[RTW AAR] Eagle stenched in blood

This is a new TW related story I am going to work on now. Unlike other online stories, this one is going to be set in a first-person way. You are the character. At the end of each chapter, choices will be presented, after a certain period the most popular choice will be picked and the story continued.
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Chapter 1


The long walk to the Senate was overbearing. In the heat of day it was like walking into the fires of hades. The streets were lined with children, splashing water on each other to keep cool. Dogs panted in agony, trying to find some shade. Those too old to be out were in playing games and those too young, such as small children, were cooling off in houses.

I could not find any comfort in cool shade. I was summoned to the Senate regarding an important matter. My name is Marcus Tiberius Quintus of the Quintus family. My families history has been limited to a few centurions in the army, but nothing more. This summons suprised me, and honestly, I found it unnerving.

As I walk my mind is lost in thought. What business does the Senate wish with me? At this moment nothing seems clear. I walk on, passing the brick-ladden road. Shops are lined up in either direction as merchants sell everything from, cloth to women. I pause to splash some water from a small pond too cool off a bit. My formal toga was a bit warm, and uncomfortable too.

After what seems like hours of walking, I finally reach the Senate. I see all around me men dressed in fine clothing and purple sashes. It portrays a starch contrast too those too poor to even afford shirts. Poor beggars, I think too myself. I didn't care about their pathetic lives. Just soldiers in my opinion.

My mind is jolted back on track as I am beckoned up the steps by an old man. I walk inside and see only five men besies myself. One of whom I instantly recognize as my father. At this, my heart races and I instantly know what is happening. I didn't think it possible but..

A man steps forward. I think his name is Gaius. He has an expression of utmost boredom on his face and it seems as though the scroll he caries is not one that has an illustrious speech on it. He eyes me with contempt, as if I where a nuissance that was only a side-show for his entertainment.

My father on the other hand, wore the face of the most proud father in the city. I wished to greet him, but he merely nodded and I saluted back. He was afterall a centurion, while I was only barely done with basic training. Something I took care to remember in front of this illustrious crowd or so to speak.

The senator cleared his throat. " Quintus, you are hereby summoned by the senate to take upon the command of the Legio 4 Britannia. You are not promoted to general. We only need someone capable of holding position until someone of better value can take over. Do you understand?"

The idea was simple enough. I was a scapegoat in the ploy to find a new general for an army. " I am to be a captain then?" I ask. It was obvious that the answer was nothing but certain. In fact, I would have been surprised if anyting else was given.

" Yes, you are to be a captain and will receive a standard captains pay. In regards to your pay,you will be charged with bringing the Britannians down to their knees. Be warned though, you will not receive any reinforcements and thus will have to rely on your so-called ' tactical intuition ' to be successful."

I simply nod, accepting the fate given to me. " And when do I eave?"

" Tommorow. However, I must let you know this: The fourth legion will be made of five thousand men rather than the standard ten thousand. Survive, until your position is taken over, or until you die." He added those words with a small smile on his lips. I clenched my fists and tried my best not to strangle the fat old fool on the spot.

" You will be able to choose your landing point. Note, the northern tribe is friendly to Rome, however, the journey there is perilous as you will either have to marhch through gaulic territory, or sail through the mediterranean and the pirates."
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You are presented with a decision.

Do you:

AGo through gaul as it would be much quicker than a few days sailing through the mediterranean, besides you can fight off any army.

B Sail through the Mediterranean as there is no guarantees the pirates would attack. Especially if you manage to keep a safe distance and stay near the shore.

a

a.

I wish to go with the trend so let's a, that makes me stand out oh yes it does.

I'll go ahead and start with the next chapter then.

Chapter 2

The air was cold and the snow was wet. In the forest, not one thing could be seen for a league in front of my eyes, as I walked on with my men. The army I was given was nothing better than raw recruits. Some of them looked like they belonged in the stables, and others were questionably able to hold their shields as they marched along. My infantry was decent if at best, whilst my missiles were of the worst quality imaginable. I had some pride in my cavalry. However, at less then thirty strong, I had doubts at their effectiveness.

