488 - INVASION OF FRANKLAND

General Summary

Setting: The fleet, the coast of Gaul, and the city of Bayeaux.

Problem: Invasion! War! This is no problem; this is what we live for!
Characters: Prince Madoc, the British army; the Soisson Roman army, the defenders of Bayeaux.
Events: The fleet loads, waiting for the right tide and wind combination. (Stress this period of waiting. It happens every time someone tries to cross the British Sea — i.e., the modern English Channel). The fleet sails.

The player knights overheard Prince Madoc talking to his household... Etc.) Finally, the nobles are loud enough that knights can learn something with an Awareness roll. (Success = they hear the prince slam his hand on the table and say, “Four weeks or one city, no more.”) The council falls silent. Ask the knights if they will speak about what they heard. How did it make them feel? If anyone makes reference to or acts in accordance with an appropriate Trait, his knight gets a check. If the player knights actually ask anyone who was at the Council what was said, the noble becomes coldly distant, playing the Courtesy card. “The Prince’s council is not to be shared…” he says, and your knight knows he means to say, “…with mere knights.” Yes, the player has overstepped the bounds of familiarity (Even if speaking with Earl Roderick). Solutions: Do your job, Sir Knight.

The army lands when a bunch of barefooted mercenary Irish kerns wade ashore from one of the ships. When some buildings on shore start burning, the smaller ships tie anchor and foot troops go ashore in small boats. The fleet weighs anchor and sails to a tiny fishing village nearby. Port Bessen.
Next dawn, there is the signal at the village, and the ships move one by one to the little fishing pier to unload. It takes four days to unload the rest of the foot soldiers, and Earl Roderick then the knights. By the time they and their horses are off, it has been a week.
small skirmishes. Frankish warriors (below)
They see Praetor Syagrius of Soissons ride off.
They can see that the engineers have already been chopping down trees to make large siege engines.

The army marches to Bayeaux and lays siege to the city. (About 2 miles away)

Player knights must wait to do a number of things here, such as escorting the Praetor as he rides through his old lands and rallies troops to throw out the evil Franks.

They might be in a skirmish with some local

The encounter: Frankish Forces

the setup: This encounter will happen in town with builds and cobble stone streets, streets are roughly 20 feet wide, with small alley ways on both sides. The streets have people moving about (away from the knights) 4 GROUPS of 4 people are in between the knights and some Frankish soldiers down the street. The peasants yell and scream as the knights enter the street...they curse you! some start to pick up rocks and sticks (brooms, forks, etc.)

The Frankish Skirmish

Frankish Warrior 16 on foot. Encounter glory (80) leather armor (60d ea=960) and shield (3d ea=48). spears (1d ea=16) and short sword (50d ea= 800). total value= 1824d (7L and 12s) Warriors may run away, give up, or may fight to the death - Forgiving/Vengeful, Merciful/Cruel, or Prudent/Reckless checks.

shield; Unconscious 8; Major Wound 14; Knockdown 16.
Hit Points 30; Healing Rate 3; Damage 4d6.
Combat Skills: Axe 14, Javelin 13, Spear 13.
Skills: Awareness 15, Boating 12, Swimming 10.
Traits: Valorous 12.
Passions: Honor 10.

Maybe they guard foraging parties that collect food, or maybe come upon a Frankish temple (they worship the same gods as the Saxons) and can pillage for treasures.

Saxon Temple

Maybe they come upon a bunch of defiant but helpless Franks who spit on the knights and slap their horses’ noses.

(This can be a good encounter for Forgiving/Vengeful, Merciful/Cruel, or Prudent/Reckless checks.)
Farmer SIZ 8, DEX 9, STR 12, CON 10, APP 8; Move 4; Armor 1; Unconscious 5; Major Wound 10; Knockdown 8; Hit Points 18; Healing Rate 2; Damage 3d6. Combat Skills: Mace 8 (using club, –1d6). Skills: Faerie Lore 5, First Aid 10, Folk Lore 12, Hunting 2, Industry 10, Stewardship 8. Traits: Valorous 5.

In any case, at some point Prince Madoc orders an assault on the city. Archers concentrate their arrow fire, and the kerns rush the wall with ladders and swarm over.

They start to get one gate open, which is the one where Earl force awaits, but they are clearly having trouble. The player knights get a chance to be rash and rush in to save the day — or to die.

They must ride across the bridge and help get gate open, gate guards. this will be a hard-fought fight for the knights. Laddersfailfumblemake it to the gate house and open the gates. (50 glory) glory (Soldier (5 glory).

