Cerienburg Castle

The Commandant of Gauldin, Commander of the Royal Pegasus Knights, arrived late to the meeting, having realized that his message of intent to join had not gotten through. The soldiers of the Brotherhood were efficient though, and he was quickly directed to the Command tent, leaving his Pegasus Knights to find appropriate lodging and stables for the pegasi. He nodded silently as he walked in, listening intently and doing his best to not interrupt with his late and semi-surprise arrival.

After hearing the plan to assault Kaine had an idea and walked to the other side of the planning table before saluting the Hochmeister and speaking,"Sir if I may, I think I can give us an advantage over the enemy if you can give me some time to prepare a few spells." then if Adrian allowed him too he would clear his throat and tell him of his plan "I should be able to scry the enemy positions and we can relay them to our troops, by avoiding more heavily defended areas we can reduce our losses , also I can create a thick fog around the enemy fort before and during our assault because of it's proximity to the river, the fog will cover our troops and the enemy will not be able to land their missiles with accuracy, they won't be able to tell the true extent of our forces so if we surrounded them and made a lot of noise there men might falter thinking we have a force numbering many times there own." If this happened in tangent with the daimyos assault the enemy would no doubt feel overwhelmed from an attack on all sides that would seemingly come from nowhere.

Helmut had followed through and come to defend the Hillfort though other Witch Hunters were to remain behind citing "important" reasons. He was standing at one of the belltowers, looking out for the arrival of enemies. He himself was not particularly happy about having to come for he too had rather secretive administrative work to do but there was the matter of having to make some sort of appearance. Besides, he was able to jot down many notes about the foreigners that arrived, their armaments and magics. He did not foresee a war within the next few millennia until the population of either the southern states or Vessia was too large and would need to go either north or south respectively but it would still be worthwhile. 

For now, he waited loading as many crossbows as he could to let off later when the battle truly began. 

Vidkun had come along with the other Knights of the Black Cross to fight in Ostfront and was now mulling about aimlessly. He sharpened his sword, sharpened a few of the spikes about to impale charging enemies,  and played a little on anew accordion he found about the place. 

Eventually he arose deciding it was "time." He searched about in the apothecaries, chapels and other buildings of note until he found Lady Cerridwyn and some other non combatants. "My lady? It's time to go into the safe rooms, I'm afraid. We'll call you once your services are needed of which occurrence I have no doubt in." 

"We shall be ready."

The Daimyo bowed and left, the Dozen, who had been waiting outside the tent for him to finish, joined up behind him and followed him to the ship.

Kyoto was ready for the attack, archers stacked on the side facing the fort, with a few on the port side (away from the fort) to keep an eye out for anything on.the other side of the river. The ship waited just around the bend for the mage's magic fog to take effect. The Daimyo and his soldiers were unused to working with magic, such things being "forbidden" back home, but he saw the utility of it. The Marines waited belowdecks, the assault boats ready to be launched as soon as word was given.

Kaine's scrying would indeed reveal determined defenders stationed near the north gate. He would also find a hefty amount of archers mulling about in the upper floor of the central keep, bows and arrows in hand. They expectd an attack by the river, or from the north; the archers themselves had specifically brought bundles of arrows which could pierce, and some arrows which could be set ablaze.

Kaine's fog soon started to affect the area. The defenders within the fort thought little of it, for the Ostfront was a foggy region anyway. But then they looked at one another and questioned the nature of the mist; was this some ill omen beset on them by their gods? They did not grow nervous, however, in spite of the circumstances. They had their own specialties, yet to be revealed... not to mention an ally of their own.

Adrian, who had led his footmen to the wood's edge and peered towards the fort, raised his hand to signal their advance. He was very impressed at Kaine's work and would personally thank him after this was all over. The infantry started to shuffle forwards with their shields, maintaining a close formation. Adrian himself hung back; he would take part in the second wave. As the Brotherhood's infantry ambled towards the fort with their ladders they were trailed by crossbowmen, who were ready to unleash volleys upon the defenders; the fog would make it hard for them, but they could at least provide suppression.

