Just looking at these elf warriors Steffan wondered if their company would be enough to hold back the Veerlander clansmen. His boss approached the Ganune officers in a frustrated pace. The Mercenary Commander's nostrils flared as he stormed up to the Ganune encampment. Ten of his best mercenaries accompanied him. Through his eyes this was seen as an affront for another mercenary to stir them up in this fashion. Steffan watched with the rest of the Dragon's Might Company curious about how no one informed them. In the background the city of Trican stood with its gates closed. Every cultist they rounded looked pleased to be acknowledged. Just a few dozen of the guards were there with one of the city's leading Chiliarch, a commander of a thousand men. This only struck another question to him. How many troops do they really have, and where are they? Whoever this Chiliarch was he appeared aware of the situation yet failed to tell their company. Ten thousand troops is what they needed for defending this city not a smaller force of over thirteen hundred. Seeing the Elf force and their new "recruits" this added barely five hundred more.
Steffan did not want to calculated how many troops they had now. All he wanted to do now was begin preparing the defenses against the next wave of clansmen. His Master, this Chiliarch, and Miriav met at the edge of the encampment they set up. Each leader exchanged words over the situation. He stood with his fellow mercenaries, watching the leaders try to come to an agreement with the Ganune ideas of defense. Steffan looked over at their defenses then at their leaders whose voices grew louder. Both mercenary leader and elf leader appeared in agreement about buffering defenses with more troops. He ordered one of the officers next to him to check on the defenses. As the trio of leaders argued Steffan grew impatient and decided to take matter into his own hands. Turning around he whistled for the whole company to join him. Seeing there was no point in arguing over these defenses he led his fellow mercenaries to the defenses they constructed.
Behind him he heard the leaders voices rise up in full argument over layers of defenses. There were ways you could defeat armies of invaders without hiding in your walls. Millennia's of warfare saw defenders destroy entire hordes through various means other than hiding behind walls. Using the landscape as a first layer of defense either wore down the enemy or forced him to leave defeated. With a small company of mercenaries Steffan Mondos prepared to face the next wave of Veerlander clansmen. At the earthworks they constructed Steffan looked out at the landscape covered in bodies. All the remnants of the first two forces came together bringing in another force that made their army over ten thousand and counting. The mercenary he sent came running over to him with some news. Trican did not have another pass open for the clansmen to move around the defenses. So the ford was the only way these clansmen could march on their defenses. If this were a regular army he would be court marshaled, or beaten for taking the troops without any orders saying he could. However Dragon's Might allowed the highest rank under Master or the commanding officer to take charge if they were dead, wounded, unable to stand, intoxicated, distracted, or delayed. With just 225 mercenaries under his command Steffan hoped to delay this massive horde coming towards them.
Steffan's movement of his mercenary troops forced the rest of their forces to move towards the earthworks at the ford. It was now 1,676 defenders at the constructed defenses plus 115 cultists tied up to keep their hands to themselves. Miriav, and his Master clearly did not want to discuss anything else with the Chirarch. Either they defend this position or be slaughtered like cattle. His Master, Vandos Gohmen retook command and ordered their bowmen to notch their arrows. Miriav ordered for her warriors to do the same, and encouraged the Ganune's to do the same as they formed a shield wall with the rest of the melee fighters. Their eyes were on the large force marching over to the ford when the gates to Trican burst open and over a hundred armed Ganune citizens came charging out of the city. All of them gave out drunken war cries and slowly made their way in a group. As new comers arrived at the front he counted about 111 drunks armed with war hammers, maces, clubs, axes, daggers, war picks, and broken pieces of furniture. In a drunken haze or state all of them simply slipped past the main defenders and charged into the ford to fight the Veerlanders. Steffan squinted his eyes noting there must have been more than 10, 000 clansmen. One hundred eleven armed drunks were showered with arrows. Arrows and corpses landed on the ford crossing in the body of water that divided the city-state from the rest of the mainland.
Blood filled parts of the crossing making it unsettling along with the arrows, and corpses. To the person who has never seen battle it would sicken them given they had weak stomachs. He studied the field finding none of the clansmen were killed other than those in yesterday's battle. Master Gohmen gave the order to begin loosing arrows, and bolts into the ranks of the oncoming horde. Steffan strung his own bow and loosed an arrow into the ranks of the clansmen who were just now coming up to the crossing. Their shields were up to protect themselves from the arrows being loosed. He did not watch his arrow to see where it would land nor did he care. All he cared about was fighting this battle, surviving until morning then the next, and get paid. There was no way he could tell how long this battle would last. Some battles last a day, others lasted a week, whereas some lasted for a whole month. It all depended on the numbers of enemies, the defenses, landscape, resources, and how determined both sides were. Among the arrows and bolts fired he noticed the Ganune's had guns on their side that took some time to reload. During his time as a mercenary he saw the world change, new weapons emerge in such a short time. Warfare never really changes just the factions, and the weapons unless the faction keeps using weapons that would be considered outdated or primitive. That was his own opinion on the matter. As he loosed another arrow the Veerlander clansmen started to fire back. He got down behind the earthwork as the arrows showered on them in return.
Hundreds of arrows landed around them hitting shields, barriers, stakes, mounds, and makeshift mantlets (portable shields or shelter for sieges). They suffered some casualties as everyone did not reach cover in time. Miriav's elves used the cultists as meat shields to draw the arrow volleys from them. Some of them would not be recognizable and others would appear like human porcupine by the end of the battle. One of them already had twelve arrows in him. The volley did not stop them from "returning fire" a new saying and order in this new age of warfare. Everyone is either falling behind or mixing up their armies with modern weaponry. Melee weapons would still be in use for close quarters, and ammunition ran out. Steffan got up from his cover to loose another arrow into the horde of armored clansmen. Their progress was slow as they used shields to protect them while huddling in one huge mass. Projectiles still found their mark causing the shields to fall. Each time a shield fell it was either picked up or replaced by another. Like a massive, lethargic beast the mass of Veerlanders pushed through the crossing and into the caltrops laid on the earth in their path.
