Second Battle of Faramond Keep

The Second Battle of Faramond Keep was a battle between Dalforean League forces, under Garth Goscelin, and Allied forces, led by Cont Renaut Bellevue, during the War of the South Lake.

## Background

Following the initial invasion of Faramond, two hundred Scanbroughan light horse were left behind to guard Faramond Keep, as Riding Man Fowke lacked the siege equipment to siege the city. The captain of this holding force, Sannel Antridge, had the wit to keep his force hidden from the city and built many more campfires than he needed, giving the illusion of several thousand men and thus preventing King Ranwald from sallying out to meet them.

When the Allied armies met, Fowke sent back three thousand Lacrivians under Cont Bellevue to begin the siege proper.

Meanwhile, on the Dalforean side, Garth Goscelin had been gaining traction, attracting bands of Faramondian and Gabrain men-at-arms until his force constituted a small army. Reports reached him of the small Scanbroughan contingent keeping Faramond Keep under siege and he headed to the city as soon as he could.

Goscelin and Bellevue reached the city at the same time; Bellevue came from the south and Goscelin from the west. Goscelin's force was more lightly armoured and thus was able to outmanoeuvre the Lacrivians, putting the Allied force between the city gates and freedom.

This was the time King Ranwald had been waiting for; he ordered the mobilisation of the city garrison and massed them in the courtyard by the main gate, keeping a personal lookout on the battlefield through a sally port.

## Battle

Goscelin positioned his force, almost entirely men-at-arms, in a rough line a dozen men deep. Most of his men were armed with swords and boar spears; most also wore leather or chain hauberks and arming caps. He sent his fifty rangers forward to harass the Lacrivians; they took potshots and thinned the Lacrivian heavy infantry while staying handily out of range of the Lacrivian archers. When the Scanbroughan cavalry raced to cut the exposed rangers down, Goscelin's men-at-arms surged forward while his rangers fell back, reaching each other within seconds as the men-at-arms braced their spears against the ground. It was too late to stop the charge, though; Antridge was badly wounded and suffered heavy losses. His force was routed and immediately made for Scanbrough, only a few leagues northeast.

When the light horsemen fell back, Ranwald made his move. He moved his force outside the gate and worked together with Goscelin's captains to completely encircle the Lacrivian force. Bellevue rightly believed all was lost and prepared for a last stand, putting his archers in the middle of his formation and forming the heavy infantry in square around them. He inflicted some losses on Ranwald's force with his archers, though this was negligible given the relative numbers of troops.

Seeing the despair in the faces of the Lacrivian troops, Goscelin and Ranwald, now consulting together behind the western perimeter of the circle, decided to charge all at once. They reasoned that, given the Lacrivians' reliance on two-handed weapons, if the Faramondians charged with enough momentum there would be no room for them to swing their weapons. The men-at-arms, by contrast, all carried dirks or long daggers, perfectly suited to tight close-quarters combat.

The plan worked, and Ranwald led the charge - albeit surrounded by his pike-armed guardsmen. This was the only part of the line not in close-quarters combat as the guardsmen expertly kept the Lacrivians three metres from themselves in the melee.

Some of Bellevue's chevaliens managed to break free and, shedding their armour, ran for their lives with Bellevue in tow. They escaped due to the Faramondians' preoccupations and, while several fell to rangers' arrows, most made it to the light forest half a kilometre west and, from there, made their way back to Lacrivian-controlled territory.

## Aftermath

The main Lacrivian force was crushed; it is still unclear exactly how many casualties each side suffered but civilians did witness scores of Lacrivians marching away in chains. It is also clear that so few Faramondians fell that they were each given individual funeral pyres following the battle.