[WFRP] The Bloody Crown VIII

[LCP]

The Thorns reloaded and loosed again, doing marginally better this time - a few of the bowmen along the water's edge fell, though most of the shots still fell short. On the opposite flank, the halflings were trying to add their firepower to Sieghard's, but their short bows didn't have the range to cross the river.

Another flight of arrows soared up from the archers on the opposite bank, raining down on the retreating forces around the ford. Makeda had her Southlanders retreating with shields up, but even they were taking some punishment - around them, Viktor's men and the surviving defenders were dropping like flies. The ogres were retreating, arrows stickling their backs like the quills of a hedgehog. One of them took a bodkin point to the back of its thick skull and toppled forwards into the gravel of the riverbank.

The retreating auxiliaries weren't the archers' only focus. The detachment nearest the Thorns had seen where their casualties were coming from - a barked order saw them turn and loose a volley Sieghard's way. At this range, most of their arrows did nothing more than feather the ground yards in front of the Thorns' position - but one of them struck home, hitting one of Sieghard's men in the throat. As he fell to the ground, blood pouring over his hands, it was obvious he wouldn't live.

The bugle blared again, the Iron Company shuffling back from their position as the fighters by the ford broke into a running retreat. Valdes' Estalians were running Sieghard's way, their shields held over their heads as arrows rained down around them. Many of them were carrying the wounded from Viktor's company.

"Don't you hear the signal?" shouted Valdes, not slowing as he approached. "Get your men back!"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Covering your withdrawal," Sieghard replied in a flat tone. They had managed little enough, but he was still confident they had saved a few men with that volley. "Fall back," he ordered. They would bury the dead man once Alvarr's archers had dispersed.

"I want you to find a place we can position the cannon." he told Karlott as they went. "Somewhere with good cover and a line of fire on Alvarr's side of the river and of the crossing itself. Return to camp first, don't let them see you scouting."

Spoiler

Show

The wooded area on the south bit of our half of the map looks promising if we can get adequate cover from Alvarr's archers. We may even be able to fortify a position in there a bit.

[aberratio ictus]

Karlott Tannhöfer

She, too, looked a little irritated at Valdez. Even though the Thornes had stayed back, they had made the longbowmen waste part of a volley, which had likely saved the hide of some of his men.

When Sieghard turned to her, she gave a quick nod. “Understood.“ she replied, calmly, then she joined the Thorns' ordered retreat, slinging her crossbow over her shoulder and quickly fastening her shield to her arm for that purpose.

[LCP]

Joining the retreat, the Thorns did their best to help Valdes' men carry the wounded from the river. Sieghard saw Viktor slung between two Brotherhood swordsmen, two arrows buried in his chest and another in his leg. It was hard to see if the free company commander was still breathing.

All across the line, the Captain's forces were falling back, beyond the range of the Duke's archers. Along the river's edge, the bowmen waited in close formation, arrows nocked but bowstrings slack. The stony bank on the near side of the ford was littered with bodies - mostly in the dull blue livery of Alvarr's men, but many, far too many, from Sforza's companies too. The body of the fallen ogre lay face-down among them, its back feathered with at least a dozen arrows.

Riding through the ranks of waiting archers came a man on a tall grey horse. Stopping at the water's edge, he removed his helmet - Elsa immediately recognised the greying hair and stern features of Edouard Alvarr.

"Sforza!" he shouted, pitching his voice to carry across the river. "Show yourself!"

There was a long silence - too long. At last, the Captain emerged from behind the Iron Company's forest of pikes, riding up to where the furthest of the arrows had fallen before drawing his horse to a halt. If the Duke wanted to talk, he was going to have to do so from a bowshot away.

"You didn't bring your woman to treat for you this time?" shouted Alvarr. "Is this the best you can do?"

"No," called Sforza. "But it is a start."

Ludo saw Alvarr tilt his head back, staring at his enemy down the bridge of his nose. "Your little ambush has failed," he shouted back. "Withdraw your men, and no more will die."

Sforza paused, as if thinking. "...No," came his reply at last, "I don't think so. But you are welcome to try the crossing, if you dare." He swept his arm back to encompass the army behind him. "We will be waiting."

"I'll say the same to you," Alvarr shot back. "Cross the river, and we can settle this here and now. My men will let you pass."

"A likely story." There was a long pause. "I like it better on this side."

A tense silence settled over the scene, the two lords staring each other down over the river like stubborn children. At last, Alvarr just turned his horse away and rode back into the waiting ranks of his men.

