W I D O W M A K E R S
Being a journal of the Widow Makers battle company: Days 26 - 30.
War late game crisis
QT3 map seed
Veteran/Veteran/Medium/IronMan
Permanent Destruction disabled.
That evening we met in the local tavern’s long room and drank ale late into the night, discussing whether to remain in the south or to move our base of operations to the northern kingdoms. It really didn’t take that long to decide the issue. All of our current company members were recruited in the south and the lush forests and hot dry Savannah here they call the ‘Barrens’ are home to these men. Plus the work has been good here lately. So, we will stay.
We move south along the coastal cities looking for work but nothing appealing presents itself. We are about to head back north when we are offered an easy delivery contract that will take us right where we’re going anyway.
It’s not a lot but it’ll pay for the costs of the travel and allow us to buy some food when we arrive. The first two thirds of the trip are uneventful but then the unexpected happens. Talk about bad luck.
So, we aren’t going to let these bastards ruin our company reputation. When we say we’ll deliver something, it gets delivered. So, we follow the tracks. As we’re doing so, one of the two former thieves in our company proves his worth. Every little bit helps.
Finally we track the thieves to their lair. Did I say this was an easy contract? Brigand raiders! And a marksman is among them. Not exactly what I wanted to hear from our scouts’ report.
We have no choice but to attack. The men are angry about the theft and the forced detour from what should have been an easy job. Now lives are on the line and their blood is up. Grimly and silently we slip through the forest until we make contact with them and form our battle line as they form theirs. It’s a fight in the wood. I hate fighting on this type of terrain but it is what it is. Time for blood.
Their marksman makes the first move, springing from cover behind his fellow brigands and snapping off a crossbow bolt that smacks into a shield with a wooden thunk. Then Torkel, who has reactions almost as fast as the marksman, fires his own bolt back in response. It’s a remarkable shot, his bolt hits the marksman squarely in the face and kills him instantly. The marksman had no headgear on and, as I tell my men frequently, this is what happens when you don’t wear your headgear. Wear anything, a scarf is better than nothing. Later, after the battle, I will use this example to drive the point home again with my men.
Taking the marksman out on the very first action of the battle has greatly improved our odds of getting though this thing without taking a lot of crippling injuries. A poacher remains but we can deal with him. There are only 6 thieves remaining so if we can deal with the two brigand raiders in mail armor, we will prevail.
The battleground is naturally divided by terrain and two battles take place, one in the north and one in the south. The brigand poacher hangs back, partially behind a tree so he’s hard to hit but he can hit us just fine, damn him.
A few days ago we took in a stray dog and he has attached himself to Torhelm the Craven of all people. To the men’s great wonder, when Torhelm was hard pressed in the southern action, the dog sprang forth in defense of his new master and fought with a savagery that was something to behold, even for hardened fighters such as we.
Amazingly, the dog immediately landed attacks on two of the brigands and the tide begins to turn in the southern action. The Brigand raider wearing chain mail there is dispatched, despite his superior terrain. At the same time the mailed brigand raider in the northern action is also felled by a flail to the head. This will hopefully preserve his mail armor in good enough working order to repair it later. With the way now unblocked, our ax wielder springs forward and closes with the poacher to pin him down.
The dog continues to wreak holy hell in the south of the map. Covered with his own blood as well as that of the men whose throats he’s ripped out, he looks around and seeing that no enemies remain, he turns towards the poacher. Now it’s a race to mop up.
Victory is ours. Only Torkel has suffered a major wound, thanks in large part to his heroic opening shot. it was his only kill but it was a huge one.
The battle spoils are magnificent. Not only did we recover our first suit of mail (from the brigand downed by the flail head shot), we also recovered two more nasal helmets, a crossbow and a military spear. Also, food (which we needed), gold and tools for repairs.
The detour over, we get back on track, finish the delivery to Tanndorf, and get paid. After resting a bit, visiting the healer to the south and buying provisions, we are approached by the city authorities who ask us to drive off some brigands located in a hideout well to the northeast. It looks manageable and the pay is good so we accept.
When we get there, things look a bit more complicated. There’s a roving patrol of undead nearby which we do NOT want to get involved with right now. Also, a party of 6 raiders has just emerged from the hideout. If we can take them out first, then when we attack the hideout, it may have less brigands to defend it.
We attack. This time Steinar immediately cripples a brigand with a wound on the first shot of battle. A good omen.
They have a single raider officer with chain mail and a brightly colored green helm. It’s a nice helm but it’s his armor I want. I instruct the men to surround him carefully and whack him on the head until he dies. Soon he panics.
It’s over in only 5 rounds. No one is seriously hurt
And We get our second suit of chain mail.
Now it’s time to face the denizens of the hideout full on. Hopefully, they will be at less than full strength but there are raiders and more than one marksman. It won’t be easy.
The men are still tired and carrying a few minor wounds and damaged equipment from the previous fight but we attack in good order. One again the fighting is split into north and south action by the wooded terrain. We stand and make them come to us. This causes them to be fatigued by crossing the heavily wooded battlefield. By the time they reach us their stamina is already lower than ours.
As in the previous battle, we concentrate on taking out the raiders and marksmen first. After an extremely grueling fight, a single archer remains. We unleash the hound.
The hound runs him down where we could not. It’s over. It was a brutal fight. Four of the company were seriously wounded but none lost their lives. A few learned hard earned lessons and new skills for the next fight.
The battle spoils are again good. We recover our third suit of mail in as many days and a very nice new type of full nasal helmet. A considerable amount of gold and other supplies is also among the loot.
We head back to collect our pay and the newly captured food has made the men a bit giddy. They’re not used to eating this well.
We collect our payday and head south to Wunderstadt again to get our wounded treated. Also, we finally have earned enough to buy a battle standard. Soon I will need to promote one of the men to sergeant to carry the banner and rally the man. But that’s a decision for another day.
It’s been an eventful and chaotic few days. Much renown has been earned by our company and our battles will only get tougher from now on as a result. But that’s for tomorrow, for now we must heal and enjoy our recent success and survival as a company. Just to live, to breath one breath after another, it is a wondrous thing. One only appreciated to the fullest when you have come so close to never breathing again.
