The Liberation of Veccavia

#general comment

You wont kill that much tho, alot are dead and we're alreadying sieging the palace

SimplePlan96 wrote:

#general comment

You wont kill that much tho, alot are dead and we're alreadying sieging the palace

sorry for this ooc:I dont know if you read this but me and Mord went a diffrent route then you Sir Aranor and we endede up getting pinned down by archers and they were reinforced by some soldiers so you might be at the gate and killed people ion your side of things but we aren't and didn't yet

owh...sorry...i was just referring to the map only...

Blaze: " It seems like SIr Varis and wolfarmin arent here yet. Do you want me to support them"

Sir Aranor( i will help u RP abit if u dont mind, u can post if u think u dont wan this):"Go Ahead...May Astrea guide you and be here soon"

*With his berzerkers, Blaze goes to their position*


(some time later)
*A Veccavian archer draws his bow and aims for Sir Vairs.Before he can shoot, he is beheaded by Blaze*

"Onwards Berzerkers!show this veccavian ******** Astrea's might"

*Blaze and his berzerkers are now in Varis and Wolfarmin position ,suprising the Veccavians from behind*

With the Help from Blaze and his berserkers the veccavians were quickly distroyed

"Thank you for the help Blaze let us hurry to Sir Aranor"

Varis looked around once he stepped outside of the residents. The battle was over for now, but there were still the wounded and continuing taking of the city. A Vindicator knight came running up to him, "Sir we feared that you may have fallen when we did not find you among the others," the worried knight said exasperatedly through his helm.
"I'm fine brother, the battle led me into this home here to clear it of any of the archers," nudging at the home behind him, "the house is now clear."
The knight took off his helm and breathed in deeply before continuing, "We were pinned for a while, but Captain Wolfarmin and Captain Blaze were able to attack from the side and cut off their route of escape."
Varis thought for a moment thinking back to a segment where he felt the odds turned to their favor, "When the spearmen began to withdraw and thin out?"
"Yes," the Vindicator replied, "they must have been attacked then and fell back to consolidate their position."
It was then they began to press more aggressively, Varis thought.
Now to the butcher's bill, "What's our casualties?"
The Vindicator knight's eyes were more shallow, "we might be looking at least a score of knights and initiates killed and wounded."
Twenty of a company of almost a hundred, if the city was fully garrisoned it would have been much much worse.
"Have the wounded make their way to the hospice...which is..."
"At the near the gatehouse where we entered," the knight answered in.
"Yes, if they can get to the hospice themselves better for us because I want every able man into squads of ten making their way to Grandmaster. The dead can wait a while longer."
The knight looked lost, "your grace I do not know the way to blessed Aranor."
Varis looked around and caught sight of a knight who wasen't one of his and yelled for him to come over,
"You! From what company do you belong to brother!"
"Blaze's Berzerkers captain," the soldier responded.
"Then you know the way to the place from here," Varis asked.
The knight nodded, "this here is brother Andreas, you will lead him to our Grandmaster so that my men will follow once we have cleared this area of all Veccavi."
The Berzerker nodded and he along with Andreas began to gather others of the third knights to follow.
Varis went down the street to where he threw off his helm and picked it off the ground. He looked to where Initiate Hamdel fell, his body no where in sight and his blood mixed in with that of a dead Krom and other Veccavi. He then began to jog up, but down an alley on his right he saw the body of one of his knights, with his squire kneeling beside crying.
"Boy we must go," Varis said softly as he approached him.
Caught off guard the squire sniffed and wiped away his tears, "lord it is my duty to my steward to attend to his body if ever he fell in battle."
Varis kneeled beside him and looked over the dead knight. A soft wound on his side, a few dents upon his armor, Varis could see nothing to indicate a mortal wound. He followed the blood and slowly turned him around to see a spear buried into his back.
"I was going to try to take it out before you came sir," the squire added.
"There is nothing you can do for him now, Astraea will care for him now."
Varis admired the stalwart page, knowing it must have been hard for him to take his steward's body in the midst of combat to the side where the knight now laid.
He put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "It is now your duty to stand in your master's place upon the line."
The squire motioned to the body, "but I must watch over him until his body is cared for by the priests."
Varis's voice was more stern, "We still have to take the city and even now your brothers and knights are fighting to do that; it is time you leave your master behind and serve his memory in the afterlife by continuing onward."
The squire thought about this for a moment before he began to loosen the scabbard off his dead master and replace his sword with his own, "I'm going to battle with his blade in my hand."
Varis stood up and smiled, "I'm sure he would have wanted it to be so."
Without another word the boy stood and said his farewells one last time before he and Varis exited the alley way, the boy running to catch up with a group of knights heading to the inner city.
Another knight on horseback rode in from behind and updated the knights progress to Varis, "the commons and marketplace are secured, and we have requisitioned additional bows and arms amongst the dead enemy to be used in our advance toward the palace."
"What of the Veccavians here?"
"Any one who were of no threat are staying inside, anyone that looks suspicious were either quartered or put to the sword."
Good, no more risks.
"Have everyone meet up with the main army, no exceptions except for the wounded."
"Already done m'lord," the knight replied before galloping up towards the army.
Doning his helm and opening the visor for air, Varis ran up the street past the bodies and blood of the battle before to continue on alongside the main column of the Dawn.

