"There is no more front line. The enemy is everywhere. Victory is not measured in land, but in how long we keep the fire alive."
—Jag, War Journal Entry, Siege Day One
Location: Inner Bastion Wall, Stormwatch – Day One of the Orc Siege
The sky above Stormwatch was no longer blue.
It had turned the color of soot—heavy with ash and smoke as if the world itself had begun to smother the sun. Beneath this dead light, the horns of war blew again, and with them came a roar that echoed across the valley like an avalanche of rage.
Jag stood with his back straight on the upper tower, gazing out beyond the trenches, where black banners bearing crude skull sigils waved in grim unity.
The orcs had returned.
But this time, they came with commanders.
POV Shift: Orcish War Council – Bloodpeak Hollow
Inside the massive tent of hide and bone, Ur'Zhul sat upon a throne built from war axes and human helmets.
Before him stood his three Blood Generals—each a terror forged for a specific purpose.
General Rukk the Bone-Sower, a towering brute who carried no weapons—only a sack of sharpened femurs he planted into corpses to raise skeletal berserkers.
Shamaness Kravaa the Flame-Mother, draped in skin runes, controlling volcanic fire spirits chained to her soul.
The Mangler, no name, only blades sewn into its own flesh, a creature of endless cuts, bleeding as it moved.
Ur'Zhul pointed to the map burned into the dirt.
"Stormwatch bleeds. But not fast enough."
He jabbed a finger into the map.
"Rukk. Collapse the north ridge. Drown their grain supply."
"Kravaa. Fire their morale."
"Mangler… go where they sleep."
Scene: Stormwatch Barracks – Civilian Discontent
Inside the cramped barracks of the eastern wing, dozens of newly conscripted civilians sat with hollow eyes. The room smelled of sweat and fear. The once-proud sigils of their ancestral lines now hung limp beside rusting spears.
A man named Jorrik, a blacksmith, stood and shouted:
"We're not soldiers! We're just bodies for their war!"
Others murmured in agreement.
Then Jag entered, armored only at the shoulders, dirt still under his nails.
Silence fell.
He looked each of them in the eyes.
"You're not soldiers."
"But neither are they." He pointed toward the walls. "The ones holding spears. They're bakers. Carpenters. Parents. Widows."
"You're not bodies. You're bones."
"Bones hold the body together. And Stormwatch is the body of humanity."
He picked up a training spear and handed it to Jorrik.
"You don't have to be a sword."
"You just have to stand."
Scene: Siege Begins – Rukk the Bone-Sower Attacks
The assault came not with arrows but with burial.
At dawn, General Rukk's warband emerged from the northern gorge, pulling massive siege sleds filled with corpses—half-rotted, mouths sewn shut, bones glistening with glyphs.
Rain spotted them from the observatory tower.
"He's not building ladders. He's planting bodies."
The corpses were thrown like grain, one by one, into the trenches.
Within minutes, skeletal warriors began to rise—brittle, hissing, clawing.
Jag raced to the command line.
"Ignite the second trench line!"
Explosive glyphs lit across the valley.
BOOM!
Fire surged—bones shattered.
But Rukk only laughed from his mount, raising another sack.
"They buried thousands before this siege."
"Let me show you how many are still loyal to death."
Scene: Flame-Mother's Onslaught
On the southern slope, Kravaa the Flame-Mother stood atop a ridge, chanting in a tongue older than the mountain itself. With every verse, fire spirits erupted from her chest runes and dove toward Stormwatch's mage towers.
Explosions lit the sky like falling stars.
Choir mages tried to counter, but Kravaa's spirits were not fireballs—they were living things, bound to emotion and rage.
Ashra led a team of skirmishers out to meet her on the flank.
Their approach was silent, tight, planned.
Until Kravaa opened her eyes—burning orbs of molten light—and whispered:
"I see the spark before it moves."
A wall of fire roared up—three soldiers incinerated instantly.
Ashra dove through the flame with a frost-tipped blade, rolling under a flaming rock.
She reached Kravaa.
Steel met fire.
They clashed—one burning, the other freezing.
"You fight with passion," Kravaa hissed.
"I fight with necessity," Ashra snapped back.
Scene: Mangler's Infiltration
Deep inside Stormwatch, near the eastern sleeping quarters, screams echoed.
The Mangler had slipped past the lines, crawling through sewer vents and dead pipes, using its torn flesh to squeeze between walls.
It struck at the innocent.
A cook. A medic. A child.
Not for kills. For fear.
Rain, alerted by the blood trail, cornered the thing in the lower tunnels.
She found it hunched over a dead soldier, muttering in broken tongues.
"Cut. Cut. Cut. You forget pain. I remember it."
Rain leveled her spear.
"I'm your reminder."
The fight was fast—brutal.
Steel clanged against sewn blades. Blood sprayed as the Mangler weaved and shrieked.
Rain took a wound to the side but plunged her dagger into its throat, then crushed its skull underfoot.
Breathing heavy, she leaned against the wall.
"Not in my city."
Scene: Jag's Dilemma – A Line Must Be Broken
The siege continued across the day.
Bodies mounted. Walls cracked.
The outer glyph pylons began to flicker.
Jag met with Orlen, the lead Choir glyphscribe.
"We can't maintain the outer defenses another day."
"The glyph heart is failing."
Jag stared at the main defense grid. Then at the civilian shelters behind it.
He clenched his jaw.
"Deactivate the outer wall."
Rain blinked. "What?"
"We pull everyone inside and collapse the first wall."
"Draw them into our heart, where every corner is a trap."
Ashra stepped forward.
"We'll lose hundreds. Maybe more."
Jag nodded.
"Or we lose everyone."
Scene: Collapse Order Given
As night fell again, Jag personally oversaw the evacuation of the outer wards.
Civilians moved through underground paths. Engineers rigged the supports with rune fuses.
At precisely midnight, he gave the signal.
BOOOOM.
The outer defense wall collapsed into itself—stone, glyphmetal, and history—crushing dozens of orcish invaders as it fell.
The horde roared.
But Stormwatch roared louder.
Scene: Final Monologue
Jag stood atop the newly shortened wall, blade in hand, watching the flames rise.
He whispered to no one.
"You wanted to take what lay beneath our bones."
"Now you'll choke on them."