Dominions 5 - Rise of the Valkyries

Skaljv was more confident than ever. She had mustered the strongest force of Valkyries ever seen on a battlefield, 100 fierce ladies ready to give their life for her and their god. And these were not any ladies, but only the best of the best, as some of them had been fighting continously for now more than 2 years ! And since the beginning of the war, almost every single battle had been a cakewalk. Sure, a few mistakes were made, but only to refine the unbeatable tactics that led them from victory to victory.

The scouts had been clear : the enemy forces consisted of only 15 crystal sorceress , a few one-eyed mages and at most 20 pale-one warriors . They would be crushed, like insects.

The battle orders were the same that had been the key to so many victories. Skaljv would call upon the powers of Lord kall and bless her sacred troops with his powers, giving them supernatural agility and enhanced magical weapons. And then, after taking some time to watch the battlefield, they would fly and fall on the rears of the ennemy, spreading chaos and butchering the commanders. And then the routed enemy troops would be tracked down and slaughtered to the very last … The only thing that had changed in the tactics was that since Skaljv had become a most precious commander, she was to stay behind and monitor the battle rather than get into the fight as she did before. Nobody wanted to see her injured, or worse, killed, by some accidental arrow.

So the battle started as usual. Blessing everybody, taking off, falling on the rear, and … something was wrong. Why were the rearmost troops simple soldiers and why were the sorceresses on the frontline ? In fact … there was not much time to think as things went really fast. As soon as the Valkyries fell on the enemy rearguard made of simple Pale one soldiers, they, as planned slaughtered them. But what happened next couldn’t have been imagined in their worst nightmares. Suddenly the sky darkened and tens of thunderstrikes fell to the ground in the midst of their formation. Some valkyries were instantly vaporized while some others were stunned by the shockwaves. And as the surviving stunned ones started to recover, another wave of thunderstrikes fell on them, leaving such a carnage behind them that only a single Valkyrie miraculously survived and fled away.

In shock, Skaljv ordered a hasty retreat for her and her bodyguards … but how come was that possible ? It was like she had stepped in hell in a fraction of a second. Her entire elite army had been wiped out. The entire battle had lasted only a few minutes, just the time to call on the powers of Lord Kall and watch her maidens die …

The plan

It was just like nothing had happened. The disaster of Momephe was not forgotten, but the initial shock had given way to resolution. Helheim was a proud people, knowledgeable of their strength, and not prone to giving up. If the enemy had put in place such clever tactics, then they would find better ones.

And so new battle plans were devised. So the enemy could muster the power of Thunder ? Let’s forge Storm Spools  and Copper plates to make the commanders immune to these forces. And they were channeling these magic through weak sorceresses ? The Svartalf , the dark dwarves of Helheim had mastered the ways of Earthquake . As such, they could make the earth shake with such power that mere humans like sorceresses would be shaken to their death. So every efforts in the kingdom was to set up an Earthquake team, escorted by fully equiped Vanjarls, to raid the enemy army and destroy their best weapon. And then, deprived of it, the rest of their forces would be crushed by a newly formed army of Valkyries .

But as the plan went on, some new challenges arose. Indeed, as the enemy was claiming back the lands previously conquered by Skaljv, the scouts observed their armies coming directly out of Agartha. And the sorceresses were not the least of their forces, as large worms , the Great Olms were seen wreaking havoc of the small defenses left behind. Indeed, they could paralyze and sometime kill other beings with the sheer power of their mind. Also, these troops were accompanied by Magma children , servants of Rhuax the King of Elemental Fire, that had agreed a long time ago to lend to Agartha his creatures in exchange for some magical fire gems . And last but not least, a lot of large Earth elementals  were spotted. These creatures made of rock and stone were so big that with their massive body they could crush any creature up to the size of a horse.

And so with these new threats had to be devised new defenses. Against the Great Olms mind power, some Amulets of Antimagic , Lodestone amulets and Lead shields  were necessary. Also, the great Earthquake planned to be thrown at the enemy would probably be deadly to the dwarves casting it themselves. That’s why Rings of Levitation  had to be crafted to protect them from the shaking earth.

