Chapter 34 Chapter 30 The Battle of Icewind Dale

Bryn Shander's men heard the fighting in the fields outside the city, but they did not see what was happening until dawn.They cheered wildly to the dwarves, and were amazed to see the barbarians rushing into Kessell's ranks and slaying the goblins. Cassius and Glenn Sather stood where they usually stood on the city wall, thinking about the sudden and unexpected turn of the situation, unable to decide whether to send troops to join the battle. "Barbarians?" said Glenn Suther, looking dumbfounded. "Are they friends or foes?" "They are killing Orcs," Cassius answered. "They're on our side!"

On Lake Dürden, Kemp and others also heard the clash of arms in battle, but they could not see who was involved.To add to their confusion, another battle was fought, this time in the town of Bremen to the southwest.Are Bryn Shander's men out to attack?Or will Acar Kessell's army turn against itself? Then the Magic Crystal Pagoda darkened all of a sudden, and the originally vibrating crystal outer wall also fell into a deathly silence. "Regis," Cassius murmured, feeling the tower lose its power. "If we ever had a hero, it was him!" The tower shakes and shakes.Many huge cracks appear throughout the tower.Then it split in two.

They watched in unbelievable horror as the tower of wizards worshiped by the hordes of monsters as gods fell. Bryn Shander's horn began to sound.Kemp's men, galvanized, rushed for their oars.Jacin Brant's scouts at the outpost carried the startling news back to the fleet on Lake Dinesia, who in turn relayed the message to those on Redwater Lake.The same order was issued in all the temporary shelters of the people of Ten Towns. "Move out!" The armies assembled at the great gates of Bryn Shander rushed from the inner square to the field.The fleets of Kaikoni and Kaidi Neva on Lake Denisha, and the towns of Meadtown and Dougan's Hole in the south, all sailed to the east wind and crossed the lake quickly.The four combined fleets on Lake Dürden rowed hard with the wind, eager for revenge.

In a whirlwind of confusion and surprise, the final battle of Icewind Dale unfolds.    Regis stepped aside as the two battered animals rolled by again, claws tearing apart in a desperate struggle.Normally, Guenhwyvar would have no problem taking out the Cerberus, but in his weakest state, he found himself fighting only for his life.The hellhound's hot breath scorched its black fur, and its huge fangs bit down on its muscular neck. Regis wished to help the leopard, but he couldn't get close enough to kick the foe.Why did Drizzt run so fast? Guenhive felt his neck being bitten by powerful jaws.The leopard turned violently, and its weight caused the Cerberus to fall on all fours, but the sharp teeth still did not relax.Leopards feel dizzy due to lack of oxygen.It begins to send its mind back through the hoops to its true home, yet it feels bad for letting its master down when he needs it most.

Then the tower went dark.The frightened Cerberus slightly loosened its grip, and Guenhive quickly seized the opportunity.The leopard clawed at the dog's ribs with its paw, pushed it away, and rolled itself into the darkness. The Cerberus is on the lookout for enemies, but the Leopard's stealth is stronger than its keen search.Then the dog saw a second prey.As soon as it jumped, it jumped to Regis' side. At this time, Guan Haifa was playing a game he knew better.This leopard is a nocturnal animal, able to strike out of the dark and kill its prey before they realize it is there.The Cerberus crouched and jumped to attack Regis, and the leopard slammed into its back so hard that it fell to the ground, its claws raking deep into the rust-coloured hide.

The dog only had time to bark once before the deadly teeth caught it. The mirror began to crack and shatter.The hole that popped up in the floor engulfed Kessell's throne.As the tower shook in its final death throes, crystal shards began to fall here and there throughout the tower.Screams from the harem below told Regis that the same devastation could be seen throughout the building.He was delighted when he saw Guenhwyvar kill the Cerberus, but he also knew that the panther's heroism was a waste of time.They have nowhere to run, and it is impossible to escape from the death of the magic crystal tower.

Regis called Guenhwyvar to come to him. He couldn't see the leopard's body in the dark, but he saw eyes staring at him, and kept circling around him as if following him. "What?" The halfling paused in surprise, wondering if the pressure and the wounds the dog had inflicted on Guenhuffa's body had driven him insane. A wall fell and smashed around him, sending him throwing himself on his back.He saw the leopard's eyes fly high into the air; Guenhwyvar jumped up. The smoke made him unable to breathe, and he felt that the final collapse of the magic crystal tower had begun.Then a darkness as black as a panther engulfed him.

