1866-02-09: Aidric's Journal: The Tale pt 1
Aidric's Journal: The Tale pt 1
Summary: Aidric writes down the first part of the tale of the taking of Goldhollow
Date: 1866-02-09
Related: http://eternalcrusade.wikidot.com/log:1866-02-10-trade-and-tales
NPCs: {$npc}
Players:
Aidric  

OOC Note: This is the tale as told by Aidric Charing so is a bit of a case of an unreliable narrator in some respects so should not be taken as the OOC definitive of what happened.

I’ve had a chance of late to relate the tale of the battle of Goldhollow the The Sphinx, and since I had to organize my thoughts to tell the tale I thought I had best write it down while it remained fresh in my mind. So here it is as close to how I told it as can be managed.

The campaign began late for me. I was in Four Corners with Sir Thaddeus for his wedding when the word reached us of Goldhollow’s fall and we had to linger a day for me to complete some business. Namely, the seizing of a mercenary and former Thorn who I believed had information of use to the Queen and her forces. It turned out not to be the case, or, that his information as of limited value, but we did seize the man and take him back to Firen. Once that was done Sir Thaddeus sent me with the men sent by my uncle to join the army to help retake the town and serve as Thaddeus’ eye and ears for the campaign.

The journey to the army was swift, but it was clear the lands around Goldhollow had been heavily raided and even though we rode under the Romante banner my men were seldom welcomed by the locals. All the same we reached the army in good order, and found it camped by a ruined tower seized from the enemy by our scouts. The tower had, it turned out sheltered a family who had escaped the fall of the town and their head, a guardsman, knew of a secret way past the walls which he used to get his family free of the Thorns. So, given this knowledge the plan was laid to surround the town with the army then send a part of huntresses and others to open the gates. It was a solid plan but what I did not realize was that my sister would take part in the raid on the gate and did not discover it until the moment before she left and by then it was of course too late to demand she stay lest we Charings look cowardly. So what followed was a long wait.

It’s at this point I should speak to the state of the town. The town of Goldhollow is an uninspiring place in all, drab stone walls, a single gate to cut down on smuggling out of gold and the usual maze of buildings within; all of it watched over by a stout keep on a rocky incline. It’s a town of miners, gold smiths, traders, taverns and whores. Though as we found it, the Thorns stood on the walls and had manned the siege engines making it a difficult nut to crack, especially with the single gate I mentioned. So, the success of the late night raid was crucial to any success. So, we in the army waited and watched. The fire started first, set by the guardsmen and a few accomplices meant to distract the Thorns while the true attack was made. Then, all was silent until one of the huntresses beyond the walls noted the men manning the scorpion had vanished. That was our first sign of hope. Then, as dawn was breaking the gates were pushed open and the attack began.

Though, before we speak of the attack there is more to say of the raid, the word is that there were five sent to take the gate and in the end they killed four times their number without being detected. The raid was led by Lady Raelyn, my sister took part, along with a huntress, a squire and a knight. How my sister, the squire and the knight kept so quiet is beyond me, but it is good that they did or we may have lost many more lives in the taking of the town.

As it was the battle for the town was hard fought. Yes, the gate was opened, but it was a single gate and while some of our forces made false attacks on the walls, it was the single point through which the army would enter the city until the battle was all but won. Some have said it was foolish, or that the charge to the city square was reckless but speed was essential to grab as much town as we could before a counter attack could bottle us up at the gate. As it turned out they tried exactly that, but because of the speed of the assault we faced them not at the gate but at the Cathedral square which was where the bloodiest fighting took place that day.

I was there, and took a wound in my throat for my trouble, but others were hurt far worse than I the most noteable of these was Lord Volstak. The up-jumped vassal of the Cassomirs who had command of the army at that point, due to the late arrival of Duke Gauvain. He bravely lead the charge and was in the front ranks when a Thorn archer shot the lord and his horse, causing him much harm. While the lord was shot down, the Thorns opened up with a volley of long canon fire which caused many of his subordinates to be likewise injured and nearly stalled the attack before Gauvain took charge, and Sir Henric Cassomir, saved the lord and helped hold the Cassomir lines together in the press of the battle.

After the initial moments of the battle it became a mess of blood and bodies, and I do not remember much save Sir Wulfred felling the man who shot Lord Volstak on the roof of a church and of course taking a spear in the neck. That is not to say that other great deeds were not done that day but that I did not see them. Though, I do give thanks to a lady who should not have been part of that battle for tending my wound that day, though I do her greater thanks by not naming her, lest her father someday read these words.

Following the battle the Thorns fell back to the Keep and their agents in the town set fire to what supplies they could before they slipped away or were murdered by the vengeful townspeople. And so, the siege began.

More to come.

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