An Army Gathers...

Gathering / Conference

At the winter's end, the brothers managed to raise a small army to their cause. A summit was held, in order to prepare the troops for the coming campaign. A plan was hatched to siege the city of Ioskos, in order to get King Deretrides to simply give the ring up. It was also decided that the army would travel over the Silver Mountains, so they could remain hidden from border guards, or any eyes that could spark a war between Tiberoa and Alabast. The newly dubbed 'Crusaders of Truth' also reasoned that they could recruit any Goblin Tribes or wayward bandits on the way to bolster their force. As the summit came to a close, the crusaders marched towards the Silver Mountains.

Nearly two weeks from the end of Last Frost, the brothers and their retinue worked tirelessly to raise an army of subjects loyal to the cause of truth. They held a summit in a now abandoned town in northern Nosgorov, where they began to prepare the troops for the coming campaign, as well as declaring themselves the 'Crusaders of Truth'. Historical sources say that they were able to rally nearly 2,000 men to their banner, though they knew this would not be enough. During this summit, they this told their gathered force of their plan to siege the city of Ioskos, in order to coerce King Deretrides to surrender the ring. It was rationalized that the force would need to stealthily travel from northern Alabast to Tiberoa by traversing the Silver Mountains which separated the two countries.   In this way, they would avoid sparking potential war at the hands of the gossip laden main road through the Skiros Pass, or the heavily patrolled waters of the Pontic Sea. One of the brothers made reason that they could likely recruit more warriors to their cause as they passed through goblin lands, and that they should attempt to make peace with any bandits or goblin tribes the may come across. This was criticized by Astav as foolish, like allying themselves with wild animals, but Richelieu saw merit in the idea. It was he who convinced the group that even if bandits or Goblins would not perform as well as the average rank and file in traditional warfare, they would likely sew confusion and panic to the local populous. Not only this, but it would further distance themselves from the appearance of Alabastian nationals.   With their plans set in stone, the army garrisoned the town for but a single day before setting a course for the Silver Mountains.