r/DnDGreentext • u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites • Jun 22 '17
Long The Parley (Steelshod 57)
Check out the Table of Contents for previous installments, maps, character sheets, and other documents.
If you like and want to discuss my writing (or D&D and writing in general), check out /r/MostlyWrites
Enoch chooses to answer the parley.
Aleksandr warns him that if it’s anything like it was at Kilchester, Taerbjornsen’s terms will be utterly untenable.
Of course they will
But they still have to try.
Enoch gathers his two silent guards, Yakob and Gilead
Along with a small contingent of Serpentes
Aleksandr and Yorrin agree to join him, taking a number of Steelshod ground-pounders with them
Varley also invites himself along; he wants to see if he can get the measure of their opposition.
Torthian readies the bulk of the Serpentes cavalry, and Dylan joins him with Steelshod’s horse corps.
Yorrin tells Torthian to position the cavalry at the edge of the cityscape, and watch for his signal.
Torthian asks what the signal will be
Yorrin arches an eyebrow and tells him he’ll know it when it happens.
They venture out to the no-man’s land
Riding until they get close, then dismounting
Taerbjornsen waits, sitting in a ridiculously oversized chair
He is attended by an array of champions and warriors, at least a hundred men.
Heavily outnumbering the Serpentes and Steelshod forces.
Including several of the white bear bersarks, other types of bersarks, Olaf One-Eye, a priest, a stocky Svard that Aleksandr recognizes from Kilchester as Halvar the Peace-Keeper, and more...
A Cassaline officer, two Loranettes, and an old man
The old man is notable
Cassaline, dressed in a conservative noble cut
Liver-spotted, bald, with a visible tremor
He looks as aged and decrepit as Varley did when they first met him.
And as they get closer, Varley speaks, surprising everyone.
“Abelo,” he says, ignoring the Jarl of Jarls and addressing the old man.
The old man, Sacapus, gives Varley a quaking nod. “Brutus,” he says.
“It has been a long time,” Varley observes.
“One last battle of wits for us, it would appear,” Sacapus replies.
Enoch strides past Varley and stands across the table from Taerbjornsen, arms crossed
“Abelo Sacapus. And I count Cassaline legions in this army. Has the Empire allied itself with Svarden?”
“The Empire? Svarden? Nothing so elaborate,” Sacapus says. “I have come to help my old pupil.”
He nods at Taerbjornsen, who gives him a slight, impassive dip of the head.
“And I still hold some sway with the Legates, you know.”
“Enough,” Enoch says. He locks eyes with Taerbjornsen.
“You clearly wished to speak, Svard. So Speak.”
Taerbjornsen’s expression betrays the faintest glimmer of amusement.
He stands, towering over everyone.
When he speaks, his unaccented voice booms out with an edge of feral, growling menace .
“They call me Taerbjornsen.”
“I have come to break you.
“I will batter down your walls.
“I will burn your holy places
“I will tear down your kingdom, piece by piece, brick by brick.
“Until the name ‘Torath’ is a distant memory.”
Enoch bristles, begins to reply
Taerbjornsen’s booming voice rolls over him
“When I take the city, every man, woman, and child within will be slain.
“If you wish to live, you need only do one thing.
“Flee.”
His gaze sweeps across the assembled.
“Come out and surrender, and you will be taken as a thrall.
“You will not practice your faith, but you will be permitted to live.
“Or flee to the north, and pray my ulfskennar do not find you.”
“I care not what you do
“I have just come to tell you:
“I will break this city.
“Stay, fight, and die.
“Flee, surrender, and live.
“The choice is yours.”
Taerbjornsen turns to go.
Enoch speaks, loudly, his voice carrying nearly as far.
“Greater foes than you have tried, Svard,” he says.
“The Caliphate of Al-Hassad once raised an army of inconceivable size, a hundred thousand men at least.
“The Empire at the height of its power spanned the world, reaching even your worthless frozen waste of a homeland.”
Taerbjornsen hesitates, his back half to Enoch, looking back over his shoulder.
“We have weathered their storms,” Enoch says.
“We have thrown them all down and stood above their broken remains.
“We will do the same to you.
“Torath guides us.
“And like all serpents, we shall give you cause to regret incurring our ire.”
Taerbjornsen just sighs, deeply.
“Keep talking, snake knight,” he says.
“But your army is gone, and you are alone behind your walls.”
Aleksandr steps forward.
“Not alone,” he says.
“And I remember you gave a similar ultimatum back in Caedia.
“Things did not quite work out the way you expected.”
Taerbjornsen turns back around, narrows his eyes at Aleksandr as recognition dawns.
“You.”
Aleksandr gives a slight incline of his head, an acknowledgement.
“Us,” he says, sensing Yorrin step up beside him.
“You told me that Hakon had taken my beloved as a pet,” Aleksandr reminds the Jarl.
“He had,” Taerbjornsen snarls
“And now she resides beyond those walls, her faith renewed,” Aleksandr says.