Wrenching his own horse's head round, Sforza spurred it back towards his own lines. The stormy look on his face gave Elsa all the warning she needed to stay out of his way. Swinging himself down out of the saddle, he shoved the reins into the hands of a waiting soldier before turning to Carraciolo.

<Get the surgeons to see to the wounded,> he snapped. <And rest the men. I want them ready to move again by nightfall.>

[LeSwordfish]

"So what now?" Ludo asked, without much expectation of an answer.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I wish I knew," Sieghard said quietly.

[RossN]

Narcisa

Narcisa looked out again at the stony beach. The ogre looked like some ancient swamp monster cast aside on the shore by the callous tide. She could see there were more of the Duke's dead.... but how many spearmen were worth an exchange of an ogre bull in the harsh maths of war?

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa shared Sforza's deep frustration. A very good plan, long and careful preparations, all foiled in a matter of minutes by sheer rotten luck. At least Alvarr could not call it a victory any more than Sforza. But now it meant a great deal more uncertainty about the future. If this turned into a war of attrition, it would likely play in favor of the Duke's more numerous forces.

She hoped Sforza had another trick or two. Battles, she was starting to understand, were often won or lost before the first blood was shed.

[LCP]

Heading back by a circuitous route so as to stay well out of the reach of Alvarr's bows, Karlott made her way down to the trees by the riverside. Slipping quietly into the undergrowth, she crept forwards until she had the best possible view of the army on the opposite bank.

Like Sforza's, Alvarr's army was regrouping and reforming, drawing back a short distance from the river. It would be easy to bring the cannon to bear on them from here - but to fire unobstructed by the trees, it would have to be right at the water's edge. Alvarr would only have to move his archers up again and the crew would become pincushions. Karlott didn't know much about cannons, but if Filomena could fire from greater range than a longbowman then it seemed to her there would be little sense in bringing her up this close.

Back with the main force, Sforza was counting his losses. More than half of Viktor's company were dead or wounded, and neither the ahosi nor the Brotherhood had escaped unscathed from the retreat. The surgeons had been sent for, but it would be some time before they and the rest of the baggage train could catch up - in the meantime, the moans of the wounded were quite distressing to the ears. Most of the dead had been left where they had fallen down by the ford, but those few who had been carried back were laid out in a ragged row on the grass. The body of the muleskinner was laid with them, still porcupined with crossbow bolts. Ludo saw Hanna turn her head rapidly away as she passed, unable to look at the dead man's face.

While the two armies stared each other down across the crossing, rumour was spreading through the ranks like the pox. There'd been no order to make camp, ran the scuttlebutt, because they weren't going to. Come sunset, the Captain would be marching straight for Savonne.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard sat with the wounded for a while wanting desperately to help, but knowing he lacked the skills to do so. When the surgeons arrived, he decided the best he could do was stay out of their way and went to find Elsa.

"Has Sforza told you anything?" he asked. "Everyone seems convinced we're marching on Savonne." He lowered his voice. "He's desperate if it's true."

[aberratio ictus]

Karlott Tannhöfer

The landscape proved to be utterly unsuitable for a cannon, Karlott soon realised. Heading back through the undergrowth she had come from, she rejoined the others. As she put on her chainmail armour in anticipation of the march and a possible battle, she overheard the talk about marching of Savonne... Karlott very much hoped Sforza was really planning on a feint.

[RossN]

Narcisa

Narcisa looked uncomfortable as the wounded passed them, particularly the unlucky civilian. "Should we go down and check the wounded at the crossing?" She asks Ludo.

[-Sentinel-]

"Has Sforza told you anything?" Sieghard asked. "Everyone seems convinced we're marching on Savonne." He lowered his voice. "He's desperate if it's true."

"He's told me nothing," Elsa admitted.

She shared Sieghard's worry about an attempt to lay siege on Savonne. If they did not gain entry almost as soon as they arrived, Alvarr's armies could easily grind them to dust against the walls of the city. Their only chance was a swift victory... or some help from Savonnites eager to free themselves from the Duke's yoke. Unless, of course, Sforza had other plans he was not sharing.

Elsa tried to put on a confident face. "This wasn't a defeat, just a setback. We still have the better soldiers."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We do, but it means little if he's able to use his numbers. We can't afford the losses that he can. The madman had his archers fire on his own fleeing men just to kill a few of ours." He had a hard time imagining morale in Alvarr's camp was any good after that stunt.

"If he's set on this, It's all or nothing. We either get in immediately or we get stuck between Alvarr and the walls." He hated what he was about to suggest, but it was the best option he could see. "Someone needs to make sure the gates are open when the main force arrives. We were able to handle Sforza's orc, we should be able to handle this."

