To Weyland!
[4] You make your way into Weyland, crossing the border without incident. It looks like the king's scouts aren't actively searching for you right now. [3] You try to get your bearings and happen upon a small village where you ask for directions. The villagers do not have much to tell you beyond that they are part of Manskinner's rule now. Since you look like a soldier, they tell you that if you were looking for a new master you should head north and consult with his Steward, Dr McJohnston.
Later interrogate the Ztah and Others unpolitely.
Find out where the Ztah are hiding and what is up with the others.
[1+1] You are very unpolite with the surviving Ztahren. A little too unpolite, as you end up beating one of them to within an inch of his life before he can tell you anything of worth, whilst the other actually manages to kill himself. [5] Your resident physician brings the survivor back around and quite efficiently cauterises the stumps of his wrists when you remove his hands. You equip him with a nosebag full of grain and nail a satchel into his shoulder containing Zacmar's head, then send some men to take him to the border and release him.
[1+1] You would think that this example would inspire the other prisoners to be more talkative. Oh no. One of them actually bites his own tongue off during the proceedings and the rest either expire or go insane. All you get is a name; "Sir Joseph".
King Erik's Regiment will try to draw the bandits out of their defensive structure by parading in front of the wagon circle and having the King issue a demand for surrender, with an offer of mercy (this will be kept if they do surrender). If the bandits are drawn out of the wagon circle and do not surrender then Kain's regiment will charge from the side, enacting a forced route, while Zandor's villagers are ordered to circle around and try to either capture the defensive wagon circle or otherwise flank the bandits and prevent a retreat.
If we fail to draw the bandits from their position, Erik and Zandor's regiment will both attack the bandits while conserving their forces. Meanwhile, Kain's regiment will attempt to flank the wagon circle from the opposite side. It's at Kain's discretion if he wants to add to the difficulty of the maneuver by scaling the walls.
[5] The first part of the ploy works rather well. Seeing your rather meagre force, the bandit knights come out in force - probably to capture you for slaves. [1] Almost certainly, as they do not wait for you to finish your surrender offer before attacking.
Bandits: 1 Heavy Raider regiment
King: 3 Infantry Regiments
Tactics: Since a forced rout would be pointless against a single regiment, Zandor's men attempt to pull off the flanking manoeuvre [Req 5, Roll 5] to great success despite their inexperience. The bandit knights find themselves under attack from three sides - the King, Kain and Zandor alike.
Fight: 2+2 vs 4+3+1 -
Crushing Victory (Heavy Raiders destroyed!)
The pincer strike works to great effect, with even the untrained peasant mob serving themselves well in the fight. Casualties are minimal, whilst most of the bandit knights are slain or surrender when the fight turns completely against them. The survivors are now at the king's mercy and the province is just that little bit safer once more.
[1+1] Despite the vigour of the battle, the exercise puts strain on muscles unused for the better part of a year. Several muscles have been pulled in Erik's sword arm and mangled hand, which will interfere with his attempts to regain use of it. [-10 Swordplay points]
Look into if there's any more gold or a resource on the land since it seemed so plentiful before.
[2-3] Sadly, it appears that the very last of the gold has all been mined out. Well, it was good whilst it lasted.
Leave the monkey in Lilith's care as I throw off my jacket and brave the fires, seeing as I'm pretty much resistant to fire since I keep surviving explosions. Tell them to find a way to escape.
[2] Lilith, the stupid girl, insists on accompanying you. The gigolo could take you or leave you but figures he's safer with you than on his own. [1] This proves somewhat ill-decided, as you get through the door with them just in time for the doorway to collapse, trapping you in a burning building. You also take this time to notice the fifty heavily armed and armoured men trapped with you. Fantastic.
At least the prostitute seems pleased by the prospect.
Send a messenger to the Munros, try to smooth things out with them and attempt to create a temporary alliance to take down the McKinleys. If they agree, and if the McKinleys are destroyed, they can have half the land.
Raise a heavy ambush regiment.
You raise your regiment (1d remaining in the Treasury) and send a messenger to the Munros, seeking to divide and conquer. [1] Three days later, his head is hurled over the border. Looks like the Munros don't intend on playing ball.
Continue to the Storm Coast port Yalasan was originally headed to, dump the cargo, rechristen the ship Night Runner, look into the costs of any goods we can leave with. Dump the crew that doesn't want to stay with us, make nice with the locals (aka, find myself some contacts, both legit and not so much)
You head to Vasir, [6] making downright excellent time. Looks like the Bright One is still with you. You take a
look at the
market and see that Tin is fetching a price of [6+1] 4 Ducats/shipment, a thoroughly impressive return! You shift both shipments for
8 Ducats and take stock of the port. Vasir's main exports are Flax, Grain and Wine, so you'd probably get a good deal on them here.
In any case, you ditch the complainers and take on some fresh crew.
Guard Jormund and help in the search for valuable resources on the land, while awaiting the chance to recruit men to replace those lost in the tribals' battle.
