Helmarie

[Esinie]

"Well, I have current command of the war party, but as it is, the Foerfen have been our ally, and we hope you will continue to being our ally. Though I have no current say for any of the chieftains, but I'm sure if you were to fight as fiercely as us against the coming Imperial army, they would not have much issue with you being a seperate country allied with us against the empire.

After all, the war is not over until one side has lost, and we still need to drive back the empire to the sea, I'm sure with Foerfen support this task could be easy."

[Gamemaster]

Gelmanin bows and says, "I go now to bring your reply to my uncle."

Gelmanin, Ardimuk and the guards depart.

Soon afterwards, Andien personally leads another assault on the fortress gate, this time with the purpose of building a bonfire next to its wooden doors.

Soon, a fire is lit and the Imperial Army garrison realizes what is going on. Imperial soldiers on the wall over the gate are ducked down behind the battlements to avoid being shot by archers, but they pop up and attempt to dump water on the fire.

Archers loose their arrows, but the Imperial soldiers show themselves for only a second at a time and then quickly duck down behind cover. Arrows strike the battlements near the Imperial soldiers, but no Imperial soldiers are hit.

Nonetheless, the defenders of the fortress are under too much pressure to dump their water accurately. They manage to spray the bonfire with water, but none of them dump a whole bucket directly on the flames. The fire is dampened, but does not go out.

As more and more Trond archers take up positions near the gate, the Imperial soldiers give up. In a few minutes, the fire roars back to life.

Not long afterwards, the fire has burned through part of the wood where the two doors meet and has begun to burn through the bolt. Then, the soldiers on the inside start splashing water against the gap. Some of it comes through and dampens the fire.

Andien then orders the battering ram brought forward and fifty men begin smashing the gates with it. The burnt surface of the door gives way further, exposing the bolt. Tronds with axes start chopping away at it from the outside, while men inside attempt to jab them with spears through the gap. Spear points are chopped off, wood chips fly from the bolt and than Andien orders the battering ram used again.

This time, the damaged bolt begins to crack and the Tronds batter it with greater enthusiasm while Andien orders the whole army to prepare to assault the fortress.

It is not yet dark as the 1st Kantora Helmarie lines up to take the honor of being the first unit through the gates.

The foot thick wooden bolt that holds the gate doors closed finally breaks. The battering ram smashes the doors open. The soldiers holding the battering ram withdraw it as fast as they can while other soldiers from the 1st Kantora Helmarie storm into the fortress through the front gate.

Imperial Army troops are waiting in formation on the other side, a wall of spear points and shields, facing the rebels.

The sounds of battle are heard outside the fortress where the rest of Esinie's army is lined up to enter the fortress as soon as the 1st Kantora Helmarie fights its way in.

[Esinie]

Esinie watches the army slowly pour into the fortress to fight the imperialist forces inside.

[Gamemaster]

There is fierce fighting at the fortress gate. The Imperial Army had well over an hour to prepare while the fire burned and the battering ram pounded before the gate gave way.

By the time the 1st Kantora Helmarie came storming in, they were met by a solid wall of soldiery and the fighting was fierce. None of Esinie's other units could reach the enemy until the 1st Kantora Helmarie pushed its way into the courtyard of the fortress or withdrew so no other units were involved in the initial fighting. The first line of defense was the 1st Kantora Shasa Falan, the best unit in the province.

Once the Helmarie troops were through the gate, the fight did not last very long. A single charge by the attackers and the Imperial line gave way, though the Imperial Army troops inflicted more harm than they suffered. Then, with the Tronds through their lines, the morale of the 1st Kantora Shasa Falan broke and the men tried to fall back despite officers screaming orders to hold the line. They could not retreat very far. There were more imperial troops behind them and on each side of the gate. Between these lines of imperial troops, the walls and the Tronds, there was nowhere to run.

The 1st Kantora Helmarie continued to press the attack, this time with greater effect, inflicting more losses on the enemy, but still suffering almost as much themselves. Dozens of men were now dead and wounded. The 1st Kantora Helmarie now pushed its way into the courtyard as soldiers of the 1st Kantora Shasa Falan managed to worm their way through the lines of the 2nd Kantora Shasa Falan and the 3rd Kantora Shasa Falan which were now on the front line as the 1st Kantora Shasa Falan melted away.

Andien ordered the 2nd Kantora Helmarie to advance into the fortress behind the 1st Kantora Helmarie. Gurikan Travanie acknowledged the order, informed his men and the 2nd Kantora Helmarie began to advance into the gate.

The 2nd Kantora Helmarie enters and faces the second line
of imperial troops in the courtyard of the fortress
consisting of the 2nd and 3rd Kantoro Shasa Falan.

The fighting is quite fierce and after a while, darkness falls and both sides back off and have had enough fighting. Gurikan Travanie comes out limping and only standing up with the help of one of his men. He finds Ekanor Falan Andien and says, "We've done all we can for today, sir."

Andien says, "Very well. Your men may withdraw and rest until tomorrow."

Andien then turns to several soldiers standing near him as volunteers to pass on messages, "You, find Gurikan Starnie, commander of the 1st Kantora Helmarie and tell him to withdraw his men as well."

The messenger nods and runs towards the troops streaming out of the gate of the fortress.

Andien turns to another messenger and says, "You, find the leaders of the war parties of the Nesnie, Rambat and Odan tribes and ask them to come here."

When the leaders of the three main war parties of traditional Trond warriors arrive, they are accompanied by another warrior named Worfien who commands the hundred or so Trond warriors that have been with the army since it left Herigahaven, but are not officially soldiers.

Only one of the three war party leaders is actually the chieftain of a tribe. He is Landan of the Rambat tribe.

