Chaos vs Order

We look across the massive carnage but we can conclude we have actually managed to save the South Gate. It shouldn't have been possible but we did it. No matter what happens in the rest of my life I know that everything up to this point has been worth it. We've done something that will go down in history or at least something that's worthy of going down in history no matter who actually writes the history afterwards.

The Eastern gate has been breached, but it is still standing. Fydaal the Chainmaker is there, and her raiders. We will get around to her as well, I have no doubt of that. Looking out across the field, I can see we have managed to destroy a Hellcannon and a construct. The other construct is shambling about, not quite done yet, but it will be. We are still in this fight, everybody is, tired, worn, but no longer terrified, just frightened and grimly determined. Men in that state are no joke. They won't scare, they’ll just do, no matter what the doing. Ulric is here, I can feel his urging us to rid the North of this vermin. But it's gonna be bloody, in the town we will still have advantage of numbers, but we won't have advantage of range against the monstrously strong and fearless raiders.

The Raiders are pouring in through the broken gate, and spreading across the town. This is not gonna go well for everybody. We can hear the grunts, the screams, the shots, the clashes and above all the horrible laughter of the cursed raiders chasing down townsfolk and soldiers to kill and maim on the behalf of their evil, dumbass god. We have to stop them. 

Johanna tells Niske(or suggests, but given his state I think it matters not who outranks who) to just hold the south gate, with some soldiers. After patching up who needs patching up, we gather up 5 scores of halberdiers and about 2 companies worth of handgunners, and start making our way toward Marketplatz. We later find out that as we do this, Johann is making his way towards Hellcannon number two. As so many things, it is something worse than nightmares. A Cannon fueled with souls, eating corpses and chucking them against the walls. And it’s alive. Johan and his team attack, and kill the crew, but the effing cannon BREAKS LOOSE and RUNS OFF. Eating corpses and spitting souls. It’s chaos, and that's what it does.

Johanna also gets a runner up to one of the batteries on the wall, asking them to start bombarding the East gate, to at least kill some raiders coming through. Another order that you won’t hear every day - here, attack your own wall. We move off. Eldur and Sunniva in the sewers, to keep Eldur away from the Chimaera. The sewers, always the sewers. Approaching the East gate, we decide to slow the influx of Raiders with one of Eldur’s spells. We organize to defend against the Chimaera. Eldur starts gathering his magic down in the sewers, he comes up and unleashes his fire, placing a tornado of flames right in the middle of the gate. He looks more and more like a human torch when he does this, and the smell of brimstone and sulphur when he does it is incredibly intense. The Chimaera dives down immediately. The handgunners open up, and Torgils kills it with a beautifully placed arrow. The crashing corpse takes a few of the halberdiers, but the casualties are much lower than I expected. Those things are dangerous, and hard to kill.

We approach the East gate, looking to earn our place in history for the second time today. We must be a sight, the handgunners in shining breastplate with coloured feathers attached to their helmets, signifying their home counties. The halberdiers have scriptures attached to their plate, puffy arms and high helmets, and we march. These are good troops, and by this hour they are veterans, moving in lockstep. The handgunners kill almost all raiders approaching, and the few who get through are mowed down by the halberdiers. Men die, but we all know that is going to happen, and that the mourning needs to come after. We are truly order in chaos. And around us the chaos boils, the raiders charge incessantly, but never organized, using will, strength and reckless abandon to break order. And behind them Frydaal towers. 8 foot of muscle, metal and mayhem. I can almost hear Ulric egging us on - destroy her, rid us of the vermin.

We are order, and order can be ordered. We quickly decide that we can’t fight her in tight quarters, so we decide to draw her and her champions in, backing in towards the square again. Sunniva takes some gunners to a rooftop, and we start the work of finishing this pack of spawn. I have to say, I am scared of her. She is so much stronger, with so much more reach, I am hoping to stall to have Johan by my side. But she is too much for the halberdiers, taking two, three or more at once. They sacrifice themselves unquestioningly, and for that reason alone I cannot let them just bear the burden alone. 

So I let the rage take me and I charge her. Up close she is worse. I’m used to being able to outrange, but she has several feet on me. And her mace is so heavy it can hardly be parried at all. She attacks, I deflect, and counterattack. I swear I should be dead several times over, but everytime I think ‘Now, now I’m done’ I have more strength and more will than I should have and I DENY her. Johan joins me, and we drive her on the defensive. And Ulric is with me, his strength is my strength and I cleave her through her left hand, through her breastbone all the way through her jaw and halfway through her nose. I destroy her, and I can’t understand how I could. Because I was outmatched, I had nothing on her. I hear Ulric ‘well done Son, you have earned your rest today’. 

Not yet, though, we clear the town going house to house and eventually Hargendorf is saved. Out of 1500 soldiers some 400 are dead and 150 wounded. Niske loses an arm but keeps his life. The people talk of Johanna as a Saint of Sigmar. People say the weirdest things when they get happy enough. There is a party afterwards, but instead of the usual elation and wakeness, I am tired, spent and remember nothing. I am sure the townsfolk did us honor.