   Drizzt felt himself falling. The light was too bright for him to see clearly.He couldn't hear any sound, not even the wind whistling past his ears.But he just knew he was falling. Then the light dimmed to a gray mist, as if he were passing through a cloud.It all seemed like a dream, so unreal.He couldn't remember how he got to this place.He couldn't remember his own name. Then he fell into a deep pile of snow, and he realized that he was not dreaming.He heard the howling of the wind and felt the biting and cold bite.He tried to be patient and to make the situation clearer.

Then he heard the shouts of battle in the distance below.He thought of the Magic Crystal Tower and where he was.The answer is only one possibility. He's on top of the Cairn's Cone.    Bryn Shander and the soldiers of the Eastern Exile, led by Cassios and Glenn Sather, rushed down the hillside arm in arm, forcing their way into the ranks of goblins who were confused about the situation.Both speakers have a specific goal in mind: they hope to get through these monsters and make contact with Bruenor's Army.Not long ago on the walls they had seen the barbarians try the same tactic.They figured that if the three legions could support each other's flanks, their tiny chances of victory would be greatly improved.

The goblin made way for them.These monsters were panicked by so many unexpected events, and there was no way to form an effective line of defense. When the four convoys on Lake Dürden landed to the north near the ruins of Targos, they met resistance equally disorganized and disoriented.Kemp and the other leaders guessed that they could easily gain a foothold on land, but their greatest fear was that if they pushed inland from the shore of the lake, Tamaran's goblin hordes might swarm their rear and cut them off. The only way out. They needn't worry, however.During the first phase of the battle, the goblins of Tamaran were indeed fully committed to supporting the wizard.But then the magic crystal tower fell down.The goblins were already suspicious, for they had heard many rumors all night that Kessell had sent an army to wipe out the tongue-cut orcs in the captured town of Bremen.When they saw the magic crystal tower, the ultimate manifestation of Kessell's power, fall into ruins, they began to think about whether they had other plans, and weighed the results of these choices in front of themselves.They fled to the safety of the northern plains.

