The Battle of Marmont

"Marmont, a terrible place, I have seen men and women young and full of life, cut down by axe, mace, and blade and left to scream and bleed in the mud" - an account of the battle from a Neunian mercenary fighting with the Vestoni

The Conflict

Prelude

Volkar the Head Taker was coming to a realization his horde was rapidly depleting after having to repair large amounts of damage from a recent tornado that tore directly through his city. Not just out of greed, but for a worry that he wouldn't be able to keep his people fed, as his town was far from any of the more populous trade lanes, he would make a desperate gamble with his council of advisors. If they raided Vestoni lands, they could not only gain more food, but also refill the stores with loot and riches, effectively kickstarting the city back to prospering. They would then sail out, gathering a large raiding fleet with intent on pillaging Vestoni lands to save their people.
During this, the town of Marmont was for the first time in a while, buzzing with activity. A quiet port city by nature, the town of Marmont was hosting a tournament, humble in size but still enough to make the town abuzz with activity. Before the battle truly started, the knight currently at the lead of the tournament was one Lorens d'Artois, a vertan knight having taken part in 5 battles before he took part in the tournament. a group of Neunian Landsknecht mercenaries were in town, concluding business with a local noble, one named Nouel de Larrelon.

Deployment

The Vikingir raiders would hit the shores hard and fast. Due to the season being the time in where the Furieux Sea is the most dangerous, not many were worried about attack, that combined with the town being in a festive partying state made the attack all the more surprising. The Vikingir would send a group to attack the city, while Volkar would, wisely, send the rest of his army to set up a position near the mountains just north of Marmont, to make a staging area. Thinking the town was only lightly defended, the force invading the town was not too numerous, ranging around 200 warriors. Though gaining initial success in fighting into the city and causing mass panic, the town guard and the knights were able to fight them off, with minimal casualties. Hearing of his men routed, Volkar realized the town was far more guarded then he originally thought, and prepared to wage a proper siege if needed.
Meanwhile the knight Lorens d'Artois, would wager this was not the entire force, and would start to round up the militia to prepare for more. IT was during the night of that same day that after a heated argument with the 99 other knights on how best to combat this force, Lorens relented and allowed another knight, one Lored Beast-stalker, lead 20 knights and the town guard out to a field north of Marmont, where they would take up positions and entrench. They even had with them around 400 men and women serving as auxiliary archers.

Battlefield

The Battlefield mainly took place on a field north of the town known as Little Bird Field, the mountains just north of that being the les Montagnes du Camzon, or Camzon Mountains, and the city of Marmont proper.

Conditions

Conditions were absolutely horrific, even for this day and age. A great rain storm came the first night, and did not let up until the last night of the battle. Due to this, the terrain around the town become muddy, resulting in men and women having to slosh through mud that got so deep some reports even say the wounded simply drowned in mud and fecal matter during the second engagement. Rain and thunder would disorient forces as they waded through knee deep mud, blood, and viscera, as they would fight in hand to hand combat with one another. Due to the third engagement being in the city proper, the fighting quickly turned to a nightmare as the combat turned urban. Archers hid in windows to rain death on enemies, while every corner could be seen a new display of stultifying carnage as warriors and even the peasants being forced to take up arms would engage one another. The slave giants that remained on the third engagement would wreck havoc on buildings before being laid low. Finally, the battle up the mountain would become even worse, as in a desperate bid to buy time, a mad shaman of the Vikingir would cause the mountain to suffer both a rock and mud slide. To this day some of the bodies were never found from the ensuing chaos as some of the dead and the living were dragged down the mountainside and drowned in stone and mud.

