Turn #66 - Caelcorwynn campaign

[DM B]

War move 1:

A war council takes place (see mail thread)

[DM B]

War move 2:

You've planned an plotted for a long time now - but when will you act?

[DM B]

War move 3:

The great host moves into the deep green of the Caelwode...


Tuare
General Braedonnal Tuare
Braedonnal's bodyguard (very skilled followers)

ETN
Commander - Trelien
Elder Sister (Archbishop equivalent) Gwenevier
Knights (crack)
Armsmen (veteran)

Bellam
Commander - Sirous (cousin to Baron Tristan)
Scouts
Irregulars
Archers
Archers

Aerenwe
Commander - Maravoel Dhon (a young noble of house Dhon)
Regulars
Pikes
Archers
Regulars (House Dhon)

Wardens
Commander - Aedon Dhon (Warden 'general' and Circle member)
Scouts (crack)

The Sea Witch
Hermedhie

[DM B]

The general plan is to march forth, provoking the enemy to do battle.

The ETN armsmen will form your 2nd echelon, being split into several smaller groups that are close enough together to support one another, and most importantly – beck up the 1st echelon.

The knights make up your mobile reserve. Their mobility will be limited in the forest, but they are still potent. It is here that vulnerable characters should stay.

The rest of the foot, 2 regulars and 1 pikes, as well as a hefty 3 archers, will make up your 1st echelon. They work together in smaller groups, with swords, pikes and archers mixed. Once again, more dispersed than usual, but close enough to support if need.

The irregulars also have an important task – ferrying orders and keeping the army together in the confusing shadowy world under the trees.

The scouts will stay relatively close to the main body, scouting ahead and making sure there are no surprises, but not ranging so far as to expose themselves to danger.

Braedonnal commands from the reserve. Sirous has the second echelon and the irregulars. Aedon Dhon has the scouts. Trelien has the centre. Maravoel has the right. One of Braedonnal’s AAs, Tycho, has the left. Hermedhie and Gwenevier stay with the reserve.

---

WM 3 begins with the host moving into Caelwode:

It does not begin too well – even as you enter beneath the great trees you come under attack. A great wind springs up from nowhere, taking with it all manner of rocks, branches, and other debris. For a time all the forward elements (i.e. the scouts) can do is hand on for their lives. Men are picked up and sucked into the sky, others are smashed against the great three, or pummelled to death by jaded rocks or broken branches. The crack Warden scouts hold on (taking 1 hit), but the Bellam scouts have had enough, they flee the forest (taking 2 hits, to Broken, and routing).

In the rear, with the knights, Hermedhie is left dazed – her feeble attempts at warding the troops availed to nothing. Never before has she felt such a great concentration of mebhaighl. Whoever waits in there – he is a much greater sorcerer than her.

Note: We’ll be using the forum from now on since only NPC enemies are involved. It’s easier.

[X-ETN/Maire Cwyllmie (Libor)]

Any news from the locals working for us?

[DM B]

Any news from the locals working for us?

Hmm, a new report on the eve of battle? Hmm, OK:

They have yet to see much of any actual army (units). Nor have they heard of anyone having seen any such units. But they think that Rhuobhe may have created one or two units from the local population - his personal charisma is considerable.

[X-Points East]

IC:

In the rear, Ibrahim ibn Uiriena speaks to Hermedhie and Gwenevier:  “If I might aid either of you . . . perhaps obscuring your location . . . whilst you weave your own magic . . . then simply give me the word, and it shall be done.”

[X-Bellam & BC/TB (Bobby)]

Sirous and his guard ride forward, fanning out and corralling as many of the fleeing scouts as possible, sounding their horns.  With shouts and the occasional blow, they force the frightened men back into the advance.  For the moment, whatever he can rally of the unit will be joined with the Irregulars while they recover their wits, courage, and numbers. 

[X-Hermedhie (Ronny)]

Hermedhie looks exhausted "I doubt that he will try and attack us directly, so I am not sure what good it will do. If you have anything that can affect him or his army directly, now would be a good time to use it. The more we make him use his power to defend himself, the faster he runs out of juice."

[DM B]

Sirous rallies the broken men.

Nothing more happens that day. You move into the forest and go along a preplanned axis of advance, using local guides (provided for you by the ETN - 'local' meaning sidhe in this instance) to show you the way. By nightfall you've secured several good defensive positions and get ready to rest.

The next morning the men are rested and feeling well; god is with then and no more attacks have occurred. But as they march deeper into the green their sense of elation fades...

OOC: Rhuobhe has dispelled the ETN's blessings, save on the Bellamie Irregulars and the Aerenwan archers.

[DM B]

Deeper and deeper into the forest you go, checking in on several sidhe villages. The inhabitants either hide before you arrive, or just stare at you when you pass through.

