The Battle of Nokkville

• 05 April 2025

The Battle of Nokkville was a conflict in 275 DHT waged between the Body of Ba'al and the combined forces of the Righteous Order and Corgathian Kingdom, with the support of the Arcane Hand and the Heroes of Nokkville. It was one of the first major events that fostered the legend of the Archangel's Heroes.

As its title suggests, the battle took place in the Corgathian city of Nokkville.

Objectives #

The Body of Ba'al transformed the city of Nokkville into a fortress in order to hedge out those who would try to stop the Ritual of Demonic Awakening. This necromantic ritual was led by the Body of Ba'al's current leader, the Dark Lord Pitch. Nokkville was the ideal location for 2 reasons:

1. Nokkville was close to where Ba'al had been slain during the Demon Wars; close proximity to the site of the Demon's death was necessary for the completion of the ritual.
2. Nokkville had a large population, perfect for the sacrifice needed to facilitate the formation of Ba'al's mortal body.

The Righteous Order and the Archangel's Heroes both wished to disrupt this process, putting an end to the summoning of Ba'al. If they Body of Ba'al was successful, countless lives would be lost during the ensuing rampage of the Demon commander.

The Corgathian military had their interests lying within the defense of their territory and their people. The Battle of Nokkville transpired during The Corgathian Spellcraft Crisis, and although the Body of Ba'al was responsible to some extent, the Corgathian government treated the unsanctioned magical activity within their territory as an extremely serious breach of Corgathian law.

Events #

Preliminary Events #

Several months before the start of the battle, a group of recent converts to the Body of Ba'al led by Silvaar Darkthorn attempted to conduct the Ritual of Demonic Awakening in the basement of Silvaar's house in Grandcrest, Nokkville. While the ritual failed due to a lack of sufficient necromantic mastery and soul sacrifices, it was successful enough to alert the Body of Ba'al's new master, Pitch, that the Stone City would be the ideal location to finalize the ritual.

Prelude to Battle #

In the later months of 275 DHT, the Body of Ba'al's activities across Corgath's countryside increased, leading to roving bands of undead destroying villages and poorly-defended cities. The cult's primary goal through these attacks were to create a surplus of corpses for Pitch to use to continue building up his army.

These actions not only drew the attention of the Corgathian knightly orders, but also the infant first generation of Archangel's Heroes. The Body of Ba'al struck and moved with precision and efficiency, forcing the Corgathian military to play catch-up with little to no way of predicting where they would strike next. The Archangel's Heroes had greater success, defending several settlements from the Body of Ba'al's assaults and even forcing Pitch himself into corners on a couple of occasions.

The Hero of the Archangel Etain Lyle returned to her home city of Corgath to try and find out more about their enemy. There, she uncovered stories of the would-be Heroes of Nokkville and how they had stood against Pitch and survived. Hoping that the three wanderers would have more information on Pitch and his cult, Sir Ladodon, Kazakk, and Etain travelled to Destral, which was their last known location. The rest of the heroes attempted to continue tracking the Dark Lord and his armies.

While this was happening, Pitch brazenly marched into Nokkville by himself, making his way to the center of the city and conjuring a twisted spire of magically-reinforced obsidian from the ground. Then, he unleashed a devastating, soul-flaying wave of necromantic power which killed all residents within the Stone City immediately, transforming their bones and most of their souls into willing servants.

The cultists worked quickly to reinforce the city, since they had undoubtedly attracted attention with this move. Legions of the cult's undead circled the city to form a defensive line. The dominated spirits of the dead were transformed into sky-patrolling sentries. The cult reinforced their impressive numbers with fearsome Imps found in sealed off mine shafts in the Nokkville Quarry and other buried ruins like Traustendlat.

The Battle #

First Engagement #

The Archangel's Heroes arrived at the outskirts of Nokkville alongside Theodore Perry, Red, Firen, Crystal, and Aubrey S. Archer. The Arcane Hand agent Almeric Armand, who had been monitoring the cult for some time, recognized that a necromantic barrier had been summoned around the city, hedging out the living and the non-profane. While reinforcements from the Righteous Order were on their way from Phovezila, time was of the essence. Waiting for the paladins to arrive and then waiting for them to break the barrier with divine power would take considerable time. With each passing minute, the completion of the ritual neared. Instead, the task force decided to leverage the profane affliction of Red by the demonic medal around his neck to their advantage. Red would be able to walk through the barrier unimpeded.

