The company of Trithereon

First blood, 2. Flocktime 582 C.Y.

The first light of morning hit the battlements; Uzkol was not happy, not happy at all. Five weeks ago a party of humies had killed all but six of the Boar boyz manning the guard post, including warboss Ghar, and after that disappeared back to the hills.
The Falcon had not been pleased, the remaining Boar boyz or their mounts had not been seen since they were taken to interrogation. Uzkol suppressed an involuntary shiver when he thought what could have happened to them, surely it would be better to fall in combat than disappoint their mistress. The force guarding the entrance to the valley had been upgraded from the usual 20 warriors to 40 of Uzkol's finest, and he had felt confident that they could take anything the humies had to offer, but he hadn't taken in to account that they could bring catapults...

Captain Alant Gravaille looked at his units, a hundred men armed with swords and shields, twenty fierce dwarf axemen in their chain mails, two light catapults dragged by oxes, and felt proud, they would not betray their employers, well at least not as long as they paid the wages. He cleared his throat and gave the order: " Support battery, target orc scum on the roof, fire at will !" At the same time he could hear Lieutenant Ergier shouting march orders to the infantry, "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war"- he thought, there would be no mercy today.

After half an hour the battle was over, it had been an easy victory. The orcs, seeing the futility of staying in the guard post had foolishly opened the gates and tried to attack, only to be smashed by the stones hurled by Borshim's catapults. Sergeant Odard had begun to appreciate the surly dwarven Engineer Lieutenant and his crew, oh yes, it would definitely be worth while to stay in good graces of the dwarf.
He looked at the boys picking trophies from the green skinned corpses, and making jokes. This had been their first real battle and they felt invincible because of the easy outcome, no casualties on their side. Soon they would learn that the fortunes of war are changing, Lieutenant had briefed the under officers some minutes ago, it seemed that a larger force was heading their way, and this one seemed to include spell casters.

Tried and true, 2nd Flocktime 582 C.Y.

The fight had been hard. Captain Gravaille

Now they know, thought the sergeant. The cries of the wounded were ringing in his ears. Nearly half of the company was dead and half again that number was wounded. They had been victorious though. The orcs themselves had not been a match to the brave men of the company, but the dark sorcerers and witches working for the opposing force would have destroyed them all unless their employers would not have prevailed against them with the sorceries of their own.

Capitan Gravaille savored the moment, victory! It had been too long since he had been doing what he did best, lead men in warfare. The victory had been hard winned, and the implications were grave. Their employers had found a maze of caves below the castle they now had control over. There was no certainty over the number of troops possibly hiding in there. He would withdraw his men to the fortified guardhouse which they comfortably hold against a larger force. He paused for a moment to reflect on the term "employer" and how his life had changed, from a celebrated hero of Furyondy to a mercenary Capitan. The current bunch seemed to be honorable enough, they were taking good care of the people working for them. "Group leaders, gather here" he shouted, better start to move to the guardhouse, on an after though the leaned towards his retainer and said "after I have given my orders please gather the list of casualties and prepare a plan of what is needed to bring us back to full strength. Oh yes, and take stock invetory as well. Somehow Ihave the feeling that we are going to stay here for a while".