[BaW 2.0, TLC] The Siege of Ha'mor

**Barry Goldwater** · November 23, 2014, 07:03 PM

It is the first day of the Siege of Ha'mor.

As the last of old Khaz's slaver colonies on Khio Na, the Green City's fall will mean a victorious end to Holy King Remian's Holy War of Liberation, and at first sight there seems to be no reason to suspect that the Falinesti crusaders and their freedman allies had even the slightest chance of failure: with 80,000 men to the defenders' 12,000, a proven record of victory at Ha'mor's elder 'sisters' Gas'tai and Na'mai and the reasonable to high chance of a slave uprising erupting in the city itself, one could be forgiven for believing that their victory was inevitable. But things would not be that easy, not even for the All-Father's chosen - firstly, from the battlements of Ha'mor's towering green walls, even their most heavily armored Vahan'a (knights) look like little more than particularly shiny ants, and the many scars of past sieges seen across these formidable fortifications are testaments to their durability; and secondly, supplying an army of 80,000 is no easy task especially after Ha'mor's forces razed their own fields and poisoned the outlying wells (with the corpses of slaves no less) to deny them local resources, and though the Falinesti fleet is working hard to supply them by sea (overland supply lines having already been stretched to their limit), weather conditions and the risk of Ha'mor's fleet launching sorties to disrupt shipments remain a constant threat. This is on top of the conventional counter-measures the Ha'morites are expected to employ, such as nighttime sorties from postern gates in the walls to harass the Falinesti encampments & destroy supplies or counter-mining efforts in the event that the Falinesti attempt to tunnel under their walls.

At present, the Falinesti have approximately one month's worth of supplies left. Naturally, that means they have only one month in which to bring down Ha'mor, unless their fleet is able to bring them more supplies.

Days until supplies run out: 30

Map of the current situation

--------------------------Aggy--------------------------

Like many of his fellow Halanesti, Hathrasel has been assigned to one of the mining teams. At the edges of the Falinesti camp's perimeter, each of these teams have raised oaken screens covered in wet animal hides to cover the entry points to their shafts; Hathrashel and his crew are now standing behind one such shield. His team's commander, a gruff middle-aged man by the name of Asmont, shouts his first orders to them:

"Alright boys, by this time you should all know what to do - grab a shovel, and start diggin' a tunnel for His Holy Majesty from behind this 'ere shield so you don't get shot to death before you even make it underground! Our goal's to dig a tunnel right under that big green wall over there and bring at least part of it down so the rest o' the army can just charge right in and kill every last damn one o' them slaver bastards. Oh, and for the sake o' the Holy Mother don't forget to keep your weapons on you at all times in case the slavers send in some counter-mining parties to try to ruin our day. Hopefully it won't come to that, and I know damn well how terrible it is to have to lug around a couple extra pounds of gear while you're diggin' through rock and dirt for days on end, but you know what the lords all say, 'better safe than sorry'. Are we all clear?"

As the miners moved to grab their tools, the younger man next to Hathrasel mutters to him under his breath, "You know, I'm actually looking forward to the slavers trying exactly that. Sending some counter-mining parties our way, I mean. I heard from the friend of a friend that any commoner who brings in the head of a slaver captain is entitled to a knighthood, and I heard from a cousin of mine that even if they don't give you the knighthood the Holy King'll give you a nice fat purse of gold for your troubles. Either way, for a bit more risk than usual we can walk away from this place richer men."

--------------------------Iron Aquilifier, Perry, Usuno--------------------------

Wallain, Fengud and Ordessa's companies have been ordered to work together to forage throughout the areas around the Falinesti camp, in hopes of finding supplies. Though there exists quite a bit of troubled history between the Otamanesti and the Borvanesti that many fear will prevent them from working together - the latter did, after all, invade and ravage the former's lands under the Dragon of the North some 60 years ago, and said Dragon's unfortunate death at the hands of an Otamanesti ballista crew robbed the Borvanesti of their chance to unite the Falinesti - Holy King Remian nevertheless ordered them to carry out this mission side-by-side, no doubt in hopes of fostering a reconciliation between the two rival peoples by forcing them to depend on each other for their lives.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the shouting match between the Borvanesti captain Verner Ysfathing and his Otamanesti counterpart Anairlan Anno, this hope may still prove to be completely in vain.

