Siegfried van Baellinger, Lord of Elandirill

The van Baellinger family rose to nobility through shrewed financial skills and a sense for oportunity during the third century of the Realm, yet they never were able to hold any significant land. For the majority of the time they also were satisfied to just sell and buy minor lands and focus on their accumulations of wealth. This changed in 439 YoU as rumors reached Siegfried, who kept with the family traditions of being a significant financial household within the Realm.
Yet the news of a new trade route through the old ruins of Elandirill raised his interest. He knew that the land was on paper part of the Realm as it was claimed to be human territory after the war between the Hegemony of Fire and the Elven Empire, but it was never successfully colonized as each attempt ended being overrun by undead. This also made most people wary in investing in further attempts, though a trade route through this lands could become a important land connection to the Blood Coast, especially for Rafalquor thus shifting the power even within the Realm itself.
Siegfried was fast to act on this news. He bought the rights to the land of the actual owners before the information spread and those became aware of the value those suddenly would have. He also made sure his rights would be confirmed by the court of the Maiden in Eversted before further investigating who actually was holding the lands. When he found out that Alvery Vestergaard, a half elf from the Realm, had declared herself duchess of Elandirill he started his next step of the plan and searched for allies to enforce his rights.
He quickly found help from the respected elven warrior Fildarel Sannadall who supported the idea of elves working together with humans to make sure the Realm would flourish. She was eager to join Siegfried when she found out that the Vestergaard-Artanis family was 'stealing' the land as Keijo Artanis, Alvery's half-brother, was hunted for fighting on the side of the Hiynduril Forest elves against the Realm. Fildarel wanted to prove that not all elves were foes of the Realm and thus joined Siegfried on his journey to Elandirill in 441 YoU and openly would support him from then on.
The journey though would turn out to be a failure. Even escorted by mercenaries of the Eagle company as well as Fildarel he failed to intimidate Alvery and her court. They also rejected the proposal for a trail by duel that Fildarel was offering, claiming that the morskani clansmen would not follow neither some papers from the Realm nor respect the results from a fight for sport. Siegfried promised to return, but the next time with an army to enforce his rights.
He spent the next months gathering support from nobles and veterans from the war in the west against the wood elves. Fildarel would prove to be very helpful in gaining support from elven warriors within the Realm as many elves were appauled by Alvery's rejection to even grant Fildarel an honor duel after being offened by the Artanis court.
All this efforts would meet a harsh setback in 442 YoU as king Nanamir III invited Alvery Vestergaard to the ball the night before the yearily council meeting - an event where all lords and council members would gather to talk politics before the official meeting. Here Alvery dominated the evening when the official Lord of Elandirill and the unofficial duchess talked in a small ciricle with the lord protector as well as several arch mages. Also before and afterwards she managed to gain the respect - if not military support - of many important lords and ladys. But the evening would go even worse as Dorn Brashard, Alvery's morskani companion, challenged Fildarel to the duel she wanted. The fight would happened the next morning before the council meeting and it would end with an embarassing defeat, where the elven warrior was knocked unconscious after being tossed around the fighting ground.
Despite all these defeats Siegfried was not willing to give up. Relying on his financial power and rallying those veterans from the western frontier war he was pushing for the next confrontation with Alvery. He even hired a ship to sink her if she tried to return to Elandirill from Eversted on the Lake of the Lady.

