Campaign Log: Journals of House Stav

[vonpenguin]

Well I suggested a mass influence attempt to convince her she'd get more letting us get a market and port but we haven't had the opportunity yet. What with the attempted murder and all.

[Kajani]

DaimosofRedstone: And proofed wrong for many others, am I right? There is a reason while even most medieval societies were not run by force alone or controlled by the men with the big swords and blood on their hands...
The best rulers were such which had both abilities.

vonpenguin: Sounds interesting. Of course such an attempt could also be made against the lord...

[Lamech]

You should remember that you can also quit an intrigue if you want. This might bring the Lord in a not so good position (inPlay i would say he gets rather harsh and say 'so it must be done!) and can't be used every time, but it is still an option.

Quitting involves actually leaving. You are breaking off the convo. If you respond you haven't quit. Might I recommend the effective option of becoming abusive? Whacking her a few times should defeat her or wound her. If she is defeated take a point of will intrigue stats away, if she is wounded she'll be that much less effective in future intrigues! Its how Robert dealt with Cersei occasionally.

It has the added benefit of being extremely evil, and somewhat in setting for the dark times!

Of course if that's a viable option depends on your disposition. You mentioned a "seduction monster", so I assume all the increases were temporary ones? If his disposition is still high spend a destiny point to get called away for a few days and then return to beat her down.

[lewisobrien]

The days continue to pass by and Walda is beginnign to make a swift recovery, even leaving the confines of her room for short times. It is three days before the Ball is due to start and the first guests have arrived, a group of nobles arrived at the castle gate this morning. The leader announced himself as Lord Croyd Litchfield, a tall, intimidating figure that gave me a bad feeling whenever he looked at me. He was accompanied by his son, Dermitt -a huge figure of a man, dwarfing even Darmin, armed with a greatsword, he couldn't have been much older than me however- and his daughter, Trianna, an attractive girl, around the age of 18 who in her own way, was just as intimidating as her father. Upon hearing the name Litchfield I recalled that they were allied with House Cirrus, however, they have always attempted to neutral towards House Stav. The location of their House, deep in the Rainwood, leaves them isolated, despite owning their own marketplace and they have often tried to create a trade agreement with us, both to increase their own trade and hinder House Mason. I showed the three into the hall where they met with Lord Ranin. At this point I took my leave.

Over the next couple of days the remaining guests arrived, Lords and Ladies from Houses Sindril (firm allies of House Stav), Mason, and Bartheld (a House close to King's Landing which has recently fallen on hard times following the death of its Lord and many of its nobles). I attempted to keep myself busy and as such had little interaction with the guests. Until the night before the Ball, during the feast the Lord Ranin held for our honoured guests. Before entering the feast hall I came across Ser Freydor training Stevil, the boy was still failing too much, but his attacks were less open and more focused, it appears that our good knight might make a little something of the boy yet. While watching the training, Lady Alysse Sindril and her son, Lucius entered the courtyard. The young Lucius is around the same age as Stevil, but carries himself with much more confidence, almost arrogantly. Before they entered the feast hall Lucius stopped to watch the training, before challenging Stevil to a training duel himself. With a large number of the court looking on, Stevil had little choice but to accept. The two young Lords faced off against one another, Stevil wearing his chain armour which he was clearly still not comfortable in, Lucius armoured solely in his garb he planned to wear for the feast, now armed with a practice short blade. Stevil attacked first, lunging wildly at the smaller boy. Lucius was much too quick however, easily avoiding the blow and almost lazily striking back, hitting Stevil no less than five times before he hit the ground. For one so young, his fencing skill is very impressive. The young boy gloated over Stevil, who's confidence must have been knocked by the short fight. When it was clear the duel was over, the remaining guests entered the hall.

The meal was the usual dull affair, although I was surprised to see how well Lady Walda was holding herself besides her husband, showing no sign of the vicious attack she had survived little more than two weeks beforehand. Towards the end of the I overheard an angry conversation between Lord Croyd Litchfield and Lady Alysse Sindril. Their houses lands are next to one another, and since the death of Lady Alysse's husband, border disputes have become common. The situation eventually calmed down when Lady Alysse stormed from Lord Croyd's presence, neither party looked pleased with the situation. As the feast came to a close, young Lucius became increasingly bored, and decided to entertain himself by chasing Hantu around the tables. Fearing the outcome if Hantu lost patience with the boy, I intervened, telling the boy to find some other, less dangerous animal to chase around. The boy then tried to challenge me to a duel, I was spared the need to answer with the interuption of Captain Tygor, Captain of the Guard for House Sindril, who chased the boy off. I spoke briefly with the Captain, he seems a good sort and someone who will undoubtedly help Lady Alysse steer House Sindrill well until Lucius comes of age.

Sat next to me was Ser Freydor. Who, at the end of the feast attempted to engage the young Lady Trianna of House Litchfield, who was sat opposite into conversation. The girl seemed utterly bored with proceedings and seemed to take delight of embarrassing Ser Freydor and his attempts at small talk. I joined in the conversation, trying to help the poor knight, but succeeded in donig nothing but embarrassing myself with my own clumsy rantings. She seems uninterested in the usual activities befitting a Lady of her standing, and only seemed to really take interest in the conversation when she brought up the topic of Lady Walda's attack, seeming to take delight in the event. After that Trianna seemed more open to conversation and we talked until the feast began to draw to a close, at which point I made my excuses and left.