There is no sign of Rhuobhe - or any of his men - thus far. Divinations reveal nothing more.

----

Then, on the fourth day, things start to happen. The forest becomes deathly silent - and then the trees start moving. Moving and attacking. With them come all manner of forest creatures - from fierce predators to normally mellow herbivores...and forest fey.

The scouts shout warnings and the men get ready as a wall of nightly oaks walk straight into the right flank. What they do not crush or shatter or rip apart are overwhelmed by the creatures following in their wake. Maravoel desperately tries to hold the line together, but to no avail. The right flank is completely ripped apart (the Dhon regulars take 4 hits and are destroyed, the Bellamie archers take 3 hits and run screaming towards the reserve).

Braedonnal quickly orders the Center and the 2nd Echelon to face the enemy, while spurring the ETN knights forward. Hermedhie and Gweneviver go with him. Normally it would be very unwise to commit the reserves so soon, but what else can he do?

The archers of the left flank also join in, and with fire arrows they inflict some damage on the trees. The same goes for the infantry; as pikes and armsmen surge forward the enemy advance is halted, even as scouts and skirmishers swam around the trees trying to set them on fire. In this they would not have been successful where it not for the knights - they rush forward sending all manner of wicked forest creatures running (or dying) - allowing the light infantry to do its job. Hermedhie and Gwen also join in, their magic might adding to the power of steel and fire.

Meanwhile the Warden scouts are fighting desperately (against another 2 units of 'forest creatures'). It is almost like the forest is trying to silence the very men than can pierce its secrets.

Player feedback appreciated at this stage.


SKIRIMSIHERS
Commander - Aedon Dhon (Warden 'general' and Circle member)
Scouts (crack) - 1 HIT, 1 HIT taken

LEFT
Tycho - Elfblood commander
Regulars (Aerenwe)
Archers (Aerenwe)

CENTER
Commander - Trelien (ETN)
Pikes (Aerenwe) - 2 HITS taken
Archers (Bellam)

RIGHT
Commander - Maravoel Dhon (Aerenwe)
Regulars (House Dhon) - 4 HITS taken, destroyed
Archers (Bellam) - 3 HITS taken, routed

2nd Echelon
Commander - Sirous (cousin to Baron Tristan)
Scouts (Bellam) - 2 HITS, 1 HIT taken, destroyed
Irregulars (Bellam) - 1 HIT taken
Armsmen (veteran) (ETN) - 2 HITS taken

RESERVE
General Braedonnal Tuare
Braedonnal's bodyguard (very skilled followers)
Knights (crack) (ETN)
Elder Sister (Archbishop equivalent) Gwenevier
Hermedhie

[X-ETN/Maire Cwyllmie (Libor)]

OOC: If I got it properly, centre, 2nd echelon and reserve are now engaged with enemy (and right is destroyed). So left should probably engage the enemy wardens scouts are fighting, so that the scouts can fall back preventing their destruction.

[DM B]

OOC: If I got it properly, centre, 2nd echelon and reserve are now engaged with enemy (and right is destroyed). So left should probably engage the enemy wardens scouts are fighting, so that the scouts can fall back preventing their destruction.

OOC: You are entirely correct - and it is a good plan. It

The archers are firing to good effect already, but the regulars are just standing there (well, they are sort of your only reserve right now, being unengaged, and they do protect the archers on the left, so do do have some value).

[X-Bellam & BC/TB (Bobby)]

Sirous screams orders, fighting as much to make his voice heard as to survive.  His cries pull men from in front of the unstoppable trees, casting them instead to the flanks of the advance.  Here, the armsmen and pikes thrust and feint, circling and pulling away from the animated monstrosities, forcing them to turn and twist and robbing their charge of power while the archers carry the battle, pouring fire arrows into the fray with all their strength.  Only if the trees move to strike at the archers do the foot engage, and then only long enough for the archers to scatter before again pulling back and sliding to the flanks.  The Irregulars pour through and around the heavier infantry, hurling torches from the sides and behind and starting smaller brushfires to try and block the trees' paths. 

In minutes, the flames could be as terrible a threat as the inhuman attackers... but that will be a problem for then.  For now, they are the only path to survival...

(OOC: Nothing we have can stand up to a treant charge-and-trample, so he's trying to employ the shock infantry as lightly as possible and let the missile attacks do the killing.  Keep the treants turning and they can't get any momentum.  Keep the units from packing up and presenting solid targets.)

[X-Points East]

IC:

As Hermedhie and Gwenevier advance with the knights, Ibrahim does not.  Instead, he surveys his surroundings; and, noticing the plight of Aedon Dhon’s scouts relatively quickly, he casts a form of displacement magic, in order to aid their defenses and/or disengagement.