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The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
- Thread starter Emperor Valerian
- Start date
Emperor Valerian
First Post
I'm glad you enjoy it... and while in this post there isn't much blasting by Nayu... the next few will be filled with fireballs, magic storms, and other fine use of the arcane arts.
With that, I'll add that this session came about from Nayu's player making a direct demand at the end of the previous session, "Since we're chasing down this bad guy, we need a big battle!"
"Lots of opponents, or a battle battle?" I asked.
"Battle battle!"
"You sure?"
"Yes!"
"Okay..."
I'm currently in graduate school working towards a Ph.D. in Military History, so the battle part wasn't too hard. Putting it into a D&D setting and keeping the focus on the character's was. I think I did... okay. So here we go, the start of my first attempt at running an open field engagement in an RPG setting...
For reference, I'm going to try to have a map with each of the upcoming posts showing where on the battlefield our heroes are, so everyone can keep straight. And I'm going to write up things from their perspective, so when I describe something as "right," it'll be to the "left" on the map. It'll make more sense if you look at the map.
The Army is Duped...
“48...49...50!”
Felonca’s left arm ached from the strain of the one-armed pushups, but she found the pain, and the accompanying silence from the soldiers gathered around, strangely invigorating. She clambered to her feet and flashed a smile to her troops gathered around, most of whom had their mouths agape. Her arm stung viciously, but she didn’t care.
“It’s not that hard!” she grinned. “If I can do fifty one handed after a long day’s march, surely soldiers like yourselves should have no problem with using two hands for your pushups!”
Not to mention it’ll keep their minds off of wondering about that force that’s been following us for the past three days, part of her mind darkly added, as the soldiers broke ranks and began preparing for the night. She was rather proud that it was a patrol from her unit, her boys, that had scouted close enough to the trailing force to determine who it was.
Hu Lian... Felonca thought, remembering who Quan-Shi had described the young woman in fearsome terms. And now she’s chasing us with a larger force...
“Guan Ojin!” she turned and called, and soon he was by her side, ready to accept a new set of orders.
“Yes, Zhong Wei?”
“Guan, take your ten troops and practice the skills I showed you three days ago for the next hour or so. Physical training took longer than expected tonight because of Yu Ce’s challenge,” she smirked, thinking of the young private’s shocked face at seeing her do all fifty pushups one handed, “so tonight keep things short. Since we’re camped in a small wood, have them practice some forest traps; climbing, stringing rope between trees, etc.”
“I am to lead them in practice?” Ojin asked uncertainly. Normally Felonca herself taught the ten bright, eager students the arts of ambuscade in person. Tonight was different, however...
“Yes. I’m off to talk to Shang Wa-Feng to find our postings for tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll take the head of the column!” My troops are easily the best trained of the new units, they deserve the honor of taking lead position in the army! She bid farewell to Ojin, and after a few minutes walk, found herself before her uncle’s tent. Her mind was fixed on the troubles with the elder Wa-Feng... she had tried to avoid him since their falling out in Xianfung, so much to the point that she had never visited his command tent before. All her orders arrived by message, so there was no need.
I must talk to him... this kind of acrimony is not good within an army, even he must know this!
She stalked into the central area of the army camp, and quickly found the large, if simple tent in the middle. She steeled her heart and flipped open the tent flap, only to find it empty. When a hand touched her shoulder at that moment, she jumped and spun around.
“Chou!?”
“In the flesh... like you almost jumped out of!” the tall fighter laughed, his armor jingling. Immediately Felonca saw the armor was far different than before... it was lamellar, covering most of his body from head to toe in fine steel scales. Whereas before he had only a steep cap as a helm, now he had a full helmet, complete with the tall plumes of a Zhong Wei. “How are you, Felonca?”
“You’re a Zhong Wei too?!” Felonca almost screeched, grabbing him in a hug. “We were concerned! After what happened, we needed to leave, and you weren’t in any condition to...” she blathered momentarily.
“I was fine Felonca, until you crushed my ribs,” he squeaked, and she released him from her deathgrip hug. He took a second to get his air back, before adding, “I was fine. I needed the time to think... about many things.”
“How did you join up with this army?” Felonca pressed her earlier question. “And why are you here in the midst of the command section of the camp? Do you have a command also?”
“Well,” Chou started with a grin, “I’d spent a couple weeks in Mingzhong... running around, doing odd jobs to keep myself up in the inn, when I hear an army is forming to drive out the enemies of the people of the Empire. So I signed up, said who my father was, and lo and behold, Shang Wa-Feng needed a Zhong Wei on his staff for army lists.” Chou suddenly stopped, and looked at her funny.
“Wait... your family name is Wa-Feng as well... are you related?”
“Long story...” she groaned, and began to walk with him.
“Inside politicking, tsk tsk tsk,” Nayu muttered the next morning, before he turned to Felonca and chuckled. Behind them rode her company of cavalry, drawn up in good rank, their polearms smartly held, their uniforms relatively clean over their leather armor. “Your Uncle didn’t know until things were already underway?”
“It pays to know the staff officer in charge of making the army lists,” Felonca replied smartly, ducking out of the way as she passed under a low branch. The previous two hours had found them traversing through a small wood, and above their conversation could be heard the noises of forest animals screeching at the intrusion of thousands of armed humans into their realm.
“I just hope your little stunt didn’t get Chou into too much trouble. Your uncle’s probably furious at him for changing the order list.” I know I would be, Nayu thought.
“I made my case... and Chou agreed that from reports, my cavalry was of at least the same quality as the regular professionals already,” Felonca said loudly, drawing a cheer from her soldiers behind her, before giving Nayu a smug grin. “It wasn’t hard to persuade him that as the other cavalry units had lead the army by rotation at least once, it was time my unit got its turn. Fair turn is fair play. Besides, why have you ridden up here to join me this morning? I thought you were enjoying your fine allotments as the commander of the spellcasters?”
“Spellcasters know nothing of a real march!” Guan Ojin laughed on the other side of Nayu. “I bet if you weren’t riding, this little uphill slog we’ve been doing the last hour would leave you breathless!”
“You both like walking, don’t you? I can change that with a snap of my finger...” Nayu replied with a grin. “Its the usual story... its rather boring. My unit doesn’t need discpline... they certainly don’t need physical training, and they’re very well behaved... their scholars for crying out loud. So most of my time back there is either listening to boring conversations, or trying to make sure we aren’t too alienated from the regular soldi...”
“Zhong Wei! Look!” Ojin’s sharp cry cut Nayu off, as the young Guan pointed ahead. Nayu and Felonca both spun around, and Nayu gave a quiet curse at what he saw.
Ahead of them, the small forested hill gave way, the trees dwindled as the ground dropped into a shallow, wide valley before them in a breathtaking view. To the right-center of the valley ran a rather large creek, to the immediate left of which was another small, open forest. Another very wide stretch of open ground stretched leftward for almost quarter of a mile, before there was another patch of woods and then open farmland as far as the eye could see. These natural beauties did not catch their eyesight.
Instead, beyond the twin forests, lay an immense cloud of dust, rising lazily in the morning air, easily a half-mile wide.
Hu Lian... Nayu thought, cursing again.
“How did they get in front of us?” Nayu whispered, reining up his horse as Felonca did the same. “When I saw them four days ago, they were all behind us... chasing us! How did they...”
“Dammit!” Felonca swore, “She pulled a night march on us! Otherwise our cavalry would’ve seen her move by us during the day! Guan Ojin!” she spun herself around to look at the still stunned sergeant, “Ride back and find Shang Wa-Feng! Tell him that Hu Lian’s columns are in front of us... call it five miles ahead in the valley below, and ask him to come to the front!” The panther hengeyokai then spun back around, squinted into the distance before swearing again.
