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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4650040" data-attributes="member: 54707">Use this thread to tell the stories of the Heroic Deaths of your characters or of the deaths of characters you have witnessed while DMing or GMing.I’ll start. The group I was DMing, the Basilegate, had been investigating an odd underground area. When they got back topside they discovered that a group of Goth barbarians had attacked the outpost town they were in and made off with hostages, notably the niece of a famous and very popular Abbot who had entrusted his niece to them - as they were acting as her guards and escorts on the way to Gallipolis.The party split on how to handle the affair, some wanting to seek out reinforcements fearing they would have to enter enemy territory and that it was likely an ambush for them, the girl being only bait, some wanting to pursue immediately hoping they could overtake and overwhelm the Goths by surprise. Finally, one of the soldiers in the party, a man by the name of Polymethius decided he would set out immediately, with or without help. Half the team followed him on horseback, some of the others set about securing the town against possible follow-on attacks, the rest rode for reinforcements. The next day at nightfall the pursuing group overtook the Goths who were by this time heavily reinforced by the well armed and supplied Bulgarians who were their real employers. The Team members with Polymethius led a well-executed night-time raid and escaped with three of the hostages including the girl they were supposed to be protecting. But pursuit was immediate and the team fell into an almost immediate ambush as the Goths and the Bulgars had been expecting a rescue attempt. Badly outnumbered and realizing that his small team could not escape cleanly with the hostages Polymethius led the pursuit to a narrow pass and then having his horse shot out from under him he used the body of his mount as cover to tie up pursuit. When the Bulgars began to fire steady streams of missiles over the dead horse and through the pass at the fleeing party and former hostages Polymethius jumped over his horse and attacked by rushing straight at the enemy with spear and Spatha. They shot him several times as he charged and then surrounded him, hacking him to pieces with axes and swords as he did all he could to fight a valiant but doomed delaying rearguard action.Then they pursued the other party members who rode as hard as possible for the rest of the night and because they were difficult to track in the dark just made it to a Byzantine Garrison outpost at dawn and with help were able to defend it for another day until a Theme Army force arrived to relieve them.The body of Polymethius was never recovered and the Bulgars took his head as a trophy, eventually coating it in bronze and using it to decorate their court. But Polymethius was built a special tomb and given a commemoration mass and one week time of mourning by the monastery of Studios who also added him to their liturgy, and the Emperor proclaimed him a national hero and excused his family from all taxes for three generations for his bravery in duty. The party still considers him one of their greatest heroes.Occasionally a player in the game will still say about what somebody else does, "As brave as Polymethius."</blockquote>

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