Trianna Litchfield is by no means what one would expect of a Lady, yet I find myself intrigued by her, as well as more than a little uneasy. I found myself thinking about her as I left the feast hall with Hantu.

**The final half of last week's session, reading back through it now, not only did I attempt to kill off the Lady of the House, but I may have cock-blocked Ser Freydor too! Apologies all round this week!**

[Canarr]

The problem isn't that she can intrigue, it's that any time I don't say "yes dear" it's "roll status for initiative".

Well, to quote my players: "SWITCHTOCOMBATSWITCHTOCOMBATSWITCHTOCOMBAT!!!!!!"

[vonpenguin]

As much as I would love to switch to combat, Lord Ranin attempts to follow the civilric ideals. Unless Walda comes barreling at him with a sword he wouldn't strike her.

[Cap_T]

Haven't written my own side of this yet but as Ranin's player I can say this, Walda has no positive elements, she is manipulative in the extreme and even when trying to be reasonable the DM will pull me into intrigues with his seduction monster which I lose and have to do whatever she says. She treats My beloved family members (Most of the PCs) as common servants and thwarts attempts to turn our Heir into someone fit to rule.

Ranin was not intended to be a weak malleable character, he was meant to be someone devoted to the gods and Chivalric ideals but because of GM fiat I'm being led around by the libido.

Okay so she is very skilled at the art of seduction. She must have had a lot of practice at the skill. One wonders if she is practicing the skill on any other man in the lords household today. Even if there is only a strong (well strong-ish) suspension of impropriety the lord would be expected to act …

[lewisobrien]

The day of the Ball arrived and the guests entered the hall in an array of different outfits. Ranging from simple Maestor outfits to Red Priests and Targaryen heroes of old. I spotted someone who was obviously supposed the be the Drowned God and decided to approach them. Immediately regretting doing so as I realised from the accent that the man wearing the outfit was Lord Croyd Litchfield. Even in fancy dress I'm put on edge by the man, however, I decided to attempt to find out more about their alliance with House Cyrus and see if there was anyway to disrupt it if at all possible. It would appear that the alliance is more military than trade, however, I later found out from Brother Darmin that when he spoke to Lord Litchfield concerning the presence of the Cyrus twins in House Mason, Croyd seemed deeply suspicious. Perhaps we have stumbled upon something to help us drive a wedge between the two Houses.

Not long into the Ball, Brother Darmin investigated a noise down in the cellar. When we went down there he found Septon Eston with a dagger in his back. He brought the fatally wounded man of the faith up into the main hall on his way to finding Maestor Jameson. As might have been expected, this caused something of an alarm. After Darmin had found Maestor Jameson and takent he Septon somewhere more private I attempted to calm the crowd, insisting it was simply an elaborate jest by the Begging Brother. While this seemed to calm them down to a certain extent a number of guests were still noticeably worried.

After this I went to check on the injured man. Maestor Jameson did not think his chances were good. Myself, Darmin and Kyrilu made it our duty for the night to find the honourless man who did this and bring him to justice. Our first clue was the dagger itself. While the blade was quite normal, the hilt was intricately decorated with two serpents. We recognised this almost instantly as the sigil of House Syndral, our sworn allies. Upon further investigation into the crime scene we found a number of white feather in the wine cellar. I knew from speaking to different people that the only outfit including feathers belonged to the young Lord Lucius Syndral. While both these pieces of evidence clearly pointed to Lucius being the attacker, it seemed too obvious. The boy would not have been stupid enough to leave such clear evidence behind and, as far as we knew, he had no motive to attack the Septon.

We decided to discreetly question the three guests from House Syndral. Lady Alysse Syndral, her son, Lord Lucius, and their Captain of the Guard, Tygor. On our first round of questioning we told none of them what had truly happened, instead stating that the dagger had been found and we were attempting to return it to it's rightful owner. Lucius claimed the dagger was his but that he hadn't seen it since he had packed it before arriving. As far as he remembered he had not even taken it out of his belongings sicne arriving at House Stav. I have always been good at telling when someone was lying, and from what I could tell the boy seemed to be telling the truth. At this point I was almost certain Lucius was not the killer than that someone was trying to frame him. This put House Cyrus and more especially House Litchfield as the main suspects. After questioning them we still got no further however and eventually decided to tell Captain Tygor of the attack. He was shocked and insisted that he did not believe Lucius was capable of such a thing (although I suspect he truly believed the complete opposite) however he also added that he had no idea who else could have done such a thing.

We were almost out of ideas and were thinking of sealing off the door in and out of the hall until the killer was found. Something we wished not to do, the affect this would have of Stav standing with the other Houses would be severe. I then came up with an idea however. I suggested having Hantu try to get some scent off the dagger and feathers and then lead us to whoever he linked them to. A long shot giving the amount of people in the hall, but worth a try. The snowcat was staying in my quarters for the evening. Partially because of the crowd and partially to keep him away from Lucius who's new favourite game seemed to be "chase the snowcat". I went to collect him, but instead, once out of the hall, I slipped into the privy and skinchanged into the familiar body of my snowcat. Controlling Hantu, I padded from my quarters and down to the hall, I entered and went to where Darmin and Kyrilu were standing. While at first somewhat confused over the appearance of Hantu without me, Darmin soon gave the dagger and feathers to me to sniff. I was able to detect 3 different smells. One, was clearly Septon Eston and as such I dismissed it, the other two I padded around the room in an attempt to identify. After a short amount of time I decided the scents were those of Lucius Syndral and Captain Tygor. I inspected closer, sneaking up on Lucius to avoid any further chasing from the boy who was beginning to look somewhat bored. While I was certain one of the scents was him, I could smell nothing to indicate he had been in contact with Septon Eston recently. I then trying Captain Tygor, who, as well as mead, had a slight smell of human blood. Still in Hantu's mind I tried to indicate that it was Captain Tygor that I could smell on the dagger to Darmin. It was only a slight lead, but still the best one we had had so far. I slipped back into my own body and went to join the others in the great hall, feigning innocence as Darmin filled me in on what I had missed.

