(1874-04-11) The Broken Gate
The Broken Gate
Summary: The party rest in the village of Ewegate only to be awakened by the chaos of a bandit raid.
Date: 11th April 2018
Related: http://eternalcrusade.wikidot.com/log:1874-04-01-a-dangerous-crossing
NPCs: Nepos, Verus
Players:
Thomas  Corwin  Myrana  Lianna  Brennart  Imogen  

Village of Ewegate, border of Ashedown and Duval
Ewegate is a small settlement surrounded by a modest pallisade. There is a shallow river to the south and the main gate (which is about two horses wide) provides an entry point to the north. You are welcomed into the so-called manor by a Sir Ethan and provided with hot food and a place to rest for the night in the main ‘hall’. The manor is not much more than a slightly larger than average house made out of stone and timber instead of the ruder materials more common in the surrounding houses. Likewise the main hall would be better described as a big room than a hall. It does boast a nice, cozy fire and a leak-proof roof though, easily making it the best place to sleep in range.
11th april 1874

It’s been a long and frustrating day chasing up rumours of yet another bandit gang on the Ashedown/Duval border. You’ve found that really confirms, or disproves, your intel. In the end it becomes obvious that you will need to find somewhere to rest up for the night and a small group of shepherds kindly direct you to Ewegate.

Ewegate is a small settlement surrounded by a modest pallisade. There is a shallow river to the south and the main gate (which is about two horses wide) provides an entry point to the north. You are welcomed into the so-called manor by a Sir Ethan and provided with hot food and a place to rest for the night in the main ‘hall’. The manor is not much more than a slightly larger than average house made out of stone and timber instead of the ruder materials more common in the surrounding houses. Likewise the main hall would be better described as a big room than a hall. It does boast a nice, cozy fire and a leak-proof roof though, easily making it the best place to sleep in range.

The evening passes without event and you bed down for the night without anything remarkable happening to disturb your dreams.

A little after midnight you are roused from your sleep. Two things happen. Somewhere outside, towards the northern section of the wall, a horn sounds. And moments later one of the Sokar armsmen shouts "Fire! Fire!" as he points up at the edge of the thatch roof.

It had been one of those days. He rotated between marching and riding, giving his horse, and admittedly, himself a break so Corwin was more than happy to find the vilalge of Ewegate, and take himself and his men there both for food and rest.

His little retinue, consisting of Two Knights from his household, and eight Taris Infantry, all arrive and are more than grateful for the accommodations. Of course, while the men drink and relax, Corwin eats.

He's never REALLY gotten over that Teenage ability to just consume food. He knows, somewhere in his little dark heart that he'll eventually be fatter than Wulfred, but he just REALLY enjoys his food. It's one reason he's always exercising and training. He has to burn off all that excess food.

So it is that Corwin finds himself on his THIRD helping of Shepard's Pie when somebody bellows: "Fire! Fire!" He takes one last LARGE bite and stands up, grabbing his Sword as he moves. He points to his Knights and Men who have also stood up with that call, "We make for the Main Gate. Let's see what we can see." He points to one of the Infantry, "Go find Viscount Chandus. Tell him where we're going. If I know Chandus he'll already be trying organize this."

Imogen had stopped within the village in order to rest for the night. It's a LONG journey back to either of the places she currently calls home, the Anderton lordship or the d'korbina county, so she had stopped to resupply, rest, and get back on the road in the morning. She had just been all comfy and settled into a nice bed when she heard the cry, a cry that could not be mistaken, and up she went, redressing shockingly quickly and grabbing her sword and bow to go check out what was happening.

The last week had been mixed, at best, for Viscount Thomas Chandus. The Senate meeting accomplished the stated objectives, in that Kentaire agreed to the peace that the Queen of Galenthia desired. Still, on a personal note he felt that he'd been humiliated in a very public venue by Kentaire's Praetor and discovered the demise of a treasured comrade and his family. Doing his duty, just barely, he put ink and seal to parchment and signed peace for Galenthia, though in truth he'd wanted nothing better than to slam his roundel dagger in Praetor Callis's eye in front of all the diplomats of the Civilised West.