The search proves fruitless. Hopefully spring will roll around soon enough. Whilst the others are busy you are encouraged to take walks with a cane to help improve your healing. These walks sometimes take you quite far south of the valley and on one occasion you see what looks like an Elbrethan soldier, wandering alone towards the Steward's camp.
Ehndras encounters Sir Joseph.Teach that boy!
[6] Your initial efforts to teach the child go a little overboard as you try to give him a crash course in advanced syntax and grammar. He is rather lost in all of this, so you end up just giving him a basic grounding in vocabulary. [Progress 1, Time 1] [4] Once he becomes more familiar with your teaching style, it is easy enough for you to prepare him for more advanced lessons and by Winter's end he is if not fluent then at least capable with Ztahren. [Progress 3, Time 0]
Satisfied with your progress, the noble pays you the
1 Ducat outstanding.
It is not long after you complete your work that you hear a rumour about Lady Drua's intend to go exploring in the new year. Since work is drying up here, you might consider seeking her out and offering assistance in the voyage.
Go around town and ask the alchemical, scholar, exploration guilds about where one might find such people as Drua or Mahtan.
[4] Nobody has seen Mahtan in weeks. Most people thought he was just locked in his room, but apparently he has disappeared completely. The last rumours about him say something about him sleeping with two prostitutes, but that's all. [5] Lady Drua's location is much better known. She is presently sorting out a pending expedition to foreign lands to map them out for the glory of the kingdom. You might be able to catch her before she leaves, or even offer your assistance.
Try to analyze the corpse for cause of death, feel for tooth marks or wounds from weapons, then follow any tracks leading away from the scene and pursue the attacker, Buster should be helpful here and also keep a bolt notched into your crossbow which can be released immediately.
[6] You examine the human hand (the corpse is elsewhere, and the rushing of the river makes it impossible to track by smell right now). Yes, definitely bite marks. Fresh, probably made whilst the subject was still alive. They definitely feel like... uh, dog bites. You smell fresh blood on Buster's teeth.
Gods damn it.
Send out a regiment armed with swords and shortbows to capture the man with the bird and dog some one should yell out to "stop and come peacefully we don't want to kill you"
[2] It is quite difficult to conceal the sound of a full regiment, huntsmen or not, if they are not trained scouts. The quarry tries to hurry to cover and hide [1 vs 2] but is unsuccessful - the clansmen are quite capable of keeping up with him. They corner Meng in the ravine and call out for him to come out peacefully, but they are quite armed.
Jon begins to search for contacts and news. He begins with the dungeons and newly convicted as well as those sentenced to death.
Jon doesn't learn much or find much in the way of useful contacts. Beyond general news about the ongoing status of the war (there is some understanding that it was successful, but not much more than that), all you learn about it a barfight that turned into battle and news of the King going out to crush some bandits - a rather fruitless piece of knowledge seeing as you were actually there when it happened.
Go out onto the walls, dressed in fairly simple clothes, and make a big speech (shouting so as to be heard by those in the city) to inspire both my soldiers and the peasants, hopefully inciting the latter to arm themselves and join in the fight against Taric's forces.
Then go up onto a higher part of the walls (perhaps the walls of the inner keep, if I have an inner keep...) and command the battle from there. Military orders: Very simple, really, with the drawbridge raised Taric's only way in is the walls, and he has no archers, so simply have my longbowmen pepper anyone making their way up the walls full of arrows, with Aulon's pikemen ready to deal with any who get close. Oh, and have the kitchen staff dump boiling water and food scraps over their heads.
[4+1] Your speech might not be elegant, but it plays to the crowd. Peasants grab carving knives and cleavers, and whilst they are by no means a real force, they are enough to provide dangerous distraction to Sir Taric's regiments (-1 to Taric's roll).
Tactics: The Crown Infantry make a desperate attempt to
scale the walls, [Req 5, Roll 5] succeeding in obtaining or creating makeshift ladders to try and mount them. They are lucky enough to negate the advantage of the Castle for this fight.
Elbreth: 3 Crown Infantry. -1 from Peasant Uprising
Miring: 1 Longbowmen, 1 Pikemen. Castle (+3)
Battle: 1+3-1 vs 6+3+1 -
Crushing Victory to Miring (2 Crown Regiments destroyed)
A horn is blown and as one the Royal Infantry charge the castle, scaling the walls on high ladders and braving the boiling water and scraps thrown down upon them. Nevertheless, Trubaldsome's men prove their worth as Captain Waery leads them to bring volley after volley down upon the attacking troops. Even when the attackers reach the parapets, yl Marchis' pikemen form tight ranks and drive them off to their deaths. After an hour of furious fighting the survivors of the Crown army retreat back to the streets. Losses have been minimal and the Mirish forces have won the day.
For now. A mere five days later, Taric himself arrives with an additional two regiments under his command. Somehow you don't think you'll be able to pull off another peasant rally to distract his troops, either.
Elbreth's Forces in Miring: 3 Crown Infantry under Taric
Miring's Forces: 1 Longbowmen, 1 Pikemen. Castle.
Author
Topic: You are King! (Spring 315a) (Read 188816 times)