We asked Tygor for another private word. While we were not certain he had committed the attack, or have any evidence, the smell of blood on him made me almost certain it was him. As the man in charge of House Syndral security, he would also have had access to Lucius's belongings. The others of course, had no idea about the smell of blood and this interrogation was based almost solely on Hantu's indications. We believed however, that we may be able to intimidate a confession out of him. Taking him into Lord Ranin's private audience chamber, we proceeded to try to coerce him into a confession, never going so far as to endanger the Stav-Syndral alliance if we were in fact wrong. After some amount of time we eventually persuaded him to confess. He believed that since the passing of Lord Syndral, the House was a shadow of what it was, that a woman was not fit to rule in a man's place. He believed that if he framed Lucius for murder the boy would, at the very least, be removed from inheritance. He then believed this would increase his own power in the House and perhaps lead to him having some amount of leverage over Lady Alysse in the future.

We then brought Lady Alysse into the room to hear Tygor repeat his confession. After beating her former Captain of the Guard around the face a number of times, she thanked us for helping her uncover the traitor in their presence and told us to ask her if we ever needed anything. By the time we got to the bottom of the incident the Ball was coming to a close. All we could do was pray that Septon Eston recovered from the attack, although Maestor Jameson is not optimistic.

[Eisen]

An attempted murder not caused by one of the heroes..what madness is this?!?

I think the best part of the adventure was when everyone was so frustrated that they wanted to bar all the doors and set fire to the castle. Gotta love Masqurade balls!

[lewisobrien]

Still think that would have been good, we'd get so much new land! And get rid of some really annoying/creepy NPCs!

[DaimosofRedstone]

"Why is everybody making such a fuss out of the Red Wedding?
It is not as bad as what House Stav did after all."

[Kyrilu]

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, specially with names.

After the events of the masquarade ball the previous night, which was full of excitement to say the least, Kyrilu heads down to breakfast. Sitting with the rest of his companions, Kyrilu picks at whatever food he has infront of him, not really paying attention, his mind going back to some of the events of last night. The attempted murder, the way the winds of destiny had seemed to change in an instant when they got the confession out of Tigor and how he had had amerous activities with the lady Elise.

When the lady Elise came down, Kyrilu kept his mouth shut and waited to see what she would say although he couldnt help but looking at her and smiling slightly. He watches her on occassion as everyone eats their breakfast, it looks like its going to be a quiet morning. That is until the lady Elise asks where lord Ranin is and what is to be done with the traitor Taigor.

Kyrilu keeps his mouth shut for the most part but listens to it all, there might be something he will need to know in that conversation after all. Lady Elise mentions how she wants to go back to her own house as soon as possible but wants to see Tigors head on a pike before she leaves, which seems completely reasonable to Kyrilu, although he is a bit put off by her apparent joy at seeing the former captain of the guard for her own house die, but there are just some things you have to do with a smile.

Shortly after the lady has left the great hall, lord Ranin walks in looking particularly rough as though he just got up but has too much on his mind. Walking up to the group that he usually confides in he mentions that he has a lot of things to do, important house matters, but he doesnt think he can do it all. Its at this point he asks who would like to take over some duites.

Preston steps up and offers to do it, a bit too quickly and eagerly in Kyrilus mind but it doesnt matter, he wouldnt have thought anyone else out of the four of them would want to take up the tasks. Its at this point that Ranin tries to get Darmin to lay down his begging bown and robes of the begging brother to take up the role at which point, to Kyrilus suprise at least, Darmin says hes been considering it anyway but isnt sure now is the time.

So, rather reluctantly, Ranin decided to put Preston in charge of dealing with the military tasks giving him a temporary promotion. Ranin then went back out of the great hall and back to whatever business he had to take care of. Preston then stands up and walks over to Edmund Bartheld, the rest of the group following him incase they were needed as they usually do. When they reached Edmund, Preston and him had a small talk about when Edmund would like the support from house Stav.

After telling Edmund that house Stav would ready its troops right after breakfast, Edmund seeming rather relieved at this point, they walked off back to their table and continued eating. They then decided after breakfast that we should go talk to lady Elise more and decide what to go with Tigor. When the group reach lady Elise's room they knock and wait for her to appear. They do not wait long and it is at this time when they decide that Tigor will be executed here and then lady Elise shall take custody of the body.

As the people start to gather for the execution and the army is set to make preperations to leave, the mercenaries, archers and cavilry specifically leaving the garrison and crusaders back at home to defend it. Tigor is then brought out infront of the assembled crowd, his head bagged and his hands bound. When he is forced to his knees infront of the makeshift chopping block the bag is removed and he starts pleading for his life. At which point Sir Freador, who is acting as the headsman in the execution, brings down a greatsword on Tigors neck.

