When the hippus forces arrived at the first true stronghold of the Clan, they finally realized the strength of the orcs. The lead parties of the Dendrinni faced Orcish warparties 10 fold their numbers. The experienced horselords sliced through the hastily organized mobs as if they were butter, although sheer numbers began to tire the veteran horselords. Many wind-companies had to retreat to rest up, and by the time reinforcements arrived, almost half of the Dendrinni wing had fled back to the main camp. Although the Svartalphar forces were largely depleted, they did spring together enough assasins to assure the safety of the main supply camp. Not that lizardmen did not attempt to breach the defenses in the droves.
Once the reinforcements arrived, the fighting seemed to ride in the hippus favor. However, the numbers of the opponents cancelled out the effectiveness of purely direct combat, of which the hippus had grown much accostomed in recent wars. This cost heavily on the morale of new recruits, who knew very little of the old ways of hippus warfare.
Luckily for the hippus, they still employed the old veterans from before the times of hippus dominance. Mal DeGrashni and Juddecca were not happy with the decision, although they atleast understood the wisdom of Tasunke's decision to not eliminate the old-guard, and simply to demote them to alternative leadership positions. A few small companies of arrogant hot-heads simply charged head on into the oncoming green tide. While they killed many, and showed off their great battle prowess, they threw their lives away in a fools errand as they were eventually outnumbered and cut down. Most of these men were too resilient to wounds to die that easily. Especially the few that were actually possesed and enhanced by demons (think a spirit form of the Goa'uld). A few actually managed to fight their way back to the lines, including most of the Demon-borne, who possesed supernatural abilities, and who now had the added wisdom of when to pick battles. For even the Demon-borne focus more importance on the lives of strong horselords higher than their own arrogance, even if demon-borne lives are seen as superior. (those possesed by demons are "reborn" with new strength, and are referred to as the demon-borne). In the end result, most of the men that charged on fools errand ended up being captured very much alive, including one demon-borne. The first demon-borne to be captured alive in battle.
While the hot-heads had their foolish fun, the rest of the hippus front ended up conceding to the tactics of the Horselords of old. The front became a fluid mosaic of interchanging soldiers, ever presented with new units. As soon as one charge was finished, another began to let the other soldiers escape behind the lines. It was an assembly line of pain, a machine of death.
At first, due to the time that had been taken re-organizing the battle groups, the hippus were still losing ground to the enemy, forcing to retreat back into the northern jungles. Even as cleared out as they were, they preferred having the advantage of control of the fields outside the city walls. Eventually however, as the death machine got started, it could not be stopped. Eventually orcs were dying faster than they could advance, and some even appeared to be retreating. The hippus had conquered over half the field again, and were advancing faster than ever. The orcs looked like, for once, they were actually starting to route. Centurion Chiefs were whipping their grunts to get them back in line. Everything was looking in hippus favor, but the usually aggressive Dendrinni were holding back for once, letting the fresh blood get a cut of the action.
Some that heard word back in the camps started toasting to Tasunke, and the camps figured after their celebration was done, the battle would already be won.
However, then the Ogres arrived. They came in the hundreds, the thousands, it was hard to say, because looking past one of the giant beasts was hard enough, much less scores of them. Those not fast enough were immediately crushed by the giant brutes. The entire hippus army was in full retreat and disappeared into the jungles. As the ogres approached the treeline, the Illusions started to appear. Originally as part of the Camp defense force, the Illusionists decided they had better usage on the frontlines, as proactive defense. Because if the Ogres took command of the camp, it was only a matter of time that the camp was over-run, and then many supplies would be lost. So the illusionists were throwing illusions at the Ogre fleet. The beasts are easily amused, and their bloodlust was occupied by dissipating the hostile illusions. While they were thusly occupied, many of the slaughtered orcish army stayed back, although a few of the more flever attack groups decided to charge into the jungle, creating a broader front in an attempt to outflank the illusionists. For the most part, the Nob-leaders were cut down by assasins and marksmen, while the remaining orcs were too scared to continue on, and ran back out of the jungles. The Svart marksmen were wise. By only shooting those that ventured into the jungle, they could create the illusion of fear, while if they shot those outside with equal prejudice, the entire orcish horde would invade in a passion. In some cases it is better to have the easily enraged brutes tricked into a foolish impassioned charge, however now was not one of those cases. However, the longer the Ogres were fighting against the Illusions, not dying, the more rallied the orcs became, and it was soon apparant that a full invasion into the jungle was imminent. Soon the Ogres proved too much for the illusions, so the Illusionists used some very tricky illusions to split the ogres up, and take them on circuitous trips though the jungle, away from the hippus camp. seeing the Ogres enter the jungle was the spark, that alit the flame of the Orcish war-cry once more. Once more they charged in full force.
