Part 47: Mission 48: Storming the Castle

Within hours of taking the outer perimeter fort, we began to roll toward their last line of defense. The fortress of the orc commander Tharag-Gur was massive, but it was the only thing left standing between us and the Gate. Tharag-Gur's fortress also housed two key portals, reserved for use by the enemy's elite troops. Destroying them would cut off Dragoth and his gate guardians from receiving any reinforcements from other regions.

Mission 48: Storming The Castle

Attending:
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Flamethrowers)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Flamethrowers)
T. Hinman (Ethereal Corps, Flamethrowers)
"Doctor" Snark (Mage Killers, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Gordon Frohman (Concerned Citizens, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Logan "Hardtack" Smith (War Dogs, Mobile Infantry)
Joe Moore (War Boys, Mobile Infantry)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Elmag 2)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Elmag 2)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, M1 Abrams)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, M1 Abrams)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, M1 Abrams)
Basil (Paladin, M1 Abrams)
Jorji Costava (Cobrastan's Best, M1 Abrams)
Isara Gunther (Edelweiss, M1 Abrams)
Reginald P. Linux (Doom Squad, Leopard 2A5)
Aethereon Darkfyre (The Mary Sues, UDES)
Stephen Smith (The Counts of Monty Python, UDES)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, MLRS)
Michael de Boulogne (Chivalric Order of Saint George, MLRS)
Gregor (The Swell Swords, MLRS)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, M106)
Cholmondely Featherstonehaugh-Smythe (Sphinx Battery, Roland)
Sigrún Raske (Skysmasher Brigade, Roland)
Roger Murtaugh (Less Than Lethal, Roland)
Billy Mays (Infomercial Men, Mi-24)
Bob & Doug McKenzie (Royal Canadian Red-greens, Mi-24)
Ragna T. Bloodedge (The Black Beasts, Humvees)
Vlasta Devínská (Paper Tigers, Universal 2R)



Reaching the fortress required driving along a narrow strip of road, flanked on both sides by nearly impenetrable woods. It would've been the perfect place for an ambush by elves.



Luckily, there was none. Tharag-Gur seemed to have pulled everything back to his castle walls.



Vlasta Devínská: I see... good God, that's a lot of blood.
Svetlana Aliyev: Trust me, we'll be making 'em pay us back for it. What else do you see?



Vlasta Devínská: I'm assuming that's where the fortress is. Anyway, bad news is, there's a ravine with a wide stream between here and there.
"Doctor" Snark: That's a death trap if I've ever seen one. Keep looking around, Vlasta. There's gotta be a better attack route.



Joe Moore: Here we go! Nice, level ground.





Vlasta Devínská: Fortress sighted! The eastern end has a Mammoth, but otherwise it doesn't look too heavily defended.
Mael Radec: You heard the man, people. Roll up. I need rockets in position. Be sure to dig in, at that elevation the Mammoths can probably hit you back.



Gordon Frohman: I guess we'll just stand awkwardly to the side, then.
Lazarus: I really wish the enemy would stop using those goddamn ghosts. I got jealous of the flying suit guys pretty much the moment they took off.



Mael Radec: Rockets dug in? Good. Give 'em some steel rain, boys and girls!



Solaus: Shrouded in darkness, beset by evil, we fight by the light of righteousness! Although these rockets give pretty good light too.



Joe Moore: Here they come!
Gregor: Joe, be careful! Gregor remember friend telling him, archers very dangerous to flyers!



Solaus: Taking counter-fire!



Solaus: Damage isn't too bad. Really glad we dug these holes.



Michael de Boulogne: Well, they won't be doing that again.



Joe Moore: It's too bad the flight ceiling on these suits is lower that the elves can shoot their arrows. It's not a problem for long when we can hose everything in their general direction with chaingun fire, though.



Solaus: AT Orcs down. Might be able to storm the hill now, but can't say for sure, since we can't see the whole thing.



Hardtack: We've got other business to take care of at the moment anyway.



Jorji Costava: Aaah! Burns like fires of Hell!



