Medieval Siege CE 1403

DeletedUser13682

The call of iron rain was yelled thru the castle, and the sky nearly darkened as a cloud of arrows came from the archers. Michael quickly ducked into the tower where his store of gunpowder was kept, protected from the outside world, only repeated hits from an onager or trebuchet would allow outside entrance. The arrows pounded against the roof, being as effective as rain. The second group fell the same way, as well as the third, or so it seemed. After no more arrows were loosed for a few minutes, Michalel looked outside, and saw fires throughout the thatched covered areas. Michael couldn't help the fire fighting, his job was to stay here with his cannon.

With Michael were three pikemen, there to guard him while he prepared the cannon and fired it. He did this now, but halfway through, the ladders came. Michael was trained to ignore this, and allow the pikemen to fight and protect him. He had it loaded, and waited. Presently, the towers came, though it was dark. Michael waited, and fired the cannon when they got close. The rocks ripped through the flimsier wood of the door, some buried themselves in the thicker parts, but those that got through penetrated any unarmored skin. As Michael reloaded, the tower arrived at the wall, revealing that 4 out of 15 already died. The pikemen repulsed the attackers, and that was that for the night.
 

DeletedUser

The sun dipped below the horizon, and Richard dismissed his men, who had been doing next to nothing all day anyway. Although the archers and infantry would be getting their rest, the trebuchets would fire through the night, with their crews sleeping in shifts. It was a harsh measure, but necessary if the enemy was to be tenderized by dawn. King Henry's men made camp, and their fires formed a massive glowing circle around the castle. Richard drifted off to sleep in his tent, fantasizing about his inevitable victory.
 

DeletedUser

Peering over the wall Smokey was surprised this was just a small wave, they could have easily gotten the upper hand. But in the dark of the night he could see all the fires from the camps in every direction, he knew he probably wouldn't live through the next couple of day considering the vast numbers of the enemy could engulf the castle walls at any time and there only defence was their will to live. Smokey picked up the axe which almost killed him when the action started, the balance was perfect so he stuck it in the back of his trousers, then left to eat, pray and sleep.
 

DeletedUser25825

Aeryn moved through the courtyard, avoiding soldiers running to the walls, or away from them to perform some service. She paused to watch engineers finalize the construction of catapults. She watched them send several young boys off to the tower to serve as spotters as they began testing the catapults. She yawned and walked away from the sight as she watched men push a cartload of crockery up to the catapult teams.

She wandered off to the castle, entered through the servant's entrance and avoided the kitchen entirely. She instead headed to a small alcove down in the cellars where a ratty blanket was laid out. She gratefully climbed onto it and fell asleep almost before she'd laid her head down on the cobblestone floor.
 

DeletedUser

The next day began, and Richard was more than ready for it. The trebuchets had been running all night. While a few of King Henry's men may have lost sleep over the constant rumble of stones pummeling the castle, the result was without a doubt much more traumatizing for the ones on the receiving end. Looking around, he saw that the longbowmen were already in position, beginning to rain piercing and flaming arrows upon the soft interior. True, the garrison would surrender soon enough if King Henry's men continued in this manner, but His Majesty was looking for a glorious victory, one that would scare Percy's mindless pawns into renouncing their treasonous ways.
 

DeletedUser

Name & Gender: John Palophos, Male
Class: Knight, to be more precise a representative of the friendship of two governments.
Title: Commander of Skoutatoi Unit
Profession: Command a small 30 man Skoutatoi, half of whom are composite archers, the remaining men run a single cheirosiphōn (spigot type greek fire launcher), along with being heavily armored longswordsmen armed with grenades containing Greek fire.
Appearance: Not very imposing at 5' 4", a scrubby black beard, a scar on his face, and small piercing eyes are the appearence of John. He wears a Kremesata and the rest of his standard Byzantine armor usually.
Equipment: Spatha (Roman Longsword), Armor, Skouton (oval shield), Greek Fire Grenades
Bio: John was born in 1379 in Constatinople to a simple family of shipwrights. John surprised his family by going into the army, however since then he has managed to veteranate himself and become distiguished over the course of numerous border classes in Byzantium. In December of 1401 Manuel II ruler of Byzantium visited the isles and Henry the IV's court. John was among the specially chosen soldiers in his escort, and when time came to leave he and 29 others were ordered to stay as a token of friendship. They were then given the rare chance to study and memorize the secret formula of Greek fire which all of them have been ordered to tell no one about. SInce that time the Greeks have followed Henry's main army and have never lost a man thanks to John's leadership. (And the fact that they are usually used when a battle is clearly won and it is determined the best way to scatter the enemy is through their weapons.)
Footnote: Greekfire is no superweapon. First of all, although its true composition is unknown Greek fire needs to be handled with caution lest the user kill themselves. Thus the men often are incapable of using their grenades which in any case must be ignited with a flame first, making it hard to use in a melee. Their larger machine though larger and roughly equivalent to a flamethrower is best used mounted on a siege tower, and as there is only one they have kept the whole time they use it rarely. Overall greekfire is like the handcannon and bombard more a couse of fear than an actual killer, except maybe in ship to ship combat. Also one may comment that by this time it appears the Byzantines had stopped using Greek Fire. This could've meant that in the course of the empire's shrinking they had lost the resources needed for Greek Fire, so the Greeks commanded by John have found the resources they need in England would be my response.
_______________________________________
John watched as the Henry's army besieged Percival in a most unaupicious manner. "Idiots", he muttered and laid back to relax, waiting for some situation to arise that would require the Greeks' services.
 

