Siege of the Rebel Counts at Shid
Siege of Shid Accounts
Lady Mira’s record of Queen Indrana’s rule continued
Her Royal Highness decided that only the Khmer Orange should be left in charge of Shone under Prince Ah Mong. She decided that Count Rankyn with one guard and his Gherrin Lady Judiah should accompany her army when they left. Having 112 prisoners to manage he asked that we delay the army’s departure until at least Princess Beh Monga had returned with her unit. That would give him 65 to both mange them and hold the town against King Druffin should he come.
He imprisoned all the 37 dwarves in the Town Hall building, the 17 Duergar in the Hexagonal Tower. The humans were all to go to into the Citadel as he hoped to obtain their co-operation in collecting, preparing and cooking food. All the women and children were held in the Dvaunana Tower with its kitchen. The males were to be held in the Engine Tower.
Her Royal Highness had the three strange dwarvish devices with which a ladder had been consumed by flames in the attack. No-one knew how to operate them so she ordered that they be cast into the river. She had the fortress scoured for oils and other flammable substances for possible use with fire arrows. A small stock was accumulated. Since her next objective Shid was in a forest, she saw no point in carrying the ram and all the ladder there. With the exception of a few sortie ladders, she gave permission for the them to be used for fire wood at need.
We marched south on the Restday the 7th of the Seventh Moon. By nightfall we camped in the totally abandoned village of Bliad. This lies at the bottom of the foothills rising to the Ered Thoryn Mountains and the edge of the Tanglewood Forest. On the 8th we struggled along the narrow road through the forest to within sight of the Shid Fortress. Protected on two sides by a stream it had rows of wooden palisades going up onto a large crag with a tall tower on the top. On it were flying the flags of both Yrshidim and Palim Counties. The counts of these had not attended Gimawl’s coronation, nor aided Queen Parsifa in her endeavours.
The Marshal Gildelm, suggested that since some of Yrshidim had belonged to Varadh in the past, they might be siding with King Druffin.
Her Royal Highness replied “It matters not why but it is obvious that they dare to defy us! If we remove the Count of Palim, his County should fall to us as well as Yrshidim. We intend to kill all who here oppose us as a lesson for the rest of Belmain. We are minded to burn their huts with fire arrows! We will rest tomorrow whilst ladders and rams are made from the forest trees. Twenty ladders, two large rams and four small ones should be enough.
So the assault began first thing on Woeday the 10th of the Seventh Moon! The wind though light was blowing from the north so there seemed little point in using fire arrows. The smoke would have blown into our own missile men’s eyes.
As before our left Division was commanded by Count Sharda. He had his own militia plus Gin Hedz Groz Aughed totalling 55.
Next was a small division Commanded by my husband with his engines and Countess Redsun’s Wisentor Militia totalling 31.
The came our main body under Her Royal Highness the Queen, comprising her own menie, the Porcian Goblins, Migrab’s Aughed and the Angmar Aughed, totalling 109 plus the 3 prisoners. The Right division was commanded by Duke Franz Neuman and comprised, his Thentians, the trolls , the Norsemen, and the Tempanian axemen totalling 66.
Count Sharda’s division advanced to assail the Northernmost tower and section of palisades. Marshal Gildelm’s engines moved forward until within reasonable range to engage the enemy’s missilemen. Her Royal Highness’ division advanced to attack the two southern towers and the palisades in between. Duke Franz’ division marched along the bank of the Yrish Stream heading for the section between it and the dry ditch. It was protected by two rows of sharpened stakes and two of our men found the hard way, that caltrops had been sown in between. Consequently the division’s advance was much slowed down. The standing crop of barley beyond also played its part.
The enemy had many springalds and two great Trebuchets firing at us, plus many archers but their fire had little effect. Our two first two attacking forces were delayed by the dry ditch but our massed archers mainly silenced the palisade towers.
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As we went forward we lost sight of Count Sharda’s division but doubtless it was doing its task of assaulting the western palisades. The Queen waved her hand and my husband Marshal Gildelm ordered Countess Redsun’s militia forward, keeping his engines static, firing in support.
Our Aughed with the Porcian Goblins had a hard fight at the palisade in front of us but in the end prevailed. They surged over and we could see enemy missilemen retiring up ladders to another line of palisades, up a rocky cliff. On our right Duke Franz’ division reached the bottom of the cliff and started erecting ladders, whilst the troll unit in his division attacked the east palisade on their left. Everywhere we seemed to be succeeding and our Headquarters unit now reached the dry ditch!