Home called, though. With the Duchy of Tarris beset by bandits, it was imperative that Thomas, as Brigadier of the East, came back to help deal with it. Though his own fief was only affected on the outskirts, others were much more imperilled. Unfortunately, half of House Chandus's professional banner and the the Eastern Province's line regiment, the Royal Borderers, were still waiting for ships in Coastmire, hundreds of miles to the west. Thomas has decided that he'll ride to inspect what was going on in with but a small group of his own retainers. He's got less than a score of them, five Sun Shield Guardsmen with their long shields, lorrica armour, greaves and swords, four of his archers with their mid sized self bows, bucklers and archer hangers and, of course, Sergeant at Arms Lawrence Verus, his shadow. They're mostly mounted on ponies, though Verus and the Viscount are both on taller, light Tarris horses, with a string of remounts to carry their equipment.

The Chandus party arrives in the evning of this early spring day at Ewesgate, their kit covered with cloaks, helmets slung aside and gauntlets off. Riding gear, lighter and comfortable. Evnetually, dinner is had with the local knight, Lord Ashedown and the others who've arrived. Serjeant Verus makes a duty schedule for the guard and they bed down.

The racket at midnight rouses them, and Verus is, predictably, the first up. "To arms, to arms!" It's good that their armour is easy to get on themselves. In less than five minutes, they're harnassed up, and heading for the main gate - the infantry in front tight to eachother but still jogging briskly, the archers in the middle and Verus and Thomas holding the rear.

The startling cries of 'Fire' and 'To arms'! stirs Lianna Sokar from a light sleep and has her sitting up and looking around with an expression of alarm on her face even as she's reaching for the boots that she'd tucked beneath the edge of the cot. The veteran healer knows well enough to sleep fully clad, especially when traveling, so it's only a matter of pulling her boots back on, dashing some cold water against her face, and grabbing her belongings before slinging her cloak around her shoulders. The worrisome shout of 'Fire' has her eyeing the ceiling, searching for telltale signs of smoke or actual flame.

The Sokar party seems slightly out of place here but they'd been hunting the bandits as well which lead them into the Tarris lands. Sir Brennart, his sister Lianna and a small group of four armsmen crossed over into the Tarris lands. Having kept the party to avoid any misconceptions that it was an attempt of putting a large armed force into the Tarris lands the tourney knight turned battle hardened knight was hunting some bandits. After they'd bedded down and the call to arms… and the call of fire goes off the knight rolls out of bed, "What the crap's a guy gotta do to get a good night's sleep." He looks over as the rest of the people around rouse to get ready to get into a fight he starts to get into his armor one of the armsmen helping him out with the difficult to put on plate armor before they and the rest of the Sokars.

The main gate is definitely the most defensible spot in the settlement. It's roughly two horses wide and whilst it cuts through the ditch & palisades that surround the rest of the settlement with a road it does boast two small archer platforms on either side of the gate. Those platforms are occupied by a couple of levy archers who gratefully make space for Chandus' own archers if he asks it. More worryingly still - the gates are wide open and you can make out the shadowy figures of darkly clad men (and women) as they run for the gap! Your own watch has responded to the gate and is currently killing a couple of shifty looking men in piecemeal leather armor for the gates control.

Meanwhile in the center of the settlement several of the houses have just started to burn and you witness a torch spinning in the air up onto yet another roof.

To the south the little makeshift gate that provides a shortcut to the river for drinking and washing is also open and the villages militia are down there desperately trying to fight off about a dozen attackers. The rampart and palisades to east and west look alright at this moment. There are some garrison troops up there shouting and waving to each other but there is no sight of enemies inside.

The fires are still little smoldering things. They pose a great risk if left unattended but should be easily put out if you manage to react quickly enough. Unfortunately they are creating a great deal of chaos in the village proper as unarmed and often partially dressed men, women and children stream out from their homes.

The main gate is definitely the most defensible spot in the settlement. It's roughly two horses wide and whilst it cuts through the ditch & palisades that surround the rest of the settlement with a road it does boast two small archer platforms on either side of the gate. Those platforms are occupied by a couple of levy archers who gratefully make space for Chandus' own archers if he asks it. More worryingly still - the gates are wide open and you can make out the shadowy figures of darkly clad men (and women) as they run for the gap! Your own watch has responded to the gate and is currently killing a couple of shifty looking men in piecemeal leather armor for the gates control.

Meanwhile in the center of the settlement several of the houses have just started to burn and you witness a torch spinning in the air up onto yet another roof.

