Victory at the Voice

[Donegeal]

Now I know that I am not a good writer, but I seem to be the one with the most time on their hands while at work ( ), so I make up most of the Voxian stories.

Here it goes: (this takes several post)

Victory at the Voice

Prologue: The Voice of Vox Controlli

General Donegeal looks out over the parapet. “The Stormians are quiet tonight.” It’s not really a parapet. More like a tower on the southwest edge of The Voice. Off to the left, a lone figure sneaks out past a different tower some 50 meters away. “They know about our up coming expedition. Maintain close guard. I must go inform the Voice.” Donegeal descends the tower stairs two at a time in hast to get to Speaker Jon II. Out in the fields of cows, the lone figure dashes away to the campfires and tents of the besieging Stormian Skirmishers.

“Speaker!” Donegeal calls out as he opens the double door to the official sleeping chamber of the Voice of Vox Controli. “Speaker Jon!” he again says as he approaches Jon Miller the II’s bed. Jon stirs at the calling of his name.

“What is it, General?”

“Tonight a Stormian spy was seen escaping to the Skirmishers in the Bovine Ranches.”

“So what? There are always Stormian spies sneaking in and out of The Voice, just as there are Voxian spies sneaking around the Stormian Camps.”

In reality, the Stormian “Camps”, are nothing of the sort. The term “camp” implies a temporary situation. These “Camps” have been there for hundreds of years, some over millennia.

“Speaker, it is less than a year before our great expedition is ready to set forth. It is no longer possible to hide the gathering of food and building materials. The Stormian spy knew what was going on.”

“And if the spy knows, the Camps knows. If the Camps knows, all of Stormia knows.”

“Yes, Speaker. All of Stormia will know about our impending expedition. And with most of our soldiers out on… maneuvers, we have but my 10,000 men here to defend the city AND the expedition. Our entire civilization is now defended by only me and my men.”

“And there are 30,000 Stormian Skirmishers outside our doorstep.” Said Jon.

“They will be coming, Speaker, and soon.”

Jon rolls back over, drawing up covers. “I hope so, Donegeal. I hope so.”

Donegeal stares at the Voice of Vox in disbelief.

Jon feels Donegeal’s eyes stabbing into him and flips around. “Years ago, your grandfather organized the first counter attack to the Stormian invasion. It didn’t work and he abdicated the Voice to your father. Your father then sent his first son into the Grog forest to… hamper… the pest infecting the trees. Yours was supposed to be a suicide mission, Donegeal, and you know it. But you didn’t accept it. Somehow, you turned the tide. Your suicide mission turned into our greatest victory, and in the process, you have distinguished yourself as the greatest warrior… no, the greatest military leader the world has known. I have faith in you. So the Stormians out number us three to one. Each Camp of theirs is more powerful than any one of ours.” He smiles. “But we have you.” Jon starts to shake his head. “I don’t like their odds.”

Jon rolled back over and went to sleep. With that, Donegeal knew he had been dismissed. He left the room with a sense of pride and shock. As he was walking down the hall, he mumbled “The raids into Stormian lands, the diversion of our troops, the timing of the great expedition; it was all a ploy by the Voice to get rid of the Stormian Camps!!!” and a great swell of admiration of the Voice of Vox grew in Donegeal’s heart “My God! I hope his faith isn’t misplaced!”

[Donegeal]

Chapter I: Dissident

Dis easily avoided the Stormian patrols in the Zidane forest. He’d done it many times before. Quickly he made his way to the Zidane Camp and holed up for the night with some Stormians whom he knew had changed loyalties.

Desertion from the Stormian Skirmishers was a fairly regular thing. Not because the Stormians were particularly oppressive of their soldiers, but simply by the fact that most of the Skirmishers were 10th generation Stormians born a stones throw from the greatest culture in the World. Stormia was a place they’d never seen, but The Voice was right in front of their faces and was a real to them. Regular replacements were sent from Stormian lands to make up for the losses.

For two days, Dis watched the command building of Camp Zidane and followed one of the evening shift guards home. He waited just outside the Stormian’s 3rd generation self made shanty. The next morning, he snuck up on him in the woods and slit his throat while on his way back to the command building. It was not the first time Dis had killed a Stormian. He dragged the body to an area where bear and small packs of wolves or panthers were known to roam.

Dis reported to the command building at the same time his counter part arrived. He looks at Dis with an odd suspecting glance and asks, “Where is Velociryx?”

