Karl Zirn:
Looking at the save not a lot and there is no time to recruit and relieve the siege. What we got we got. It will be dicey.
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Karl Zirn:
Looking at the save not a lot and there is no time to recruit and relieve the siege. What we got we got. It will be dicey.
Another letter arrives from Becker.
My lords,
I have heard the discussion between Karl Zirn, Duke Arnold and the Chancellor. It is my opinion that we bring up the two units of knights and reiters from Bran and place them under Karl Zirn's command where he can move to assist. After that, I suggest waiting for the Hungarians to make their move against the city.
Though I am greatly unnumbered in me who are trained to fight in melee combat, between the crossbowmen, towers and artillery I believe I can make up for that deficit. They will be devastated by missile fire when the reach the falls and in the ensuing fight they can be trapped in the city by Karl Zirn's reenforcements and crushed from all sides. This, I believe, has the best chance for victory.
Karl Zirn:
I am in favour of Becker's plan to utilize the city walls has part of his defence rather then an open field battle. I will be more then willing to bring the reinforcements in to the city when the Hungarians make their move.
Arnold:
Well gentlemen that seems the best course of action.
Becker your plan is still risky. Please note the Canon will not really be able to fire over the walls. You need Howitzers for that. I think they will be largely useless in the battle.
Good Luck!!
Duke Arnold.
Karl Zirn:
It's over, I was not able to assist in relieving Becker and the 1st AHA. From the reports that are sketchy at this time Becker is missing and the 1st AHA has been destroyed. I yet to find any stragglers.
I will not have enough men to defend the eastern front. If we are now at war with the Byzantinize that is two armies on our eastern borders.
This is indeed a dark day for our House and we mourn the loss of another Austrian.
Two familiar messengers enter the Austrian chambers. It's Lars and Ulrich, Peter's servants.
"Peter von Kastilien extends his condolences to Austria and the von Mahren and Becker families. This is a dark time for Austria, and it is undermanned again. He has requested of Lothar Steffen that Friedrich Karolinger assist the Austrians, and if this is unavailable, Tancred von Tyrolia will abandon Wahrheitburg to ensure the Austrians' safety."
Ragusa 1320:
The hastily prepared Chamber of House Austria looked like a field command.
Maps were strewn everywhere, guards posted at each entrance and there is nothing but military personnel everywhere.
By the main command table Arnold reads one last message in a large stack of papers, somehow half way through, a feeling of Dread emanating from him becomes tangible. Lieutenant's and Sargent's begin to file out of the chamber. Only those individuals that absolutely need to enter the chamber do so, many arrive at the entrance, are confronted by the ominous scene and quickly depart.
Finally, the Duke places the paper down on the table. Slowly he looks around the assembled captains and notes that Karl Zirn's personal adjutant is present.
“Gentlemen, your attention please.
It seems Count Becker is alive and is now in Prague.”
A cheer erupts at the news. Placing both mailed fists on the table the Duke leans forward and scans the crowd.
“He's declared independence from the Duchy and has given himself the title of Imperial Count of Bohemia.”
Reaching for the letter the Duke reads;
“And I quote;
“From this point onward, the County of Bohemia declares it’s independence from the Duchy of Austria!"
“He continues;
“This is a separation, not a rebellion. I will not raise a hand against my fellow Germans except to defend in defense of my lands. I swear to know now on the graves of my brothers that I will come to Vienna's aid, if you will let me.”
Looking at the two adjutants from Lorenz and Karl Zirn the Dukes hard gaze fall on Lorenz's.
“Tell Lorenz that I find Becker's lack of faith...”
taking time to find the word the Duke finally continues
“...disturbing.”
Grom's eyebrows shoot straight up at the choice of words. He leans over to Bane and whispers.
“£$^^%ing hell...'disturbing', what kind of $”£%ing new age bull$%”% is that.”
Handing the adjutant his orders the Duke places a hand on his shoulder. The steel plates begin groaning under the pressure being exerted by the Dukes prodigious strength.
“I want to know where his loyalties are immediately. If he is loyal to his House and Duke then he is order to retake Budapest immediately and prepare the city for Karl Zirn and Count Karolinger arrival.
If he's following this separatist line of reasoning...
The Duke eye's burn into the adjutant's head.
“then don't return.”
With that, the two adjutant's depart at break neck speed.
“Bane, take my retinue and pay Becker a visit. Explain the situation and my intentions too him.
Dismissed!”
A messanger swarms into the room breaking the tension, he reads a letter from Lorenz Zirn
Dear, Duke Arnold,
I may have proven my loyalty towards the Reich wrong many times, but I will never disgrace my family name, I will lay seige upon Budapust now, I'll make those imbecil rebels regret ever doing this, I'll rain hell on them. I will prove my loyalty back to you, even if it costs me hundreds of men.