To the south the little makeshift gate that provides a shortcut to the river for drinking and washing is also open and the villages militia are down there desperately trying to fight off about a dozen attackers. The rampart and palisades to east and west look alright at this moment. There are some garrison troops up there shouting and waving to each other but there is no sight of enemies inside.

The fires are still little smoldering things. They pose a great risk if left unattended but should be easily put out if you manage to react quickly enough. Unfortunately they are creating a great deal of chaos in the village proper as unarmed and often partially dressed men, women and children stream out from their homes.

Myrana grabs onto a hank of thatch and it just comes out of the fucking roof and she lands with a splash in the rain barrel.

"Alright, make way lads, make way, you'll draw with us!" Yells the senior Chandus archer as they jog on to the gate, a Corporal named Francis. "Up!" He himself slings his bow and hops up onto the wall before actually reinforcing the levies. As for the Sun Shield Guards, they're in their partial armour, not having much of a chance to fully harness up - they charge foward, shields forward and formed into a wedge in order to block the leather clad assailants at the entrance. Swords swing out or stab forward as they try to stabilise the line.

Serjeant Verus and Viscount Chandus maintain a distance, and Thomas looks about. "Bloody! You! Citizens! Get as much water from the wells as you can and hose down the buildings NEXT to the fires, not the ones on fire! This can't spread!" But then it's back to the gate. "Verus, get that gate closed!"

Imogen is suprisingly quick to action, there's alot of half dressed peasants standing about wrapped up in blankets, and it's a simple matter of borrowing one with their half alert minds, and with blanket slung over her shoulder she makes the climb onto the roof, which given the circumstances is a bit tricky, since rooves aren't really MEANT to be climbed upon, but she makes it up, just in time for ANOTHER asshole to set more of the roof on fire.

Turning chaos into something resembling order is the only way to get anything done, and as Lianna watches the chaos unfolding she turns briefly toward Brenn, "I'll help pull people into a line to get buckets of water moving toward the buildings on fire." And with a quick hug Lianna dashes over to the first group of townsfolk that are gathered nearby. Asking after, first, whether or not there's a well within the city walls and finding that the nearest source is the river, she sends people to their own homes to retrieve anything that'll hold water (buckets at the least, but anything sturdy will do) and selects the loudest person from the group to go with her to link up with other groups and do the same. Well aware that the route to the river is not, as yet, passable she takes the bucket that's offered to her when one becomes available and - while tempted to use the bucket to bash one of the incoming raiders over the head - she keeps calm, mostly, and waits for an opening to get the water line started.

To Corwin it appears that Thomas has the main gate under control, so to the Viscount he calls out, "Chandus! Attackers at the Southern Gate! I'm on it!" He nods to his knoghts, draws his blade and hefts his sheidl and charges south.

The young Lord Ashedown's boots thud in the dirt and mud of the road as he approaches the militia incombat. He rushes across the field and slams directly into the thick of it, knowing his men follow. Likely, his father would have some tactic in mind, but the only thing the Black Lancer can think to do is charge.

He slams into the melee shoulder first, his sheild intercepting an attack and he wraps his arm around to slash at the man doing the attacking only to find it parried. He kicks out with a foot and misses agian. Growling he lays about him, trying to at least get the attacker's attention. He cries out, "FOR THE ROSE QUEEN!"

Brennart glances up at the North gate and it looks well organized… Then to the south he sees a lone knight in the midst of a melee and turns to head that way bringing his shield up in front of him as he goes and while Corwin has them distracted Brennart moves in and hacks at one causing a spray of blood before he thrusts his sword into the second leaving the one engaged with Corwin alone.

Between the efforts of Brennart, Corwin and the guardsmen on the south gate things start to come under control. There is still fighting there though so the route doesn't look clear. You spy shadowy figures moving towards the south gate as you first join the fray but as things start to swing in your favor those shadows instead break into two groups and circle around towards both the east and west. The east and west walls still appear to be clear.

The front line of the bandits slam into Thomas' defensive line. Thomas' forces are significantly outnumbered but given their superior position, equipment and training, they handle that with an almost practiced ease. The archers aren't finding it easy to pick their targets out in the dark mass of foes. No progress on closing that gate has been made this round.

