Matt was stranded for several moments as more screens began to open before him. He could make out the image of a dirt road through a forested area around him, though the details were hazy, like looking through frosted glass. This was typical of a new character freshly out of the tutorial he knew, there were choices to make and he was ready, first his new character sheet appeared before him, it took on the appearance of a yellowed scroll unfurling before his eyes.

Sir Sigmund von Wulfen, Knight-Captain

Bronze Tier, lvl 4

HP: 200/200

MP: 0/0

Attributes: (3 Unspent points)

Str: 2

Con: 1

Spd: 2

Int: 1

Luck: 1

Command:

20, Page Tier, + Awaiting Assignment

Abilities and Traits:

Last Scion (Trait),

Mordhau Strike 1,

Half-Swording 1,

Pommel Strike 1,

The extra levels he had obtained from his performance in the tutorial were clearly worth it, his health points had doubled giving him far more leeway in future fights. He knew he wouldn’t be as lucky in his next boss fight, most of them had scripts but would not be caught by a pre-emptive strike the way tutorial bosses would. He had twenty fresh recruits and he mentally clicked the option to assign them, and another scroll unfurled before him.

Troop Assignments;

Available: 20 (+10 bonus from tutorial)

Options:

Man-at-arms:

The mainstay of the Empire’s mercenary companies, the men-at-arms are heavy infantry and cavalry. In general they are equipped with full arm and body harnesses with a good helm and a range of weaponry.

Upkeep: 12 Copper Royals

Squire:

The second line of most companies are the valets, each serves as the back up for a man-at-arms. Due to receiving a Knighthood during the tutorial your valets are now squires, and will receive better armour. Squires operate similar to men-at-arms, however they have a higher chance of achieving Knighthood and receive a +20% bonus to experience gain for both skills and general levels.

Upkeep: 5 Copper Royals

Archer:

A company lives and dies by its ranged support. A good captain knows that Archers are his lifeblood. An archer serves several roles, they are adept scouts and spies as well as powerful ranged attackers in battle, not to mention in small companies they fill the role of support staff, setting up and breaking down camp, cooking meals and finding game, never annoy your archers.

Upkeep: 6 Copper Royals

The options were very standard Matt knew, and just like the Companies of the Fourteenth Century, he knew how to organise them. The lance formation was the unit that all Companies of the era had been made up of, and they consisted of a knight or man-at-arms, a squire, an archer and a Page. In this setting a Page was unnecessary so Matt could break them down further to units of three. The maths worked out well as he ran the numbers in his head, he had enough for six lances plus an archer and squire for his own lance, forming a total of seven lances.

With a thought he assigned six troops to Men-at-Arms, seven to Archers and seven to Squires, he would spend some time with them all before assigning actual lance groups, and make sure that he took the best archer for his own to be the company’s Master Archer and the squire with the most promise to train himself. As he made the choice another prompt appeared;

Use Armament Voucher?

Matt thought yes at the prompt and finally the world around him began to resolve into definition. As it did the world became much clearer around him and he was now truly Sigmund. He stood beside the road in a small camp of sod hovels and one patched and worn tent. It was a low slung, two-poled structure that could not be considered anything more than a one man tent. He knew it was the Captain’s Pavilion, but such a title was far too grandiose for so dilapidated a structure. He was clad in his new knight’s belt and spurs along with his shining new shirt of mail he had won from the orc boss. While it was a good start Sigmund knew he would need a far better harness before he could really begin making a name for himself as a Captain.

All around the camp the beginning of a new day was taking place. Archers, easily labelled by the long fabric covered staves on their backs and their distinct lack of real armour beyond the occasional leather jerkin or padded gambeson. A few of those he saw had close-fitted conical helms with a long nasal that extended to below the nose. They were breaking down the camp while several were eating wedges of cheese or what looked like sausages, and all of them stopped to tap their foreheads in respect to their Captain as he surveyed the camp. Just as Sigmund turned to look for something to do, a new screen opened before him, another of the projected scrolls.

Welcome to the Barony of Wulfen

Once a powerful County on the borders of the Empire, Wulfen is now a humble barony with a small stretch of border to protect. The Baron is an ageing man in his early fifties, though he still has the vigour to protect his mesnie.

The lands are currently overrun with goblins and a few larger greenskins, try as he might the Baron can no longer protect all the roads and the village of Wulfen and surrounding hamlets have retreated behind their walls.

