The Tomb Kings had been mauled badly by the Spider King’s Chittering Horde but they remained one of the greater powers within the Border Princes and their implacable surge north continued, moving closer and closer to Gaping Jaw, the Orc capital and home of Bull Rogue, the towering Warboss.
In the western part of the Devil’s Pathway they controlled all land as far north as the Old Silk Road and it was here, at the road itself, where they met their enemy.
And from the very first moments it began to go horribly wrong.
The Tomb Kings had concentrated their troops into a narrow frontage in the hopes of engaging the Orc army piecemeal, but the concentration was too great. As they started to march forwards, the ranks became snarled, one unit getting in the way of another. Added to this, the proximity to the old wall that ran along the edge of the road hemmed them in, making manoeuvring almost impossible.
Quick off the mark, the Orcs swept forward, closing the pincer on the undead faster than could be reacted to.
The Tomb King Hierophant stalked behind the lines, utilising his immense magical power but there was only so much he could do. Magically moving his forces was useless in such a snarled narrow pass and then Phallicbone, the Orc Shaman, brought down pummelling magical force from the heavens. Narrowly surviving, the Hierophant managed to conceal himself in the midst of a regiment of Skeletons but disaster! Riding his towering War Wyvern, Bull Rogue crashed into the earth only feet away as the rest of the Orc horde closed and hacked the Liche High Priest into splintered bone. Once again, the Tomb Kings were balked, their forces thrown back… and the Orcs were triumphant.
The Tomb Kings were not as implacable as they had believed. And the Orcs were becoming more and more the greater power.
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