Aloria Story Progression The Siege Of Shaaq-turnaal

The siege of Shaaq-Turnaal came at a head on the morning of the 3rd of June, 305 AC. The Lieutenant General had already commanded the troops to take positions around the city to surround it, though allowed a small corridor on the north side from which a number of citizens tried to flee. Compliant with the Emperor’s Orders, the General sent forth the Cavalry to chase down these civilians who were fleeing on foot, some with barely a basket of belongings or carts with them. The cavalry made swift work of them, cutting down the ones who tried to run and finally executing the ones that did surrender or tried to avoid the fate that had been sealed on them.

The Songaskians inside the city became aware that their situation was becoming more dire, though were given no moment of respite as the Regalian cannons spewed forth a rain of fire and death on the city walls. The Songaskians that tried to hold the walls with their skirmish weapons failed to achieve any number of significant casualties on the Regalian infantry lines, the artillery superiority of the Regalians was simply too great against the pearl bastion walls of the city, battered as they had been in the past months after relentless Bone Horror attacks. Before long, it was time to send forth the assault. From the left flank, Jared Luchs Kade commanded the infantry, from the middle vanguard, the Emperor Cedromar I Kade-Alltmeister commanded the central wing, and from the right, Theoden Typhonus led the right flank infantry. Ulric Typhonus remained at base camp to overlook the battle while Inspector Admiral Christopher Black also remained at base camp to assist in the supply train, along with his wife Duchess Dianne Black who assisted the medical camp.

Meanwhile in the camp, a brunette woman of mischief tiptoed around the camp, giggling and sometimes wincing as she often lost balance, attempting to trod around the sandy desert rocks in her high heels and petite dress. She had been rejected from the original sign-up by the Lieutenant-General, but she had convinced herself that this moustached hero did not truly know what was good for him, and would eventually realize the love he should have for her. The medical staff paid little heed to her as she made her way to the Lieutenant-General’s camp, intent on declaring her love.

The infantry assault started just as midday struck on the clock, all three columns advancing with a shield turtle formation towards the weakened breaches in the walls created by cannons but mere hours before. After encountering only minimal resistance from the Songaskia on the walls, the commanders deemed it appropriate to break formation and assault the walls head on by taking caution in the wind. After all, if there was only minimal ranged fire from the Songaskia, the assault would benefit from a quick attack to drive home the momentum of the battle. The first to break the walls interior was the left column commanded by Jared Kade. It stormed into the west district of Shaaq-Turnaal where the majority of the military seemed to be situated. An unfortunate early casualty was Vulmar Ravenstad, who despite attempting to protect the Crown Prince, found himself targeted by a Songaskian javelin that pierced his upper leg. He was quickly carried off the camp and Myla Reyner took excellent care of him, stopping the bleeding and ensuring that he would not succumb to his wound.

Urgan Oaksplitter was equally unlucky. While attempting to strike down many enemies, he found himself struck by a heavy vase on the top of his head by a Songaskian civilian who was defending her home. He suffered a concussion and was dragged out of the battle to avoid him becoming overwhelmed by the heavy fighting in the west district. Gregor Typhonus and Fudail Bashshar in particular, both Lancyon fighters, distinguished themselves in the western district of the city, even to the personal note of the Lieutenant-General who was informed of their excellent performance in the field. Before long, Jared Kade had secured the western district, and approached upon the inner city walls. As he passed houses, looking at the frightened civilians closing windows and making offerings to their sungod, he could not help but shake the feeling like he was looking at ghosts, dead men and dead women who would soon meet their fate at the hands of an Imperial blade.

The mysterious brunette at base camp struck once more as she had hidden behind one of the tent’s cloth pieces where the Lieutenant-General resided. She leaned up against the cloth in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her great love, the Revain Typhonus. Her heavy breathing could be heard by all in the tent who paused their tactical planning to look around in confusion. And yet, this encounter was avoided with a random gust of wind, strong enough to make the tent’s cloth violently lift up with force, knocking the mysterious brunette into another tent.

