Ellri

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

We'd suggest an era before crossbows become all that common, and before any form of gunpowder. If institutions like Knighthoods still exist as armored knights, then crossbows can't be all that widespread, for while a longbow takes years to master sufficiently to take on armored knights, a crossbow takes much less time.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Suspected that. We'd recommend using a program with layer functions. The one we use is Gimp (which is free). There's a lot of other functions in that program, but you don't need them. we've used gimp quite a bit, and we rarely use more than half the functions. With such, you'd save it as a layered file for working with, then export it as a single layer to upload. One advantage to that is the option to edit text later. Or even to have a border function.

paint isn't so much simple as it is primitive. you can do a lot of advanced stuff there, but its hard.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Other than that the armor is a bit lighter than our design and the nasal horns a bit large, it is otherwise remarkably close to how we'd imagine the armored Kalbeasts. Nice image, Spark.

What tool do you use to modify the map?

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Its like the Spanish inquisition. Nobody expects it.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Agreed. Inner walls should generally always be more secure. And easier to maintain. Even the less prudent nations will maintain at least one wall. If nothing else, they would maintain their own castle simply because it keeps them personally safe.

The larger area a wall is designed to protect, the more troops it needs to be effective. unless it has truly miraculous design (or is immense), an undermanned wall is nigh useless as a means of defense.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Hmm... lets see... To answer your question Aristo:

A. Invasion wasn't expected.
B. One normally has no need to heavily defend a mountain range that is considered impassable.
C. The borders needing defense are elsewhere. That would mean that the best troops would be at those places, not in the capital.
D. There's probably been peace for quite a while, so most peaceful nations would not have a large standing army.
E. They were having a coronation celebration. Most are distracted by that.
F. We'd fully expect the King to have some proper guards with him. Guards with decent training. Those won't be easily defeated.
G. They had a big massive distraction to hide the Army's approach.

Need we go on?

Mind you, if they're too effective later on, when the defenders get a bit more collected, this'll mean Trouble for Thora. She's got absolutely no interest in "re-education" or service to an empress she doesn't know.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Get on the IRC, would ya, Sep?

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Looking at the map again, that would make sense. We'd not observed the shape of the water closely before writing that last OoC post.
We now imagine that boats would be on the way, but not deployed enough to form a proper cordon, if that is even possible on water without full-sized ships. Across the water will be the most viable escape route. The Kalesian empire might have sent a pretty large army, but it cannot effectively surround the entire lake/ocean in time to stop smaller groups escaping.

We would agree that there are probably numerous rivers not shown on the map. Only the largest would be visible on such a map. Logic dictates that there is some sort of flow westward out of that water. It is either that or the region there is hot enough to evaporate the excess water, which would be rather implausible.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

There was quite a bit to react to here...
We advanced the invasion a bit now.
They've taken the eastern gate and are advancing along the battlements. Not sure yet if they've taken any other gates.
As per imperial policy, all civilians are being escorted to safety. They'll not be allowed to leave, but they will not be harmed unless they succeed in harming soldiers. Even then, the Imperials prefer to lock up offenders rather than kill. Not that they won't kill, of course.

Any evokers they might capture will be held elsewhere.

Even if they might not yet have surrounded the whole city with companies of infantry, there will be numerous Mauler Cavalry companies making up a cordon further out around the City. We're not sure on the Map's scale or the distance to the big lake/inland ocean, but if it is relatively close to Amaryth and if anyone's to escape, it might be most reliable to escape by boat/ship. They may have brought an entire army and all it needs through the tunnels, but they have not brought any boats yet, let alone launched any.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Outside the walls
The legions of the Kalesian soldiers had begun marching out of their hidden tunnels the moment the darkness rose. A few companies started building an encampment around the exits, but most started moving straight for the city. Several hours earlier, seven companies of Mauler cavalry had set out, securing the surrounding area, ensuring that no one could observe how they got to this side of the mountains. It was imperative that all think supplies passed over the mountains. In fact, several companies had the sole purpose of setting up such a line just to confuse their foes.

As the legions marched out, they fanned out, forming a wide front, ready to surround the entire city. Most of them were regular soldiers, both infantry and archers, but there were also other elements, like the massive Kelbeasts. Their march to the gates of Amaryth went unchallenged. The people were too occupied with the Weaver's artificial night to mount any truly organized defense. Within the walls, Imperial agents were already moving, crippling defenses at key points. By the time the first Kelbeast built up speed and struck at the eastern gates, the defenders within were all dead, the bar not even secured. Not that it made much difference, when several tons of armored Kelbeast struck it. The gates slammed open, and soldiers flowed in.

