It was the most amazing battle today in the pioneering world, and I, your desert prince, was at the spearhead of it all.
Colonial intelligence have pinpointed several sources of native resistance hampering our expansion efforts and one of them was pinpointed to the Tetra Avernus area, a maze approximately a kilometre long originating from the Golden Road vaults.
As the nearest active policing force in the area Sivarja family was assigned to raid this target before the enemy moved. Being the close quarters combat (CQC) specialist of the party I was given the authority to plan for, equip, train and then execute the assault plan.
Since this is a CQC situation most likely against large numbers of demons I selected the classic longsword and shield combination, as there are times we needed to weather enemy attacks in order to ready our anti-demon grenades that Rosa so loves. Varghese, instead of standing by as the team's support medic, wielded daggers in support of the main attack; we could ill afford to be overwhelmed by demons if we could have an extra man with us fighting them. If teammates were injured he was simply called to attend to them promptly.
Carmen would be happy that he is a fighter as capable as myself!
As noted in our initial probing attacks, our standard defensive advance doctrine does not work in Avernus. There are just too many of them. Once you stop advancing, they swarm you. And did you notice? There are no rewards for killing many of them. So long as their leader is alive, they will continue to gather.
And so it was the 3 of us versus probably a thousand of them; I do not know, I would not care to count. Why we won is simply this - demons have no sense of community and spare no thought in supporting their fellow demon. So we could, once we took some combat drugs, sprint past them at what seems to be lightning speed and they'd give up pursuing us after a while leaving us clear to face the next vault of demons. The main concern we had was maintaining a reserve of firepower in order to protect us from unexpected tactical developments especially in this mission; attacks from behind. I did not want anyone shot in the back and that is where Varghese played his part - the reserve assault role that exploits enemy weaknesses once battle is joined. Otherwise he watched our rear ensuring we were not surprised. Cutting a bloody swath through demon hordes at lightning speed like Bristian storm troopers we soon found ourselves facing a magnificent golden-horned gargoyle, 20 feet of glistening, rippling solid muscle in the final cavern.
And unlike what anyone else would do we just turned our backs on him, advancing back along our entry route to clear away any demon pursuit, before attacking along the perimeter of the room slaying the demon lord's hapless servants like they were game animals. Eventually he had to get off his mighty throne looking for trouble and that's when we unleashed the full might of our team on him. See Rosa, a love for attention can be fatal!
I charged this monstrosity not caring for my safety, and ended up below the towering beast somewhat -ahem- between his legs. Maybe that's a vulgar trick, but it sure worked on the monster, who just about bent over trying to swipe me away. Not a chance. A few stabs at the lower abdomen and slashes to both thighs was all it took to permanently unbalance the huge humanoid, while Rosa's incendiary grenade launcher repeatedly found the gargoyle's head and Varghese's seemingly inexhaustible supply of throwing daggers impaled the creature's weak spots to devastating effect. He fell in less than a minute.
We returned to Porto Coimbra parading this huge golden horn on our shoulders, and two pioneers decided to join our cause just from seeing our triumphant return, unscatched from our trip to the gates of hell.
Brunie, estate agent, is an expert pistol duelist while Idge is a well known blacksmith who also gifted us a complete suit of armour for me. How sweet!
I hope that this quaint tale will entertain you until we get to meet, white cloud of my dreams.
- With Love
p.s. I know what you would tell me regarding consumption of combat drugs. I believe, with the right rehabilitation and detoxification methods after missions, that they are safe for use given responsible administration by trained personnel. They really save lives out there in combat with those mighty beasts.
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