Spring 154Something tailed the scoutsAfter the end of their winter scouting operation, Ipan and Om decided to rest off the winter.They would assist in the training of new recruits and do a bit of civilian work. Not that there was no more scouting to be done, but they preferred to wait until the temperatures would make the travels not that dangerous. They surely avoided packs of hungry wolves this time, but the snowfalls did not make their trips particularly enjoyable.
However, if they found nothing of value in their trip to Vucartogum, something definitely had found them, and had followed them back in the bridgetown.
From the point of view of the city, it may be hard to fathom that all the urban dvelopment and the successive migration waves have been mostly unheard of in the rest of the region – let it be a lesson in humility for us. Mong Kima is a small kingdom, way inferior in scale to most of its neighbours. If the bridgetown is used as a mean of cutting travel times by the merchants of multiple local kingdoms, this route remains unknown to the major actors of the region – the kingdoms of Kodsakzul, Egapesor and most importantly, Osmestobûb.
Amusing to see that the move that ended up putting the bridgetown on maps was not their fast urban development, their technological advances or their conquest of Edetledir – but instead their fruitless expedition to Vucartogum.
Regardless, the 4th of March, an unknown Osmite retinue presented itself to the city's surroundings.
Kimaeslo Ori was caught with its pants down – most of its profesional military has been working civilian jobs, leaving only fresh recruit fielding the barracks. The alarm bell rang as soon as the retinue was in sight and the population was ordered to stay inside at all cost.
Sending the recruits was out of the question – the priority was, firstly, to put the civilians in security, and secondly, to gather the elite soldiers and strike at the invaders. Totten's maces, Uzu's swords, Histamine's crossbows and the two spearmasters – Om and Ipan, started to gather in the barracks. When they have enough bodies, they would cross the bridge together and meet the goblins in the western side of the city.
« Remain calm – there's no need to panic » yelled Totten, reinstating discipline in the anthill looking mess that her barrack had become. Even tho, it was less panic than enthousiasm – morale was indeed very high.
Birod took his conscripts out of the barracks and positionned them in the market center – so they could be out of the way. Histamine's crossbows were the first to be in order of march and started to move on the bridge, waiting for the infantry to finish its preparation.
A wake-up callBut suddently, the eyes of Histamine widened : there was a lone swordsman on the other side of the bridge. Vagrants, both pearlites and elven, were slowly going out of the way, as the swordsman and the retinue grew close to each other.
« It's Dag ! » one of the crossbowmen exclaimed. « What the hell is she doing ? »
All available troops – mostly crossbows and a couple of infantry – started to cross the bridge in advance to render assistance to the stranded warrior. On the ground however, Dag did not wait for them and engaged the retinue alone.
She was alone, but she was still a master-at arms in full armor, armed with a dwarven iron blade. When a first goblin armed with a long silver pike tried to engage her, it was a one-sided fight.
Dag quickly crossed the distance, moving hebind her opponent's edge – her sword went under the spear shaft, striking the goblin on the foot, then on the leg. His copper mail offered little protection against the dwarven iron edge, and the second hit threw him on the ground. Before his allies could even intervene, Dag was atop of him raining a flurry of blows, each lopping a limb or sectionning an artery.
A recruit tried to stop her, but received for his account a couple of hits which, as he was not wearing any metal armor, went right through his body. She continued to trash both of them under the terrified but mesmerized gaze of the vagrants.
Dag Fensastkiwan, Swordmaster: So easily broken... This does not scare me.
Sanera Alisaen‚, Elf Merchant: Can it all end so quickly? This does not scare me.
The goblin recruit misses the Swordmaster!
˜al—mi Pilioci, Elf Merchant: Those injuries... This does not scare me.
Thakom Gukiabe, Merchant: Our time in The Enchanted Dimensions is so brief... This does not scare me.
Osta Zonngokang, Goblin Bowman: Death is all around us. This is truly horrifying.
The Swordmaster stabs the goblin recruit in the neck with her ðsteel long swordð and the injured part is cloven asunder!
An artery has been opened by the attack!
A tendon in the upper spine has been torn!
A couple arrows flew in her direction – she dodged them lestly.