Andien says, "It is dark now, but we have the enemy almost finished. If we strike now, we could win this. If we wait until morning, they will construct some new obstacle to replace their smashed gate. We must press the attack now, but in the darkness, I fear it will be difficult to tell our soldiers from the enemy. Your men look different enough that it should be less of a problem. Will you attack?"

Landan of the Rambat says, "Of course we will attack!"

The leader of the Nesnie warriors says, "Allow us to attack first. We have been with you waiting for the chance longer. This honor belongs to the Nesnie."

"Alright, Nesnie, then Rambat, then Odan."

"And my men?" Worfien asks.

"Go whenever you can get into the fortress, Worfien."

The warriors run back to their men. In minutes, the Nesnie warriors storm into the fortress shrieking like wild animals in the darkness.

The fighting is confused and vicious. The Rambat tribe and Worfien's warriors pour into the fortress. The Odan warriors only barely manage to get into the fortress past the thousands of warriors from the other tribes.

The fighting rages for hours into the night.

It is past midnight when Chieftain Landan of Rambat comes out to speak to Andien and says, "There are hundreds of dead and wounded, but the fortress is ours. A huge number of enemy soldiers have surrendered. We also captured their leader, Ulor Yavuk Vergriman, the Empire's Ulor over these lands that they call Shasa Falan (Upriver) province. We captured most of his guards alive. We also captured his general who commanded all these troops and best of all, we captured all the money in the entire provincial treasury.

Andien reports these developments to Esinie. By this time the city of Serat Shasa has burned almost entirely to the ground from the fires that by now have grown to raging infernos, then died down to embers and ashes.

[Esinie]

"Good, Check what was inside the castle, check which of the wounded and killed were ours, and which were theirs."

[Gamemaster]

Ruins of Serat Shasa
Shasa Falan Province
Zekresh Empire
38th day, 2nd month, 2nd Year of Independence (41 Cledman VI)

By the next morning, Ekanor Falan Andien of the Helmarie Army, Ekanor Falan Ardimuk of the Aatanian Army, Kraverk (Chieftain) Landan of the Rambat tribe and other leaders have gotten their troops and warriors more organized and assessed the results of the fight.

They all meet with War Party Leader Esinie at mid-morning.

Andien says, "There are far too many dead and wounded to count, but I estimate that we lost about 350 men. The enemy lost over 500 killed and wounded and more than a thousand unwounded imperial soldiers surrendered and are now our prisoners."

Ekanor Falan Ardimuk says, "I have located a large stockpile of food inside the fortress and posted men from the 1st Kantora Aatan to guard it, but we'll want to start distributing it to the troops as soon as possible. Shall I presume that we should feed the prisoners as well?"

Kraverk Landan says, "What say you of the prisoners and the wounded? Their pitiable cries haunted our sleep last night. I say it would be merciful to slay the enemy wounded."

Andien is thoughtful and then says, "When I say the enemy lost over 500 men, I mean inside the fortress. I was not including the ones we fought outside the fortress. They lost about as many outside as inside. Probably more. Also, we took another hundred or so unwounded prisoners there."

[Esinie]

"Well, since there is not much else we can do for them, best to stop the pain. Now, as for those unwounded who surrendered, I'm not sure what to do with them I'd prefer not to kill them all, but we cant let them go... Or have them dragged along, as prisoners anyway, what do you recommend? After all we do have money from two provincial treasuries, and that is certainly not going to be the last."

[Gamemaster]

"Sell them as slaves like they did to our people they captured in the last war," Says Kraverk Landan.

"Leave men behind to hold them captive in the fortress perhaps," Ekanor Falan Andien suggests.

Ekanor Falan Ardimuk says, "I'm sorry, I'm still thinking of the wounded. At least give them a choice. Don't assume death would be the better option. More importantly, what shall we do about our own wounded?"

[Esinie]

"Fine, give them a choice, as for our own wounded, send them back to their families, with enough escorts to ensure safe return. And I want to see the Prisoners, selling them as slaves maybe an option, but from what I could tell, there is not much loyalty in the empire."

[Gamemaster]

Soon the prisoners are assembled in front of the gate of the fortress. They are guarded by soldiers of the 2nd Kantora Aatan.

Andien says, "If you stand on the wall to speak to them, they will all be able to see you. If you speak loudly, maybe they can all hear you as well."

There appear to be well over a thousand prisoners, both wounded and not wounded. The moans and cries of the more seriously wounded who have not yet died can be heard from the courtyard of the fortress nearby.

[Esinie]

*Esinie gives a speech, advocating that the empire, does not care about their lives, only the petty squables over who is in charge, that there is nothing in the empire but corruption and death, and that they can go back to this failing empire or fight it.

Esinie then orders his Troops to begin moving for Kast Ulmuk, after leaving some men in the fort to redirect our reinforcements.*

[Gamemaster]

After Esinie's speech, (which is considerably more eloquent than the summary of it in his post) a total of 241 of the prisoners volunteer to join the rebel army.

Orders are given to march to Kast Ulmuk with all possible haste and the troops begin to prepare to march.

Ekanor Falan Ardimuk asks, "Should I give the volunteers their weapons and armor back? What should I do with the others?"

Ekanor Falan Andien asks, "I propose that the volunteers should be inducted into the Helmarie Army as a separate unit with Trond officers. Unless you object, I shall appoint leaders for them from the other units. Also, do you have any instructions on how many men should be left to guard the fortress and which unit they should be from or should I decide?"

Kraverk Landan reports, "We have found a vast stockpile of food in the fortress. Surely we should not leave it behind. I plan to give each man some to carry so that we can bring it all with us."