I would like to remind you as well, Duke Arnold, I will be exterminating Budapust when I'm done with it.
Karl Zirn:Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadKill
Would it not be best to punish the Rebels and sack for their income sparing the loyal citizens of the city?
I may reconsider it, but extermination is sounding the best, the fools have kicked me out of the city aslong as my troops, if I don't show them who their leader is, they might rebel again.
Arnold:
Lorenz!!
You are order not to exterminate the city.
While your passion and dedication are clearly now not in question extermination will only provide longer term consequences.
Sacking the place will be more than enough to make your point crystal clear to the rebels.
You can take your frustrations out on another target later.
Duke Arnold.
Arnold:
Men please update me with your situations.
Lorenz, I assume you will retake Budapest but refrain from exterminating it.
Lord Zirn, I beleive you are leaving your foot behind and making all haste to Budapest?
Count Karolinger, what are your intentions?
Duke Arnold.
Arnold:
Orders have been sent men.
Duke of Austria.
Lorenz's trusty messanger once again rushes to the room out of breathe. He takes out a scroll and reads
Dear, Duke Arnold
I have decided not to wait for the reinforcments and has launched the attack on Budapust already, our seige weapons and cannons are ready, and we will be retrieving Budapust straight back into Austria's hands, I will not fail you. Although I still think exterminating the men is the better way, I will follow your orders, I will only kill those who have revolted against you.
Godspeed,
Lorenz
Lorenz slams into the chambers snapping the doors in the entry. His armour was cracked, dented, wrecked; his sword was dented everywhere, stained with the lives of hundreds; blood covered his whole body. Behind him were two others, it seems Lorenz has earned himself 2 new retunie. A sheildbeare, and a veteran warrior, they themselves were in a ever worse condition then Lorenz himself. Lorenz exhales and speaks
Duke Arnold, have I proved my loyalty now!? I have annihlated the foolish rebels, killing every last one of them. BUDAPUST IS NOW BELONGING TO THE AUSTRIANS ONCE AGAIN!
They begged for mercy, but I am not a man that offers mercy that easily. I masscered the 4900 rebel supporters of Budapust sparing the rest as they promise to prove loyal to the Austians, and I doubt they will ever pull something like that EVER again.
Lorenz threw his sword to his retunie, and slumped down into his chair, exahusted from the strenous fight.
Arnold
Excellent work Lorenz.
Your loyalty is certainly not in doubt.
You reinforcements will arrive later next year. They should bolster the situation to some degree.
You've received my order and general strategy in my other letters.
You need to repair the walls and any other buildings you believe necessary next year.
After that I expect Lord Zirn and Count Karolinger to have joined on you.
Excellent work Lorenz!! Your going to make a fine commander and your going to have to be, because there is a lot more work ahead of us.
You should get yourself attended to.
Duke Arnold.
OOC:
Thought this would be better then a PM. Our options are interelated if we are working together.
The 3 avatars in Budapest have to decide to sit and fight or move to get reinforcements. I do not think a night attack will work we do not have the men they have two full stacks. They are one turn away.
I would be willing to sit and wait for the attack. I would take my option of picking up reinforcements if it meant more wealth if I sat in Zagreb a turn. Since RK can't fight his battles at the moment his option of picking up a cannon from Vienna would help reinforce Budapest.
WH could pick up the reinforcements from the Duke or stay to defend the city. Where does he want to be in the reman in the east or go west.
We are going to be attacked. What do you say gentleman?
OOC:
There should be three extra regiments of armoured spearmen in Budapest from the 1320 orders from Arnold.
Did you get them.
Can you all please let me know the decisions you make if we are going to work together and no one is going to rebel. If we don't co-ordinate then we will only find out about our moves and recruitment once the save is up.
I've have not seen the latest save so depending on the Hungarian's and the total number of troops we have between the three of you I would follow the strategy I outlined...as long as you agree.
The three of you have more than enough decision making power to look at the strategy and make the choices.
That is how Arnold would prefer it. Mico managing leaves no one happy.
I will only see the save on Saturday. NN can you PM me a few pics?
Cheers
Arnold
Count Karolinger! Tancred!
You're in Austria for better or worse at the moment.
What are you intentions? I need to know so I can issues orders and co-ordinate the defence.
I would recommend Count Karonlinger and Lorenz allow Lord Zirn to mount a night attack at the first Hungarian army.
I've had enough of this sitting around, we need to strike back and make the Hungarian's and Venetian's realise that they are still facing some of the finest generals and fighting men in the world.
I myself will do the same things if Tancred agrees to assist me for the coming years.
It all rests on Count Karolinger and Tancred...gentlemen I await your immediate responses.
Duke Arnold
Karl Zirn:
It appears we have a consensus and will take the fight to them. It will be a night attack to limit their support for reinforcements we will organize the best regiments that are prepared to fight.