"Ya know, I don't know what His Holy Majesty was thinking, having me and mine work with your lot. Aren't you Snowmen out of your element down here, under the southern sun? I was worried you'd just slow us Oak Children down, but now I'm more afraid that you'll melt before we even reach our first village," The leather-clad Anno sneered.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry 'bout old me," The gray-haired Ysfathing shot back. To be fair, he seemed perfectly at ease with walking under the sun while clad in chainmail and furs. "We might not be as fast or as good as climbin' walls and trees as you Monkeys, but at least we can actually take a hit. And it ain't like your speed or climbing ability is gonna help much in a siege with walls you can't just climb by hand. Seriously, the lot of you look like goddamn toothpicks, I 'spect the slavers can knock you down just by blowin' at you, and in a fight you're bound to get hit sometime. My grandpappy knew that all too well, as did his king - "

"Fat load of good bein' able to take hits did his king when ours put a ballista bolt through him at the Battle of the Glades, huh? And I gotta wonder, did your grandpappy go out in that last battle too and if he did, was it in the same way?"

That taunt clearly hit too close to home, as Ysfathing turned an ugly shade of red at Anno's words. "...

you, Monkey."

"

me?

you, whale-shagger!"

Just within earshot of their argument, the Borvanasht Fengud and Otamanesti Ordessa & Wallain are trailing behind, conveniently right next to each other...

**Pericles of Athens** · November 24, 2014, 05:04 AM

Fengud was clad in his chain linked armor and covered in thick layers of furs, he'd seem out of place if it weren't for the dozens of his kin surrounding him in similar dress. He carried his seal club over his right shoulder. His hair was long, tied in a single weighty braid, and stretched down just past his shoulders. His facial hair was long and thick as well, tied into intricate braids for show.

He simmered under the oppressive southern heat, turning briefly to look at the Oak Children beside him. He spat in disgust and grumbled under his breath. "God damned monkeys.."

**Agamemnon** · November 25, 2014, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by Barry Goldwater

--------------------------Aggy--------------------------

Like many of his fellow Halanesti, Hathrasel has been assigned to one of the mining teams. At the edges of the Falinesti camp's perimeter, each of these teams have raised oaken screens covered in wet animal hides to cover the entry points to their shafts; Hathrashel and his crew are now standing behind one such shield. His team's commander, a gruff middle-aged man by the name of Asmont, shouts his first orders to them:

"Alright boys, by this time you should all know what to do - grab a shovel, and start diggin' a tunnel for His Holy Majesty from behind this 'ere shield so you don't get shot to death before you even make it underground! Our goal's to dig a tunnel right under that big green wall over there and bring at least part of it down so the rest o' the army can just charge right in and kill every last damn one o' them slaver bastards. Oh, and for the sake o' the Holy Mother don't forget to keep your weapons on you at all times in case the slavers send in some counter-mining parties to try to ruin our day. Hopefully it won't come to that, and I know damn well how terrible it is to have to lug around a couple extra pounds of gear while you're diggin' through rock and dirt for days on end, but you know what the lords all say, 'better safe than sorry'. Are we all clear?"

As the miners moved to grab their tools, the younger man next to Hathrasel mutters to him under his breath, "You know, I'm actually looking forward to the slavers trying exactly that. Sending some counter-mining parties our way, I mean. I heard from the friend of a friend that any commoner who brings in the head of a slaver captain is entitled to a knighthood, and I heard from a cousin of mine that even if they don't give you the knighthood the Holy King'll give you a nice fat purse of gold for your troubles. Either way, for a bit more risk than usual we can walk away from this place richer men."

Hathrasel had mixed emotions on the whole matter. On one hand, he had rather expected that after all his schooling and training and his heroics at the start of the crusade, he would be leading the sappers, not simply doing a glorified but deadlier version of the job he had enlisted to escape. But, on the other hand, he had been told that the sappers' corps was the best way to gain engineering experience without the cash or connections to go to school or get an apprenticeship, and he was of course grateful to his late benefactor for paying his way through the military engineers' program. Only half-listening to the commander, Hathrasel robotically and half-heartedly checked his tools, tightened the straps on his armor, and prepared himself for the coming mission, until the young man's words brought his attention back to his surroundings. A knighthood or a fat purse? Either one would guarantee Hathrasel his coveted place as an engineer and bring great honor to his family. He could be the one to break his family out of the disastrous cycle of mining that captured so many Halanesti, if only he could find and kill a slaver captain. It sounded like such an easy thing to do! Of course, there was no guarantee that the youth's words were actually true - All-Father only knows where he may have heard that rumour - but there was a chance, and for Hathrasel, that chance was enough. From that moment, Hathrasel's goal became the killing of a slaver captain.