Torches continue to fly up amongst the villages onto the buildings, causing chaos. Despite their best efforts there has been little progress towards halting those fires from developing but the villages have stopped panicking and getting in the way.

Myrana surfaces with a gasp, grabbing the side of the barrel and looking at the hank of thatch in her hand like it is betrayed her at the molecular level. She pitches it over the side and climbs up, seething. But she hops up onto the lip of the barrel and swings her wet legs out with a slap of skirts and jumps down. "Well, that building is gone," she says to herself. But all the same, she tries again, trying not to curse the building skills of shepherds in her heart. After shaking the water from her eyes, she turns around to see if it's too late to still save the building by getting the torch down.

Two female villagers go behind one of the houses to get a half empty barrel requested by Lianna. A few moments later they run back out screaming about bandits inside the village.

The torch in the thatching above Myrana has just caught in the surrounding thatch and just removing the torch will no longer save this building. It's definitely not a lost cause but that particular method is no longer viable.

Fully engaged, Corwin grits his teeth and slashes at the enemy before him. This time his blade finds purchase and the man falls, his chest opened up from navel to shoulder. He parries a spear thrust with his shield, angling it so that it slides along the spear. At the last second Corwin shoves, knocking the man with the spear off balance and then ramming his blade into the man's chest.

He kicks the man off his blade and notices a third running for Brennart and calls out, "Knight! Behind you!" And then charges the third bandit. He leaps over a fallen bandit and slashes, his blade catching the third Bandit in the small of the back and traveling in a straight line, severing the man's spine. He falls screaming clawing at the wound gushing blood, but Corwin pays him no attention. He makes sure the other kngiht, Brennart, is fine, gives him a nod and looks to the river, trying to see if there are more enemies there. He can introduce himself to the other kngiht once this is over.

With the fires apparently covered by Myrana, Liana and Imogen, Thomas can focus more on the fight at the gate. "Fran!" The corporal ducks down behind the parapet and turns around to look at Thomas. "Wait until… you know!" He makes a sign with his hands to indicate that they hold their arrows until the enemy is close and near the gate before loosing on them at point blank range and above. Fran nods quickly and the levy archers get yanked down, having emptied a quarter of their quivers wildly already, while his rest of the Chandus archers smoothly duck in a more practiced manner. Thomas then gives a thumbs up to Corwin, and then realising that he probably can't see it he yells, "Aye, Ashedown! Keep in contact!" He turns about again, frowing at the gate, "Any help with the gate would be wonderful!" To no one in particular, and then, "Keep that formation tight lads, go for arms and joints." It's been a while since the Viscount has been involved in such a small, intimate fight and he's relishing being nearly a platoon commander, waving his lightsilver sword about in burning firelight. He's fully in control of his faculties and the situation at hand and has a big grin on his face.

The soldiers at the gate are led by a Lance Corporal, Nepos, who's served in the Sun Shield Guards since the Battle of the Foothills, years back. He keeps tight control over his four subordinates even as they are swarmed by a mass amount of bandits, the wedge collapsing in on itself into more of a hedgehog. They hold shields tight together and thrust or slash violently, removing arms or punching through armour easily. Blood flows. At the same time, the archers under Fran pop up and start showering those below with arrows from very close, only loosing on those a few steps away from their comrades.

Myrana just sort of looks up at that mess.

"…" She chews on her lip.

Then she turns around and puts her hands on her hips, seeing the way Ewesgate is being lit by the cherry glow of more and more rooftops.

Myrana taps a finger, not moving her hands from her hips.

"Yeah, no," she mutters. Then a woman goes screaming past her, chased by a bandit. Myrana watches this in startlement, then abandons that building for real and draws Ardaigh, running on after the two of them and feeling quite a bit relieved that she isn't about to fall again.

Brennart has focused his attentions on a single target which seems to have actually be fighting well enough for a moment until he goes high and Brennart's blade goes low into his gut… And then the call behind him. Spinning slightly he looks behind him at the fallen bandit and Corwin standing there having killed the bandit at his back. Tossing up a quick salute towards Corwin he steps further into the gate, "Ready to push them back to the river?"

The villagers Lianna has gathered together are the ones who never joined levy nor militia. They are mostly old, traditional females or children. They huddle up, as instructed, seeming grateful for the instructions as they gather the children into the middle and form up a bristling line of old men and boys barely old enough to be described as teenagers armed with clubs. The others meanwhile go about setting up the bucket brigade that has been promised to them.