We had not reached the Alps yet, and I suspected that was the reason for the quite around us. I turned around to look at my men, and in doing so saw the exhaustion on their faces. " Take a breather, lads." I say to them. Immeadietly their faces look to the heavens and they sit where they are, groaning form aching knees.

I have time to think to myself now. I was still very uncomfortable with this commanding role, and what's worse, I had no idea what to do. My orders were simple enough, get to Britannia and quell the small rebellion, but I had no idea what to do of the other rebellious peoples I would encounter as I passed them by. There was little doubt they would simply let me pass through their lands, only an idiot would think it would be possible.

After the meals are eaten, I had a very nice hare stew if I may say so myself, we march on. I am at the head of the collumn and am lost in thought. I casually glance about myself, as I am often to do at the extreme dissapointment of my father. I notice something odd about the terrain ahead. It is flattened whilst the road we are on now is bumpy and set loose by tree roots. " Take care men, this is dangerous ahead." I shout back to them. I wanted to do anything to get by this road, but no diverting one could be found.

We finally get half way through, when I spot something even more peculiar, I see an eagle standard stuck in ground not far off to the right. I glance at a cavalry man and say to him," Soldier, go retrieve that eagle and tell me of it's origin." He rides off and quickly picks it up. After reading the legionry sign he shouts back to me, " It's of the ninth legion sir!".what is going on here? The ninth legion was fully functional only two days ago. I was guaranteed a meeting for a relay but now it seems like they are not here. No, maybe they lost their standard." Very well, take it with you and we shall return it to them if we should pass them by.

For the rest of the day nothing more seems to happen to us, and I decide to rest my men for the evening. After my tent is set up I walk in and immeadietly breathe a sigh of relief. My home away from home is nothing illustrious. A few stools here, a table their, a cot on the floor. The only thing that seperated it from the others was the guards standing outside. I walk out intending to observe my so-called men and their condition. I must say I found the staring a bit unsetting, but then I realized, I was a bit of a standout with my captains uniform. I sit next to a group warming their hands by the fire, and try to stir up some form of conversation. " Soldier, what do you think of this assingment we have been given? " I ask a boy no less older than sixteen besides me.

" I don't know sir. My family tells me that I have to serve in the army, 'cause no one has any money to begin with. I hate it, and that's the honest truth. Why should we endanger ourselves for some outrageous belief of 'glory'?" At this the others, nod their heads and some mumble their agreements. I see, they're worse off than I thought.I keep my silence and stare into the dancing flames.

" Uhh, sir?" The boy pipes up. His voice brings me back and I shake my head trying to remember what it was I was thinking of. "m-Yes, what is it?" I answer back in an obviously unconcentrated tone.

" Sir, I don't mean to press, but some of the men have spoken of rebel tribes in the area. What should we do if we expect to pass them?". Once again I found myself deep in thought as the options race through my head. There is no need to fight them unnecessarily, but then again they are enemies of the Republic.

" I do not know, maybe in the next few days we will receive some sort of sign of what to do." Just as soon as I finish that word, that I see a man riding towards the camp with the crest of the Senate upon him. He rides up to me and salutes.

" Are you Marcus Tiberius Quintus?" He asks me in a less than cordial tone.

" Aye, I am and you are?" I respond.

" You are hereby ordered to assault a rebel army in the southen gaulic area, The ninth legion was sent but was decimated by them. They shall meet with you and you will, with the ninth, eradicate those rebels." He says to me in a completely authoritave tone.

" As the Senate wishes." I bow to him. He smirks at me and turns away and rides off. At that, another group walks in the camp. I guessed that this was the ' remmant ' of the ninth. I guessed at best maybe six hundred were here and they were all bloody and beaten. Some of them were missing eyes, wilst others were nursing arrow wounds.

One walks up to me and I recognize that obviously this was a centurion. " Are you the captain of this legion?" He asks me in a hoarse voice. Obviously he had nothing to eat for days.

" I am, are you the leader of this one here?" I ask in a completely conversative tone. He simply nods at my question and I pause, but continue to go on. " I trust you have received information about our orders?". Once again he simply nods. " Very well then go tell your men to rest and we shall deal with them when we can. By the way, can you tell us anything about their whereabouts?"