Jorji Costava: Okay, that one is not so bad.



Anil E. Hilated: While you guys are killing Hellasaurus Rex there, I'm gonna go ahead and blast you a hole.





Gregor: None can stand up to Gregor!



Bob McKenzie: Awful lot of grand elves, eh.
Doug McKenzie: Enough to make you wonder if...



Doug McKenzie: Yeah, that's a portal alright.
Bob McKenzie: Bet that's where all the point-ears are dropping in from.



Anil E. Hilated: Wall's open! Now, let's clear a path to that portal.



Billy Mays: YOU WON'T BELIEVE ALL THE ROCKET FIRE YOU CAN GET HERE 'TIL YOU SEE IT FOR YOURSELF! THERE'S SO MUCH, I JUST CAN'T HANDLE IT ALL! I'VE GOTTA COME BACK!



Michael de Boulogne: You were there long enough for us to get a fix on their location, Billy! That's what counts!



Stephen Smith: Taking Rider fire, there's more of them!
Patrick Gallagher: You okay in there, Stephen?
Stephen Smith: Just peachy. They'd have to burn away six inches of asbestos before I'd even have to take my jacket off.



Isara Gunther: ...Wait, harpies?
Basil: Not even harpies. A harpy.
Hardtack: Makes you wonder why they bothered. You guys worry about the ground war, I'll get some target practice.



Anil E. Hilated: Sounds like fun, I think I will too.



Michael de Boulogne: Well, as long as you two are doing that...



Billy Mays: AIR TARGETS! GROUND TARGETS! OUR COPTERS CAN DO IT ALL! AND FOR JUST 15 UNSPECIFIED UNITS OF SOME MONEY, WE'LL THROW IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART COBRA TARGETING SYSTEM...



Gregor: No more teleporting archers now!



Billy Mays: ...AND IT CAN DANCE RIGHT AROUND STINGER FIRE! IT'S THE SAFEST YOU CAN BE IN THE AIR!



Vlasta Devínská: Damnit. I guess there's still one or two enemy squads hiding around that hill.



Vlasta Devínská: ...okay, maybe a few more than that.
Gregor: Aaah, dino-men set me on fire! Rockets exploded too soon! Not supposed to blow up while still in tubes!



Gregor: Gregor gets his revenge!




Solaus: Looks like you've got that pretty well handled. I'll work on thinning out the rest!



Joe Moore: There's the biggest threat dealt with.



Stephen Smith: Now's your chance, guys! They're all focused on me!



Gregor: Is our turn to shoot rockets!



Erik Spanner: We'll go ahead and join you guys now that there aren't enough trogs to pose an actual danger.



Mael Radec: The hill is ours, people! Let's use it to our advantage. Keep scouting, but stay on the high ground!



Patrick Gallaher: I see some tents on the other side of the hill. Some kind of barracks or supply stores, I'm guessing.
Basil: In any case, it looks safe up there now. Formation ho!



Basil: God damnit, Solaus. How'd you even get into the army with maneuvering like that?
Solaus: But this isn't a real formation! It was made up on the spot!
Basil: And yet everyone picked up on it but you!



Vlasta Devínská: Guys, shut up! There's another hill up ahead. Looks about as well defended as the first.





Gregor: Is not so! No fire dinos or elf-archers around this hill.



Vlasta Devínská: Another portal to the northwest. Everyone be careful, we don't know what'll come out of this one.



Gregor: Gregor will make sure we never find out!




Vlasta Devínská: 'fraid we're too late for that, Gregor.



Erik Spanner: Of course it'd be ghosts, when our flame squads are still outside the walls scratching their asses.
Lazarus: Hey, you guys only have yourselves to blame for that! "It's too dangerous, it's too dangerous!" God, I could use a bit of danger right about now.
Solrick Skaft: I think it's Command's fault, really. You'd think they could just give our choppers a couple napalm canisters. Or give us a flame cannon that isn't mounted on a fucking M113.