“This is not good... not good at all...”
“Well, we can set the army on this hill, can’t we? Wait for them to come into the woods?” Nayu offered.
“Uncle and Quan-Shi both speak of her in glowing terms... no. She’s smarter than that,” Felonca hissed. “She’ll spend the day waiting on the ground below for us to come down, and if we don’t, she’ll attack us at night. By the size of the clouds down there, she outnumbers us by quite a bit.”
“How much do you guess to be quite a bit?” Nayu asked. All I can see is that the dust cloud is huge...
“The clouds are a quarter-mile wide... Quan-Shi back at the Academy always said that you could easily fit several thousand infantry into a front several miles wide, side by side. And its safe to guess there’s more than a single long row of troops out there...” She turned and looked back at the army. Nayu followed her gaze just in time to see Shang Wa-Feng Dian, astride an immense black charger in full, midnight black armor, thunder up to their position, cursing and swearing. Behind him came a long string of officers, including Chou.
“By the ancestor’s spit!” he snapped, “She tricked me! Gods be damned, she tricked me!” He then spun the charger around, his gaze immediately finding Chou. “Damn lucky we were on this hill and saw her! Chou, send orders to the company commanders! I want the infantry between those forests, spearmen to the front. Spellcaster’s will stay to the rear! The ground on the left looks good for cavalry, so we’ll place the backbone of our cavalry there, and flank her as she comes up!”
“I still don’t see why we can’t just sit on this hill and force her to come up to us,” Nayu said. When the general turned, sour that his orders had been interrupted, Nayu met his stare head on. Her uncle’s anger be damned... I think it’d be smart to stay up here, and hit her in the woods after her troops have worn themselves out by marching up this hill!
“Do you know how many people are in our little army here?” Dian asked, his voice seeming to be rather calm.
“Several thousand. I don’t know the exact number,” Nayu replied calmly. Maybe he’s going to be civil today?
“Try four thousand!” the general snapped at him. “There’s not enough room on this hill for all our troops to deploy! There’s a reason why a Shang commands a Zhong Wei, and why soldiers command in battle, not spellcasters!” Before Nayu could even speak, the general turned and began barking orders for the army to deploy in the valley below, between the two forests.
Nayu opened his mouth to snap a reply, but wisely, the diplomatic part of his mind reined in his tongue. That reply would’ve only got you in more trouble...
...though I wonder who’d be in command if I just waltzed into his mind right now and took it over? he thought sourly. It wouldn’t be that hard... Felonca’s uncle seems to be dominated by fear and anger at this point... isolate those two emotions in his mind and away we go with General Wa-Feng the Mad... The thought mollified his anger slightly.
“Shang Wa-Feng!” Felonca snapped a salute, “I’ll immediately send my troops to the left! Do you wish us inside the wood, or beyond the wood further to the left?” By her face, Nayu could tell that anger, resentment, and mistrust had been replaced by the work of ten year’s hard training.
In response, the long barrage of orders to various commanders stopped, as Wa-Feng Dian turned and glared at his niece. “Since I can’t give you the orders I wish I could, namely to guard the baggage trains,” he snarled, directly in front of her soldiers, “I’ll have to give you a command on the far right. The trees and the creek there will make sure the enemy will pose no threat there.” His eyes narrowed as he burrowed the intended insult deeper. “Not even the most gifted commander could use cavalry in that confined place!”
“Uncle!” Felonca snapped, breaking military protocol.
“Oh... and I forgot,” Dian gave her a rather dark smile, “seeings that Zhong Wei Xili is far too sick to command his spearmen, I’m giving you his company too. You must stay with both units, on the far right, between the woods and the creek!”
“But uncle! The cavalry ground is further to the left! My troops will be able to do nothing!” she yelled, “And if we’re forced to baby-sit some spearmen, we can’t move too far off, we lose all our flexibility!” Nayu could see a flaming rage building in his friend’s eyes. Her uncle merely looked at her.
“That is the point, Felonca,” he replied, before spurring his horse towards the back of the army, shouting order as he went.
It was just past noon when Felonca cantered sadly up to her posting, her leather armor feeling heavier than it should. It’d taken all her willpower to not descend into a further verbal argument with her uncle in front of the troops, as well as to maintain her composure as her troops moved to their posting; her exile.
Behind her were strung two columns of soldiers. On horseback came her own cavalry, their faces sullen at the insult directed at their unit. Beside them marched a company of one hundred spearmen, sullen that their own commander was too ill with dysentery to lead them in person.
“Zhong Wei?” Ojin asked quietly. “What are your orders?”
She sighed, looking at the ground around them. The space between the woods and the creek was narrow... perhaps only 70 or 80 yards wide. Definitely not wide enough to launch a large cavalry attack through. Any cavalry attack would have to be only two companies at a time... not much at all...
The woods themselves looked thick enough that if cavalry entered them, their ranks would be disordered... any combat in there would turn to one on one... armor might even be meaningless in such a dark mess. Her uncle had posted a group of swordmen inside, to stop any enemy archers that might try to sneak around the army. No cavalry could sneak through there.
She then looked at the creek.... it was at the bottom of a rather steep embankment... eight or nine feet, perhaps. Beyond the creek lay more woods, even thicker than the woods on her side.
“Uncle was right... no one is going to come this way,” Felonca sighed as shouts, horns, and drums echoed beyond the small woods to her flank, the noises of an army arraying itself for battle. She listened for a moment, remembering long before, when filled with stories of battle and honor, she’d gone to the Academy. And now that battle had found her, there would be no honor...
Come on, Felonca! her mind snapped at her. Snap out of it! You may be on the farthest wing of the army! You may not win honor in a brave charge today, but you now have two units under your command! You are a Wa-Feng!
Act like a Wa-Feng!
“Nonetheless,” she turned, “We need some preparations. Guan, I want you to scout the creek there... see if there are any places behind and ahead of us where cavalry could go down into the creekbed. Also check the depth of the water... if its shallow, it could prove a useful attack or escape route.”
“Guan Yongli!” she called the highest ranking officer of the spearmen, “put your troops here, and array them in standard formation,” she pointed towards the desired location. “We’ll array the cavalry behind you.”
Nayu forced himself to close his mouth at the sight below. The heavy, thundering rumble of drums joined the thundering drumbeat of thousands of feet as he watched the Wa-Feng army march into position, its front ranks lowering their spears as distant horns and voices called out orders. To the far left, he could still see Felonca’s uncle himself, directing seemingly all the cavalry into a hiding position behind the leftmost woods. Somewhere to the right, out of sight because of the woods to the right, lay his friend and her small unit.
Further away, the massive dust cloud had revealed itself to indeed be a massive army. Nayu could clearly see dense, powerful ranks of spearman in the front, with more spears rising menacingly from the cloud, as if from a dream. From his position at the base of the hill from which his army had emerged, he couldn’t see any cavalry on the enemy side whatsoever.
That’s really strange... he thought, his mind still pondering the problem. He turned to Yu Enlai, who was still seated upon the ground, legs crossed, his eyes closed in firm concentration.
“Tell Shang Wa-Feng I see nothing either, no horsemen at all,” Nayu said. The sorcerer was still in awe of the capabilities that some of the ‘soldiers’ in his unit possessed. Yu Enlai, as well as four of the other scholars, could through concentration, communicate mentally with the commanders of the various units. Yu spoke with and for Shang Wa-Feng himself, and the other four each had a single higher ranking commander they communicated with (Rary’s Telepathic Bond).
Yu Enlai mumbled something in reply, and Nayu merely gave a grunt. As for him, Zhen Ren, and the other four scholars, they would be artillery... or as what Wa-Feng Dian had called them, “human catapults of fiery pitch.” A few seconds later, a dust cloud stirred up behind the ranks of friendly spears, as Shang Wa-Feng pushed his cavalrymen around the forest, and into attack position.