Myrana manages to chase a lone bandit into the yard of one of the homes. He turns to face her, his pale hair gilded by the flames above him, and throws aside his almost empty sack of torches. He draws his short sword, yells with a mixture of rage and terror, and charges directly for Myrana.

Imogen is still managing to prevent the fire on this one building from spreading but doing nothing to reduce the vigor of the existing fire.

The north gate holds and holds well against the full force of the bandit might.

The south gate is now fully controlled on the inside and the forces that were outside have melted away to both east and west. You could attempt to move to control the river at this point although you will have to commit troops to holding it if you do so.

With no help forthcoming to close the gate, Thomas calls out to his Serjeant at Arms, "Verus, get that bloody gate CLOSED!" Unfortunately, Verus is the only one there, as the rest of his infantry are busy being outnumbered nearly four to one and the archers are otherwise occupied on the wall. "Hey!" He calls into the village. "At the main gate, we need to close the gate! We need aid doing so!" Still, he focuses most of his attention on the fight there, ensuring that they know where the main body of enemy is coming from and that the archers are keeping to their targets and not getting too close.

Nodding to the Knight, Corwin says to Brennart, "I'm taking my men out to the East, see if I can't hit the bastards behind before they try to hit the East or Main Wall." He nods to his men who form up, Knights in the center, with Tarris Infantry on the flanks. Corwin jogs with his man, his eyes scanning as he goes.

The group leaves the shelter of the village wall, and enters the outdoors. The outside of the village is vastly different. Oppressive in the heart of a battle. He wonders briefly if his Da would ever do something like this during a village defense. He grits his teeth and moves. Nobody is seeing anything, and his eyes go to the ditch. Overgrown. He frowns. "Watch the ditch." He whispers to his men, "But try to not appear to be. Be ready for anything."

The press of bodies becomes extreme, and Serjeant Verus returns to his lord's side, having given up on closing the gate for the moment being. "Not happening, sir. Not getting swarmed alone." He's got his shield up in front of Thomas, who nods briskly. The Chandus infantry are slowly giving way, but striking out and continuing to take down the enemies. The screams, the smell of blood and the chaos is omnipresent, silhouetted by the fires in the village. It makes for a hellish scene. Lance Corporal Nepos yells back to Thomas, "We might need a bit of help in a minute, boss!" The Viscount grits his teeth and seems on the cusp of deciding whether he and his bodyguard should wade in.

Imogen though it takes awhile, dodging assholes throwing more fire onto the roof and ungracefully struggling with a blanket to put out fires, something she has no experience with, she manages to FINALLY extinguish the fires on the roof and with a tired sigh she looks over her work, before standing once more and beginning to climb down from her current roof and look for any remaining fires to put out.

"Stay together," Lianna's tone is one of encouragement instead of outright command, trying to draw the villagers back into a group so that they can defend each other. As more of the villagers start to run back to their homes, and others try to put out the fires with whatever is at hand.

As the river access comes under friendly control the braver men and women rush out with their buckets and start passing them back into the town. There hasn't been enough water for any real impact to be felt yet but things look promising.

To the east where Corwin and his men are looking for the bandits they find them. Bandits crawl up out of the ditch just behind the unit before screaming out battle cries and charging at them. Some of these men are actually quite well equipped, wearing a mismatch of chain and other armor types.

At the north gate the friendly forces are slowly giving ground and the gates show no sign of being closed. Control is still yours. For now at least.

The river access looks safe under the guardianship of its four well armed sokar guardsmen.

A large number of rooftops are on fire but there aren't any more brands being cast up into the thatch. Either their was only one of them or the others have melted away into the shadows now that their ammunition has run out.

To the west, on the central part of the palisade wall, the militia guarding it start to shout and move about. A group of bandits are trying to crest the wall.

The bandit that Myrana cornered proves to be a remarkably whiley foe. He's holding his own against her in a dramatic encounter that would make an awesome story.. if anyone could see.