Locations:

* Wulfen, Village, Seat of Power

* Thorn, Hamlet

* Aseberg, Hamlet

* Henlin, Hamlet

Resources:

* Game

* Wheat

* Stone

* Masonry

With another thought Sigmund closed the prompt, it was useful to see the basic information on the Barony’s zone, and he knew it held a hint as to what their first quests would likely be. As he focused on the camp once more he saw a pair of archers rolling his tent up and loading it onto a single wagon drawn by a pair of oxen. The camp was almost completely broken down when he finally saw his small cadre of men-at-arms and squires. Each was armed with a mail shirt and a pointed bascinet helm. At a glance Sigmund knew the armament voucher had been useful, the armour they had, while sparse, was of at least common quality. Company List, he thought and was greeted with yet another screen;

Company:

Captain: Sir Sigmund von Wulfen

Marshal: Vacant

Standard Bearer: Vacant

Master Archer: Vacant

Men-at-Arms:

* Heinrich von Henlin, Level 1

* Konrad von Liebwitz, Level 1

* Albrecht von Ausberg, Level 1

* Berengar de Lastain, Level 1

* Frederich the Cook, Level 1

* Alfred of Winchester, Level 1

Squires:

* Adam, Level 1

* Baldwin, Level 1,

* Caspar, Level 1

* Christoph, Level 1

* Conrad, Level 1

* Kitan, Level 1

* Felix, Level 1

Archers:

* Bent, Level 1

* Cully, Level 1

* No Head, Level 1

* Tall Boy, Level 1

* Limpy, Level 1

* Edgar, Level 1

* Long Draw, Level 1

Sigmund smiled as he saw a name he recognised on the list, and as he scanned the men at arms he saw Konrad, one of those who had fought with him in the tutorial, a small blessing but a welcome one. As he had the thought, the man in question marched over and tapped a gloved hand to the peak of his helm in salute, “we’re almost ready my lord, I sent Cully to bring your horse,” the man at arms informed his Captain with all of the courtesy due his rank. Sigmund nodded in gratitude, but the words triggered another thought in his head and a quick glance around made him realise what the camp had been missing; horses. He would be the only mounted man in his company and that would not do.

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“Thank you Konrad, please get the men formed up to move out, I want two archers in the wagon bed and the rest roaming our flanks,” he quickly opened his map to check their position and saw a clear path marked on the map that showed their route to the village of Wulfen, “we’ll make Wulfen by mid day with any luck, best to stay on our guard though, I know we’ve had troubles with greenskins in the area lately,” Konrad saluted again and jogged across to where the rest of the men were gathering, his mail jingled in the chilly air. Sigmund turned as the archer, presumably Cully, approached with his steed’s reins in hand.

“One war horse your lordship,” the archer said.

“Thank you Cully,” Sigmund told the blushing archer as he took the reins from him and climbed into the saddle of the tall horse. He looked over his forming column with something close to pride, his worries from the real world seemed to melt away as he fell into the old patterns of the trail that he had worked hard to master alongside Leon. He once more marvelled at how real the game felt as he turned his horse onto the road and took his place at the head of their small column. The men-at-arms stood in two ranks of three, followed closely by the squires whose odd numbers hampered their attempts at a marching order. Sigmund watched with interest as one boy, all the squires looked so young, boy felt far more appropriate than man, stood out in front and ordered his fellow squires with a hard glare and one right fist to the first boy to question him. A quick glance showed the squire in question was Conrad. He would be one to watch Sigmund decided as the line was rounded out by their lone wagon, it was driven by one archer while two others rode in the bed with their bows strung and arrows close to hand. The remaining archers took off at a trot, two went ahead to act as prickers while the other two chose a flank each and disappeared into the scrubby brush of the undergrowth that surrounded the road.

Sigmund raised a hand and gestured forward to his men, “let’s move out,” he called to them and the company moved on. He shook his head as the low rumble of conversation picked up as soon as they were moving, they were hardly disciplined soldiers but they were the best he had for now.

****************

The road was well worn from use and Sigmund began to feel a bit safer as their morning continued uninterrupted. As he rode he surveyed the greenery on either side of the road and found no signs he usually associated with greenskin occupation, he turned in his saddle and caught Konrad’s eye, with a flick of his hand he gestured for the man to join him. Konrad dutifully trotted up to walk alongside the Captain on his tall horse, “how can I be of assistance my lord?” He asked without preamble once he was closer.

“I’m lacking officers Konrad, which isn’t so bad in a company our size, but I need information, can you give me a run down of our supplies?” Sigmund asked as he pulled his steed to a stop and dismounted. Once down he took his reins in hand and began to walk alongside his chosen man-at-arms. Konrad nodded gratefully as he was able to meet the Captain’s eye without craning his neck.