“Zhong Wei, there is something odd over there,” Zhen Ren said quietly. Nayu followed his gaze, and squinted off to the left, towards the leading ranks of the enemy army. Like the other locations, he could see the front ranks of a massive hedge of spearmen... but in front of that, there was something very very odd...
Ten men, clad in robes, walking alone...
“Who are those? Why are they marching like that alone?” Zhen Ren asked cautiously. “Is it a trap? Should we inform Shang Wa-Feng?”
Nayu thought for a second. Who would be foolish enough, arrogant enough to walk brazenly in front of their own troops with no armor, no weapons...
...scholars...
“They’re spellcasters,” Nayu said finally, before letting himself grin. Normally it would be bad if I killed a pompous scholar... but there are always exceptions... “Zhen Ren, you said you can cause enormous explosions of flame.” Nayu gestured towards the army advancing on them. “I’ll let you do the honors.”
Nayu’s eyes could only catch the tiny white bead that flew from Zhen Ren’s hand for only a few seconds, but the entire valley likely heard the massive explosion that erupted in the midst of the ten men walking alone. It was obvious the troops behind them saw... the spearmen’s ranks shuffled as they walked over the burnt corpses, left from the first salvo of the Battle of Ii-suken...
With that, I'll add that this session came about from Nayu's player making a direct demand at the end of the previous session, "Since we're chasing down this bad guy, we need a big battle!"
"Lots of opponents, or a battle battle?" I asked.
"Battle battle!"
"You sure?"
"Yes!"
"Okay..."
I'm currently in graduate school working towards a Ph.D. in Military History, so the battle part wasn't too hard. Putting it into a D&D setting and keeping the focus on the character's was. I think I did... okay. So here we go, the start of my first attempt at running an open field engagement in an RPG setting...
For reference, I'm going to try to have a map with each of the upcoming posts showing where on the battlefield our heroes are, so everyone can keep straight. And I'm going to write up things from their perspective, so when I describe something as "right," it'll be to the "left" on the map. It'll make more sense if you look at the map.
The Army is Duped...
“48...49...50!”
Felonca’s left arm ached from the strain of the one-armed pushups, but she found the pain, and the accompanying silence from the soldiers gathered around, strangely invigorating. She clambered to her feet and flashed a smile to her troops gathered around, most of whom had their mouths agape. Her arm stung viciously, but she didn’t care.
“It’s not that hard!” she grinned. “If I can do fifty one handed after a long day’s march, surely soldiers like yourselves should have no problem with using two hands for your pushups!”
Not to mention it’ll keep their minds off of wondering about that force that’s been following us for the past three days, part of her mind darkly added, as the soldiers broke ranks and began preparing for the night. She was rather proud that it was a patrol from her unit, her boys, that had scouted close enough to the trailing force to determine who it was.
Hu Lian... Felonca thought, remembering who Quan-Shi had described the young woman in fearsome terms. And now she’s chasing us with a larger force...
“Guan Ojin!” she turned and called, and soon he was by her side, ready to accept a new set of orders.
“Yes, Zhong Wei?”
“Guan, take your ten troops and practice the skills I showed you three days ago for the next hour or so. Physical training took longer than expected tonight because of Yu Ce’s challenge,” she smirked, thinking of the young private’s shocked face at seeing her do all fifty pushups one handed, “so tonight keep things short. Since we’re camped in a small wood, have them practice some forest traps; climbing, stringing rope between trees, etc.”
“I am to lead them in practice?” Ojin asked uncertainly. Normally Felonca herself taught the ten bright, eager students the arts of ambuscade in person. Tonight was different, however...
“Yes. I’m off to talk to Shang Wa-Feng to find our postings for tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll take the head of the column!” My troops are easily the best trained of the new units, they deserve the honor of taking lead position in the army! She bid farewell to Ojin, and after a few minutes walk, found herself before her uncle’s tent. Her mind was fixed on the troubles with the elder Wa-Feng... she had tried to avoid him since their falling out in Xianfung, so much to the point that she had never visited his command tent before. All her orders arrived by message, so there was no need.
I must talk to him... this kind of acrimony is not good within an army, even he must know this!
She stalked into the central area of the army camp, and quickly found the large, if simple tent in the middle. She steeled her heart and flipped open the tent flap, only to find it empty. When a hand touched her shoulder at that moment, she jumped and spun around.
“Chou!?”
“In the flesh... like you almost jumped out of!” the tall fighter laughed, his armor jingling. Immediately Felonca saw the armor was far different than before... it was lamellar, covering most of his body from head to toe in fine steel scales. Whereas before he had only a steep cap as a helm, now he had a full helmet, complete with the tall plumes of a Zhong Wei. “How are you, Felonca?”
“You’re a Zhong Wei too?!” Felonca almost screeched, grabbing him in a hug. “We were concerned! After what happened, we needed to leave, and you weren’t in any condition to...” she blathered momentarily.
“I was fine Felonca, until you crushed my ribs,” he squeaked, and she released him from her deathgrip hug. He took a second to get his air back, before adding, “I was fine. I needed the time to think... about many things.”
“How did you join up with this army?” Felonca pressed her earlier question. “And why are you here in the midst of the command section of the camp? Do you have a command also?”
“Well,” Chou started with a grin, “I’d spent a couple weeks in Mingzhong... running around, doing odd jobs to keep myself up in the inn, when I hear an army is forming to drive out the enemies of the people of the Empire. So I signed up, said who my father was, and lo and behold, Shang Wa-Feng needed a Zhong Wei on his staff for army lists.” Chou suddenly stopped, and looked at her funny.
“Wait... your family name is Wa-Feng as well... are you related?”
“Long story...” she groaned, and began to walk with him.
“Inside politicking, tsk tsk tsk,” Nayu muttered the next morning, before he turned to Felonca and chuckled. Behind them rode her company of cavalry, drawn up in good rank, their polearms smartly held, their uniforms relatively clean over their leather armor. “Your Uncle didn’t know until things were already underway?”
“It pays to know the staff officer in charge of making the army lists,” Felonca replied smartly, ducking out of the way as she passed under a low branch. The previous two hours had found them traversing through a small wood, and above their conversation could be heard the noises of forest animals screeching at the intrusion of thousands of armed humans into their realm.
“I just hope your little stunt didn’t get Chou into too much trouble. Your uncle’s probably furious at him for changing the order list.” I know I would be, Nayu thought.
“I made my case... and Chou agreed that from reports, my cavalry was of at least the same quality as the regular professionals already,” Felonca said loudly, drawing a cheer from her soldiers behind her, before giving Nayu a smug grin. “It wasn’t hard to persuade him that as the other cavalry units had lead the army by rotation at least once, it was time my unit got its turn. Fair turn is fair play. Besides, why have you ridden up here to join me this morning? I thought you were enjoying your fine allotments as the commander of the spellcasters?”
“Spellcasters know nothing of a real march!” Guan Ojin laughed on the other side of Nayu. “I bet if you weren’t riding, this little uphill slog we’ve been doing the last hour would leave you breathless!”
“You both like walking, don’t you? I can change that with a snap of my finger...” Nayu replied with a grin. “Its the usual story... its rather boring. My unit doesn’t need discpline... they certainly don’t need physical training, and they’re very well behaved... their scholars for crying out loud. So most of my time back there is either listening to boring conversations, or trying to make sure we aren’t too alienated from the regular soldi...”
“Zhong Wei! Look!” Ojin’s sharp cry cut Nayu off, as the young Guan pointed ahead. Nayu and Felonca both spun around, and Nayu gave a quiet curse at what he saw.
