The Attack on Khor Keep
Intro
As anyone proficient in the political landscape would know, having a border with the Bone Empire guarantees the occasional invading skirmish at the least. But the border between the Dragon Realms and the Bone Empire is substantially different as most of the border is made up of the Flangend mountain range where most of the dragons of the Realms live, and there's rarely a time that a dragon is not up for a snack of a small village or travelling caravan. While incredibly recent, the attack on Khor Keep will surely go down as one of the most famous battles in history, as a group of kobolds, orcs, and goblins held off an entire invading army from the Dragon Realms, including the ancient dragon Slerg himself.Khor Keep
Khor Keep is a border keep between the two countries on the Bone Empire side. Manned by the usual Bone Empire population of orcs, goblins, kobolds, and the occasional ogre, it serves as an import/export point for merchants bringing wares across the border. While having a sturdy structure, the purpose of the keep was mostly administrative, and the keep administrator, Ank-Lor the Accountable, was not known for his military prowess.The Attack
Phase One - Slerg Awakens
Slerg the Sleepy, awakening after a brief 20 year nap, was feeling a bit peckish and headed out for an afternoon snack. Unfortunately, his path brough him to Khor Keep, where a contingent of Bone Empire merchants were preparing to head north into the Dragon Realms to sell wares at an upcoming festival. As Ank-Lor the Accountable finished up the last of the inventory counting in front of the keep, Slerg swept down and in one scoop swallowed up the majority of the caravan and Ank-Lor himself. Oggra, an orc, hired to protect the caravan and war veteran, furious at her contract disappearing in a single dragon swoop, quickly sounded the alarm and called on the guards and the keep to fire on the dragon. The dragon roared in pain as it was pelted with catapults and flaming arrows. and flew high up in the sky over the keep, out of the range of the keep's defenses.Phase Two - The Invading Army
Meanwhile, the faithful followers of Slerg the Sleepy had seen their master rise out of his caverns, and had begun to gather their substantial ranks quickly expecting an announcement of an invasion of some sort, or at the very least, a surprise inspection. While surprised when Slerg flew off without them, they're surprise quickly changed to panic as they saw him head towards the keep, and the following roar of pain as Slerg was attacked by the castles defenses. How dare they attack the great dragon Slerg, who assuredly was just hungry and looking for a snack! The entire army mustered up and went to attack the Keep. Oaux, substitute Captain of the Guard of Khor Keep1 , upon hearing the alarm had determined that this was going to be a Very Bad Day(tm). The various creatures under his command included very few war hardened soldiers, and they were unlikely to win a battle against the dragon alone, much less the dragon AND it's army, and trying to survive a prolonged siege was impossible when a dragon could just drop on you from above breathing fire. He quickly gave the order to open the gates, practically inviting in the invading army. Over the course of the next hour, a miraculous turnabout occurred in a fight where the Khor Keep forces were outnumbered 20-1. The outside forces led by Oggra, using the surrounding forest as cover, picked apart the forces with hit and run maneuvers. Inside the keep Oaux shot gun firing orders killed a large number of the Dragon Realm forces by forcing them in through the narrow gates and picking them off as they came through, then attacking them from the upper walls of the keep as the forces burst in to the now empty main courtyard of the keep. As the army rushed the various passageways of the keep, they ran into trap after trap set up by Oaux and his forces, whittling down the attacking forces.Phase Three - The Death of Slerg
Meanwhile, Slerg had been flying around cooling the fires that had been set upon his scales by the fire arrows and tar caked catapult ammunition, and was ready for round two. Swooping down, Slerg noticed that the keep looked almost empty inside, not counting his own army, except for a contingent of strangely armored kobolds firing arrows in his direction as he descended. With a majestic swoop Slerg gobbled up all of the kobolds and took to the sky, looking for a way to help his forces outside the keep now that he had stopped the pesky kobolds from attacking his forces in the keep from above. But his victory was short lived, and he felt only a brief moment of discomfort before Slerg exploded, raining down chunks of dragon (and some kobold) upon the field. Oaux had gotten just enough kobolds to volunteer to wear vests of explosives and stay atop the keep tempting the dragon. Only one kobold had to live long enough to light a fuse once they had been gobbled up, and the chain reaction assured that Slerg would be no more.Aftermath
The death of Slerg and subsequent raining down of dragon body parts was more than enough to break what little morale the Dragon Realm forces had, and the army quickly fled, chased by Oggra and her team back across the border. Oaux was quickly promoted to Captain of the Guard, and Lokthar banished until he could regain his name and reputation, but Oaux's new position was short lived, and he left the job for unknown reasons. Oggra decided a short time later to hang up her axes on the battlefield, and went to the Dark Academy to begin training up the next generation of Bone Empire1 Lokthar Irongut, normal captain of the guard, had eaten too much of the chef's chili yesterday and was not living up to his namesake, locking himself in the privy for the day.
Notable Battle Participants:
Oggra (Bone Empire)
Oaux (Bone Empire)
Slerg (Dragon Realms) ^
Lokthar Irongut (Bone Empire) *
Ank-Lor the Accountable (Bone Empire) ^ *
^ Deceased