The campaign to hire more volunteers or mercenaries for his army continued to be plagued by Alvery's allies. Even after the half elf left the city her weapon master remained and surprisingly confronted lord Baellinger during a speech at a known tavern, where most the patrons were hardened mercenaries. As Baellinger was appealing to their hunger for riches and glory, Dorn appeared out of the shadows and intimidated the lord and his audience. Face to face with the man that successfully defeated the Prince, demons and just days ago humilated Baellinger's champion most lost interest to go up against those defending Elandirill. Things in Eversted got worse over the next month as one of the most prominent bards of the city - the aasimar Rashja - sang songs reminding the nobles and rich merchants of Alvery's fights and successes against demons and there champions. With Eversted's pool of recruits being thus poisened Baellinger was forced to turn elsewhere.
His attempt to attract loyal servants of the Realm also failed when he reached out to Bran van Sparkhammer and Larissa van Bleuys. The two young nobles had formed a small fighting force of veterans from the last goblin invasion in the east, yet Bran firmly rejected any offer claiming that their duty was to protect the southern frontier.
Another desperate attempt was made by Baellinger when he sent out three recruiters to the now declared independent region of the Far Lands. He wanted them to mainly focus on hiring orcs who just settled there who previously also had fought against the goblins. Yet by the end of summer when his forces were gathering outside of Eversted neither the recruiters nor any merecenaries from the Far Lands arrived.
As less and less volunteers could be found more and more money went towards mercenaries of the Eagle Banner. Yet there was also one source of warriors that wasn't expected appeared - as the Realm and the elves of the Hiyndurill forest started peace talks many soldiers from that campaign were suddenly without work and at the same time easily to rally to a cause where they could take vengance against elves and separatists. While no famous champion of the Realm was willing to join Baellinger was able to recruit three dozen knights and two hundred veterans of the war.
When his force finally gathered he found himself at the top of 150 mercenaries of the Eagle Banner, lead by their commander Gardibhaal d'Arrth himself, 200 mercenaries, mostly members of the 'Duke's Free Men' under the command of Lukasz van Simmen, two dozen elves following Fildarel Sannadall and nearly 700 militia men willing to join the campaign against Elandirill. Most of these were men who served in the war against the Hiyndurill Forest elves like the knights.