DeletedUser25825

Aeryn was gently awoken by a kick to her side. "Wake up you silly thing!", she heard the shrill voice of Petra demand. She roused herself slowly, and stood up, stretching out her arms and back as Petra berated her for abandoning her duties yesterday. Aeryn tried to explain she'd been put to service with preparations for the defense, but of course Petra would hear none of it.


Aeryn was led to the kitchen by the ear, and shoved to the mound of pots and dishes. She climbed onto the stool muttering her desire for large rocks to come out of the sky and end her misery. Either by crushing her, or her constant tormentor. She grinned at the thought of seeing only Petra's hand sticking out from some enormous boulder as she began scrubbing at the pots.


Several hours later, she finished and quickly disappeared from the kitchen. She went out into the courtyard and glanced around. She didn't see much structural damage to the stout walls of the castle. The stables were crushed, and most all of the thatch roofs had burned away, though the ewerers put up a valiant fight to save other more important structures.


She walked, noticing no arrows laying about, figuring she was safely out of range. She noted the catapults were now firing at a steady rate. She watched the team wheel the launch back, lock it, load one of the crockery containers onto the arm's bowl, light it with a torch, and then immediately launch it. She heard one of the team captain's shout at one of the loaders, "Be careful with that man! That's a special fire. If it goes up here, we'll all be in for it!"


Aeryn sat in the shade, watching the skies with an apprehensive eye. She did enjoy the thought of seeing Petra crushed, but she really did not want it to be her under the boulder. She was slowly nodding off again, when she was roused by a soldier shouting at her to go out and fetch enemy arrows that were laying about and bundle them up for their own archers. He tossed her a round shield and told her to keep an eye upward. Aeryn very much did not like the order she'd received, but she'd do her part to keep the castle from being overrun.


She moved out into the courtyard closer to the walls, watching archers firing constantly outward as she began to pile arrows together. She saw several other peasants doing the same task, and hoped it wouldn't take too long as she heard shouts of incoming. She made herself as small as possible and held the shield over her head, jumping each time an arrow thunked into it.

(OOC: Heh... seems we had similar thoughts on fire there Jean)
 
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DeletedUser

(OOC: why is everyone in this thread a knight?)


tom let off another arrow from his bow and looked at his stock of arrows, or should that be non-existent stack of arrows, they'd all been used up. he groaned, wiped the sweat off his forehead and ran back down the stairs to find more arrows. the heat from the burning buildings was sweltering.
 

DeletedUser25825

(OOC: *Politely points at her non-knight status* Heh...)

Aeryn quickly gathered as many arrows as she could, while ducking below the shield each time more rained down upon the courtyard. She'd been lucky thus far, and avoided being stricken down. She gathered two bundles quickly, after the last sortie of arrows stopped falling and ran to the safety of one of the towers. She climbed the stairs two at the time and nearly ran into Tom as he hurried down them.

She flashed a grin at him and gladly offered the two bundles of scores of arrows, as she no longer had to carry them the rest of the way up. She nodded to the man, as she turned and headed back down the stairs to gather any more bundles that had been gathered.
 

DeletedUser

(OOC: yes, but apart from me, you, grimhunter and yuggernaut everyone's a knight!)