Solaus: Bit too late to worry about who's to blame. Let's cut off the ghosts at the source before we're overrun. We probably don't need to worry about the ghosts themselves until they get clo-



Solaus: AAAAGH, IT'S GETTING INTO THE COCKPIT! GAS MASKS, GAS MASKS!



Reginald P. Linux: Shit, Solaus!
Solaus: I can hear Billy screaming! Hurry up and kill those things!



Solaus: Pater noster, qui es in caelis...



Solaus: Okay... they're gone. I'd gotten so used to dealing with ghosts, they didn't seem like...
Svetlana Aliyev: Just goes to show, we can't afford to get complacent.



Gregor: Gregor make sure ghosts can't do that twice!



Vlasta Devínská: There's a river to the west. I'm guessing that's our next destination. The orc general can't be too far off.



Vlasta Devínská: Yeah, he's definitely close. Spotted another one of those temple structures and a couple sacrificial alters for the demo squads to blow later.




Vlasta Devínská: There he is! I've sighted him!



Vlasta Devínská: Yeah, it's gotta be him. Lone orc standing there, carrying an assault rifle. On a hill with... shit, there's another one of those mobile fortresses.
"Doctor" Snark: Looks like this guy's smarter than the average orc. No way in hell are we approaching him safely with anything, the way he's got if fortified. And this is just the portion of it we can see.



Gregor: Not safe to approach?



Gregor: Gregor doesn't have to approach with this range!



Michael de Boulogne: They've spotted us, we're taking counter-fire!



Michael de Boulogne: Ugh... that Mammoth's got better aim than the others. We were dug in and they still almost wiped us out.
Patrick Gallagher: The hell are we gonna do? We can't get in range of that thing without it flattening us.
Michael de Boulogne: I can think of one thing to do.




Michael de Boulogne: Good old shoot and scoot. We get in range, we fire, we drive off before they can hit us. The smoke trails from our rockets make us a bullseye. We've can't stick around when they're pointing to us.





Michael de Boulogne: ...We might be at this awhile.
Isara Gunther: Weird that they're not coming down. They know we're here, they've already shot at us.
Mael Radec: They've probably figured out we've got an entire tank battallion waiting to blast them if they try it.
Patrick Gallagher: Well, that works out for us, doesn't it?
Griff: It would, but God, I never realized how much longer this takes when they have to keep driving in circles between volleys. And while the fireworks were nice at first, it's all kinda looking the same at this point.





Erik Spanner: Any reason we can't just tac-nuke the damn hill?
Mael Radec: It'd take too long to call in a strike.
Erik Spanner: Couldn't take any fucking longer than this!
Mael Radec: I mean Tharag-Gur would have plenty of time to get reinforcements and redeploy. Which he can't do while he's under rocket fire.
Erik Spanner: So why don't we just call in a nuke and keep him suppressed 'til it can vaporize the hill?
Mael Radec: Because at this range, it'd vaporize us too.
Erik Spanner: I can only speak for myself, but at this point I'm beyond caring.



Solaus: Movement!



Michael de Boulogne: Hang on, that was just a lone orc. Was that-
Griff: Yeah, I think that was their commander you just blew up, after he charged down the hill by himself.
Michael de Boulogne: Well, I... uh... good?
"Doctor" Snark: ...I'd like to take back what I said about him being smarter than the average orc.




I still, to this day, don't know what Tharag-Gur was thinking. He didn't even try to bring his Fortress of Terror to bear against us. It would have fallen quickly, but it would have at least had a chance of wreaking havoc on our artillery batteries. Perhaps he realized he'd been backed into a corner and, given the choice between slowly being ground away by our rockets and falling in a blaze of glory, chose the latter.

Whatever the reason, we'd achieved victory here. We would need to pause our assault long enough to replace our lost tanks and MLRS batteries, but we would hold the corridor we'd opened, and as soon as the new vehicles came in, we would launch an all-out assault on the gate.



Perhaps, though, I had grown arrogant in our victories. I seemed to have forgotten that no plan survives contact with the enemy...