The Kyoto could attack the fort anytime they wanted to. When this happened the Pegasus Knights could assault from the sky. It would culminate with the infantry's assault on the northern walls, and the eventual opening of the gates.

If everything went according to plan...

The Commandant would wait until the Archers along the central keep had unveiled themselves in attacking either of the groups to launch his knights into the fray. Once they opened fire he would use his mobility to strike at them from above, lances glittering in the sunlight above the relentless fog coating the ground below as they dove upon the hopefully helpless archers in the Keep far beneath them.

Before said battle began, she scooped the babe up to make sure he or she was safe, and began to hush soothingly as she headed off to safety, keeping her eye out for the mother. There was not much else for her to do in the meantime but find a place to sit and ask anyone she saw who the child belonged to.

One of the pagan defenders squinted as he tried to look out into the fog. Despite his best efforts he yielded no results. He sighed and cursed, "damn this mist! It's the men on the boats, I know it!" He felt a firm hand grip his shoulder and turned to see the face of Skella, one of the senior warriors within the fort.

"Calm yourself," Skella said. "I have no doubt the fog is the work of the boatmen. But remember... we have our own magic." Skella watched a sinister grin spread over his ally's face. He returned a frown and shook his head. "You relish the idea of killing these men?"

The archer nodded his head, "of course! We'll send these invaders to their false god."

Skella sighed. "Invaders? They were traders. Colonists. They had children and wives." He then held up a finger and pointed at the man, "and you killed them. Sometimes a people only become your enemy when you make them one." Skella had not agreed with attacking the Vessian colonists, but despite his protest the warriors of Ostfront decided to slaughter those Imperial traders and colonists. And just like Skella predicted, those Imperials returned with mounted knights.

Skella re-entered the keep and made his way for the middle of the room, where an old crone sat cross-legged. "Are they here yet?"

The old crone smiled slowly, her eyes white as a pearl. Her thin black hair hung down over her worn white face. "They're here."



The pagans heard sudden thuds against the side of their fort as the Kyoto pressed within range. Calling out to each other the surprised pagans grabbed their bows and quivers and hid behind wooden walls, returning the Daimyo's attack with fire arrows. Both sides found their targets, but the pagans were mostly concerned with setting the ship ablaze. Every so often one of the defenders would cry out in pain and fall to his death at the bottom of the keep.

The slaughter became two-fold as Commandant Murat and his Pegasus Knights swooped down and attacked from above. This caught the pagans off guard more than the Kyoto did, and frightened them enough to retreat back into the safety of the keep.

Hoga and his amphibious assault would be observed as they approached the walls, but the pagans saw their approach to late. Skella called out to the wall defenders. "Eastern walls! Javelins, now!" Some of those men stationed on the northern gate rushed over and tried throwing heavy-headed javelins down onto Hoga's group.

Meanwhile the Order's Sergeants picked up their pace and clambered ahead with their ladders. The defenders saw them to late, once again, and frantically reassembled. The Sergeants quickly planted the ladder's into the ground and lifted them onto the walls and started to file up them. A heavy rock came down and bashed one in the head, peeling his skin clean off his skull. The man beneath him cried out in terror as the weight of the dead body fell upon him, and sent all of the climbers down the ladder.

The bulk of the Sergeants were successful on their end. They made it to the top and jabbed and hacked into the mass of defenders, delivering fatal wounds. They themselves were protected by expensive armor provided by the Order. Slowly, over the course of twenty minutes, the attackers started to make headway against the wall's defenders. A brutal melee ensued on the ramparts that stained the wooden floors with blood.

Adrian's heart pounded as he nervously listened to the clamor of battle and the roaring of warcries. They had no idea if they assault we a success yet or not, but waited for the sound of a horn that would signal the opening of the gates.



The little girl would stop her sobbing but whimpered a few minutes afterwards as Cerri held her. Before long she would be approached by a man who looked confused, but then smiled when he saw the babe. "Ah, finally! Which way did Dana go?" He waited a moment for her to answer and then said "thanks for helping her with the child, she really needed a break."