Winter 155
Arranged marriageThe season oppened rather happily, with the marriage between Kaos and a woman of his age by the name of Samas Opciro. She was a small fish cleaner, born in 126, likely in a seaside village. She was a mysterious young lady with no relative, and with a set of skill that was not given a chance to blossom in Kimaeslo Ori.
She has been complaining about the lack of dating prospects lately – and has she was in good terms with Kaos, Lady Desli thought about her as a good opportunity to arrange a good marriage.
Kaos was a good party : he had his own house wiith workshop in the old town, and being a redsmith, he was a member of the most respected profession in the city.
As neither had any present parent to take the decision for the wedding, Kaos and Samas were asked directly in a dedicated meeting in the water palace. They accepted promptly and after that, they had become husband and wife.
There was a modest party, and the town took those happenings for a good omen for the season.
Could they have been more wrong.
Osta, son of SmunstuOsta was a goblin of intermediate class, born in 104 in Xestbax, small pit in northern Osme. His father was a bard and a writer, author of a recognized essay on Sestobub, the imperial capitale city, and his mother was a woman of unremarkable stature.
Like his father before him, he had a taste for good words and songs and wished he could acquire fame and wealth by travelling the world, spreading imperial culture.
Osmite politics, however, would call him to higher functions – after the death of his father, in a failed assault on Thomocemir in 138, Osta sworn to take his revenge against Mong Kima. Using his oratory skills to great effect, he gathered a following in the village of Usubuurar, deep into Osme territory. He spent a fortune in equipment, armors, spears maces and swords, mounts and troll rams – at the end of the year 155, he had effectively become a warlord, and would unleash his power against Kimaeslo Ori.
Frontal clashMusic
The army of two hundred and so souls arrived at Kimaeslo Ori the 4th of December. It was composed mostly of goblin infantry, a couple trolls, and a small stable of beakdogs, some of which were mounted.
As Kimaeslo Ori was now used to resist to Osmite attacks, the war bell rangs immediatly and the population took refuge in their houses, with haste but without panic.
The army had been moved on the bridge barrack and would be deployed much, much faster than in its previous underground post.
They crossed the bridge and gathered between the old copper-roofed houses – it took them a little time to gather enough men to initiate a charge. When the sun started to set however, they were ready.
A strong rain coupled with the dimming evening light and the density of the northern forest made assessing the enemy troops a bit hard – but Totten and her captains were confident that, considering their level of skill and equipment, they could defeat an Osmite army of any size.
Besides, they had no other alternative at this point. Kimaeslo Ori did not have the ability to turtle up, making the amry the first and the last line of defense.
Islas, quickly followed by a couple of his volonteers, crashed into the dense osmite formation, shattering it immediately. The swordmaster first faced an unmounted beakdog – with a trust of his large bronze sword, he threw the animal on the ground – another thrust was met with the characteristic wheezing sound of a perforated lung – the captain knew his enemy would die on his own and turned his attention to the next. Less than a second later, his sword would lop off the arm of a crossbowman, and quickly dance toward another maceman coming in reinforcement, which he slew in two moves.
Islas Candoalu Okosenre Mithrup, the wild sword saint, did not usurp his heroic title – and he would dispatch the enemy quicker than they could cross the distance toward him.
The rain grew in intensity – soon, the rest of the army, led by commander Totten, charged toward the breaking Osmite formation.
Pearlite soldiers would walk in very tight formations, trapping small clusters of enemies in small cauldrons, then methodically eliminating them. In comparison, Osmite formations were loose and ineffective, their men were now walking backward, trying without success to avoid contact.
Osme's initial attack was crushed and pushed outside Kimeaslo Ori's bordersand before the night was through.
It was however not the end of the battle just yet.
Mounted skirmishersThe second day of battle was the theater of Osmite cavalry flank – a group of monted beakdogs appeared from the woods and barelled toward pearlite soldiers, whose strengh was waning due to the prolonged effort, gear weight and weather conditions.
Monal, a swordswoman, was slain by a beakdog – her companion rushed her attackers and advenged her immediately. But from this point on, the pressure had changed side.
Iwo, a swordsman of great strengh, jumped over the corpse of Monal and engaged the mounted soldier – he sank his pearl iron blade into the beackdog's skull – his rushing comrades quickly surrounded the cavalier and dismembered him also.
