The Battle of Jelenia Gora

As expected, the Agarthian army, surrounded on all sides, made the most rational choice. Indeed, their victorious troops from Mountains of Evernight were ordered to join forces in Jelenia Gora with the most recently recruited troops from Agartha … which was exactly where the whole army of Helheim was waiting for them.

Helheim’s battle tactics had changed since the disaster of Momephe. Initially, the Valkyries were ordered to wait a little before falling on the enemy rears. But in Momephe, that had given the enemy sorceresses the time to prepare themselves to unleash their powers. So this time the orders were much more simple : strike the enemy as soon as possible, show no mercy, leave no survivor.

Also, the newly recruited Jotun wolves were to be the spearhead of the army. Their raw power would be devastating and they would stop the earth elemental tide from inflicting any significant damage. Behind them, the mounted hirdmen were ordered to flank the enemy and support the valkyries when they could, whereas the babarians and the skeletons were to fall on whatever enemy would be in their path.

And so went the battle, and it went fast. Firstly the Valkyries took the enemy surviving crystal sorceresses unaware and slaughtered all of them without mercy. Indeed, the enemy had not used the trick of Momephe to put them ahead of a screen of troops, and as such were the perfect preys for the flying ladies. Meanwhile, the Jotun wolves led a fierce charge on the enemy troops, quickly destroying most magma children and regular troops as well as engaging the earth elementals.

Then, after these first actions, some of the giant wolves flanked the enemy troops and started to eat alive the Agarthian mages, helped in this task by the Valkyries. However, the frontline opposed to the magma children had suffered heavy losses and the skeletons and barbarians were now engaging the surviving enemies. From the rear, the numerous Vanjarls were raining lightning bolts of the enemy troops, causing deaths and panic. These were not as powerful as the thunderstrikes from the crystal sorceresses at momephe, but that was still something to be accounted for.

And, before the situation could be assessed, it was over. The enemy units, surrounded on all sides were torn apart. Wolves, valkyries, barbarians, undeads, as well as some wild wolves called by the enchanters, hunted whichever one-eyed giant they found. Of the enemy army, only one single mage escaped.

The news from this huge victory came as a relief. Everyone had been working so hard toward this result ! Sure, there were some significant losses, 34 valkyries and as much as 15 jotun wolves had perished, but this was a reasonable sacrifice for now the enemy had no army left ! There could be full conquest of their lands, at last, and this would be done in no time.

The one eyed will fall to the jaws of the giant wolf

Securing Agarthan territory

Indeed, during the raids to force the enemy to fall back on Jelenia Gora, the valkyries had been laying a short siege on the enemy fortress of Birman Highs, along with a force of 30 mounted hirdmen that had been sneaking in the vicinity. And with the news of the decisive victory came also news that this particular fortress had been breached. So the orders were given to assault it without delay with that small force of elite riders.

Also, the victorious troops in Jelenia Gora were divided into 2 groups. One small group would fall back on Mountains of Evernight to take it back from enemy hands, while a large group, including Skaljv and her valkyries, would lay siege on the capital of Agartha itself.

So by the end of Fall, Agartha was breached and Birman Highs had fallen. However, the assault of Agartha would be delayed for several months as the enemy still had a strong force of mage defending it. Also, it was feared that the enemy pretender would defend it and such a powerful being had to be reckoned with. Furthermore, Mictlan in the north still had some armies close to Agartha’s fortresses and Momephe was still a strategic objective : its Crystal sorceresses and Pegasus riders had to be secured.

So it was decided to leave Agartha alone and deal first with the most pressing issues . As a result, by the beginning of winter, a large force reached Momephe and breached the fortress. This time, the weakened defenses were no match for the Valkyries that took the place without losses. And that move was important as indeed Mictlan had sent a large force to capture the last Agarthan fortress. Thankfully for them they had targeted White Peaks instead of Momephe, for if they had sent that same force to Momephe they would have paid a heavy price … Also this fortress had absolutely no strategic value for Helheim, so if they wanted it, let them take it !

The last and final step to finish off Agartha was to capture the capital itself. The scouts sent there had given enough informations to assess the threat : about 20 earth mages, 30 magma children and 10 earth elementals. Not a huge force, but strong enough to require a real army and devise specific tactics.

Also, the scouts had been clear : no trace of the enemy pretender. And indeed some prisoners had finally revealed the reasons for that. Their god, the Wyrm called Snekking Aboot had been banished a year earlier by the troops of Atlantis. In a fierce battle under the oceans it was struck to death and never to be seen again. Indeed due to the war with Helheim, the Agarthian priests never had the time to recall their god …

Despite these rather good news, the enemy force defending Agartha was still something and a few more months were taken to gather a force adapted to finish them off.