>>27625514

As you watch the cloud gather, Podere - who had clearly been leading and organising the evacuation of the villagers, and indeed appears to be pretty good at leading and organising people - comes up and asks to see you. 'Sir.'

'Podere, what's happening?' You don't say anything more about the term of address that Imperials like to use. You can let steppe-sons call you brother; if the Imperials are the sort who can't work without deferring to authority, you're not itching to stop them. 'Are they bandits?'

'It seems so.' He nods. 'The band of thieves we destroyed must be a detachment of this band; I've noticed them flying the same banners.'

'So they're a major force in this county, then.'

'This, and the county to our south, and also the county to the west.' He scratches his beard. 'It's strange; previously there were *two* groups of bandits roaming this area, formed quite recently. Now one of the bands has gone, but there's been no news of a battle or anything. Maybe they left - south for new lands, or to join the Imperial army or the rebels or whatever...'

Whatever sounds about right. By now, at least, the most major aim is achieved; all your villagers are safe behind Nienshari's walls. But this bandit group seems to be pretty large, and you don't know what they're after...

> What do, Esalar?

>>27625616

Incidentally. This is not happening now, but happened the day before.

Now that Bena is free and has stated she has no intention to leave, you asked her if she intends to remain in the same job she has held so far. But she says she has a better idea.

'The fort is really quite unkempt, and the residences are rather run-down. I think everything could do with a good clean and scrub, sir, and of course there's the matter of cooking and feeding you and your men and the officers.'

'Cooking? But we *do* cook.' What's so hard about cooking anyway? Stoke fire, put lamb near fire, eat lamb.

She nods. 'Some of the servant girls you captured, sir, they have brought with them boxes of spices and seasonings and suchlike. I think much can be done with those. Basically, sir, if you'd set up a Household Office...'

> Agree with this suggestion?
> Take another course?

>>27625616

Last thread we said either turtle up or go out to meet them.

I think turtle up is best.

>>27625662

And this one lets go for it. We can make Bena the head.

>>27625693
I agree, we turtle up for now and watch. Depending on how things go from there will betermine our tactics.

As for Bena's plan I say give her leave to do what she thinks is best. Hell, we could just make her incharge of all gettings all that in order and running it when it is.

>>27625693
It's obvious that they're here for the loot we took from their comrades, I say we prepare for a hammer-and-anvil action, crush them against the walls of our fortress!

As for Bena's suggestion, it sounds capital, appoint her chief servant and get her onto it.

>>27625861
>>27625796
>>27625774
>>27625693

> Welcome, people!

The dust cloud continues to loom, and you wonder why people bother. Are they *trying* to make a dust cloud? What's the point of that? It just makes you easier to see and shoot, doesn't it?

'Brother,' Hucan says, 'I would like to lead just five men out the gates and challenge them to single combat. I'm sure I could take them.'

'If you can take them, why bother taking five men?' Sentar sneers. 'Brother, I'll do it me own damn self! Come back with a bunch of heads on a rope, that'll teach them.'

'People,' Ferho begins, but you wave at all of them to zip it. This is when Podere speaks, which makes Ferho glare at him.

> cont'd.

>>27625943

'Sir. They number several hundred; we number less than 50. But we currently have the advantage of height, situation and solidity. They have no means to force a fort as strong as Nienshari, and neither can they cut all our supply routes; so we should just sit tight and await our chance.'

'The method of a tortoise!' Sentar says, but you nod.

'He has a point. This is why steppe-sons have hill forts as well. If you're attacked in a hill fort you don't just rush out of the fort, do you? This is our massive hill fort now, and it would be foolish to leave it quickly.'

By then the dust has mostly subsided, leaving several unruly clusters of dust-caked men. By a quick count you would say there are probably 300, maybe even 400 of them, arranged in a semicircle. Then a group of about 20 horsemen begin riding up, within shooting distance, closing until they can begin talking to you.

'Barbarian bandits!' he says (in Imperial, of course). 'You have looted a great caravan of a powerful official, and think you can get away with it! Return the treasure, the innocent inhabitants, and the caravan guards as well, or by Heaven's will and in the name of the county officer, we shall strike you down!'

Wait, the county what? Why is the county officer mentioned?

