Gro-Abh's Prisoner Escort Action
Count Grocus called the Wizard Gro-Abh to him. "Niseforrus has put that idiot goblin Ovarash in charge of taking the prisoners back. Since so many belong to us, I have told him you must go with them in order to arrange their journey to Belmain."
The wizard's hooded face remained inscrutable but his mind raced, covering all the benefits and debits involved with this new problem. "I take it I shall have overall command Sire?"
The gigantic dwarf stared vacantly at his counsellor, who waited patiently. Gro-Abh knew Count Grocus' mind worked slowly but that most times he would come to a sensible decision in the end. "Ovarash has only thirteen Verdh Aughed fighters left, after the assault. I can give you the Norsemen and the mounted Huns who count double, so you should outnumber him. Dame Tankwa has been guarding the females so she can go with you too."
The wizard's mouth turned down a fraction. Feeble Verdh Aughed, Norsemen and Huns who spoke no Kharsh, he was being given the dregs of the army! The escort might pose more problems than the prisoners!" Think you are up to the job?" Demanded Grocus, noticing his lack of enthusiasm.
"Of course Sire. I do but consider that with so many enemy wandering free, a larger guard would keep things more secure?"
"We have yet to do battle with Count Fair. We will need all our best troops to overcome him. You must make do with what you have! One tenth the price of every slave sold or ransomed in Regalis, shall be yours."
"Fear not I shall do the best I can Sire." He knew his Gherrin Vincula could speak both Jedonese and Norse, which would solve the language problem. Although he fretted that his rival Bordred, might win more influence over Grocus in his absence, battles were dangerous places to be. Truly he was a politician rather than a soldier. It would be wise to check developments back in Regalis for both Grocus and his own sakes.
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The column of prisoners, looted cattle and wagons laden with supplies and captured goods enters the mountains. |
The next day he formed up his column and marched back towards the mountains. The goblins had added two cartloads of flour and six cattle as supplies for their lair of Suren. The carts would tie them to the roadways, though he had not thought of going cross-country any way. The prisoners all had their hands tied behind them to handicap any escape attempts. At midday they stopped for lunch beside a watercourse. The prisoners were fed an apple each. Gro-Abh wanted them fit enough to make it to the market in Regalis. Just before he was ready to march again, two women ran off. In the open the huns soon caught them and cut them down. Their hands were found to be unbound. "They try it all the time when they are fresh. I suggest we check them all." Suggested Dame Tankwa. She was known for her expertise guarding prioners so Gro-Abh agreed. Around a dozen prisoners were found to have worked their bonds free.
"Kill them?" Enquired Ovarash.
"No, our job is to get them to the other end. Give them a couple of lashes apiece Dame Tankwa but leave them fit to walk!"
The column proceeded to the next watering place to camp for the night. The prisoners were issued with some rather burnt bread, rescued from a bakery in Stemmel. In the morning they were given a biscuit apiece. Ovarash shook his head at such profligacy. "The ruined bread was good enough for them! Wasting good biscuit on prisoners shows how soft you Belmanians have become! Too much food gives them the strength to run away!"
"In Belmain many of our slaves live full lives. I have heard yours never last the thirteen moons?" Ovarash glared at him but said nothing. It was true that their slaves were lucky to live a season but who cared about them? No, what really irked him was the fact that goblin lives tended to be much shorter than mens anyway. Live for today was their motto! These men, always talking about what might happen in some vague future nauseated him! He turned and kicked a well-dressed prisoner, who squealed and proceeded to limp. Ovarash turned back and continued to march. Now he felt better! Now they were coming closer to the broken foothills that marked the boundary of Porcia. Soon he would be back away from all this brightness, back into the cosy dimness of the home tunnels!
At the eleventh hour Gro-Abh halted the column on the edge of the craggy area, before the Korn Gate tunnel entrance. If there were Alpenii units about, this would be where they would strike if they wished to rescue any of the prisoners. With the tunnel maze ahead, this would also be the last chance for any prisoners to attempt an escape. He ordered Tankwa to have all their bonds checked. He would do so again, when they stopped for lunch at the river marking the Porcian border. There was no food left but the prisoners could drink some water there. If the goblins had made no provision for feeding them in the evening, he would confiscate some of the flour off their carts! Ahead he could see some old ruins where the road turned sharp right. Mementoes from when Alpen had been a prosperous Lawic state, ripe for looting. "Forward!" He waved the Norsemen leading the column, onwards.