In the eastern district, Theoden Typhonus had also breached the wall, but faced large numbers of skirmishers who had hidden in tall buildings and towers. The first stuck was Heikki Saari, having numerous arrows drilled into his back. He was quickly rushed back to base camp where Nicolette d’Eluise personally took charge of his medical care. She remained level headed and calm, and administered just the care Heikki needed. It was safe to say that afterwards, Heikki’s life was saved by Nicolette’s quick hands and calm approach to his medical needs. Lathai Daeyra was less lucky, they did not have a medical wonder child to take care of them and found themselves suffering a painfully broken leg for the remainder of the battle at base camp. Hjalmar Haagevig was the one that eventually broke the stalemate in the eastern district by charging up the towers himself as fast as he could and striking down the archers that continued to rain arrows on the streets below.

The central column, led by the Emperor experienced more problems. The local Songaskian warlord had concentrated all efforts on the central district, and was aware that the Emperor was present in the battle, seeking to eliminate him as quickly as possible. The weakness in the wall had been feigned, in fact the gap was shut off as soon as the Emperor’s forward numbers had rushed through. Jaspar Qaseem was one among the first wounded as the Songaskians surrounded the Emperor’s retinue in large numbers. He was struck on the arm with a blade and forced to retreat to the back of the retinue where he continued to be trapped, unable to wield his sword any further in battle. Aedan Corlan was equally unlucky, a spear had penetrated his shoulder plate and seriously harmed him. Other soldiers closed ranks to ensure the wounded would not be slain as the Emperor started barking wild orders at the Blackclaw Guards.

It was Richarr Ravenstad that would break the losing battle in the central column. Using his horse to scale the rubble of the central wall that the Songaskians had partially refilled by throwing stone boulders down, he was able to reach the top of the wall and race his horse all along the length of it towards the gatehouse. To his left, Regalians were fighting for their lives, and to his right, Regalians were desperately attempting to enter the city to join their Emperor in battle. Richarr eventually reached the gatehouse, dispatched the guards as he rode in on his horse and then finally threw his sword at the gate controls, loosening the weights and rapidly opening the gate. As the gate opened, Regalian soldiers flooded into the central avenues to the aid of the badly pressed soldiers that had been forced up against the wall.

Leonzio Vauclain was one of the first to reach the badly pressed Emperor who was clean of any wounds, but certainly covered in the blood of both Regalians and Songaskians alike. With a set of fancy moves, he quickly dispatched enemies that stood before the Emperor before charging forward, bringing much needed morale to the soldiers that still held their ground. Kaja Santorski was equally skilled in breaching the first waves of Songaskians. She even impressed the soldiers around her and the Emperor alike by throwing her blade in the face of a nearby Songaskian, picking it back up as he fell backwards and continuing her fight, much reminiscing of the ferocity of her mother on the field.

At that moment, despite his wound, Jaspar Qaseem launched himself in the way of the Emperor who was about to be charged down by a cavalryman from behind. With a last ditch throw of a dagger, Jasper was able to disable the horse and kill the horseman immediately after, all in the view of the Emperor who had just turned around to react to the commotion behind him. There was little time for an exchange of courtesies however, as the charge continued. Avilda Ignaard danced through the enemies with her dual axes as one of the very few Skaggers employed in the Ostmark Army, cutting down foes and eventually even squaring off against the Songaskian regional officer and slaying him. Carthas Norrvakt equally showed skill in protecting the Emperor as he charged forward to the heart of the Pearl City, keeping his flanks secure while the Blackclaw Guard formed the spearhead.

It didn’t take long for the three columns to reconnect at the center of the city, but at this point the Songaskians were about ready to surrender. The commander had already given in and the signal was given to cease fighting on both sides. The battle had been won, with surprisingly little dead, but with a lot of wounded. The Emperor had all the nobility and military leaders dragged to the central square before Ulric Typhonus and the other Tacticians and commanders would join them. The Emperor then chose a single female Noblewoman, mounted her on a horse, gave her some water and then forced her to watch as he commanded the Blackclaw Guards to butcher the other nobles, including the woman’s family, children, and all the people she had ever known. Eventually the Emperor sent her on her way to deliver a message of the city’s fate to the Songaskia Massya and to tell him that he intended to exterminate all cities until the Massya unconditionally surrendered. As her horse was escorted out, the Emperor and the Lieutenant General gave the orders to purge the city. She was slowly escorted down the main avenues as regalian zealots and retinues that had joined the war effort went from house to house, killing anyone they could find. The city of Shaaq-Turnaal, one of the great Pearl cities of the Songaskia turned into a carnage as blood washed into the streets and an estimated thirty to forty thousand people were butchered in less than twenty four hours.

