BLCC-12

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Akiser Castle after CC-12

Erzenur Castle after CC-12

Set 1

Ethynol's Legions

Set 2

Hunter

Set 3

Equestrian Prowess

Set 4

Aserai Might

# It Takes Three to Tussle

## Lore

*The Nomadic lands come under threat from Calradic intrusions.*

*Long has the Khan and his men stayed out of the bloodbath in the west, opting to wait out the storm and coordinate a proper response against the crumbling empire. Even as Arenicos was bloodied, the empire split, and the other neighboring kingdoms threw themselves into the fray, the Khanate has eagerly reaped the benefits of (mostly intact) neutrality.*

*And yet one can never truly be free from war in Calradia, and none know this better than the battle hardened Imperials and Aserai. No strangers to harsh climates and brutal pitched battles, the more greedy among their respective nations have turned their eyes to the east, seeing the value of eastern livestock skyrocket as food storages are drained all across the continent.*

*The Khuzaits' wrath lies mostly with the Sturgians to the north, after the sacking of Baltakhand. Nevertheless, the Khan has summoned the tribes following reports from his expert nomadic scouts, who have reported that both Imperial and Sultanate hosts march against their southern lands. The Aserai have taken the bold step of marching directly through Southern Imperial land, although no agreement between the two was seemingly made. All of the continent awaits a reaction from Prince Ethynol and Empress Rhagaea, though they are more than likely to permit it considering their mutual enemy.*

*The Khanate will have to fend off an offensive from not only one, but two foreign kingdoms forcing themselves upon them. The marauding Calradians will find no easy target however, as Monchug and his riders have awaited this day for months. They have misread the Khan's patience as weakness.*

## Post Event Lore

*The Southern Imperial expedition met with a defending Khuzait force at a forested village on the harsh Khuzait frontier. The point of interest for both parties was a derelict ruined fortress, dating back both hundreds of years (and a much stronger Calradic Empire) ago. The value of the ruins was in its location; the trail through would serve as an excellent supply route for further Imperial incursions into the Khuzait heartlands. The Khan had foreseen all of this through his patience of course, and so a host of primarily tribesmen cavalry was dispatched to the old fortress under the command of a rising local clan leader. Empress Rhagaea's marshal Prince Ethynol was busy fighting his brother wars against the forces of both South and North empire, and as such the Empress took the opportunity to put a loyal Vaegir Guard in command, one of the few that escaped the suspicion and accusations that plagued the Emperor's Guard following Arenicos' demise. While placing a fiercely loyal warrior in command was a reasonable choice, many suspect this was also done to weaken the influence of Prince Ethynol, who the queen presumably fears the rising power of as he prepares for his royal marriage to Princess Ira.*

*Rhagaea's marshal wisely expected trickery from the Khuzaits, and was quickly rewarded for his foresight. The Khan's forces travelled through harsh, rocky terrain to attack the Imperials on the flanks, and a fight was soon found, the Khuzaits initially encircling a significant chunk of the Imperial force and inflicting heavy casualties. While the trapped Imperials fought tooth and nail in the nooks and tunnels of the ruins, the Imperial marshal succeeded in rallying his still free forces, regrouping on the forest edge before bravely charging once more into the fray to save their comrades in a signature display of legionary brotherhood.*

*The Imperials had learned that the tribesmen are not to be feared, but respected. And with this newfound resilience, a massive attempt to secure the ruins and save their brothers was launched, to great success. The full extent of the Imperial arsenal was on display, with crossbows boosted up to the walls by their fellow soldiers ending the life of many a steppe horse. With a brilliant display of combined arms tactics, the Imperial army was able to retake control of the ruins and save the trapped legionnaires.*

*This was far from the end of Imperial troubles, as the Khuzait host had mostly withdrawn and began pelting Imperial shields and heads with relentless hails of arrows, fired mostly from horseback and supported heavily by a small contingent of Khanate Lancers, some of the finest of the steppe. Numerous efforts to lure the Imperials out of the ruins were launched, including a brilliant ambush by Khuzait warriors hidden in the tall grass of the forest on a significant number of lost legionaries. Despite many small successes, the Khanate's forces could not successfully dislodge the Imperials from the strongly defendable ruins. Following a few excursions by Imperial forces against the wavering Khuzait forces, the Khanate was forced into launching a final all out assault on the ruins to avoid a mass desertion. With both sides one decisive strike away from victory, a frantic final fight broke out on the steps of the ruin fortress, with militia archers successfully giving the Imperials the knockout blow needed to fully rout the Khuzait host.*

*With a path now clear into Khuzait lands, the Khanate will now have to contend with regular Imperial raids as part of everyday life. To complicate matters even further, the forces of the Sultanate had also attacked in tandem with the Imperial army, but that is a story for another time (and post)...*

*As the Southern Empire proved victorious in a bloody battle with the Khuzaits and stormed a castle, another battle ensued to the south, in the remains of an old trading village and aquifer in the domain of Husn Fulq, mostly abandoned after the Empire sacked the city.*

*Sultan Unqid's host marched under the baking sun to get there in time, knowing that if caught in the open they would see a repeat of the last time the Khuzaits threatened Husn Fulq. And this was wise, for Anjikhin Noyan had come leading the Khan's second host to block this thrust. Much as they had done previously, their first objective was to establish cavalry superiority and to deplete the slave-soldiers of the Sultanate, lest the Mamelukes do the same to them.*

*Though the Noyan's plan had early success, the Sultan was wiser to how to fight the Khuzaits. So long as his troops were in the open, they would be run down. Thus, he hunkered down in the village itself. His men took the chance to rest on fine carpets, haggle with the well-armed merchants of this border town, and to water their horses between short sorties to keep the Khuzaits honest.*

*Alas, eager warriors of steppe tribes can prove to be difficult to corral. Though the infantry dutifully set up overwatch and a defensive posture at the aquifer exit, the horsemen proved undisciplined. Anjikhin repeatedly ordered them to stay out of the town, to wait in reserve for when the Aserai finally moved out, yet the fools would go in anyways and die uselessly.*

*As the Aserai water supply began to dwindle, Unqid knew that the time had come. He led repeated attacks- some burst out of the town castle's aqueduct to surprise the Khuzaits from below. When their archers set up a kill zone against it, he marched out of the village as skirmishers created a cross-volley. Despite the steppe infantry's stalwart efforts to hold back the tide, the undisciplined cavalry left them to die in defiance of the Noyan's orders, and eventually the Khuzaits were forced to withdraw.*

*The forces of the Aserai were gleeful at victory - Pasha Kofye praising the Sultan's glory even as her helmet bore the mark of an accidental strike of his lance. A Khuzait castle was theirs, its garrison depleted fighting over the aquifer, buying them time in case the Khuzaits came to aid the Empress in holding Husn Fulq against an Aserai counterattack. For the Noyan's part, she reported the truth to the Khan. For the undisciplined cavalry, only their foolish deaths had spared them the wroth of Khan and Noyan over their failures to obey.*

## Aftermath

The Southern Empire took Akiser Castle from the Khuzait Khanate.

The Aserai Sultanate took Erzenur Castle from the Khuzait Khanate.

## Links

Event Post: [1]

Wrapup post (1/2): [2]

Wrapup post (2/2): [3]