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[Playergamer]

The Sixth Century was defined by near-endless war between the Sister Kingdoms. Arekosh and Raymont fought near-constantly, and, although the constant fighting rarely escalated above borderlands skirmishes, it led to widespread, brutal destruction when it did. Many men were, as one poet put it, "baptized and buried in war." This constant, low-intensity combat could not continue forever, however, and soon, one of the kingdoms would certainly assert dominance over the other.

-The History of the Isle Kingdoms-

Working the bellows is hard, menial labor, but it's hardly complicated. As the hunk of steel slowly begins to heat up, your mind drifts towards other, more interesting matters. Not that many interesting things happen here, of course, but still. Sadly, before you can get too lost in thought, you're jerked awake by heavy footfalls outside. A quick glance  shows that the footsteps are originating from a single man, most likely a farmer, sprinting towards the center of town. Strange. Most people don't run around the village like that.

You glance at your father, and, after a moment, he grunts in acceptance. Abandoning the bellows, you head outside, and follow the man. In fact, a small crowd is forming, wondering what's so urgent. The man runs up to the ledare, the town's elder, and starts to speak, firing off the words like an archer. The ledare calms the farmer, politely asking him to repeat his story. Once he's heard the story again, he hands the man a nearby jug of water, before turning to address the growing crowd.

"A raiding party is approaching from across the river. Gather your levas and prepare for battle. Once you are ready, report to the muster field, and steel yourselves."

By the time he's finished speaking, the entire crowd has dissipated. You race home, explain the situation to your father, and quickly gather together your household's leva gear. A simple iron spear, a dagger, a wooden shield, and, because of your father's prosperity, a gambeson for armor. In spite of the graveness of this situation, you can't help but imagine how you must look. The dashing young warrior, ready to win fortune and glory. Of course, when you strike a pose for your father, he doesn't agree. Instead, he mutters something that sounds an awful lot like "idiot's going to get himself killed." Regardless, you make your way to the marching ground, smiling at all the charming young ladies as you walk. One or two smile back. Not too bad.

The ledare smiles when you arrive. "Ah, Arthur. Good to have you. The rest of the men should be here soon." You fall into line, next to two of your friends, Cia and Morgan. Cia is the carpenter's apprentice, while Morgan has his own (tiny) farm. After a few moments of awkward silence, Cia begins to speak. "So, excited, Art? A chance to win fortune, glory, women?" Morgan chuckles.

[Strife26]

"Sure, but also a chance for blood and carnage, if Lady Luck's wheel comes up poorly. We'll just deal with whatever number comes up, won't we?"

[Playergamer]

A Lifetime of War

"Indeed, my friend, indeed. I've always been a gambling man, though, and it's worked for me so far."

Morgan raises an eyebrow. "In what, exactly? Definitely not looks, nor talent or intellect."

"Perhaps not, my friend, but luck in of itself is worth far more then any of those."

The three of you continue to banter for, perhaps, ten minutes, until the rest of the men arrive. In all, about thirty local men have turned out. In accordance with Arekosh law, every household is required to provide one spearman if needed. Thus, nearly every man at the muster is carrying a spear and shield, although a couple carry axes, and the ledare has an old, iron sword. Once all the men have arrived, the ledare signals for their attention, before beginning.

"This shall be simple. These murderers from the North are not disciplined warriors, they are nothing but savages! They shall break on our shields!"

A cheer goes up among the men, and the march begins to face the Northern raiders. There's no need to send scouts to figure out what route they will take. It's always the same. Ever since the oldest in the village were but babes, skirmishes have been fought on that bridge. As the walk to the battlefield begins, and as the men around you start to boast and joke, you can't help but wonder. How does this happen so regularly? You know some of the people in that village. Most of them are woodsmen, and, occasionally, they come over to Welle to buy axes. They even speak the same language as you, unlike those "high-born" southerners.

As the bridge comes into view, you dismiss those foolish thoughts with a shake of the head. This is how things have always been, since long before you were born. Why question it now, when so many lives are at stake? For, at minimum, a hundred years, men have fought and died on that bridge. The Raymonters relentlessly chop away at the Arekosh shield-wall, and, although they inflict some damage, the wall holds until they decide to retreat. The Arekoshers never pursue, of course.

It becomes clear that you, and your fellows, will occupy the bridge before the raiders arrive. You'll have plenty of time to form a shield-wall that spans the bridge, and wait for the enemy to attack. You could make an alternate suggestion to the ledare, but there is a good chance that he'll just ignore you. Or, you can take your place in the wall, and steel yourself for the Raymonter axe charge.

[StrawBarrel]

Take our place in the shield wall.

[flazeo25]

Ask the ledare to form a small shield wall on the bridge and pull rest further away while rigging the bridge the collapse when time comes, so when the axemen start to cross the bridge have our small group slowly back away to rejoin the rest of us, as soon as majority of Raymonter axemen start moving onto the bridge and reaching our side collapse it and form a encirclement with our spears on trapped Raymonter.

If ledare accepts and ideas works it cut off their line of retreat, injuire and kill many of them and allow us to possibly kill off most of attackers.

[TheBiggerFish]

Are we SURE about that?
Do we have any advance intel?
How else could people enter this town?
Suggest mounting a guard on those places just in case.

[Insanegame27]

Putting all your troops on a bridge does not sound tactically sound. They could destroy the brige and we'd fall

[TheBiggerFish]

And... Yeah, fighting on the bridge just because it's traditional is not a good idea.

[Strife26]

Fighting on a bridge is traditional! And if it was good enough for the epics, it's certainly good enough for us.

[TheBiggerFish]

But it's DANGEROUS.