After the execution the body is hung up by its feet to drain so that it is in the ideal condition to transport back with lady Elise. At this point Kestrel, leader of the mercenaries who pretty much everyone hates for their attitude, comes up and starts talking about the upcoming mission and almost trying to duck out from his contractual duties. After a bit of talking we managed to convince him it wasnt going to be a suicide mission.

As the troops continue to get ready Freador and Kyrilu go to find Stevil. They go to his room and kick his door down, throwing it off its hinges and making it bang loudly on the floor. This causes Stevil, who was sat at his desk carving more figures, to jump and think that they were under attack. After a bit of talking and threatening the two manage to get Stevil to start packing so they can take him with them to Bartheld lands.

Kyrilu runs off as Stevil is packing to go and get his armour and weapon for him and meets them all back at the stables where they have been getting everyone assembled. Kyrilu tries to help Stevil into his armour, at which point Freador talks about how Stevil seems to have taken a Squire, a joke that Kyrilu doesnt appriciate after trying to be helpful.

As the group sets off they take a steady pace so that all the army stays together, being directed by Preston who himself is being directed by Edmund on which way to go. The day goes by uneventfully and they set off again the next day which, like the previous day, goes uneventfully until nightfall when everyone is getting ready to turn in. Kyrilu decides to go hunting, if only to pass the time until he actually feels tired.

Finding a boar and taking it down with ease, Kyrilu starts dragging his kill back towards the camp. At that moment he feels a sharp pain on his ankle and is then knocked to the floor and Hantu jumps on him and starts licking his face. Hantu then seems to get bored with Kyrilu and starts tearing at the boar that Kyrilu had killed. Kyrilu chops off the part that Hantu is tearing at and drags the rest back, limping slightly as his ankle is bleeding.

The rest of the journey to Bartheld lands goes uneventfully for the group as they manage to get to the deserted Bartheld lands. The group makes it to the keep and eat a stale kind of meat before discussing what to do. In the end the group decides to scout out the surrounding area leaving Preston behind who says hes going to try and figure out some tactics to use in upcoming battles.

Kyrilu with Darmin, Freador and Hantu head out to start scouting the land. After a few minutes, Kyrilu gets bitten yet again by Hantu in the same place as before and at this point Kyrilu gets really annoyed with the snow cat and threatens to kill it if it does it again. Hantu then begins sniffing at the air and runs off in what seems like a random direction as the rest of them follow, Kyrilu expecting to find something that Hantu wants to eat.

As they follow Hantu, the come across what looks like a small wooden fort made out of logs standing so they point upwards and the top part being rounded into a point. They see a few people walking around the top of the structure and a few walking around the outside as if patroling, there doesnt seem to be that many however. The group sees Hantu start to head towards the structure, Kyrilu watching with his bow at the ready to shoot anyone who spots the snow cat.

Hantu is spotted rather easily but Darmin tells Kyrilu not to take the shot, which Kyrilu listens to but keeps his bow at the ready. The man who spotted Hantu shoots at him, leaving an arrow in Hantus side as Hantu runs away back to the group. Hantu starts running towards Kyrilu in particular and Kyrilu readies to shoot the snow cat if it tries to jump on him.

Out of nowhere Darmin tackles Kyrilu at which point Kyrilu makes a rather loud comment about everything wanting to jump on him lately. Darmin helps Kyrilu up just to have Hantu jump on Kyrilu again and knocking him back to the floor. At this Kyrilu starts reaching round towards the arrow, intending to twist it to get the cat off of him and cause it pain for continually annoying him lately. Hantu jumps away and they take the arrow out.

They decide that Darmin should run back and get their mercenary group while Kyrilu, Freador and Hantu keep watch on the structure. After awhile a few men on horses ride at a fast pace towards the structure. Kyrilu tries taking them both out in one go, firing two arrows at them. Managing to take down one of the riders and the severly injuring the other the men inside the structure prepare for an attack.

Kyrilu decides to take a chance and fires another two shots, this time at people on the wall of the stucture patroling. He manages to kill one of them but the other one spots him and suddenly five shots come towards Kyrilu. One misses but the other four hit him and he falls to his knees with all four arrows sticking out of him and his blood pouring out of him leaving him injured and wounded badly.

Kyrilu, in increadible ammounts of pain, manages to sneak his way and hide from the enemies, ending up slumpped against a tree. Freador manages to take the arrows out of Kyrilu and bandage him up as the enemies in the structure move out and head towards the east. They sit there waiting for the reinforcements to arrive, after awhile they show up and are told what has happened. Kyrilu is given a fire milk to use while they search the structure.

Kyrilu applies it and starts to hobble back to the keep while the rest of them go to try and track down the men that were in the structure. Kyrilu makes it back safe and sits in the great hall, eating small ammounts while waiting. When the rest of the group show up they plan to assault the tower the following day. During the night Kyrilu manages to rest enough that he doesnt feel so bad the following day but is still badly wounded and in a lot of pain while moving.

The group rides off with all the forces they brought with them towards the tower. When they reach it, they see a large group which they assume is the bandits thats been plaguing the land. A small man who looks like a child rides out to parley, Darmin, Preston and Freador ride out to meet him as Kyrilu keeps an arrow trained on the man. After what appears to be a short conversation, Darmin, Preston and Freador start riding back and Kyrilu is given the signal to fire just as the small man shoots Preston in the back with his heavy crossbow.