“Certainly Captain, our supplies aren’t excessive, we have a week’s worth of trail rations and two hundred arrows with field points for the archers, beyond that we have a single large kettle and a tinder box with tow and a few pieces of flint and steel,” it was exactly what Sigmund had expected but it still felt so light that he cringed internally, a quick glance at his inventory showed he wouldn’t be buying much in the meantime.

“Thank you Konrad, that’s very helpful,” he told the NPC, watching the happiness register on the man’s face. They were so alive, he thought in wonder, before looking ahead, “once we arrive in Wulfen we’ll begin preparations for the Company’s development,” he told Konrad and suddenly a new prompt appeared.

Quest: Make it to Wulfen!

Lead your Company safely to the gates of Wulfen and assume command at your new Charter House.

Reward: 100 XP, 10 Gold Leopards

Sigmund quickly accepted the quest to clear his vision, and just as he did he saw his lead archers sprinting back down the road towards their column, one had a very obvious arrow protruding from his shoulder and Sigmund had to admire his toughness for continuing to sprint through the pain. As they came closer their words finally carried to Sigmund, “Goblins coming!” They roared and Sigmund was already mounting his charger.

“Konrad, form the ranks, men-at-arms first, squires second,” He ordered as he wheeled his charger and road down the column to the wagon, “boys get your arrows ready and prepare to receive company,” he told the archers before wheeling again to head to just behind the forming line of his infantry. The prickers finally made it to their line and were hustled through to where their archer brethren waited. Sigmund put fingers between his lips and gave a sharp whistle, the remaining archers from the flanks returned and joined the formation quickly.

As if on cue the goblin war party rounded the bend in the road ahead. It felt like an endless wave of greenskins was coming toward them, Sigmund stopped counting after the twentieth rounded the corner and he knew they were outnumbered. As he had the thought he saw the small glow of his Miracle’s power bloom over his troops, the bonus would be an excellent addition he thought.

The goblins kept coming in a wave, no order present, just an all consuming need to attack. The front ranks were filled with the same level 1 wretches that they had fought in the tutorial but behind them Sigmund saw at least a dozen of the stronger warrior type goblins with spears and mail shirts, and behind them another five archers with short bows. Sigmund looked to his men with a savage grin on his features, “archers, start lofting shafts, aim for the enemy archers and warriors, front rank prepare to repel the enemy advance!” He was met with a chorus of ayes and immediately arrows began to fall on the goblins' rear like wicked sleet. Behind he heard Cully calling the tempo for the archers, and in front all of the men-at-arms drew a combination of longswords and axes, no shields present due to their upgraded armour. The squires raised their spears and positioned themselves over the shoulders of the front rank.

The goblins hit the line and were immediately cut down in droves, the swords and axes falling like an avenging rain, ripping heads clean off bodies. Sigmund watched with interest as he saw the basic attack commands taking place, once they were settled he told himself he would begin training the NPC’s in the manual system to make them more effective. The archers were not particularly skilled, but shooting in a bunch it was hard to miss, two of the opposing archers were down already and several of the warriors were screaming in rage with arrows punched through the poor mail they wore.

Sigmund dismounted and quickly joined the front rank with sword in hand, now that he was confident the battle was going their way. He cut straight from the shoulder as he joined in and quickly removed another goblin’s head. They were less like warriors and more like farmers scything wheat against the weak first level goblins, “on my mark, advance,” Sigmund called to his troops, “mark!” he cried and took a step forward, and then another, he felt his men keeping pace with him and knew they had this battle won.

Things changed once the last of the fodder goblins had died or run, the line of goblin warriors were significantly stronger.

Goblin Warrior, Level 3

Sigmund gritted his teeth for the onset, and their lines came together with a bone crunching crash. The first warrior he faced managed to parry his straight cut with a desperate swing of his spear, so Sigmund allowed his sword to pass behind his shoulder and stepped into his opponent, he drove his pommel into the goblin’s face with a bloody crunch that snapped the green thing’s head back. He felt a pressure below his ribs and saw a spear point retracting from his mail.

Goblin Warrior strikes you for 0 Damage,

The prompt let him know the bonus for his mail was working, these warriors still weren’t strong enough to get through his bonuses. A scream from his right was long and joyless before being cut off with a gurgle.

Albrecht von Ausberg has died,

Sigmund grimaced as he realised his mistake, he was invincible to the goblins but his men weren’t. He cast caution to the wind and charged through the line and began to spin in place with his sword like a demented spinning top. It wasn’t a real sword technique but it was useful in the game world for bringing the focus of the mobs back to you.

Congratulations, you have learned Whirlwind Strike!