Steffan did not want to calculated how many troops they had now. All he wanted to do now was begin preparing the defenses against the next wave of clansmen. His Master, this Chiliarch, and Miriav met at the edge of the encampment they set up. Each leader exchanged words over the situation. He stood with his fellow mercenaries, watching the leaders try to come to an agreement with the Ganune ideas of defense. Steffan looked over at their defenses then at their leaders whose voices grew louder. Both mercenary leader and elf leader appeared in agreement about buffering defenses with more troops. He ordered one of the officers next to him to check on the defenses. As the trio of leaders argued Steffan grew impatient and decided to take matter into his own hands. Turning around he whistled for the whole company to join him. Seeing there was no point in arguing over these defenses he led his fellow mercenaries to the defenses they constructed.
Behind him he heard the leaders voices rise up in full argument over layers of defenses. There were ways you could defeat armies of invaders without hiding in your walls. Millennia's of warfare saw defenders destroy entire hordes through various means other than hiding behind walls. Using the landscape as a first layer of defense either wore down the enemy or forced him to leave defeated. With a small company of mercenaries Steffan Mondos prepared to face the next wave of Veerlander clansmen. At the earthworks they constructed Steffan looked out at the landscape covered in bodies. All the remnants of the first two forces came together bringing in another force that made their army over ten thousand and counting. The mercenary he sent came running over to him with some news. Trican did not have another pass open for the clansmen to move around the defenses. So the ford was the only way these clansmen could march on their defenses. If this were a regular army he would be court marshaled, or beaten for taking the troops without any orders saying he could. However Dragon's Might allowed the highest rank under Master or the commanding officer to take charge if they were dead, wounded, unable to stand, intoxicated, distracted, or delayed. With just 225 mercenaries under his command Steffan hoped to delay this massive horde coming towards them.
Steffan's movement of his mercenary troops forced the rest of their forces to move towards the earthworks at the ford. It was now 1,676 defenders at the constructed defenses plus 115 cultists tied up to keep their hands to themselves. Miriav, and his Master clearly did not want to discuss anything else with the Chirarch. Either they defend this position or be slaughtered like cattle. His Master, Vandos Gohmen retook command and ordered their bowmen to notch their arrows. Miriav ordered for her warriors to do the same, and encouraged the Ganune's to do the same as they formed a shield wall with the rest of the melee fighters. Their eyes were on the large force marching over to the ford when the gates to Trican burst open and over a hundred armed Ganune citizens came charging out of the city. All of them gave out drunken war cries and slowly made their way in a group. As new comers arrived at the front he counted about 111 drunks armed with war hammers, maces, clubs, axes, daggers, war picks, and broken pieces of furniture. In a drunken haze or state all of them simply slipped past the main defenders and charged into the ford to fight the Veerlanders. Steffan squinted his eyes noting there must have been more than 10, 000 clansmen. One hundred eleven armed drunks were showered with arrows. Arrows and corpses landed on the ford crossing in the body of water that divided the city-state from the rest of the mainland.
Blood filled parts of the crossing making it unsettling along with the arrows, and corpses. To the person who has never seen battle it would sicken them given they had weak stomachs. He studied the field finding none of the clansmen were killed other than those in yesterday's battle. Master Gohmen gave the order to begin loosing arrows, and bolts into the ranks of the oncoming horde. Steffan strung his own bow and loosed an arrow into the ranks of the clansmen who were just now coming up to the crossing. Their shields were up to protect themselves from the arrows being loosed. He did not watch his arrow to see where it would land nor did he care. All he cared about was fighting this battle, surviving until morning then the next, and get paid. There was no way he could tell how long this battle would last. Some battles last a day, others lasted a week, whereas some lasted for a whole month. It all depended on the numbers of enemies, the defenses, landscape, resources, and how determined both sides were. Among the arrows and bolts fired he noticed the Ganune's had guns on their side that took some time to reload. During his time as a mercenary he saw the world change, new weapons emerge in such a short time. Warfare never really changes just the factions, and the weapons unless the faction keeps using weapons that would be considered outdated or primitive. That was his own opinion on the matter. As he loosed another arrow the Veerlander clansmen started to fire back. He got down behind the earthwork as the arrows showered on them in return.
Hundreds of arrows landed around them hitting shields, barriers, stakes, mounds, and makeshift mantlets (portable shields or shelter for sieges). They suffered some casualties as everyone did not reach cover in time. Miriav's elves used the cultists as meat shields to draw the arrow volleys from them. Some of them would not be recognizable and others would appear like human porcupine by the end of the battle. One of them already had twelve arrows in him. The volley did not stop them from "returning fire" a new saying and order in this new age of warfare. Everyone is either falling behind or mixing up their armies with modern weaponry. Melee weapons would still be in use for close quarters, and ammunition ran out. Steffan got up from his cover to loose another arrow into the horde of armored clansmen. Their progress was slow as they used shields to protect them while huddling in one huge mass. Projectiles still found their mark causing the shields to fall. Each time a shield fell it was either picked up or replaced by another. Like a massive, lethargic beast the mass of Veerlanders pushed through the crossing and into the caltrops laid on the earth in their path.
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