BLCC-4

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BLCC-4

Druimmor Castle after CC-4

Set 1

It Begins

Set 2

A Date With Destiny

Set 3

Fatigue

# Chill In the Hills

## Lore

*An ordinary patrol of Vlandian men has stumbled into extraordinary circumstances.*

*Tasked with patrolling the passes through the mountains between them and the Battanians, an ambush by deserters forced the party further into the east, with a heavy fog setting in to make matters worse. Scattered and in unknown territory, the group eventually managed to unite at a small village tucked away in the forest...*

*...only to discover that village is at the base of Druimmor Castle, home to a Battanian retinue. While months ago this may have been a promising sign, recent breakdowns in relations between the two kingdoms have made these Battanians particuarly bloodthirsty.*

*The Vlandians have no choice but to fight for the village, establishing a safe area from which they can stage an attempt to request reinforcements from the west. If they cannot warn their lords in time, the castles from which they came may fall vulnerable...*

*The situation was as the Vlandian patrol feared. Waylaid by deserters and uncooperative locals, possibly in Caladog's employ, they found themselves encamped in the forested foothills a stone's throw from Ab Comer castle. The patrol was led by Count Aeron dey Talbot, a vassal of Derthert's bellicose Duke Leofric of the same house. Starving, frustrated, and lost, dey Talbot ordered the patrol to ransack the nearest village and surrounding countryside, and sent out a request for reinforcement. The chieftain of Ab Comer was not a Battanian, but instead a former noble of Vlandia by the name of Cordin. Watching from Ab Comer's walls as the smoke rose in the distance, he saw his opportunity to escape Caladog's erratic service and return to the Vlandian fold. For his efforts he was unable to stop Battanian riders from getting news of the event to Caladog, who rushed to oversee the defence, hoping to meet Derthert in battle personally. The Vlandians, all along suspecting a breakdown in their alliance with Battania, quickly called on their allies and marched to reinforce dey Talbot's patrol. Caladog received little official support except from the Khuzaits, and shockingly, the emperor Arenicos. Enraged by Arenicos' declaration for the Battanians, the imperial general Garios ignored his emperor's orders and marched to join with Derthert's army.*

*Derthert's Vlandians arrived first and began laying siege to Ab Comer. Anxious about the pace of the operation they capitalized on their head start and pushed through the night, bombarding the castle and plundering the local stores, their grisly task lit by the burning thatch of the Battanian roofs. The Battanians made probing attacks to defend the village, which drew in more reinforcements until the full strength of both sides was drawn into the melee. Caladog spurred his warriors on to crush the Vlandian infantry quickly, before they could bring their cavalry advantage to bear. Finding themsevles outnumbered thanks to Derthert's allied reserves, the Oathsworn quickly found themselves in a gruesome struggle amid the Vlandian lines. Derthert's skilled knights split from the formation to emerge from the darkness into the Battanian rear, causing chaos and scattering Caladog's archers and light troops. The fighting continued through the night, the Vlandians steadfastly keeping the Battanians from entering the village at every turn. Finally Caladog cut his losses and sounded the retreat, passing through the undermanned Vlandian siege works and into Ab Comer itself.*

*Dawn broke as the Vlandians renewed their bombardment of the castle. The Vlandians at first made a disastrous attempt to scale the walls with siege ladders, and were forced to fall back under a hail of arrows, insults, and raucous laughter from the defenders. Enraged, Derthert ordered his siege engineers to bring the curtain wall down with artillery, opening a breach which allowed his footmen to flood into the castle. Caladog called on the wild spirit of his warriors for a last counterattack, and they were just able to drive the invaders back to their camp.*

## Post Event Lore

*The Battanians have averted a total defeat but not without cost. The victorious Vlandians capitalized on the diversion of resources to Ab Comer's defence and took the castle of Druimmor without much opposition from Caladog's broken army. The defector Cordin escaped with the Vlandian host, but it remains to be seen if Derthert will trust his cheaply-bought loyalty again. Trouble stirs in the Calradic Empire, with many senators demanding a meeting to seek answers from both Garios and Arenicos regarding their unsanctioned actions regarding the battle.*

## Aftermath

The Kingdom of Vlandia took Druimmor Castle from the Kingdom of Battania.

## Links

Event Post: [1]

Wrapup Post: [2]