doghead
thotd
The news that barbarians from Neo-Assyrian Empire have landed on the island is grim tidings. The Neo-Assyrian Empire has long cast covetous eyes at the polis colonies on the eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. Raiding is common. Occasionally wars have been fought, mostly won. The Neo-Assyrian Empire is vast, but fractious, lacking the unity and common purpose of the Greeks. They are, after all, barbarians.
But never before has the Neo-Assyrian Empire sent forces across the flashing blue waters to homeland of the Greeks. Armies are mustered by the polis. The long standing animosity between Alpha polis and Beta polis is put aside. Advanced forces are sent forth to hold key passes while the main armies are readied to march out and meet the enemy in the field.
Pallas
The forces of Gamma polis are the first to arrive at the pass and are tasked with ensuring the force of Beta polis are given time to be ready when the attack came.
The attack comes in the late hours hours of the afternoon. Niklos of Gamma polis sounds his war horn and the hoplites lock shields, slowly giving ground to draw the enemy into onto the spears of Beta phalanx. But when they reached the Beta phalanx they found not friendly shields, but the pointed end of spears attacking from the rear. The phalanx is a powerful, but unwieldy beast, unable to change direction easily. The fighting descended into chaos as realisation dawned that Gamma phalanx had been betrayed.
The pass was lost moment Beta phalanx had struck its treacherous blow from behind. It was up to the soldiers of Gamma phalanx to carry warning of the treachery to the others. Niklos rallies the surviving hoplites of Gamma phalanx to fight free of the Beta phalanx and get word to the army of Alpha polis. It is bloody going and in the end, there are few dozen remaining Gamma:hoplites, most too wounded to go much further. Niklos commands three of his hoplites, including Pallas, to find the Alpha polis army and warn them. With that Niklos rallies his tired and bloody hoplites to turn and stand, an buy Pallas and his companions as much time as he can.
Pallas and his two companions run on into the night ...
Penelope
It takes time to muster an army. But eventually the Alpha polis forces march forth. With them goes Penelope with the other healers. The army stops for the second night, the main force atop a low ridge, the supplies and healers a little ways back. After two days of hot dusty marching there is little for the healers to do. Blisters mostly, a couple of minor injuries among the animal handlers, a group of men who drank bad wine and are regretting it.
As the army settles in for the night a wounded, unconscious hoplite is brought to her on a stretcher. He has taken a blow to the head, and a nasty wound on his arm that looks like it was done by a wolf or dog. Penelope takes charge, cleaning and binding the wounds. The hoplite tosses and turns, muttering about monsters and betrayal. There is a nasty reek to the wound on his arm. Penelope prepares something to help the man sleep and fight the infection. A couple of officers come by to get answers, but Penelope has none, and the wounded hoplite cannot speak for himself. Penelope waves them away; they leave a few hoplites nearby to carry news when the wounded hoplite wakes.
After a few hours the wounded hoplite seems to sleep more easily. Penelope changes his bandages one last time before she heads off to sleep. Penelope is almost done packing away her gear when from out of the darkness nearby she hears a throttled cry of pain, followed by a bark, the sound of fighting. Around her, the few that remain awake turn to see what the noise is. The hoplite guards gather up shields and spears and peer into the darkness.
A figure crashes into a distant fire, sending up sparks. A javelin takes one of the hoplites guards in the chest. His companions hastily bring up shields, and start forwards as armed figures appear, rushing in from the darkness. The sounds of fighting increases. An animal howl fills the air.
The wounded hoplite sits bolt upright, gripping Penelope's arm.
But never before has the Neo-Assyrian Empire sent forces across the flashing blue waters to homeland of the Greeks. Armies are mustered by the polis. The long standing animosity between Alpha polis and Beta polis is put aside. Advanced forces are sent forth to hold key passes while the main armies are readied to march out and meet the enemy in the field.
Pallas
The forces of Gamma polis are the first to arrive at the pass and are tasked with ensuring the force of Beta polis are given time to be ready when the attack came.
The attack comes in the late hours hours of the afternoon. Niklos of Gamma polis sounds his war horn and the hoplites lock shields, slowly giving ground to draw the enemy into onto the spears of Beta phalanx. But when they reached the Beta phalanx they found not friendly shields, but the pointed end of spears attacking from the rear. The phalanx is a powerful, but unwieldy beast, unable to change direction easily. The fighting descended into chaos as realisation dawned that Gamma phalanx had been betrayed.
The pass was lost moment Beta phalanx had struck its treacherous blow from behind. It was up to the soldiers of Gamma phalanx to carry warning of the treachery to the others. Niklos rallies the surviving hoplites of Gamma phalanx to fight free of the Beta phalanx and get word to the army of Alpha polis. It is bloody going and in the end, there are few dozen remaining Gamma:hoplites, most too wounded to go much further. Niklos commands three of his hoplites, including Pallas, to find the Alpha polis army and warn them. With that Niklos rallies his tired and bloody hoplites to turn and stand, an buy Pallas and his companions as much time as he can.
Pallas and his two companions run on into the night ...
Penelope
It takes time to muster an army. But eventually the Alpha polis forces march forth. With them goes Penelope with the other healers. The army stops for the second night, the main force atop a low ridge, the supplies and healers a little ways back. After two days of hot dusty marching there is little for the healers to do. Blisters mostly, a couple of minor injuries among the animal handlers, a group of men who drank bad wine and are regretting it.
As the army settles in for the night a wounded, unconscious hoplite is brought to her on a stretcher. He has taken a blow to the head, and a nasty wound on his arm that looks like it was done by a wolf or dog. Penelope takes charge, cleaning and binding the wounds. The hoplite tosses and turns, muttering about monsters and betrayal. There is a nasty reek to the wound on his arm. Penelope prepares something to help the man sleep and fight the infection. A couple of officers come by to get answers, but Penelope has none, and the wounded hoplite cannot speak for himself. Penelope waves them away; they leave a few hoplites nearby to carry news when the wounded hoplite wakes.
After a few hours the wounded hoplite seems to sleep more easily. Penelope changes his bandages one last time before she heads off to sleep. Penelope is almost done packing away her gear when from out of the darkness nearby she hears a throttled cry of pain, followed by a bark, the sound of fighting. Around her, the few that remain awake turn to see what the noise is. The hoplite guards gather up shields and spears and peer into the darkness.
A figure crashes into a distant fire, sending up sparks. A javelin takes one of the hoplites guards in the chest. His companions hastily bring up shields, and start forwards as armed figures appear, rushing in from the darkness. The sounds of fighting increases. An animal howl fills the air.
The wounded hoplite sits bolt upright, gripping Penelope's arm.
First up, apologies for the delay in getting this up. I really should have begun this in a tavern ...
I suspect that the post will raise a whole bunch of questions. Use the OOC thread to ask them.
Please keep this thread for IC posts. Simple OOC questions and game mechanics can go in here, but each post in this thread should have some IC content.
Please don't use colours for speech. Use Bold if you want to highlight speech.
I suspect that the post will raise a whole bunch of questions. Use the OOC thread to ask them.
Please keep this thread for IC posts. Simple OOC questions and game mechanics can go in here, but each post in this thread should have some IC content.
Please don't use colours for speech. Use Bold if you want to highlight speech.