Nepos gets ahold of the Guardsmen at the main gate and sets the example by decapitating a particularly large bandit with a glaive who'd been threatening to reach in and yank his comrade off of his feet. The Sun Shield Guards plant themselves in the gateway itself, and cheer, striking out with swords even as they are tiring out. This is why they train. Meanwhile, Fran and the archers continue to dump their arrows from directly above into the bandits. He leans over and yells to Thomas, "Three quarters!" That is, they've used three quarters of their quiver and are now at emergency levels.

But, at least his men haven't gone down yet. Thomas, acutely aware of how tenuous the position at the main gate is, still has Serjeant Verus covering his front and can look about to see the militia on the west palisade starting to be engaged. "Verus. Break off from me and get to that west wall. The militia probably don't have any real leadership. Go. Now." Without a word, the bearded Serjeant sprints away, leaving Thomas alone. Instead of standing in the middle of the ground, he moves closer to the archer platforms. "I want you to keep at least six or seven, so when you're there, get down here and we'll all wade in together."

A pile of bodies, some still moving, is laid in front of the gate. There are nearly two score of them - many wounded, but many probably dead, too, and it's like that a lot of those wounded won't survive the night. A grim scene at the main gate indeed.

Imogen is still quite high on victory, perhaps a little too high, as she eagerly jumps down from one roof, and doesn't land quite so gracefully, leading her to be out of breath for a few minutes. Which winds up ruining any of her attempts to climb up onto the next building to put out more fires, so now she's out of breath /and/ irritated

"Oh if only it would just rain," Lianna could wish for that sort of luck as she watches the fight continue at the gates. The sound, the sight, the awful smell of battle is familiar to Lianna, the only extra element is the fire that continues to burn and cast everything in a flickering light. She stays with the villagers, keeping a close eye on the children who are somewhat protected in the middle of the group.

As the enemy comes tearing out of the ditches Corwin sets his sheild in the middle. "SHIELDS UP!" He calls. The men forming a line with their shields in line with Corwin's. "BRACE!" Is his second order before the enemy slams into them.

They're outnumbered. Corwin sees it and grits his teeth. The crash forces him to take a step back, and the line itself does as well. They're out numbered. "Keep them off the flanks!" He calls out. His men slashing and hacking. The Knight sin the center wiht their swords and the Tarris Infantry with Axes. The men scream and die, a third of the enemy that charged them in the first wave. Corwin keeps himself in the shield wall, trying to keep his shield in poisiton to add another shield, but he does nothing more than scan, and parry. Watching the enemy movements, trying to gauge what is happening around him.

"HOLD. THIS. LINE!" Corwin calls. "This is where we stand and they fall! This line, here! Make them bleed!"

Brennart makes his way up to the north gate now that the south appears to be clear for the moment. He doesn't sprint because well heavy armor but he does move with a sense of urgency as he goes keeping an eye out for any issues inside the village as he goes.

The west wall bolstered by the arrival of the experienced Sir Verus manages to stop the ever increasing flow of bandits coming up that side. For now this wall is holding but it will require support to actually push them off the wall.

The bandits fighting Corwin and his group fight with the ferocity of men that know that they won't escape this with their lives.

At the north gate the bandit numbers keep getting ground down. What before was a truly overwhelming flood of men has been reduced to a force that merely outnumbers the Chandus guardsmen. And now Sir Brennart is being given space to join the line..

The bucket brigade starts to suppress the fires on the buildings nearest to the south gate but the water isn't being prioritised very well. The embers from one house drift on the wind.. right into the stables..

Gritting his teeth, Corwin and his men manage to do exactly what he ordered them to do. They hold their ground. Axes crash, swords slash. One Tarris infantryman loses his Axe and draws a javelin, using it as a short spear. One of the Knight's shield's splinters, and he draws his dagger. Corwin just parries and calls orders. Which mostly revolves around the words, "Hold the line!!"

Imogen is angry, but angry does not mean inattentive, and it's fair to say she always has an eye out on the horses during any combat situation. So when she sees the telltale spark hitting the stable where the horses are kept everything else is forgotten, one could swear she even roars, and hightails it over to the stables as fast as her legs can carry her before viciously smothering any hints of embers to death, double and even triple checking her work to ensure that the fires are dealt with before jumping down and kissing the horses affectionately before running back to deal with the fire she had been working at before.