Dis shakes his head. “I don’t know. He didn’t show up in formation this morning. General Theseus sent me in his stead. Names Metaliturtle.”
The other guy grunts and they go about their business. Dis ask the guy questions about what each room is for and what duties he is supposed to perform. He returns the questions with his own personal questions about Metaliturtle. Dis answers them with the ease of someone who knows how to forge a detailed persona on the spot.

Dis’s partner shows him the “war room” and Dis decided to stay for a bit to check things out. While Dis is glancing around, his “partner” pulls his axe out. Still looking around, Dis doesn’t notice as he gets put into a corner and within striking distance. The guy grunts again. Dis looks up and realizes the compromised position he is in.

“You Voxian PIG! Velociryx was my drill instructor! Spill it, Voxian scum! Where do you come in from?! Who’s housing you? How long have you been here?”

Dis couldn’t make a move without the thug swinging his axe. He begins to get worried.

Just then, the door suddenly opens as someone enters the room. The “partner” looks in that direction. Seeing his opportunity, small as it is, Dis draws out his dagger in a spinning move, slashes his “partner’s” throat while using the momentum from the spin to throw it into the guys chest at the doorway in one smooth move. The two Stormians fall to the ground dead.

Dis is cleaning up spilt blood behind a table when the door to the war room opens again. In come several people “Quick! Secure this room!” Someone orders. A couple Stormians glance around the room as Dis scoots further under the table. They check the closet, but do so quickly and don’t notice the two bodies Dis had buried under scrolls and other parchment. They close the shutters, lock them, turn to face the officers and nod. Dis slightly pokes his head out from under the thick heavy tablecloth covering his hiding spot. He sees four Stormians as well as the two who cleared the room.

“Generals, I have orders from Hot Mustard. Since the Voxians are about to set off to found another cursed city, we have been ordered to crush them before they set out.” Generals Theseus, Asleepathewheel and Cort Haus all grumble.

General Theseus speaks up. “But what about the Archers under Donegeal’s command, General Notyoueither? He is no easy nut to crack; I have fought him before with unpleasant and unexpected results.”

“Mustard understands your concerns about Donegeal, but Blake and Vxma have assured him that ultimate victory can be achieved in this one attack. It will be difficult, but with planning, it can be done! He has Generals Theseus, Asleepathewheel, and Cort Haus gather around the central map and begin devising an attack plan on The Voice. Four hours later, they depart.

When the room is empty again, Dis unlocks and opens the shutters. He goes back to the closet where the bodies have stiffened and begun to stink and throws each one out the shutter and follows the second one himself. Once outside, he hides them in the hedges around the building and disappears till nightfall when he plans to return to properly dispose of the bodies. He then returns to The Voice by normal means… with Stormian Battle Plans overheard.

[Donegeal]

Chapter II: Beckham

It started at night; a dark and cloudy night. An intense volley of Stormian arrows stuck all along the outer defenses. Thousands impaled the towers. The outer most dwellings, long since abandoned, were riddled by the first strike of the Skirmishers. There were hundreds of screams from the buildings and towers. Some marking the alarm, some calling for assistance and some just screams of agony.

Then there was the scream of thousands. The Stormians start charging under cover of night. The Stormian battle cry was loud enough to be heard on the far eastern side of The Voice. A shiver ran down the back of General Donegeal. The battle cry carried on.

All at once, the buildings and towers spouted bows. Hundreds of them; glory be, thousands of them. Hell, it just about looks like it was the entire 10,000 bows of the Voxian defense force; and they all let loose with their arrows at the same instant.

The battle cry carried on, but it had changed. It was the low loud bellow of rage. It was now the high-pitched scream of pain, terror and agony. Thousands of Stormians fell in their tracks.

They expected stiff resistance, but did not expect to be facing so many bows. Perhaps somewhere a Stormian general thought that the attack should continue despite the heavy initial losses figuring that his division was lost, but he would keep what appeared to be the entire Voxian military tied up with this battle on the far western edge of The Voice. After all, there were 20,000 more Stormians to the South and Southwest of the city.

The Stormians pushed forward despite the heavy losses on this first contact. Then the second volley struck. Thousands more fell. Over 7,000 Stormian bodies lie motionless or quivering in death throws and the remainder of the Skirmishers had yet to even make it to the outer most buildings. The charge halted as a third volley struck, and the Voxians began losing arrows at will. With less than 500 Skirmishers left, the Voxians charged.

This proved to be exceedingly foolish. The Stormian Skirmishers got their name from this type of combat. They prided themselves on close combat, despite being a long-range unit. Over 2,000 Voxians lay dead as the last Stormian fell to the ground. It was a bitter lesson.