   Wind-blown snow added to the heavy snowdrifts covering the summit.Drizzt kept looking down, but when he decided to start walking, he could barely see his feet.He also held the magic scimitar, which shone palely, as if echoing the cold weather. The dark elf's numb body begged him to descend, but instead he climbed higher, toward the next mountain.The wind brought into his ears an annoying sound of manic laughter. Then he saw the vague figure of the wizard.The wizard bent over the cliff to the south, trying to see what was happening on the battlefield below. "Kessell!" Drizzt yelled.He saw the figure move suddenly, and he knew that even though the howling of the wind and snow was so loud, the wizard still heard him. "In the name of the people of Ten Towns, I ask you to surrender! Hurry up, or we will be frozen to death in the same place by the endless cold wind!" Kessell sneered. "Don't you know what you're up against?" he asked in surprise. "Do you really believe you've won this battle?" "I don't know yet what's going on down there," Drizzt replied. "But you've lost! Your tower has been destroyed, Kessell, and without it you're nothing more than a little liar!" As they talked, he walked on, now only a stone's throw away from the wizard. It was a few feet away, but his opponent was still a blur of black between gray and white. "Do you want to know how it's going?" Kessell asked. "Look then! Behold the demise of Ten-Towns!" He groped under his robes and brought out something shiny, a crystal.Cloud seemed to be avoiding it.The wind stands still under the influence of its wide-spread radiance.Drizzt could see its incredible power.The dark elf felt the blood return to his numb hand in the light of the crystal.Then the thick gray snow around them began to melt, and the sky in front of them cleared up. "Has the tower been destroyed?" Kessell sarcastically asked. "You are just one of the countless clones who destroyed Clinshinibon! A sack of flour can destroy the most powerful treasure in the world? Look at those who dare to defy me!" The battlefield now unfolds before the eyes of the dark elves.He could see the white sails of the Kadineva and Kekoni ships approaching the western shore of Lake Dinesia. To the south, the fleets of Meadtown and Dougan's Cave have anchored.The sailors, finding no resistance as expected, were now lining up for an attack inland.The goblins and orcs in the southern half of Kessell's army did not directly see the magic crystal tower collapse.Yet they felt without strength or guidance, and as many stayed where they were, or deserted their comrades, as many went to fight outside Bryn Shander. Kemp's army also came ashore, carefully advancing from the shore of the lake while keeping an eye on the situation to the north.The place where this group of people went ashore was the place where Kessell's army gathered the most, but it was also where the Magic Crystal Tower once stood, and the morale of the army there was the most shaken.The fishermen found that more goblins wanted to flee than to fight. The fiercest fighting took place in the heart of the field, and the people of Ten-Towns and their allies seemed to be doing well.The barbarians were almost joining the dwarves.Inspired by Wulfgar's mighty hammer and Bruenor's peerless valor, these two armies took down nearly every enemy that came between them.And they will soon become even harder to beat, as Cassius and Glensuther are also closing in at a steady pace. "My eyes tell me that your army is not doing well," Drizzt retorted. "These ten-town fishermen haven't lost yet!" Kessell raised the Crystal Shard aloft, its blazing light emanating even greater power.Even on the battlefield far below, the two sides of the battle immediately realized that the powerful existence they thought was the magic crystal tower had awakened again.Men, dwarves and goblins, even those who were in the midst of a fierce battle and whose life was in danger at any moment, stopped for a second to see the light shining down from the mountain.Sensing the return of their god, the monsters gleefully dropped their passive defensive stance.Inspired by Kessell's glorious reappearance, they went on the offensive with wild rage. "Look, I've boosted their morale just by showing up!" Kessell boasted proudly. But Drizzt wasn't paying attention to the wizard, nor was he paying attention to the battle below.He stood in a muddy puddle of snow melted by the warmth from the Crystal Shard.He was engrossed in a sound his keen ear picked up amidst the distant slaughter.It was the rumble of protest from the frozen peaks of Cairn's Cone. "Look at Kessell's glory!" shouted the wizard, his voice amplified by the crystal's power, deafening. "How easy it is for me to destroy the boats on the lake below!" Drizzt saw Kessell's arrogance to ignore the ever-increasing danger around him, a mistake he should never have made.All he needed to do was delay Kessell from making any decisive moves for the next period of time.He naturally grabbed the dagger in the belt on his back and shot at Kessell, although he knew that Kessell and Clinshinibon had some kind of symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship, which made his weapon never have a chance to shoot. target.The dark elf just wanted to distract the wizard, to irritate him, so that he could turn his anger away from the battlefield. The dagger sliced ​​through the air.Drizzt turned and started to run. A flash of light shot from Crenshinibon, melting the dagger before it could hit its target, but Kessell flew into a rage. "You must kneel before me!" he screamed at Drizzt. "Dare to offend my bitch, you have the honor to be my first victim today!" He retracted the magic crystal shard from the edge of the cliff and pointed it at the fleeing dark elf.But as he turned around he began to sink, and in an instant the snow was up to his knees. Then he heard the angry crumbling of the mountain. Drizzt escaped the sphere of influence of the Crystal Shard, and without hesitation he looked back, running as far as possible from the southern face of