The fight at the north gate has decisively swung in the favour of the Chandus troops, whose training, conditioning, armour and discipline keep them going long past where the bandits are feeling comfortable. Having seen so many of their mates ground into a pulp, they begin to edge back, and Nepos cries, "Have at 'em boys! The last push, c'mon!" The bandits aren't even really communicating with each other, just yelling and striking, and now starting to step or be pushed back.

The Sokar Knight reaches the north gate and bolsters up the Chandus line helping hold them as he stabs over their shields and into enemies that present themself his sword punching through the throat of one of the bandits. And although it's not much fresh blood the armored knight anchoring the line now should give the troops a brief enough reprieve to push through the bandits.

Once the buckets of water finally begin to circulate along the line, Lianna is hard pressed to get everyone working in somewhat of a linear order. Point of fact, everyone is more or less tossing water on the fire nearest them instead of working together. Lianna briefly presses the heel of one hand against her forehead as she takes a calming breath then goes back to trying to organize the townsfolk and points to the embers that are trying to spread to the stables, even grabbing the next full bucket and carrying it with her to dash the water against the flickering sparks.

The arrival of a terrifying knight in full plate is enough to turn the wavering bandits into a near rout. Nepos seems inclined to break into a sprint and cut them down, but a single cry from the Viscount to their rear comes up - "Yield!" And they do. Not one of those still fighting takes off into the night, but they all throw down their weapons and raise their hands up, some collapsing to the ground in a mix of panic and exhaustion. The troops are exuberant.

Thomas steps forward and claps Brennart on his shoulder with his pommel, grinning at him. He'd never gotten time to put the visor onto his helmet, and it's open face. "Good to see you here, Sir! Alright, Nepos, you keep one of your lads and the two levies and bind these fellows, separate the wounded from the dead and get all of their weapons away. The rest of you - on me! We're going to go relieve Serjeant Verus. Sir, would you do the honour of accompanying us to the west wall?" He asks Brennart.

The force attacking the north gate crumbles under the combined effects of Chandus discipline and Brennart's sword.

Embers continue to drift down from the burning buildings into buildings which are not yet alight. The bucket brigade's efforts are ineffectual and at the point there is only a little time before the blaze becomes unstoppable and the entire village ends up alight.

On the west wall the pressure of bandits attempting to get onto the walls lessens as the ones that are not yet committed run.

Outside the east wall the skirmish between Corwin's men and the hapless ambushers continues with neither side gaining or losing any ground.

Brennart glances over at Thomas and nods a bit as he turns towards the west wall getting up to an airborne shuffle to head off to the next great battle! "West wall it is. There was another knight to the south but his men circled into the woods. Not sure direction from there."

The Sokar knight pushes into the bandits on the wall using his shield he crushes the throat of the first before he hacks into the bandit's friend right behind him. As Brenn pushes further onto the wall a third bandit falls to the knight's sword which at this point has gone from a nice shiny blade to a dull sheen even with the flickering fire light to try and reflect off it.

Two Chandus Guardsmen, four archers and Thomas follow Sir Brennart's charge, keeping up at a brisk pace with the Sokar knight. The archers have slung their bows and are now equipped with bucklers and short swords, but keeping a step or two behind the heavy infantry in front of them. All seems good - excellent in fact - when they get stuck in. The line fans out, the archers, light in their harness, jump on the wall and begin to force the enemy back. Serjeant Verus looks over at Thomas and the Viscount locks eyes with him, only to be smashed in the side of the head with a long polearm of some sorts. The blow is staggering, and completely unexpected. The Brigadier of the East collapses to the ground, dazed, ears ringing and seeing stars. Still, the bandits begin to smell the winds of the battle and break for the treeline outside the village.

Corwin's forces push back despite the numbers being against them. The crash of metal on shields and the screams of the dying fill the air. So to do the savage cries of the fighting. Screams of frustration, rage, and hope. The fighting is visceral, and animalistic. The shield wall long since abandoned to individual fights for survival.

Corwin pants, unsure of how he's going to keep this up. His sword drips blood, his shield is cracked but holding. How he and his men are not wounded is beyond him but they still hold. He searches for a way out for him and his men, but there just isn't. The Wall is behind them, the Ditch in front, and the enemy everywhere else. It is a fight to the death for the Ashedown troops, and he'll at least make it a bloody one.