"Ordinarily I wouldn't agree, my friend, but today I must agree with you. Such a reward would do great things for my family, as I'm sure it would for yours. I'm Hathrasel, pleased to meet you."

**Barry Goldwater** · November 27, 2014, 07:42 PM

--------------------------Aggy--------------------------

"Hathrasel? I've got a brother with the same name. He's helping out with the mines back home of course, not only has he only barely started growin' a mustache but my old man needed someone to replace me while I'm over here. As for me, my name's Anciel." The soldier grinned, and had he not been carrying a shovel and hammer in his hands he'd surely have offered Hathrasel a handshake. As the Halanesti sappers made their way back to the entry point for their mines and the first men to get there began digging, Anciel casually raised the question: "Don't suppose you've got a family back home? I mean, a wife and a kid or several."

--------------------------Xion--------------------------
There were few Cerayanesti among the crusader army - understandable, given that the Cerayanesti lands were either recent conquests or still eluded the Savior's line - and so, Rei had found herself still surrounded by the Sazhanesti she'd traveled this far with. As horsemen, she and her cloaked fellows had been sent out to forage for supplies, capture villages (whether for yet more supplies, to convert into Falinesti bases with which to tighten the siege lines, or just burn down) and harass any slaver stragglers; where the Borvanesti and the Wodanesti peoples did this mostly on foot, they were tasked with carrying this task out on horseback.

Unfortunately for the Sazhanesti troop, the first village they ran into had already been left desolate, no doubt by slaver troops that retreated back to Ha'mor with all the supplies they could carry & the civilians they were evacuating. All of the wooden and mud-brick buildings here had been at least partially damaged, and the only humans left were the slaves nailed to their ruins, though the party had split up to look for any remaining signs of life or hidden supply caches. "Figures," the blue-turbaned rider nearest to Rei - she may recall that he had introduced himself weeks ago as Sabal, nephew to his oasis village's chief - grumbled. "Well, I won't say I wasn't expecting this, not after what we saw at Gas'tai and Na'mai, but it still sickens me all the same. This is just another atrocity those slaver bastards will have to pay for in blood when we breach their damned green walls." He dismounted to kneel before a half-ruined hut and dip his finger in a dead slave's blood. "Still quite fresh...this can only mean that what happened here didn't happen too long ago. D'you think they might have forgotten to torch or carry off some supplies?"

**Agamemnon** · November 28, 2014, 09:39 PM

"Nice to meet you Anciel." Hathrasel pauses in order to begin digging, albeit somewhat begrudgingly, but happily answers Anciel's question. "Nah, I'm only just old enough to fight. I live with my mother and father, both miners. As were their parents. And their parents' parents. I'm sick of the mining life, personally. I've always wanted to do literally anything else, but especially to be an engineer. I thought this would be my chance." Hathrasel looks forlornly at the dirt and spits in it. "I THOUGHT that I could escape the miner's life by enlisting... I guess not."

**Barry Goldwater** · December 04, 2014, 03:49 PM

"Don't be so quick to despair, Hathrasel my friend," Anciel says with a laugh as he sticks his shovel into the dirt and begins to dig away. "This could be your way out of that life! And mine, too. The All-Father works in mysterious ways, after all...though I'd really appreciate it if His plan doesn't involve me dying here." As if on cue, the sound of arrows whistling through the air can be heard, and a few even impact the mining squad's shield with dull thuds. Anciel's face contorts into an apologetic grimace, "Oh, I dearly hope I haven't just jinxed myself there."

"Pay no mind to those arrows, this shield's covering us well enough and I expect His Holy Majesty to start an attack to cover us soon," The sapping foreman barked from the growing pit behind the shield. "Just keep working!"

--------------------------Bastard Feudalism--------------------------

At the camps reserved for the freedmen, Kafrat's fellow ex-slaves were abuzz with excitement. They'd made it to Ha'mor, last and worst of the slaver cities, and their hopes to purge slavery from Khio Na were thus far undaunted even by the city's massive walls; they had a considerable advantage in numbers, time was on their side (or so anyone who hasn't looked at the food stores thought, at least) and they'd already taken down Ha'mor's 'elder sisters' against all expectations, so how difficult could this last city be to capture?