[Donegeal]

Chapter III: Zidane

The third volley had just hit the Beckham Skirmishers. Only 500 remained of the initial 10,000. Donegeal orders a quarter of his troops to charge the remnants of the Stormian division. The rest he orders to move to position two. If the information provided by the Voxian spy proved correct, the Zidane division of Stormian Skirmishers would attack next and in much the same manor.

It was less than 30 minutes since the initial attack on The Voice when the second Stormian battle cry rang loose. Another 10,000 Skirmishers charged the city.

Under the same cover of darkness that the Stormians used to attack The Voice, General Donegeal used to redeploy his troops without revealing their locations. This strategy of the Stormians to feign a called off all out assault has given Donegeal the precious time he needed to move his forces to the next attack point in the Stormian war plans.

Again, out of every window and corner a Voxian bow appeared. And again, using a silent command, all at once, the Voxian arrows flew.

Thousands of the missiles struck their targets and Stormians dropped as they ran.

The second volley struck and still more thousands of Stormians fell, but with nearly a quarter of the original defenders still finishing off the Beckham division, the two volleys were not nearly as successful as in the first attack.

General Donegeal watched the third volley fly when the troops he sent out to finish off the Beckham Stormians had arrived. There were little over 500 left from the 2,500 he sent out. 2,000 of his 10,000 precious defenders dead attacking the 500 remnants from the Beckham Skirmisher division. Donegeal turned to cancel the charge order he had sent forth once his troops were in position two, but it was too late. Another 2,500 Voxian Archers charged as his well-trained Archers began to redeploy to position three as pre-ordered. He looked out to just outside the city and saw there were roughly 2,000 Stormians that the Archers were going to attack. Out in the open like that, Donegeal knew they were doomed and dead to the last man before they began fighting.

Before the slaughter of the charging Voxians began, Donegeal ran to where he knew General Boo, his second in command, would be. “General, the charges are proving fatal. Take command of the remaining division at position three but don’t charge. Fall back while shooting at will and use the stones!”

“Yes sir!”

“I’ll join back up with you when I can. I am remaining here to deal with anyone left from the position two charge. GO!”

[Edited for spelling]

[Donegeal]

Chapter IV: Mazzerrati

It was happening just like clockwork. The information provided by the Voxian spy proved perfect. Forty-five minutes after the initial attack on The Voice, the third division of 10,000 Skirmishers attacked.

The Stormians charged, but not like they did the first two times. They were scattered farther and wider than they had been. Word of the Voxian Volleys had reached the ears of the Stormian commanders and they had adjusted their battle plan.

With the spread out Skirmishers and less than half the original 10,000 Voxian Archers, the volleys were far less effective. After the third volley, over 6,000 Stormians still pressed the charge on The Voice. The Voxians fell back and soldiers from the Gathering Storm entered The Voice.

Over 200 meters into the city, the 6,000 Stormians were pouring threw the streets of The Voice. The Voxian population that was still this far out in the city fled at the approach of the Stormians and the Voxian Archers spread out into the city.

The arrows from the fleeing Archers stopped. The Skirmisher commanders, sensing that something was going to happen, stopped their push into the city and took to the walls of the buildings for cover. Once the Skirmishers were under cover of the buildings, a dull clunk seemed to be coming from inside the buildings. A Stormian commander looked into one of the buildings and saw two Voxians chopping away at the main support logs in the front of the building.

“They’re going to drop the building on us!” The Stormian commander yelled to his troops and anyone who would listen “Back into the road! They are taking out the supports of the buildings!”
Just as the words were leaving the commanders mouth, buildings from all over the area started to collapse on the invading Skirmishers. When the buildings settled, there were screams of pain and calls for help from the buried and injured Stormians. As many as 2,000 Skirmishers gathered back just outside the city to regroup, as the Voxian Archers came back in over the rubble of the buildings picking off Skirmishers as they swept threw the wreckage.

[Donegeal]

Chapter V: Donegeal

General Donegeal watched General Boo run with the remaining Archers to position three and hoped that the abandoned buildings would do their jobs. He only dwelt on it for a moment; fore he had other things to think about. He turned and watched the remaining Zidane Stormian Skirmisher division carve up his charging Archers.

He had but 500 men left to command, and glancing back over his shoulder, some 1,500 Stormians to deal with. “Crazy b*tches.” he says as he turns to instruct his men on how they were to defend the city.

