpack had launched is final command ship, a giant dragon skeleton that had been reinforced with metal and wooden plating. The Coal Crushers managed to crash their captured ship into the dragon and board it without harm. In the resulting battle the Sandpack general and senior henchmen were all killed. However, as the battle ended, only Tellian was left conscious and the dragon ship, its steering destroyed beyond repair, carried the Coal Crushers west and away from the destruction of Tvintiir.
Aftermath
The fall of Tvintiir was a massive blow to Tangearin. The magical, medicinal, and technological development of western Tangearin was, metaphorically, put back nearly a hundred years in that single moment. The amount of knowledge lost in the great fires started by the Sandpack in their victory celebrations is incalculable. The number of lives, both of the Stonebrook Dynasty refugees and of Tvintiir, that were lost that day are in the tens of thousands. The number of unrefined Coal gems (and, thus, safe from the draining effect) that were pilfered from the city’s stores by the Cult of the Black Bone and the Sandpack is unknown but several ships are recorded as having been travelling north to the Hall of Names carrying the stones and prisoners whose very lives were fed into the temple upon their arrival.
The fall of Tvintiir was a disaster with consequences yet to be unfurled.
Belligerents
Tvintiir
Strength
-8-10 thousand warriors and numerous more monstrosities
-13 Airships
-13 Airships
-2 Airships
-3 thousand Tvintiirian defenders
-400 Stonebrook Dynasty Soldiers
-10-20 thousand civilians
-The Coal Crushers
-3 thousand Tvintiirian defenders
-400 Stonebrook Dynasty Soldiers
-10-20 thousand civilians
-The Coal Crushers
Casualties
4-5 thousand in the initial combat. Another couple hundred as the spores flooded the ruined Tvintiir
Of all the defenders, a maximum of 100 people escaped. The Coal Crushers were carried away from the fight on a broken airship.
Objectives
Defeat Tvintiir and remove the Coal-Gems to the Hall of Names
Prevent the Sandpack from capturing the city.
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