Everyone gradually stopped chatting when a soldier wearing a blue-and-white Beanique cloak marched up to their corner of the crusader encampment. Of his cloak hadn't tipped them off, his bushy auburn beard, girth and steel-gray eyes would make it obvious who he was - Arvildor Brenynuin, a Birinasht captain who directly served the Holy King and had been appointed commander of Kafrat's company of freedmen when it was first formed. True to his well-known brusque nature, once he is certain the freedmen have fallen silent he wastes no time in getting down to business.

"Alright boys, listen up. This is, as you should all know, our final battle. We win this, the war's done, the last slaves on this here continent will be free and you can all go off to have your happy ending. So don't screw this up, for all our sakes." Predictably, not a soul was inclined to applaud or cheer at the captain's blunt, brief 'rallying speech', but then again Brenynuin never did particularly care whether his men liked him or not so long as they did their jobs. "Now, orders from on high for us all...His Holy Majesty's aware that Ha'mor's already sealed its gates and doubled watch on the walls, so the chances of anyone sneaking in there under normal circumstances are more or less nonexistent. But, we'll still need to get some of our guys behind those walls so they can help whip up a slave revolt and take the city down from within while the rest of us kick down its gates in a month or later. Probably later. To that end, and to cover our sappers too 'cause they've started shooting at us, His Holy Majesty will be ordering an all-out attack on the walls soon - as in, a few hours 'soon' - to cover those among you freedmen who've been assigned to infiltrate the city. Even with all 80,000 of us I for one don't expect success this early in storming the walls, though it sure as all hell would be nice, so the important thing is that our agents are able to make it inside, hide out somewhere and get close to the Ha'morite slaves. Start with the lower-ranking types, the ones their owners don't pay too much attention to, and start working from there." He cleared his throat and continued, "Now you all know that while I can be tough - 'cause it's the only way we'll make it out here - I'm no slave-driver. So I'll give you lot a choice. You can either stick with me and help fight for the walls; in that case, you'll also be staying at camp, and I expect you to help in future assaults as well as to defend the camp from raiders. Or, you can help infiltrate the city while the rest of us distract the garrison, in which case I won't be able to help you much further, but you'll have total freedom to carry out your mission."

"So, what'll it be? Anyone who's up for playing spy, step forward. Those who'd rather fight, stay where you are."

Will Kafrat step forward as a volunteer for the infiltration mission, or stay behind to serve as a regular soldier?

OOC: I still need replies from Xion, Iron Aquilifer and Usunu.

**Agamemnon** · December 08, 2014, 06:49 AM

"If the All-Father is willing and the tunnel don't collapse, friend." Hathrasel turns to the task of digging.

**Dirty Chai** · December 12, 2014, 08:39 PM

One of the slaves stepped forward, holding a chichak helm at his waist.
He had long, dark hair, straight and slick, and random braids and beads adorned it; his high & pronounced cheek bones and gaunt features seemed highly foreign to Khio Na.
He was built thin and thick, like a snake, and had almond eyes.

"You will need a prince's slave, then," he said, his Gast'aian accent thick but with precise articulation.
"This one can speak seven languages, and knows his way around from the slave quarters to a queen's bedroom."

**Xion** · December 13, 2014, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by Barry Goldwater

There were few Cerayanesti among the crusader army - understandable, given that the Cerayanesti lands were either recent conquests or still eluded the Savior's line - and so, Rei had found herself still surrounded by the Sazhanesti she'd traveled this far with. As horsemen, she and her cloaked fellows had been sent out to forage for supplies, capture villages (whether for yet more supplies, to convert into Falinesti bases with which to tighten the siege lines, or just burn down) and harass any slaver stragglers; where the Borvanesti and the Wodanesti peoples did this mostly on foot, they were tasked with carrying this task out on horseback.

Unfortunately for the Sazhanesti troop, the first village they ran into had already been left desolate, no doubt by slaver troops that retreated back to Ha'mor with all the supplies they could carry & the civilians they were evacuating. All of the wooden and mud-brick buildings here had been at least partially damaged, and the only humans left were the slaves nailed to their ruins, though the party had split up to look for any remaining signs of life or hidden supply caches. "Figures," the blue-turbaned rider nearest to Rei - she may recall that he had introduced himself weeks ago as Sabal, nephew to his oasis village's chief - grumbled. "Well, I won't say I wasn't expecting this, not after what we saw at Gas'tai and Na'mai, but it still sickens me all the same. This is just another atrocity those slaver bastards will have to pay for in blood when we breach their damned green walls." He dismounted to kneel before a half-ruined hut and dip his finger in a dead slave's blood. "Still quite fresh...this can only mean that what happened here didn't happen too long ago. D'you think they might have forgotten to torch or carry off some supplies?"