(inside a building near the palace, where Blaze and his berzerkers are camping, waiting for the palace to be breached, when sebastien walks in)

"Where had you been , Sebastien???"Blaze questioned

'I was with Sir Varis , m'lord..."

"Alrite, gather around the palace gates...prepare to rush in when the palace is breached, tell the other berzerkers that..."

"As you wish, m'lord"

*Quickly , his berzerkers went and prepared themselves for the fight ahead , then they went out back outside the palace..Blaze followed them shortly after*

Varis was out of breath when he reached the main column; seeing his brothers practice the art of war and hearing the deafning thunder of battle rejuvenated the warrior as he made his way through the staggered lines of troops. Varis tried to catch the company emblems of the near-by Dawn, looking to ascertain where his troops amongst the siege. Unable to spot out a knight of the third, Varis dropped beside a group of knights belonging to Grandmaster Aranor who were struggling to push aside a laden wagon.
"You," Varis pointing at the knight, "what is the situation with the inner city and palace, and where is the men of the Third Company?"
The knight ordered down the others for a breather while he replied, somewhat winded, "Master Aranor is leading the frontal assault against the palace gates while the Harlequin is leading two companies of Ebony Gauntlets to bear upon their flanks."
"And the groups of third company knights that were sent up here?"
The knight thought for a moment, suddenly recalling, "they were relayed orders by the Grandmaster himself by Brother Girad to keep out of the Inner City."
Varis peered over the wagon and looked at the inner city walls; the walls were mostly clear of Veccavian troops, but Varis was concerned by the billows of smoke rising from the section of city.
The knight added, "I believe the Vindicators are leading your company down the main street there," pointing to the street down, "if anything they might be clearing out the harbor commons to the west."
That was enough, "Astraea protect you brother."
"And may the goddess watch over you as well," the knight responded before ordering his men in moving the wagon.

Making his way down the main avenue towards the docks Varis met with his men.
"M'lord the men are proceeding to secure the rest of the outer city under orders..."
Varis interrupted him, "Yes I am aware of the word sent by our Grandmaster to focus on the outer-city."
The knight skipped that bit of information, "Sir Andreas had the company divide and take two parallel streets to be cleared, though we have yet to meet anymore resistance."
Varis was pleased that his troops were continuing efficiently without him.
"Very good brother; which street did Sir Andreas take his column," he inquired.
"Down the avenue towards the docks; he thought it prudent to secure that area as quickly as possible to avoid reinforcements from the sea, or to deny enemy a chance to withdraw."
Satisfied Varis spotted a tied horse a block down and made his way to it, "Your grace Captain Wolfarmin's Riders should be around as well," the knight added.
He nodded in acknowledgement and jogged to the waiting mount looking to catch up with Andreas.

((I would like to go OOC for a moment and say apologies for the delay on this. This small post took six hours to type, mainly because of talking with MP84 and Mordred.))

As the Ebony Gauntlet knight turned their crossbows on the Veccavian archers above and fired, those that survived the first volley retreated, and were seen no more from the men on the ground. As the same time, Veccavian casualties were beginning to mount, yet, still they pushed onward.