He sighed at the notification but focused on damaging the goblins and keeping their ire focused on him. As they turned to face the threat of Sigmund, the men-at-arms took advantage and hacked into their enemies, while the Squires made their own contribution with their spears. The warriors finally broke and ran when they had been reduced to only two, and the last archer thought better of staying once he saw his companions leaving at a sprint. Sigmund raised a fist in the air, “hold steady, don’t give chase,” he ordered before turning to see the corpse of Albrecht on the ground surrounded by goblin corpses, “bring up the wagon,” he called and began to reorder the line of march, “once the wagon is here load him on and we’ll see about a proper burial in Wulfen, Conrad take Albrecht’s position in the line of march,” the squire nodded in awe and rushed to do as he was told.

Once everyone was back in place and Albrecht’s body was laid in the wagon bed, the march to Wulfen resumed and the men were far more sober as they all saw the reminder of their mortality on display.

***************

The gates of Wulfen seemed to rise out of the ground at a distance. The column almost sighed in relief once they were out of the trees that had surrounded them for hours. The land around the village was cleared for almost half a kilometre in all directions and Sigmund could see the fields of several farms around the walls, a detail of guards watched over each that had farmers working. It was yet another sign of the greenskin plague that had taken root in the Barony Sigmund was sure.

Two guards in thick gambesons with well made spears stood watch at the gate, they both bowed when Sigmund rode up to them, “welcome home my lord, your father awaits you in the keep,” the elder of the two said as he rose from his bow and gestured to the squat, stone keep that dominated the small mound of high ground within the walls. Sigmund nodded in gratitude and rode through the gates, his column following close behind in what he hoped was a brave show.

As it turned out, they did not need to go to the keep, a man in full harness with a solid breastplate, rode out to meet them, flanked on both sides by mounted knights in matching armour. Sigmund looked at their name plates straight away.

Baron Wulfgang von Wulfen, Level 40 Elite

Sir Michael von Henlin, Level 30 Elite

Sir Daniel de Marche, Level 30 Elite

Sigmund slid down from his saddle and knelt before the NPC that was his father, Matt knew how important courtesy and proper respect were in the world of Estrella. The Baron smiled broadly and jumped down from his saddle to raise Sigmund with his own hands, “welcome home my son,” he said with all the paternal pride Sigmund had ever heard in anyone’s voice, “I can’t tell you how good it is to have a trained Captain here,” Sigmund nodded in understanding and also knew the role he had to play.

“I intend to help anyway I can, just as soon as I get my company sorted, we’ve had a long journey and I need to arrange burial for one of my men-at-arms,” He told the Baron who looked suitably sad at the words.

“We will honour any man who stood beside my son in battle,” the Baron decreed, much to the appreciation of the men, he gestured to a tall wooden building surrounded by its own wall within the village, “this is the charter house I have assigned for you, it has an office, barracks and stables for you, plus you will find a tiltyard for training and a small paddock for live stock within,” Sigmund gaped, a charterhouse of this quality was usually reserved for the third or fourth such building a Company would buy, it was a huge boon for his company, “Go in, get set up and I will expect you at the keep for dinner tomorrow night,” the Baron saluted the company before remounting his horse and riding back the way he had come. Sigmund turned the column into the courtyard of their new home with a grin.

*****************

Once inside Sigmund saw the several buildings that made up their charterhouse. The office building was two stories and featured a waiting room at the front, furnished with bench chairs and a desk for a future clerk to arrange meetings, and behind that was a meeting room featuring a long table with seats for ten and a large map of the Barony mounted on the wall. Upstairs held bedrooms for Sigmund and up to five officers.

A barracks building would house the rest of the company with bunks set aside for all the men-at-arms, squires and archers, split into three separate rooms. The tiltyard was a simple square, sand covered arena with pells and lifting stones for training, and the stables were large enough to hold fifty horses. Sigmund was positive the place had been built for a much better company some time ago, but he would not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Once in the meeting room he took his seat at the head of the table and a flashing notification appeared in his vision.

Name Company:...

Sigmund groaned, he hated naming things, especially when it was likely to be with him for a long time. He mused for several minutes on the question before deciding to keep it simple, The Company von Wulfen, he entered and closed the window.

Success! The Company von Wulfen has taken control of the Charter House

Sigmund sighed in relief and leaned back in his chair as another prompt advised their quest was successful and his funds increased by ten gold Leopards, the largest form of currency in the empire. At the very least he could pay his men for a few months now. A final notification began to flash in his eyes.

Message Incoming;

[Denrik IronBack]: Holy crap Matt, you’re back?!

He sighed again as he realised his character might be new, but those with his Game ID added to their friends list would know he was playing.

[Sigmund von Wulfen]: Hey bro, I just decided to try playing again for the weekend.