Setting out in autum the army marched south until Xander's Market before turning west towards Elandirill. The journey was met with local interest, but not much support from the Realm due to Alvery's diplomatic efforts. Yet the expectations were clearly that Baellinger would have the men power to overrun the little village - and he was hard pressed to do so as maintaining the army was financially draining. Most of the militia men were expecting to get farmland in the new conquered territory. Also he promised that anything taken from elves could be kept.
The first weeks on the march were calm which even continued once the army left Xander's Market and started to travers the plains east of their target. Knowing about the rumors of undead wandering those plains the army stayed on the road used by merchants and traverls, though only indivudals could be seen there as merchants were awaiting for the conflict to become bloody. After the first few days of no resistance met many in the army started to suspect that the defenders of Elandirill would hunker down behind the walls of the once fortified town. Some even started planning for the chance to pillage the settlements around the village unmolested. Only Gardibhaal's Eagle Company didn't lower their vigilance and kept a disciplined guard around Baellinger and around the supplied train as well.
On the fifth night camping on the road to Elandirill the real war started. With most soldiers lured to overconfidence and a false sense of security after days of not seeing a single enemy guard, Baellinger's army would be hit and hit hard. Several small teams, nearly five dozen in total, attacked the supply train during the night. While most soldiers were sleeping or drunk, only the guards of the Eagle Banner were able to rapidly respond as they were stationed around the carts. Yet even their disciplined and well trained stand was no match for the concentrated onslaught unleashed on them. Alvery Vestergaard, her elite companions and elves appeared out of nowhere, killing guards, burning carts and supplies, before disappearing into the night again. The sudden and brutal hit was executed swiftly giving Baelinger's troops no time to react in force.
The next morning the extend of the tragedy became obvious. Nearily all the supply carts had been lost. Troops left only with what food they were bearing on themselves. A third of the Eagle Banner soldiers was dead or wounded as well as nearily a hundred militia men. The loses though were less of an issue than the knowledge that they wouldn't be able to feed the army for long. Discussions errupted if a return to resupply at Xander's Market was necessary. While some argued for it, Fildarel pointed out that they would just lose time and they would end up being ambushed the next time. Several agreed and suggested to push on and force the matter. Once they reached the town they could pillage the land around it and maybe the show of force would be anyhow enough to break the moral of the pressumed one to two hundred defenders.
The next night the guards were on high alert, yet nothing happened. The nights rest lured some into the false sense of security while others spent the night in terror afraid of the next ambush against enemies they couldn't see, but could see them. Only the most disciplined or experienced troops remained calm.
On the seventh day of the journey shortly before the evening the enemy once again appeared. Using the daylight elven rangers started to harass the army from the distance with their longbows. The knights of the Realm recognized the danger, knowing that their own crossbowmen would be outranged and outskilled. Against Gardibhaal's and Fildarel's advice to stay together the knights mounted a charge relying on their horses to make up the distance to the two dozen elves. As the knights charged the elves fell back, both groups disappearing into the hills south of the road. None of the knights would return.
The eight night would once again see the camp under attack. Baellinger's officers were already in disagreement and moral was low although the majority stayed at this side. Yet deserters were noticed and supplies running dangerously low. Some soldiers ate the back up horses the knights had brought alonge once it became evident that those knights would not return. Infighting among officers as well as among troops was spreading. With two peaceful nights gone by though many lowered again their guard until battle noises started to spread in the middle of the night. This time it was the elven encampment under Fildarel's command that was raided. The events of the night were not even clear on the next day. It appeared that even the elves were surprised by the attackers that came in close unnoticed. Other parts of the camp were also engaged in skirmished to deter anyone from helping Fildarel's troop. The result though was bloody and among the loses were nearly all elves including Fildarel, while once again barely any of the aggressors were killed or even captured.
With moral at its lowest and one more day without fighting Baellinger's army finally reached Elandirill on the tenth day. The force was exhausted, hungry and demoralised. Significant parts of its units either just depleated or completely lost. Out of more than a thousand men only two thirds had reach the point to actually lay sight on the town of Elandirill on the day of battle.
Baellinger's desparation was growing, but it calmed down once he saw that the enemy awaiting them was less than two hundred warriors. Talking with his remaining officers they expected to be able to overcome the foe by attrition if not skill and morals. Therefore Gardibhaal suggested to keep his force as a last line, protecting Baellinger, while the militia and in turn the western mercenaries would overwhelm Alvery's army.
At first the battle seemed to go according to plan. Baellinger watched from his horse his forces spread out and move towards the enemy. The small army of defenders, mostly appearing to be lightly armed clan warriors marched as a block towards his men. Things though went side ways soon as from right before the two armies clashed an ambush appeared. Hidden in a small group of trees wood evels emerged and broke an opening into Baellinger's lines. At the same time arcane and divine magic appeared to be used all across the frontline and his left flank. Lighting struck his ranks in the middle softening them up right before heavier shock infantry broke the militia and crashed hard into his veteran lines. The left flank, consisting of more than a hundred militia men and a couple of dozen veterans was torn appart by what seemed to be just two enemies with a dozen elves staying behind.
Baelinger couldn't believe what he was seeing. In a few minutes his first line collapsed. He saw one of his officers disappear in a dark sphere of black - once the sphere was gone his champion as well as a dozen of his men lay struck on the ground. A single elven warrior tore a bloody gap on the right flank before he cut down Lukasz van Simmen. The whole front faltered under the pressure of the barely more than a hundred clan warriors. As his second line of veterans started to ready themselves for the incoming charge fireballs exploded in their ranks, fired from a hill, breaking the formation, burning the heavily armored warriors and exposing them to the incoming attack.
Gardibhaal's men stayed calm defending a last perimeter around Baellinger on a hill to keep an overview of the situation. Though not a strategic mastermind Baellinger realised that the battle wasn't going in their favor. Even as the forces kept the majority of the clan warriors back individual groups made it through the lines. He could even recognize Alvery and her weapon master leading the charge towards the hill just moments before again a sphere of pure blackness appeared infront of him and engulfed Gardibhaal and his retinue. Lightnings kept stirking amidst the Eagle Banner lines and he could hear thunder boom within the sphere of darkness infront of him as more and more clan warriors clashed into the last line of defense. Yet nothing surpassed the horror of suddenly hearing Alvery's voice behind his ear whispering to him.
The next moment he felt himself falling of the horse. The half elven warrior on top of him. Her sword slicing through his armor and chest. He didn't had the time to understand what was happening as divine energy spreading from the blade burned his very soul and his world turned black.
Baellinger's body lay there with an 'E' cut into his chest. Alvery standing victorious at the very heart of her enemies army after appearing out of nowhere, with no sound. None of the guards had even realized what is happening until confronted with that sight and from that moment on the panic spread ending Lord's Baellinger's campaign to retake Elandirill.

Current Location

Eversted

Ethnicity

Human - Elkani

Life

399 Y.o.U. 442 Y.o.U. 43 years old

Circumstances of Death

During the Battle of Elandirill, Alvery Vestergaard suddenly appeared behind him and cut his chest open.

Place of Death

Elandirill