However, from behind their lines, a battlecry rose up, and not from female lips.

"Blut en Aysen! Aysen en Blut!"

From the alleys, came the flash or Forlorne Hope greatswords, and the archers stationed near the real of the Veccavian forces were cut down in a flurry of blood and steel. Caught between the Mettenheim, and Ebony Gauntlet, many of the weaker willed Veccavians dropped their arms, and fled to where they could. However, many of the Veccavian knights held their ground, even when pressed by both sides. Trying to get in whatever kills they could.

However, with a final push from both the Mettenheim and Pendor Knights, the women were cut down, leaving the streets soaked in blood. A member of the Forlorne Hope raised his visor, and spit on one of the bodies.

"I decided to introduce them to my sword. It looks like they didn't get along too well."

And further on in the city, the gates to the palace walls were about to go down...

*****

The knights holding their makeshift ram gave one final push, and what remained of the gate finally gave way, allowing access to the palace of the Veccavian Queen. The courtyard was complely bare, made up of what stones that covered every inch of ground. Many dozens of meters in front of it, the palace rose up, made from the same stone as the floor. Great pillars lined a large set of stairs with steps long enough to fit four men standing in a line on them. When the leveled out, only a few meters off of the ground, the pillars began running along the length of the elevated building, continuing on out of sight.

Between the pillars which wrapped around the building were groups of archers. However, unlike the Royal Archers seen thus far, these ones were garbed in red robes. They stood Vigilent while the gate swung inward, and made no move to fire when the Knights of the Dawn (And Ebony Guantlets who assisted them in their fight to the gate) came into view.

Boadice pushed her through the ranks of the knights, until her eyes fell upon her palace once more. When she noticed the archers standing ready, she scowled.

"Those are part of the Queen's royal guard, no finer an archer in Veccavia will you find. No doubt the Queen's personal knights are within the palace too, as well as her entire retinue of slaves, and the remaining Priestesses who are loyal to her. Like the coward she is, she's picked a spot to defend instead of bringing the fight to her enemies! Well, I shall not show the same cowardice."

She turned to Sir Aranor then and continued speaking.

"Unless my sister had installed another exit since I left, the only way in is that which lies ahead of us. If you have any prayers to your god, I'd say them now. My sister is a coward but not a fool, the fighting will be hard, but..."

Boadice set her eyes once more on the palace, seeing past the walls and gazing upon her throne.

"I do not intend to die before I am queen again. Come, let us knock my sister off her throne, and into the dirt where she belongs!"

With that, Boadice began to move forward, shield held high, and with a look of grim determination on her face.

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!Berzerkers , Kill as many of those b******** as you can.Make that 50 denars for each of their queens guard!"

Braving the rain of arrows , Queen Boadice , Sir Aranor , Blaze and the rest of the Dawn charged.

(Blaze ran slower than the rest of the Berzerkers as he is slightly wounded)
Just then a Krom guard appeared infront of Blaze, however, Blaze beheaded him without breaking his stride.

takes out bow

"Boadice slow down so some of my knights can help you!"

starts firing at the royal archers

the rest of the knights of the dawn rush through the courtyard unscathed due to the archers all aiming for boadice.. and aranor aiming for the archers

they came up the stairs and engaged in fighting. Most of the archers were already dead, but the rest still fought on.
Aranor was amazed at Boadice's fighting skills, two sword slashes, then a jarid to another, she was truly a queen.

When they finished up Aranor started wiping his blade on the clothes of a dead veccavian.

"Boadice, you know this palace better than I do, what direction shall we go next?"

Blaze and his berzerkers kills many Veccavian knights and archers.Only Sebastien got wounded, but still can fight.


"Pierre, Once again, u score the most tally ....700 denars i owe u and to u all , i will settle this later !"


Blaze and his berzerkers are among the first to follow Sir Aranor and Boadice up the stairs.

"Hail!Queen Boadice...M,lord Aranor, what now?"

His berzerkers quickly formed a semicircle infront of SIr Aranor and Queen Boadice.Uncertain of the unfamiliar surroundings...

Thaddeus and his five comrades sit idly against the wall next to the ballista.

