ARMAGEDDON: THE DESTRUCTION OF EEOFOL ARMIES
By: Darion Sibilius 

To recruit the service of any friendly renegade creatures and to explore this wild uknown land, I chose an escort of two dozen archers and three dozen pikeman to march to the south east to a Rampart castle that had asked for assistance against the enemies and to create a peace treaty with us. I am Lord Haart, the ambassador of Queen Catherine, and to help her
regain her father's former land, I have been sent to help the castle. 

Setting out, we marched for several hours under the direction of the elven ranger they had sent with their message. Her name was Jenova, and she assured us that we could handle almost any hostile renegade bands in the area. I certainly hope that that she is correct. 

Moving through the forest was a rather slow and clumsy march, with every one tripping and stubbing toes on rocks and fallen trees, with the exception of Jenova, who had lived and survived in the forests since she was born, which was about three hundred human years, and before we long, it was midday, and we sat down in a clearing to eat lunch. As we ate the Erathian
rations which included bread, cheese, venison jerky, dried fruit, and a special potion sold by the priests that invigorated troops and gave them energy, nobody noticed that the usually chirping of birds and hum of insects had ceased. I was still talking and laughing with the soldiers when Jenova tackled me from behind. We hit the ground, and I made a sound of "Oof!"
as the breath was forced out of my lungs. A split millisecond later, the tree behind me exploded. I whirled around in time to see Jenova in one fluid motion draw her bow and fire an arrow into what looked like a octopus. It roared in pain and fury, and then it was transfixed by a hail of crossbow bolts, and it crumpled to the ground. "Beholder" said Jenova. "Big nasty
creature that fires bolts of energy at it's enemies. Most of them are on the side of the dungeon overlords." 

We disposed of the beholder by digging a large pit, and lowering the body in and covering it up with soft earth. We were lucky, as most beholder parties travel with hordes of trogoldytes and medusas. Forgetting the incident by the afternoon passed, we reached the Rampart castle in the evening. There were green vines climbing and spilling over the walls with white flowers giving off a phosporence that glowed with a soft white light. We were met at the heavily guarded wooden gate by several dwarves in brown beards and green tunics with large battle axes glinting in the soft white light. Our escort was led off to barracks, while we were directed to follow some older, white bearded dwarves. We were led through the gateway that was closed behind us, and we went through the white marble hallways bedecked with banners and bows and swords until we came to a chamber. The dwarves opened the door and ushered us in. 

There was the leader of the rampart castle, and her name was Gem, a druid from Enroth formerly a soceress. She greeted us with a smile that seemed to brighten her face. She was dressed in a long green dress/robe that seemed to be made from butterfly wings, and it glittered and flowed in all colors of the rainbow. She nodded to Jenova, and Jenova walked through
the door to attend to her errands. Gem now smiled at me. "You are the ambassador from Queen Catherine?" "Yes" I said "We have come to assist you in times of need, and wish to improve relationships between Erathia and Avlee." "We do indeed have need of you now," said Gem "For all though we have many soldiers here in Avlee, we do desperately need troops to fight the Eeofol armies. Since a lot of the creatures come from the fiery depths of the nine hells, and we being of the forest, we burn very easily and they are harder to fight than some of the other creatures. So we are asking to send as many troops as you can. Although the amount of soldiers you brought not a small number, it is very small compared to the Eeofol armies. The Eeofol have nearly three times the number we have. We wiill need any help we can get."Done with talking she rose. "Wash in your chambers and meet me at the fourth ringing of the bell for supper."She then swept off in a glitter of green. 

Later that knight, I released a messanger pigeon into the night to the castle. As fast as they could march, I was still not sure that the Erathian troop could make it in time. I dearly hoped that there would be some way that we could end this war in our favor, as it would be ever so much easier. 

The next morning I was taken around the castle ground on a special tour by Jenova. We saw the centuars drilling and training under the direction of an elder centuar captain. The dwarves milled around their hill homes, working in the forge, making centaur spear heads, dwarven battle axes, and elven arrow tips. The elves were busy at the archery range honing their
accuracy with green feathered arrows and flying their pegasi around the fog shrouded mountains. Other elves and dwarves were working in the blacksmith shops to create first aid tents, with the dwarves making the stakes and poles of the tent, and the elves filling bags and packs with bandages, herbs, and healing potions made from assorted flowers and plants, plus magical potions and spells of healing. Other dwarves were still collecting gold and refining it and managing it in their treasury. We had stopped to eat lunch under a grove of trees by the enchanted spring where the creatures of the Rampart castle get their water, when the tree I was resting my back on uprooted itself and heaved itself out of the ground, while I was toppled into the pit where it's roots had been, out on my back. Jenova was laughing and rolling on the ground as I struggled to pick my self out of the hole. She apologized later for not telling me about the dendroids. "They don't like to have humans treating them like other trees, because most humans abuse the trees around them." The druids conducted their magical rituals later in the day, when most of the other people and creatures were napping and resting. 