Ahead of them, the small forested hill gave way, the trees dwindled as the ground dropped into a shallow, wide valley before them in a breathtaking view. To the right-center of the valley ran a rather large creek, to the immediate left of which was another small, open forest. Another very wide stretch of open ground stretched leftward for almost quarter of a mile, before there was another patch of woods and then open farmland as far as the eye could see. These natural beauties did not catch their eyesight.
Instead, beyond the twin forests, lay an immense cloud of dust, rising lazily in the morning air, easily a half-mile wide.
Hu Lian... Nayu thought, cursing again.
“How did they get in front of us?” Nayu whispered, reining up his horse as Felonca did the same. “When I saw them four days ago, they were all behind us... chasing us! How did they...”
“Dammit!” Felonca swore, “She pulled a night march on us! Otherwise our cavalry would’ve seen her move by us during the day! Guan Ojin!” she spun herself around to look at the still stunned sergeant, “Ride back and find Shang Wa-Feng! Tell him that Hu Lian’s columns are in front of us... call it five miles ahead in the valley below, and ask him to come to the front!” The panther hengeyokai then spun back around, squinted into the distance before swearing again.
“This is not good... not good at all...”
“Well, we can set the army on this hill, can’t we? Wait for them to come into the woods?” Nayu offered.
“Uncle and Quan-Shi both speak of her in glowing terms... no. She’s smarter than that,” Felonca hissed. “She’ll spend the day waiting on the ground below for us to come down, and if we don’t, she’ll attack us at night. By the size of the clouds down there, she outnumbers us by quite a bit.”
“How much do you guess to be quite a bit?” Nayu asked. All I can see is that the dust cloud is huge...
“The clouds are a quarter-mile wide... Quan-Shi back at the Academy always said that you could easily fit several thousand infantry into a front several miles wide, side by side. And its safe to guess there’s more than a single long row of troops out there...” She turned and looked back at the army. Nayu followed her gaze just in time to see Shang Wa-Feng Dian, astride an immense black charger in full, midnight black armor, thunder up to their position, cursing and swearing. Behind him came a long string of officers, including Chou.
“By the ancestor’s spit!” he snapped, “She tricked me! Gods be damned, she tricked me!” He then spun the charger around, his gaze immediately finding Chou. “Damn lucky we were on this hill and saw her! Chou, send orders to the company commanders! I want the infantry between those forests, spearmen to the front. Spellcaster’s will stay to the rear! The ground on the left looks good for cavalry, so we’ll place the backbone of our cavalry there, and flank her as she comes up!”
“I still don’t see why we can’t just sit on this hill and force her to come up to us,” Nayu said. When the general turned, sour that his orders had been interrupted, Nayu met his stare head on. Her uncle’s anger be damned... I think it’d be smart to stay up here, and hit her in the woods after her troops have worn themselves out by marching up this hill!
“Do you know how many people are in our little army here?” Dian asked, his voice seeming to be rather calm.
“Several thousand. I don’t know the exact number,” Nayu replied calmly. Maybe he’s going to be civil today?
“Try four thousand!” the general snapped at him. “There’s not enough room on this hill for all our troops to deploy! There’s a reason why a Shang commands a Zhong Wei, and why soldiers command in battle, not spellcasters!” Before Nayu could even speak, the general turned and began barking orders for the army to deploy in the valley below, between the two forests.
Nayu opened his mouth to snap a reply, but wisely, the diplomatic part of his mind reined in his tongue. That reply would’ve only got you in more trouble...
...though I wonder who’d be in command if I just waltzed into his mind right now and took it over? he thought sourly. It wouldn’t be that hard... Felonca’s uncle seems to be dominated by fear and anger at this point... isolate those two emotions in his mind and away we go with General Wa-Feng the Mad... The thought mollified his anger slightly.
“Shang Wa-Feng!” Felonca snapped a salute, “I’ll immediately send my troops to the left! Do you wish us inside the wood, or beyond the wood further to the left?” By her face, Nayu could tell that anger, resentment, and mistrust had been replaced by the work of ten year’s hard training.
In response, the long barrage of orders to various commanders stopped, as Wa-Feng Dian turned and glared at his niece. “Since I can’t give you the orders I wish I could, namely to guard the baggage trains,” he snarled, directly in front of her soldiers, “I’ll have to give you a command on the far right. The trees and the creek there will make sure the enemy will pose no threat there.” His eyes narrowed as he burrowed the intended insult deeper. “Not even the most gifted commander could use cavalry in that confined place!”
“Uncle!” Felonca snapped, breaking military protocol.
“Oh... and I forgot,” Dian gave her a rather dark smile, “seeings that Zhong Wei Xili is far too sick to command his spearmen, I’m giving you his company too. You must stay with both units, on the far right, between the woods and the creek!”
“But uncle! The cavalry ground is further to the left! My troops will be able to do nothing!” she yelled, “And if we’re forced to baby-sit some spearmen, we can’t move too far off, we lose all our flexibility!” Nayu could see a flaming rage building in his friend’s eyes. Her uncle merely looked at her.
“That is the point, Felonca,” he replied, before spurring his horse towards the back of the army, shouting order as he went.
It was just past noon when Felonca cantered sadly up to her posting, her leather armor feeling heavier than it should. It’d taken all her willpower to not descend into a further verbal argument with her uncle in front of the troops, as well as to maintain her composure as her troops moved to their posting; her exile.
Behind her were strung two columns of soldiers. On horseback came her own cavalry, their faces sullen at the insult directed at their unit. Beside them marched a company of one hundred spearmen, sullen that their own commander was too ill with dysentery to lead them in person.
“Zhong Wei?” Ojin asked quietly. “What are your orders?”
She sighed, looking at the ground around them. The space between the woods and the creek was narrow... perhaps only 70 or 80 yards wide. Definitely not wide enough to launch a large cavalry attack through. Any cavalry attack would have to be only two companies at a time... not much at all...
The woods themselves looked thick enough that if cavalry entered them, their ranks would be disordered... any combat in there would turn to one on one... armor might even be meaningless in such a dark mess. Her uncle had posted a group of swordmen inside, to stop any enemy archers that might try to sneak around the army. No cavalry could sneak through there.
She then looked at the creek.... it was at the bottom of a rather steep embankment... eight or nine feet, perhaps. Beyond the creek lay more woods, even thicker than the woods on her side.
“Uncle was right... no one is going to come this way,” Felonca sighed as shouts, horns, and drums echoed beyond the small woods to her flank, the noises of an army arraying itself for battle. She listened for a moment, remembering long before, when filled with stories of battle and honor, she’d gone to the Academy. And now that battle had found her, there would be no honor...
Come on, Felonca! her mind snapped at her. Snap out of it! You may be on the farthest wing of the army! You may not win honor in a brave charge today, but you now have two units under your command! You are a Wa-Feng!
Act like a Wa-Feng!
“Nonetheless,” she turned, “We need some preparations. Guan, I want you to scout the creek there... see if there are any places behind and ahead of us where cavalry could go down into the creekbed. Also check the depth of the water... if its shallow, it could prove a useful attack or escape route.”
“Guan Yongli!” she called the highest ranking officer of the spearmen, “put your troops here, and array them in standard formation,” she pointed towards the desired location. “We’ll array the cavalry behind you.”
Nayu forced himself to close his mouth at the sight below. The heavy, thundering rumble of drums joined the thundering drumbeat of thousands of feet as he watched the Wa-Feng army march into position, its front ranks lowering their spears as distant horns and voices called out orders. To the far left, he could still see Felonca’s uncle himself, directing seemingly all the cavalry into a hiding position behind the leftmost woods. Somewhere to the right, out of sight because of the woods to the right, lay his friend and her small unit.