The Magma children were known to be fragile, but their Fire was deadly. The Earthquake team would probably take down enough of them, but, if not, a strong force of archers would probably be able to weaken or destroy the survivors. The last concern was about the Earth elementals. There, only numbers could overcome them, or creatures large enough to stand up to them. Lacking that kind of large creatures, the strategy of numbers was chosen. Many human serfs were then recruited, along with some hard hitting barbarians  well suited to kill these beasts. Finally, Lord Kall had not renounced the idea of summoning creatures large enough to overcome them, and the mages over the empire were ordered to find a way to summon such beasts.

But all of these plans needed time. Several months were required both to gather the large number of magic gems necessary to craft all of these magical items, and also craft them properly : there were not that many skilled smiths in Helheim. Also, as many of them were to be moved to the Banefire forge and that would take time too.

So the point was to keep the enemy busy while both the new army and the Eartquake team were being assembled.

Gaining time

Thankfully, the enemy wasn’t confident enough to launch a large counter-attack immediatly and, after retaking most of his former territories, gathered his forces in Agartha. This was a relief as the armies of Helheim were not ready to stand up the might displayed by the enemy. However, in order to keep him busy, a first raid was sent on his rears in the north, the first of several to come.

In late fall, some good news arrived from the fortress of Ard. A friendly shaman had found a Moonvine circle, a gathering of Enchanters , adepts of both Astral and Nature magic. They would join the cause, for a price, but would come in handy for helping with powerful Nature battle spells that no other mages in Helheim could otherwise cast.

And one morning a triumphant message came to Lord Kall. The scholars of the realm, helped by the newly recruited enchanters of Ard, had finally uncovered the means to summon and bind to their service the fearsome Jotun wolves . These were not any beasts. Considered sacred by the people of Helheim, these creatures lived hidden in the deepest of the mountains and forests of the world. And this was for the best as the sight of only one of them filled any man with utter terror. Bigger than a horse, stronger than an elephant, these mercyless predators left no chance to their preys. Furthermore their thick skin was almost as strong as a light chainmail and even if you could strike at them, they were not an easy kill. But the scariest thing was that if you ever managed to injure one without killing it, it would then enter in a murderous rage that would not stop until the death of his opponent … or himself.

Soon, the strategists devised that the wolves were the perfect match for the enemy Earth elementals. Indeed they were too big and too strong to be trampled and would easily stand their ground in front of these lifeless beings. This was one of the major concern of the upcoming battle, and there was the perfect solution !

And some other news came in. Lord Kall had felt that some pretender had awoken the power of the throne of Gaia. This meant that for a few months the forces of nature would go wild and cause chaos all over the world. And indeed, right in the middle of winter, as Agartha was threatening to attack Helheim far too soon, their rears were lost to several wild Earth elementals wreaking havoc everywhere, along with some horde of barbarians that thought it would be a good time for pillaging.

To keep on gaining time, the war council decided to give a bad surprise to Agartha by besieging his other fortresses. Sneaky riders, hirdmen and a renewed host of Valkyries fell on their rears and became a threat that could not be ignored. The enemy then had a choice to make, and retreating to defend its most important strongholds looked like the only rational one.

Also, Mictlan to the north made a bold move, retaking a raided province and attacking the Agarthan fortress besieged by Helheim’s raiders. Though the raiders left unscathed, retreating into the shadows, it looked clearly like a move to destroy them. The war council thought they had made a defensive alliance with Agartha. That was rather a worry because it meant the enemy had now the means to secure their rears against further raids …

That mid-winter was also the news of the final fall of Xibalba. Marverni was starting to show its true might : hordes of sacred great boars were crushing any opposition. Their god also “protected” them with some rather strange and scary magic … indeed, when they were filled with the power of their Lord, anyone hurting them took the risk of hurting himself.  That meant that a man pushing a blade in their belly would feel the same pain, and death, as the boar. And any way used to hurt them could blowback, especially battle magic. Even though that vicious magic was far less effective against strong-minded people, it was a risk for everyone fighting them. And soon it was decided that everything should be made to avoid a war against Marverni and avoid facing these monstrosities.

Thankfully, Helheim already had some good commercial relationships with Marverni, trading with them many precious magical gems. As is Lord Kall used all of his diplomatic skills to stay in their good graces and prevent an unwanted war.

By the beginning of the third year of the Ascension war, Helheim had gained enough time to prepare its battle plan to defeat Agartha. Given how their armies had dispersed to counter the raids and other unfortunate events, by the time they would reach Mountains of Evernight, everything would be ready.