"Well we've run out of ballista ammo, we're not going to reach the front in time, and this area has been cleared"

Thaddeus stands up "I've got an idea! let's shoot ourselves over the palace wall, that way we'll flank the archers, and clear the way for our men!" His comrades stare at eachother, dumbfounded, it was a silly idea, and would probably be very painful if they missed or hit the palace wall. "Fine then, shoot me over the wall" Thaddeus orders

Quickly, they prepared and made a makeshift chair that Thaddeus would be propelled on. "This shield will be of little use, I can still use my good arm for crushing skulls" he says as he lays his shield on the ground. Thaddeus clambers onto the seat, remarkably comfy, for the dire undertaking it would undergo.

He takes a deep breath and shouts "Fire!"

With a great push, the ballista launches, and the chair is sent flying at immense speeds through the air, Thaddeus yelling as the chair retained great speed as he sat on it, his armor not weighing down the chair. The chair assailed through the air, over the buildings and knights fighting below, Thaddeus screaming as he tightly gripped the chair, trying to stay accurate. It continues on it's path, veering towards the archers nestled upon the palace wall.

OOC: Everyone please remember this is the main RP Thread, hence there should be minimal, or pretty much no OOC on this thread.. If for some reason there must be OOC comments to be made on this thread then please denote it as such by either using this "//" or this "OOC"

Even then, keep the OOC in this thread relevant to the material at hand and not random OOC Chatter that can easily go in the true OOC thread

thank you,

MP

Bizarrely Thadeus made the ascent, tied to a chair, the leg having been inserted instead of a bolt. It was a one in a billion shot, but he made it; just. As he careened onto the battlements, he felt the bone is in right leg give way with a loud crack which served doubly to make him nearly black out with pain but also to alert the Veccavian Royal Archers that he had arrived. Now, stuck amidst enemy lines, and with a broken leg Thadeus would have to fight his way back out. Thadeus is then forced to scramble backwards as another chair leg crashes on the battlement with him, but instead of a human being tied to it, this one just had a rope, which trailed knotted back down to his waiting companions. It was clear that they wanted him to attach it to the wall so that they could climb up. Unfortunately one of the women came to the same conclusion and advanced on him, knife drawn.

The Veccavian Queens guard pulled back into further into the palace, leaving the front gate open to the attackers to enter. The interior of the palace was magnificent, all built out of the same marble as was evident throughout the structure, held up by hude columns that rose up to the vaulted roof. On either side of the main lobby was a gallery into which the Queen's Guard now thronged. The knights notice that there are doors on either side of the room, but both sets guarded by Place Guard Knights, women in the finest Veccavi armour, wielding large shields and longswords. On their chest is emblazoned a unicorn. As the knights advance uncertainly into the building, the Queen's Guard let off a volley, the arrows striking into the advancing ranks and cutting many of the front rank down, arrows seeming to home in on the heads of those they attacked. More arrows followed from the galleries along the top. Many of the Knights of Dawn managed to get their shields up quickly enough, but the majority of Blaze's Berzerkers being unshielded were not so lucky, and the floor was quickly strewn with corpses.

Boadice, covered by her own shield glared pure murder at the far end of the room, where a large, closed door dominated the wall there. Before it were thronged the last of the Palace Guard and Veccavi Priestesses, together with a scattering of Krom and Kral.
"I am here sister! Come and meet me!" yelled Boadice at the shut door, but got no reply. Another hail of arrows struck her shield, and together with the Knights of Dawn yet standing she was forced back through the open door in order to decide their strategy.

Meanwhile, outside the Mettenheim had mostly ignored the palace, choosing instead to run full pelt for the two stairs leading to the Palace Walls, on which a number of Royal Archers stood stood. The Greatswords were able to make the dash to the foot of the stairs thanks to covering fire given by the enigmatic Gauntlets who squeezed off bolts with great precision and timing. Although the Gauntlets were able to provide cover for their Mettenheim allies, they could not target all the archers, and those who were left let loose a hail of arrows in to the closely packed Knights of Dawn who knew not whether they should advance into the heavily guarded Palace or turn their shields towards the walls to defend themselves from the crossfire.

