Tales of Ettan: The Fall of Thront Part III

"Are you telling me they dropped over three hundred soldiers on our shores with no sign of a single vessel?!"

High constable Taureed slept in an age-beaten, pillowed chair most nights.

"Sir, they weren't..."

He dreamed little and woke often.

"Were you smoking your pipe flag, maybe drinking a bit or just taking care of the business your wife couldn't finish last night?!"

Never the less, he cherished his sleep.

"Constble, they weren't dropped..."

The chair sat collecting the scent of burning ashwood near the fire place at the top level of North Tower. Often a flask of spirits or bottle of wine would be near by and partially finished on the floor.

"What are you telling me?"

Taureed stood from his chair wiping sleep from his eyes and hastened past captain Shraffe who was thankful the constable didn't start beating him with the pommel of his sword. Taureed took the tower stairs two at a time, fastening his sword belt as he went.

"Sir, it's like I told you," said Shraffe as he attempted to keep up with Taureed. "They walked out of the ocean, climbed our docks and attacked the dock watch."

Taureed stopped abruptly without fully turning, Shraffe came close to knocking right into him.

"No skiffs, no dinghies, no vessels of any kind?"

"No sir. None in site. If there are ships out there, they're hiding in the fog bank couple miles off shore and with the moonless sky..."

"How far in have they advanced?" Taureed said as he continued down the stairs.

"Last I heard they got past the dock watch and spilled into Jacobie Street. But that's not the half of it sir."

"What in hell are you talking about Shraffe?"

"Constable Aberdeen managed to get archers to the walls and let loose a few volleys ," Shraffe's voice began to betray a touch of worry. "But every single one of those bastards which got hit kept coming. Some of them weren't even inconvenienced by a bolt in the chest and just kept on walking."

Taureed stopped again, this time turning fully to face Shraffe.

"Arrows didn't stop them?"

"No sir. If they fell, they'd get right back up and some of them got hit more than once."

"Great gods. First the north country then the capital, now this." said Taureed. "If we're dealing with what I think we're dealing with, we're going to need a hell of a lot more than town guard to stop it."

Tales of Ettan: The Fall of Thront Part II

No more than a mile off shore, five, massive ships weighed anchor. Within each ship's hull, mechanisms were manipulated to release hundreds of cage doors. From these doors issued men of all shapes and colors, some from Ettan, some from beyond its borders. They walked the narrow space between cages to the stairs leading to their ship's deck. They walked without speech or quibble, they walked with order and purpose, though their faces lacked all emotion.

Once up the stairs and on deck, each were handed a weapon by men wrapped in black cloth who chanted strange words just above a whisper. Swords, axes, maces, all in varying states of misuse were given to the marching men and without so much as a nod to the tool of war forced into their hands, each warrior continued their steady pace to the bow of their ship where, one by one, they leaped overboard and sank until they met earth.

The ocean filled their lungs and stomachs, but this did not stop them. Hundreds plunged, weapons in hand, beneath the ocean and once they could sink no more, they began a slow walk over sand and stone, through tide and sea weed, to Thront's many docks.

Tales of Ettan: The Fall of Thront Part I

The city had stood for hundreds of years. From Thront came the settlers of Datual, capital of the great kingdom of Ettan. Its ports' traffic rivaled that of even Brackelry to the west. It was proud and strong, as were it's citizens, and it could not have foreseen what was to come.

Word had come from the capital that hamlets, villages and towns to the north were being attacked by goblin hordes. The king had sent many of his men to push back the threat, but the goblin numbers were too many. King Mavvus required Thront's help.

With little delay, Thront issued nearly half of its military force to aid the Datule soldiers in their fight. But it soon became clear that the goblins were but a distraction. By late fall, word came late at night by horseman that the Capital had been attacked, not by goblins, but by an army of orcs that came through passes, mines and secret tunnels through the mountains north and east of the city. It's forces diminished, Datule City fell. The king and his guard held the castle walls and did not allow the orc threat to take the thrown. Not even Datule Castle, though, could long hold against the orc siege.

Once again, Thront was called upon for help. They were the closest, by far, in the kingdom to Datual with military force. So Thront was left with only its city guard to protect it as its remaining soldiers marched to the capital.

It was that night, a night of moonless sky, that the ocean brought death to the great port city.