Which is when the bandits flee. They just turn and run. "JAVELINS!" He calls out, trying to seize advantage of the sudden route. The Tarris Infantry throw, but the enemy continues to run. Javelins hitting the ground, rocks or trees, but no flesh. He hisses in frustration and then takes a moment to catch his breath. "Bloody well done. Head to the North Gate, let's not risk friendly fire."

The soldiers tired and battered nod, and they move toward the Southern Gate.

The only thing more destructive than a plague or a fever or a dangerous cold season is fire. Lianna recognizes the moment when to many small fires are being battled and not enough attention is being paid to the larger sweep of the spreading blaze. She steps back for a moment, turning slowly around to take in the scope of the fire and - equally important - the current pitch of the fight. The steadily increasing sound of the flames as they leap and spread from building to building creates an ever-increasing blaze of light to illuminate the entire village. The bellow about Javelins jars her attention and she rushes back to where the children are gathered and encourages those that remain to stay together. She shrugs out of her cloak and dunks it into a bucket of water then drapes it around her shoulders again, an effort to try to keep her own clothing from catching fire.

Thomas has been struck to the ground and remaisn there for more than a moment, his helmet dented inward. Were it not for the fine but old helm, his head would have been caved in and the brains of the Brigadier of the East on the ground. As it stands, Thomas is thoroughly dazed. With the fighting mainly over, Serjeant Verus jogs over, sheaths his sword and helps the man up. "Sorry I wasn't there, sir." Thomas doesn't answer. His mouth is slightly agape and he stares into the distance. All of a sudden, he vomits on the ground.

With the fighting over there is just the fires and the wounded to deal with. The defenders have suffered remarkably few casualties - in large part thanks to good organisation, training and proper equipment but the bandits have lost dozen's. Thomas is the most seriously injured of them all with the exception of one hapless levy spearman who took a sword to the gut. The fires are already out of control and all that you can do at this point is delay the inevitable and try to preserve the two buildings that are not yet fully alight due to Imogen's efforts: The 'manor' and the stables. The citizens are all alive and well when it is quite likely that they would not have been had Lianna not gathered them so quickly.

It is unlikely that there will be further trouble tonight and if the bandit attacks follow their previous pattern this is probably the last bandit attack this particular region will encounter for a while. You need to find the source.

Brennart finishes up ensuring the wall is clear before he comes back down cleaning off his sword on a dead bandit's cloak before he resheaths it. The helmet comes off and is tucked under his arm as he looks around for Thomas… Oh there he is with the pile of vomit, "Lianna! We've got some wounded. Viscount here's either hung over or got hit in the head."

"One problem at a time," Lianna replies as she catches up with Brenn then turns to where he indicates that the Viscount is.. and the puddle of vomit. "Oh dear," she exhales these words and turns back to Brenn. "The whole town is going to go up in flames if we don't get the fire under control. Can you get the rest of the soldiers and armsmen to fight the fire and keep it from spreading to the manor and the stables? I'll go take a look at the Viscount," said as she moves to do just that.

Corwin looks around the village and frowns. The village was gone. There was no saving it. Except for the stables (Thankfully) and the manor. "Send a message to my wife. Tell her to head out here and lets see if we can't get this place rebuilt, once the fires die down." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He was really looking forward to another shepard's pie, and sleep in a bed.

Brennart nods and lets Lianna handle the dazed and confused Thomas as he goes to gather up the Sokar Armsmen to help contain rather than fight the fire no need to take out the last two shelters in the village.

"I'm thirsty." That's the only thing that Thomas can really muster up. He's now seated on the ground and Serjeant Verus has dragged him against the palisade to be propped up. A canteen is pulled out, and Verus goes off to help Brennart and Corwin, combining forces to mount a strong guard. The soldiers at the main gate are controlling the string of prisoners (which they've gotten roped up, One knows where the rope is from) and barely holding the two levy archers in check. Were it not for their presence, the levies would probably slaughter the bandits right then and there.

Taking a knee beside Thomas, Lianna carefully eyes the Viscount for a moment then studies the dent that's probably a new addition to the veneer of his helmet. "It looks like you took a pretty bad blow to the head," always lead with the obvious when talking to people currently sporting recently acquired headwounds. "Lets get you back to the manor, and see about getting you cleaned up. The headache will abate after a while but it's going to be rather frightful until it does," and she offers a hand to Thomas to help him to his feet.

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