"thanks." tom said as he took the bundles of arrows, turned round and ran back up to the ramparts. he put the arrows down onto the floor and as soon as he did, so, his fellow archers clustered around the arrows like flies to a dead body, they grabbed arrows fro themselves before running back to their positions, tom picked up an arrow and notched it onto his string. he fired his bow at the same time as his comrades. the curtain of arrows whistled through the sky and thudded into the king's army. the king's archers soon replied with a storm of arrows. there was so many arrows that they very nearly blotted out the sun, the arrows thudded into and peasants and knights alike. the situation seemed hopless.
 

DeletedUser

At last, the time had come for the true assault. Richard gathered his company into a siege tower, and they began their slow crawl towards the castle. Percy's arrows were useless against the tower, and his hastily built catapults had neither power nor accuracy enough to pose a significant threat. Meanwhile, Henry's longbowmen kept their barrage going strong, showering the castle's interior with arrows. Clouds of smoke curled up from behind the wall as flame arrows set alight anything flammable. The trebuchets were still firing, launching still more crushing stones into the fortress.

At last, the siege towers reached the walls. The ramps dropped, and Richard and his men let out a long, terrifying battle cry before bursting onto the ramparts, weapons flourishing. With swords and axes, they quickly hacked away at the archers, who were lightly armed except for their bows. Blades flying, they made quick work of the defenders on the ramparts, and made a safe haven for reinforcements to arrive by ladder.
 

DeletedUser28032

Name & Gender: Guido (A.K.A Guy) LeChance

Class: Illegitemate son of a minor aristocrat

Title: None due to his birth

Profession: Guy is the captain of a group of men at arms

Appearance: Around 25 years of age, 5'11 with long black hair tied back in a pony tail, his equipment is all old and well used giving him a shabby appearance and showing his penniless nature

Equipment: Chainmail coat with a black surcoat emblazoned with a white hawk, he carries a matching shield, a mace and a longsword

Bio: Unable to claim his fathers title through a legitemate birthright Guy has spent the past seven years fighting as a mercenary in the Scotish border wars. Now with a company of men in tow he has joined the kings army.

-------------------------------------------------------
Guido led his men acros the open ground towards the nearest seige tower already the sounds of battle filled his head. arrows flew back and forth with abandon killing indiscriminatley, a man to his left fell his cheap leather armour pierced with ease. the tower was within sight now soon he'd an the walls "To battle men for death or glory!" and more importantly for loot and plunder
 

DeletedUser

Johm and his crew watched as the siege towers emptied their men on the walls who, from his vantage appeared to be slaughtering Percy's men.

"Methinks we should join the battle soon. For we are clearly winning." John turned to three men who were assembling a mixture. "Is the fire ready yet?" "Almost sir." "Good, I will summon the men who've been chosen by our allies to assist us in our assault on the foe's walls.
___________________
John led the assault troops out of the siege tower. Already the walls were in chaos but there was a safe spot, a wallhead one could say where the men safely could get on the wall. John peeked over the wall's edge, and pulled his head back before an arrow bounced off the wall where his head had been.

He turned to the men. "It seems the enemy has reinforcements just below the wall, let's teach them that there is no safe place in a battle." A torch was used to light several Greek fire grenades that were dropped over the wall's edge and shattered in the midst of the troops below it. The Greek fire liquid quickly set about burning all that could burn that it touched. John laughed as he listened to the screams of anguish. He laughed even more when he heard water being poured on the flames and the cries of surprise as the water merely made them leap higher. "Fools!" He muttered, "Only sand will stop the hell we've dropped on you." John indicated to the men behind the melees to start throwing the grenades in directions they saw fit. He laughed more as flames rose suddenly and men screamed. Oh how fine it was being the lord of an indestructible flame.
 

DeletedUser28032

The walls were in chaos men fought, screamed and died all around him, a group of strangely armoured men threw fire down upon those in the courtyard bringing hells fire to life within the very walls of the castle. Two men charged Guido with bloodcurldling warcries their blades shining brightly in the hell fires light, the first died at Guido's feet his head crushed by the heavy mace the second however proved more troublesome...
 

DeletedUser

Inside the castle, Smokey had his spear firmly dug into the ground beside him facing the gate. A battering ram was splintering the wood and it would not be long before the doors exploded inward and a big fight would break out for survival. A captain smokey did not know was ordering his men around a semi-circle planting spears and sheilds to halt horses and protect the castle.
BOOOM'
....
BOOOM'
'creak'
....
BOOOM'
it would not be long now, Smokey raised his bow aiming for the door, he had his axe in his belt so he could quickly switch to melee fighting.
CRASH'
splinter flew over the heads of many and injuring many, arrows shot at the opening as a horde of well armoured troops ran through. firing quickly Smokey hit a confused soldier in the neck taking him down. Reloading quickly, Smokey lodged his next arrow in a hardened man's sheild who was approaching. One last shot so he aimed for the mans legs. The arrow hit him just below the knee causing him to stop and snap the arrow free. Smokey in one quick movement swung the axe into the mans back taking him down, another swing finished him. Smokey turned to see the carnage unfolding, raised his axe and charged.
 