" They are on the other side of the Alps, however, I imagine that they would cross to raid the cities up here unless we were able to go throuh them and attack them."

" Why not go around?"

" It would take days to do so, and no guarantee that they would be there when we get there."

" I see, dismissed, and integrate your units into my own, I will not have any depleted units in my army." He nods and walks off. A strange fellow. I think to myself. However he does have a point about the Alps. I can't go over without risk to my men, and I can't go around without risk to the cities here.
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Do you

A go through the Alps to meet them head on in the small valley below, risking your army at the same time.

or

B Go around the Alps and hope they stay where they are, for hope the snow would keep them back, waiting for spring to cross.

(A) fortune favours the bold!

(A) I wan't to see your legion get destroyed by Barbarians!

Originally Posted by Jaguar Paw

(A) I wan't to see your legion get destroyed by Barbarians!

I think you mean ' your ' legions as this is you we are talking about, you are the main character after all.

(B) I should be cautious here...

b: no need to lost a legion yet agian to these rebels.theses rebels may know the alps well. they could vrey well be seting a trap.if i go round we may vrey well find the rebels off there guard.

A) Strike quickly and destroy those rebel scum!

a, you should be able to do it, and it wil give those recruits and taste of battle.

This is a good way of getting your readers involved. Nice going!

Chapter 3


All the men in the camp were prepared to march. Seeing the need to fight the potential threat of the barbarian horde, I decided to risk a trek over the Alps to hit them head on. Of course worries about the terrain hid in the back of my head, but I couldn't change my mind now that we were ready to go. All the supplies were tied on tightly to spare horses, and the men were told to march in collumns four wide and sixteen deep per cohort.

At the first day all seemed well and I thought myself clever for doing this. Imagine the faces of the Senate chambers when they here the captain has crossed the Alps. It would shock them into thinking it was Hannibal? I smiled to myself at that notion. Yes all did seem well and for all the worry about mountain tribes nothing was seen or even whispered about them.

Then the second day came. We woke to a blizzard and to make matters worse we had to send scouts ahead and back for an agonizing four hours to know where we were even going. Some men foolishly trekking about fell off the mountainside and others died of hypothermia. At night the sounds of shivering and coughing mixed with the splurting of blood from overcome lungs was agonizing. By the third day we discovered that of the five thousand men we had started with, six hundred had died by the time we saw the valley below and luckily the barbarian horde.

What I thought was the horde, at least turned out to be the largest army I had ever seen. From right to left it extended across the valley. I could see that it was maybe five maniples long and I could see no cavalry in all those men. I look to my right to see the centurion smirking to himself. " Why are you smiling? We haven't won yet." I say to him. I didn't like overconfidence and in this situation I didn't want my men thinking of such things either.


By the time we had reached the small valley bellow our situation was even worse. Apparently the valley was wide at the birth of the hillside where it started. But, where we were the valley shortened up creating a virtual bottleneck. I hoped to take advantage of this in the upcoming battle. However since this army was a cheap one and I had a surplus of archers I had to figure a way to defend them. With only 10 cohorts I could maybe spare one to defend them. Another thing I could use is the forest to my right. If I could hide my bodyguard there and my archers I could really pulverize my enemies right flank.


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Your options

A You set your archers and cavalry in the forest to the right hoping to run up their right flank winning you the victory

B extend your line so as to be able to defend your archers from attack and dimount your guard and hope your armies superior fighting skills will win the day.

I'll let everyone know that most of the time I'll edit post to post new chapters so it may not look like I have posted when I already have.

Have my faithful readers abandoned me?

Hail comrade,

Id have to say a, it sounds more technicle. Although b has more killing hmmmmm:hmmm::hmmm:. Ill stick with a.

Originally Posted by Praetorian Quintus

Have my faithful readers abandoned me?

nope. we were just ambush by barbarians on the way here.


i pick b. roman training will win the day!

A. for stupidness!

I have 2 A and 1 B

I'll get started on the chapter tonight, but don't expect an update till friday at least.