Middenhem Saga 3

Main: Stone Company Saga

Gunnar, you've battled the skyggemen before. Not in an all out battle because, yes, they tend to use light armor and ambush during Kveldtid (when both suns are at the horizon and Hjem is at its darkest). You are surprised to see that they attacked the road so near High Blalystid. The cover of trees where the ambush happened must have provided some cover. Some whisper that Skyggemen are not born as Skyggemen but are Mennesker transformed. Gunnar has neither proved or disproved this. Gunnar has fought few and killed one. The acid that spewed from the creature bursting from the Skyggeman's chest burnt clean through your armor and left a scar as a reminder. You didn't get a good look at the thing, except notice it was black violet - as the shadows cast at Kveldtid. When you were done throwing off your armor, the creature was nowhere to be seen except for the hole it burrowed in the ground beneath you.

The Stone Company travels north of the road in pursuit of the Skyggemen, the unfortunate Crow, and (you assume) the Jarl taken prisoner.

After a half-del of travel, you come across what appears to be a place they must have stopped at for a brief time. Two crow lie slaughtered at one end of the camp. You see large bite marks in their flesh, even some flesh torn from their bodies.

Bjornanam's face goes white as he asks, "They eat Mennesker flesh? What are we doing? Who cares about some Jarl? Let's just get the hell out of here and get paid behind the safety of the keep at Klofningar".

"Would you rather hide like a timid girl? If safety is what you wanted, better to be a carrot farmer than a warrior. We are here to protect our people, to kill when we must, and die honorably if we are fortunate." Gerhdunn replies.

Bjornanam's shakes his head, looking to the other mercs for reassurance. A handful of them look around in return, but the silence is broken by a few giving hearty laughs at Gehrdunn's comment. Bjornanam nods at your words, gulps, swings his axe in practice, while shaking his head clear.

Ragugm inspects the campsite and reports that they only just left here less than a deluke ago. "There were more than a dozen. A couple horses. More crow feathers about."

There are no Skyggemen bodies here. Just the two crow. You assume crow as they have been dragged, picked clean, and have remnants of crow feathers sewn into clothing. Ragugm shares, "The tracks look like Mennesker tracks. Can't tell 'em apart except for these are probably being dragged by a rope or something behind a horse."

Aginey runs to you with something in hand, "Shit, look what I found. A lady's bonnet. Bloodied."

The Company keeps up their double time pace onward in pursuit.

Recon Contest

• Recon Skill = 16, -5 (no security), +1 (1.5x faster than opponent), -1 (forced march)
• Stone Company wins initiative, gains DB+2, and chooses an encounter battle.

The Stone Company confronts half a dozen Mennesker looking figures up ahead and decides to take no pause, driving forth in an attack! The figures turn towards the Stone Company, reveal their Skyggemen maws and lift up weapons in attack!

The Battle

Round 1

• Stone Company: Attack
• Skyggemen: Raid

Gerhdunn & Gunnar lead the attack against the Skyggemen, each of them eyeing one of the riders. The riders attempt to maneuver their horses around the encroaching mercenaries but there are too many! With no opening to take, Gerhdunn & Gunnar each swing their swords high at the riders atop the turning horses. They both connect! Gerhdunn cuts through the arm muscle of his target who in turn let's loose his reigns. With little control, the rider careens towards other mercs' blades and axes. Gunnar sidesteps the other oncoming rider and runs his blade along the leg of the rider, drawing blood!

Following their captains, the Stone Company begins flanking the skyggemen.

Battle Report

• Stone Company: +2 PB, no injuries
• Skyggemen: Scout Rider 1 (crippled), Scout Rider 2 (injured), 1 Infantry (suffering from previous injuries, reeling, crippled), 2 Militia (both suffering from previous injuries, reeling)

Round 2

• Stone Company: Attack
• Skyggemen: Full Retreat (they do not choose parley, nor would they accept a parley)

The Stone Company continues pressing in on the few Skyggemen, ignoring the footmen and trying to engage the riders. Unfortunately, the riders are too quick for any of the mercs to get any good attacks.

