You are Summoned

Shortly after dawn, the camp was packed up and we were ready to move out. My mech and Fitzfazzle’s were in the lead of our formation, with the rest of our force strung out behind. The other mechs were dispersed through the formation in pairs to prevent any new ghoul ambushes. Just behind my mech was a company of gnomish infantry with one of the human war priests added to give the front of our formation some divine magic to combat the necromancy.

The swamp receded as we progressed and eventually gave way to open plains covered in dust and devoid of life. The lands the ruined city once stood over would have been fruitful and rich if the necromancer hadn’t taken up residence here. I wondered if he was the cause of this city’s fall, or just an opportunist using the old crypt for the raw materials that his craft demanded.

“There it is, and here come the scouts,” Fitzfazzle said as the ruined city rose in the distance. We halted and opened the vents on our mechs so we could hear the scouts’ report.

“Sir, the city was clear until just before morning when undead started to emerge from the crypt and spread out through the city. It was hard to get an accurate count, they had a lot of ghouls trying to chase us down, but I’d estimate that there are only about three hundred undead in the city. Most are at the ruins of the wall, but some ambush teams are spread out in the buildings,” the scout reported.

“What about the crypt? Any sign of the necromancer?” Fitzfazzle asked.

“A man in dark robes was spotted emerging the crypt. We tracked him to the center of the city where the keep is. Anyone that approached the keep hasn’t returned. We’ve got men positioned around the area to watch for any movement, if he bolts for the crypt or tries to make it out of the city, we’ll know,” the scout advised.

“Excellent, our quarry has been brought to ground, now we just have to finish the job,” Fitzfazzle said.

Our army continued to close in on the city, and once we were just outside of bowshot, the siege engines were ordered to be built as the infantry formed a shield wall. The gnomes would take the front ranks, with the remaining human warriors kept in reserve. While our forces prepared, the mages topped off our mechs with mana, and I was able to get one of them to finish charging up my second wand.

Our mechs were also held back for now. Once the siege engines had done their work, we’d move into the city. A company of gnomish infantry would accompany each mech as we cleared a path to the keep where Pharox was supposedly cornered.

It would be a difficult fight in urban terrain, but the gnomes were all battle-hardened by this point, and with our mechs as armor support, we should make short work of the undead. Human archers would be dispersed among the gnomish infantry, and their warriors would provide an escort for the siege engines when they were needed at the keep.

The wall of the city had crumbled for the most part, but among the rubble, I could make out several figures moving about. Most were skeletal, but they moved much better than the skeletons we had fought earlier. The human war priests had warned that even simple undead like skeletons and zombies, could be very powerful if the mage that created them was exceptionally skilled.

The familiar clack and thump of the siege engines sounded out as the first projectiles were fired. They weren’t trying to open a breach, the whole wall was pretty much one big breach, but they were trying to destroy or suppress any undead in the area where we planned to send our attack. I waited as the barrage continued for a good thirty minutes. It was hard to see any results, but a lot of the movement that I had spotted earlier had ceased, and I hoped that was attributed to crushed undead.

“Move out, we’ll keep to the two main streets. The objective is the necromancer. Once he’s killed, most of the remaining undead will fall with him. Stay sharp and stick to the plan,” Fitzfazzle ordered.

We moved our mechs out in two columns, the gnomish infantry following behind each mech. The plan we had was simple, we would travel along the two main streets inside the city and fight our way to the keep. Our remaining cavalry were left to help protect the siege engines, as they’d be of little use in the tight, rubble filled streets of the city.

Once we reached the keep, our forces would surround the place and wait for the siege engines to arrive. The necromancer would have to make his move at some point or be buried under the ruins of the keep as the siege engines hammered away at it. If and when the necromancer joined the fight, our mechs would be there to greet him.

There was a lot that could go wrong, but our simple plan should work. Anything overly complex would see our forces scattered through the ruins, easy pickings for bands of undead. The ruins drew closer as my mech led the way for the right-hand column. It felt good to have a full ammo loadout of magic missiles, and their inherent accuracy would be welcome in the city fighting ahead of us.

Two first generation mechs, along with their infantry companies, followed behind me. Fitzfazzle led a similar force to my left, with Lumpy and the other Big MESS bringing up the rear of that column. I focused on the ruins around me as I entered magic missile range. Several skeletal figures popped up from the ruins and fired bows before ducking back down.

I was used to the stupid undead that just blindly walked toward you, smart ones that used cover and concealment were a bit of a shock once I saw them in action. Arrows pinged off my mech, unable to cause any damage to the armor. I retaliated with magic missiles, waiting for a target to pop up and then nailing them with a missile. I had picked off a handful of archers when I finally started to make my ascent over the ruined wall.

This was where having a four-legged mech proved its worth over the tracked armored vehicles we used back home. As I picked my way over the rubble, I could see several shattered skeletal figures, evidence that our initial artillery barrage had done some good. The infantry behind me fanned out as they crossed the wall, hunting down the remaining archers in the area. It turned out that archery wasn’t the only skill these skeletons possessed, and each proved to be a respectable swordsman when they met their gnomish attackers with rusty swords and hand axes.

My spear shattered a few more undead as the gnomes finished off the rest. Once across the old wall, I could see the road I’d be taking on my right. The gnomes formed back up behind my mech, keeping watch at the ruins around us, waiting for the next ambushers to show themselves. Most of the infantry opted to stow their spears and go with their secondary melee weapons. The quarters would be too tight for shield walls, and small groups supporting each other as they cleared out ruined buildings was the way to go.

I raised my spear high and then tilted it to the right twice. It was the signal that I was good to remain in the lead. If my mech was heavily damaged, or the gnomish infantry that I was supporting took too many losses, one of the other teams would move up and take my place. That way, we could keep our most powerful force in the lead as we continued to push toward the keep.

Progress was slow, and small groups of skeletal archers continued to snipe at us as we moved. When the sniping became too much for the infantry, we’d halt the column and send out teams to flush the snipers out. Our stop and go progress were mirrored by Fitzfazzle’s column if the sounds of battle I was hearing to the left were any indication. We wouldn’t see the other column until we both reached the open plaza that separated the keep from the rest of the city.

The infantry company following my mech took losses, but between my magic missiles and the skilled teams hunting the snipers, the kill ratio was very much in our favor. When we reached the halfway point in our trek through the city, the attacks quieted down. Assuming that Fitzfazzle was having the same luck that I was, I estimated that over half the undead that our scouts had spotted were destroyed.

My attention was drawn to several figures running full speed from the ruins to our side. I triggered magic missiles as fast as I could, but several of the attackers, which I could now see were ghouls, leaped up and grabbed onto my mech. Through the viewports I could see an evil, hungry gleam in the eyes of the ghouls as their claws screeched over the armored cockpit.

I couldn’t do anything about the ghouls hanging off my mech, but I could deal with the ones still pouring out of the ruins. Magic missiles picked off more ghouls, but many more made it through to join the ones climbing and scratching at my mech. The ghouls ignored the infantry and were all focused on me. I could see the gnomes rallying to my aid, as more undead, this time skeletons and zombies joined the fight.

The Big MESS had heavily reinforced cockpit armor, but I had seen what the ghouls did to Flunzzlebump, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they found a way in. It was a race to see if the infantry could fight their way through to me before I became a canned lunch for the hungry ghouls.