Author's suggestion: Play this in the background.
It felt like they had been marching forever.
The day after having spotted the Latvians, the Cohort commander decided to return to Robertia, as the Latvians had begun moving and were coming towards them.
On the way, a messenger from the King confirmed the decision, bearing orders to make a stand at the Steyr river woods, not far from Robertia.
Sombeh thought that at least he would die close to home, in his familiar hunting grounds.
Maybe he'd even have a chance to see his wife again, one last time.
For two weeks, Sombeh's fellow Axemen and Spearmen marched in silence, meeting up with other cohorts, also retreating. The Latvians knew where they were, but never broke formation or made any attempt to charge forward on those horses of theirs. They probably knew the Noyyau had no hope of stopping them, anyway.
Meanwhile, in Noyyau, a scribe invented a more practical writing system, using a sign for each sound, then composed to form words, rather that a different sign for each word.
While in the east doom approached on land, in the Noyyau Bay the spirits decided the time had come to punish the ship that had defied them in the past.
Aware of the presence of a Latvian vessel along the coast, the King ordered to quickly construct a replacement Galley, using all available resources. The crew was mostly made up of slaves and convicts, all of them painfully aware of their slim chances of survival.
The night they made camp in the Steyr woods, Sombeh was thinking of his wife, but it was another familiar voice that distracted him from his daydream.
“Brother! I finally found you!”
“Brigg? What are you doing here?” Sombeh's younger brother was just a boy in his eyes, full of youthful energy and impatient to prove himself to the world. “What is that... thing?”
“It's called a Sword!” replied Briggs with enthusiasm, handing the weapon to his brother. “Cool, huh? It's entirely made of copper, and way better than that unwieldy Axe you're lugging around!”
Sombeh made a few swings with the sword, before returning it. “It does seem quite light and maneuverable, but... why do you have it? Why are you here Brigg? We're about to be attacked!”
A grin appeared on Brigg's face. “You're almost right, big brother. But it's US that are going to attack THEM first!”
The newly formed first cohort of Swordsmen, eager to prove their worth in the eyes of their fellow Noyyau, staged a nocturnal raid against the Latvian camp. The First Axes closely followed them, partly to support them and partly to recover any lost sword, before it fell into Latvian hands. Despite the risks and the losses, the attack was successful, and the Noyyau learned that, when taken by surprise, cavalry was not as effective as when charging.
The ragtag crew of the Gods Unwilling stoood no chance against the seasoned Latvian sailors. They did manage to damage the enemy vessel, but not enough to prevent the sinking of the local fishing fleet.
The nocturnal raid, despite its success, did little to the main body of the Latvian host. The invaders ignored the Noyyau camped in the forest, and moved directly towards Robertia.
Their morale high from the night's victory, the First Swordsmen moved against the Latvians once more, this time catching the crews transporting a strange wooden contraption. The Latvian cavalry quickly intervened, chasing away the Noyyau and inflicting severe casualties, but not before several of the siege machines had been smashed into useless piles of firewood.
A second Galley, also crewed with “expendable manpower”, was sent to harass the damaged Latvian vessel. Driven by the promise of freedom and a strong sense of self preservation, the convicts managed to overpower the exhausted Latvian sailors and captured their ship.
Despite the impending battle, Sombeh was happy. He had finally been reunited his wife, now visibly pregnant, that had escaped their cottage to find safety inside the city walls.
Brigg had survived both of the First Swordsmen's raids, but had been seriously injured. An arrow had pierced his left leg, and he lay unconscious, the shaman unsure if he would ever wake up again. “He is in the realm of the spirits now, and it is up to him to find a benevolent one to help him heal such a grave injury.” Sombeh did not find the shaman's words particularly reassuring.
When the horn called for all warriors to assemble, Sombeh gave his wife one last kiss and returned to Robertia's main square, crowded with hundreds of Noyyau warriors, armed with all the weapons available. How many of these mostly young and inexperienced soldiers would die, before the end of the day?
The Latvian approach was felt by everyone, the ground vibrating under the hooves of hundreds, if not thousands, of horses. It was a terrifying sight to behold, but the Robertian defenders did not abandon their posts. Before the dreaded cavalry charge, however, the Latvians sent forward their strange wooden machines, which began launching heavy stones towards the city. The archers on the walls and the First Axes, behind the main gate, suffered the heaviest casualties.
Then the Latvian Horse Archers moved forward, picking up speed and circling the city walls, waiting for the Catapults to create a breach in the fortifications. It did not take long for a section of the mud brick walls to collapse, and the Latvians poured in.
The Noyyau defenders used every corner and every wall to their advantage, teams of Spearmen emerging suddenly from houses and barns and overwhelming the Latvian riders, only to be trampled under the hooves of more horses and felled by the constant rain of arrows.
Other sections of the city walls fell under the constant bombardment, and the fighting soon was everywhere.
Sombeh lost the perception of time, his mind seeing only the enemy in front of him, his heart giving him the strength to keep swinging his Axe, kill or be killed, stop the invaders or the love of your life will die, or worse.
The bloodbath continued for most of the day. The surviving Latvians finally retreated only at dusk, leaving more than half their number on the streets of Robertia, dead or mortally wounded.
The Noyyau defenders also suffered heavy casualties, the Spearmen especially.
Sombeh somehow staggered back to the shaman's hut, his legs giving way only when he saw his wife, safe and healthy. She was helping the shaman tending the injured, along with several other local women. When she spotted him, she cried something and ran to him, but by then Sombeh had already lost consciousness.
Gameplay notes:
That went better than expected!
Apparently Light Swordsmen
strength: 7) can be made with Copper as well as Iron, but I had forgotten about that. However, they're almost double the cost compared to Spearmen, so I set Robertia to train an even mix of them.
The AI isn't completely stupid, as the Latvians outright ignored the stack camped in the forest and went straight for the city.
However, they could have done more (collateral) damage if they attacked directly with the catapults, instead of range bombarding. In fact, I'm now having second thoughts about using this option.
Luckily for us, the Latvians don't seem to have any metals, so they sent no Axemen or Swordsmen along with the Mounted units, and those have a tough time attacking Spearmen inside a walled city.
After the battle, a cadre of Axemen was sent to investigate the Latvian camp. The surviving invaders offered stiff resistance, but seemed aware that their invasion was over, and did not spend too much effort in protecting their now useless war machines.
While the fate of Robertia was being decided in the north, down south Noyyau troops kept plundering the defenseless Iranians.
After an almost endless forced march, Cid Raynor's Warriors finally reached Robertia, recalled from Iran to help fight off the invaders. To their dismay, they arrived only to see the Latvians retreating.
Following the retreating Latvian survivors, Cid Raynor's Warriors led the final attack. No one was spared. In the following years, rumors would circulate that the Robertian fields were particularly fertile due to all the blood that had been spilled in the area.
After the complete eradication of the Latvian expedition, a messenger from the would-be invaders brought a peace proposal: King Magnus was willing to offer a tribute in gold, if the Noyyau would agree to cease hostilities.