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The trolls had only raw militia to contend with and drove them back as the Aughed and Goblins surged forward inside the outer bailey. Many were down and many cut off from the ladders their archers had retired up, surrendered. Our Headquarters unit struggled over the palisade, followed by Countess Redsun’s unit to our left. Beyond them Count Sharda’s Division captured Count Prushamin of Palim and took many more of the enemy. On the far right Duke Franz Division cleared some of the inner Bailey palisades. Wazir Publush’s Trolls heaved a ram up the slope to the Inner bailey Gate and bashed it open at the first stroke! This was too much for the enemy Commander Count Makentar, who was manning a palisade on the keep crag. He offered to surrender under terms, so the fighting stopped. Her Royal Highness moved up into speech range and demanded unconditional surrender! Count Makentar said that he could call off the two large Ents threatening our rear. The Queen replied that she had enough axemen to deal with them if necessary. Count Makentar responded that he had more troops at his second castle of Surbain but Her Royal Highness was not impressed. She demanded that both he and Count Prushamin of Palim swear loyalty to her and attend the coronation that she would hold in due course. Meanwhile all their troops had to surrender their weapons. The Ents retired into the forest and the two counts joined Count Rankyn and his entourage under guard. The wounded of both sides were to be treated and the casualty lists made.
The trolls had lost 2 dead, the Porcian Goblins 3, the Groz Aughed 9 dead and 2 wounded and the Bolgburz Aughed lost just 1 dead! Count Sharda’s Sigis County lost 3 slingers dead, Sir Yonge, 1 spearman and I slinger wounded. The Angmar Aughed lost 5 dead 1 wounded and Wisentor County 1 spearman dead. So a total of 14 dead and 6 wounded. Thus we have 231 effectives left. It is thought that around fifty of the enemy had surrendered in the outer bailey before the general surrender. The enemy lost 62 dead and 12 wounded totalling 74. Officers captured were the Counts of Palim & Yrshidim, the giant Mark Cuprinol of Flachsfeld Arch Druidand Magol, Druids Fangrin, Kuppo and Siktagga and the Druidess Goldberri and the wounded Druid Blondtagga. Important dead were Half Elf Chief Vertix, Chieftain Vikitix, Captain Elfin, and Dubutants Gemina & Brassa. Their main losses were amongst the half eves 27 and their engineers 13. The wounded were taken to the stone meeting hall in the inner bailey. The common prisoners were penned at the southern end of the inner bailey. The cots there were empty as all the women and children had been taken away to safety somewhere in the forest, by the elderly Markess of Shid. The defender’s had two trebuchets, one catapulta and eight springalds which we captured intact. Her Royal Highness established herself in the tall keep tower. Underneath were found a spacious hall and supply cellars where her notable prisoners were held under guard. Whilst the dead were being buried and damaged palisades being repaired, Her Majesty toured the fortress. There would be a victory feast this evening but on the morrow decisions would have to be made as to our future moves.
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The Records of Arch Druid Magol
When King Grocus died Count Makentar was hunting with Count Prushamin of Palim. They could be trusted not to transgress against the Law of Irminsul. They heard that although Gimawl had prevailed at Regalis three other Queens were making rival claims. Although they rested here at Shid they put out that they were still hunting. Gimawl was deposed by Indrana and passed through Palim on her way to retirement with the Dowager Queen Priestess Phaedra. Later Queen Parsifa, supported by several Counts and Countesses passed through Palim to challenge Indrana. They were defeated by Indrana at Atilo. The Count of Millien retreated back to his County through Palim but Parsifa was driven north to the Elf lands of Emilia. Over our northern border Queen Draffa married Count Rankyn and her father King Druffin of Varadh incorporated Willen into his Kingdom. Queen Indrana was then reported marching on Shone with a strong army. Counts Makentar and Prushamin held a conference to decide what to do. If Indrana was repulsed well and good in one sense but in another it might encourage King Druffin to lay claim to Surbain which had been in Dwarf territory before the Elves took it from them centuries ago. Mighty Irminsul does not like the Dwarves. They have cut down great forests to make charcoal and ships. If Queen Indrana managed to take Shone she might come here to Shid or Surbain next. Both are quite strong fortresses if there are enough troops to man them. Count Makentar had sent his human Militia to Surbain against the dwarf threat. The decision had to be whether to submit to Queen Indrana or to defy her? Count Prushamin feared that her aggressive policies would mean the resumption of having unruly foreign troops traipsing through his county. He said that he would bring his militias to Shid and help to defend it if Makentar decided to make a stand. Count Makentar felt that with Indrana striking against the dwarves, enmity towards her might win him favours from King Druffin. So they decided to fight. The old Markess Maldotr was sent with all the civilian women and children to a place of safety in the forest. Sharpened stakes were planted along the dry ditch and caltrops sown before the gate and on the gap between the dry ditch and the stream. Everyone was armed and given a position to defend. The Fairy Murk was set to spy on Indrana and reported that Indrana had taken Shone. She took some time to re-organise it but eventually garrisoned it with Khmer Orange under Prince Ah Mong. She then started marching towards us at Shid. I awoke the two Ents in the Sacred Glade. I told them that an evil Queen, disrespectful of the Laws of Irminsul, was coming to attack us. I told them that she would be in the unit carrying their Volcano of Hagoth flag. If she came near I would awake them to attack her.
