Day 2

Before dawn, the knights are up and preparing for immediate action.  The six messengers are set to go and at first light they head off.  One up the good road toward Allington, two along the poor road toward Winterslow and then along the river to Bulford, before heading toward Fittleton.  The other three head to the three lower bridges.

About 20 minutes later, pigeons return from the last three messengers.  All report fifty soldiers (40 bows and 10 spears) on the far side of the bridge with a ditch and wall of earth behind them and a camp behind that.  There are sufficient tents for 150 men at each.

About 30 minutes after they departed, a pigeon returns from the first messenger who reports that he spotted archers hiding at Porton and barely escaped without being shot.

At about this time, there are reports from those who left to get water this morning from the Avon River that it has been fouled and is undrinkable.

Any immediate plans or do you want to wait for reports from the other two messengers?  It will probably take another 30 minutes for them to get to Winterslow, 30 minutes more to get to Bulford, 30 minutes to get to the forest, and some unknown amount of time to get to Fittleton.

"Brothers, the enemy has raises defenses at the closest bridges, rendering it almost impossible for us to cross without taking heavy casualties, as we would be caught flat footed and shot to pieces by their archers.  However a small contingent has been spotted to the north at Porton.  We can not allow the enemy to gain a foothold across the river, so I propose that we ride forth and strike them down."

"Well said my brother!" Sir Dalan says, his face alight with the prospect of at last getting to grips with the foe. With an obvious effort he adopts a more cautious tone: "We must however be careful in our approach. A Salisbury knight is worth more than a score of archers."

The twenty-five knights ride at haste to Porton.  On the way, they meet up with the messenger who tells them, "I was approaching Porton and something caught my eye, looking I saw six archers covering the road from behind cover.  I was still far enough away that I was able to turn and ride back before they could fire at me."  Once out of sight, he had scrawled the message and sent his pigeon on it way.  He briefly explains where he saw the archers in relation to other things.

Approaching Porton, the group splits into three columns, two of eight knights each swerve to left and right, the other with nine knights and the messenger head straight in.  There are no archers.  The messenger points out where he saw the archers and an examination of the ground shows depressions where men lay in wait.  Looking around, it would be very difficult to see the archers and in fact it was a miracle that the messenger somehow saw them.  The depressions are still slightly warm, suggesting that people were here within the last hour.

As the knights are examining the area, Sir Sejanus notices a body, and then two more.  They appear to have been messengers although there is no sign or their horses and any messages they had on them are gone.  No one has any idea what messages these messengers were carrying.  Sir Sejanus gets a check in Awareness.

Continuing on toward Boscone and Allington, there is no sign of anyone, all seem abandoned.  There are more depressions at each manor, and a fourth messenger's body is located, also by Sir Sejanus, who is apparently channeling a cadaver dog.

From Allington, the bridge can be seen.  On the far side of the bridge are about 50 soldiers.  There are two rows of 5 pikemen at the mouth, then a bunch of swordsmen, and about 20 archers in the rear.  You are currently out of bowshot range.  It is ~90 minutes after first light.

EDIT:  Fixed current time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:02, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

Perin fights back a curse as he sees the Irish forces arrayed against them yet again.  "Well brothers, it looks like yet again, the Irish are one step ahead of us.  Assaulting that position, even without earthworks would be to throw away our lives needlessly."  Letting out a heavy sigh, he asks "Does anyone else see any other options, or should we return to Sarum with this news and hope that our scouts have reported back?"

As he waits for his brothers to reply, he orders their squires to begin preparing the bodies of the fallen messengers for transport.  These men had done their duty and deserved a proper burial.  And besides, maybe someone could tell them what messages each man was carrying.

Sir Dalan looks at the enemy for a long moment, his shoulders slumped. "I think we must go back..."

He looks anguished, obviously struggling to speak the next words: "...and advise Earl Robert to seek terms."

"If it is a matter of getting across the water...there might be a way." Sejanus watched the river a few moments.

"It might take a day or two, but we could make something that Caesar did, to cross a River in Gaul, err... land of the Franks. You cut four trees strip them, and then bind the four into a square. You then place planks or split smaller trees to form a floor. Posts are built on both sides of the construction, where two ropes are to be used to pull the platform across the river. Someone has to ford the river to tie the ropes to trees on the opposite side of the river. We then load horses and or men on the platform, and they then use the ropes to provide forward momentum to cross the water." Sejanus concluded his quick explanation,and half expected to be laughed at, or his idea ignored.

"An excellent idea, Sir Sejanus. Please find a suitable place where the enemy cant see the construction and take the men you need. If we can strike them in the back then we can defeat them. And all we need is one bridge - just one - and then we will be able to act instead of just sit here and wait." Gracian sounded elated and looked at Sir Dalan with a huge grin on his face "... so let us wait a little longer before we ask Earl Roberts to accept the Irish surrender!"

 Sejanus blinked, when someone accepted his idea. “Yes, yes, of course. I shall see what can be done, to accomplish the task." He did some calculations on what he would need, and what manpower would be needed. Sejanus would then go in search of a likely place for the crossing "Water Turtle”, or so it was called by the Romans.

“Come along, Casca, there is much to be done, in a short period of time.” With that said, Knight and Squire trotted off.