In the early phase of the battle, pearlites could progress unimpeded through a compact enemy formation – but now that Osmite were scattered everywhere, they had effectively surrounded them.
Totten had no choice but to order her men to form a square – they would have to endure Osmite attacks until they run out of steam – lost in the forest and surrounded by enemies on all sides, she could neither attack nor retreat.
The battle continued for hours. The rain, the mud, the tiredness. The army was losing its strengh, as it was harassed by wave upon waves of reserve troops.
« Where's my brother ? » cried Are. She was lightly wounded and was crawling in the dirt. She could not feel pain, but she also couldn't get up. « Where is Uzu ? »
Uzu was nowhere to be found.
As she was desperately looking for help, stranded and thrown on the ground, a large troll noticed she was an easy prey and rushed toward her.
The timely intervention of Sothro among other soldiers likely saved her life. Soon, the troll's hemocyanin melted into the red blood of its goblin masters.
As for Uzu, he has been shaking in his boot for the whole fight so far, paralized by fear at the gathering point. Two of his men were guarding himl, halfway trying to reason with him so he would join the fight, halfway glad they could save their own skin by remaining at his side.
Only when he heard his sister in danger did he decide to join the fight. Fresh troops was what Totten needed the most at this point – the charge of three swordmasters into a loose skirmishing formation encountered little resistance.
Victory came some time after that. The end of the battle arrived quietly – Osmite reinforcements gradually stopped pouring in, then before they would notice it, the goblin army had completely disapeared and the day was finally won.
That victory did not have the same feeling as the previous ones, when it was achieved by violently breaking the Osmite army's kidneys in a glorious charge. This one was messy, clutchy, and the army suffered a loss and a couple wounds of various gravity.
The arrestThe army had a couple wounded, and new beds had to be installed in Ralin's little clinic to allow everyone to rest and be tended to. Wounds were not permanent. Some torn muscles, some broken bones, some fractures. All very painful, nothing debilitating. With the experience they earned by tending to Kiseabo for a whole year, Ralin and her assistants were confident they could heal everyone.
Nonetheless, Monal had to be replaced, and her sacrifice had to be comemorated – an engraved stone was commissioned – her body was burried in the field and a small memorial was installed deep in the mines.
As for her replacement, a man by the name of Dopod wasintroduced in the army.
Dopod arrived to his first drill in high spirit, and he was paired with Iwo to be taught the basics of combat.But as the newblood tried to hold his own against his senior during their first spar, Iwo lost all measure and turned violent, immediately stopped pulling his hits and striking his junior with actual blows.
Before the officers could understand what just happened, Dopod was left bloody on the ground, mounted by a furious Iwo landing blow after blow on him.
« Iwo, stop immediately ! » shouted Totten. As he would not comply, she tackled him, soon to bebe assisted by her squad.
Iwo was thrown outside the barracks, red, the face full of bruises and snort – they would deal with him later. Dopod was immediately taken to the infirmery – he was not in danger anymore. That, for one, was a relief.
Alone and outside the bridge, Iwo was still fuming red, and was on the look out for anyone to pass his rage upon. He would not have to wait a long time, as citizen would have to cross the bridge to go and ndress the corpses as they always do after a battle.
Kaos, married for less than a week, happened to cross the bridge at this very moment. Iwo jumped on him without rhyme or reason.
Thanks to his military training, Kaos could resist the unprovocked, savage assault – he had a couple fractures by the time the swornmens arrived. Kaos joined Dopod to the infirmery.
The trialUzu and the swornmens cuffed Iwo – this time, no mistake. The man had to be stopped before he kill someone.
Uzu dragged him to the justice house, and was tried immediately by Lady Desli herself. Uzu had Totten's soldiers give their testimony, and they were all beyond the shadow of a doubt :
« It's an open and shut case » Uzu affirmed to the soldier. « If you would confess to the crime, it would save the town a lot of time, and we could proceed to your punishment immediately. »
« Tell you what, fine, I beat him up » Iwo confessed. « He thought a weakling like him could replace Monal – I had to give him a sense of reality. I might have gone overboard. »
So that was it. Iwo assaulted a comrade in arms, the facts were not disputed, and Lady Desli could pass judgement.
« A public beating with a wooden rod and a month in a cage. » she said, visibly upset.
Uzu made the mental note, then turned to Iwo again, encouraged by his first success.