Kyrilu fires and manages to wound the man and he starts to retreat to try and give orders to the enemy forces. Kyrilu joins the archer group as he watches Darmin pull the little man onto Bombo, his mighty war donkey, and ride back towards them. The archers and Kyrilu manage, in very little time, to defeat one of the enemy units while the small man gets most the rest to surrender. However one unit hides inside the tower and the group along with all their forces sets down to wait them out.

[Eisen]

Nice to get a taste of things from Kyrilu's point of view. The scout is often overlooked but seems to be the first to take an arrow (or 4) for the team.

Anyone want to place bets on the inevetable Kyrilu/Hauntu showdown?

[lewisobrien]

I'll wager 2 dragons on Hantu

[lewisobrien]

I entered the main hall to break my fast following morning drills with the garrison to find most of the guests had already left. The only nobles from the night before to still be here were Lady Alysse and Lucius Syndral -staying until the fate of the treacherous Captain Tygor had been decided- and Edmund Bartheld, who I suspected was putting off leaving for as long as possible as a remainder of our promise of aid. The morning was almost up, and while most of House Stav was present, the absence of Lord Ranin was odd and it wasn't long until Lady Alysse arrived asking after him, wishing to know what was to be done with Tygor. Over my meal I asked Darmin how Septon Eston faired. Surprisingly given the wound, the Septon yet lived and had come out of unconsciousness once or twice, giving Maeston Jameson hope of his recovery. I good sign indeed! Not long after Alysse had again retired to her chambers, Ranin appeared, looking very weary, although he refused to give details any further than "House duties". He asked that one of us take of a number of duties for him, mainly dealing with Tygor and then assisting Lord Bartheld. Seeing a chance to win back some lost prestige following the Red Priest incident, I eagerly volunteered. My uncle may still have some doubts concerning my abilities however, as he would not grant me the position until he was sure no one else wanted it, as well as waiting for Darmin to announce his support in me. Eventually however, he allowed me to take command, giving me a temporary promotion. I do not plan to waste the opportunity.

The first port of call was to Lady Alysse. To keep relations between our Houses high I personally would allow her to take Tygor with her to deal with as she fit (as she suggested herself) however, Lord Ranin was clear that the attack had been against House Stav and as such the punishment should be given by House Stav on House Stav lands. Lady Alysse understood and did not press the issue, although she insisted on taking custody of the body to display as a warning to others who would doubt her rule. I made plans for the execution to be carried out in the castle courtyard as soon as possible. While preparations were being made I went in search of Edmund Bartheld, planning on going through with my promise of aid and marshalling the troops as soon as possible to ride to his aid. Once I found him I told him of my plan, asking him to be ready to leave as soon as possible. He was most grateful but was unsure of our chances when I informed him that we planned on only taking three units of our strength. Personally I do not believe that a few gangs of peasants and bandits could be a match for even one unit of Stav troops, however, I kept my comments to myself.

I sent out the word for our new mercenaries, our archers and our cavalry to be ready for a 10 day march to House Bartheld. While the troops were readied I attended the execution of Captain Tygor. As most of the guests had already left there were few people to watch the deed. Perhaps for the best, the man whom I had liked when I had first met him went to his death with little dignity or pride, begging to me for mercy before Ser Freydor took his head with one swift blow. Soon after the execution I was approached by Kestrel, the leader of the mercenary unit. He was opposed to he and his men going on the mission. Stating that the contract we had signed demanded no suicide missions and the lack of information we had was too dangerous for them. Myself and Darmin soon cowed the craven into submission. I had thought of the man as being made of stronger stuff. I only hope that he is not typical of the men he leads.

By mid afternoon the troops were assembled in the castle courtyard, ready to depart. I would prefer to bring our ever faithful crusaders with us, but dare not leave the security of the castle just to the garrison, not when we would be campaigning so far away. Edmund tells me the journey will take around 10 days. With such a force on the move I suspect no problems however.

The days on the road past uneventfully and we arrived at House Bartheld 10 days after setting off. We arrived mid morning and so, after a brief meal, we set about making a plan. The mercenaries who had turned against Bartheld were holed up in a tower north of Hartshall (Bartheld's seat of power) known as Robert's Hammer. The bandits and criminals however, roamed Bartheld lands as they pleased, ambushing traders and terrifying any of the locals who hadn't already joined them. Some weeks ago Edmund had attempted to retake Robert's Hammer, however, his losses had been too high and since then, all he could do with his remaining men was hold his keep. Darmin, Freydor and Kyrilu decided to scout the lands surrounding the keep. Planning to find where ever the bandits were operating from. I good idea, however, I thought Hantu would be of more help in that regard than I would. Excusing myself to my chambers by saying I must study local maps and think of a strategy, once alone I slipped into Hantu and joined the scouting party.

Not long after setting off, I was able to track the bandits to an encampment. It did not take long to convince the others to follow me as Hantu, Darmin in particular has become use to the Snowcat's ability to guide the group towards it's goal. The encampment was small and quickly put together, while there were guards, none of them seemed to be paying much attention to their surroundings, I decided I may be able to sneak close enough to see through gaps in the wooden fence and gauge their numbers. Upon sneaking up to the pallisade however, one of the guards noticed me and decided hunting Snowcat would be good sport. As soon as I realised I had been spotted I made for the safety of the trees surrounding the fort, the archer however, struck true hitting me in the flank. While it wasn't a serious injury, it was exceptionally painful.

