Part of Winds of the World - Winter 223
Nazafeza burned.
This much was known before the Summer Summit had met its end. The warlord of Corvarrias, Luis El-Corvarrias Al-Fraktar emerged from Majiid’s shadow and has proven himself a master of lightning strikes, arriving at Nazafeza before a reasonable defence could be rallied by the War Chamber. The Pathfinders in Mukarrem rallied their tools to open a Conflux to repulse Luis’ vanguard but found the portal remained silent. When given the impossible balancing act of Eisen against Nazafeza, the War Chamber chose the Greenweald over Mukarrem. So the Pathfinders fled.
Luis’ forces rampaged through Nazafeza, burning much of it and stealing the rest. The House of Trade and Faith, Nazafeza’s largest structure, was collapsed by catapult fire, and many of its people attempted to flee away into the plains and beaches, only to be cut down or captured. In the face of such violence, the vast majority of the people of Nazafeza surrendered. They were herded to the shore where they camped under guard while they watched the forces of Majiid steal and loot in front of them.
Two weeks into the sack of Nazafeza, relief arrived. Shy of four-thousand Valleyfolk warriors, their round shields held over their sunburnt bodies arrived after the longest march from the East. Exhausted and out of place, The Concordian relief busied itself in removing this blasted tick from its hide. But they found Nazafeza arrayed against them. Protecting the sheltered cove a wide array of barricades, hasty ramparts and rubble strongpoints held the burnt, foreign warriors at bay. Luis appeared intent on defending their prisoners and reducing Nazafeza to rubble if that's what was required.
The Battle of Nazafeza that followed was a dragged-out affair of bloody house-to-house fighting, routs crushed with violent brutality and a gritted endurance of both sides. The elite ‘Indebted’ of Luis’ army clashed with Iron Valley Huscarls, scimitar against axe. Summiters brawled with Aprivano marines in the surf, drowning each other with their bare hands. Archers sniped each other from both sides, the ruins and death around them acting as hunting hides against their human prey.
After two months of battle it seemed that the Valley would be beaten. The forces from the North held most of the city's important wells, leaving the Valley parched and undersupplied. As losses began to mount, relief was found on the Western horizon as dozens of sails appeared. The Golden Fleet had come.
Word was shuffled along the line not to fear; that the Senate had secured The Golden Fleet's allegiance and that this would be the final blow required to break the siege. But what followed was less of a violent assault than an orderly retreat. Launches shuffled back and forth from the fleet anchored off the coast, ferrying people of Nazafeza captured in the assault away. Luis’s forces then rallied for their own evacuation, a relaxed affair that would take them home after a very successful campaigning season. But no evacuation came. With their valuable human cargo retrieved, the fleet lead by the Sloop-of-War known as The Questing Hawk ran off west, back to Banathea.
Instead Luis’ army was forced into a violent breakout action. This nightborne assault was a bloody one responsible for nearly one-hundred of the casualties suffered by the Twinblade raiders. But The Valley's Own was beaten and undersupplied at this point. They were more than eager to simply occupy the ruins and balm their wounds after nearly three months of constant battle.
In the ruins of Nazafeza they would find many dead. Some their own, some Luis’, some the people of Nazafeza. It appears that supplies ran short inside the crude defences and it was hardly likely that Luis’ troops were going to go hungry. Those final occupants of the prisoner camp were dead well before The Golden Fleet arrived.
The following months were made up of constant patrols north of the ruins along the border. The Valleys Own set up camps ranging from the Western Coast into the eaves of the Tanebar Sea. The sight of sweltering easterners holding the line, sunburnt and sweat drenched became common. For their part the forces of Aprivano continued to probe and strike, cautious in their assaults but proving a continued strength.
As the Summer sun broke and Autumn loomed, life had returned to Nazafeza. Nearly one-hundred people who successfully escaped the assault huddled in the patched ruins of The House of Trade and Faith. They tended to wells to assist travellers, tried to retrieve valuables from the ruins, and facilitated Concordian surveyors who were marking out the bay for a hopeful trade port. The Valleys Own marched east eventually, returning home with the Summer Season complete, nearly a thousand less than when they arrived. They tell stories of a small courtyard in the ruins, the walls clad with round shields carved from Windholme timber, the ground adorned with old family blades thrust home and a single piece of Arcstone wedged in the ground. Carved into this stone are the more than nine hundred names who never came home.
Game Information
Mukarrem has been defended but at great cost. The Valleys Own, unsupported by mercenaries or magic, suffers nearly twice as many losses as Luis El-Corvarrias’ forces and only barely managed to hold the line, forcing the attacking troops out of Mukarrem.
Nazafeza has also been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Almost all of its population is either dead or captured, the parts of the town not destroyed in the original assault were damaged during the prolonged fighting, and all of its wealth has been looted. It is barely worth keeping on a map at this point but lacking any other large settlements in Mukarrem it remains by default.
The following Investments have been damaged in the fighting:
- Taqar El-Andash (Leyline)
- Etalo Etzi Al-Andash (Herb Garden)
- Alyissis El-Mukarrem (Herb Garden)
Characters who had elected to take part in the campaign will have stories of violent combat at close quarters among the ruins of Nazafeza, facing off against the crazed Indebted, Red Scorpion Skirmishers and Aprivano Marines. They would also have stories of long months watching for lightning-strike assaults across the sands. It is a story that emphasises the human cost of warfare, of sacrifice and of grit.
The reconstruction effort, if there is any, will be one that concerns the whole Concord. The threat from Aprivano still looms but has taken on a vastly different shape and style in recent months as political machinations continued despite the active conflict to the south.