Battle of Lurching Tower

Military action

The armies of Thrane secure the Lurching Tower, threatening to expand deeper into Breland

The forces of Thrane that crossed the Brey River, christened the Silver Legion, consisted of 2,000 cavalry, 6,000 regular foot, 1,000 heavy pikes, 2,000 levied irregular archers, and 16 bombards and trebuchets. This force was buttressed by two detachments of the Argent Order, an additional 2,000 troops. In all, the forces of Thrane numbered 13,000.   Arriving at Lurching Tower, Thalin’s general sought entry as an “allied” force. The Brelish commander refused to yield, and Thrane’s forces declared that Cyran sympathizers had corrupted the garrison. They deployed for a series of assaults. The defenders fought bravely and defended their walls well. Still, few survived the two days it took for relief forces to arrive.   Cyre brought forth three major bodies of troops: 2,000 elf mercenaries, 1,500 dragoons, and more than 4,000 light footmen, all of which arrived by lightning rail at Starilaskur. Brelish troops amounted to 2,000 heavy horse, 500 dragoons, 1,400 light archers and 1,200 foot of the Starilaskur garrison, and 400 mercenary crossbowmen.   They were backed by the First Metrol Wands, an elite spellcasting unit. In total, Cyre and Breland mustered more than 14,000 troops. Although the combined Cyran–Brelish army outnumbered the forces of Thrane, it suffered from having two coequal commanders, Field Marshal Tarrah for the Cyrans and General Alida on the Brelish side. The two agreed on little, and the army suffered for their pride. The Brelish commander wanted to engage the enemy immediately, and pushed for a heavy cavalry charge at first light. The more casualty-conscious Field Marshal Tarrah preferred maneuver, taking advantage of the superior Cyran and Brelish arcanists and archers. He proposed a softening up through bombardment, targeted at the Thrane front lines of foot and archers. In the end, no joint plan of action was devised.   At first, it didn’t seem to matter. The Brelish charge threw the Thrane lines into confusion. Combined with a supporting Cyran barrage, the magebred-mounted knights achieved a breakthrough, which the infantry exploited. The battle was almost won for the southern kingdoms when, heedless of their own lives, the soldiers of the Argent Order fought into range of the First Metrol Wands and decimated them. The Brelish left flank began to collapse, but the discipline and quick thinking of the Cyran dragoons kept it from being a rout. Heavily mauled, both sides withdrew to their original positions before sunset.   Under the cover of night, Thrane slipped the remaining 1,000 Argent Order veterans into the small Arresh Woods. In the morning, as the forces clashed, the Argent Order struck the Cyran left flank and sent it reeling. Despite heroic efforts by Field Marshal Tarrah, the fury of the Aerenal mercenaries, and the remaining First Metrol Wands, the flanking maneuver could not be stopped. The Brelish and Cyran lack of coordination hurt as well; each commander expected the other to throw reserves at the problem. By sunset, more than 1,600 Brelish and 650 Cyrans were dead or captured.   The Cyran and Brelish forces retreated during the second night in good order, though their numbers had been reduced by a third. The next morning, Thrane secured Lurching Tower, threatening to expand its reach ever deeper into Breland.