> What say/do?
> You can always ignore the fuckers and go back to making your plans in war council; it's meant to be war council day anyway. Of course, any short term plans that involve moving south might be rather difficult.

>>27625986
So either the fuckers have some arrangement with the local magistrate or they're just lying, either way they're here for the loot. For now, we should let them stew for a while and plan out our next moves carefully.

>>27625986

> Meanwhile, yesterday...

You consider the idea of the Household Office. It all seems very weird to you to have a Household Office, considering you are technically an officer of Savas' household yourself, someone bound to his service.

Savas, Savas... what if he had joined the rebels or something? But he wouldn't, would he? Or might he be forced?

'I beg your pardon, sir?'

'Huh.' You return to reality and the young woman standing before you. A Household Office might be nice. It would not be poorly staffed, either. 'Yes. Your idea is good.'

'Thank you, sir!'

'And since it's good, you can continue running it.' You look at Bena, who looks like she just ate a fly. 'What?'

'But... I can't, sir, women can't be the heads of offices...'

'We steppe-sons rely on the wives, sisters and mothers for everything in the household. They gather the dung, cook the food, milk the mares, make the anrag... so I don't see the problem. You will do as I say.'

'Certainly, sir!'

> Bena is now Chief of the Household Office. She will handle domestic matters and has freedom to hire people for the purposes.
> You notice she's gone straight to look for the dancing girls, and wonder what exactly they're going to be hired for. Somehow you don't think those people would be good at cooking. Or firewood-chopping. Or anrag making. Oh well, whatever.
> Let's return to the current thread now.

>>27625986
Caravan? Guards? I say we ask what the hell he is talking about. We saved some village from bandits and took some of their weapons, but they certainly didn't have what you might call "treasure" with them.

Lie like all get out at the treasure part.

>>27625986
We need to ask some questions
1. Why do they fly the flags of the bandit group we rescued the nobles belongings and servants from?
2. Why do you assume that we are bandits, we were assigned here to protect from bandits and the villagers came to us for protection from you? ( not a true lie we assigned ourselves here and paid some people off)
3. Do you have any support that you are part of the imperial cause?

>>27626073
Tell him to send forth his proof they are sent by the county office or for him to get stuffed.

Double check with Podere, are these imperials, bandits, or lying bandits?

>>27626231
Second this as well

>>27626035
If should tell them anything, stick to a story of:
1. We don't have any treasure
2. WE DON'T HAVE ANY TREASURE
3. We've just been clearing out bandits
4. The local area was abandoned of all Imperial authorities, we are keeping the peace in the Emperor's name

>>27626231
Sounds like a plan to me.

>>27626235
>>27626270
>>27626279
>>27626231
>>27626035

As the man continues to rant and rave on the ground, you scan the distance to make sure they have no visible ladders or siege engines they could use. Don't see any.

That means you can probably talk to them. But before you can yell, Sentar volunteers to do the yelling for you. That ought to scare the bowels out of those fools. 'Ask him what he is talking about. We don't know any looting or caravans; we just helped a village and decided to move them under our protection, that's all.'

'OI! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU LITTLE SQUIRT OF A MARMOT SHIT! WE DID NOTHING OF THAT SORT! I FLING HORSE CRAP IN YOUR DIRECTION, YOU LITTLE-'

'Sentar!'

'How dare you continue to deny your crime!'

'We have committed no crime! We have been clearing out bandits in the area, doing the work of pacifying the Empire.'

'Hah! You? You wouldn't be fit to pacify the Empire's lowliest horses! Common criminals!'

You simply ask if they have a proof of Imperial service, at which he takes out what seems to be a token of some sort.

'This! This is given me by the county officers of this and the southern county, to enforce matters all around their jurisdiction! That makes you the bandits, and barbarians as well! You will never win, so surrender now and you may yet be spared.'

You look at Podere, who shakes his head. 'I don't know, sir. The alliances change every day. They might well be allied, so to speak, with the county magistrates now; or the county magistrate might have been bought off to tolerate them...'

> This is a bit of a pickle. There might well be more men still in this 'band', if they roam and control two counties.
> What do?

> Also, a map of the local area.

>>27626073
How long would it take for them or us to bypass the pass and get to the other side? Could we send some nighttime raids while they camp outside the fortress?

