The Sack of Ioskos

Military action

The Sack of Ioskos marked the final night of the crusade, as well as one of its most tragic. The crusaders laid siege to the city for only several hours before breaking through one of the gates. From there, they tore through the city straight for the palace of King Deretrides. The crusaders set upon the royal guards, and breached the palace proper. In the battle, both of the king's sons were slain at the hands of Tristyval who himself fell upon the spear of King Deretrides. Shortly thereafter, the furious brothers, Richelieu and Astav smote out what they could find of Deretrides kin, before slicing the ring free from the king's still living hand. At the end of the siege, a great seismological event caused half of the city to collapse into the sea, putting the battle to a most certain end.

The brothers had been loyal and effective vassals in their ally's quest to conquer the region. So in the time before the final battle, they had requested that the crusaders be allowed to start on the front lines of the siege. Their other request was to have first choice of King Deretrides' treasure, which was granted graciously for their loyalty. The siege went on for several hours. In a stroke of sheer luck, the southwestern gate of the city's hinge mechanism failed and the battering ram was able to break through. The crusaders poured into the city streets, opposed by hundreds of enemy soldiers. And though the fighting was fierce, Richelieu, Astav, and Tristyval were able to pass by the enemy's blockades along with a small retinue of others.   By midnight, the city was in total chaos, with the crusaders all dispersed amongst the city streets, and their Tiberoan allies continuing to pour into through the gate. The brothers had finally made it to the courtyard of the palace of King Deretrides. The soldiers held firm, but after an hour or two of fighting, their resolve broke. Those who were not killed, fled as the crusaders headed inside the palace. The royal guard proved to be tougher than the soldiers outside, and the crusaders were evenly matched. At some point, Richelieu headed back into the city streets in order to gather reinforcements for his brothers. While he was gone, King Deretrides' own sons came to their father's aid. Tristyval and Astav pit themselves against the two boys and their combat abilities were fierce. The fight lasted minutes, but it must have felt like hours to the boys. Tristyval was finally able to overpower his opponent, slaying him quickly before going to aid his brother, who was nearly about to be run through. In his haste, Tristyval slew the second opponent before making for the king's throne room.   In the throne room, Tristyval was struck with a sudden nausea, he had seen this place in his dream. This did not stop the youngest of the brothers, as he marched forth to his destiny. None were in the throne room save for Tristyval and King Deretrides, so no one knows exactly how the confrontation played out. It is known only that in some way or another, King Deretrides struck Tristyval a fatal blow. Impaled through the chest, Tristyval lay dying as Astav and Richelieu finally managed to defeat the remaining guards. In a fit of rage, Richelieu ordered his brother Astav to find and kill any remaining members of the royal family that he could find. The eldest brother then met the king himself in battle. The battle was short, the king tired and demoralized. But when the final blow was struck, Richelieu did not kill King Deretrides. He instead cut the ring of truth free from the king's hand.   Soon after the confrontation, there was a near deafening sound, followed by violent seismic activity. Some sources say that the earthquake was a natural even, while others state that the ring awoke something in Richelieu. A fury unlike any that Tiberoa had ever seen. Whatever the truth is, the power was such that it caused half of the city of Ioskos to shear off from it's cliffside perch, to be claimed by the waves. The two brothers were able to narrowly escape and as they told the story, King Deretrides was killed in the collapse. Almost immediately following the collapse, the remaining forces that were loyal to the king surrendered or fled.