Second Siege of Thaliasted, 3E 394

After the Lucrenian forces had taken Thaliasted, Lucien consolidated his power, establishing Thaliasted as the central point of the war effort. He also underwent several political campaigns to get the Lucrenian people on his side, as well as making sure his alliances with Jamalien, Markovia, and the Dwarven lands of Jernheim were steadfast, and for the time being, secret.
The Aralian army, still not convinced this was a war, or even a rebellion worthy of the full might of the empire, decided not to do a full-scale conscritpion, and mostly recruited prisoners, beggars, and non-humans to supplement their professional army. The Emperor ordered Count-General Franz Vhao to oversee the gathering of the army, who then opted for a quicker collection of soldiers, and marched on Thaliasted after only two weeks. When the army arrived outside the city on the 19th of Summer, Franz had realized that the siege would not be over quickly. With this understanding, he ordered a camp to be set up on the western side of the city, and the army went about securing their own position, whilst undermining the defenders. Immediately after setting up preliminary a camp, he received further word from Imperial Intelligence and his own scouts, that the situation was tougher than anticipated, and sent a message to the emperor with a request to start a wider conscription, and gather the majority of the army to meet up as soon as possible.
Franz realized he had to change his original plans, and act fast, and thus commanded his army to do two major things.  First, they redirected the river, for their own use, and occupied Lake Thaal. Next, they set to work digging trenches, in a circumference around the city, meant to encircle enemy positions. The fortification would ensure the defenders were cut out from the outside world, by any other means than magical (which Franz was given reports indicating that Lucien had a limited supply of), and helped thwart attempts at a breakout. During the previous rebellion led by Lucien's mother, Lucretia, Franz had seen first hand, how a siege that failed to do similiar defenses from the start were harassed mercilessly by rebellious sorties. Franz was determined not to make the same mistake, and put his soldiers to work immediately. The trenches were reinfored by eight camps, and numerous outposts.
The Aralians decided that taking the city by force would not be necessary, even with Lucrenian skirmishers constantly harassing their supply lines and foragers, they still had much better supplies than that of the defenders. Franz simply set up fortifications, ready to repel any sorties, and waited for reinforcements. 
Around two months passed, without any significant confrontation. Then, on the 17th of Early Autumn, a sortie led by Roanalid Tulach succeeded in assaulting the trenches and causing havoc in the Aralian camp on the southern side of Lake Thaal. The Aralian forces managed to assert cohesion and repel the assault, even going as far as to counter-attack. Franz sent orders not to follow the retreating Lucrenians, but when Roanalid was slain, a frenzy came over the Aralians, who started to charge the half-open gates. They were led right in to a trap set up by the Lucrenians, who were ready to throw oil, shoot fire-imbued arrows, and spells designed to trap the attacking Aralians. The Aralians suffered heavy losses, before the commanding officers managed to pull back the assault. The Aralians did, however, manage to kill off certain valuable targets; Roanolid Tulach, and 'Malina the Lover' included.
A day after this assault, Franz got word that the majority of the Aralian army had left the capital, and was on the way. Three weeks later, just after they arrived, he received a panicked magical message, urging him to return to Sylasar. Markovia had declared independence, and Jamalien had joined the war, fighting with the Lucrenians, laying siege to the capital in a surprise attack. Confident that he could still take Thaliasted, and believing that at least the Lucrenian rebellion would be shut down with the defeat of Lucien, he commanded the newly arrived reinforcements to march back to Sylasar.
Franz kept the stranglehold on Thaliasted tight for about another month, constantly hearing the failures of other Generals attempting to break the Siege of Sylasar. He received pleads to return to the capital and help with the relief effort, as the emperor had already been wounded in the defense of the city. Franz finally relented when reports came in that a magical plague of insects, disease and undead was currently ravaging the city state of Aenum. Even though Aenum was an independent city state on the border of The Aralian Empire, the situation was apparently so dire, with the possibility of this plague sweeping across the lands, that he had to send word to a contigent of the army close by, who were heading for Sylasar, to re-route to Aenum, while he had to abandon the siege of Thaliasted and attempt to lift the siege of Sylasar himself.

Conflict Type

Siege

Belligerents

Aralia

Rebel Forces of Lucien

Strength

50.000 - 75.000

20.000

Casualties

Minimal

Minimal, except for some high-ranking officers

Objectives

Retake Thaliasted

Defend Thaliasted