>>27626312
"So you've killed an imperial official then? great, more deeds to add to your crimes scum."

>>27626324

Seconding this.

Ignore, go make some long term plans. Then tonight we raid.

>>27626373
Here.

Have one of our officers take the 10 best horse archers out the back and circle around to harry the bandits with strict orders to not engage, everybody else is to stay in the fortress to defend it.

>>27626417

But we just said to turtle up. No point engaging them in daylight now. Night raids would be a lot more effective.

>>27626324
Time to ignore them or we could send an arrow in their direction. The main thing is to plan for our attack on their force. If they plan to camp outside our fort we could very well try to do a night time raid aka silently kill them in their sleep.

>>27626459
Turtling up and constant harassment are not mutually exclusive, and even more effective than night raids are constant raids, especially if they split their forces to chase down said raiders (who they have no chance of catching)

>>27626324
>>27626417
>>27626402
>>27626459

In terms of bypassing the pass, since the watchtowers all around the hills are unoccupied now, it would not be very hard or take very long. An hour, give or take, to circle completely around to the back of the enemy camp would make sense.

It would depend on the formation of the bandit camp, of course, whether they just want to line up around Nienshari or go somewhere more prudent. You hope it'll be the former.

> So, go back to making plans and policy discussion?

>>27626417
Don't be so timid, we could have our whole band flank them and force them onto the walls of our fortress while we have Podere and the peasants drop many and varied deadly things onto them, they have no siege weaponry so there's no reason to keep our soldiers behind the walls.

>>27626312
"You fly the banner of murders, thieves, and bandits- your trickery will not hide your guilt nor your greed. Disperse or my brothers and I will feed you to the carrion birds."

>>27626500
No we can't, we only have like 20 nomads, no where near enough to push a force of 300 anywhere.

>>27626520
Never say never, if we did it at night and made it look like our numbers were far larger than they really were, I bet we could get them to panic.

>>27626493
Sounds like a plan to me.

>>27626493

> Sorry, guys, was having chat with the landlord. I have returned.
> Reading and typing now.

>>27626493
>>27626500
>>27626513
>>27626520
>>27626635
>>27626685

'If you think your trickery can hide your guilt or greed from us,' you finally step up yourself to yell, 'then you are mistaken! Disperse from here, or we will make vulture-flesh out of you!'

'We, guilt and greed? You are robbers, knaves, traitors, barbarians and jackals! Beware lest we storm your little fort and kill the lot of you! Did you not think we would have the will to do so?'

They erupt in cheering as you leave the battlements to consider your plans in the main hall. In a nice touch, Bena has placed some hot drinks for all of you - wait a minute, why does it look greenish-yellow? You take a sip, and wince as the bitterness runs throughout your mouth and throat.

'What is this?'

'It's tea, sir,' Bena says from the corner where she's standing. 'It keeps people awake.'

Huh. Anyway. You turn back to the council. 'I am considering a nightstrike,' you say. 'We could run round to the back of their camp, and harry them there.'

'But what would that achieve, brother?' Ferho replies. 'We might burn down a tent or two, but these are warriors, without much loot. Perhaps if we burned all their food or something, they might be forced to withdraw...'

It seems he and Sentar have a plan, and Podere has a plan as well.

> Hear Sentar and Ferho first.
> Hear Podere first.
> Other. (This could mean elaborating on your own plan of a nightraid.)

>>27626520
Last thread Nomad mentioned this
> Manpower summary:

> 42 soldiers (Steppe Horse Archers)
> 160 civilians (120 villagers from Podere's village, 40 captives)
> 19 slaves (former bandits)

>>27626895
Hear our brothers first, then Podere.

>>27626895
Hear Sentar and Ferho first- they're more familiar with cavalry manoveurs and tactics.

>>27626918

This is correct, except there are fewer villagers now because some were killed previously by ambushing bandits.

> Manpower summary:

> 42 soldiers (Steppe Horse Archers)
> 145 civilians (105 villagers from Podere's village, 40 captives)
> 19 slaves (former bandits)

> Offices summary:

> Household Office (Led by Bena)
> You can create more offices to take care of particular things. It's one step towards creating a more efficient government.