Late into the evening, Gem gathered the council together. She had gathered the centaur captains, and the elder dwarves and elves together, along with the humans that served as rangers or druids. I was also called. When the druid swept into the room, her face was troubled and yet was masked in some sort of way. She then announced the council to come to order. "My friends, we have just been told by elven scouts that the Eeofol armies are marching towards the AvLee border, and are planning to attack us. They are led by the Demoniac Octavia, who plans to surround us, and burn the forests around us to weaken the keep's power. We can not allow this to happen!" A male elf stood up "Milady, we have always kept our power secret, and yet it has gotten out? How can this have happened?" Then Clancy, a dwarven ranger spoke" If you do not forget, the light elves of the wood once had renegades banished from the elven kingdom because they abused power and magic. However, these renegades did not perish as the elven kingdom had hoped. They rather flourished in the mountains by the
Wizard's Tower kingdom. It appears that several of them were bribed to join the armies of the Eeofol. It is they that are called dark elves, tempted by evil, who joined the dark side. Now I mean you no offense Ivor, but these elves have kept the secret over hundreds of years and have let it out, so it is really no one's fault that the secret has gotten out, and eventually it would have." finished the stocky dwarf. Jenova explained the situation to me "The walls surrounding the castle are magically enchanted to enhance their strength and are not easily destroyed. However if the life around them are destroyed, they will weaken, and mostly the reason why we have kept this castle from invaders so long, is that we have relied on the magic's power for so long, it is difficult to make a battle plan with out depending on it." With that, council was dismissed, and the druids left to meditate at the stonehenge. 

I could not sleep that knight, for I was troubled by the thoughts of war. I had never been in one, but it appears that I would be in one. What would happen if I were killed? Would Erathia war against the Avlee Kingdom? I wandered outside in the moonlight, trailing along the paths in the elven and dwarven gardens of crops and flowers. I was walking along the ramparts of the wall, when I heard a gentle, almost cooing sound coming from out side the wall. I looked over it. There, in a beam of silver light, stood Clancy, the dwarven druid. He was talking softly to a bright white silver horned unicorn! It pranced and whinnied around him. My thoughts of suspicion wavered away as he carefully opened the gate, and led the unicorn in. And they dissapated as he led the unicorn to a meadow that was the front of the forest in the castle. As I followed him, the unicorn gently galloped to the meadow. I heard Clancy talking softly to the unicorn "It's okay, you can visit here anytime you want, I
can leave the gate open." The unicorn then snorted and galloped out of the courtyard, leaving Clancy to close the gate and smile at my open mouth. "That is one of the unicorn matriarchs, one of the elder unicorns of the Emerald citadel. They used to live there, but now with the opressing Eeofol troops, she had decided to lead the herds into our cause, for once united, we can crush any foe." I then headed to bed, my thoughts at rest, for I was assured that we would win. 

Several weeks passed before we caught sight of the Eeofol army. During those weeks, the castle worked like a well oiled war machine. Elves, dwarves, and centaurs ran around, collecting supplies, fletching arrows, repairing parts of the castle that were weak, building traps and pits, and getting ready for the siege. The younger ones were taken inside with elven nursemaids to take care of them, while bows were stacked at every window with arrows, and the cellars were filled with food. 

I was invited to go on one of the inspection units of the Eeofol army, on one of the Pegasi. The soft white coat was easier to sit on than a regular horse, and certainly easier than riding a griffin. As we came over the army, any thoughts I had of victory diminished. The army was huge, and it stretched across the horizon like a black cloud. Thousands of imps and familiars fluttered in clouds like moths swarming around larger efreet hovering above the ground. Demons and Pit Fiends marched in endless rows, while bands of gogs walked alongside. Cerebri bounded along in a easy lope, while the terrifying devils flashed in and out of existence. At their head rode a large female demon on a brown horse. The whole army was a sea of firy red. It seemed hopeless. 