Perin shakes his head but lets the Roman Knight depart "As I said, I think our wisest course of action is to return to Robert and inform him of the situation.  We have dead messengers here, and we need to know more.  And if we're lucky, our other scouts have reported in."

"By all means return to Sir Robert and inform him of everything. In the mean time let Sir Sejanus scout for a suitable location for his strange floating bridge. Once a location is found men and equipment from Sarum will be needed anyway. But ride like the wind and inform Earl Roberts of the fate of our poor messengers."

And with that Gracian (puzzzled by the idea of a floating bridge) and Idres followed Sir Sejanus.

As if on queue, a rider appears coming rapidly up the road from Sarum.  "Wilton fell around first light and the enemy is attacking the bridges on the Avon," he announces.  "And this just arrived," he says, handing a message to whomever is interested.  The message is from one of the two scouts sent toward Fittleton.

Large enemy force at Bulford, other messenger dead, I am wounded.

You can take 'Large enemy force' to mean scores of men.

Sir Sejanus is not an Engineer and has a 0 in Industry.  He does not have the ability to build something of the scale he is suggesting.  Even if you know the basic structure and mechanics, putting something like that together would require a lot of trial and error.  Your time is currently measured in hours or less, not days.  You are knights.  That takes a lot of practice and training.  That does not mean you can't do other things, it simply means that you need to train in them specifically at the expense of training in knightly pursuits.

OOC: Has Gracian left when the messenger arrives or is he still around so he can go and smash some Irishmen?

Taking the offered letter, Sir Perin lets out a sharp whistle that cuts through the noise of the departing knights and flags the pair down before they can get too far.  Quickly reading the message while the two men return, he then speaks in a low, serious tone.  "Brothers, it seems that the Irish aren't content to sit back and throttle the life out of us.  The enemy is attacking our forces on the Avon, while a large force masses just to our north at Bulford.  If we strike quickly enough, we might be able to rout those men before returning to the aid of our brothers.  Either way, we must move, and move quickly before our fellows are overrun."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:27, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

Gracian returned to the group and listened to Sir Perin read out the message.

"Finally a fight! I am sick and tired of this waiting game. Let us ride hard and crush the enemy to the north yes and show them how Salisbury men fight!"

Gracian was itching for a fight. Any fight really.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:29, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

"There is no charge to be made here. Their pikemen will negate our advantage of horse. Then we will be caught up in the tangle of the footmen, but before that we will be facing a barrage of arrows." Garym turns his horse towards Sarum, and begins to ride when the others are ready.

"Form a Turtle."..... It is a Roman tactic,where a ground of men afoot interlock thier shields with others holding thier shields overheard to ward against arrows. We are not trained to it,but I see no other way. Even if we only make a poor example of what the Roman's did, it should get us to the bridge. As for the pike men, up close,a pike is at a disadvantage against a sword and shield man."

Sejanus then admitted with reluctance." I read of this in Caesars chronicles,of his campaigns in Gaul. But the theory seems sound."

Perin frowns "Brothers, Bulford is to the north, and there is no bridge that we need cross.  And while your tactic seems sound Sejanus, in doing so we would give up the advantage that our mounts provide, which is unacceptable.  So instead we will approach the manor as we did just now, and hopefully the flanking maneuver will allow our forces to cut down many of the Irish skirmishers relatively unopposed.  Now follow me as there is no time for debate!"  With that, he spurs his steed into action, as he rides hard towards Bulford.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

Garym had heard some where that there was such a thing as a death by a thousand cuts. One cut being insufficient to really harm a person, but a 1000 cuts will leave a knight dead. Surely, the knights of Salisbury could find a way to hurt the Irish. Each battle that they fight they risk loss. They were attacking without an end goal.

Garym turned to follow the others, but he was certain that they were not truly achieving their overall objectives. He had spent a winter working on his gamesmanship, and what he learned was that one move often built to another move. Thus, one needed to plan several moves ahead. They were not. Simply reacting.

In reply to Sir Garym (msg # 126):

Pikes negate the use of lances, not horses.

Rider versus foot = Rider +5 Foot -5.  Lance versus non-pike = +5 Lance.  Lance versus pike = no bonus.

In reply to Sir Sejanus (msg # 127):

You can't form a turtle on horseback.  On foot 20 versus ?100 is BAD odds.  Arrows do 3d6 damage, average 11.  So they are not amusing but not necessarily deadly except in large numbers.

OOC: I was speaking of first charge. Was intentionally trying not to speak to game mechanics. A generalize statement. Battle strategy dictated the use of pikes versus horse to negate advantage because usually the infantry outnumbered the cavalry.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

In reply to Sir Garym (msg # 132):

All good, it is just that several people are not all that familiar with Pendragon mechanics, so I wanted to make them clear.

Sir Dalan speaks up again. "If we can win at Avon think we should return to Sarum, assemble as big a force of horse and foot as we can and try a direct attack on one of the big enemy units. I know it is a risk but better to do something in force than ineffectively jab at the foe."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

In reply to Sir Perin (msg # 128):

I take this to mean that the group is riding directly toward Bulford at speed.  Bulford is approximately North North-East.  The messenger probably encountered the Irish close to an hour ago.  It will probably take you about half an hour to get there as you are riding cross country.  Everyone cool?

(OOC:  Sir Garym and Sir Sejanus have the highest Battle scores (tied), who is leading the Battle?)