Further away, the massive dust cloud had revealed itself to indeed be a massive army. Nayu could clearly see dense, powerful ranks of spearman in the front, with more spears rising menacingly from the cloud, as if from a dream. From his position at the base of the hill from which his army had emerged, he couldn’t see any cavalry on the enemy side whatsoever.
That’s really strange... he thought, his mind still pondering the problem. He turned to Yu Enlai, who was still seated upon the ground, legs crossed, his eyes closed in firm concentration.
“Tell Shang Wa-Feng I see nothing either, no horsemen at all,” Nayu said. The sorcerer was still in awe of the capabilities that some of the ‘soldiers’ in his unit possessed. Yu Enlai, as well as four of the other scholars, could through concentration, communicate mentally with the commanders of the various units. Yu spoke with and for Shang Wa-Feng himself, and the other four each had a single higher ranking commander they communicated with (Rary’s Telepathic Bond).
Yu Enlai mumbled something in reply, and Nayu merely gave a grunt. As for him, Zhen Ren, and the other four scholars, they would be artillery... or as what Wa-Feng Dian had called them, “human catapults of fiery pitch.” A few seconds later, a dust cloud stirred up behind the ranks of friendly spears, as Shang Wa-Feng pushed his cavalrymen around the forest, and into attack position.
“Zhong Wei, there is something odd over there,” Zhen Ren said quietly. Nayu followed his gaze, and squinted off to the left, towards the leading ranks of the enemy army. Like the other locations, he could see the front ranks of a massive hedge of spearmen... but in front of that, there was something very very odd...
Ten men, clad in robes, walking alone...
“Who are those? Why are they marching like that alone?” Zhen Ren asked cautiously. “Is it a trap? Should we inform Shang Wa-Feng?”
Nayu thought for a second. Who would be foolish enough, arrogant enough to walk brazenly in front of their own troops with no armor, no weapons...
...scholars...
“They’re spellcasters,” Nayu said finally, before letting himself grin. Normally it would be bad if I killed a pompous scholar... but there are always exceptions... “Zhen Ren, you said you can cause enormous explosions of flame.” Nayu gestured towards the army advancing on them. “I’ll let you do the honors.”
Nayu’s eyes could only catch the tiny white bead that flew from Zhen Ren’s hand for only a few seconds, but the entire valley likely heard the massive explosion that erupted in the midst of the ten men walking alone. It was obvious the troops behind them saw... the spearmen’s ranks shuffled as they walked over the burnt corpses, left from the first salvo of the Battle of Ii-suken...
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Emperor Valerian
First Post
Allright... both me and Felonca's player (drag 'n fly) have been playing with photoshop, and invariably there have been attempts to create images of events that have occurred in the SH. When a new one is finished, I'll try to get it posted here.
For starters, we have the image finished by me just a few minutes ago. Nayu likes fire... and in this case, the Wang Liang found this out the hard way.
For starters, we have the image finished by me just a few minutes ago. Nayu likes fire... and in this case, the Wang Liang found this out the hard way.
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HalfOrc HalfBiscuit
Adventurer
Well, it looks good so far. OK, I know that battle proper hasn't started, but anyway ...
I'd be interested in how you handled this "behind the screen". Had you predetermined the outcome of certain events (like what happens on the left wing - away from the PCs), or did the success (or otherwise) of the PC's actions determine the outcome of events not just on their part of the field, but elsewhere also?
drag n fly
First Post
I'll let EV handle the details of this question Suffice to say that things didn't work out quite as planned. It was fun, but a disaster in terms of running. We had a good time though, and alot of laughs.
EV, maybe you could post a summary of the rules you created for this engagement? Other people might be interested in using them/modifying them
Suffice to say that things didn't work out quite as planned. It was fun, but a disaster in terms of running. We had a good time though, and alot of laughs.EV, maybe you could post a summary of the rules you created for this engagement? Other people might be interested in using them/modifying them
ThoughtfulOwl
First Post
drag n fly said:I'll let EV handle the details of this question
Nothing wrong with that; in my games, some of the best moments were when everything took an unexpected direction or when strings of unlikely die rolls and in-game choices led to very bizarre rationalizations of what was happening.
Emperor Valerian
First Post
I'll get the rules I used, as well as the next post, up ASAP. Right now, I'm working on some photoshop work (this might become a partially illustrated story hour soon... ) as well as end of the year school projects, and the finale for this campaign (to be played tomorrow).
) as well as end of the year school projects, and the finale for this campaign (to be played tomorrow).Emperor Valerian
First Post
Quite. To sort through the fallout from the final campaign is going to take a bit... as well as typing up its outline. So the next post to the story should come Monday night.
Emperor Valerian
First Post
The Battle of Ii-suken, Part One
The thundering crash of war drums wafted over the forest and to Felonca’s ears, causing the panther to hold her breath. Just on the other side of the wood, battle was being joined, yet she was posted here, only a few hundred yards from the fighting, yet effectively in another province.
“Maybe uncle will call on us to help with the pursuit,” she thought aloud, avoiding the urge to kick a rock, or otherwise physically manifest her boredom. She’d gone with Ojin to survey the creekbed, and they’d found it soft, but fordable for her cavalry... they were mounted on small horses, unburdened by hundreds of pounds of armor and heavy weapons. If they’d been equipped as one of her uncle’s heavy cavalry units, the horses likely would have sank in the muck within the creek bottom.
I need something to focus my mind... she realized. She clambered back onto her horse, and turned it towards the creekbed. Within a few minutes, she was cantering down the shallow creek, her head just over the rim of the bank, the forest and her men visible only through the tangle of intervening reeds.
She took the time to look at the banks alongside the creek...they were tall, but shallow enough that with coaxing, a horse could climb them. Perfect for hiding, and climbing back out, she thought. However, her examining mind suddenly found itself interrupted.
The only noise she’d noticed most of the trip had been the splashings of her own horse in the shallow water, and the noise of birds far enough from the tumult on the other side of the forest that they still sang. All the while, echoing off the trees, came the rumbling, thundering noise of troops marching into battle rattled into her ears...
...until she heard another noise.
It first sounded like a slight jingle, and at first she looked down to check that the steel ribs of her warfans were not bumping into each other. When she realized her warfans were on separate sides of her body, she then reined up her horse, preparing to check her other gear. As soon as her steed stopped, she heard it.
Jingling, clanging, as if heavy steel armor was bouncing and rubbing against itself, along with the distinctive rumble of hooves... hundreds of hooves.
What the... my cavalry isn’t supposed to be this far ahead... she thought, craning her head to peer through the reeds along the creekbed. At first she could only see the hooves of hundreds of horses, slowly moving towards the north... the opposite of the way her troops were supposed to be facing. A bundle of reeds moved later, and her heart stopped.
Lined throughout the narrow gap between the forest and the creekbed were rank upon rank of cavalry, the riders and horses all covered in the menacing steel of heavy cavalry, their halberds and lances at rest as they cantered forward under the black banners of the Prince of Langya. At their head was a woman clad in the brilliant armor of a Shang, gilded points and artwork gracing the front and back of the lamellar steel, a massive, menacing green spear in her hand.
Hu Lian... here? Felonca quaked. That... that must be her! They spoke of no other woman as a general in this army... that must be her! But why are they coming around the wood on this side? Its far too narrow for alot of troops to cross quickly... especially cavalry! Even my uncle said no cavalry would...
Felonca’s mind stopped, as another banner leading a large contingent swept by.
Uncle doesn’t expect her to come this way... Uncle doesn’t know! Ten years of military training kicked in, as Felonca brought to her mind a view of the battlefield... where her uncle was, where all the reserves, and his cavalry were...
...on the far side of the battlefield...
