There was brief combat which did not change the situation much, although Berra claimed first blood on Gallem, despite the odds. There was a sudden wall-shattering boom, deafening many, and knocking several people off their feet.
On top of the wall, Varanis engaged with the Humakti in front of her. As they exchanged blows, there was a brief moment when Varanis thought they might be equally matched. She called upon her magic to make herself stronger, but as she did so, the warrior’s sword sliced into her, severing her arm. By some miraculous effort, she was able to leap away, only to tumble unconscious and bleeding out at Maalira’s feet. Koraki barged the man off the wall, having teleported the third Humakti into mid air only moments before. Berra, who had kept her feet, gave Gallem the chance to get up, although she offered once more to let him surrender. He responded in kind.
Down at the bottom, Rajar got Vengeance to butt the spirit-possessed horse, and broke it a lot. Suuraki faced up against an opponent who drove him back with the weight of a horse, and then thrust a spear through his arm. Nala demanded the surrender of those who faced her, in a voice close to that of the goddess Ernalda herself. Faced with the numbers, one did indeed surrender, while another tried to flee back through the lines. The Sun Lord who was facing Rajar called on his god to call him away, and vanished. Meanwhile the spirit that had been in the horse - the Rune Lord’s ally - tried to attack Rajar. This did not work, because the Storm Bull rode straight at his next target, the back of the man trying to get away. Rajar stabbed him lightly, and he surrendered. There were further booms from far away, and from the breach in the walls there were screams.
Valseena pushed her way through the lines to reach Suuraki, bravely putting herself at risk in the process. She called upon her goddess for inspiration, but with the stress of the violence around her, it seemed as though Eiritha did not hear. Fighting against the despair, Valseena determinedly continued her own battle to help Suuraki, attempting everything that she knew how to do. Finally some of the front line warriors pulled the lance from his arm, allowing her to start using magical healing.
Xenofos, having sliced the enemy cavalry apart with those under his command managed to pull up, turning to close gaps in the wall, although there was very little damage. He kept them under control, also keeping those inside the lines from escaping, and shortly there were no targets left.
On the wall, Gallem finally got through Berra’s guard, sinking his sword through her armour and into her abdomen, and she dropped. Gallem reversed his sword with a flourish, saluted Maalira, and turned to go, taking with him the survivors of his bodyguard. Maalira did some quick calculations about the wounded, and shouted for help while electing to heal Varanis. Those who heard ran for the stairs. Berra, who was still conscious, asked for healing from the shock troop of axe maidens, but the axe maiden who volunteered was unable to help, so Maalira pushed her aside, and was also momentarily unable. Nala, who had arrived at speed, was able to - she told Berra to get to Tiwr, although Berra wanted to get back to her command instead. However, it rapidly became clear that there was no fight below, and so she sat down by Varanis, who was unconscious.
Xenofos, in looking around after the battle, found that in the breach, there were many many people dead, all looking like they had been struck by multiple slingshots. As soon as Varanis stirred, Berra did go to see Tiwr for healing, then went off to organise the army and send out patrols into the city to keep people safe. There was a little looting, and Varanis managed to find a body with a glowing crystal on it. Berra found some potions with labels. Xenofos was too over-wrought to read the crabbed handwriting but Varanis pronounced that they were blade poison, so Berra took them to the Humakti Temple to be destroyed. There she met Gallem, who kindly explained to her that they were not in fact poison but healing potions; she gave one to him on the ground that his leg might need it, and he put it on the altar.
Venna gave grudging praise to the Esrolian army, stating that their diversion had been more successful than anticipated. Berra bristled on learning they’d been a diversion, but also appeared to recognise the reasoning behind it. She did shut up when she realised that the Cannon Cult were there, meaning dwarves might be free to mend the walls. Varanis was quieter than usual around Venna. The Prince’s Fort had not surrendered, and so the cannon was called up, arriving a little after dawn. It was pulled by humans who wore only loincloths, but accompanied by six dwarfs; one had his helmet slung, and appeared to be T’Dwarf. Nala danced joyfully behind him, and Berra looked agog, as it seemed she might see the cannon at work.
Someone in the fort sent out a Sunspear or some similar spell, which simply bounced off T’Dwarf’s armour. He ordered the cannon to fire, and the gate disintegrated. The Prince’s fort surrendered, using the traditional green branch waved from a safe place. Nala tried to hug T’Dwarf but some of his bodyguard interposed themselves. Berra asked if she could touch the cannon PLEASE but was told no. T’ Dwarf, and Cannon, then departed.
Rajar examined the horse that had once been a spirit ally, and found that it had horse-shoes that looked magical. He took them off by cutting through the bone, and also decapitated the horse to take the head to Storm Bull’s altar. Xenofos later determined that the horseshoes were a mobility matrix.
Nala determined to help Valseena, who was looking very forlorn, and took Suuraki and Valseena to the Earth Temple, to ask the priestesses there to arouse passion within Valseena once more. The priestess she talked to was rather pointed on the subject of how many wounded there were, and how the enemies Nala was talking about were in fact Alda Churi. They were sent away.
Berra took an hour at the Temple of Humakt as soon as she could, to ask Lord Eril if he had orders now Alda Chur had fallen; she got the impression that he wanted a secure border for Sartar there - Berra went to ask Varanis for help. This required some politicking, at which Varanis was rather better than Berra.
A few days later, Venna summoned Varanis and Berra, by way of Koraki. The Storm Khan informed them that Alda Chur was to be a wedding gift from the king(s) to the bride (i.e. the Feathered Horse Queen), though names were carefully avoided despite Berra’s confused attempts to elicit them from Venna. She had some further politics to address, namely the selection of a king to manage Alda Chur. The King of Alone felt that Koraki was the best candidate, much to his surprise and dismay, and Varanis agreed that this was an appropriate choice, or at least better than her being designated.