Her army arrived on Workday 9th of the Seventh Moon. They cut down much timber to fashion ladders and rams. On the morning of Woeday 10th they attacked. I was on the Keep Tower and well placed to watch how things developed. One enemy division came from between the Sacred Grove and the bare trunks Grove but they had not their banner. That was with the bulk of their army attacking the south palisades. A sizeable unit hugged the stream and suffered some casualties from the caltrops we had laid. Our plan was to have most of our soldiers in the outer bailey under Count Prushamin and in the event of a breakthrough some were to retire to defend the Inner Bailey in turn. The Inner Bailey, mostly engineers and ladder women was Commanded by Druidess Goldberri. Count Makentar commanded the rest of us on the Keep Crag.
The enemy had many missilemen and had some success in silencing our palisade towers. And soon they were swarming past the dry ditch!
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Alas most of the enemy were veterans whilst ours were raw untried militia. Despite the advantage of fighting from behind the palisades, our troops were falling faster than theirs! I had withheld activating the two Ents in the sacred glad as Indrana’s banner unit was not close. However with things turning desperate, I cast the spell and they managed to see the banner just before it disappeared round the end of the palisades.
The enemy put up ladders against our towers and then even against the inner bailey section nearest the stream. That was now manned by the crew of the west Trebuchet. Those militia defending the outer bailey below them were bested by a unit of trolls. To their right the half Elves and giants were overcome by masses of goblins. The section west of the gate had not been attacked as yet but now a unit bearing the shields of Wisentor advanced towards it. To the east of the gate giant Aughed and Sigis Militia attacked Count Prushamin’s militia. Unfortunately he did not deploy those facing south in time and the others were overcome. His musician sounded the retreat but those engaged in the melee were unable to disengage in an orderly fashion. He himself was captured and a mass of his men tried to retreat up a single ladder in disarray. I wondered if we could get enough troops back to hold the Inner Bailey. It had been assumed that Count Prushamin would take over its command but with him lost Druidess Goldberri would have to do the best she could.
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Alas far too many of the defenders of the Outer Bailey were killed or captured including the giant Mark Cuprinol of Flachsfeld. Some of the giant Flachsfeld archers retreated up the steps to the Keep crag only for a shower of springald darts to fell three of them. The crew of the west trebuchet were bested by the veteran troops assailing them, who obtained a foothold into the Inner Bailey. Some trolls brought up a ram against the Inner Bailey Gate. It gave way at the first blow! Count Makentar at the foot of the Keep Tower shouted that he would submit under terms! The fighting immediately stopped, whilst Queen Indrana advance to within earshot. I called down to the Count that I had released the Ents.
. Count Makentar said that as part of the terms that he could call off the two large Ents threatening their rear. The Queen replied that she had enough axemen to deal with them if necessary, which was probably true. Count Makentar responded that he had more troops at his second castle of Surbain. Nevertheless Queen Indrana demanded that both he and Count Prushamin of Palim swear loyalty to her and attend the coronation she would hold in due course. All our troops would have to surrender their weapons. Count Makentar said he agreed to these terms. So I ordered the Ents to retire into the forest. So Counts Makentar, Prushamin and Rankyn were confined in the cellar caves beneath the Keep Tower with Mark Cuprinol and all we druids. All except Blondtagga, who was seriously wounded. He and the rest of the wounded were put in the Meeting Hall.
We were told that our men buried sixty two of our defenders, fifty four males and eight female soldiers. Telepin preserve us from any more disasters such as this!
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