[center][@Zool][@Loksfjoer][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Zapdos][@Jay009][@Dark Cloud][@AvaP][/center]

[center][h2][i]"What in the...? Ares preserve us...  How?!"[/i][/h2][/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/joUBebe.jpeg[/img][/center]

[center][h1][i][u]"SOUND THE ALARM!!!!!"[/u][/i][/h1][/center]

They'd been warned.  By James Sirius who had the displeasure of knowing Saladin well.  By Adam Philips who had let them know that Saladin might well know his plans were leaked.  They'd been warned to stay vigilant and closely watch for any tricks that the attackers may try to pull.  But Saladin was too clever.

The assault came two days earlier than originally planned.  At 4AM during a lull in catapult fire.  This much was to be expected.  What was not expected was just how close to the [i]River Eisen[/i] that the assault would be.  Saladin had pitched his camp on the northeastern side of city and ravaged Greenglow Woods for resources, but the siege towers he was constructing for the assault were being built seemingly to attack along the longer more easterly parts of the city walls.  One by one the siege towers sprung up over the days, until there were 10 and counting.  But the towers were constructed cleverly to be able to be disassembled with ease so that Saladin could reassemble them anywhere he pleased.  And that is exactly what he did.

The Dark Domain ritual magic had maintained a shadowy illusion of the towers once night time came.  The towers disassembled.  Another shadow shield was thrown up to cover the ruse.  And now suddenly there were 10 seige towers and a wheeled battering ram approaching in staggered lines, with the River Eisen at their western flank, heading right for the wall and North Gate.

.

The sound of Valhiem's siren filled the air.

.

Commander Thorn's fortified position on Citadel Mountain's north eastern cliffside began to populate with Valhiem's High Command.

.

The city began to stir in the darkness.

.

Kleon, a powerful Spirit Mage in High Command, fired a giant magical flare into the air like a firework, exploding into a giant ball of light that instantly illuminated the city with brilliant white light.

.

And what could be seen in the sky, soaring towards the city was horrifying.

.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/c7wj7Jz.jpeg[/img][/center]

[center][i][b][u]The Corpse Dropper:[/u] A gigantic rodent creature created with the utmost degeneracy of necormantic magic, The Corpse Dropper exists from birth to death in constant agony.  Bred too large to sustain it's own life as is, kept in a state of being that is not quite undead, the creature is swollen with the seeds of zombie-like entities called ghoulings that can be grown like a plant, from seed to human-sized flesh-eating Ghoul in a matter of seconds.

The Corpse Dropper's existence is to act as an offensive air unit, flying over enemy armies as it's stomach tears open and ghoulings begin to fall out of it, down on the enemy, the ghoulings growing into full size Ghouls before they land on the ground or the heads of the defenders.  Most Ghouls will survive the landing, perhaps with some broken limbs but enough mobility to begin attempting to eat the flesh of anything living that it can see.

The internal damage being done to the terrifying but pitiful Corpse Dropper as it rains down Ghouls on the enemy will eventually kill it, but it will take a while.  With upwards of 500 seeds wriggling inside any single Corpse Dropper, it is best practice to try and kill it, or at least knock it out of the sky, rather than waiting for it to kill itself.[/b][/i][/center]

[center]__________________________________________________________________________[/center]

Ghouls began falling from the sky onto the northeastern quadrant of the city.  The roofs of buildings, the streets, the Mage Support Platforms all began being hit with the thud and the splunking sound of corpse-flesh crashing upon it.

The assault had finally begun.  The Southeast quadrant of the city that was due to start being evacuated after sunrise... the citizens there were now in a vulnerable position.  Ghouls roamed the very streets where the Valhiem Garrison Blocks of 100 were designated to form up, organize and make for the walls.  Chaos had erupted in the city.  And outside, the siege towers and battering ram advanced.

The fight against extinction was now or never.