Then she... Felonca’s mind stopped at the conclusion, her eyes peering through the reeds now as she went from a shocked young girl to an officer.
There’s at least five banners... that’s... that’s five hundred heavy cavalry! Here! And if they manage to swing around these woods, there’s...
She ran through the list of commands she had heard her uncle rattle off that morning, and her heart sank.
No one... no one between her and rolling up the entire army, crushing it in from the side...
The jingling and rumbling was a thunderous roar now, as hundreds of horses and riders formed up in dense, thick ranks in the narrow gap. The massive noise fortunately hid from the ears of Hu Lian the sound of a horse furiously splashing up the creek on their flank... A few seconds later, an immense, rippling roar covered even their noise.
Nayu blinked hard, the brightness of the light from below nearly blinding him. He squinted hard, and the light revealed itself to be a series of rippling points of searing flame, the faint, ghostly white echoed of a concussion wave racing outward from the center of each of the massive fireballs placed in the midst of the spearmen to the sorcerer’s front. As the flames dimmed from bright white to orange, then red, the pillars of smoke, Nayu’s adjusted eyes could finally make out the many friendly spearmen ending their smoking, flaming arcs in the air, crashing amongst their comrades.
“Good gods,” the sorcerer breathed, now realizing that only a few seconds before, several hundred lives had been utterly crushed in a massive series of over twenty fireballs that had rippled down the front line of the Wa-Feng army. To punctuate the point, only now was the rippling cruump of the successive blasts heard... as if dead souls were crying out in anger at their fate.
Before the sorcerer could grip what happened, arcs of lightning also lashed out across the battlefield, each of the six bolts targeting mounted officers in the midst of the Wa-Feng line. It was only as the bright blue from these flashes faded, that Nayu realized what had to be done.
“Zhen Ren!” Nayu yelled at the other wizard, whose hands were already in motion, arcane magic already crackling around his form. The rest of Nayu’s orders died in his throat.
These men have seen battle... they know what to do, he realized as five points of light slashed out from the scholars not busy with communicating, disappearing towards the spots where the great bolts of lightning came from. A second later, more rippling, blinding flashes lit up the battlefield below, focused on two locations; one right behind the front rank of the Langya infantry, and one much further towards the rear.
“Bastards,” Zhen Ren growled, before looking towards the young sorcerer, his eyes questioning.
Nayu looked back down towards the middle of the battlefield again. The Wa-Feng spearmen, shattered by the fireball blasts, were already reeling, collapsing backwards, as the soldiers abandoned their positions in fear.
“Yu Enlai, inform Shang Wa-Feng that the front ranks are breaking!” Nayu yelled to the still concentrating man, even as indecision weighed in the young sorcerer’s mind.
If the middle of the army gives way... there’s no one between us and the enemy army...
...those lightning bolts took out the officers in the middle of the army...
...the army’s middle is breaking...
“Zhen Ren, get my horse!” Nayu called back, the Zhong Wei in his title returning to his actions. “The rest of you, I want some serious explosions put on the center of the Langya line coming towards us! Now!” Nervously, the spellcaster’s hand went to his mace.
“Zhong Wei, with all due respect,” Zhen Ren bowed politely to Nayu, “a spellcaster is ill armed and ill equipped to be on the frontline. You are a very courteous man, Zhong Wei, and you liked the soldiers, and they liked you! Nonetheless I beg you to reconsider what you are thinking!”
What the hell are you thinking? part of Nayu’s mind snapped at him. You have no armor... you can’t swing a sword, and your clumsy even with this mace! You don’t think you can...
What am I supposed to do? another part of Nayu’s brain snapped. If those soldiers run, we’re doomed! Our army’s split in two, and there will be no one between Hu Lian and us! None!
“Zhen Ren, that’s an order,” Nayu countered, as another series of fireball blasts lit up the front ranks of the Langya army...
“Zhong Wei! We thought you were gone!” Ojin cried as Felonca galloped out of the creek, well behind the spearmen to the front. “The enemy is forming cavalry to our front, we feared you were captured!” Felonca took in his eyes... fear. She looked at the other soldiers around her, and all cast fearful glances past her, towards the rumbling, advancing cavalry that was trotting closer and closer...
“It takes more than someone with a pointy stick and a big horse to catch a Wa-Feng,” Felonca replied with a tense grin. Away from the look of bravado, her mind was busy wheeling, thinking, trying to find out what needed to be done... what could be done. “Fetch the other Guans. When they arrive, I’ll have battle orders.”
She fought to keep herself from sighing with relief at least seeing Ojin’s face take on a slight look of determination and trust... something other than fear.
They can’t charge us with their entire cavalry force... the area is too narrow, and the woods would disorder their ranks, leaving them vulnerable. Still... we are outnumbered at least 5 to 2, and if Hu Lian is swinging all her cavalry this way... Her eyes then looked to the spearmen under her care. They’re lightly armored... they might hold off a charge, maybe two if we’re lucky, but then they’ll give way...
Like my troops would do any better against heavy cavalry head on! she snorted to herself as Ojin ran off to gather the various Guans from her two commands. They have leather armor... versus troops armored in steel? I could have had ten years training them, and still Hu Lian’s force would cut through them like a scythe harvests wheat!
There’s no way we can lure them into the woods if Hu Lian is as clever as they make her out to be... and we can’t run our cavalry straight out to outflank them, the creek is their flank...
Her mind stopped.
The creek...
A few minutes later, the various Guans in charge of the units within her cavalry, as well as the units of spearmen under her care, arrived. Felonca took careful care to remain mounted, her eyes purposefully not looking at the enemy, instead looking at her own troops.
“I’ve assembled the other Guans as you requested, Zhong Wei!” Ojin called, before giving a smart salute. Around him stood fifteen men, all in various states of being tired, bedraggled, and fearful. The eight guans from the spearmen were openly ignoring her, their eyes focused on their advancing doom.
“Guan Yongli!” Felonca snapped, putting all the pent up nervousness and fear into the angry crack of her voice, “kindly make your subordinates pay attention when a superior officer is about to issue orders!”
At her sharp words, the eight sergeants all turned, somewhat reluctantly, from staring at the advancing enemy. Felonca noticed that fear was still in their eyes... though part of it now looked to be fear of her.
Dammit... well... if that gets them to pay attention and stay in line...
“Gentlemen, you all know what is coming this way, so lets not worry about counting more adversaries.” She gave an ironic smirk, yet her voice was still quiet. “Whether we face five hundred or a thousand, we are still outnumbered either way.” She looked back at the soldiers, feeling two hundred pairs of eyes boring in on her, as the distant clank and rumbling of armored horsemen slowly grew louder. She cleared her throat. Time for the performance of your life, Felonca...
“In front of us comes Princess Hu Lian herself, and likely a thousand of her best cavalry!” Felonca called, pointing towards the slowly oncoming horde with her warfans. “She is confident that she can break through us easily, and then ride around this forest!”
“Gentlemen, behind us,” she pointed towards the quiet edge of the woods far to the rear, “lies empty space! There is no one. If we give way, she will ride around these woods, and destroy our entire army! If we give way, there will be no one to stop her from riding us down and trampling us like dogs! All of us... you soldiers, your guans, and me!”
“Today, you’re going to have to be tougher than she expects! You’ll have to be tougher than you want to be! You’re going to have to stay her longer than you want, facing odds that would make lesser men weep in anguish! But you are not lesser men, are you?!” Her eyes looked at theirs. They still saw fear, but now there was determination as well, and a few of the more eager men from her own cavalry yelled a cheer.
Still too few. Keep on!
