Sunday, August 18, 2013

Legends of War: Battle of Wensa Pass

Wensa Pass is an obscure mountain pass on the edge of Vissaria, which has a population of barely five hundred. In years past, it was used as a trading route between the Dwarfs and the Satyrs, but a massive Goblin Warband destroyed the trading posts long ago and there have been no further attempts to use it as such. The rocky conditions of the pass make it very poor for growing crops, and the frequent earthquakes have prevented any meaningful attempts at mining. For this reason, there has only been a single minor estate and a only three small villages under the control of the Altium family, who attempted a failed revolt at the founding of Vissaria. Lacking the manpower to raise armies or the resources to hire mercenaries, the Wensa Pass has been an obscure curiosity for almost a thousand years.

However, Wensa Pass does indirectly have an important role Vissarian military affairs, as it is the only unguarded path to Seltem. In an attempt to cripple the Vissarian ability to respond to attacks, Da Dred Perat Robsya decided to destroy the College of Knights, and with it, the Vissarian's ability to raise effective knights. Using Goblin "mercenaries", Robsya proped the outer defences for Seltem, and determined that the College was far enough away from the border that they would have ample time to respond to the Trolls attack. Attempting to swing around and attack the providence from the East or North would mean having to go through other Vissarian Providences, which would mean that he would need a force five times the size of the one he had just to keep an open line of retreat. While poring over his map, a Goblin under Robsya's "employment" reported on the overall weakness of Wensa Pass, which Robsya had originally dismissed as it involved going through Dwarf territory.

And then Da Dred Perat Robsya got a wonderful idea: He could attack Dwarven cities en-route to the College, burn it to the ground, and then leave through the Dwarven territory again. In addition, he could leave behind dead Dwarfs and thus convince Vissaria that the Dwarfs were behind the attack. Before the Dwarfs could explain, the Vissarians would retaliate and lead to full scale war between the two sides. Distracted by the war, Robsya would be able, nay hired, to raid settlements, ships, and ports far away from the battle zones. On the first of Yuletide 1893 a.d.c., Robsya launched his attack.

At first the plan was going perfectly, as Goblins screened their movement in Dwarf territory, and Robsya obliterate looted several outposts. Unfortunately, one of the outposts was housing a Dwarf merchant named Rulstd Kargin, who managed to escape to the Altium estate. Alerted to the Trolls presence, Iliz Altium dispatched a messenger to the College of Knights to alert them. The day before the Trolls entered the Pass, Altium was informed that, quite politely, that no Trolls would be dumb enough to attack Seltem through Dwarven territory. Without reinforcements, Iliz Altium had only one-hundred and eighty peasants to fend off almost twelve-thousand Trolls.

Deciding that a frontal attack would suicide, Altium decided to use the mountainous terrain to their advantage, and set up numerous ambushes along the path. For an unprecedented nine days, Altium and his peasants managed to not only kill almost a thousand Trolls, but also prevented them from advancing. Enraged at the mounting costs, Robsya ordered almost half of his "mercenaries" to scour the mountains for them. Despite never catching Altium's band, the Goblins did distract them long enough for the Trolls to advance into Seltem; and a Vissarian army which had been organized in response to the reports of fighting from Wensa Pass. While Robsya did manage to rout the Vissarians, the casualties he had suffered were too high, and the Goblins had reported Dwarf forces mobilizing.

Not wanting to have his lines of retreat cut off, Robsya called the attack off and headed back through Wensa Pass. During the retreat, copies of Robsya's plans were captured, and the full importance of Altium's defense became apparent. Combined with the fact that Altium lost only a dozen peasants and managed to kill about one-hundred more Trolls during their retreat, and the Altium family instantly went from disgraced to honored above all others. As for Da Dred Perat Robsya, he returned to the Blasted Desert to discover that other Trolls were taking over his territory. To this day, Robsya is still fighting to regain the power he had before the Battle of Wensa Pass.