Finally the Emperor brought in a column of chained mages who whipped up a fire and stone storm, tearing and smashing at the Songaskian sundials and effigies to their sun god, tearing down these pillars of heresy in front of an applauding crowd of military leaders. When all was said and done, the city was effectively empty far from the stench of death and Regalian soldiers. The command was given to commence looting, and this is where some people found some useful items. Carthan Norrvakt found a rare ruby encrusted curved Songaskian blade, probably belonging to a famous general that may or may not have died on the battlefield there that day. Hamelin de Vaud captured an extremely finely decorated silver Kaffee ware set, encrusted with sapphires and emeralds and shining brilliantly in reflective light. Hjalmar Haagevig managed to capture a smaller sundial plate, a relatively ugly, but otherwise solid golden plate that was worth about as much as a bouillon of gold and could certainly land him a nice property for life in Regalia. Finally, Richarr Ravenstad found the prize of them all, the Prince Aq’buwende’s coronet, a finely decorated coronet featuring dragon like creatures circling and holding a braided rope encrusted with sapphires and a single large crystal at the forehead. Submitted to the Emperor’s Stewards, he was permitted to keep it under the provision that the Empire did not recognize the noble rights of the Songaskians, and as such, their property was up for provisional looting by the men. The Emperor made no further claim to the noble possessions of the Princes, and as such, Richarr could take the coronet home.

With the city of Shaaq Turnaal captured, the war had truly and fully begun. A foothold was made on Songaskian soil and the camp opted to camp outside of the city once more. This was purely chosen as no real attempt was made to clear out the corpses from the city. The Emperor made it strictly clear that this was not a conquest war and the Songaskians could come and reclaim this city later if they so desired after surrender. As a precaution to prevent undead from taking hold of the city, the corpses had been decapitated, though the soldiers refrained from re-entering the city where the corpses would start to rot in the coming days and bring pestilence to the land.

As the military lords finally gathered back at base camp, the mysterious brunette struck once more. Deprived of her high heels, her dress torn to pieces and the sand having sandblasted her hair to utter ruin, she now possessed the stature of a common vagrant. As she attempted to approach the Lieutenant-General to proclaim her love through a poem, a stray horse that had been scared by the death smell of the bloodied Emperor and his Blackclaw Guard went berserk and ran straight into her, her hair entangling with the reigns and dragging her along as she shrieked in the distance. Unfortunately for the mysterious brunette who was no other than Violette Coen, the commanders were too busy toasting to notice her predicament, and she was later caught by a soldier who managed to finally catch up to the horse, put on a ship and sent back home.

The Emperor made no further comments on the military plans laid out by the Lieutenant-General. He simply formally shook his hand, the Lieutenant-General completely clean washed and pristine looking while the Emperor was practically covered in blood. The Lieutenant-General now had the liberty to move the army in whatever direction he wanted, and the other Generals were informed that they also had the liberty to start their own campaign in the land of the Songaskians. The opening salvo had been fired, the stage and mood of this war had been set, and it was a grim one indeed.

Further participations of characters who didn’t achieve any noteworthy actions or loot or wounds:
Xavier Ravenstad, Violette Coen, Veridan Daevaar, Konnold Dunwynd, Kharzug Longscythe, Khalid Ordensias, Hadrian Grey, Borug Steelhide, Frederick Speziale, Eric Liolen, Dianne Black, Reynald Typhonus, Renly Kade, Oswald of Echten, Ossian Driscoll, Markus Haagenvig, Marcelo de Santigo, Lolettia Da'Pihuya, Trevor Grey, Gerolt Lispector, Gaspar dei Orazio

Anyone who was wounded in this battle is barred from future battles for 2 weeks and ought to roleplay walking around with crutches for those 2 weeks duration.

 

Avilda Ignaard earned a Medal of the Fire Heart
Nicolette d'Eluise earned a The Noble Heart Minor
Richarr Ravenstad earned a Medal of the Keen Mind