Rei looks around, having grown desensitized to the atrocities of the slavers, having seen them throughout the campaign and after years of fighting in various wars, and then looks over at Sabal, nodding. "I would say it is likely, if that's fresh then they must've spent more time carrying this out than ensuring there is nothing here for to be found." "If not, we perhaps could at least find evidence of their tracks and try to pursue them."

**Barry Goldwater** · December 16, 2014, 07:50 PM

--------------------------Aggy--------------------------

A few hours pass. While the other Falinesti soldiers above ground prepared for an all-out attack on the Green City's fortifications, the Halanesti sappers had been hard at work tunneling their way towards those same walls, and had already made significant progress - mostly because their overseers, Asmont included, had refused to let anyone take a break just yet. But even these rugged mountain men and hardened miners had limits to their stamina, and by now they were starting to run out of steam...

Anciel buried his shovel into the dirt and leaned on it, gasping for breath for almost half a minute before glancing at Hathrasel. "Sorry, I...I just need a minute," he panted while wiping the sweat from his eyes. "Do me a favor and don't tell Asmont, would you?" In his exhausted state, he failed to notice the odd marks in the earth to his left. On closer inspection, those marks don't look like natural...

--------------------------Bastard Feudalism--------------------------

"Is that so?" Arvildor raised an eyebrow at Kafrat. "Which seven languages would those be? And would you happen to know your way from a slave's quarters to a queen's bedroom, as you said, not in...Gas'tai, I believe you were first freed? But in Ha'mor."

--------------------------Xion--------------------------

"Guess we'd better start looking, then." Sabal swept into the destroyed hovel behind the fallen slave he had just been examining and found something within minutes: after dragging another slave's corpse off of a pile of rubble, and kicking said rubble out of the way, he had uncovered the door a hidden cellar. While he was still shouting, "I found something, alright! This cellar doesn't look like it's been opened, maybe whoever used to live here's left a sack of cabbages or something down there!", Rei spotted some tracks in the dirt leading towards the eastern part of town, and they don't look like they belong to barefoot slaves or villagers with simple sandals, but rather to soldiers in boots and sandals made for war...

**Pericles of Athens** · December 16, 2014, 11:34 PM

Fengud kils himself from the loneliness. (

)

OOC
Note on slaving practices - different racial and ethnic groups are raised and housed separately in order to encouraged rivalries between them and inhibit organized cross-racial/ethnic slave uprisings. They also brand slaves on the wrist, runaways on the foreheads, a common practice in many parts of the world at one point or another.

**Dirty Chai** · December 18, 2014, 10:52 PM

It seemed Karfat was now boasting, but he wanted the task. He wanted to get inside the walls, he wanted to creep along in the shadows, burning the tail of the might tiger of Ha'mor.

Khazadic, Udalanestin, Sazhanestin, Navanestin, Arionnic, and some bits of Batuan and Dafcikaran.
"Four languages of this world and three of the old world."
He narrowed his eyes and paused in speech.
"If you have seen one city of Khazad, then you have seen them all."

OOC: I'm assuming the Falinesti have different languages or at least dialects.

**Xion** · December 20, 2014, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by Barry Goldwater

"Guess we'd better start looking, then." Sabal swept into the destroyed hovel behind the fallen slave he had just been examining and found something within minutes: after dragging another slave's corpse off of a pile of rubble, and kicking said rubble out of the way, he had uncovered the door a hidden cellar. While he was still shouting, "I found something, alright! This cellar doesn't look like it's been opened, maybe whoever used to live here's left a sack of cabbages or something down there!", Rei spotted some tracks in the dirt leading towards the eastern part of town, and they don't look like they belong to barefoot slaves or villagers with simple sandals, but rather to soldiers in boots and sandals made for war...

"Cabbages? Looks like we were right that they didn't get everything." Rei dismounts and looks at the tracks after noticing them. She looks up in the direction of the path before turning to where Sabal is, shouting back to him. "I just found some tracks, look to be from the slaver bastards that did this!"