The Engagement

The first engagement was at Little Bird Field, were the entrenched Lored Beast-stalker made his stand. He would have his archers ready up and await the order to fire. The gamble Lored was betting one was the effectiveness of a Vestoni wizard that was attending the tournament, one known simply as Amavant. He was a skilled shadow magic wizard and so with his Pegasus mount would under the cover of darkness take to the skies and give a signal being a thunder strike. When the Vikingir army approached a hill that blocked sight of Lored forces, they would take a moment to rest, figuring this spot to be safe before they could send skirmishers out to harry the enemy. Suddenly, the arrows were loosed as Lored gave the order to fire, and all 400 arrows flew through the air, and Amavant would use his magics to guide the arrows perfectly over the hill. They would rain down like a hailstorm of death as they would devastate the Northman. Reeling the Northman took defensive positions, only to get hit hard once again, their shields providing no good defense as they were cut down in troves from the arrow fire. One more volley was fired before, desperate to try and keep his forces alive, Volkar would sound a charge to try and run down the archers. As they got over the hill the arches kept firing, with Northman now having to avoid tripping over the bodies of their friends, family, and lovers, as their bodies slid down the hill leaving trails of blood and bits of flesh as they fell down. at the bottom of the hill was a small river, that would still slow the charge as they had to wade through water. Vikingir Cavalry was cut to shreds as though they got close, they would get torn apart by arrow fire. It was then that the raiding fleets shaman would spot the wizard in the sky and using lightning magic, shoot him down. He landed alive, but a group of 6 vikingir quickly fell upon him and tore him to shreds. The arrow fire was now not nearly as effective as stemming the tide, but no doubt would keep volley  firing, with the town guard on stand by. However, with the sight of the 5 giants approaching, and the vikingir getting close and closer, Lored would sound a retreat to try and minimize losses. The mud meant that some Vestoni fell behind, and due to the appalling loses the Northman just suffered, angrily fell upon them and tortured and maimed them in retaliation. Fearing this retreat to be a bait into an even worse ambush, Volkar halted his forces and order them hunker down. However the damage was done, and in one night, with just a group of 400 peasant archers, over 2,000 vikingir men and women were killed, the river being quite literally, awash with blood as bodies floated down the river in an endless tide.
The second engagement happened when Lorens d'Artois would order his forces to form a defensive line just outside the city, in the hopes of ending the battle here lest it break into the city. Having formed the line, the rain began to pour even harder. The mud would start to disrupt the line when the Northman came, this time sending the giants frist to soak up the fire as they trailed right behind them. THe psychological affect of 5 giants coming at them was significant on the Vestoni forces but Lorens managed to keep his forces in order as he would have the archers focus on the giants. Thankfully, just as the giants reached the line and inflicted heavy damage, 3 of them were slain and the 2 others managed to run away. However the horde fell upon the Vestoni as fierce, messy, and brutal melee combat ensued. During the fight, Lored had one of his retinue sound the horn, and the Vestoni knights charged down a hill to the right of the line and hit the vikingir from the side. However the mud slowed their advance and though it hit hard, not nearly as hard as it needed too. This would result in the knights getting stuck in the melee, resulting in Lored Beast-Stalker being pulled from his horse kicking and yelling as a group of 4 shield maidens would plunge daggers into his throat repeatedly. The fighting would last 3 hours as due to the chaos of the rain and mud and the lines being completely disrupted, no one knew what the orders were and simply joined any fight they saw. Lorens would eventually be able to retrieve his retainers horn from his corpse and sound a retreat. This engagement went far better for the Vikingir, though they lost 3 giants with the 2 others being recaptured and around 1,700 troops, the Vestoni lost all 400 archers, most if not all of the towns guard, and 60 knights as they ran to the city.
The third engagement would occur in the city and it was a grim day. Lorens, seeing no other choice, would conscript every man and woman, no matter what age so long as they were deemed to have a chance at putting up a fight, to the defense of the city. No one complained, but no one was proud as the peasantry was armed with whatever they could get their hands on and set up to defend the city. Volkar, seeing as his last chance to save his people, and with his warriors knowing the price of failure, sounded a charge as the shaman would bombard the city with fireballs as the vikingir charged. Light arrow fire harried their approach but was largely ineffective as they would soon breach the defenses and enter the city. The city fighting was chaotic as soon any semblance of structure melted and soldiers were simply running around randomly searching for enemies and some vikingir and Vestoni running for their lives in the chaos, only to be cut down by their attackers. However, with the slaying of the remaining giants at the hands of Lorens and the Neunian mercenaries who decided to join forces after realizing their ride out of the city wouldn't make it in time, Lorens would lead these mercenaries and a small grouping of peasants down the center street to find and slay the shaman. While not succeeding, they did manage to wound both the shaman and Volkar, who though he wanted to die in combat was dragged away by his must trusted friends and advisors to try and live another die, screaming and wailing as he was pulled for he realized he had just led his town, and his troops, to their doom. The Vikingir routed, leaving the burning city at around midnight. Though the Vestoni drove off the attackers, it had come at a cost. 1,987 Vestoni peasants were butchers, their blood and gore strewn across the streets and the Vikingir lost 600 of their warriors.
The Final engagement was a retaliatory strike by Lorens with what remained of his mercenary forces, his 20 knights, and some volunteer peasantry to chase off the vikingir. Though they would reach the mountain and begin fighting their way up, the shaman now realizing his wounds would take him in moments, used a spell to cause rock and mud to slide down the mountain, drowning both Vestoni and his own people. Volkar, who was close by to the shaman, would in outrage bring his axe down and cleave the shaman in two, but the damage was done. Seeing that there was no help left he could give, he would have what remained of his troops to follow him to the ships and sail for home, none sang their excited shanties as they sailed. With the vikingir driven off, Lorens would march his army back to Marmont, which had just seen reinforcements from Castle Bergeris just arriving. However they were only able to get there in time to see the lifeless gazes of those who had just fought, and the wailing of widows and willowers, and of children soaked in the blood and gore of their parents,

Outcome

Though the Vestoni were victorious, it was truly a costly one. A large portion of the town was now dead, and it is said the stench of bodies was so potent that it remained for days after they had buried or burned all the bodies. Lorens was hailed as a hero, but when offered the chance to return to his houses territory higher in rank and with new honors, he refused. He felt that he had just signed the death bell for all the innocent men, women, and children that fought in the battle. He would retire to a lonely, run down chapel just outside the town, and to this day remains there, lamenting the battle in those cold Vestoni nights.