the Cairne's cone. Kessell is now covered with snow up to his chest, struggling to get out of the snow.Again he called upon the strength of Crenshinibon, but his mind was shaken by the weight of his impending fate. Akar Kessell felt weak again for the first time in years.He is no longer the tyrant of Icewind Dale, but just a young apprentice who murdered his master. It was as if the Crystal Shard had abandoned him. Then the snow all over the mountain began to collapse.The avalanche shook many miles around.Humans and orcs, goblins and even ogres were shaken to the ground. Kessell held onto the Crystal Shard tightly as he began to fall.But Clinshinibon scalded his hand and pushed him away.Kessell has failed too many times.This treasure is no longer willing to be at his disposal. Kessell screamed when he felt the Crystal Shard slip from his fingertips.However, his screams were immediately drowned out by a thunderous avalanche.The icy darkness of snow surrounded him, falling with him.Kessell desperately believed he could have escaped even such a catastrophe if the Crystal Shard was still within his grasp.That was the thought he consoled himself with as he fell onto another small peak at the Cone of Cairn. Then half the snow that covered the mountain fell on him.    The monster army saw their god fall again, and the source of their motivation disappeared suddenly.But during the period when Kessell showed up, there was some coordinated action happening.Two frost giants (the only two remaining true giants in Kessell's entire army) took command.They called the ogre's elite guard to them, and then called the orc and goblin tribes to gather around them and accept their leadership.Yet the panic in the army was evident.The sense of hostility among the tribes, suppressed by Kessell's oppressive rule, once again began to surface in apparent mutual distrust.The only thing that keeps them fighting is the fear of the enemy, and the only thing that keeps them fighting alongside the other tribes is the fear of the giants. "Nice to meet you, Bruenor!" Wulfgar sang, and when the barbarians finally broke through the enemy to join the dwarves, he smashed the head of another goblin. "Me too, boy!" replied the Dwarf, and he drove his ax into his enemy's chest. "You came back not long ago! I thought I was going to kill you too!" Wulfgar's attention was elsewhere, however.He found the two frost giants commanding the whole army. "Frost giants," he said to Bruenor, pointing to the ring of ogres for the dwarves to see. "They are the only thing that keeps the enemy's clans together!" "It's more fun!" Bruno said with a smile. "We'll bring people there!" Then the young king, accompanied by several principal retinues and Bruenor, made his way through the layers of goblins. The ogres crowded in front of the new commander, blocking the way of the barbarians. Wulfgar was close enough then. Aegis-fang whizzed over the heads of the ogres and hit one of the giants on the head, and it fell to the ground dead.The other giant was stunned. It didn't believe that a human could kill its own kind with one blow from such a distance. After a short hesitation, it began to flee the battlefield. The vicious ogres, fearless of nothing, charged at Wulfgar's group, pushing them back.But Wulfgar was content, willing to let the place go, anxious to get back to where most of the human and dwarven armies had gathered. Bruno, however, was not so willing.It was his favorite kind of scrimmage.He disappeared suddenly under the long legs of the leading ogre in the front row, lost in dust and doubt. Out of the corner of his eye, Wulfgar caught sight of the dwarf's strange departure. "Where are you going?" he yelled after Bruno, but Bruno, hungry for battle, couldn't hear the cries, and didn't pay attention at all. Wulfgar couldn't see where the mad dwarf had gone, but he could guess where Bruenor was, at least where it was just now, as one ogre after another clutched at his knee, hamstring, or groin in amazed pain. department. Outside the chaos, those orcs and goblins who were not directly fighting continued to watch the cone of Caine, waiting for the second awakening of the light. But there was nothing but snow on the lower slopes of the Cone of Cairn, which had now calmed down.    Hungry for vengeance, the warriors of Kekkoni and Cadineva filled their sails and rushed recklessly up the shallows, lest they waste their time at the docks.Jumping from their boats, they waded ashore, charging fearlessly into battle with fury that pushed their enemies away. Once they had gained shelter on shore, Jacin Brant told them to form a tight formation and turn south.The speaker heard the slaughter in the distance in that direction, and knew that the men of Meadtown and Dougan's Cave were fighting their way north to join his men.His plan was to meet the men on the Eastern Road and advance westward to Bryn Shander with a reinforced army. Many goblins on this side of the city wanted to escape, and more went to the northwest of the magic crystal tower ruins to join the main battlefield.Lake Dinesha's army moved towards the goal with moderate speed.They reached the Eastern Road without any damage, and began to wait there for the people from the south.    Kemp waited anxiously for the signal from the only ship on Lake Dürden.The speaker of Targos, joint commander of the armies of the four towns by the lake, had come this far cautiously for fear of an attack from the north.He counted his men and horses at any time, and only fought the monsters who came to trouble them. However, this cautious posture was broken by his adventurous heart amidst the loud killing sounds all over the field. After many minutes there was no sign of goblin reinforcements, so the speaker sent a schooner to the lake's shores to see what had delayed Tamaran's occupying force. Then he saw White Sail come into view.The signal flag atop the boat was the one Kemp most wanted to see but least likely to see: in this case, it signaled that Tamarin was empty and that the goblins were fleeing north. Kemp ran as high as he could find, his face flushed with vengeance. "Boys, advance to the front!" he yelled to his men. "Make me a way to the city on the hill! Let Cassius find us sitting on the steps of their gate when he returns!" Crying frantically with every step they took, these people had lost their homes and loved ones and watched their towns burn to the ground.Many of them have nothing left to lose.All they want is a small taste of bitter satisfaction.    