Not long after this, two riders appeared near the gates, riding quickly, with the size of the force we had arrived with, it was feasible that these men were outriders warning the bandits of our arrival. It seemed Kyrilu came to the same conclusion and he loosed two arrows at quick succession at the riders, bringing one down and wounding the other. The make shift fortification then became a flurry of activity and more archers began to appear at the wall, Kyrilu shot another arrow at the gathering bandits, killing another, but alerting them to our presence, 4 arrows found our scout, badly wounding the man. At this we decided to hide, stay quiet and await Darmin and the reinforcements. At this point I returned to my own body in anticipation of Darmin's return.

Not long after he arrived and we set off with our band of mercenaries, Kestrel was again suspicious of us trying to get his men killed. His obsession with suicide missions is beginning to make him more of a hinderence than a help but once again myself and Darmin were able to coerce him into coming. We arrived at the fortification to find the bandits had left. We began tracking them, by their tracks there were around 2 dozen of them. It was not hard to find their path. After a couple of hours, the group fragmented into many smaller paths, We sent the mercenaries back to the pallisade and continued tracking. Not long after we found that some of the tracks led to a tower in the distance. From what I remembered of the maps I had seen I assumed this was Robert's Hammer and we returned to Hartshall to gather our troops, as well as the mercenaries. With any luck we could take out the enemy mercenaries and the bandits in one attack.

We arrived at the tower and found a rag tag band of bandits and mercenaries numbering in the hundred gathered outside the tower. A small man mounted on a horse rode out inbetween our troops. Myself, Darmin and Freydor rode out to meet him. The small man was clearly of common birth and had little important to say. After it was clear he did not intend to surrender I abruptly ended his prattling by turning and riding back to our forces. I intended to have the man shot by Kyrilu, a man of low birth does not deserve the protection of parley. Before I could give the order, the treacherous swine shot me himself with his crossbow! The bolt hit me in the back, my armour protected my vital organs, but even still I could tell it was a serious wound. I struggled to remain on horseback and returned to our front line. Looking back I could see Darmin struggling with the small man, dragging him onto his donkey while Freydor rode quickly back to us.

I struggled down from my horse attempting to see what condition my back was in as Freydor rode up, seeing me injured he asked if I wanted to give him the commanded. I had had the breath knocked out of me and could hardly answer, let alone shout out orders. I nodded dully and went to join the mercenary band once seeing to my wound. Our archers then began shooting at the advancing enemy, covering Darmin as he tried to ride back to us with the struggling man grappled in his arms. After a few volleys of our veteran archers, some of the enemy rabble began to pause, looking around for inspiration and orders. Once Darmin arrived with his prisoner, we told the small man we would allow him to live if he demanded his men surrendered. He quickly agreed and ran out, attempting to get the attention of his men. They soon got the idea and while some surrendered, others attempted to flee, at this point we sent our cavalry forward, attempting to cut off any routing enemies and kill any who wouldn't surrender.

Not long past before the cavalry returned with a large number of prisoners, most had surrendered, some had fought back, a very small number had escaped. This left just one problem to deal with. The mercenaries were still in the tower and we were informed by the leader Darmin had captured that they had at least two weeks worth of supplies. With no siege equipment all we could do was dig in for a siege.

[Kyrilu]

The forces of House Stav had settled down to wait out the enemy forces which had held themselves up in the tower. They had waited the night and were all going about duties while staying prepared, some of them still wounded badly although thankfully that was still limited to Kyrilu, Preston and Darmin. They were just getting into the swing of things for the day when the short man that Darmin had captured the day before came up, apparently he was now their ally but Kyrilu wasnt going to start trusting him just yet.

He came up and started talking to Preston, Darmin, Freydor and Kyrilu, he was talking about a few things but Kyrilu was mostly trying to just keep a logical mind to it all. He seemed taken aback when Kyrilu said that he would have to answer for the wrongs he had done and started trying to defend himself to them. It was then that Kyrilu pointed out that it would be Edmund Bartheld that would judge him not them.

He also tried to persuade the group into going and stealing gold from Edmund, gold which he had moved to a safe place that the bandits had actually planned to attack on this very day. At this the entire group listening to him said that they wouldnt do that since they were here to help Edmund not steal from him. He dropped it shortly afterwards but was taken aback at the fact that they didnt want to take the almost certainly unguarded gold. This short man was really getting on Kyrilus nerves in his idea of doing these things was alright, Kyrilu might do unspeakable things at times but he would not hurt an ally in anyway if he could help it.

It was at this time that a runner came from Barthelds hall with a letter from Lord Ranin. The runner gave it to Preston, who couldnt read it but tried to pretend that he could before passing it to Darmin to read out. Lord Ranin had said in the letter that things had happened since we had been gone and would like us to return as quickly as possible. When the letter had been read all of them agreed that it ment they had to attack now and return home as soon as possible.

After a quick strategic meeting at which almost everyone agreed Darmin would act as a battering ram of sorts they started their attack. Kyrilu once again joined the unit of archers as Darmin charged the wooden door to the tower on Bombo. He sent Bombo back as he ran the rest of the way to the door and tried to kick it down but even Kyrilu could see nothing happened. At this point the archers started to fire on a number of forces who were on the roof.