>>27626939

Seconding this

>>27627024
>>27626962
>>27626939

You let the officers speak first, which makes them obviously very pleased. Strangely, you notice Podere doesn't stand on the same side of the hall as the two men. Is this just Imperial snobbery, or something?

'Brother, if you're going to launch an attack on them, how about this? I can go out myself and challenge them to a duel tonight. That would draw them out of their little camps. Then, while they come out to fight me, you can lead some cavalry from behind and set fire to their camps. Once they're panicked by that, we'll lead the rest of our men and give them a good kick up their arses!'

'But if that's the case, who shall defend the pass while all the officers are out attacking?' Podere says. 'If no one is in Nienshari, and there are 300 or more bandits, what's to stop them from doing the same to us? If a 150 bandits descend on Nienshari, we would not be able to hold it with our men, who are brave but far too few.'

'So what say you then?' You nod at Podere.

'Simple. We have, currently, 5,500 taels' worth of gold and silver, and yet more jewellery with unreckoned value. There's no point letting that just sit around. I volunteer to go out, and attempt to recruit a group of the bandits with that gold. With that, we can launch a later attack and count on the defection of a body of their men, and what's more, they will boost our numbers.'

'Boost our numbers with a bunch of robbers and rapists? What's the point then?' Sentar says. Come think of it, you do feel rather awake now, your eyes clear and open. This tea thing is intriguing...

> Okay, okay. What say before they get into a big argument?

>>27627112

I think Poders plan makes more sense. But will the officers get mad?

>>27627112
I'd like to keep our recruitment standards a few steps above the 'robbers and rapists' level if possible.

The single combat to distract them from a raid sounds like a suicide mission for the duelist.

How does Sentar propose he prevent himself from being swarmed when they realize their camp is on fire?

>>27627112
I don't believe men bought with gold and silver will stay bought, especially if paid now.

I also do not believe that these scum would honor a challenge to a duel, such an act is more than likely to get you shot for no reason.

No, we'll need wear them down, hit their supplies... kill them a few at a time. How many times can a force such as theirs lose 10 men before breaking? We don't face an army, just more that we could fight directly.

>>27627112
If these are bandits I doubt they would honor anything like a duel, but getting a group of them to turn coat? Now that is something bandits would do.

Also, I doubt they are all willing "robbers and rapists" and any information they can give us on the area would be invaluble. We can work out the problems with their "bandit" work later.

>>27627112
If we go with Podere's plan, then the turncoat bandits will know for sure that we have the treasure, what's to stop them from attacking us when the battle is over? No, this plan would only be acceptable if we attacked and struck down the turncoats as soon as we have dealt with the main body of the bandits, a divide-and-conquer ploy rather than a genuine recruitment.

>>27627310

I think in the end all our men are bought with gold and silver. Even the brothers won't follow us if we don't take care of them.

We do need to expand our forces. Going around with this tiny band will do us no good.

>>27627357
No, our men were bought by honor and leadership, gold and silver is just their reward for having chosen the right guy to follow.

>>27627112
I lean towards Podere's plan. I doubt all are robbers and rapists. If anything, i wager alot of them were forced into this lifestyle one way or the other. Like threatening thier families and what not

In any case, he should try and get them as cheaply as possible.

>>27627378

Then where do you suggest we get more men? I mean, seriously?

We lucked out and captured a fortress which can be held by a few skilled men. But everyone is running around with hundreds or thousands. We get eaten if we don't expand.

>>27627415
We can look into recruiting some of the bandits once we've beaten them and proven our dominance, simply buying them off now would only indicate that we are weak and need to use money to win battles.

>>27627112

I'd just like to put a proposal forward to the players.

If you accept either plan, or come up with another plan and assign someone a key role, would you like to then play that person? Like, you can be Sentar duelling, or Podere trying to convince people with gold.

Considering this as an experiment to ensure our POV is in the thick of it most times.

Would be glad to hear your opinion.

>>27627415
We recruit villagers and train some of them, we recruit more nomads, we find Sarvas and he joins us, whatever, regardless, buying men from a group of bandits basically equates to them backstabbing us, if not right in the middle of this battle, then some time in the future when someone else pays them off.

>>27627461
That sounds cool but I support our original basic raid plan.

>>27627461
Sounds good, but don't drag it out, you don't want to dilute your main character and turn the quest into a confusing clusterfuck of shifting perspectives.

