Battle of Azure City

The Battle of Azure City
Conflict: Azure City Campaign
Date: Year 1184
Place: Azure City, Cyan Peninsula
Outcome: Team Evil victory Azure City falls to the Hobgoblin army. Soon's Gate is destroyed by Miko Miyazaki. O-Chul is taken captive by Team Evil.
Belligerents:
Azure City	Team Evil
Commanders and Leaders:
Lord Hinjo O-Chul General Chang† Roy Greenhilt† Haley Starshine Soon Kim (late battle)	Xykon Redcloak Hobgoblin General† Death Knight† Huecuva† Eye of Fear and Flame†
Strength:
Azurite Military 9,000 Soldiers Swordsmen Pikemen 13 5th level Pikeman Archers 314+ Clerics High Priest of the Twelve Gods† 259 Clerics 3rd level or lower Sapphire Guard† ~100 Paladins Hinjo O-Chul Lien Ghost Martyrs of the Sapphire Guard† (late battle) Released Prisoners 1 Rogue Grand Larceny Prisoner† 1 Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge Tsukiko (early battle) The Order of the Stick 1 Fighter Roy Greenhilt† 1 Rogue Haley Starshine 1 Bard/Dashing Swordsman Elan 1 Wizard Vaarsuvius 1 Cleric Durkon Thundershield 1 Ranger/Barbarian Belkar Bitterleaf	30,000 Hobgoblins Archers Zombies 1 Zombie Dragon† Ghouls 6 Elementals 5 Titanium Elementals† 1 Chlorine Elemental† 1 Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge Tsukiko (Late battle)
Casualties and Losses:
Massive Roy Greenhilt	Heavy

The Battle of the Azure City was a successful attempt by Xykon to capture the Azure City and unsuccessful attempt to capture Soon's Gate, as the climax to the Azure City Campaign.

Preparations and strategies

Xykon used three undead creatures (a Death Knight, a Huecuva and an Eye of Fear and Flame), dressed as himself. They charged the City in 3 wings; while the armies would try to guess who is the real one, he intended to approach flying an undead dragon while invisible, kill everyone and reanimate them.

Meanwhile Lord Hinjo had released high-level prisoners (including Belkar) to contribute to the defense, promising to reduce their punishment by 5 years. Roy and The Order of the Stick would attack Xykon directly while O-Chul and his men would defend Soon's Gate.

Progression of Battle

Assaulting the Walls

Redcloak ordered the catapults to launch Titanium Elementals, breaking the walls of the city, (to the Hobgoblin General's surprise) being able to be launched a much further distance due to being 40% lighter than Earth Elementals. Vaarsuvius used Expeditious Retreat to approach them and then used Dismissal to send them away, and finally Feather Fall on the soldiers to survive the fall. The Hobgoblins responded with firing a volley of arrows, where Roy "saved" Elan's life.

Xykon's army then split in 3 groups: the first (led by the Eye of Fear and Flame) headed for the southern end of the wall, the northern (led by the Death Knight) headed for the breaches done by the elementals. The third (the Huecuva) remained behind to guard the archers and catapults. They could see Xykon in all three places but could not determine who is the real one, not even with Sangwaan's help.

Vaarsuvius, was now in the northern side, not being able to run back to the Order soon enough and decided to help fix the breaches. They asked for 13 pikemen on whom they cast Bear's Endurance and Bull's Strength. When the hobgoblins arrived, V cast Enlarge Person.

Meanwhile Elan ran to V's side, while Haley insisted that none of the three Xykons is the real one. The Order sensed a wind and Sangwaan cast True Seeing to see Xykon riding a huge undead dragon, which grasped and threw the diviner away. Durkon cast Greater Dispel Magic and Roy (enhanced by the dwarf's spells) jumped up to the dragon with Xykon.