Without needing to gather her breath, she went from soldier to soldier, starting with the hallebardier – she decapitated in one blow. A swordsman managed to land a hit on her leg, but the blow only bruised her slightly under her padded bronze greave – she slew him without difficulty.
The goblin swordsman slashes the Swordmaster in the right lower leg with his ({silver scimitar}), bruising the muscle through the xðrope reed trousersðx!
The Swordmaster pulls on the embedded ðsteel long swordð.
The Swordmaster gains possession of the ðsteel long swordð.
The Swordmaster stabs the goblin swordsman in the right upper leg with her ðsteel long swordð, fracturing the bone through the X({small troll fur cloak})X!
An artery has been opened by the attack and a tendon has been torn!
The ðsteel long swordð has lodged firmly in the wound!
The force bends the right hip, tearing apart the muscle and bruising the bone and tearing apart the muscle and bruising the bone!
A ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The goblin swordsman falls over.
The goblin swordsman gives in to pain.
The Swordmaster slashes the goblin swordsman in the head with her ðsteel long swordð and the severed part sails off in an arc!
She then ran after the two bowmen. Again – they did not oppose any more resistance.
What appeared at first to be a successful ambush had been totally turned on its head. It was a one-sided fight still, but in favor of the swordswoman. In total, she had slain nine soldiers. The last one – disarmed and wearing civilian dresses – an officer probably, begged for her life.
The army finished crossing the bridge.
« It's done ! » exclaimed Dag Fenstastkiwan to he crossbowmen, first arrived – they were more exhausted than she was. « I made a prisonner, if you want to shackle her ».
The captured goblin was standing there, in the gore of her unit mates. The crossbowmen put her in irons and dragged her in an improvized dungeon, deep into the mines.
The alert was lifted and the citizenry drank to Dag's amazing feat of arms. However, in private, Uzu gave her a stern talking to. This time, he said, this is fine. It was just a small retinue. But when Osme comes with an actual army, with trolls and cavalry – and they would- strategy would be a matter of life and death.
We can't afford glory hounds in the bridgetown's army - not after what happend to the Aconilun seven years ago.
Nobody died this time, but the town could not rely on the individual skills and equipment of their soldiers to compensate their lack of discipline and coordination. Large barracks would have to be built on the bridge, so the army could leave the hill-hole that they were using at the moment, and be located at the center of the town to intervene quicker.
A word on the wood marketNext month – the 21 of April, the merchants from Iferifiyopi arrived. Thankfully, they were on they way back from the eastern sub-cintinent and would not have to witness the goblin corpses in the forest, which still had to be undressed and disposed of. They entered by the eastern gates, leading their wooly yaks straight to the marketplace.
This year, they came with a lot of wood – a good deal for the kingdoms of Iferifiyopi and Mong Kima alike. The elves could end up with valuable craft goods and achieve their goal of limiting the exploitation of pearlite forests, while the humans would be able to operate and expend most of their advanced workshops.
Among the other goods the elf did bring, they also dragged two small black bears – they were male, but were bought nonetheless. It was only later that the animal handlers signaled they could not be trained for war, as they were too shy and risk-adverse.
Oh well. If a female could be found, maybe they can fuel the leather and meat industries at terms, or otherwise have their cubs sold as pets.
Returning charactersAs the market was going strong, another group entered the city. With the general mess brought upon by the elven merchants, that second group composed mostly of pearlites from Thomocemir.
Because the town was so busy with the market during the day, the group wandered around town before finding their way to the tavern.
Their leader was a young man with pale red hair – a small nobleman from Thomocemir. His name was Kiseabo, fourth child of the legendary surgeon Zothoabo.
Kiseabo' was born in Thomocemir in 134, twenty years agoThe little group gathered around their leader to decide what to do next. The group was constituted mostly of volonteer fighters, grouped around a core of career soldiers – some of them having earned the title of Knight under Imic, back in Thomocemir.
They were weary after walking from dawn to noon, and decided to rest their feet and drink. No need to rush any kind of application – they thought – especially since most of the military was mobilized to arrange the market.
It was only a couple hours later that the swornmen noticed their presence and went to greet them.
