The Brittlestone Mine

Military action

first action in Vespilli campaign 1

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The excitement in the ranks was palpable despite facing the unknown. The miners and their guardians were unsuspecting of an attack, this gave the Kingdom’s initial push a huge advantage and they gained some impetus. The miners and their guards though were frighteningly quick to recover from the initial onslaught despite heavy losses. It became rapidly apparent that these “miners” had a much better than average grasp on all things martial…

The brief pause gave him a chance to rest tired muscles, breathing deeply had been a mistake in this dark, dank, smoke filled place – he stifled the cough that wanted to rip through his lungs, the hint of sulphur, human waste, sweat, fear and the ever present stench of death – oh, not just those he’d slaughtered to enter this nightmare place – oh no, this place had an old, very, very old stench of decay, misery and demise. Well he thought to himself, enough time to rest later, he forced himself back to his feet and turned to push further into the enemy mines. There were noises about him now, familiar noises of his comrades at arms exercising all of the skills of their chosen profession. Nechtan shrugged his shoulders to loosen the slight knot in them and broke into a trot, shield and sword at the ready. The enemy hit them from two sides, they’d been ready though. The shield formation to the right was where Nechtan had placed himself and despite the furious rush by these fearsome enemy combatants – the shield wall held. Not only held, pushed forward to hold an opening in the passages. Nechtan blocked and cut or thrust with his blade, sometimes feeling the bite of blade into flesh, sometime the thud of a shield, the shock of a blade or a mere swing through the air… He felt surprisingly relaxed and began to fight in a very calculated manner, as the wall pushed forward. Trelor had positioned himself near the flank and began taking as many shots as he could with his bow. He laughed on occasion, the enemy back ranks, in their fervour to get at the front lines left the open to the archery attacks from Trelor and other missile skirmishers. Trelor paused to check the left flank. He moved a few steps towards it for a better look – the battle raged there also, Trelor froze when he saw the initial effects of magic hitting the Kingdom front rank – the burst of flame from out of nowhere was unmistakable.

Spotting one whom was most likely a mage, Trelor loosed a shot. It was a long shot. He hit his mark, but only just with the arrow not lodging. It was enough though, the mage figure leapt back and away from the front line. Trelor then noticed the old mage hunter lurch forward and effortlessly “, who was taken completely unawares and appeared to wither and die. The left then descended into brawling close quarters fighting with neither side giving ground. An arrow whizzing past his head brought Trelor’s attention back to his own flank. They had lost a little ground against tough resistance. Trelor watched his hired sword rallying the front line and tearing into the enemy with seemingly boundless fury. Trelor began to knock and loose arrow after arrow until his quiver was spent.   They pushed forward. It felt like hours, but in reality they fought solidly for about thirty or forty minutes. No one in the Kingdom force was unscathed and the losses to gain this section of the mine had been heavy. This enemy they had found was indeed both ferocious and formidable. A moment to catch a breath and then time to push on.


The dig-site was where their rough map said it was… The fight to get inside it though was relentless. It quickly became apparent that for every single one of the myriad tunnels leading to this section of the mine there were miners and the tougher fighters guarding them. The more they killed the more that came it seemed. Trelor and the skirmishers were mainly keeping the outer corridors free of interference. Whilst the remaining force concentrated on clearing the central dig-site and mining carts of ore, it was hard going whether fighting or mining (or transporting the ore to the surface). They were almost overwhelmed more than once. Eventually deciding that enough was enough, it was Nechtan who began to round up fighters for a fighting withdrawal to keep and protect what they’d relieved from the current owners. The withdrawal from the mines was absolute precision. The miners were by now incensed that they had been robbed and, although they fought with the irrational fury of wild beasts, the calmly disciplined fighters withdrawing in good order quickly blunted their fury. A few small skirmishes ensued upon reaching the surface again, and soon, they party was on their way south. Bruised, battered and bloody, they had taken the gold they came for (of course it is never enough) and, despite their losses, lived to tell the tale. Nechtan whistled tunelessly to himself as he marched, smiling towards his next job.