At this time, the hippus had completely encircled the city, however leaving mostly Svartalphar to defend the supply camp, which was a measured risk. Before they encircled the city however, they noticed goblin wolf riders ride off with the Hippus prisoners. Headed to the Clan-leader, no doubt.
The riders fought the remaining guards in the city with arrows, while a few rode close enough to the walls to throw torches to the other side. It worked better than planned against the straw huts. Soon half the city was aflame. The city guard was now occupied with putting out the fires, and some grapplers were soon able to cross over and open the city gates. A magical demon-borne rode into the city with the flamers. They had many unlit torches on the horses, and with the demon-borne's magic they were able to light the torches and soon the entire city was aflame. Much of the city was as of yet underground, in barrows, however all the infrastructure built top-side, namely most of it, was alit. As the small group of riders exited out of the back gate, the Demon-borne's final act inside the city was to set the very walls and stockades aflame with wizards fire. Enhanced with powerful entropy magics, the fire would stick to the stone, mainly using the grout in-between, and soon the entire poorly constructed metropolis would be nothing but cinders. A good third of the Horse archer compliments sat outside the rear gate, with a hefty supply of arrows. They would see to shoot down anyone that tried to escape once the magical fire infiltrated the barrows and warrens. The Rest of the troops rode over to the battle, and struck into the backsides of the charging orcs. One by one the illusionists would drag a few ogres into the fields, and the hippus would surround the beasts and cut them down with archery and quick precise blows with melee weapons. Several hippus died while killing off the Ogres, but it was far, far less than the loss of attempting to fight such massive brutes head on.
Svartalphar scouts sent word that a much more massive army was on its way, and it seemed as if half of the Clan nation was marching on them. To fight was to be surrounded, and the only choice was to pack up and escape. The hippus forces fanned out, to form a huge front to comb through the jungles on the way out. Some riders were slain by a crafty lizardman assasin or two, although for the most part, they were able to kill off the stragglers, military and citizen alike, that they had some-how missed along their first ride through. Some Ogres were left wandering through the jungles, wondering what exactly they were doing, since the pretty sparkles had stopped fighting them.
As for the horseArchers stationed at the rear city gates, they had special Orders. They would stay as long as they could, until the rear gate was clogged with a pile of Orcish bodies. The orks were mainly resistant to burns from mundane fire, although this special magical fire managed to kill too many of the orcs, allowing them to realize it was indeed magical fire. Once they found this out, there was a panic to escape, that flooded the city gates. By the time the main Clan army had caught up, their was a large sloping mound of Orcish bodies, penetrated by Hippus arrows. The hippus took to the wind immediately, intent on escape, while legions of wolf riders followed them. The hippus soldiers in flight focused their full attention on navigation and escaping. The horses most likely knew more about the jungles than they did, although it did not stop them from trying. A few of the hippus tripped on hidden roots along the paths, and in their rage, some of the bloodlusting goblins ended up skinning them alive. Finally the horsemen arrived outside of the jungles, and burst forth into the plains upon which they almost kissed their horses out of gratitude. meanwhile, Most of the Wolf-riders were still chasing them, quite enraged. Once they realized, however, that the entire hippus army was a few leagues in front of them, they tried to turn around and escape, but it was too late. The hippus army knew someone was going to be coming behind their lucky friends, and their timing could not of been better. As the wolf riders attempted to about face, they were riddled with arrows. The only ones that survived were small enough to be riding the smallest of wolf-lings, shielded as they were by their larger Goblin brothers. Another volley was fired, and a few of the tiny goblins and their pups were killed while scampering into the jungles. Satisfied, Tasunke ordered his men back home. For now there were more pressing matters to attend to.
