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The Bereny Bugle
‘Blowing our horn for the People of Bereny’

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BERENY BUGLE ON-THE-SPOT EXCLUSIVE!

BERENY VICTORIOUS AT

WHITE TOWER ISLAND

By John Pilger, Underworld correspondent

Dateline: 19-1-519

This report is brought to you from the very heart of the Battle of White Tower Island, as the long-anticipated assault on Bereny’s outpost in the Underworld reaches its terrifying climax. And the news is that Bereny’s forces have won a resounding victory, with the forces of the evil powers who have until now dominated this subterranean realm decisively defeated.

The Bugle has previously reported how Bereny’s forces have been lured away from the island in order to go to the aid of the overrun Dwarven kingdom of Caldor. Even as the expeditionary force marched back to their base, the enemy were massing their forces to attack. And this enemy is now revealed to be the Dark Dwarves - the evil and corrupted cousins of Bereny’s traditional friends and allies.

An estimated 3000 Dark Dwarf infantry launched their attack towards the southernmost of the bridges linking the island with the mainland. But for the dwarven Governor of White Tower Island, Baron Tycho M’Grue, this was a grudge match. Rather than be trapped behind his defences, he sent his forces forward to do battle. These are a mixture of adventurers from the surface world and levies raised from the local human tribes who have allied themselves to Bereny. The two armies met and clashed on the moss fields before the island, and gradually the superior prowess of the defenders began to tell. Then, as the attackers began to falter, they were themselves attacked in the rear by the forces returning from Caldor, who arrived on the battlefield at just the decisive moment. The Dark Dwarves broke and scattered, taking heavy casualties. Berenian casualties were minimal, though among them was Pierre le Womba of the Walkers, who became separated from his comrades in one of the evacuated native villages and was ambushed by the enemy.

When the main assault of the Dark Dwarves came though, it came not by land but by sea. In an apparent attempt to bypass the island’s landward defences, the Dark Dwarves dispatched their main force towards the island in great steel-plated armoured landing boats, within each of whose deep armour-plated hulls a host of Dark Dwarf warriors waited to spill forth. A dozen of the cumbersome vessels were sighted approached the island from the north.

However the enemy commander seems to have grossly underestimated the strength of the defences the White Tower has laboured to establish over the past two years. At Governor M’Grue’s command a barrage of fire arrows, fiery projectiles and bolts of magical energy rained upon the approaching fleet, and the sullen dark waters of the Underworld Sea were transformed into a scene from Hell itself. No-one knows how many Dark Dwarven warriors drowned, trapped within the steel hulls, as one after another their landing craft burned or foundered. Only two survived long enough to reach shore, and the troops that managed to disembark were quickly cut down. The last lander turned and withdrew, with a ship flying the flag of the White Tower in desultory pursuit.

“It seems fair to suggest that the assault of the Dark Dwarves has been comprehensively defeated”, a grimly satisfied Governor M’Grue told me. “I would like to thank all the valiant adventurers who contributed to this resounding victory for the Kingdom of Bereny. We must mourn the few deaths that we suffered in the conflict, but count ourselves fortunate that our discipline and skills mean these losses were so light. I would hope that this demonstration of martial prowess and commitment to the defence of the settlement is duly noted by the powers and forces of the Underworld and that they think long and hard before mounting another such expedition against us.”

“We will be considering the next courses of action over the coming days but it is a likely outcome that forces of the White Tower will begin one or more actions against potential threats local to the settlement aiming to take control of fortifications on the mainland. The Tower will also maintain a defensive capability within and around the settlement for the foreseeable future.”

What everyone here is asking though is whether this is the end of the war, or just the beginning. The diversionary force that distracted Bereny’s forces at Caldor was dominated by the Psaurians. This assault has been by the Dark Dwarves. But were the Psaurians working for the Dark Dwarves, or are they both the servants of some greater power? Despite the efforts of the White Tower, vast expanses of the Underworld remain unexplored and unknown, save that it is known to be the ultimate home of some of the most evil and awful of all monstrous races.