The Stormians regrouped and again charged the city. One hundred Voxians poured out of the buildings and formed a skirmish line. General Donegeal and his men fired 5 volleys at the charging Skirmishers, but outnumbered fifteen to one, they took down only a couple hundred. The Voxians broke their line and fled into the city. The Stormians followed.

The Stormians were well into the city when the buildings started to fall. The collapsing buildings were not as effective as they were against the Mazzeratti division as the troops were not huddled up against the walls, but they did their job. Over 300 more Skirmishers died in the fall and subsequent sweep of the 100 Archers.

The surviving Stormian Skirmishers charged at the sweeping Archers. The Voxians again fled. Once the Skirmishers came to the first crossroad while in pursuit, they were shot down by a doubled up skirmish line of another 100 Voxian Archers from their right flank.

The Skirmishers changed the direction of their charge and went after this new line of Voxians. The Archers quickly broke their line and ran. At the same instant, a third Voxian skirmish line formed behind the running Stormians.

Out flanked a second time, the Stormians were in complete chaos. Most turned to fight this new Voxian line, some continued the pursuit of the one they just broke up, but there was no organization. Soon, the previous two skirmish lines that had broken up had reformed. A fourth one formed to the south. The Skirmishers were now surrounded by four Voxian Skirmish lines and stuck in a crossroads somewhere in the outer reaches of a city they were not familiar with. Not a single one of them lived.

[Donegeal]

Chapter VI: The people of The Voice

Sensing victory, General Boo orders an assault of the remaining 2,000 Stormian Skirmishers. The fighting is fierce, and the out numbered Skirmishers are in their element. Five to one the Voxian Archers die. After two hours of battle, it appears the Stormians are going to win the battle.

As the last of the Voxian Archers die, the 500 remaining Skirmishers look up from their killing fields and see tens of thousands of Voxian citizens walking toward them with every type of kitchen knife and farm implement they can find.

The Stormians know they are in a loosing battle. With no chance of victory against the sheer number of Voxian citizens that have taken up arms, they turn to flee. They are now facing a double line of 500 Archers taking aim lead by General Donegeal.

Stuck facing a mob of over 30,000 armed citizens or a double row of highly skilled Voxian Archers, the Stormians choose the noble way to die and rush the awaiting Archers. No quarter was asked for, and none was offered.

Readers’ note: In game terms, the actual battle was not this close. The Donegeal Voxian Archer Division probably could have defeated a 4th Skirmisher. Speaking of which… if a Stormian could, would you post the victory percentages you had with each unit? Thanks.

Oh, I also know that the numbers of soldiers used in this story are not compatible with those in the info screens. I used the numbers we generally used for Civ III stories where a single unit stood for 10,000 people (a single settler unit would build a city of 10,000 people is where the number comes from).

[Edited for spelling]

[Daddy-O]

Bravo bravo! Nice writing for someone who is busy at work.

EDIT:
OK. The "Bravo" was for the first two posts. I have finished and am now standing in my cube cheering. I am glad we have opened the public forum. Bravo Donegeal.

[PJayTycy]

That must have taken a very long time to write... Nicely done !

[binTravkin]

highlight here


- How do you call a suicidal action in your lands?

- Ummm, run into voxbow?



colors indicate nationalities

[Dis]

cool

[Daddy-O]

That orange is very hard to read.

[Arrian]

Chapter II: Beckham...Chapter III: Zidane...Chapter IV: Mazzerrati

Well, whaddya expect from a bunch of drunk hooligans?



-Arrian

[Arrian]

Readers’ note: In game terms, the actual battle was not this close. The Donegeal Voxian Archer Division probably could have defeated a 4th Skirmisher. Speaking of which… if a Stormian could, would you post the victory percentages you had with each unit? Thanks.

Heh. We calculated the overall odds (not each battle, mind) as decent. Given a coin-flip type of chance of taking you out entirely, we rolled the dice. And lost.

As for the specific battle percentages... horrific, terrible, bad.

-Arrian

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by Arrian


Heh. We calculated the overall odds (not each battle, mind) as decent. Given a coin-flip type of chance of taking you out entirely, we rolled the dice. And lost.

-Arrian

Interesting...

Would love to compare notes on how you're estimating. I've found estimations in CIV difficult due to the wide range in how injured units wind up after first contact. Sure, any idiot can take a look at what the odds on attacking the full strength defenders is, but it's the 'how damaged will they be' part when you know the first unit will die that becomes difficult.

Yes, you can even come up with an average of how damaged they SHOULD be (best method I've come up with), but it varies far too widely in real application for me to make confident predictions.