While most of his companions are focused on the riders, Milsar closes in on two infantry and taunts, "We are the Stones that cast a long shadow upon the Skyggemen. Fear us!"

Upon heralding your attack he drives his spear into, not one, but skewers two of the skygge-footmen in one thrust! The skyggemen lash out ineffectively. One slumps to the ground, dragging the other down with him.

Battle Results

• Stone Company: +3 PB, no injuries
• Skyggemen: Infantry (reeling, verge of collapse), Militia (unconscious), Militia (reeling), Riders (escaped)
  • The riders escaped this battle. That doesn't mean you can't track them down and attack them again. They are faster than you and will most likely be able to outrun you, however, they are both bleeding and unless their wounds heal on their own, they will need to stop and attempt to bandage themselves.

Round 3

• Stone Company: Attack
• Skyggemen: All-Out Attack

Only two skyggemen remain for the Stone Company to annihilate, and annihilate they do.

Gunnar fells one of the skyggemen with a slice to his leg. The skyggeman slumps to the ground and Gunnar orders those around him to jump back to avoid any acid spray from killing one of these creatures. The mercs do as they're told, not wanting to get too close. After a few brief moments, you realize the skyggeman is still breathing but motionless.

Sedredast drives his longspear into the other skyggeman's heart whose face goes blank and seconds later, a high pitched shrill emanates from his chest. The skyggeman slumps to the ground, convulsing. The shrill trails off, the skyggemen lies motionless, and nothing ever bursts from its chest.

Battle Results

• Stone Company: Wins battle.
• Skyggemen: 1 dead, 2 unconscious and bleeding

The Aftermath

You have two unconscious and one dead skyggemen at your feet. Well, after what warning Gunnar shouted, none of your mercs want to get to close. A few brief tense moments pass then Gunnar carefully treads towards the skyggemen. With no sign of movement, he quickly goes through their belongings.

• A sharp dagger you give Thalli to upgrade her Poor Militia equipment to Average.
• ₡55 coins worth of various items that you can carry easily. You don't take anything heavy, like damaged armor that isn't fitted for any of your mercs. The infantry's gear was substandard.

Continuing the Chase

The Stone Company continues the chase after the riders and the main skyggemen force. Within an hour they track down one of the riders unconscious. It appears he lost too much blood to carry on. The other rider is nowhere in sight. Gunnar proceeds cautiously up to the rider and goes through his gear. Unfortunately, his equipment was poor and his horse must have wandered off.

• ₡23 coins worth of various items that you can carry easily.

In order to catch the main force, the heavy hitters stash their gear in order to lighten their load. The Stone Company continues as fast as they can and it pays off! In less than 8 hours, they confront the main force!

The Battle #2

Recon Test

• Stone Company: Recon Score (16); Forced March (-1); No Security (-5); Faster (+1) = Total Modified Recon Score (16 - 5 = 11). Rolls a 7 (success by 4).
• Skyggemen: Recon Score (unk); Forced March (-1) = Total Modified Recon Score (unknown -1). Rolls a ? (success by 2).
• Stone Company wins initiative! Gains DB+3.

The light is fading across Middenhjem and you know that Skyggemen are more active in the dark. You figure in just over 4 delukes these lands will be crawling with more skyggemen when both Blålys & Rødlys are under the horizon and the deep violet hues of Kveltid cover Middenhjem. You worry somewhat at what advantages they may have during Sleeping Blålystid, but you forge ahead.

Your scouts quickly report that there are more than a dozen footmen, maybe two dozen. However, some of them may be prisoners. You can't tell quite yet. They also have 2-4 horsemen. They know we're here and are preparing! What should we do?

Do you choose an encounter or pitched battle?

Round 1

Pitched Battle

• Stone Company: Defense (readying alchemist's fire for round 2)
• Skyggemen: Raid