DeletedUser

Richard saw the garrison coming at him, and his men charged at him. Some were so eager to fight that they didn't even bother climbing down from the ramparts, choosing instead to jump, a few injuring themselves in the process. The rest continued their advance, and Richard swung his sword at an enemy in front of him. The enemy caught Richard's sword on his shield, and responded with a swing of his axe. Richard parried the swing, and seizing the moment, kicked his opponent in the groin to distract him before digging the side of his blade into his opponent's next. The enemy dropped but did not die immediately, squirming in agony as blood gushed from his neck.

Richard looked to his right, and saw that some of Percy's men had prepared a trap for the attackers who had just crashed through the gate with a battering ram. He led his men in their direction and attacked them from the rear. Half of the Percian company was surrounded, and the rest began to break off. The ones caught in the middle were swiftly hacked to bits. Richard noticed the Greek fire blazing around him, and thought, "Why bother? Most of this castle is already burnt anyway".
"Besides", he thought, "we win IRL. No sense beating a dead horse".
 

DeletedUser28032

Guido's mace slammed into the knights shield again and again the wood splintereing under the impact a quick lunge at his midsection caused him to lose ground providing the knight with enough room to swing his longsword. Dropping the mace in favour of his own sword Guido advanced swinging low at the knights knee's. The knight dodge and swung back the blow barely stopped in time by Guido's parry. Pushing forwards with all his strength Guido slammed the knight into the towers wall stepping back quickly in order to thrust home his attack. a gurgling noise came from the dead knights throat as the longsword pushed its way through the cartilage and bone. Beckoning to two of his remaining men "Guard this mans body i want his armour" and with that Guido headed down the stairs toward the courtyard below
 

DeletedUser

after hacking down a third soldier Smokey saw the gate's defence become surrounded so he climbed onto a nearby roof and started picking off straglers with his bow trying not to be seen
 

DeletedUser

Haha! The gates had been stormed by a battering ram and now the king's legions stormed into the gap, not only that but most of Percy's men had been forced from the area of the wall occupied by John and his troops. Moving quickly John made a decision.

"It seems that I've been hearing an infernal boom, that could only be created by a bombard, clearly we must dispose of it before it scares any of the King's men." With that the Greeks rushed into the melee with swords drawn, cutting down the straggling spearmen and archers on the wall, and even advancing beyond the main body of troops on the wall. John finally picked up the lead, and saw a hand cannoneer, who had hurridely turned.

The cannoneer fired at point blank range sending a man screaming over the wall's side, and sent out a crash like thinder that caused those not already charging to look towards where the noise had come from. One shot, was all he got as John sank his sword deep into the man's stomach. However, it was clear that there were more cannoneers as he heard the loud crack again, causing some of the king's men who were rather undisciplined and disheartened for no reason to flee. John however was forced to turn his attention to other things as a pikeman charged towards him. An arrow from a composite bow dropped him nicely...
 

DeletedUser13682

The towers had come, they were here. Time to fight for his lord. The towers approached, and John got his cannon ready. The tower arrived, and the door dropped down. The men inside let out a battle cry, causing Michael to glance over at his men, shrug, and fire his cannon at the men. 12 of the 20 dropped instantly, either from wounds or death. 4 of the rest were lightly injured. The pikemen charged, killing the still standing men. That was 20 men of the king who didn't care down, time to kill some more.

Michael looked around and saw that many of Percy's men didn't take the advantage of the stupidity of the king's men, and were being slaughtered by the towermen. Soon afterwords, a thundering crash was heard as the gates fell. Perfect, just perfect. They were fighting a battle that they were losing. It was time for drastic measures. "Men, wet the gunpowder. I have enough with me for 10 shots, plus the one that I loaded. We will go out, and kill the commander of the king's forces, and the king. Henry IV is here, in that tent, and if we kill him, we win, and Lord Percy becomes the king. Time to go." The pikemen did what they were ordered to do, and they snuck off in the midst of battle, unseen, toward the enemy king's tent.
 
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