Shortly After the Battle
Anyone who happened to wander through the battlefield would observe the "ecosystem" of war. Elbrethian soldiers proudly march through the field, dragging out their wounded for treatment and capturing the last, hiding remnants of the Prestoner army. The wives of Elbrethian soldiers hurriedly search through the bodies that litter the field, hoping desperately that they don't find what they search for. Some widows hold their dead husbands in their arms, weeping, while others, seething with rage, quietly prowl the battlefield. Prestoners desperately crawl into craters as the widows walk by, murdering the wounded, helpless Prestoners they come by in a desperate search for revenge.
And, of course, there were the looters. Some are locals, lured in by the promise of fancy officers swords and expensive jewelry, while others were conquering soldiers. Some slit throats to get into coin purses, others merely stole from the dead. This one in particular was a Elbrethian militiaman, named John Webley. A simple man, Webley was drawn to the promise of coin and treasure. He had spotted the ill-fated cavalry charge, early in the battle, and figured he could get good coin for fancy, Prestoner cavalry sabers.
The site of the failed charge was almost completely silent. The only sounds Webley could hear were a handful of moans from the wounded, far away at the main battle site, and a handful of short, cut-off screams as a vengeful widow found a victim. The musketman slowly walked through the carnage, counting the tangled, bled-dry bodies of horse and man, before eventually spotting a glint on the ground, near a dead cavalier. He stooped down, picking up the sword, and holding it up to the light. It was a simple steel saber, carefully cared for and sharpened. The soldier smiled, and stuffed the sword into his belt. Suddenly, he heard a groan of pain to his right.
Webley turned to the right, looking for the source of the sound, and found nothing. Another groan led him right to the large cannonball crater, directly in front of him, and the militiaman slowly began to walk towards the sound. The crack of a flintlock from the crater stops him, and cuts off the moans of the dying horse. He barely avoids dropping to the ground at the sound of the gunshot, and instead steadies himself, before walking to the edge of the crater.
The first thing he notices, when he reaches the lip of the crater, is a flintlock pistol, pointed directly at his chest. He puts his hands into the air to show the man he's unarmed, and slowly steps towards him. The man in the crater, a clearly wounded Prestoner in full plate armor, slowly looks down from the militiaman's face, and spots the saber on his belt. Webley's eyes soon follow. The last thing the poor, stupid Elbrethian ever saw was an inscription, reading, "Sergeant Oakes, Hathcock's Cavalry."
The first crack of a flintlock, out on the battlefield, would probably catch the attention of anyone who happened to be nearby. A few of the guards on the outskirts of the slums, those with particularly good hearing, would look out into the empty field, towards the shot. Anybody who watched the events unfold would see a soldier, wearing an Elbrethian uniform, approach a crater out in the battlefield. Suddenly, the Elbrethian would raise his hands into the air, staring down into the crater for a few moments, before another crack would fill the battlefield. The soldier would fall to the ground, clearly dead from a gunshot. The question, of course, is who shot him?
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Topic: You Are King! - The Steam Age - Chapter I: Liberty [Game Thread] (Read 20351 times)