The first engagement of the Battle of Nokkville happened in the late morning. Its primary objective was to ensure the VIPs--primarily Red and his companions--to the city gate. In order to dilute the undead line, Kazakk and Sir Archoth would lead Corgathian knights to siege an adjacent city gate. The undead were unable to prioritize their defenses, and found themselves split between the two fronts. This was enough to allow the rest of the task force to blitz the undead and get to the gate.

The plan went sideways as the combat environment for the VIP task force transitioned to urban within the shantytown sprawl extruding from Nokkville's gates. They were ambushed by a platoon of imps as well as a venomancer. The fight's outcome seemed doomed, but the tide turned abruptly after Firen suffered a mortal wound that awakened terrible Void power within him[^1]. Firen lashed out, nearly killing the venomancer while wiping out several of the imp assailants. Theo would use his Greybox to transport himself plus Firen, Aubrey, and Red across the barrier. Crystal and the Archangel's Heroes would stay behind to continue leading the assault from the outside. Crystal would succeed in subduing the venomancer, and would take her prisoner. The venomancer, Florae, would then be received by BCA agents waiting at the outskirts of the battle.

Once word was out that the infiltration team was in the city, the Corgathian knights pulled out and regrouped away from the city. They camped nearby for the night, waiting for reinforcement by the Righteous Order's paladins to come the next day.

Infiltration #

The infiltration team worked their way through Nokkville until they reached the Stone City Tavern, where a group of still-free-willed Remnants created by Pitch's necromancy had holed up. Together, the corporeal and incorporeal Legerians concocted a plan to siege the spire at the center of Nokkville directly.

Alfonso, a remnant that formerly travelled Legere as an eccentric salesman, revealed that he had a 150 mm arcane cannon squirreled away in his wares. With the support of Alfonso's artillery, the rest of the remnants could hopefully create a big enough distraction to give the corporeal Heroes of Nokkville an opening to get into the spire.

The following morning, the plan was executed with perfection, and the Heroes of Nokkville were able to use Theodore's gadgets to teleport inside the spire. They fought against the cultists and an undead facsimile of Silvaar until successfully destroying the cursed Arcanoform responsible for powering the profane barrier around the city.

Second Engagement #

While the infiltration team launched their attack on the spire at the break of dawn, the Corgathian soldiers didn't attack until the profane barrier was taken down. At that point, the Holy Knights of the Righteous Order had arrived to provide backup, and the two allied armies pushed forward to cull the Body of Ba'al's undead.

With the divine powers of the Righteous Order supplementing their ranks, Corgathian knights were able to cut their way through the undead and imps and push into Nokkville. Without proper fortifications or preparation, the Body of Ba'al wouldn't have been able to hold out against a proper siege anyway.

Ba'al's Return #

The infiltration team of the Heroes of Nokkville fought their way up Pitch's spire, confronting the necromancer face to face at the top of the structure where the ritual to conjure up Ba'al neared completion. To complete the ritual, Pitch began to suck the essence of Red out of him through the medallion he bore. During their counterattack, Firen and Theo were tricked into completing the ritual by killing Pitch with a Demonium blade, which was the seal for completing the process.

![[Heroes of Nokkville#^2902c8]]

Although the battle between the Heroes of Nokkville and a manifestation of the Demon Ba'al would have been extremely one-sided, the Archangel Michael descended upon the battlefield to bless the Heroes of Nokkville with the strength required to defeat Ba'al. Specifically, Red's medallion was transmuted from demonium to a heart made of Trinitum, and he gained the strength needed to deliver the killing blow to the shedim commander.

Aftermath #

Ba'al's body dissolved, and Pitch's necromantic grimoire was recovered by Theodore Perry before being handed over to the Righteous Order for safekeeping.

Nokkville would return to normal, although much of its population were now spectral beings (see Remnants of Nokkville).

Pitch's spire would be transformed into a more beautiful thing, with colourful banners and tapestries hung from it. Additionally, a statue commemorating the Heroes of Nokkville could be erected at the base of the spire.

[^1]: Firen's Void powers were a beneficial albeit uncontrollable side effect given to him through wounds inflicted by a large Voidspawn summoned by Theodore Perry and Founder Phaendar Draft's teleportation experiments.