[-Sentinel-]

"I'm going to trust that Captain Sforza knows what he has at his disposal and how to use it," said Elsa, shrugging a shoulder. "Of course, if you think he's missing something, it wouldn't hurt to tell him."

Quite frankly, she would much rather ride recklessly into a decisive battle than engage in weeks or months of cautious attrition warfare. The threat from the Pale Waste could not be faced while the Reaches were at war.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Missed anything? No, if I can see it, I'm sure he can see it too." Sieghard replied. "I hope he has something else planned, but if he is set on marching on Savonne, the only way he's getting in before Alvarr traps him against the walls is by slipping a group of men in before they know we're coming and having them capture the city gates."

"I don't like it, but I think it has to be us. We're the best for the job." He paused reluctantly. "And if it fails, we're dead anyways."

[aberratio ictus]

Karlott Tannhöfer

Now back in full armour, Karlott went looking for Father Barbaro. The half-failed ambush and the difficult situation with bright prospects of a march on Savonne made her uneasy, and even though her hopes of finding him leading some service for Sforza's troops were small, he might have something to sell that could possibly ease her mind, at least as far as that was possible.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa seemed skeptical about Sieghard's assumptions. "The Dwarfs have collapsed the tunnels, so I don't think anyone is getting in now. We'll have to take the city from the outside."

Something else occurred to Elsa. "Speaking of the Dwarfs, we might be able to turn them. They must be furious at the Duke for killing their friend Groz."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We don't have time to take it from the outside," Sieghard pointed out. "It took Alvarr months to take the city. We'll have at most a day before he catches up with us."

"Whatever men Alvarr left behind to hold Savonne don't know he's stuck on the wrong side of the river. They likely don't know the Red Company fell. Until they see the Captain's army coming, they have no need to seal the gates. A few men could slip inside before they knew what Sforza was up to as long. Not enough to take the city by themselves, but certainly enough to keep the gate open long enough for the rest of the army to make it inside the walls. And they have to - there's no other way we could capture the city in time."

"I'm one of the best swordsmen Sforza has - certainly the best that Alvarr's men couldn't immediately pick out as one of his - and you can do things no one else can. If anyone could pull it off, we can."

[LeSwordfish]

With a few minutes to spare, Ludo took the time to head over to where Bianco and his assistants were encamped, intent on seeking out Viktor - or at least news on his condition.

[-Sentinel-]

"Whatever men Alvarr left behind to hold Savonne don't know he's stuck on the wrong side of the river. They likely don't know the Red Company fell. Until they see the Captain's army coming, they have no need to seal the gates."

That had not occurred to Elsa. "You may be right. But if you have a plan, it's not me you should be sharing it with."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard nodded, somewhat reluctantly. Elsa hadn't been the only one to see the mood Sforza had been in. "True," he said, "I just hope he listens." He went to find Sforza.

---

"There's been talk among the men," Sieghard said, keeping his tone more curious than concerned. "Are the rumors that we'll be marching directly on Savonne true?"

Spoiler

Show

Did Sforza bring Irene with or is she back in Manaan's Keep?

[LCP]

The baggage train was only now arriving, bringing Bianco and his apprentice surgeons with it. Amidst the groans and wails of the wounded, they were doing their best to set up a makeshift field surgery, commandeering whichever soldiers were closest to help fetch and carry. Picking his way through the organised chaos, Ludo watched as Marko and one of the Iron Company men hefted Viktor onto their already bloodstained table.

While the doctor was unpacking a case of surgeon’s tools, Paulo reached for one of the arrows lodged in Viktor’s ribs. Without looking round, Bianco slapped his apprentice’s hand away – he must have had eyes in the back of his head. Turning back to his apprentices with a pair of iron forceps in hand, he issued brusque instructions in Tilean, and they set about the grisly task of extracting the arrow in Viktor’s leg by pushing it out the other side. Thankfully Viktor wasn’t conscious to feel it.

~

Karlott found Barbaro away from the noise of the surgeons’ work, drinking from a silver flask as he gazed out at the forces arrayed across the river. He didn’t seem drunk, but his hand trembled slightly. With her keen eyes, Karlott noticed how the fingers on the hand that held the flask were recently scarred, some of the fingernails looking new-grown. She’d seen similar marks on men who’d fallen foul of the loan sharks of Savonne – but who would dare treat Captain Sforza’s pet priest in such a fashion.

