Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4871130" data-attributes="member: 60965">Session 22, Part 1  It was snowing heavily as Bradic arrived in Port.  He arrived in the night and Suniel didn't even know he was there until he saw the fortress burning, sending a strange diffuse glow through the heavy snows.  They were all getting ready to go investigate when a soot-smeared Bradic walked up the gangplank of their ship with half-a-dozen armed and armored men in tow.  He nodded to them as he came up on deck. “Made it, as promised,” Bradic said, shaking Suniel's hand.  “I didn't get as many to defect as I'd hoped, but I managed to raid one of the Hold treasuries and hire a decent array of mercs.” “What took you so long?” Kormak said.  “We were about to leave without you.” Bradic cast a semi-questioning glance at the dwarf. “Harold is... ah... impatient to get going to the Crystal Towers,” Suniel said, glancing at where Harold stood at a nearby rail, brooding and staring off into the snow. “Ah, yes, the Rising Plague.  We heard of it,” Bradic said with a shudder.   “Unfortunately, I know too much first-hand about the Ashen Tower's handiwork.” “Well, what about the rest of the Webdyns?” Suniel said.  “How did they take you raiding the treasury?” “Not well, I'm afraid.  There was some infighting when I brought word Bragas was dead.  My eldest brother managed to seize power and has been chasing me down.  Fortunately, my army has been traveling light knowing we could resupply when we got here.  His army's baggage train is slowed by the snows.  He's about two days behind.” “How big is his force?” Kormak said.  “They going to come and squash you?” Suniel rolled his eyes at the dwarf's lack of tact, but Bradic just nodded, his expression grim.  “They outnumber me at least four-to-one and half my force is comprised of unreliable mercs.  If it looks like the fight is going badly, I might suddenly lose half my army and be outnumbered eight-to-one.”“You have the fortress at least,” Suniel said, pointing off to the ruddy glow where it still burned. Bradic shook his head.  “No, the last of Bragas' men there set fire to much of it as they fled.  The fire is too large for us to put out.  We can channel their numbers slightly with street-to-street fighting, but not enough to handle that size an army.” “Well, perhaps we could raid them as they march,” Suniel said.  “We have some experience in combat that might be useful to you – or at the very least we could scout them out and get a precise accounting of their numbers.” “Yes, that would be most useful,” Bradic said.  “I saw what you did to my brother and his hand-picked guards, not to mention the fact that you wiped out the whole platoon of Silver Knights by brother hired to escort the wagon.  Perhaps...” He knelt down and began tracing a map in the snow on the deck.  Suniel and Kormak and, surprisingly, even Keeper knelt down to examine his sketch. “Here's the Landspear to the east.” He drew a big upside-down V.  “Here are the broken hills at its base.” He drew some smaller v's around it.  “Here is the Fae Wood to the west.”  He scratched out a big area in the snow.  “We could launch hit-and-run attacks from the broken hills as he marches to Port, especially at these narrow points where the distance between the Fae Wood and the broken hills is the smallest.” Bradic looked up at them and Suniel nodded in agreement.  “Hit them out there where your mobility is an advantage, especially in the snow.  It could work.  It might not be enough, but it's a fighting chance.  When do we leave?” “At first light would probably be best,” Bradic said, glancing up at the dark sky, then towards the still-burning fortress.  “It's not much of a chance, but better than being trapped in Port with Landspear Lake at our backs.” “Are we heading out now?” Harold said as he walked up, not even looking at them.  “We've waited here long enough.” Suniel put his hand over Kormak's mouth before the dwarf could say anything.  “Yes, Harold.  We're heading out at first light.” “Good.” Harold said and walked off without another word. Bradic looked at Suniel.  “It's a plan then?” “I think it's our best shot, with what we have,” Suniel said.  Bradic nodded and stood, his men following has he walked down the gangplank and disappeared into the snow. Suniel stared after them.  Not much of a chance, but at least it's one more small way to repay my sin in helping create the Ashen Tower, he thought.  If there's any way it can ever be repaid...</blockquote>

Verification