The Desert Wolf
An Account of the Oncoming Storm from The Perspective of Tim Stark
Chapter I
[Master Thread] The Oncoming Storm | Tim Stark
Moderator: Pharaoh
[Master Thread] The Oncoming Storm | Tim Stark
Tim Stark
Objectively Osiris' 2nd Best Pharaoh
Objectively Osiris' 2nd Best Pharaoh
[Master Thread] The Oncoming Storm | Tim Stark
Chapter I
Tim Stark eyed the faintly glowing barrier, encircling the entire border of Abydos, one of many defenses of the arcane city. While up to this point it had been simple stuff, fireballs for the most part, this was evidently something more dangerous. Typical of House North, not having the honor to maintain conventional battle.
“Any idea on if we’ll be able to take it down in a timely manner?”, he asked as he turned to his lieutenants, clearly having anticipated a much quicker seizure of the city he’d been laying ambitions towards conquering since his first terms as Pharaoh.
“Worse, nothing we’ve thrown at it seems to harm it. Our best spellswords are still nowhere near the caliber of the fucking mages, that barrier isn’t budging”, Brynden Snow, his most trusted hand replied.
He, like all of Stark’s lieutenants, had to scrape his way to where he was today. Born a bastard of a minor merchant lord, taking the surname Snow as all bastards of Karnak did, he enlisted under the Stark banner out of necessity rather than pride. After all, it paid well. Numerous campaigns, minor flesh wounds, and a chance encounter with the Nomarch himself had led to here. Now, commanding the Bodyguard of Tim Stark, he figured he’d done rather well for himself.
“Damned Oracle, every time I doubt its claims, it pulls something like this out. “Raven’s Hold is the key to your ambition” it said, and I figure it’s blithering on like usual. Figures that it was right, the only place with an arcane library matching Abydos is that bird’s damned city”, Stark remarked.
Lord Stark surveyed his forces, a great host indeed. 4000 horse, 6000 foot, an additional 2000 in mercenary legionnaires and spellswords, all of them veterans of prior campaigns. Those untested he’d left at Karnak for now, allowing his banners to accumulate further before having the secondary force meet him on the way to Alexandria. Abydos was supposed to be a minor detour, smash the gates, raise the Stark banner, and leave a force to keep order while the primary target resumed being the focus. Of course, it seemed nothing was going to be that simple, as if the gods wished for him to have to take the long road for this, so his eventual memoir would have far more within it than just marching into Abydos without issue. Focusing his mind on matters at hand, he was about to order the army to continue the march to Alexandria instead when one of his scouts galloped up.
“Sir” the man gasped out, having clearly ridden with haste “House Ravenclaw marches a force to Abydos’s aid, 6000 swords on foot, no mages spotted”
“That small? Surely...” he began to reply
“Our deception worked, Ravenclaw agents reported only 4000 Stark banner men leaving Karnak”
Stark nodded and dismissed the scout, turning again to his lieutenants.
“Brynden, old friend, I leave you in command of the main force. Resume the march to Alexandria, we’ll see each other again soon. Let’s hope Montresor and Sethos raised decent numbers too, if Ravenclaw is willing to send 6000 to Abydos’s aid, it seems the coffers keeping his armies loyal haven’t run out just yet”
“Where do you go?” Brynden Snow asked
“You’ll see right now” he answered confidently “Orus” the Nomarch addressed another of his lieutenants, a full-bearded man, his face and arms bearing the scars of many battles and more years “Ready the cavalry, ride with me, we’re going to pluck a few of this bird’s feathers”
Tim Stark eyed the faintly glowing barrier, encircling the entire border of Abydos, one of many defenses of the arcane city. While up to this point it had been simple stuff, fireballs for the most part, this was evidently something more dangerous. Typical of House North, not having the honor to maintain conventional battle.
“Any idea on if we’ll be able to take it down in a timely manner?”, he asked as he turned to his lieutenants, clearly having anticipated a much quicker seizure of the city he’d been laying ambitions towards conquering since his first terms as Pharaoh.
“Worse, nothing we’ve thrown at it seems to harm it. Our best spellswords are still nowhere near the caliber of the fucking mages, that barrier isn’t budging”, Brynden Snow, his most trusted hand replied.
He, like all of Stark’s lieutenants, had to scrape his way to where he was today. Born a bastard of a minor merchant lord, taking the surname Snow as all bastards of Karnak did, he enlisted under the Stark banner out of necessity rather than pride. After all, it paid well. Numerous campaigns, minor flesh wounds, and a chance encounter with the Nomarch himself had led to here. Now, commanding the Bodyguard of Tim Stark, he figured he’d done rather well for himself.
“Damned Oracle, every time I doubt its claims, it pulls something like this out. “Raven’s Hold is the key to your ambition” it said, and I figure it’s blithering on like usual. Figures that it was right, the only place with an arcane library matching Abydos is that bird’s damned city”, Stark remarked.
Lord Stark surveyed his forces, a great host indeed. 4000 horse, 6000 foot, an additional 2000 in mercenary legionnaires and spellswords, all of them veterans of prior campaigns. Those untested he’d left at Karnak for now, allowing his banners to accumulate further before having the secondary force meet him on the way to Alexandria. Abydos was supposed to be a minor detour, smash the gates, raise the Stark banner, and leave a force to keep order while the primary target resumed being the focus. Of course, it seemed nothing was going to be that simple, as if the gods wished for him to have to take the long road for this, so his eventual memoir would have far more within it than just marching into Abydos without issue. Focusing his mind on matters at hand, he was about to order the army to continue the march to Alexandria instead when one of his scouts galloped up.
“Sir” the man gasped out, having clearly ridden with haste “House Ravenclaw marches a force to Abydos’s aid, 6000 swords on foot, no mages spotted”
“That small? Surely...” he began to reply
“Our deception worked, Ravenclaw agents reported only 4000 Stark banner men leaving Karnak”
Stark nodded and dismissed the scout, turning again to his lieutenants.
“Brynden, old friend, I leave you in command of the main force. Resume the march to Alexandria, we’ll see each other again soon. Let’s hope Montresor and Sethos raised decent numbers too, if Ravenclaw is willing to send 6000 to Abydos’s aid, it seems the coffers keeping his armies loyal haven’t run out just yet”
“Where do you go?” Brynden Snow asked
“You’ll see right now” he answered confidently “Orus” the Nomarch addressed another of his lieutenants, a full-bearded man, his face and arms bearing the scars of many battles and more years “Ready the cavalry, ride with me, we’re going to pluck a few of this bird’s feathers”
Tim Stark
Objectively Osiris' 2nd Best Pharaoh
Objectively Osiris' 2nd Best Pharaoh