On that morning, the fighting was fierce.Men and monsters alike raised swords and spears and found that these weapons seemed to be twice as heavy.Although tired, this only slowed down their movements, but it couldn't extinguish the anger burning in every fighter's blood. As the battle continued, the battle lines became indistinguishable, and the infantry were separated from their commanders.In many places, goblins and orcs fought each other even when the common enemy was in sight, unable to divert the long-suffering hatred of the rival tribe.A thick cloud of smoke hangs over where most men fight; the clash of steel on steel, the sound of swords on shields, and the dizzying cacophony of death, pain, and victory, make the organized clash a It became a melee. The only exception is the battle-hardened troop of dwarves.Their formation did not waver or disintegrate at all, yet Bruenor did not return after leaving. The dwarves provided a fortified area from which the barbarians could strike, and a target for Wulfgar's small group to return to.The young king of the Horde returned to his people when the Cassius army made contact with the barbarians.The speaker and Wulfgar looked at each other intently, neither quite sure where they stood in the other's eyes.Yet both of them are wise enough to fully believe in their partnership in this moment.Both are wise enough to know that the enemy is at hand, and to temporarily put their differences aside. Being able to support each other is the only advantage of this newly reunited allies.Together they can overwhelm any tribe of orcs or goblins they face.And now that the goblin tribes couldn't work together, each of their units had no support on the flanks.Wulfgar and Cassius followed each other and supported each other's actions. They kept motivating the soldiers defending the perimeter, so that the main force of the combined army could defeat the enemy's tribes one by one. Although Cassius' army lost only one goblin for every ten goblins he felled, he was still worried.There were thousands of monsters who had yet to come face to face with a human or raise arms, yet his men were nearly worn out.He must get them back to the city.He let the dwarves lead the way. Wulfgar was also worried about whether his warriors would be able to keep up the same pace, and knowing there was no other way to escape, he ordered his men to follow Cassios and the dwarves.It was a gamble, because the Barbarian King wasn't sure if Bryn Shander's men would let his warriors into the city. Kemp's army covered an impressive distance in their first push up the hillside of the main city, but as they got closer to their goal, they encountered more and more desperate enemies.They were only a hundred yards from the hill, but here they were stuck and surrounded. The army from the east made better progress.They rushed straight along the Eastern Road without encountering any resistance, and they were also the first to reach the foot of the hill.They sailed frantically across the wide lake and fought all the way on the plains. Even the only surviving speaker of the four towns, Jacin Brant (Samon and the other two from the southern towns) fell on the Eastern Road. ) will not let them rest either.He clearly heard the fierce battle, and knew that the brave men who faced Kessell's army in the northern fields needed any support they could get. When the Speaker led the army around the last corner before the North Gate, they stopped to see a sight worse than they had ever seen in their lives or heard in the most exaggerated stories.Combatants fought over piles of corpses, disarmed warriors biting or tearing at their foes. Brent saw at once that Cassius and his army could return to their city.But the army at Dürdensee was in crisis. "Rush west!" he shouted as he charged himself at the besieged army.The new wave of adrenaline allows these tired teams to go full speed to save their comrades.They lined up in a horizontal line when they went down the hill, but when they actually pushed into the battlefield, only the people in the middle section continued to rush forward.The men at the ends were blocked and squeezed into the middle, and then the whole army became wedge-shaped, and the tip made a way through all the monsters, and met the team in the battle of Kemp. Kemp's men greeted this lifeline eagerly, and the combined armies could soon retreat to the north of the hill.As the last of their stragglers stumbled there, the Cassiothian army, Wulfgar's barbarians, and dwarves also made their way up to the flats on the hill through the densest goblin procession. At this time, all the humans and goblins are combined, and the goblins are hesitant to come over.Their losses are too great to hold them back.No giants or ogres survived, and several tribes of goblins and orcs were completely wiped out.The Magic Crystal Tower turned into a pile of charred pieces, and Akar Kessell was also buried under the snow grave. The men on Bryn Shander were badly wounded and too tired to stand, but their clenched jaws told the rest of the monsters that they would fight to the last breath.They have retreated to the last corner and will not retreat any more. Questions crept into the minds of every goblin and orc who fought on.Although their number is still sufficient to complete the entire task, many monsters must be killed to completely suppress these brave humans in Ten Towns and their desperate allies.Even if it is done, which tribe will win?Without a wizard to lead it, it's hard for survivors of a battle not to fight for a fair share of the spoils. The Battle of Icewind Dale did not go the way Akar Kessell envisioned.