Commander Kern was staring in the direction of the town of Rockbridge. He had a contemplative look on his face. They were going to take it over in the morning. It should be an easy battle; he had more men, stronger men, but they were worried. He kept getting reports of the Gorog; the demon, and the men were getting nervous.

Apparently, at the battle of Trish, the Gorog pressed the right flank hard enough for Isen’s forces to prevail. Commander Bikar should have been able to take on Isen in that fight. At first Kern thought it was just an excuse Bikar made to hide his weakness, but then at the Pick River, Commander Grimlock was the target of an ambush. His forces didn’t stand a chance, but the Gorog attacked the ambushing party from behind. Grimlock and his forces should be dead, but the confusion that the Gorog caused evened the odds and they ended up being able to escape. Several more reports of the Gorog have made it to the hands of Commander Kern. Some of them devastating Tor’s forces, some Isen’s. It was a wild card, a strong one, and that made the men nervous.

“Commander, it’s getting late. The undead have stopped coming and have been dealt with. You should get some sleep before the battle.” said Sir Halsik Tallos, Kern’s right hand man.

“I know, I just keep getting this feeling that the battle isn’t going to be as straight forward as we thought it would.”

Commander Kern went to bed, his armor still on and weapon in hand, just as he always does.
Clang, Clang, CRASH

Kern woke up to the unmistakable sound of fighting. Yells from the watchmen and hurrying feet followed. He got up, grabbed his shield and rushed out of the tent. He crossed over to the other side of the camp, but the fighting stopped before he got to it.

“It was the Gorog! The watchmen followed it into the woods!” reported Halsik.

“Damned fools. Take five men with you and get our men back here.”

Was this Gorog actually real? Kern couldn’t take the chance of ignoring it, but he couldn’t send his whole force after it. He still had a town to take over. All he could do now was wait to see if Halsik could handle it. He only had to wait a few minutes before they came back, carrying one of the watchmen.

“It had us chase it until our difference in speed let it fight one on one. It took out Gordon quickly and then ran back into the forest. I had to let it go to take Gordon back. I couldn’t leave him.” said the other watchman.

“Dammit, get Gordon and your armor fixed up and get some rest for the fight tomorrow. Halsik, you head the watch for the rest of the night. I don’t want that thing to catch us off guard.”

With that Kern and most of his men went back to the tents to try to get some rest before the battle. He hoped that they wouldn’t get interrupted again, but he hoped in vain. It seemed like he had just gotten to sleep when he woke up to an orange glow and the sound of hurried feet. He soon realized that the orange glow was the tent on fire and the “There it is, get it!” made him realize that the Gorog was the hurried feet. Kern got up, grabbed his shield and ran out of the tent. He saw several men run into the woods.

“Don’t get separated, fight together!” he yelled. His attention then turned towards the burning tent he just ran out of. “Dammit, where is Halsik, how did it get past him and set fire to my tent? Someone put that out.”

No one had an answer for him. He could only assume Halsik was with the group going after the Gorog. After a few minutes the fire was contained and Kern realized that the faint glow just before morning was upon them. If Halsik and their men got back soon they might still be able to get some sleep before the fight, but they didn’t. It was about an hour before they got back. The Gorog had successfully robbed them all of sleep.

“What the hell happened?” Kern shouted.

“That thing snuck past us and got into the camp. We didn’t spot it until your tent was on fire. We chased it into the woods and engaged, making sure we didn’t get separated, but as soon as we had it on the defensive it would back off and run again. We chased it, sliced it, hacked it, and chased it again for the better part of an hour, but the thing just won’t die. I told the men to stop perusing it so we could be back here before the battle at Rockbridge.”

As they were talking, a scout came from the direction of Rockbridge out of breath. “They’re on their way here. They probably heard the commotion in the night and got ready for battle. The fight is upon us.”

“Form the wall!” Kern yelled. His force gathered their gear and took positions. Kern could tell that they were tired. The militia of Rockbridge could be seen coming from the distance. It was going to be a hard fight. The leader of the town skipped the pleasantries and the introduction, made some remark about us sparring in the middle of the night giving away our position, and declared that he would “kill us all by noon”. If only he knew what really went on last night. Honestly Kern was ignoring him during most of his monologue and decided to charge. He was able to keep them on the defensive for most of the fight, but for the most part it was an even one, until the Gorog attacked Kern’s flank. This was the first time Kern saw the thing. It was not a man, nor a dwarf, nor… anything he has ever seen before. It truly was a demon; a Gorog. His men started to panic and lose ground. Kern ordered his troops to fall back and regroup. Rockbridge had won the first skirmish, though not without getting roughed up first.

Kern had expected to have to deal with the Gorog once they fell back, but when he looked towards where it was, it wasn’t there. It must have gone back into the woods. At least Kern’s men could recuperate and regroup without that thing interfering. As the warriors fixed their armor and the clerics healed the wounds, Kern could hear metal clashing behind him. He turned to see the Gorog fighting Rockbridge’s forces. The looks of terror on their faces put a grin on Kern’s. They eventually got their act together and started to group up against it, but once they did it decided to make a dead sprint towards Kern’s force while all they could do was chase it. Kern’s grin disappeared. “Form the wall!” he yelled, but it was too late. Only a couple of men had their shields ready and in place by the time it got there, and it hurled the men aside as easily as an ogre.

The Gorog didn’t stop to fight though, it just ran right past them. Once it did, it yelled “look behind you”. The men of Rockbridge were running, unorganized and almost in a single file line straight for Kern’s force. Most of Kern’s men were in place at this point, so he yelled “Charge!” This was an opportunity that wouldn’t last long. The enemy was so caught up in catching up with that monster, that they didn’t realize there was an army in the way. It was an easy victory Kern. The men of Rockbridge were too disorganized to deal with the charge and retreated within minutes. Well, they tried to retreat. The Gorog circled around and was attacking the rear of their forces, preventing a retreat and gave Kern the chance to slaughter them all. And so they did. Before noon. As the last stragglers were being rounded up, the Gorog could be seen running back into the forest. Kern ordered his men not to pursue. They had their victory. They had Rockbridge.

During the next week, while Kern’s men were busy setting up the town as their own, a messenger came with a note from General Baldwin.

“There has been a rumor that some sort of demon has been harassing our troops. Since such rumors are generally untrue, I have ignored them for some time. However I have seen this thing with my own eyes. It killed several of my men without much difficulty, and I no longer doubt the stories that this thing has been the cause of several of our defeats. This will not be tolerated. You are to hunt this thing and kill it. Leave your right hand in charge of Rockbridge and bring your best men with you.”
-Baldwin-