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The column approaches the bend in the road by the ruins. At the front can be seen the cattle and the guards. |
Soon all were in motion. As he passed the ruins, he could see heaps of stones piled on top of the large crag to the left. Stones handy for defending it should any venture that way!
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The arrows start to fly from unseen foes. |
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The fireballs explode in the column. |
Then arrows started to fly down at them, followed by a ball of fire! It struck one of the flour carts, just as it's Carter fell with an arrow in him. The enemy must include a magician! The slinger goblins tried to reply but it was difficult to spot the enemy. Marching beside Gro-Abh, Dame Birthle took an arrow in the face. He and Vincula pulled it out and bound up the wound but her jaw was broken. The fire on the cart having caught hold, the horse stampeded. It careered off to the right, crushing one of the female goblins in the process. "Let it go, we must keep the prisoners under control!" Shouted Gro-Abh. The Huns who had the capability to stop it, were still at the rear so Gro-Abh had Vincula call them to the centre. Grimly the column plodded onwards, catching the odd glimpse of their tormentors. However when the Huns came up with their bows, these fled.
Now a dense fir wood occupied the left of the road. "Wolf wood!" Grunted Ovarash. "Keep moving!" Shouted Gro-Abh, "Vincula! Call the Huns to come forward, we may need them at the front!" It was not wolves he was worried about. The Huns edged along the right hand side of the column. To the right could be seen the stream and standing stones that marked the territory of the Wood Amazons. The front of the column was only a few hets from their bridge, when Gro-Abh heard shrieks and Norse swearing. Three of the four Norse guards had fallen into a pit trap, dug across the road. Perforce the whole column came to an abrupt halt.
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The Column halts, the guards are rescued from the pit but prisoners make an escape bid. |
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At the rear the Alpenii attack ad rescue a host of women. They inflict some serious casualties before retiring into the woods. |
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Another view of the same action. |
Soon Alpenii burst from the trees and attacked Dame Tankwa and the rearguard, now bereft of the huns. Tankwa, her two turnkesses and two green goblins all fell, before the threat of the returning huns sent the Alpenii to the right about. However they had managed to drive all but two of the rear Polk of females, into the forest. At the head of the column, the leading Polk of men suddenly tried to run off! With the Norsemen in disarray they had managed to free their hands. The Norsemen tried to herd them back, quickly joined other guards and Gro-Abh himself. Fortunately an 'ericant', a live tree, grabbed one prisoner and proceeded to crush him to a screaming death with its long limbs. This horror led to the escapees pausing long enough for them to be encircled. A bloody melee followed. Nine more of the prisoners were killed, at the cost of two Norsemen seriously wounded. These were loaded onto the remaining cart and the whole column restarted, detouring around the pit trap.
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The Amazon Bridge. This was made from bits of twig and the surrounding trees were made from a Christmas tree bought in a sale. The standing stone is - well - a stone picked up on a beach. |
As the rear was passing the Amazon Bridge, a goblin called out that he heard movement in the trees on the far side of the stream. Gro-Abh had Vincula warn the huns to keep a lookout but no one was seen. Alpenii slingers made an appearance in some bushes on the left, supported by three archers on the crag beyond. The two remaining effective Norsemen, charged after the slingers but were ambushed and slain, by more Alpenii lurking in the sword bushes. The Huns and goblin slingers exchanged fire with the archers and Gro-Abh saw one at least fall dead. Then a giant youth barbarian emerged from a cave to the right of the road and hurled rocks at the enemy. Friendly support at last thought the wizard! But two of the precious Huns had fallen before the enemy fled. Their retreat was covered by a cloud of a magician's concealing mist. By now the cows at the head of the column, were reaching the Sorrow Bridge over the river. "Finest Goblin Ale! Only twenty pfenni per horn madams?" Gro-Abh heard and he knew the voice. That scoundrel Bibble the drinks seller! Count Grocus had sent him away from the army. Now if not stopped, Bibble could have most of his guards drunk, given half a chance! Especially as all the troops were flush with loot taken from Stemmel. "Check the prisoners bonds!" He ordered and rushed forward to confront the merchant. Fortunately the goblinesses herding the cattle, were little interested in Bibble's ale. Gro-Abh knew Bibble had a strong bodyguard force, which he was in no position to tackle. "Master Bibble, I command here, and we have no need of your refreshments. Least of all these swines of prisoners who have been trying to escape! I would have let them have water here but after the trouble they have given they get nothing! Do you hear me scum? Nothing!" "But surely your Excellency, your guards deserve some reward for their devoted service?" "Not a drop Bibble! But I would not see your forethought in trying to assist us wasted. There is yet some way to the Korn Gate and the Alpenii have been trying us sorely. For a fair price I would hire your bodyguards to escort us that short distance?" "I suppose I could let you have them for 30 Gilden Pezzi a man? It is obvious there will be bloodshed on that way." "Come be reasonable, it will be for less than an hour's work. 25 Pezzi per man and it will still be extortion!" "25 Gilden Pezzi it is. Paid now! Mark you Zitskin be double a man so I'll take fifty for him?" Reluctantly Gro-Abh paid out 125 gold coins to the man but he knew he had little choice. The giant Zitskin and three sword-armed thugs now joined his column and they all moved forward once again.