The Harlequin surveyed the battlefield and quickly sees the archers. He quickly seizes the shield of a fallen Veccavian knight and makes a few quick decisions.
He glimpses Thaddeus' foolishness and quickly formulates a plan.

Alpha company through the gates to aid our KOTD brothers. 1st platoon Bravo company go aid Thaddeus in his foolishness up that rope boys. 2nd and third platoon Bravo provide covering fire for our brothers and the Mettenheim.

The Harlequin follows Alpha company through the gates. He quickly issues orders to Knight Commander Alus,

"Form a shield wall it sounds like the Dawn is being cut apart we will not run in foolishly."

Now Thaddeus was in a very bad situation, with an injured shoulder and a broken leg, on the ground and the archer proceeding on him with her knife at the ready. He attempts to lift himself up with one capable hand but is unable to, as his massive weight provided a bit too much for a single hand. The archer slowly closed in and Thaddeus did not have much he could do as he fumbled around on the ground.

She cautiously approached him, knife at the ready. The women dared to attack, and lifts up her knife, and forces it down, en-route for Thaddeus's body. Easily Thaddeus grabs her hand, snaps it, and uses her weight to pull him up, while she goes down. He limps over to the rope and ties it to a suitable object before finding an object to slump against.

Only to see that more archers had noticed him.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me" he sighs.

"TESTUDO!"

yelled Aranor as the arrows started raining down

The turtle marched slowly forward as the arrows slowly wore down on the men.
Aranor and some retainers took up bows and started firing on the archers.

But soon Aranor saw that the Mettenheim were keeping the Archers busy and something on the other side of the palace had caught some of the archers attention.

Aranor called out "PHALANX!"

The knights crowded the door with a shield wall, with another line holding the back so no arrows could come from behind.
The knights picked up spears from the fallen veccavians and handed them to the front liners.

Aranor and the Dawn archers started firing on the main group of palace guards in an attempt to draw them out.
Aranor looked back to some of the ebony guantlets
"Can some crossbowmen get up here? we need some back up!"

The women in the palace have the defensive advantage, and they know it. None of them move towards the defensive cluster of Dawn, the barrage of arrows slow also, as they begin to pick their shots more carefully.

*Off the 20 Berserkers, already some was wounded, both seriously and minor, and number of dead has risen up to 7-8 but no one could be sure in the chaos of war.*

*Blaze and some of his remaining berzerkers had to take a shield from an already dead knight (not the berzerkers thank god) to protect himself from the arrows*

"M'lord Aranor, what do we do now, me and my still standing berzerkers cant take it much longer!!!"

"ADVANCE 10 PACES! ARCHERS AIM CAREFULLY KNIGHTS SPREAD OUT AND REFORM PHALANX"
"Blaze! Take all able bodied berzerkers and go to the right flank, take cover near the wall!"

The knights move forward with no trouble, and the dawn archers take out another ten veccavians.

Thanks to the cover given by the Ebony Gauntlets, the men of Mettenheim are able to reach the battlements with minimal casualties and with a loud yell of "Aysen en blut! Blut en aysen!" are upon the Veccavian archers. Although the women fight desperately they are no match for the well armoured Mettenheim troops, particularly now that they have space to properly swing their great swords. The brief fight is over quickly, and there are no Royal Archers left to fire on the courtyard, all that remained now was to breach the palace and get at the queen.

The Harlequin has his shoulder tapped as his men advance in a shieldwall formation. He is in the second rank with the crossbowmen.

Master, the gauntlets outside have aided the Mettenheim in clearing the palace walls.

The Harlequin quickly orders the Mettenheim to remain on the walls covering the palace in case there is an attack from outside along with half of the gauntlets he had previously tasked with covering fire. The other half he orders to come and join his push into the inner palace.

He then tasks the messenger with returning with Frederick's understanding and assent. He would have no more blue falcons under his command it was costing precious lives.

With a break in the battle Wolfarmin cleans and bandage his cuts and brusies and finds Sir Aranor

"What orders do you have commander"

"Berzerkers!Prepare for the charge to the palace!"
*Only 8 Berserkers are still in position to fight, 7 are dead, and 5 is wounded*

Blaze and his berzerkers prepares their 2 handed weapons to cleave through enemy defence.