Both plans are foolish- Podere could be robbed of what little he had with him and killed.

Sentar's plan will get him executed or captured, they have nothing to gain from one on one combat. He would be shot at as soon as he announced himself.

I will slightly side on Podere's plan, however, do we know of any other groups or tribes we could hire or recruit from nearby instead of the bandits?
>>27627310
Our first night raid should be a larger group, after this they will especially bulwark themselves. 30 men with Ferho and ourselves, leaving 12 men with Podere and Sentar to manage the defenses and prisoners.

>>27627461
I like the idea of changing the POV depending on the situation and I still support the bribing plan.

>>27627481
>>27627207
>>27627308
>>27627310
>>27627326
>>27627334
>>27627390
>>27627415
>>27627460

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be a draw between Podere's plan and just launching a raid as you devised.

Meanwhile, evening is beginning to fall. When the lot of you go out to look, continuing to argue but more softly, you can see a rough crescent of tents around the front of Nienshari. People are already beginning to light fires now.

> Roll d100 for perception.
> Okay, decide on a plan, and then we can timeskip, or do something to prepare for it. Preparation for your plans, if you have any ideas, will improve your chances of success.

Rolled 74

>>27627544
Rollin, but I am rubbish at plans!

Rolled 73

>>27627544
I'd argue that a raid doesn't preclude us from later undertaking Podere's plan once we've demoralized the bandits somewhat and they are more likely to defect.

>>27627544
My vote is for the raid, hit em hard, hit em repeatedly and run away before engaging in anything resembling heavy combat, a force of only 300 can't survive this happening more than a couple of times.

Rolled 90

>>27627544
Podere's plan, but with the modification that we attack and subdue the turncoats after dealing with the main body of the bandits.

Rolled 53

>>27627544
rawl !!

Rolled 18

>>27627544
Perceiving

>>27627661
>>27627678
>>27627565
>>27627593
>>27627602
>>27627614

> 90: good stuff!
> Also, looks like raid has the slight upper hand.

You make your mistrust of the bandits clear to Podere, who looks rather frustrated at that. 'Sir, the Empire is in the throes of an upheaval the likes of which have not been seen in four or five centuries. Practically everyone who is slightly better at fighting than the average farmer has been engaging in some looting here and there. It would be counterproductive to insist on both ability in war, and a complete lack of experience of war.'

'Nonetheless, I will not have disloyal men. They can be bribed, but they will then be subdued.'

'But that would mean that no one would join your army in the future who has heard about that, sir! Would you join the warband of a steppe-son who's known for imprisoning those who join him?'

You furrow your brow, considering that, when in the darkness you notice something odd about the camps. 'Ferho, look over there.'

All of you see it quickly - there is a whole section of tents, taking up the left flank of the rebel camp, where there are tents - but no fires have been lit. It quickly becomes quite clear that that section of the camp is not inhabited at all.

That could mean two things - either they made a fake camp to try and swell their numbers... or there *were* people in the camp, who are no longer there for the evening. And if they're no longer there...

> Damn. Could they be trying a roundabout strike as well? Your villagers are all still behind the pass!
> Actually, do you even care about those villagers?
> Also, let's hammer out the details of your plan. Who stays? Who goes on the raid? What are the instructions like?

>>27627730

To be safe, maybe send Ferro to go scout out the hills in the afternoon. Make sure no one is trying to sneak around.

>>27627730
We don't have the luxury of throwing lives away.

We go on the raid with Ferho, we take 20 good riders and we keep our eyes open for an enemy raiding party along the way.

Sentar and the rest of the men hold the fort and do their best to protect the villagers if they get attacked.

>>27627776
It's night already bro, hence the campfires.

>>27627730
Essalar and Ferho leading the raid, Sentar guarding the fortress, circle around to intercept the raid they seem to be attempting.

Rolled 55

>>27627730
If they were trying to trick us, lighting fires in your fake camp would be the first trick in the book. A portion of their force must have left camp, either to flank us or to desert for some reason, either way we should be wary.

>>27627776
>>27627802
>>27627812
>>27627828

As night falls, you take 20 horsemen with Ferho, while telling Sentar, Hucan and Podere to guard the pass. Podere asks if he can at least bring the villagers up into the pass itself so they can help defend it by throwing stuff down on any attackers.

