[@WingsOfBronze]

Ophion continued to sell his wares for the next hour. It was getting close to closing time, although dracon businesses rarely had fixed working hours. If demand was high, the store would stay open, and if not, their species saw little wrong with closing up for the evening. Of course, Ophion also had a guest to see to, so he kept that in mind. 

[@Eviledd1984]

"Uh... did you just cast an illusion? It's nice, but how does that help in a fight, exactly?" Kara wondered. "I mean, I can think of some uses for misdirection, but if you need to damage an enemy, there's no substitute for just attacking it. My father said that. Can you use any magic on the dummies at all?" 

[@bloonewb]

At this point, only a small fraction of the city was under control of the invading army. The weakened section of wall had a breach, but it was only a small one. The king's armies fought on, but it was clear that they were outnumbered. Some of them began falling back to the royal quarter, but others kept fighting on. The battle might have been decided in favor of Rughoi's armies, but the kobolds attacking the tribal dracons drained the army on both ends of the candle, so to speak. The rockblades and redshadows soon became a third faction in the fight, struggling for survival and for loot. 

Meanwhile, a secondary kobold force continued to advance through the city's catacombs. Contrasted to the city sewers, these tunnels were dry, dusty, and unusually dark. This was little impediment to the kobolds, who were used to living underground in any case. They found a weak point in an ancient brick wall which separated the city's catacombs and its sewers. It took almost an hour to demolish, but the wall fell under repeated sledgehammer blows. The sounds of battle were easy to hear, and the kobold reinforcements began to grow nervous when they heard the sound of dracons roaring in anger. A counterattack was underway.

Rama knew that the situation was precarious. His goal was to insert his force behind the lines of the city's defenders and attack them from the rear. Once the city's main force was defeated, they would have to pick off the remaining towers and pockets of resistance, ending with the city's well-defended palace. Traeton was short of manpower, but it was still well-built in spite of the neglect born from decades of misrule.