Voodoo Priest - the battle continues (Part 2)

Horde of the Day

Continuing on with our story ... please read Part 1 if you haven't already !


From the previous chapter, the Marquis de Chenoncoix had managed to press home an attack on the township using skeletal hordes that he summoned up from beyond the Grave.

Despite the enormous odds in numbers arrayed against them, the French and Irish musketeers had managed to hold their line and meet the approaching hordes with musket and cannon fire.

Today then, we continue on with the terrible events that followed .....


 

The plan for the Day of Vengeance is coming along nicely for the Marquis.

His plan is to first engage the defenders of the Township with a large mass of skeletal foot pressing in from all directions (including emerging from the waters flowing by the Township).

With the defenders suitably engaged on all fronts, the Marquis now invokes the mounted wing of his skeletal hordes to perform an enveloping attack on the flank. 

Squadrons of Knights emerge from the ground, riding their undead horses from battles long since forgotten.

Leading the mounting chargers is a rider on a pale horse ... no stranger to action - this mysterious man is a veteran of battles from all the ages of the history of mankind.

Taking the opportunity of an unprotected left flank, the skeletal knights make good progress across the open plains and head in a wide circle to the left to come in behind the defenders.

The pale rider on the pale horse gives the command to his mounted knights to swing behind the main force in the centre and begin the envelopment of the left flank.

Meanwhile the defenders continue to hold their line at the edge of the Township and pour volley after volley into the advancing horde.

Shaking his idol with renewed vigor, the Marquis shouts out dark commands to invoke more knights from beyond the grave.


A deep and unsettling crack can be heard beneath the ground, followed by a scratching and inhuman bellowing .. from somewhere deep under the earth.

What in the infernal name of Hades is this ?

Something not quite right claws its way to the surface ... shakes the dirt from it's mangy decayed garments, and stands to face the Marquis. 

What the ?  This was definitely NOT part of the plan ! 

It is Hieronymus Firth, and his unclean familiar. 

 'Greetings .. old friend ... we meet again ! mwah-hahahahaha'.

A rival of the Marquis perhaps ?  Something 'buried' in the dark past of the Marquis has taken the opportunity to  slip through this crack in reality and emerge in the present place and time.

The unsettling emergence of Hieronymus Firth has shaken the Marquis ... he immediately dashes from the grave site to the relative safety of the river bank.

Clean running water should provide a necessary barrier for the demon sorcerer to keep his distance.

A momentary lapse in concentration by the Marquis may have cost him dearly by the end of the coming day. Surely the Township is doomed, but what then ?

He has unwittingly opened a portal to allow Hieronymus Firth and his unclean familiar into this plane of existence, and now he must conceive a strategy to put the genie back in the bottle .... once these blasted townsfolk have been dealt with.

On the left flank, the impetuous Knights of Death smell fresh human flesh in the farmyard.

They trot directly into the face of musket volleys to get closer to their prey.

Hieronymous Firth shuffles forward from the graveyard and effectively takes command of the left wing of the undead army.

"Ph'tagn muhlyeh remyalu n'koso"  he orders the Knights.  Centuries of banishment from the earth has left the demon sorcerer impatient for action .. and hungry. for blood.

Ignoring the plan for a wide encirclement action on the flank of the Township, the demon sorcerer Hieronymus Firth and his unclean familiar head directly to the farmyard ... and directly towards the Irish.

With a cry of "Hrughanyu Mullawanginee !  phgatn pyhelengii !"  (Tactics can wait till later ... first we must eat !), he engages the entire left Wing cavalry against the Irish.

The Horror !

Tomorrow, we continue the story to see what happens in the farmyard - can the Irish hold off this abominable horde ?
Does Hieronymus have a surprise he can add to the action ?

Lets see tomorrow ....