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[Talvara]

before we consider fighting we should see if we have enough support to starve the count out. From what I can tell we've got the numbers and Owen has the defensive position.

a bit of hunger might make him more willing to renounce his claim.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

We should ask Sir Lope what the horn means for the guards. Are they supposed to gather somewhere for orders? Like the barracks, perhaps? Make sure Arthur and Lope are there to take command of any guards who respond to the alarm.

Hold defensive positions. Hopefully Owen doesn't fully realize what is happening and will come out to meet us.

[Origami_Psycho]

We should ask Sir Lope what the horn means for the guards. Are they supposed to gather somewhere for orders? Like the barracks, perhaps? Make sure Arthur and Lope are there to take command of any guards who respond to the alarm.

Hold defensive positions. Hopefully Owen doesn't fully realize what is happening and will come out to meet us.

+1

[Gervassen]

It's very optimistic to think that a big keep doesn't have a store of provisions set aside. Ours does, and it's not fully built. It takes a month to starve people who have no food at all, and the current situation does not support even this best case scenario. This is in the center of a capital town with business to do. And in a delicate and unknown political situation. If Owen gets outside supporters to lay siege to the town, while we lay siege to the keep, won't we be properly chagrined? Meanwhile we have our own lands in want of our attention, a spring fair ruined, trade disrupted...

A protracted siege is not an option. I detest that scenario with every fiber of my soul.

--

I support Urist's suggestion, but at some point of not working, the true situation becomes exposed, so then we continue with the parley and preparations. I don't see any conflict in the two plans, since Owen will eventually know our strength.

[Elfeater]

Be aggressive.

[Gervassen]

Be aggressive.

Be-Ee aggressive.

[Maldevious]

Troubled, you ask Sir Lope what the horn means. He gruffly replies, "Seems as if the Keep is raising an alarm. The guards we just talked to won't move a muscle, but any loyalists will certainly rally to the keep."

Acting quickly, you tell Sir Lope to position himself and his top lieutenants on the approaches to the keep, and to take command of any troops that come that way. You wait with some men another street or two down, ready to kill anyone who resists.

Amazingly, Lope and his commanders are able to interdict every single man heading to the keep, and to group them up and send them off on a "patrol." Obviously, these men of Owen will not join your cause, but he tells you afterwards that he just sent them on a route that will take them out of the city for at least 48 hours, if not 72. Given the situation, this is about as good an outcome as you could hope for.

You decide that you must yield to the necessity of sleep, and bed down for the night in the barracks of the town guards after you have made sure that all of your men are in town, either in the gatehouse or with you. Surprisingly, you are able to fall asleep almost immediately, and awaken refreshed at dawn, as you had planned.

First, you order the siege engineers to begin constructing some crude mantlets, as well as a mobile shelter for a battering ram. The men begin to get to work, but the leader comes up to you abashedly and admits that in their haste to leave, they left many of their tools and nails behind. They will try to do their best, but you realize that you will have very little protective siege equipment moving forward. You tell them to scour the town for equipment, but that will take precious time.

Undaunted, you tell some men to head to the bell tower and start ringing the bells, while you travel with Lope, Arthur, and some of your Rangers to the mayor's house. The man reluctantly agrees to carry your terms to Owen, and you advance to the square outside the Keep. He carries your terms to the keep, under a white flag. This all goes horribly south for him when an archer on the battlement looses a quill, striking the mayor in the shoulder and sending him sprawling.

Reacting quickly, you rush out with Luther, shielding yourself from what is now a rather steady stream of arrows. You manage to reach the man, grab him gruffly, and pull him back to the cover of the edge of the square. You send the mayor back to be treated, but you smile on the inside. Lope shares your enthusiasm. "Well, at least we have a damned good reason to kill the fool now."

How shall you proceed?

[kahn1234]

In a settlement the size of Folesden, there has to be a number of blacksmiths, armourers, carpenters, engineers etc.

See if we can get their help on the construction of siege weapons, mantlets and rams.

[tryrar]

Welp, for all his talk of nobility, it seems he's a dirty coward at heart. Not even hearing out the terms for what we want? Shooting a guy with a white flag? As was mentioned, he's a complete idiot.


As for proceeding, it looks like he won't be surrendering(since shooting a guy under a flag of truce isn't the most...healthy thing to do if you want to still be breathing if you lose), so we're gonna have to do this the hard way. Ask if there happens to be any secret tunnels into or out of the keep(like a bolthole or something). If not, battering rams it is

[Gervassen]

In a settlement the size of Folesden, there has to be a number of blacksmiths, armourers, carpenters, engineers etc.

See if we can get their help on the construction of siege weapons, mantlets and rams.

+1

It's not a matter of seeing if, though. We're a goddamned army. We do not stand on ceremony, niceties of law, or respect of private property when our men's lives are at stake. No. This answer is unacceptable!

Go to the town square, bells still ringing, explain the situation to the people in a favourable light. Show Arthur and have him accuse Owen of murdering his father, mention the wounding of the mayor under a flag of truce. By the end, they should be demanding to build us mantlets and cats, and if they aren't, make them do so anyway. We needn't take time to "scour" for jackshit, because we know where the town carpenters ply their trade, probably a lane with their name on it, and we have zero chance of not getting what we need quickly.