"I see enemy use a tied canoe to cross river." Ovarash told him. "More trouble to come then. Just as well we have the extra guards!" replied the Wizard. They went forward until he was just short of Sorrows Bridge, when the column stopped again. The goblinesses had paused to pick apples from some nearby trees! "Get back to your work! This is not a picnic trip!" Spluttered Dame Birthle, through her broken jaw and threatening them with her two handed sword. They began to obey just as an arrow took her full in the throat. Gro-Abh heard a clash of arms as the Alpenii attacked again. He knew there were few guards left up there so he looked around.
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The ambush at the bridge seen from the rear. At the foot of the picture is the beer seller's stall. |
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The ambush itself. |
"Vincula! Order the Huns up to the front! Vincula! Where's Vincula?" "She dead!" called out a goblin slinger. "Giant boy threw stones at prisoners. Killed one so I shied at him. He shied back. Killed Vincula! He gone now." Cursing, Gro-Abh struggled forward over the bridge with the Bibble's bodyguards. The wagon bearing the flour and wounded was now careering away to the right. Also fleeing that way were two goblinesses. The third, with the Carter and two Aughed Verdh slingers, lay dead on the road. Four of the well-dressed male prisoners were gone and the cattle were scattering. A goblin started to chase after them and the wagon but Ovarash ordered him to stop. "We got problems enough!" A goblin and a Hun went to check behind two ruined houses at the corner and missiles dropped the latter. The enemy were now up on a crag ahead that they would have to march past. Grimly the Wizard urged them on! A giantess ogre sprang over a wall on the right and grabbed one of the well-dressed male prisoners. With his hands tied behind him, he was unable to do more than scream! She ran with him tucked under her arm, up the scree slope of a nearby cliff. "Leave them!" Ordered Gro-Abh, they could not afford anymore delays or diversions. In fact the ogress had nearly reached the top of the scree when it crumbled. She and her prey fell to the bottom in an avalanche of falling rocks. The prisoner, a well-dressed merchant, lay twitching groaning. "That should tenderize him for her." Laughed Ovarash. The Ogress picked the man up again and successfully remounted the scree disappearing from sight.
The escort's missile strength was down to one Hun bowman and one goblin slinger, so the wizard prepared to cast a magic bolt himself. As they drew abreast of the enemy. An arrow knocked the last Hun from his horse so Gro-Abh cast his bolt at the archer. But a great blue flash fizzed towards him and he knew no more!
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The last ambush is sprung. |
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The attackers rain missiles, arrows, stones and magic upon the hapless escort. |
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Gro-Abh falls in a blue flash. His surviving troops flee and the prisoners are freed. |
"Your Excellency! Your excellency!" Gro-Abh tried to open his eyes. It was cold and dark and wet as well! "What is it Birth?" He groaned. "Oh thank Hagoth you're alive your Excellency! We thought you dead but could find no wounds." Gro-Abh's face began to sting and he felt it with his hands. "Burnt a little I think? That was filthy elf magic that laid me low! What of the prisoners?" "All lost I am afraid Sire. Bibble's men and the goblins all ran when you fell. Ovarash too, there was nothing I could do alone!" "Dagon take them, the useless cowards. Have we no-one else left?" "My sister, Mistress Vincula and Dame Tankwa are all dead. The goblins found one of the huns still alive and have carried him off. They also found one cow and a few fallen sacks of flour." "The Aughed will probably eat the hun but this is all grim news. We must get back to the army. Count Grocus will welcome our presence in the coming battle, maugre our losses. Help me up."
Action Notes
In this playing of the action, 12 prisoners were killed, including one by the ericant and one by the giant child. The remaining 70 escaped. The escorts lost 14 dead, 5 crippled including Gro-Abh. The Alpenii lost one dead, (Russik) and one wounded (Hoddy Pypin). Both skill and luck (Archery hits) played their part in this result. In the original playing, years ago, the escorts reached the Korn gate having lost about half their prisoners.