« Alright, that settles it for Dopod. Now onto your aggression of the redsmith Kaos. »
This was a harder case – because there was only one witness, and Kaos himself decided not to press charge. Uzu decided to clench his fists and tried to extract another confession from his prisonner.
« What about you confess to it also, so you do not turn that sentence into a lethal one ? » he asked, trying to sound menacing.
This did not work as well.
« Listen up Uzu, if I could be intimidated by some kid, I would not have enlisted » he said, calmly but firmly. « You want to end me ? Do your worst – I did not flee before Osme and I will not flee before you. »
Uzu felt very uncomfortable – especially since he did not really shine with his bravery last battle. Uzu hide himself during most of the fight, while Iwo charged straight into mounted raiders.
Better to drop the charge, he thought. He had already a confession, no need for a second one.
« Now, we can proceed with the sanction » Lady Desli said sternly to the soldier. « But if you want, I can offer you an alternative : either you take the beeting and the jailtime, or... »
Iwo lifted a eyebrow. The beating, most especially, he wanted to avoid. There is no telling he would survive to it – he was married and had a child.
« Or you go fill up the garrisson at Edetledir, and you do not come back to Kimaeslo Ori. You take your family with you, you serve under Lord Toki, and you make damn sure we forget about you forever.
What will it be, Iwo Atemcobi ? »
The next day, Iwo, his wife and kid were hitting the road.
Freedom, consequences and lessons learnedIwo and his wife were both soldiers, and would also need to be replaced – but this seasonal report is long enough already, and we still have ground to cover.
After those issues were solved – the military incursion repelled and the violent soldier expelled, Lady Desli sat at her desk and thought, maybe she had ways to improve the lives of her citizen. The book of local laws, she thought, may be a little outdated, and she thought that, perhaps, she could improve upon it.
And in the book of laws, the least popular was the Reglement on Comings and Goings applicable to both citizen and guests. That reglement was made in the time of the Aconilun out of necessity, as people woulds wander over the frozen sea and fall through the ice to their death, or go explore the caves alone and be swept by the underground currents to the bottom of the earth.
But that code was very wasteful. It designated an area in which the townsfolk were allowed to wander, and explicitely denied them any other venue. Maybe instead of restricting their movement to a burrow like one does with catle, she would just use more precise regulations. Do not go on the sea, do not go in the underground curents, and the world is your oister ?
Desli found no pleasure in limiting the freedoms of her population. So she thought, it was worth a try.
She promulgated the new law, and its effects were immediat. Productivity went up immediately – as people started to collect the trash, cleanliness improved immediately.
The trash compactor was now back into use – tons of discarded clothing were thus eliminated. At this rate, in less than half a year, the town should be back to its pristine condition.
But soon, problems started to emerge. One day, inconsiderate usage of the trash compactor rpojected debris at high velocity out of the machine, and a townsfolk was hit. Dazed and bloodied by the contact, the poor man fell into the compactor and broke his leg.
He had to be rescued – he soon joined the soldiers and the violence victims to the infirmery. It was decided that the trash compactor would only be used when filled, so that incident would not reoccur.
Rescues and recoveries Another issue arose from the lumberjacks, who saw the relaxation of rules as an invitation to go and work in the underground forests. Indeed, the flood had made the underground caves very fertile to wood-like mushrooms, which make high quality material for a number of applications. However, the same current was known to be extremely dangerous and a couple woodcutter drowned because of it, at the time of the Aconilun.
This season, no less than three rescue operations had to be organized to save stranded lumberjacks.
Three pets, a cat and two tame rhesus macaques, drowned while playing in the caves – luckily, no human casualty this time. Lady Desli amanded the rules to forbid cave exploration, and to remove the ability of the lumberjacks to pick and cut trees without an explicit lordly order.
Last but not least, Kiseabo recovered from his wounds – more or less. He now has to walk with a crutch, and cannot re-enlist in the army due to his crippling scars, but he is not bedridden anymore.
To thank him for his sacrifice, he was given the responsability over the Candies of Jade, the local tavern-inn. He accepted graciously and gave his dwarven iron sword back to the army, before starting his new life as a barkeeper.
Commercial balance is out of whack again. The weakening of our trade pushed our work back three years. We'll have to offer the guild a lot of goods, as we want to reduce our debt to zero as a core objective of the town. 
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 254731 times)