Charge!³? - Sure enough, here it goes. Read in joy what happens when you charge a steep slope with archers on top of it. But yeah, as hinted later "Tactics" is a skill, and it will give better perception for such situations in the future - should we bother to learn it or run into such situations, that is. Some
very close calls here, but for this diehard charge it turned out well.
Yes, charge, wee should take every opportunity to gain the respect of wolf-riders...
That one did not turn out that well, sadly results and rolls were somewhat against it.
As strange as it may sound, it appears that religion might be the solution of our problems. The elves have great respect for it, and if we manage to assimilate their belief into ours, they might follow us more meekly.
A way to solve the protests here might be to relocate problem makers. Sadly, that means they go on making problems elsewhere. I dunno if we want to get a group of troublemaking elves.
Ideas for a law structure(based on Roman stuff)
I will add the Pantheon of the orcs at some later point, still unclear as to everyones exact spheres, but the elves have an "All-father" as god. Sure worth a try - and very romanesque.
But right now now the gathering comes first - wich means ample time for discussions, because I have nothing against recieving the "orders" that we gave our council after this little arc.
True enough with the troublemakers, but we are having that two-class-system starting right now, and some altered orcish law for the elves. But feel free to discuss it with the others, if it gains enough support we can obviously just change it.
Grasping your axe you isse your plan into a quite simple and easy word.
"Chaaarge!"Your men comply, and soon you have passed Rakver who seems to evaluate the situation. Wich seems to work out for the better, because another small hail of arrows is going for him, but he dodges his mount out of the way easily.
You make it halfway up the slope, until you see something very distressing - they have prepared a log and are about to push it down - luckily by being in the shade of the slope you see it early enough to fall back, giving the same command to your companions. They show themselves to be skilled in taking orders, and do as you ordered immediately - all three of you are able to escape the rolling mayhem. The Grand Raider seemingly has only spread his men out, you guess he wants to keep on evading. Taking a carefull look, you see that your ambushers have another log at the ready, but judging by the way they hold their bows you are quite sure that they are still aiming for the other five.
Charging the slope again, you tell your men that there will be another log coming, but they just gesture to the side. Taking a quick look you see that the hill is slanting towards there, and moments later you are on top of it. You now see the five elves clearly, as they fire yet another missing volley towards the raider. They also see you now, and you have the honour of their full attention. Loosing their arrows before your trio is able to reach them, they fail to hit you but get the other two. One of them falls off, but his wolf just carries on, leading the charge after a breath.
He takes the first elf by surprise, who is somehow able to block with his arm, resulting in a cracking sound. Arriving by the next elf, you cut him deeply with your axe - he won't stand up that soon. The other rider misses his goal, and three of the remaining elves draw the swords at their sides.
Meanwhile the wolf just rips through the arm and the elf is too shocked as to defend the follow-up to his jugular. Turning your mount around you charge at the nearest elf, but he is somehow able to block your strike. The other rider is acosted by a lousy sword-swing wich he just doges by shifting in his saddle, and retalitates with a well-aimed attack thou - one elf less. One of the other elves reaches you, but he is clearly no swordsman, with his strike failing to penetrate your armour.
The lone wolf immediatly lounges at one of the last two elves - the one who blocked your strike previously - but is kept in check by the elf's sword. When your own opponent tries to strike you again he leaves his defenses wipe open, enabling you to just cut through his neck.
Meanwhile having fallen back to growling and biding its time, the wolf has his eyes clearly fixated on the elven sword in front of it - the wielder of it unable or unwilling to get close enough to strike the beast. While he sees your approach, he is unable to react to the other rider and is cut short through his back.
Moments later Rakver and his men arrive, but there is not much left to do for them. The arrow who caused your man to fall off has lodged itself deep in his guts, and he bleeds out minutes after the fight is over. Your other man was only struck in his tigh, but he lost a good amount of blood and will need some very good rest. The Grand Raider meanwhile goes on to interrogate the two surviving elves and after having talked with them beheads them on the spot. Both of your men are fastened to their wolves and you continue the journey in a hurry, fearing that this might not have been all of them.
In the evening Rakver requests your presence, and after a short walk you are a good ways from the camp. The whole matter suits you just fine, as you are somewhat amiss as to why he did not intervene in any way, leaving you to do the fighting. His bewildered facial expression as you mention this cuts you short thou, and soon enough he has explained why.
You were pretty much out of the reach of their arrows when on the street - the elves seemingly got startled when the wolves acted up, and just tried their luck. He goes on that when you started your charge, he thought you to have a plan, like cutting of their retreat by advancing around them - but with you just charging straight at them, he was even forced to stay in the vicinity longer as it seemed clear to him that he was their true target. He concludes that - while one may never know how fate turns out - there would have been ample ways to get those five wich would not have included such odds, and that your man could still be alive. From someone of your appearant wit he would really have expected better.
Two days later you arrive at the capitol of Is'vell, where you put one of your men up with a healer, and the other with a shaman to be cremated. You also notice that the streets here hold a good amount of orcs, not surprising as the homelands are only three days away.
After the initial talk, the Grand Raider suggest heavily that you should learn some group tactics, as to prevent such plans of yours in the future. You have enough time to ponder the matter on the way to the gathering, and dont fail to see his point. You set up your tent next to Rakver, as he is still very amiable company and are now able to set any plans pertaining to here in motion. You also took 20 silver with you, but spent 5 of it on cremating and care for the respective two of your men.
It is two days before The Council will gather, but the matches would start tomorrow. What are your plans?