« We're volonteers ! » Kiseabo proudly announced. « We heard you've been attacked by Osme, and we want to enlist and get back at them ! »
Osmestobûb has been the rival of Thomocemir since the border fort was founded. Kiseabo, born during the war and having not known a world without Osmite threat, has seen the city of Kimaeslo Ori fall once, and some of his friends fall with it. He was aware that the city was arming up to bring an end to the war – and he motivated his companions to lend their assistance.
They were introduced to the commander and to the captains – they were happy to see that the knight Birod, one of their own - was already promoted as a captain and the doctrines of war were not substantially different from what they were accustomed to back in the border fort.
When he came to the realization that Uzu was, indeed, the lady's swoncaptain, Kiseabo, who heard about the man's story, exclaimed :
« Oh, Uzu, there is someone you need to see ! » he said. « A mutual friend is travelling with us, and I think you'd want glad to see him »
The man was in the temple at the moment. Feeling a bit pressed, Uzu caved-in and accompanied by one of his underlings.
« Captain ? » Uzu let out – an old habit. But the man was indeed the one he used to call « captain. ». It was Islas, his first companion when he was but a squire.
Time has pass« Well, you are the captain now, if I understand correctly » the aging Islas responded. « I came to volonteer to Kimaeslo Ori's army after the attack, but if I did knew you were the sworncaptain, I would have come earlier »
The two men walked on the busy streets. They had a lot of catching up to do. Uzu gave his old mentor a summary of the bridgetown's situation, and Islas quickly summed up the life he has been living since they parted ways.
« When we parted ways » Uzu started, a bit excited. « I joined the militia of the village of Lemhuqihu under the orders of Lord Ulet. Lemhuqihu was peaceful, but the lord would only teach me so much. I joined Kimaeslo Ori as soon as a position opened three years ago – now I feel I'm going somewhere »
Islas nodded. His life had been similarly uneventful – and he somehow missed his time as a vagabond.
« I worked under knight-captain Imic for a while » he said. « But the war in Thomocemir was very stale. Osme attacked us, once or twice, but most of the fighting was done against the dwarves of Desor-Uzol »
He marked a pause, to think about those events, then resumed :
« I don't like the war against Desor-Uzol and I don't like killing dwarves. » he said. « I know we have to defend ourselves, but this war does not interest me as much as fighting the empire or Osme. I heard you were fending off Osmite patrols – so here I am. »
The sworncaptain nodded happily. The number of new volonteers was about to double the size of the military – and new instructors would be needed. Altho Islas was nowhere near the skill level of Thomocemir's knights, his reputation of heroism and of protector of the weak made him a likely candidate to the opening captains post.
Last month – he responded – one of his swornmen defeated a whole patrol by her lonesome – the patrol was wiped out, at the exception of one single low-ranking officer.
« We'll make her talk » the sworncaptain affirmed. « We'll learn where they come from, and what they want – and if we can, we will retaliate. Captain Islas Candoalu Okosenre Mithrup, would you assist us ? »
A smile sliced the face of the old adventurer. Of course, he answered. That's why he was here.
What we learnt
Deep in the underground dungeon, we interrogated the prisonner. It wasn't very dificult, as she was pretty locatious. Not an officer profile – to be sure. If anything, she was a civilian servent and was dragged into the retinue by her master.
Her name was Amxu, she was a silk spinner by trade. She was married and had a child at home. Her master's name, a surgeon by the name of Nako, organized the raid from their hometown of Ngomgob – a goblin trench dug in the north of the salt lake by the name of Sea of Singing. In his retinue were two civilians, herself and his own son – another goblin by the name of Amxu – and the rest were career soldiers of the pit.
Quite a long way to walk just to be butchered(The map may not be completely accurate, especially in the north were a lot of things happened in ten years)
The pit itself was moderately well defended, with a population around a hundred goblins and about thirty trolls, with a small beak-dog stable at their disposal.
However their pit being very tied to the trench network Osme was digging from their capitale city, attacking it would without a dobt spring the whole empire into a frenzy. Before offensive actions could be performed, a lot of preparation would be necessary – destroying the pits was not the objective, at least it was not a goal a pearlite general could be satisfied with.
Conquering it and suppressing the goblins permantly was the ultimate goal. Only then lasting peace could be achieved.
Ill also edit in some bonus doodle tomorrow, I really wanted to post today.
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 254088 times)