“I will not lie! We face long odds, and many of us will not survive!” she called, her voice filling with the same power and rhetoric she’d heard for so many years of her life. “But if you are valiant, and you fight as a man should, you will be greeted by the ancestors, and lend honor to your family name! If we die, we die with honor!” The cheers were more numerous, growing, thundering. She could feel the emotion boiling in the hearts of her soldiers, giving her hope, and a push for a crowning ending.
“I am a mere Zhong Wei,” she started her horse forward, trotting behind the line of spearmen, “But beyond this, I am a Wa-Feng! My grandfather fought off the barbarians north of the wall, as has my father! And now we fight our own barbarians, and even though they cover themselves in steel as a crab covers itself in a shell, they will die just as easily!” Her hand reached to the spot on her hip where throughout her Academy days, a sword would have rested. Instead, she found the grip of a warfan, and snatched it out, holding it aloft. “There is a saying around the Armies of the Celestial Empire:”
“Always Wa-Feng! Always Victory!”
“Wa-Feng!” Ojin shouted hard and loud, his blade slashing up into the air. Immediately behind him the voices of two hundred soldiers joined in, a chant rising into the air.
“Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng!”
“Ojin! Take your special unit, and go into these woods, a little ahead of the spearline! I want you to take as much rope as you can from the cavalry camp, and start making those forest traps I’ve taught you! Nothing complex, simple horse trips are all the time we have for!”
“Yes, Zhong Wei Wa-Feng!” Ojin saluted, calling together his ten men.
She then spun her horse around, as the chanting continued.
“Guan Yongli! Form your spearmen to cover this gap as best you can! I realize you’ll be drawn out to only two ranks deep, but you must hold!” she snarled. “Take at least one charge, two if you can! Your men are going to be the anvil, my cavalry will be the hammer! We’ll disappear for a bit, but you can count on a Wa-Feng to return on time! Is that clear!”
“Yes, Zhong Wei!”
“The rest of you! Eagle Company!” she bellowed, and was greeted with a roar from the other ninety men of her unit. She reined her horse back around towards the creek, spurring her horse on to a gallop, “Follow me! Stay low on your mount, and hold your spears low! We’ve got some crabs to kill!”
She felt the wind in her hair, her blood pulsing with excitement, nerves, and dread as she rode down the line of spearmen, their chants filling her ears.
“Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng!”
She felt her ancestors whispering in her ear... tales of past glory, tales of present prowess. For the first time, she felt their arms wrapping around her, and she realized her father would have been proud...
The thundering crash of war drums wafted over the forest and to Felonca’s ears, causing the panther to hold her breath. Just on the other side of the wood, battle was being joined, yet she was posted here, only a few hundred yards from the fighting, yet effectively in another province.
“Maybe uncle will call on us to help with the pursuit,” she thought aloud, avoiding the urge to kick a rock, or otherwise physically manifest her boredom. She’d gone with Ojin to survey the creekbed, and they’d found it soft, but fordable for her cavalry... they were mounted on small horses, unburdened by hundreds of pounds of armor and heavy weapons. If they’d been equipped as one of her uncle’s heavy cavalry units, the horses likely would have sank in the muck within the creek bottom.
I need something to focus my mind... she realized. She clambered back onto her horse, and turned it towards the creekbed. Within a few minutes, she was cantering down the shallow creek, her head just over the rim of the bank, the forest and her men visible only through the tangle of intervening reeds.
She took the time to look at the banks alongside the creek...they were tall, but shallow enough that with coaxing, a horse could climb them. Perfect for hiding, and climbing back out, she thought. However, her examining mind suddenly found itself interrupted.
The only noise she’d noticed most of the trip had been the splashings of her own horse in the shallow water, and the noise of birds far enough from the tumult on the other side of the forest that they still sang. All the while, echoing off the trees, came the rumbling, thundering noise of troops marching into battle rattled into her ears...
...until she heard another noise.
It first sounded like a slight jingle, and at first she looked down to check that the steel ribs of her warfans were not bumping into each other. When she realized her warfans were on separate sides of her body, she then reined up her horse, preparing to check her other gear. As soon as her steed stopped, she heard it.
Jingling, clanging, as if heavy steel armor was bouncing and rubbing against itself, along with the distinctive rumble of hooves... hundreds of hooves.
What the... my cavalry isn’t supposed to be this far ahead... she thought, craning her head to peer through the reeds along the creekbed. At first she could only see the hooves of hundreds of horses, slowly moving towards the north... the opposite of the way her troops were supposed to be facing. A bundle of reeds moved later, and her heart stopped.
Lined throughout the narrow gap between the forest and the creekbed were rank upon rank of cavalry, the riders and horses all covered in the menacing steel of heavy cavalry, their halberds and lances at rest as they cantered forward under the black banners of the Prince of Langya. At their head was a woman clad in the brilliant armor of a Shang, gilded points and artwork gracing the front and back of the lamellar steel, a massive, menacing green spear in her hand.
Hu Lian... here? Felonca quaked. That... that must be her! They spoke of no other woman as a general in this army... that must be her! But why are they coming around the wood on this side? Its far too narrow for alot of troops to cross quickly... especially cavalry! Even my uncle said no cavalry would...
Felonca’s mind stopped, as another banner leading a large contingent swept by.
Uncle doesn’t expect her to come this way... Uncle doesn’t know! Ten years of military training kicked in, as Felonca brought to her mind a view of the battlefield... where her uncle was, where all the reserves, and his cavalry were...
...on the far side of the battlefield...
Then she... Felonca’s mind stopped at the conclusion, her eyes peering through the reeds now as she went from a shocked young girl to an officer.
There’s at least five banners... that’s... that’s five hundred heavy cavalry! Here! And if they manage to swing around these woods, there’s...
She ran through the list of commands she had heard her uncle rattle off that morning, and her heart sank.
No one... no one between her and rolling up the entire army, crushing it in from the side...
The jingling and rumbling was a thunderous roar now, as hundreds of horses and riders formed up in dense, thick ranks in the narrow gap. The massive noise fortunately hid from the ears of Hu Lian the sound of a horse furiously splashing up the creek on their flank... A few seconds later, an immense, rippling roar covered even their noise.
Nayu blinked hard, the brightness of the light from below nearly blinding him. He squinted hard, and the light revealed itself to be a series of rippling points of searing flame, the faint, ghostly white echoed of a concussion wave racing outward from the center of each of the massive fireballs placed in the midst of the spearmen to the sorcerer’s front. As the flames dimmed from bright white to orange, then red, the pillars of smoke, Nayu’s adjusted eyes could finally make out the many friendly spearmen ending their smoking, flaming arcs in the air, crashing amongst their comrades.
“Good gods,” the sorcerer breathed, now realizing that only a few seconds before, several hundred lives had been utterly crushed in a massive series of over twenty fireballs that had rippled down the front line of the Wa-Feng army. To punctuate the point, only now was the rippling cruump of the successive blasts heard... as if dead souls were crying out in anger at their fate.
Before the sorcerer could grip what happened, arcs of lightning also lashed out across the battlefield, each of the six bolts targeting mounted officers in the midst of the Wa-Feng line. It was only as the bright blue from these flashes faded, that Nayu realized what had to be done.
“Zhen Ren!” Nayu yelled at the other wizard, whose hands were already in motion, arcane magic already crackling around his form. The rest of Nayu’s orders died in his throat.
These men have seen battle... they know what to do, he realized as five points of light slashed out from the scholars not busy with communicating, disappearing towards the spots where the great bolts of lightning came from. A second later, more rippling, blinding flashes lit up the battlefield below, focused on two locations; one right behind the front rank of the Langya infantry, and one much further towards the rear.
“Bastards,” Zhen Ren growled, before looking towards the young sorcerer, his eyes questioning.
