Author: Simulacrum  <nub>    107.201.120.172 Use this link if you want to link to this message and its entire thread of discussion. Post a Msg
Date: 2/18/2018 8:48:57 AM
Subject: RE: Warband Sitrep 4

Exciting times last night.

After taking Uxkhal and Jelbeghi Castle, I dismissed the campaign party and resigned as marshal. Since I asked the king for Uxkahl, I patrolled around it conscientiously, warding off occasional Swadian and Rhodok patrols. This was no small feat, as I had to keep about 60 infantry and archer troops in my party against the possibility that I was awarded the town. They would constitute the beginning of my garrison.

Unfortunately, they were slowing me down and eating both food and morale rapidly. I soon depleted Uxkhal's food supply and had a morale in the Average range. This was alarming. I never let morale get below High.

Meanwhile, ambitious enemy lords with their 40-50-men parties kept tempting me away from the town. I was so desperate for higher morale that I tried to chase them down. When I did, another little party would saunter up to the town and put it under siege. This went on until I felt safe enough to venture farther out to see if nearby villages had chicken or grain for sale.

It was about this time when the new marshal summoned me for a new campaign. I never fail to report for these campaigns. It's just a thing with me. I don't usually stay with the marshal, but I do report to him, as there's no penalty for wandering after I check in.

Sometimes, however, the marshal has a task for me, so I have to report again. This is what happened last night. Boyar Talbar wanted me to scout some locations, which was fine. Once you scout the last place, you've completed the task and can just forgo the XP you get for reporting back. Your quest log is empty. If you do report back, you have to keep following the marshal until he dismisses you or disbands the campaign or gets captured or whatever.

So I scouted two places, fighting little parties along the way to keep up morale. I even had a chance to stop by Sargoth and get more food. I was on my way to the third place when I noticed that both the Swadians and the Rhodoks were trying to besiege Uxkhal. Since the king had not awarded the town, I had to break off my task and go over there.

Then ensued one of the most desperate times I've ever spent in the game. Both factions were completely tunnel-visioned on taking Uxkhal. All of their parties were there. Some had grown to "medium" size, i.e., in the 75-150 pop range. There were swarms of them, and no Vaegirs were in sight.

I spent the next hour in non-stop battles, fighting every kind of unit. Both factions threw themselves at me. Meanwhile, they would take turns laying siege to the town while I was occupied. My men were exhausted. More and more were wounded or dying. I myself was seriously wounded by couched lance attacks. At one point, my steel shield shattered trying to stop volley after volley of arrows and crossbow bolts. Thankfully, my charger was still alive. I tell you this: if it hadn't been for Jeremus's and Katrin's advanced medical skills, we would have been annihilated and I would have been captured. We were hanging on by a thread.

At that moment -- at what appeared to be the hour of my death -- I looked up and lo! the Vaegirs were on their way! Boyar Talbar and his campaign party bore down on the enemy scum and drove them into a disorganized frenzy.

You would think that my men and I would try to escape to Praven, where we could get medical attention and regroup. But you would be wrong. Once the enemy factions were fragmented, my brave wounded knights chased them down. The enemy was still quite dangerous, so the battles were fearsome and bloody. But we did not stop until the last Swadian and Rhodok filth had run away licking their wounds and whimpering.

Only then did I take my men to safety. And only then did King Yargolek announce his decision about the ownership of Uxkhal. He gave it to another lord and compensated me with 900 denars.

I had the right to protest. I had the right to renounce my pledge of fealty and start my own faction. I would have kept Wercheg, Praven, two castles, and several villages. My numbers were strong enough to start a campaign of such bloody vengeance it would have made the heavens tremble.

But there are some things a man doesn't do, and one of them is betray a friend. King Yargolek was my friend, and the fact that he offered me 900 denars made me realize that the Vaegir treasury was not as full as it should have been. If ever there was a time when he needed faithful lords, this was it.

I felt wonderfully rewarded by my loyalty. I will fight for my king to the last castle. He can rely on my constancy until it's just the two of us, back to back, fending off the last enemies in the last battle.

Even so, I still won't go to his stupid feasts.