Athelard glances down toward the troops from his perch and hatches a plan.
He directs his great beast to grab the mortar and relocate it. The enginer holds on for dear life.
Much better!
Within striking distance, the gunner reloads.
Boom! The shot fires with incredible accuracy.
It lands right in the middle of the troops on the tower.
While Keaton and his mount escape harm, the two crossbows are slain.
Elsewhere, in the melee, a Liossan officer kills the disarmed foe.
Another tries to kick open the gate, but only manages to stub his toe.
Only one thing to do... charge! The Liossans surge forward, vaulting the fence where they can. Unfortunately, the leaping warrior cannot draw blood.
One of the warriors attempted to run right through the fence, but he falls back with a sore shoulder. His mate, taking a moment to think, draws his javelin.
The bolt nails the crossbowman in the neck.
Athelard pulls a serendipitous apple from his pack and waves it to the pegasus. "Cometh, precious beast, and consume!"
He is unmoved [failure!]
Keaton shouts below, suddenly remembering that the village grain mill is operated not by man or beast, but magik encased in AAA metal! "Turneth on the mill! Bloweth this dragon hence!"
The dragon looks cautiously at the building.
What's this???
It is Akhilleus! Hero of the Archohellenium!! It was a Trojan grain mill all along!!!!
Before Akhilleus can evacuate his troops he notices that, somehow, the mill begins to turn...
It blows the dragon many feet away! [success!]
The Vasli quickly join the fight across the fence line.
It was at this point that the Liossan crossbowman realized they had not taken their turn and quickly did so. Only one was able to find his mark.
As the lines clash the foes trade kills and a stalemate occurs in the foreground.
The Vasli officer risks a free attack to retrieve his spear and survives, quickly turning the fight around and scoring a kill. Behind him another stalemate settles.
Nearby the business lunch has drawn on into a meeting of forms, books, readings, and speeches.
"There's no need for litigation, I don't think," Saul is saying, "but, as I think is abundantly clear, my client is owed compensation for the loss in property, future income, and emotional toil from the deaths of his serfs."
"That may be," Cartwright replies, "but those same serfs were ordered to place themselves in harms way, were they not? While the loss is, indeed, terrible, I don't think my client would be willing to meet the proposed settlement offered based on these findings."
Saul considers for a moment. "What if we drop subsection A from Section 12 and remove the tentative injunction considered in Section 3 in exchange for previously dropped section 2 from the Memorandum of Understanding drafted earlier?"
Cartwright glances at several documents. "I think we can be amenable to that."
The two men shake, and the deal is done.
Vasluxia will now act first each turn and Liossa will pay them a sum of one sixth the wages of the average pay for 30 serfs' yearly requirement for field labor per year for six years and then a simple sum of half the previous number should famine strike within the next four years.
With the mill turning and generating absurd amounts of wind the Archohellenic troops take a while to deploy.
They form up as best they can, but not all their troops can deploy this turn.
Akhilleus attempts to launch a warrior using the mill but he fails and the man is Disrupted [failure]
Enraged, he attacks the Liossan enginer and scores a kill.
The cows, previously unbothered by the battle, begin to act restless.
Behold! A group of raiders from the Wulfing clans!
They bust free of the pasture and make haste toward the attorneys.
Overviews
Additional drama shots
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