Noticing her for the first time, Barbaro paused for a moment before offering her the flask. “You’re… Tenhoffer, yes? The scout.” He looked across the river again. “You must have better eyes than me. How many men would you say that is?”

~

"There's been talk among the men," Sieghard said, keeping his tone more curious than concerned. "Are the rumors that we'll be marching directly on Savonne true?"

Sforza had been watching the activity of the camp – he looked round as if displeased to be interrupted, though Sieghard could have been interrupting nothing but his own thoughts.

“As soon as the sun sets,” was his reply. “Make sure your men are ready to move.”

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"They will be," Sieghard said, then continued "It's bold." He was sure to keep his tone carefully neutral. "If we take the city, there's nothing stopping Alvarr from ravaging the south. He could go after the book. Or your wife." Sforza was many things, but he wasn't a fool. Surely he had an answer to that possibility.

He didn't wait for specifics, just watched Sforza's reaction and continued lest he draw ire for stating something the Captain had (hopefully) already considered. "You will need someone to secure the city gates if we're to take Savonne before Alvarr catches up with us." He paused, and then said "I'm the best swordsman you have who Alvarr's men wouldn't recognize right away."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa stood by Sieghard's side, discreetly drawing back a few steps when he mentioned the possibility of Alvarr making a move to capture Sforza's wife. He was right, of course. But tellers of harsh truths were never the most popular people.

[LCP]

Sforza gave Sieghard a hard look. "And how would you propose to get in?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Whatever men Alvarr left to hold Savonne won't know the city is in danger until they see the army approaching. They do, however have reason to expect men seeking shelter from the "savagery" of Captain Sforza's army within Savonne's walls." Sieghard began. "We also captured a good deal of Red Company equipment and could slip men in disguised as cavalry returning on Alvarr's orders. It would be easier to gain entry, though perhaps harder to move unnoticed once inside."

"We don't know the layout of the gatehouse or the number of men Alvarr left behind to protect the city, but the men we've already taken captive can be made to tell us what we need to know. Once inside, we would ideally create a distraction to draw as many of Alvarr's already stretched thin men away from the gate as possible and then strike," He continued. "Fire worked well before and they'll be all the more desperate to put it if one starts in the middle of the city."

Spoiler

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Sentinel - Master's Touch was what I had in mind, regardless of whether we're able to smuggle Elsa inside or not, but while you've told me you took it for Morrslieb OOC, you haven't said anything about it IC. That said, if you'd prefer to keep it that way, there's more than one way to start a fire.

[LCP]

"That gets us through the outer wall," said the Captain. "What about the citadel?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard didn't have as good an answer for that and it took him a moment to come up with something. "There's no way we'd be able to sneak enough men into the citadel to capture it directly, but we may be able to slip someone into the citadel disguised as a servant. Someone who wouldn't look much like a soldier in plain clothes - Tahnhoffer maybe. We may be able to sabotage the citadel gate in some way so they can't close it. Depending on where we start the fire, we may be able to draw men away from the citadel as well and capture it in the confusion."

"Failing that, we can prey on what they don't know. To Alvarr's men, you marching on Savonne will be seen as a clear sign that the Duke has fallen in battle. If we could could spread rumors to the effect beforehand, all the better. Soldiers aren't willing to throw their lives away for a lost cause and a dead man - Alvarr's farmers even less so. If whoever Alvarr has left in command refuses to surrender, then the "servant" we slip inside can kill him to demoralize the defenders further." If Alvarr had left Savonne in Forkbeard's hands, it would be easy enough. Jager or Ducos would prove more difficult though.

"And as a last resort, should we fail to take the citadel before the Duke catches up with us, we have the cannon. It will take some time for Alvarr to build new siege engines to try to retake the city. It isn't ideal, but blasting down the gate and taking the citadel by force is an option."

[aberratio ictus]

Karlott Tannhöfer

Her first thought when she saw Barbaro's hand was a battle wound, but as she came closer, it became obvious that the scars were the product of torture. Karlott didn't have the time to dwell upon who could have done that to a holy man of Myrmidia before he noticed her and offered her his flask.

She hesitated for a moment, then took it with a grateful nod. Karlott didn't usually drink, as she preferred her senses sharp - but a little sip couldn't hurt, and as it burned down her throat, she had to admit it felt good.
"Tannhöfer, father." The bounty hunter took a good sip from the flask and gave it back.
At his question, she turned her head towards Alvarr's gathered troops on the other side of the river as well.
It took a moment before she answered. "At least 700 men. Around that order. Likely more."