Karl Zirn:
My Duke I am happy to report a victory. Unfortunately we took some $%&*@ casaulties and there is still another enemy army east of us. Excuse me for the "strong language" but it appears to be a habit I picked up on my return home. Generally we didn't speak like that in the Outremer; well there was the Kaiser.
We will do our best to recruit some more $@#!% men and complete the defenses of Budapest.
Arnold
Excellent work Lord Zirn!!
Pass on my congratulations to Lorenz and Karolinger
We shall see what happens next near Budapest.
When will the wall be repaired and did you receive the 3 units of Sargent Spearmen I sent you last year?
Duke Arnold.
Karl Zirn:
Duke Arnold I report another successful engagement. I took the initiative with a night attack on the second army nearby and brought their noble down. I will need reinforcements and feel I should fall back to Budapest. The army was manily Hungarian missle regiments and our cavalry did most of the work. However, the men are tired from the night before. I cannot confirm the spearmen but I feel they may have arrived.
I will see what can be recruited from Budapest and some artillery would eb good to make up for the depletion of horses.
OOC: It is a little edgy battling with 2 other avatars under your command. :sweatdrop:
OOC:
NN. Turns out TC forgot to send the 3 regiments of Sergeant Spearmen from Ragusa in 1320. You should have them now.
In 1322 I recruited men for myself.
In 1324 I'll send as much as I can to Budapest.
IC:
Arnold
Lord Zirn,
You're turning into the Bane of the Hungarian's!! I LIKE IT!!
Troops from 1320 have been delayed. I've summarily executed the Quarter Master in Ragusa for his negligence. He actually turned out to be a Venetian spy. You should receive 3 regiments of Sergeant Spearmen immediately in Budapest.
Fall back there and make sure Lorenz has repaired the wall.
It might be wise for him to head for Vienna and recruit some additional troops.
Pass on my congratulations to them both for an excellent job.
I'll send as many troops in 1324 as I can from Ragusa. I believe I have enough to defend against the Venetian's at this time.
Keep up the good work gentlemen.
Duke Arnold
Duke Arnold, I am not completly sure but the walls should be repaired. Also I will now travel to Vienna and recruit some cannons for the defence of Budapust. Or would you rather me do something else?
Count Lorenz.
I can confirm the walls of Budapest have been repaired. Well done!!
Now the three of you need to make it back to Budapest and regroup.
There is another Hungarian force approaching and it will be on you immediately.
Lets wait and see what the Hungarian's do next before pre-empting your movements.
Duke Arnold.
Karl Zirn:
My Duke I would like to advise that things have temporarily stabilized in the Budapest Region. Your commanders are in agreement with the action plan. We will regroup in Budapest proper and I would like to have Young Zirn to travel to Vienna to pick up the cannon that we will need. We will continue the recruitment drive.
I would also like to commend you for publicly stating that reconciliation is possible with the Count of Prague. I have privately stated to Becker that I respect his position has a noble but not his current action. This is difficult times for the House and the Reich and I am happy to see that past mistakes can be forgiven in order to promote peace and prosperity.
I pray the Count uses this time for thought and reflection and that a positive and peaceful outcome can be reached when the time is right.
Arnold:
Lord Zirn.
Excellent news my friend.
I will leave the details of the region up to you. Lorenz has certainly done well in the past years so his move to Vienna would be appropriate to recruit and gain more units.
As I mentioned I will raise as many troops as possible and send them to you this year. The Venetian's are rapidly approaching so I will be besieged very soon.
Keep me informed so we can co-ordinate the situation for the best possible solution.
I wrote to Becker asking for a meeting some years back. He agreed to the meeting, however the situation in Ragusa has unfortunately meant that is not possible.
I certainly can't abide by his timing and I do believe he has unnecessarily endangered the House because of his actions and forsaken his oath. Right now times are extreme so I do not wish to make a decision based on emotion, but these are serious issues that we must resolve.
As long as you can hold Budapest then we can speak to Becker as a group at a later stage. If you and Lorenz can speak to him then I would think that would be wise at this time.
If he was to reaffirm his allegiance and join us we could in fact begin to push the Hungarian’s back.
Have you any word regarding Karolinger and Tancred? Have they spoken to you?
Duke Arnold
Karl:
As I have mentioned my Duke we are in agreement at command in Budapest. Karolinger as graciously offered his services till the Hungarian menance is neutralized. I have have not corresponded with Tancred but if he wishes to aid us in this area I feel he would replace Karolinger who wishes to return home when the opportunity arises.
We will review our options.
Arnold
Excellent Lord Zirn.
Please keep me informed of the tactical situation as it arises.
Duke Arnold
OOC: God I just love saying crap like that :laugh4: