The Battle of Emridy Meadows

I am a little late to post about the ToEE video game having the battle as the intro to the game as RBloom has it covered. Might have to install ToEE again and see what mods are out there.

Von Bek

The ToEE computer game depicts much of what I mention above: A leaderless horde outnumbering the forces of good, kinda static. Temple leadership arriving late to the battlefield. Battle going badly for good guys. [Circle of Eight showing up on a hilltop, blasting the forces of evil, turning the battle.] (This part in brackets because I’ve not seen that bit substantiated in print anywhere.) Prince Thrommel leading the charge and breaking the horde. Fades to scene of Circle of Eight at the Temple, casting the magic seals upon the main door. In game, Emridy Meadows can be visited/explored. It is entirely grasslands with a handful of rocky outcroppings.

I, like John, totally agree with the placement of the battle. I like your take on the moathouse as a staging area. My favorite part of this, however, is your absolutely brilliant idea of why the battle was lost and the subsequent shunning of the lawful evil humanoids by the survivors. It makes perfect sense that the orcish units ignored orders and went after the demi-humans of the opposing forces. It also stands to reason that the survivors saw this as the reason they lost. Well done! I am definitely looking forward to a blog post on this. I would only add that the troop numbers may be a bit lower than you figure with regard to the righteous host. I doubt that the powers of good would leave their lands undefended even to attack the evil fortress. Certainly the demi-humans would not. I would put the numbers more around 5-6 thousand for the host meaning 15-18 thousand for the horde. Just my two cents.

Earl Rumburg

I really like your investigative pieces. I absolutely agree with where the battle took place, although I have never considered the horde originating from the moathouse, which feels rather too marshy for a staging area. My take is that the righteous host left Verbobonc and headed south east in the direction of the temple, possibly following an ideal route which would then turn northeast towards Nulb. I suspected that the first battle occurred as a clash between the outlying forces at which point the righteous host get a measure of the size of the horde and appreciate that they cannot engage them there without risking being overwhelmed, and decide to draw them north to the Velerdyva where the terrain presents greater defensive opportunities. I also suspect that the elves were positioned at several points in the Gnarley forest to prevent any escape there, so as to completely surround the horde when the pivot is sprung. In my mind, Emridy Fields forms the second battle referred to - just my take