Battle of The Crowned Princes

Horns blared and signal-flags waved on the Commonwealth left flank, prompting the cavalry to disengage from their fight and pull back. Behind they left the Commonwealth roundshiers to keep the enemy zealots tied up in melee, while arrows continued to pour in despite the mix of friends and foes. The fight dragged on, ever favoring the better-organized Sefti-Cerdigonians, yet the Navarenese still refused to flee until, finally, they found themselves visibly outnumbered and beginning to get surrounded. By then, the roundshiers were too tired to react quickly when the archers on all sides organized a great volley, practically burying them in arrows. Flanked, disorganized, and tired, the infantry lost the will to keep fighting and broke. Some were picked off as they ran, and a few groups followed and isolated by their faster foes, but most either simply surrendered or escaped.

At least they had covered for the cavalry, who had formed up in good order and rode in a great mass. They dutifully endured the rain of arrows now pouring in from what used to be their own comrades' skirmish line, suffering on the ride back much as they had the ride forward. Yet, some things were beyond enduring. When not mundane but magic arrows, burning with heat and deathly energy, hailed upon the cavalry in thousands, most of the formation could not help but melt away. The injuries were uncountable. Those hussars and dragoons still able scattered in all directions. Only the superbly-disciplined Sefti House Cavalry rode on and arrived to aid their Prince against the berserker onslaught. They were joined by the equally well-drilled Sefti Pike Guards, and together they began to push the enemy back.

Without the force of their initial momentum, the berserkers began to find themselves increasingly isolated into pockets amidst the better-organized enemy. Incapable of fear, they fought on like wild beasts, but they were beginning to lose the fight. Yet, they dragged the fight on. Another hail of (un)holy fire fell upon the melee, cutting down some of the berserkers but mostly landing “true” on its intended enemies. In the chaos, despite the help of his most elite soldiers, Rhys could find no avenue of escape. It dragged further on, and yet another rain of magic arrows littered the field with yet more hundreds of grueling burns and screams.

Perhaps then the hidden warmage was too tired to go on, or perhaps the enemy commander was simply impatient. Regardless, the Navarenese troops still in the forest poured out in a great charge to support the berserkers. Not only rangers, but several-hundred Sylphs in elaborate forest-brown armor flying a flag that drew the eyes of friend and foe alike: The banner of King Pedro!

From there, the battle in the center was more or less decided. Their numbers severely cut down, their bodies exhausted, and their formations worn out by protracted battle, Prince Rhys' defenders simply could not withstand so many fresh troops, let alone led by the King of Navaren and his fierce retainers. The Commonwealth cannons, which had managed a few last half-hearted barrages into Diego's center, were quickly enveloped and overrun. Elite troops' skill grew ineffectual as they were surrounded and divided into small groups.

One by one, Commonwealth heroes began to fall. First Duke Agricola, cornered and hacked down by a berserker's blade. Then Geralt Hightower, impaled and thrown to the ground by a spear from King Pedro's personal guard. Then Elder Zwerkir Miercail and Zwerkir Maxen, cornered by a group of Rangers. Only Prince Rhys seemed to avoid injury, dodging and parrying to and fro like a wild sprite while felling foes with calculated strikes. Yet, even he was not invincible. An unknown club from amidst the chaotic melee bashed into his shoulder with a gut-wrenching crack, sending the Prince down to the ground amidst flails and cries of pain. By some stroke of luck or blessing from above, he was swiftly grabbed by his retainers and taken onto a horse, and this time an opening for escape was finally found. With enemies afoot and arrows flying in relentlessly, it was later said that nine horses fell from under him and some eleven brave soldiers died before those who would ultimately carry him home.

Prince Rhys Sefti might not have made it still, were it not for the heroic actions on the Commonwealth's right flank. There, finding themselves surrounded, Commonwealth infantry put up a brave fight that was ultimately futile in saving themselves or doing much damage to the enemy, but indispensable in saving their lord commander.

Grenadiers, ever slowed by arrows, stubbornly rushed to the other end of the formation to put up a rear-guard defense against the Andalusian Rangers now attacking the mass from behind. Their drills were greatly impeded by enemy fire, and by the sheer number of losses they had taken, but they went on loading and shooting and even throwing grenades despite the enemy's distance. Meanwhile, pikes and swords massed together and charged at Diego's line of longbows...only to hit nothing but air. In classic Navarenese fashion, the line had simply “jumped” back on its wings. This time, however, they left a line of roundshiers in front. A second desperate, tired charge finally connected the Commonwealth infantry to their foes in the form of the pagan roundshier line, but with arrows whizzing in in the thousands from three directions as Diego's left flank longbows, his center longbows, and King Pedro's right flank Rangers all pounded at the Commonwealth infantry with volley after volley.

The first to break were the roundshiers, lacking in the professional discipline of their comrades. Then came the grenadiers, unarmored and already under half their original strength. They broke shortly after Zwerkir Vertiox, their great encourager in the fight, was pincushioned by four arrows. The Fifth and Sixth Regiments of Pike Guards, however, would go down in history for fighting very nearly to the death. Deadlocked with the enemy roundshiers, the exhausted troops fought on for a half-hour “in the rain,” distracting the enemy while their wounded liege passed by. Only a handful would surrender; the rest fell and either died on the ground or were captured as invalids.

So it was that the Commonwealth Royal Army witnessed its greatest disaster since the Fifteen Years' War. The heir to the Commonwealth throne lived, but every person of note he had brought with him fell. As for the army, it was all-but destroyed. Even most of those who fled the field were eventually killed or captured after the battle by the Andalusian Rangers, reknowned for their speed and endurance. King Pedro would return to Navaren on a train nearly bursting with prisoners and camp loot.

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NOTES (Known to both participants):
-- Navaren GREAT VICTORY: +5 Splendor for Navaren and -5 Splendor for Commonwealth for the next 4 turns.
-- Crown Prince Rhys is INJURED (retinue unavailable for 2 turns, small chance of condition worsening)
-- Duke Agricola (Explorer) DIES
-- All other retinues in the Commonwealth Royal Army are MISSING (presumed dead or captured)