That's... actually a pretty good idea! So now you have some 120 defenders in the fort, albeit of wildly differing quality.

As your raiding force rides out over the rough terrain, you can see glimpses of the camp and its twinkling fires, as well as the lights from Nienshari itself. It's quite nice, this fort of yours. You never really thought you'd be glad with sticking in an Imperial place for this long - it's been, what, 15 days or so by now. Perhaps you should move on eventually...

Ferho taps your shoulder and points towards the south, and you see it immediately - a line of torches, extending from where the darkened tents were, into the foothills. Hah, looks like you got here first. From your vantage point, and taking some estimates, you figure there must be some 80 or 100 people moving out on the attack now.

'It's no surprise they're trying it I suppose, brother,' Ferho whispers.

> Righto. What do?
> You can attempt to intercept directly, or if you'd rather find favourable terrain or something, state a possible plan. The problem now is that, because neither of you is very knowledgeable about the hill terrain, you're a bit blind out here now. Still, a lot less blind than the bandits winding up though...

Rolled 55

>>27627991
Do we have time to set up an ambush?

>>27628029

Second this if possible. High ground, raining arrows on them.

>>27628029
We have all night.

>>27627991
Prepare an ambush along their line of march, have one of our men keep watch from out of sight and ride back to us when they're about to enter the ambush zone.

When they enter the kill zone, fire arrows at the people in the back only, the column should turn to face their rear and then we charge the flank.

>>27628029
>>27628046

> If attempting to set up ambush, roll d100 to find a suitable spot.

> Also, give details - which part of the column to attack, any preparations you are attempting, etc.

> Or, you can do something else, naturally.

Rolled 92

>>27628087
see >>27628078
for a plan

Rolled 42

>>27628087
Agreeing with >>27628078

Rolled 53

>>27628103
This is good!

>>27628103
>>27628163

> 92: Holy shit! Success!
> Also, I'm quite sorry for this, but I'm really rather exhausted and probably will be writing two or three more posts before I go to sleep. Didn't mean for the thread to be relatively short, but thanks for coming!

Unbeknownst to you until a moment later, you have stumbled on an excellent ambush spot - a bend in the hill path, first winding left and then swerving right to make a harness loop. Moving quickly in the darkness, ironically being helped by the light from those marching torches, you lay out one line of men to cover the approaches, then get onto a vantage point to better see the action.

As the line of torches closes, you feel your heartbeat speeding up, knowing the herd of deer is wandering straight into your little trap. As they begin to file into the bend, one of the horsemen rides up to you.

'Now, sir?'

'Not yet. Let them fill the loop.'

You wait, almost forgetting to breathe, until the completely unaware bandits have filled out the loop; then you grab a whistling arrow from your quiver and draw upwards. Your left arm has recovered almost completely now. You count down. Three. Two. One.

PHWEEEEEEEEEEE!

Your men are quick to reply to that whistle with a roar of their own, and then you ride down to hear the arrows flying thick and fast, answered by screams echoing from below. It seems the back of the column, which has just entered the loop, is the most confused, and you direct the fire that way.

'Retreat! Retreat!'

'No, advance! Get out of the way!'

> cont'd.

>>27628316

They are squabbling even as they are getting killed! Eventually, as the torches merge into a milling mass, you lead your men on a left hook, drawing your swords and aiming for the cluster of torches at the head. 'Tengari monaha soruvo!'

Tengari go before you indeed! You plunge straight into the crowd; the front end quickly routs, people scattering while they can to get out of the way of your hooves. But then, as you cut and trample your way through more men, you quickly realise something. Much of the front half column has either scattered or run backwards; but on the other side of the harness loop, there is mainly silence, the disorder having passed. Then you hear a command.

'Bandits! Form your damned lines! Affix pikes!'

... Oh bloody hell.

> What do? You are plunged straight into combat now. Having killed some 8 or 12 people without a casualty so far, you feel pretty good about the bandits panicking all around you.

> Roll d100 for perception.

Rolled 44

>>27628360
Ride away and harrass with arrows, it's what we're good at, and is what will destroy their morale and their numbers in the long run.