There seemed to be a half dozen people on the roof and the archers managed to take a couple of them down but it was hard to hit them from where they were. The remaining enemies on the roof started to laugh at Darmins attempt to get through the door and started to drop rocks down on him. Kyrilu could just make out a rather large looking rock land on Darmins head as the others clattered to the floor around him. In Kyrilus mind it seemed like Darmin liked getting hit on the head as he had suffered a few injuries to his head in the past few months.

The Blue Suns lead by Kestrel started to advance towards the door as Darmin tried again to get through the door. This time the door seemed to splinter quite a lot and gaps appeared in the door as Darmins fist connected with it but it was still standing. The men above started dropping yet more rocks, this time they all passed Darmin by but one of them clanged against his shield.

Darmins fist connected with the door and it flew open on its hinges with a loud bang. The men on top of the tower once again tried to drop rocks on Darmin, all of them missing him yet again. At this point Darmin and the Blue Suns charged into the tower. Kyrilu couldnt see anything that was happening inside the tower but could hear a lot of shouting. It was over rather quickly though and soon it was rather quiet, that is till there was a loud screaming coming from the roof of the tower.

The screaming was coming from a man, the same man who had managed to drop the rock on Darmins head. The man was having his arms pulled off by Darmin, even to Kyrilu that seemed a little extreme. Freydor and Kyrilu headed towards the tower but the screaming stopped before they could get to Darmin to stop him. Darmin was in a real state now, his armor covered in blood both from his own head wound and from the splatter which had been caused from ripping the mans arms off.

Kyrilu started to try and help Darmin, he bandaged his friends head and started to try and help him find Bombo. They then searched the tower and found very little they could salvage but Hantu managed to find 50 Gold Dragons which they split between them and saved the last 10 for Ranin. The army then headed back towards Barthelds hall. They reached it an hour or so later and exchanged goodbyes before heading back towards Castle Nylatl.

They decided it was best that Preston, Freydor and Kyrilu along with the Cavalry should ride back first and scout the way while the rest marched back as fast as they could. It took them 3 days to get back to their lands and the sight that greeted them was one they dreaded. The Sept and the hamlet had been burned to the ground, there seemed to be a few workers trying to start rebuilding the hamlet but other than that it was deserted.

Lord Ranin had managed to see them on their approach and went out to meet them. They started to ask him questions about what had happened to which he explained that about 5 days prior, house Sirus had attacked and burned down the Sept and Hamlet. They were furious, Lord Ranin asked how things had gone, seeing that Kyrilu and Preston were still wounded badly, and asked where the rest of the army were to which they explained the situation.

Lord Ranin then took the three of them to his chambers while the cavalry took care of themselves. It was at this point that Lord Ranin told them that the lord of house Sirus had posed as Ranin at the masquerade ball and had his way with Lady Walda. To this there was outrage and they all agreed that there was not going to be a peaceful solution to this which Lord Ranin had been suggested to try by Lord Renley.

Preston and Kyrilu then headed off to see Maestor Jameson about their wounds and he started working on them. A few days lated Darmin and the rest of the forces returned to the lands of house Stav. Darmin seemed to be extremely depressed about the Sept but Kyrilu decided to respect his privacy. It was at this point that the rest of them explained to Darmin what had happened and they agreed that the following day they would head out to Sirus lands and take at least some revenge.

At the break of dawn the army is roused and are preparing to move out but once again Kestrel wants to challenge authority and starts complaining. The argument gets close to violence as Kestrel puts his hand on his sword and in responce Kyrilu draws his bow on him. The argument is then diffused by Lord Ranin paying the Blue Suns another 200 Gold of what they are owed and they all head out.

The first days travel goes by without any complications other than complaining by a few of the troops which gets less common after Darmin slaps one across the face and almost breaks his neck. Thankfully in Kyrilus mind Darmin is no longer wounded even though Preston and himself are still suffering from theirs. At night Kyrilu goes off hunting and manages to find a few rabbits which in the morning are turned into a stew.

The following day goes without a problem until night falls at which point both Kyrilu and Freydor go off hunting but they go in different directions. They find nothing and while returning Kyrilu finds out that three of the guards had been shot. He runs towards Lord Ranins tent and bumps into Freydor who encountered something simular. They then go in and rouse Ranin and explain the situation.

He doubles the guards and they start searching the camp but find nothing wrong except that the injury cart and supply cart now have damaged wheels which are easily fixed. They then start trying to track the people down who did this but Kyrilu and even Hantu cannot find their tracks. With the doubled guard they all go back to sleep and wake up the next morning, nothing new has happened.

They then head out and manage to reach Sirus lands, Kyrilu and Freydor go off in seperate directions and try to scout out if any enemy troops are waiting for them. Kyrilu manages to count there being between 400 and 500 men, there is at least 3 units of cavalry and 1 unit of archers. He heads back and reports this to Lord Ranin when Freydor mentions he spotted a concealed unit of scouts as well. Lord Ranin rides out to Parley with them and returns shortly afterwards. They meet in his tent and start planning out attack strategies they can use against such numbers. How will this whole thing end?

[Eisen]

Insult upon injury with more insults! Things are indeed looking grim for House Stav. Without Lord Ranin's timely intervention I would have had to break out the warfare rules right there in the barracks with all the insults flying around!

[Kyrilu]

The people Lord Ranin had come to trust with certain things were called together to discuss tactics for the upcoming fight. One of the things which needed to be discussed was what they would all be doing. It was obvious that Lord Ranin would be leading their forces, what suprised Kyrilu was that Darmin and Mogrin were to help him issue orders, at least to start with.