It took them three more days to reach the castle. The smoke of fire filled the horizon, but each time the army tried to burn the forest, the forest called on the forces of air, and convientely rained down on the fires. Octavia was hopping mad, and she banished the gogs who tried to burn the forests to the lower hells. It turns out that the forest had a power of it's own, and although the kingdom of AvLee was it's protectors and it's guardians, it could defend itself. However, Octavia decided against burning the forests, and then turned for the castle. 

The army, camped out of reach of any weapon, packed up and charged three hours before noon. We were ready by then though. The elves were on the ramparts first firing with short bows, and as the imps charged, arrows ripped through the swarm, taking three or four imps per arrow. Other more heavily armored grand elves had composite long bows and were sniping off the heavier armored units. The cereberi then bounded forward to rip open the elves. The elves quickly retreated off the walls, and fired over the walls at the still incoming imps. The imps, their ranks decimated, turned and fled scattering over the walls. The cereberi were then leaping over the walls, and the inhabitats of AvLee were locked in combat. I safely in the inner walls, and had a crossbow and was firing into the ranks. I was with the archers from Erathia. We fired into the ranks of the cereberi again and again, and they were thrown back time and time again, with very few losses on our side. Now the gogs's fireballs slammed into our ranks time and time again, but more often than not, they missed. I ran out of bolts, and picked up my longbow. Then, the huge figure of a looming demon appeared in my face. It snarled and smacked me off the wall. I landed with a dull thud on the cobblestones below, and the demon bounded off the wall to charge at me with it's horns forward. I then remembered my bow and drew an elven arrow from the ground and fired it at the demon. It crumpled over, and I dispatched it with my sword. I paused to watch the combat. The dwarves were not doing to bad, working side by side by the dendroids to slowly but surely cut large sections from the army. The pit lords were in rout, having lost most of their
number, and were retreating, with the arrows of elves flitting over their heads with a quicksilver light brought by the spell Ivor had cast, Prescision. However, on either side of the battle, the centaurs were taking a beating, and the battle dwarves were retreating. 

From the start of battle, the heroes who had led the armies had mostly been rangers and other fighters, who directed the battle strategies. Now however, the circle of the diamonds, the druid council, rose to meet the battle. The large circle of druids worked with the land, hurling bolts of energy and summoning flames to rise around them to strike down the armies of
the inferno. Gem was among them, radiating her power so that even mortal non magical humans like me could see it sparkling in an aura around her. She summoned giant ice storms from the sky to hurtle huge balls of freezing ice into the ranks of the Eeofol army. The battle raged back and forth across the walls. The battle dwarves were now leading a steady charge across
the field to pound the gog's defenses. We had a good start, and our army's morale was high, and we had the spirit in our hearts to defend our homes and freedom. However, there were as many Eeofol troops as there were snow in a winter blizzard in the Tower Kingdoms. We were holding our standards, but we were not making any progress. I was assigned to first aid
duty because of the rib that I had broke falling off the wall. It was horrible to see the injuries inflicted. Sometimes the hair would be burned away from a gog's fireball, or an eye would have to be taken out from a pit lord's whip to control bleeding. I was caring for a wounded elf. She had taken a slash from a horned demon, protecting her pegasus. The pegasus had gotten away, and luckily she had gotten away just before the demons charged. It was very deep, and had ripped the flesh of the leg. I gently placed herbs in the wound after washing it, and using needle and special elven thread that comes out when needed, I sewed the wound together. I finished bandaging it, when I heard shouts from outside. I finished the bandaging, guided her to a bed, and had her lie down. I then went outside to see what the shouts were about. I saw then, the Eeofol army was overunning the wall. The AvLee army was now throwing down their weapons and retreating to the castle. I quickly grabbed the shoulder of an elf, and had him tell me all that he had heard. He said " We are to bring all that we can into the castle, and we are going to stay inside the keep to wait out the siege." I asked no more questions, but took charge of ordering the people to take the wounded inside. When it was finally clear, Gem ordered everyone to fully retreat. We ran into the castle, and barred the strong wooden gates. We reinforced them with dwarven cut stones, and through a system of platforms and pullies, tore up the ground to form pits and moats that the great Silver River filled. This was all done by dwarven inventions. 