Aftermath

Volkar returned home, and a testament to his courage. Address his people. Outrage and grief followed his speech, and he couldn't blame them, as he retired to his long house, and hugged his family, weeping into their arms. The town would soon see a mass exodus of people trying to escape to other towns, but few of these people would get far, either picked off by the wildlife, rooving bandits, or simply the harsh weather. Then rival clans would capitalize on this chance and pillage the clans city, which was barely able to put up a fight. Volkar died fighting with his wife and child, no one survived the slaughter as any who did were enslaved for whatever cruel tortures vikingir inflict on their own. What had been one last desperate gamble to save his people, was what cosigned them all to death. The clan no longer exists, not a soul is still alive,

Historical Significance

Legacy

Many veterans give accounts of the battle to paint how truly terrible it was. These are some examples

• A Vestoni militiaman writes: "Woe betide anyone who fell into the hands of the enemy alive; all sense of humanity had disappeared. Soldiers, wounded, apothecaries - a distinction was no longer made. I saw one man suffer a cut to his face, leaving his ear to hang past his mouth as another, a child naught but 14 winters old, trying to crawl away with 3 arrows sticking out of his back, and 2 in each leg. I charged down a vikingir who was pinned down by rubble, and blocked his swing before i brought my mace down upon him and reducded his head to that damnable puddle of gore I had to see in every street. A woman screamed as i turned to see what i assume to be his lover come down upon me, stabbing and even biting me. She bit two of my fingers off and ran me through the gut before i managed to put her on the ground and I...I had no other weapon I-I had to strangle her to death. Lilia forgive me..."
• A Vestoni archer tells: "I witnessed the wizard go down, an older gentlemen in grey clothing, typically of our wizards. He managed to somehow survive the fall, and i almost shouted to the rest of the archers to try and convince them to provide him covering fire before I witnessed six of the northmen fall upon him. One, a woman, took him by the arm and began to hack away at it with a hand axe, while one held him down by yanking his hair and keeping him down. The others simply hacked and sliced at him repeatedly, but seemingly the old man didn't want to die quickly. I swear he screamed for two full minutes before he finally croaked. I can still hear the screaming in my dreams."
• A Vikingir shield maiden, who was taken captive by a rival clan after they returned: "Wolf forgive me, for I feared death that day. We all did, for we knew that to die was to doom our people. I witnessed my fellow sisters in arms, massacred before even being able to take the enemy with them, i saw columns of fire that I swear reached the very stars above. I saw children screaming, and wailing as some tried to run for their lives, and others tried to stand against us. I....I held one in my arms as she sobbed and wailed for her mother, her right arm completely gone. I believe the pain killed her after a minute....I was the one who chopped her arm off. I swear, Wolf, it was either me or her I-I had to make that choice!"

Unfortunately, no known record of any comment Volkar made survived the pillage of his town, however a quote from Lorens was made, that simply reads:
"We are no longer innocent"

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

4218, the 12th of Ovalm

Ending Date

4218, the 15th of Ovalm

Conflict Result

Vestoni Victory, Though a costly one

Belligerents

The Vestoni Town of Marmont

• Kingdom of Vebastonne

Led by

• Lorens d'Artois

Vikingir Raiding Fleet

• The Vikingir Clans of Aldinnheimr

Led by

• Volkar the Head Taker

Strength

• 100 Knights, ranging in experience and age from across Vebastonne
• 300 town guard
• a group of 30 Landsknecht mercenaries from Neundorf, who were at the town for unrelated work
• Much of the civilian population were conscripted, including the elderly and children. Any who could have a reasonable change of fighting were conscripted. The towns population was 3,000

• With 90 longships strong, about 5,400 Vikingir warriors, and even a dozen Ujik mercenaries from Orliea
• A group of 5 giants who were enslaved by the Vikingir

Casualties

• 80 Knights
• 260 Town Guard
• 18 Landsknecht mercenaries
• Estimated civilian casualties are upwards of 2,287

• 4,700 Vikingir Warriors
• All 5 slave Giants

Objectives

Hold out for reinforcements and protect the town, by any means necessary

To push through Marmont and into the rest of the Vestoni countryside, with Castle Bergeris being the overall goal.