Rolled 4

>>27628360
Come on and spot their weakspot

Rolled 92

>>27628360
>>27628382
Second this guy

>>27628382
>>27628459
>>27628465

> 92: well done!
> We're doing awful well today, rolls-wise.

'Men, gather!' You quickly get all your boys together, where they string their arrows and get ready as what is probably a charging mass of pikemen come around the bend. So it is! As they come around, you order one volley, and then another, taking down most of the first line. But as they fall, they merely get trampled by those behind them, who continue plunging on.

Only one way to go. Leading the pikemen uphill would exhaust them, and the uneven terrain would mess up their order as well; as you trot up, it feels almost leisurely to turn around and shoot, picking off the men as they attempt to charge up and get in range. Ferho is beginning to laugh as he looses his third arrow, which finds its mark in someone's neck, making him stumble and crumple into a heap.

'People! Not up the hill, you fucking fools!'

Now that the formation is disrupted, you can spot the leader - a man on horseback, waving a sword and yelling commands. To be sure, the things he's yelling do make some sense...

... wait. As you trot farther up, and the pikemen run down while your boys shoot after them, you realise something else. The sound of combat is coming from Nienshari Pass. They're attacking your base!

> What do? You can see the leader easily; shooting him would not be difficult.
> But Nienshari itself is under attack now!

>>27628663
Shoot him then book it!

Rolled 44

>>27628663
Shoot the dog

>>27628716
>>27628687

> Roll d100! You have a +5 bonus, owing to your naturally honed bow skill.

There's no point killing some scrub if we lose our base.

Go help home.

Rolled 47

>>27628663
Shoot him then ride towards the battle, flank the people attacking the fortress, they don't outnumber the defenders enough to make any real headway, which means they've lined themselves up against a perfect anvil.

Rolled 57 + 5

>>27628781

Rolled 98

He won't be missed.
Hue.

>>27628804
Oh my god I forgot to link to your post and so wasted a great roll and a terrible pun.
FUCK
>>27628781

Rolled 19

>>27628781

Rolled 62

>>27628781

Rolled 47

>>27628788
second

Rolled 61 + 5

>>27628663

>>27628804
>>27628803
>>27628788
>>27628716

> You know, I normally wouldn't... but that was such a terrible pun that Tengari guides your arrow personally. You lucky, lucky bastards.
> Also, last post for today. Thanks for coming, and sorry for short session. If this is still floating around tomorrow, I'll be glad to continue it if you are.
> 98 + 5: SUCCESS!

Drawing your bow, feeling the string push against your thumb ring, you breathe out slightly and hold it just for a moment before letting your thumb slip lightly. The THUK of the powerful bow releasing is all you hear; you don't hear its impact, but it is easily seen.

The man, waving his sword around, suddenly stops as the arrow runs right through his temples, with such force as to burst out on the other side. The sword falls, and then he tumbles off the horse; and then you're off, leading your cheering horsemen around the hills to meet the assault.

Galloping up and down the dips tires your horse somewhat, but soon you and your 20 men are on the last hilltop before dropping to the Hurulun plain before you. Damnit! The attack has made a lot more progress than you thought; already there are three ladders braced against the walls, and bandits are clambering up, even as others hold up big wood and leather shields, rendering your people's arrows quite useless. It won't be long before they can close in for a melee, and given the villagers on your walls, it could end in a bloodbath...

> What do, Eagle?
> Also, I'd really love to discuss Esalar's medium-term plans.
> The fact is that, without military support and supplies, the area around Nienshari is very poor and quite barren. While Nienshari Pass is a good fortification to hold, its Imperial surroundings do not provide much of a base for growth. How will Esalar deal with that? Also, you've been in one place quite some time for a nomad, it must be said...
> Suggestions, questions, etc. welcome.

>>27628979
Charge.
Those.
Fuckers.
I'm pretty certain at this point we can rely on RNG to make it an instant win.

As to other plans, we'd need to asess how many village we could persuade to move with us if we wanted to wander on, no point leaving our future strength behind.

Rolled 30

>>27628979
Shoot the shield bearers from behind so the people on the wall are more effective.

>>27629072

Do we really want to be followed everywhere by farmers, though? They'd be useless in an army.

Unless you mean training them as infantry, then we can form roving warband. We should be roving more.