Nayu looked back down towards the middle of the battlefield again. The Wa-Feng spearmen, shattered by the fireball blasts, were already reeling, collapsing backwards, as the soldiers abandoned their positions in fear.
“Yu Enlai, inform Shang Wa-Feng that the front ranks are breaking!” Nayu yelled to the still concentrating man, even as indecision weighed in the young sorcerer’s mind.
If the middle of the army gives way... there’s no one between us and the enemy army...
...those lightning bolts took out the officers in the middle of the army...
...the army’s middle is breaking...
“Zhen Ren, get my horse!” Nayu called back, the Zhong Wei in his title returning to his actions. “The rest of you, I want some serious explosions put on the center of the Langya line coming towards us! Now!” Nervously, the spellcaster’s hand went to his mace.
“Zhong Wei, with all due respect,” Zhen Ren bowed politely to Nayu, “a spellcaster is ill armed and ill equipped to be on the frontline. You are a very courteous man, Zhong Wei, and you liked the soldiers, and they liked you! Nonetheless I beg you to reconsider what you are thinking!”
What the hell are you thinking? part of Nayu’s mind snapped at him. You have no armor... you can’t swing a sword, and your clumsy even with this mace! You don’t think you can...
What am I supposed to do? another part of Nayu’s brain snapped. If those soldiers run, we’re doomed! Our army’s split in two, and there will be no one between Hu Lian and us! None!
“Zhen Ren, that’s an order,” Nayu countered, as another series of fireball blasts lit up the front ranks of the Langya army...
“Zhong Wei! We thought you were gone!” Ojin cried as Felonca galloped out of the creek, well behind the spearmen to the front. “The enemy is forming cavalry to our front, we feared you were captured!” Felonca took in his eyes... fear. She looked at the other soldiers around her, and all cast fearful glances past her, towards the rumbling, advancing cavalry that was trotting closer and closer...
“It takes more than someone with a pointy stick and a big horse to catch a Wa-Feng,” Felonca replied with a tense grin. Away from the look of bravado, her mind was busy wheeling, thinking, trying to find out what needed to be done... what could be done. “Fetch the other Guans. When they arrive, I’ll have battle orders.”
She fought to keep herself from sighing with relief at least seeing Ojin’s face take on a slight look of determination and trust... something other than fear.
They can’t charge us with their entire cavalry force... the area is too narrow, and the woods would disorder their ranks, leaving them vulnerable. Still... we are outnumbered at least 5 to 2, and if Hu Lian is swinging all her cavalry this way... Her eyes then looked to the spearmen under her care. They’re lightly armored... they might hold off a charge, maybe two if we’re lucky, but then they’ll give way...
Like my troops would do any better against heavy cavalry head on! she snorted to herself as Ojin ran off to gather the various Guans from her two commands. They have leather armor... versus troops armored in steel? I could have had ten years training them, and still Hu Lian’s force would cut through them like a scythe harvests wheat!
There’s no way we can lure them into the woods if Hu Lian is as clever as they make her out to be... and we can’t run our cavalry straight out to outflank them, the creek is their flank...
Her mind stopped.
The creek...
A few minutes later, the various Guans in charge of the units within her cavalry, as well as the units of spearmen under her care, arrived. Felonca took careful care to remain mounted, her eyes purposefully not looking at the enemy, instead looking at her own troops.
“I’ve assembled the other Guans as you requested, Zhong Wei!” Ojin called, before giving a smart salute. Around him stood fifteen men, all in various states of being tired, bedraggled, and fearful. The eight guans from the spearmen were openly ignoring her, their eyes focused on their advancing doom.
“Guan Yongli!” Felonca snapped, putting all the pent up nervousness and fear into the angry crack of her voice, “kindly make your subordinates pay attention when a superior officer is about to issue orders!”
At her sharp words, the eight sergeants all turned, somewhat reluctantly, from staring at the advancing enemy. Felonca noticed that fear was still in their eyes... though part of it now looked to be fear of her.
Dammit... well... if that gets them to pay attention and stay in line...
“Gentlemen, you all know what is coming this way, so lets not worry about counting more adversaries.” She gave an ironic smirk, yet her voice was still quiet. “Whether we face five hundred or a thousand, we are still outnumbered either way.” She looked back at the soldiers, feeling two hundred pairs of eyes boring in on her, as the distant clank and rumbling of armored horsemen slowly grew louder. She cleared her throat. Time for the performance of your life, Felonca...
“In front of us comes Princess Hu Lian herself, and likely a thousand of her best cavalry!” Felonca called, pointing towards the slowly oncoming horde with her warfans. “She is confident that she can break through us easily, and then ride around this forest!”
“Gentlemen, behind us,” she pointed towards the quiet edge of the woods far to the rear, “lies empty space! There is no one. If we give way, she will ride around these woods, and destroy our entire army! If we give way, there will be no one to stop her from riding us down and trampling us like dogs! All of us... you soldiers, your guans, and me!”
“Today, you’re going to have to be tougher than she expects! You’ll have to be tougher than you want to be! You’re going to have to stay her longer than you want, facing odds that would make lesser men weep in anguish! But you are not lesser men, are you?!” Her eyes looked at theirs. They still saw fear, but now there was determination as well, and a few of the more eager men from her own cavalry yelled a cheer.
Still too few. Keep on!
“I will not lie! We face long odds, and many of us will not survive!” she called, her voice filling with the same power and rhetoric she’d heard for so many years of her life. “But if you are valiant, and you fight as a man should, you will be greeted by the ancestors, and lend honor to your family name! If we die, we die with honor!” The cheers were more numerous, growing, thundering. She could feel the emotion boiling in the hearts of her soldiers, giving her hope, and a push for a crowning ending.
“I am a mere Zhong Wei,” she started her horse forward, trotting behind the line of spearmen, “But beyond this, I am a Wa-Feng! My grandfather fought off the barbarians north of the wall, as has my father! And now we fight our own barbarians, and even though they cover themselves in steel as a crab covers itself in a shell, they will die just as easily!” Her hand reached to the spot on her hip where throughout her Academy days, a sword would have rested. Instead, she found the grip of a warfan, and snatched it out, holding it aloft. “There is a saying around the Armies of the Celestial Empire:”
“Always Wa-Feng! Always Victory!”
“Wa-Feng!” Ojin shouted hard and loud, his blade slashing up into the air. Immediately behind him the voices of two hundred soldiers joined in, a chant rising into the air.
“Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng!”
“Ojin! Take your special unit, and go into these woods, a little ahead of the spearline! I want you to take as much rope as you can from the cavalry camp, and start making those forest traps I’ve taught you! Nothing complex, simple horse trips are all the time we have for!”
“Yes, Zhong Wei Wa-Feng!” Ojin saluted, calling together his ten men.
She then spun her horse around, as the chanting continued.
“Guan Yongli! Form your spearmen to cover this gap as best you can! I realize you’ll be drawn out to only two ranks deep, but you must hold!” she snarled. “Take at least one charge, two if you can! Your men are going to be the anvil, my cavalry will be the hammer! We’ll disappear for a bit, but you can count on a Wa-Feng to return on time! Is that clear!”
“Yes, Zhong Wei!”
“The rest of you! Eagle Company!” she bellowed, and was greeted with a roar from the other ninety men of her unit. She reined her horse back around towards the creek, spurring her horse on to a gallop, “Follow me! Stay low on your mount, and hold your spears low! We’ve got some crabs to kill!”
She felt the wind in her hair, her blood pulsing with excitement, nerves, and dread as she rode down the line of spearmen, their chants filling her ears.
“Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng! Wa-Feng!”
She felt her ancestors whispering in her ear... tales of past glory, tales of present prowess. For the first time, she felt their arms wrapping around her, and she realized her father would have been proud...
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