Knight (see knights below 120 glory defeat 1 per knight)
Knight
Archer SIZ 9, DEX 10, STR 10, CON 15, APP 10; Move 4; Armor 2; Unconscious 6; Major Wound 15; Knockdown 9; Hit Points 24; Healing Rate 2; Damage 3d6. Combat Skills: Bow 18 (3d6), Sword 8. Skills: Awareness 12, Hunting 8. Traits: Valorous 10.
Foot Soldier SIZ 10, DEX 10, STR 10, CON 13, APP 10; Move 3; Armor 6 + shield; Unconscious 6; Major Wound 13; Knockdown 10; Hit Points 23; Healing Rate 2; Damage 3d6. Combat Skills: Dagger 6, Spear 10, Sword 10. Skills: Awareness 10. Traits: Valorous 12.

Battering ram, the gate. command a group to RAM the gate with battering ram. arrows, oil, rocks from above. (100 glory)

Arrows Skill 12 - 3d6 -Crit does twice damage.
Arrows Skill 14 - 3d6 - Crit does twice damage
Rocks Skill 10 - 4d6 -Crit does twice damage.
you're

Something unexpected

entranceclimb.

Knight (guards at the gate) SIZ 14, DEX 11, STR 11, CON 14, APP 11; Move 2; Armor 10 + shield; Unconscious 7; Major Wound 14; Knockdown 14; Hit Points 28; Healing Rate 3; Damage 4d6; Glory 1,200. Combat Skills: Dagger 5, Lance 13, Spear 6, Sword 15; Battle 10, Horsemanship 10. Skills: Awareness 10, Courtesy 5, First Aid 10, Heraldry 5, Hunting 5, Tourney 10. Traits: Valorous 13. Passions: Loyalty (Lord) 15.

horse is available for knights in the courtyard, if the door is breached, they will charge!

Horse: Charger (6d6). In any case, the army gets into the walls and plunders the city. Knights all get £2d6+1 booty. Glory: 25 for being on the expedition; 50 Glory to be among the first assault to cross the breached wall. After the Assault The king’s loot is brought out by mule and oxcart, and then taken to the dockyard of Bayeaux, where the fleet has assembled. The sailors are all ashore getting drunk in the wharf front. The foot troops are carrying goods to the docks. Knights are, as usual, assigned to guard important installations and people. The player knights are fortunate to be off duty when Praetor Syagrius of Soissons rides in with his British escort (were these the player knights?) and twenty smartly uniformed and armored equites, riding through the city to meet the Prince. Do the knights watch this meeting with Madoc? Praetor Syagrius sees Madoc in the square and rides close to him, then dismounts dramatically as his fancy Roman bugler blasts away from his galloping horse. Praetor Syagrius kneels before Madoc, and with a loud and dramatic voice shout, “Battle awaits us, Sire! The Franks march on my army at Rouen. Let us meet them and destroy them as your father swore!” There is a moment of silence. “We will not,” says the prince, self-assured. “We have enemies at our borders and traitors in our west. We depart with the next tide.” Syagrius is dumbfounded. “Your father swore…” “I am not my father,” shrugs the prince regally. The praetor seethes a moment, but then rises heroically and cries out, in Latin. “Then Victory to the Honorable! We go and leave poison behind us.” He leaps onto his horse and rides away with his escort. Earl Roderick, watching from nearby, forbids any knights from going with Syagrius if they have such ideas. If they do go anyway, they can follow Syagrius to battle; regrettably, he loses the battle and, since the fleet will have sailed away, they are stranded on the continent. Those traitorous, deserting knights who went against the orders of their liege are Out of the Game. The army loads the ships with loot, horses, knights, and then footmen. The savage Irish kerns torch the city and come aboard as the flames sweep the entire waterfront, where the sailors slept last night. The fleet sails home. Ask the players what their knights say to each other when they are together, and again once they are out of earshot of anyone else.

Rewards Granted

Treasure - Temple

A silver bracelet with several charms with ruins on it (silver 200d) A small golden Cross with several gems on it (2L) A mummified child's hand (Hand of Glory ) An expensive charcoal drawing of a soldier and a woman (1L, 150S) Charcoal drawing: soldier and a woman A gold rope necklace (50s) made to hold the cross above. 187s random silver coins chest of 1300d leather bag of 40s

Pillaging:

GEMS: 2 Zircon (transparent pale blue green) Quartz (transparent white, smoky gray, or yellow) 2 Citrine (transparent pale-yellow brown) Jasper (opaque blue, black, or brown) 2 Sardonyx (opaque bands of red and white) Bloodstone (opaque dark gray with red flecks) Chalcedony (opaque white) total value = 50L valuables loose coins: 62d and 8s, 2d, A creature's scale-shark leather for weapon making. 4. an invitation to a wedding that happened a few weeks ago - Wulfram and Berna, The Saxon Temple 5. A brass ring -with strange writings on the inside. "Electeus" 6. three diamonds worth 30L each - large diamonds. Palfrey horse - leather armor (60d ea=960d) and shield (3d ea=48d). spears (1d ea=16d) and short sword (50d ea= 800). total value= 1824d = (7L and 12s)

Report Date

15 Sep 2022

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488 - INVASION OF FRANKLAND