We will not approach a keep under bowfire without protection. Men will not die because we are scrupling to haggle with a carpenter's apprentice for his worn-out spare hammer. We will commandeer what we need, as needed.

[Gervassen]

As for these Owenists who were in the city, I'm not too concerned about this "time limit" because they can be ambushed on their return. Upon seeing a returning group, put archers in the gatehouse that they're approaching and in the nearby houses with second-floor vantage points on the gatehouse, a line of archers down the street on one side of the gatehouse with halberdiers guarding them. Open the gate and let the returning Owenists in, rake them with arrows from three sides, Uriel's heavy cavalry rushes in to mop up.

Let's send for more men from the levies in Feroshire and Silverhill. I'm interested in getting a group of miners sent our way. Finn can head back to Feroshire on a small boat and carry 120 more militia in our own longboats. My main interest is in levy archers to pin down the keep defence as we batter at its gates. I'd rather skip the hot oil bath. Don't forget the miners. We can make secret tunnels, if they don't already exist.

Not a minute passes when our siege engineers and the town's own carpenters aren't working on mantlets for archers, because we will suppress the battlements with overwhelming volume of fire.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

Accusing Owen of the old Count's murder might not be the best method of getting the town on our side. Remember, he was an incompetent jerk. His people are probably glad to be rid of him.

[10ebbor10]

Accusing Owen of the old Count's murder might not be the best method of getting the town on our side. Remember, he was an incompetent jerk. His people are probably glad to be rid of him.

The new Count appears to be quite arrogant, and just as much as a jerk. Besides, one does not speak badly about the death. Now that the Count is death, his reign will automatically be seen in a better light.

[GreatWyrmGold]

before we consider fighting we should see if we have enough support to starve the count out. From what I can tell we've got the numbers and Owen has the defensive position.

a bit of hunger might make him more willing to renounce his claim.

I'd prefer not to, for image reasons among others, but we could if we really had to...

Welp, for all his talk of nobility, it seems he's a dirty coward at heart. Not even hearing out the terms for what we want? Shooting a guy with a white flag? As was mentioned, he's a complete idiot.

Un/Fortunately.

We will not approach a keep under bowfire without protection. Men will not die because we are scrupling to haggle with a carpenter's apprentice for his worn-out spare hammer. We will commandeer what we need, as if needed.

FTFY
I'd prefer not to outright steal, if we can avoid it. If we can't, go ahead, but I'd rather be seen as a reasonable authority figure, not some cruel conquering warlord.

As for these Owenists who were in the city, I'm not too concerned about this "time limit" because they can be ambushed on their return. Upon seeing a returning group, put archers in the gatehouse that they're approaching and in the nearby houses with second-floor vantage points on the gatehouse, a line of archers down the street on one side of the gatehouse with halberdiers guarding them. Open the gate and let the returning Owenists in, rake them with arrows from three sides, Uriel's heavy cavalry rushes in to mop up.

Um...this plan assumes that all those guards who followed Owen's orders before hearing about us will definitely be a hostile threat. Will some? Probably. All? Almost certainly no. I don't want to shoot before we find out their intent. Station the archers, bring the guards, but don't shoot first.

Not a minute passes when our siege engineers and the town's own carpenters aren't working on mantlets for archers, because we will suppress the battlements with overwhelming volume of fire.

Well, except when they need to eat/sleep/drink/rest, of course. Even focusing on the practical, the quality will suck.

Accusing Owen of the old Count's murder might not be the best method of getting the town on our side. Remember, he was an incompetent jerk. His people are probably glad to be rid of him.

Owen's better? He's difinitely disliked, and besides...murder is murder.

[Truean]

If we take things from people, just mark down who they are and make sure they are repaid later. Consider it the cost of acquiring an entire county and not getting bad will from the people in it.

I'd say play up the fact that the current acting count is a nutjob: shooting his own mayor with a white flag under a hail of arrows. Really hail of arrows for one guy with a white flag. What does he have like, stacks and stacks of arrows to spare? Overkill much? Also tiny injustice....

Accusing Owen of the old Count's murder might not be the best method of getting the town on our side. Remember, he was an incompetent jerk. His people are probably glad to be rid of him.

Owen's better? He's difinitely disliked, and besides...murder is murder.
[/quote]

Not "murder to  make things better," (if that's a thing), but murder to seize power and boot out the rightful heir. Greedy, power grabbing. Bad.

Also no need to outright kill the guards as they come back from patrol. That just seems harsh and unneeded. Hell, we can be smart about it while protecting ourselves. Tell them we have proof that Owen murdered the last count and that he tried to take the throne away from the rightful heir. There's nothing saying we can't be in a tactically advantageous position while we do this.... Also letting them know Owen shot the mayor for no real reason could turn a few of them to our side. We do have a mayor who's been shot and an heir that's been screwed over, plus a dead count. Also we have the marshal or the captain of the guards or whoever vouching for us..... That has to at least amount to something no matter how loyal they may be, they aren't so zealot that they'd ignore all that blatant evidence.

I mean really, we've got like 3 lords, their own boss (the marshal/captain of the guards guy), the wounded mayor, and the rightful heir saying this guy killed the count.... Unless they are totally, completely and utterly froth raving mad loyal to this guy, they can't just completely ignore that.