Kyrilu decided that he wouldnt join the archers straight away, he would be off just to their side to begin with. Preston was still asleep in the Injury cart and Freydor decided to join the Blue Suns. It was their army against what seemed like the superior numbers of the enemy in the town, almost cowering inside its boundaries Kyrilu thought to himself as the forces of house Stav were deployed.

As soon as all the forces were deployed, Kyrilu tried to fire off a few shots at the enemies. He aimed at the scouts which had tried to remain hidden, loosing two shots seperatly at them in fast succession, neither of them finding a body to plunge into. The scouts seemed to get worried that they had been spotted though and that they had been shot at.

Kyrilu then took the same number of shots at one of the infantry units that he felt would be easier to hit. As before the arrows missed their mark and wizzed past the enemies harmlessly. Deciding that he should help support the troops he stepped into the Archers, ready for the first order.

As Kyrilu joined the Archers, he heard Darmin shout towards the Crusaders to get ready for if they are charged at. The Crusaders then set their shields in the ready position, placing one end on the ground and holding fast to them. It was then that the enemy general, Captin Kirul ordered his Archers to fire at house Stavs Archers.

The volly from the enemy Archers were more accurate than Kyrilus singular shots and managed to strike the Archers and scraping Kyrilus arm. It was at this point that Kyrilu shouted angrily about them watching their aim as he was still hurt on that side. He was acting out of anger more than anything else but thankfully the Archers he was with remained organised and didnt try to run away.

That was when Mogrin, under Lord Ranins guidance, ordered Stav Archers to fire in retalliation. The unit of Archers launched a volly back at their assailants, Kyrilu shouting "In your face!" as he released his arrow. The arrows arched high into the air and found their target and immeadiately after they were hit, house Stavs units could hear shouts from the enemy Archers about not expecting to get hit like that and complaining.

The enemy general then ordered the Archers to fire again, however this time their aim was not true and they missed Stavs Archers. This time Lord Ranin gave the order to fire on the Archers and with another volly of arrows, to which Kyrilu was shouting "Arrows fall from the heavens!" they found their mark and caused the enemy Archers to start running away in fear.

The enemy general then called for the scouts to try and shoot at house Stavs Archers. But as the volley was released it was obvious that they werent as good as the Archers who had just run for their lives. Lord Ranin then called for the Archers to once again fire but this time on the enemy Scouts. They released their volly of arrows which struck home once again to the loud shouting and complaining of the enemy Scouts.

The enemy general then ordered one of their units of cavalry to advance towards our forces. Once again Lord Ranin ordered that the Archers should attack but this time attack this unit of enemy cavalry. Kyrilu figured that he thought they were more dangerous than the Scouts were which is generally true. Once more the arrow volley spun through the air, finding their targets and causing even more shouting from the enemy units.

At some point during all this Preston had woken up and had joined the Crusaders, Kyrilu hadnt noticed until now as he had been too focused on the enemies but he could tell it was harder for the Archers to fire so fast and that Lord Ranin would probably not give them any more orders for a little while. Lord Ranin then ordered the Blue Suns and our Cavalry to prepare a charge to attack if the enemy came too close to them. While the enemy general tried to get his Archers back in order but failed.

At the end of all these orders, Kyrilu decided that he would once again try to attack on his own and so left the Archers he was with. He fired four shots at the enemy Cavalry which had advanced but even his best shots just glanced off their armor. Kyrilus wound was really causing him pain now and was stopping him being as effective as he could have been otherwise, it seemed he would only be useful in the Archers this fight so he stepped back into the unit to help them.

Darmin seemed to now give up his role as one of the sub-commanders and stood around near the Blue Suns, Archers and Crusaders. Over the coming moments the Archers proceeded to shower the enemies with Arrows, the Crusaders took a large amount of damage as the enemy Cavalry trampled them. The Blue Suns and Stav Cavalry seemed to be doing quite a lot of damage to the enemy as they got close and Darmin ran after the enemy Cavalry that had trampled the Crusaders and punched them to death.

The enemy general was mostly focusing on his Cavalry and trying to keep them from bolting while the Stav forces focused on trying to make them flee as the Archers would keep peppering the enemy units with arrows as their general managed to calm them. Darmin managed to take out another unit of Cavalry by punching them as they were on the verge of running. When it was left with only the general and two remaining units they surrendered to Stavs forces.

Without losing any of their units, house Stav had managed to take the town in Sirus lands. The Cavalry went round and tried to round up any of the enemy units that had fled the battle while the rest of the enemy forces were disarmed. They interigated the enemy general to get as much information as they could about Sirus' remaining forces and then they began to discuss what they should do next.

Lord Ranin put his foot down about what they were going to do as the rest of his war panel had wanted to try and take teh castle but Ranin wanted to go to the tournament that was being held and challenge Lord Sirus to a duel. The enemy forces were imprisoned as best as could have been, the Blue Suns, Cavalry and Crusaders stayed to hold the town while the Archers headed home and the rest headed towards where the tournament was held.

((Sorry about the briefness closer to the end but I was finding it harder to remember specifics at that point, also sorry for any spelling mistakes as usual))

[Eisen]

Good job House Stav. On an unrelated note I'd like whoever playtested the Warfare rules exiled to the Night's Watch.