Gem was now in the courtyard counting our losses. We did not lose too many, only a fraction of the hundreds that the Eeofol armies had lost. However, we did lose many elves and dwarves. Now we were to await a siege, maybe to wait for forces from the Erathian Capital. It was then that Gem found that Clancy was missing. It appeared that one moment Clancy was on the wall commanding the dwarves, and then he was gone. Every one was suspecting betrayal, when I told them of what I had saw the night before. Gem then told everyone to hold their peace. She said "Clancy is not betraying us, rather gathering help." So we awaited the siege. 

The siege lasted many months of stalemate. The Eeofol army had tried many times to scale the walls, using ropes, ladders, climbing, every trick in the book. They had been defeated many times by the hampering vines of the dendroids and elven arrows. The pegasi now patrolled the skies day and knight, with elven and dwarven guards at every corner. The elves were
now carefully sniping the larger targets, using their longbows, and assisting the crossbowmen archers in making arrows with greater range. The supplies stayed for all this while, and would last for many months more with the gardens growing crops. 

It was five months after the first battle that they came. It was just of dust on the horizon at first. But then, there were small figures, and as they came closer, we could see that it was no Eeofol army. Clancy had come back. He led the a great army. He was at the front, riding a white horse and leading vast ranks of unicorns, pikemen, crossbowmen, and cavaliers. And farther in the distance, griffins and even great green dragons were flying! The gray cloud hanging around the castle lifted, and the morale was high once more. The gates then opened and to the Eeofol's army's surprise, they were hit from two sides at once. I had charged forward with the pikemen, with my sword lopping off heads of cereberi and familiars. Gem once again led the druid council forth, firing blasts of the elements that caused dissaray among the ranks of the Eeofol army. Yet even the great reinforcements that Clancy brought, we were about even with the inferno troops, and that was when the other army arrived. We had just sent the inferno army in a panic, scattering them like grains of sand, and the swifter units pursued them in a chase of death. But that was before a vast army made of medusas, manticores, minotaurs, trogolydytes, harpies hags, and beholders that seemed to come out of the ground, slithering across the land like a huge snake threatening to sweep away all life. The air was silent between the three armies. The large minotaur in front was known as Darkstorn and was a fearfully powerful warlock. The space practically crackled with energy and tenseness. It was then that Gem stepped forth. 

I could see in her eyes, that she was going to do something about this huge army. It was the look of someone who has gone off the edge, someone who was really, really angry. Yet, she was distanced, and had a faint look of pain in her eyes. She silently stepped from the council, and no-one stopped her. The swish of her green robes was the only sound in the miles around. Even the wind had stopped blowing. Darkstorn then stepped forward, grunting in response to her challenge. He then whirled forward, hurling a ball of energy towards her. She barely moved her hand, and it bounced back at him, catching him in the chest. He barely flinched, and sent a larger fireball towards her. She whipped her hand out, and created a wall of flame between him and her, allowing the fireball to be dissolved in the greater flame. She then whirled and pointed at him. A single spark flew from her finger into his eyes, and he clutched in pain. He stumbled into the wall of flame. Gem clapped her hands, and gathered the fire around him, and closed it with one slapping motion. Darkstorn howled in fury once, then burst into flames. She stepped over his sizzling carcass. I could suddenly tell that she was not done. She then stepped and touched the earth with her hands. She gathered a handful of soil. Throwing her arms wide, she burst into a white light. It rose to the sky in a bright pillar. I shielded my eyes from this glare. It reached the heavens, and exploded in a great wall of light that charged into the Nighon army, burning and exploding where it met resistance. The army wailed once, and then the light swept into them like a wave of water, and was gone. The sky brightened at once, and as far as I could see, the land was covered in grass, streams, and forests that had been destroyed by the evil. Gem collapsed to her knees, and the druids rushed to carry her to her chambers. The army stood, dazed, looking around at the lush grasslands surrounding them. The land was at peace once again. 

Epilogue 
An old, aged lady stood in front of Queen Catherine Ironfist, ruler of Erathia, bowing her head. "Gem, for honor through restoring Erathia to beauty once again, I award you with the Orb of Tempstuous, that increase your fire spells effectiveness. I award you with my friendship and protection for being Erathia's saviour, for without you, we would have lost the war." "Thank you my queen," said the aged druid "I appreciate the gift, and I shall honor it with all of my heart. But this award really belongs to those lost in battle. I wish to also let other people know that the magic should not be abused. I spent nearly a year recuperating from the mental, emotional, and physical drain that just that act drained from me, and in invoking the magic, have aged many years myself. May Erathia live long and happily under your rule your Highness," spoke the druid as she glided out of the room.