Empires of Ashes

the road is clearly worn with countless hoofmarks

*Which only tells them to also avoid the roads where possible.*

they also spy wild horse herds off in the distance

It takes little time for the thengul to mount a defensive, several huge warbands march to meet the incursion at the head of the largest is jarl Olaf Fire mane leader of the dire wolf clan. who wields heart seeker

*Which...they're not sure what to do. Not like any of them are trained in the art of rearing and handling horses.*
_______________________________________________

*The Brigardi have fortified the towns and forts they have taken, and have reinforced them with fresh troops. The identity of the overall leader of the Brigardi invasion forces remains a mystery to the Thengul.*

The thengul care little who leades the Brigardi only thst they are attacking their lands. over night the thengul set up their own hill forts with them cutting down trees to make berricsdes and a strong defensive position to stop the brigsrdi advance while more and more warbands join the fight
Olaf: it has been to long since we have had a real fight, i cant wait

*The Brigardi sally forth to attack the Thengul directly, instead deciding to skirmish and raid to disorganize the Thengul force.*

Used k this kind of combat the thengul trade fire and greet the dkirmishers with traps and ambushes with several small groups of thengul hiding along the countryside waiti g to pick off straglers and foragers.

*More Brigardi militia arrive as time passes, as well as secure supply trains. They appear to be preparing for...something.*

*as the brigardi move, they come across a forest with a great sign outside*

*They approach the sign and try to read it.*

it says "倒れた戦士の森"

*Which they can only assume means "Stay out."*

The thengul prepare as well, more warroirs arive every day to take part in the glory that is to come, even an band of painted men arrive to take part skirmishes are common but full scale battle is yet to be pushed
construcion on monagols is underway

one of them notices a statue

*The Brigardi have begun constructing catapults on ramparts and towers. As time passes, a small detachment of Brigardi calvary, a rare sight, arrives, but glimpses of them are rare, as their attacks leave no survivors.*
_____________________

*The man approaches it.*

it is an armoured warrior, blade in hand, atop an armoured horse, blade in hand, the horse rearing up
the warrior is facing down a statue of a clavae

*The man simply assumes this to be a monument to some victory and shrugs. The expedition enters the forest.*

they come across a path

traps of spikes and and burning tar are left sorrounding bergardi camps as wild beasts are driven to madness and sent charging at fortifications. Raids by painted men berserker partys leave swaths of dead in their wake.

*They follow it cautiously.*
_____________________________________

*The Brigardi only further fortify their positions. But the Brigardi have steadily started to form small branching camps.*

*The next day*

/The villagers still hide from the conquerors but they seem to have left the village in a better state than they captured it in. The biggest difference being a large variety of food and that because most high ranking tribesmen are dead, their houses are now up for grabs and quickly got claimed by the lesser tribal families\

the many thengul groups continue to harass each camp and soon volkys of burning tar are launched at the camps,

*The Brigardi swiftly abandon the new camps, almost without a fight, leaving the ones that are still intact to the Thengul.*

it leads to several more statues upon plinths with carvings upon them in a foreign language
one of a warrior wrestling with some form of serpent
one duelling a kelthrovi
one fighting a thengul warrior
and a couple of unknown

the dracians are already up and ready to leave

*The expedition continues forward, treading carefully.*

The thengul set them alight and retreat to the countryside lrefering to remain mobile rather then bunker down in the brigardi camps

they come across a grand statue, much larger than the others
a warrior, sat upon a magnificent steed, held aloft by a torrent of flame atop some kind of ocean filled with skulls, sword held above his head, lightning being sent forth from the blade
the carving on the plinth reads:
ドラゴ信長
グレートユニファイア
Drago Nobunaga
The Great Unifier

*Then, in the dead of night, as one large group of Thengul celebrates their most recent victory, the Brigardi fall upon their drunken revelry. They are merciless, and none escape.*
______________________________________

*The Brigardi make note of it and continue on, hoping the man on the horse is long dead.*

they start to come upon gravestones
surprisingly, they almost all in pairs or more

???: Pairs...how odd.

upon inspection, in the pairs, one grave is human sized, the other larger

in retaliation durning the knight a group of thengul
camouflaged with tar and mud the sneak into the camp and set their suppkies alight slaughtering as many as they can before they are killed.

*Which perplexes the expedition. The best they can assume is that a war animal is buried in the larger grave.*
________________________________________________

*In retaliation, the Brigardi march out several Thengul captives them have taken, and behead them in front of the Dire Wolf clan's camp.*

Brigardi Captain: Das ist das Schicksal derer, die rob andere Lebensmittel!

*they would be correct*
*the graveyard stretches for quite a while*

*They continue through it, trying their best to avoid the graves.*

In a rare breach of norm a thengul uses his bow and pierces the Captain threw the neck

*A horn sounds in the distance and a fairly large Cymraic band led by a lesser noble comes into view*

*The Brigardi return fire and with a barrage of crossbow bolts before withdrawing.*

the dracians have formed up

many graves have blades laid upon them
blades of a design they havent seen before

*They leave the blades be, not wanting to disrespect the dead.*

*suddenly*
*clip clop clip clop*

*They raise their weapons in a defensive manner and form a circle.*

as a parting insult the defiled heads of slain brigardi are launched into the middle of the main camp apples shoved into their moths and olives into their eye sockets.

a lone rider approaches down the path

*In response, flaming pitch is launched into the Thengul camps.*
_______________________________________

*They eye the rider suspiciously.*

he sees them and cautiously draws his blade
"Anatahadare?"

???: Wir haben keinen Streit mit Ihnen. Wir sind einfach Entdecker auf einer Mission von unserem liege.

The thengul reply in kind

"Rikai dekimasen"

*They Brigardi cease bombardments for the day to lick their wounds and strategize.*
______________________________________

???: Do you speak common?