>>27628979
Strike them from behind, they won't be expecting it and the leaders are probably there watching the attack on the fort unfold.

As for plans, right now it's probably limited to ridding the area of bandits, while training some villagers up to our military standards, our army is far too small.

>>27629097
We don't have enough cavalry to loot and pillage, also we're dong the typical /tg/ thing of being all cuddly with people, so it looks like eventually we'll be trying to settle an empire, which means we need peasants..

>>27628979
Fire into the attackers from behind. As for mid-term plans, I think we need to try and find Savas' whereabouts before we decide if we are going to put down roots in the pass or not. While I know that we don't have very many troops to spare, I think we need to send riders to see if they can find out about or get in touch with Savas

>>27629134

On the other hand, one resources you currently *do* have is a shitload of loot. Both from Nienshari, and from the caravan.

These things can be used to advantage! You may not have much in terms of population or resources, but what you do have is a strong core force (though tiny), and a large amount of money. Make of that what you will. If the money sits there, it won't buy you anything...

>>27629200

Shouldn't be putting down roots in the pass anyway. There's nothing here.

We should move south, find and kill more bandits, maybe destroy this band attacking us, and then claim more fertile lands.

>>27628979
Well I think that in the short term we should just be looking to expand our power base, pacify the local area and get all of the people under our control. Then we should look towards moving on, to do that we'd need to get many more horses and probably some carts or wagons, start training up peasants to be at least foot soldiers in our little army and developing a more organised hierarchy for our venture.

>>27629219
We should spend it all on a giant golden set of armour. Nothing says "Take me seriously" like impractical wargear.

My issue is there aren't enough people we can trust, so any expansion of our force is difficulty, but without one it's difficult to consider any serious marauding.

>>27629219
Bribing Imperial officials for a legitimate title and rank would be a good first step in my opinion, there are a lot of situations that would have/could get us out of.

Then maybe we hire some professional mercs, their loyalty may be dubious, be we need a veteran infantry core, and they would be better than recruiting bandits.

>>27629268
Honestly, I think we need to get a lot tougher than we've been. Podere was right that we're going to have to lower our standards if we hope to expand our forces in this now lawless land, and if we must recruit those we can't trust then we must ensure obedience through intimidation and dominance.

you ever planning on running vagrant quest again?

>>27629302

Agree with this. We can't rely on ready made soldiers. We'll just have to come up with a way to make soldiers out of people.

I'm against settling for now. We should wandering this region for some time at least, get wealth, then maybe attack a town or something and hold it.

>>27629302
The way culture works in organisations is that if you recruit small numbers at a time you can integrate them and preseve.

If we could recruit enough riders that we were still 3/4s old core, we could probably preserve authority just through grass-root integration. Then by the time we've won another engagement, we can recruit again back up to slightly higher than strength.

This seems the best way to ensure reliability, but this kind of incremental process is hella slow.

>>27629319

Didn't seem very popular, so I'm not sure.

Maybe I'll roll some elements of that into unemployment.

>>27629329
I'm thinking that we should look towards recruiting the bandits that survive this battle, offering rich reward for service with one hand and dire punishment for disloyalty in the other.

>>27629339
Such an approach would take far too long, certainly we shouldn't take in a vastly superior number of recruits of dubious loyalty, but we will need to be somewhat more expeditious in our approach than best practice would recommend. Perhaps if we set up a sort of specialised 'training unit' of our most loyal and forceful soldiers to break in new recruits.

>>27629356
Unemployment Quest - good shit

>>27629302
I tend to agree with this and any badit that we capture from here on out should get one choice: Fight for us or die.

Starting with the ones we already have after the battle.

Though for plans we should always remember that we are a nomad so we should never stay in one place for very long.

>>27629400
>>27629460

> What would Genghis do?

Didn't he break the tribes up into different units when he conquered them, so they were loyal to the unit, not the tribe? This made things more stable and obedient.

We need to make laws where there are none, man.

>>27629530
That is an excellent idea, if new recruits are forced into a group of unfamiliar people, even if those other people aren't loyal veterans themselves, they would be far less likely to hatch any plots together and individual disloyalty would be much easier to root out. Obedience to authority is greatly affected by the social norms one is surrounded by, after all.