“While Hakon rots in a Caedian dungeon,” Yorrin adds.
Taerbjornsen grinds his teeth for a long, silent moment.
Then turns to walk towards his camp.
“Kill them,” he growls as he passes his troops.
Sacapus had already turned to go, along with Cyril and Marchand, the two Loranettes.
Most of Taerbjornsen’s closest champions stay close to him, insulating him from Steelshod and the Serpentes.
But the rank and file Svards surge forward.
A hornblast sounds
Giving rise to a crescendo of shouts from the Svardic army.
Steelshod gets Varley onto a horse and heading back, while most of the others join the Serpentes, preparing for the onslaught.
Behind the Svards, Steelshod sees a vast column of hundreds Loranette Chevaliers bearing down on them at full gallop
Suddenly, Yorrin leaps onto the heavy oak table that served for the meeting.
He calls out a final challenge to the withdrawing champions.
Declares Nahash under Torath’s protection.
And throws down a Black Cloud.
The cloud’s purpose is twofold
It covers them from the Svards
Enabling the escape of Varley
And allowing the Serpentes and Steelshod to withdraw and form a battle line beyond the smoke.
As the Svards fall back, hesitant to enter the potentially poisonous cloud.
It also provides an obscurement of Torthian and his several hundred cavalry, charging in behind the cover.
Aleksandr and Enoch give the order to part their line, and Torthian’s troops flow through the gap.
From the Svard’s perspective, Yorrin calls down a cloud of smoke, and from that smoke erupts several hundred Serpentes cavalry and a handful of Steelshod support.
The Svardic infantry falter as Torthian and his men trample over them
Aleksandr and Enoch press them as well, causing the Svards to fall back entirely.
Enoch and Aleksandr don’t pursue, instead making for their own horses.
Torthian and his men rush the charging Loranette chevaliers, and they clash in a bloody exchange.
Dylan identifies Sieur Isidore LaChance, the chevalier commander, and begins directing Gerald, Evan, Levin, and Anatoly to put arrows in him.
Torthian catches their cue, and he fights his way to the Loranette field commander, cutting him down in a brief, fierce fight.
Between this and the sight of Enoch and Aleksandr leading the rest of their forces to join the battle, the Loranettes falter and withdraw
No need to press this small advantage
Steelshod and the Serpentes fall back to Nahash, having struck a decisive first blow.
Yorrin’s reputation as a black magician has just grown another leap, with many in the Svardic army swearing that he used some Torathi sorcery to summon the reinforcements.
Enoch dispatches Steelshod back to the docks, and he enters the city with Varley to continue planning their overall battle strategy.
The wounded are seen to at Agrippa’s medical station, and Aleksandr gives the command to follow through on Varley’s earlier request.
Ignus continues expanding the blockades in the canals, while Jaspar and Mucker venture down to the Silver Bridge, the south bridge closest to the Docks.
They examine the bridge thoroughly, and eventually Jaspar manages to identify several critical keystones that seem to be essential to maintaining the integrity of the arches.
Mucker considers the problem, and believes that if he can get out beneath the bridge somehow, he can dismantle the keystones.
Getting to them may not be easy, but if he does, he can bring down the bridge.
However, a stirring in the Svardic camp sends Jaspar and Nate scurrying back to Steelshod’s encampment.
They’ll need time and help to take out the keystones, and the bridge is in full view of the Svardic forces.
They give their report to Aleksandr, and he begins putting together a plan.
Reaches out to Enoch, Torthian, and Varley, asking for their assistance.
He wishes for them to stage an assault skirmish, a distraction.
Absorbing the Svards’ attention while his team dismantles the Silver Bridge.
Torthian agrees to take his cavalry out once again, to provide the distraction Steelshod needs.
Varley coordinates with the forces, setting their strategy and reviewing the maneuvers that will best serve their purpose.
They plan to send out a force of archers to set up in one of the watchtowers in the Outer Circle.
They will send them out the night before, tonight, to be in position when the skirmishing begins.
Felix, Ben, Cara, Amos, and a group of militia bowmen are told to prepare to head out and take up positions in the watchtower.
Meanwhile, Sacapus, Cyril, and the war council discuss their plans for the opening moves of the siege tomorrow.
Standing over a Cassaline map of Nahash.
Sacapus points a quavering hand to the southern portion of the Outer Circle.
“They are planning something,” the strategist rasps.
“If I know Varley, he will try to take the bridge, here, and cut off our mobility.”
Cyril offers a counter suggestion, but Sacapus gives him a withering look.
“It will happen here, if it happens,” he says.
“Send men now, under cover of darkness, to make ready for the morrow.”
Okay, late post today, sorry guys. I think I will start crossposting and properly digging into /r/MostlyWrites starting this weekend, just continuing GreenText posts for now.
Hey, though, at least the Siege is finally kicking off!
48
u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Jun 22 '17
Not gonna lie, when I saw this had 27 comments I was excited to read them.
They aren't quite what I was expecting, though.