Finally after all this time waiting I get to see my first look at the crusaders coming to fight me, I see a nice grand procession advance across the field being too large for the single lane dirt road. Banners wave in the air presumably of the church and each unit from the various lords that joined. They are relatively equipped with cloth armour and various weapons even for the levy troops, of course the knights are proceeding on their horses without the plate as it is stupid to ride with it on when not about to go to battle.
A few priests are around the center of the formation with a large cart that should be an icon of the church. Surrounding this lot are levy with the symbol of the church dressed in better gear then the rest. Higher grade nobles are spread out with their forces and retinue standing out and mages are scattered as well. At the back near the end of the column which look like someone finally got the idea of the scale of things needed for the logistics even if it is bloated even more with the knick knacks that the nobles and church have are the adventurers and mercenaries. Still there is an actual logistical unit here though it is the classical supply train. Should be more easily raided if the others become the guards instead.
These are a motley group but I expect the most trouble from them, the levy while equipped nicely are not hardened for true war while the knights are the same. The mercenaries look competent enough and are in good formation ready for anything even without a threat so far. The adventurers are also the same in keeping watch and look equipped properly for a fight with undead, I respect whoever actually hired them as they did good work choosing the adventurers and mercenaries. Guards are posted to the flanks while some outriders are also deployed.
These will be the troublesome bunch as I see at least some have experience fighting undead, of course these are not my undead. Those silvered arms will only do so much for them. Judging from the lack of apparent centralized command I can suspect only the roughest of tactics will be used. Should see to splitting this lot up quickly, don’t want to actually lose anything important in fighting them.
My skirmishers are preparing for attrition warfare right now. They are disguised and equipped without my signature bone weapons but scavenged arms and the regular process built bows and arrows. I plan for another week of delay at the least by my forces. I do not expect to inflict serious casualties as I will not commit so many to this work but still that is enough. If they fracture into smaller units then I can start taking the risk of using dire wolf packs and my cavalry. If I can overrun some outlying units without alerting the rest then all the better with securing more. I am a hoarder but that is the product of campaigns with minimal supplies that I get very paranoid and respectful of attrition. Now we watch and wait. Hope I do not succeed too much and they scatter too much, hunting small remnants is too much. The Flotogen campaign was enough of a pain for me to watch a repeat develop.
Once they camp near Vocaten I will see whether this lot gets up to too much plundering or other mishaps. Should be a good sign of whether they are disciplined or not. May also ensure a few things are ‘gifted’ to help keep track of them.
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POV Change
This is the journal of Baron Roger Termest Rolavest embarked on the Holy Crusade of the Cursed Lands by the Church of Holy Light. We are over a month into the crusade and can expect to arrive on the outskirts of the cursed lands soon. We have just finished meeting with the mayor of the large town of Vocaten and have organized the troops for a march. We have at last count over 3000 total men at arms including the various other forces and not those accompanying us that will not be fighting. This is one of the larger affairs organized among the provincial nobles and an undertaking that would be risky if not for the promised reduced church alms in the future.
The alms for the church of Holy light are considerable for those with only small plots of land or without trade connections which prompted many of my fellows to join. I have a responsibility to my people to ensure that they can survive, times have been rougher with the harvest and if not for the church giving contracts promising the reduction along with providing a portion of the needed supplies then I would not have joined. Even if I die my people will be fine and my son will take over the title, I sunk my more tenable favors as will into this so that I can receive the support I rely on to see this through. I have used the Black Dogs warband several times in battle with my direct neighbors and they are a reliable and well equipped force, I also managed to sway some gold grade adventurers to join as did a number of other barons.
The overall marshall for this crusade is a count’s second son, a Gregor Elsev Soletar. While the lad is young he was favored to a degree by his father so has some experience at war. He made sure to bring a large force of his house’s men at arms along with several mercenary warbands as well bolstering our forces. But sharing leadership however is Bishop Lelitar and his aide/second is Vicar Dasco. Alongside those two who are the main representatives of the church are various priests and deacons. While they have kept to a minimum when it comes to commanding the force they have spoken in ways to seem to prefer speed when it comes to this crusade.
Thankfully the marshall has only listened to them to a degree and made sure that we were properly supplied first with a little to spare. There was no forced march so our forces are not very tired as we continue advancing. This crusade was called to reclaim and cleanse the cursed lands in the name of the God of Holy Light but I do not see how this is possible, surely the men of the church cannot possibly cleanse such a massive blight on the land so easily. I also find strange how much military force they wished to have with them, I have heard rumours of a lich in the land but do not know for sure.
What worries me however is the fact that they have kept mum about a failed first expedition by a few priests who gathered a group of adventurers and were never heard from again. Did they encounter the lich? None came back whether the adventurers, priests or the cargo bearers. On that note the church providing a considerable number of slaves to carry much of the supplies taken from conquests of the various heretics and deviants in the lands here and beyond. They speak of absolution in service but I can only pity them as slavery is widespread enough that I cannot go against it even if I do find it personally distasteful. I can only march on and hope this expedition is successful regardless of it’s discrepancies.
Surely with over four thousand troops we can trample over the paltry undead we may find and we have enough supplies to last a few months, if this goes well then perhaps some artifacts can be unearthed that could be of use or sold off for funds. We can show those fancy core nobles the fighting spirit of those who live with their lives on the line on the borders, perhaps we can grow our influence in the kingdom’s court with this successful expedition. We cannot afford to stagnate on this, they already push so much of the burden on us without proper dues. This is going to be the best chance to bring the church to our side. Hopefully I can rally my brethren to follow me as well. Now where is my squire, have to see if that lad is not slacking off again.