Unlike most invasions, the forces of the empire did not start a merciless slaughter of anyone and everyone. In fact, civilians were herded out of harms way, guarded by the very men who invaded. Those opponents who could not be pacified, were of course slain, but most were simply contained. The further into and around the city the invaders got, the stiffer the resistance. Though they had gotten the drop on their prey, the Imperials did not win outright.

On the Eastern Gate
Commander Eulália Kovac smiled to herself. Her troops had now secured the gate. It had been particularly funny to her to see how some of the defenders had been in the process of lighting a fire underneath one of the big vats of oil. Big vats of cold oil. How they thought to get that hot enough to be harmful in time she had no idea, but it had made her laugh. Her two companies were quickly progressing along the wall, marching in a strong formation, easily fending off the attempts at defense. When one died, another took his or her place, Below, she could see how other companies were herding the civilians to safety, where they would be processed. She had heard rumors that at least one of the Empress' own specialists was around, supposedly skilled at finding those with the blood of Evokers.

Turning around, she saw that a stone throw from the walls, other companies were in the process of setting up secure tents to see to both the wounded and the secured citizens of Amaryth. No matter if they were imperial or not, all would be treated well, their potential wounds patched up. Cruelty to foreign civilians had never been imperial policy. If a civilian population was oppressed or treated cruelly otherwise, they would not so easily accept the embrace of the Empire. Enemy combatants, would of course be held apart, but not even they would be exposed to torturous conditions. Most of them were, after all, merely following orders.

Somewhere in the city
Slavómir did not pay much attention to the city. Though he could pay attention, he preferred to focus upon maintaining the darkness. Though he was a capable fighter, he was still glad that the Empress had commanded one of her own to watch over him. He did not have illusions about the fact that she was also there to ensure he did not stray. He had no doubt that if their position was compromised and escape impossible, the Imperial Vocator would kill him and take his relic back to the Empire in order to find another wielder. In fact, he knew that the sole reason that had not happened already was that it would take years to train anyone to weave shadows as well as he, and that would be reliant upon them actually finding another weaver in the first place. He was too valuable for them to waste.

"Yes yes. It will be done. Just tell me when you want the Darkness to stop. We should give them enough time to get used to dark, for then the light will be just as much of a shock." He did not have much patience with the woman, but he knew her words were true.

Not far from the Arena

Thora did not know where she was going. As welcome as the darkness was to her, it did not take a genius to figure out that the darkness would not come alone. She listened to the voices of the panicked crowds even as she flowed through them with ease. Unlike them, she could see perfectly in this light. There were so many fumbling about, virtually blinded by it. Had she not been preoccupied, she would have laughed.

A feeling she did not recognize made her decide to get off the street and up on the rooftops. As cramped as the city was, these were almost a street onto themselves. A quick jump would easily send her across the gap between two structures. A small part of her considered the fact that most people could not have made that jump even with practice, but that part was quietly ignored. She continued moving north like that, crossing the rooftops as if they were the easiest road. Thora was about to leap over another gap when her Thirst practically screamed. She found herself looking down instead. Some six or seven meters below, someone dressed in all black walked, wielding a long, strange weapon she did not recognize. She had seen others like that earlier, but paid them no heed.

Without understanding what she was even doing, she crawled over the edge, her toes hanging on it, then she let go, dropping straight down at the foreign woman. Mid-air she found herself twisting, and as she hit, she found herself pulling the foreigner over and around. With the height she dropped from and the surprise on her side, the foreigner had no chance to come up with a viable defense.

They rolled on the ground as Thora wrapped her arms and legs around the other. She could feel her Thirst aching to be sated. When they finally came to a stop, she did not hesitate, sinking her fangs deep into the other's throat, drinking heartily. As always before, the bite served to partially incapacitate her meal. The shock probably also helped, but it was soon clear that this foreign woman was not as incapacitated as most. It did not help her, for by the time she started moving, she was already weakening from loss of blood. But because of that resistance, and in part because she didn't quite know how to do it, Thora dared not stop till the woman was almost completely drained.

The moment after the woman expired, Thora detached herself, rubbed the dirt from her clothes and blood from her mouth. She quickly checked that the feeding had not been observed, then ran off, a new spring to her step now that the thirst was sated. She moved at a pace most people would have found exhausting, but the added energy made it easy for her. She didn't quite know what was going on, but she did not like it. Prey who could move when they should not be able to? Unexplained (but welcome) darkness? Unexpected invasions? There were too many unknowns for her liking, but so long as the darkness remained, she would not hide. Surely there was some way out.