Meanwhile a cook threw oil to the hobgoblins (although cold and coconut) which made them leave, fearing for their cholesterol. The prisoner released by Lord Hinjo attempted to assassinate Hinjo for 10000 gp but Belkar prevented it, since Hinjo would later remove his Mark of Justice. To do this, Belkar had to throw the prisoner off the wall and find himself outside the boundaries of the city.

Three of the gigantic pikemen had fallen, and the rest were supported by clerics. They killed that many hobgoblins that they formed a ramp.

Into the Breach

The Death Knight rode on this "Ramp" and decapitated the gigantic pikemen, finding himself and Ghouls inside the City. His Spell Resistance did not allow V to cast Disintegrate, however casting it on his horse, brought him falling in front of the General Chang, who smote him. He was surrounded, but used his Abyssal Blast and killed the surrounding soldiers. Chang fought back, but was stabbed through the heart.

Meanwhile, Roy encountered Xykon onside the dragon. After a brief dialogue, Roy decapitated the dragon. The beast was undead and was not harmed, but the head fell on the Death Knight who was ready to attack Vaarsuvius.

After failing to persuade Roy to retreat, Xykon decided to cast Overland Flight leaving Roy to fall with the useless dragon carcass to his doom. Xykon met Tsukiko who would betray the City for him, and agreed to create undead to aid them. Then Xykon flew to the 8th level of the tower where Soon's Gate is, where O-Chul's army waited for him. Using a Symbol of Insanity on a bouncing ball, he induced the guards to slay each other. O-Chul attempted to approach the throne and destroy the Sapphire, but Xykon outran him with a Paralyze Touch.

Xykon attempted to zombify the dead paladins, but their spirits were summoned by Soon, who led them against the lich as ghost-martyrs.

Meanwhile Belkar reached the Eye of Fear and Flame and decapitated him, using his skull for fireballs. When Redcloak heard about this, he initially ordered the hobgoblins to continue pressing the attack, considering them expendable soldiers. However, after a hobgoblin sacrificed himself to save Redcloak, he changed his mind and rode with the attack force to back them up with his spells. When the Azurite fighters noticed this development, most of them deserted and those who didn't were crushed by the advancing army.

Meanwhile, Hinjo had to deal with the Huecuva that was faking Xykon and some ninjas sent by Daimyo Kubota. He was saved by Durkon but hobgoblins were still swarming the city assisted by Redcloak riding a war elephant and the castle gates had been opened by some hobgoblin assassins. Haley attempted to get Redcloak's attention by shooting at him but missed and got the attention of hundreds of goblin archers instead. Belkar managed to hold them off with the Eye of Fear and Flame's head for a while giving the team enough time to duck inside a guard tower along with two guards (Kazumi and Daigo) to avoid the hail of arrows.

Climax

While inside the tower, Elan cast illusions of the entire group going out and dying in a hail of arrows. Meanwhile, a priest of the Twelve Gods had failed to prevent Redcloak from entering the palace in a clerical duel. Redcloak then summoned a Chlorine Elemental and entered the castle. He soon came up on the battle between Xykon and the Ghost-Martyrs. He then formulated a strategy to take them on. Soon gained the upper hand and was about to slay Xykon and Redcloak when Miko Miyazaki, who had escaped from prison, came inside the room and shattered the crystal surrounding the gate blowing up the entire castle and letting Xykon and Redcloak to escape.

Aftermath

Because the shattering of the gate crystal freed the Ghost-martyrs from their earthly responsibilities, the hobgoblin force had effectively captured Azure City. The Order then convinced Hinjo to retreat to the dock where Hinjo still kept his personal junk. Haley and Belkar agreed to get Roy's body so that Durkon could raise him. While sneaking to the dock, Hinjo's group was attacked by goblins. The two soldiers agreed to hold them off so that Hinjo could get back to the dock safely. This almost ended in them being martyred until they were given names. Redcloak went to take out the boat and after Hinjo was wounded in the battle, Captain Axe cut the dock rope and gave the order to sail off leaving Haley and Belkar behind.