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By MC Gianni
© July 1997
Being a summary of the events which took place in
SE Atrilia during the first three weeks of the 3rd month of Shemu
in the 1st year of Lalibêa's reign (3rd Shemu, 1 L).
The Atrilian campaign is AWFULLY late, but it is
mostly due to the birth of the heir apparent to the Vacca crown,
that is the most beautiful baby boy in the world, Nicola :-)
Anyway, the campaign goes on...
New players even joined our ranks, which is all the
better since the lack of players for some key roles had a bad
influence on the game.
The list of all the active players is now available
on the site and on the Communications Page.
Since I updated the site, two other players joined
us:
Lasse, who'll be playing the Sheikh of the Seballas,
Emmanuel, who will take on the rôle of rebel
leader Drahcir Skoorb.
For the moment, they aren't on the Communications
Page yet, so you'll have to write to me in order to contact them.
Of course, for those who haven't an access to the WWW, you can
contact me to write to ANY player.
Monsoon has eventually stricken Eastern Atrilia. Nature, which had been suffering because of the drought brought by the implacable Atrilian Sun, couldn't wait any longer.
Rain has been watering all the regions of our campaign: from the steppes of Punt to the dark Kleshite rain forests, from the harsh Githzerai Plateau to the Siren Sea, it's rain, rain, rain.
For three months, nearly all human activity shall cease. Farmers cannot work the land, hunters cannot enter the forests, mariners daren't go out to sea.
Only the Nomadic Xolas of Inner Punt still wander,
since their land isn't as watered as the rest of Eastern Atrilia.
SHEDET : AFTER THE COUP, DESTRUCTION
After having killed Sebekemhat, the Gyptian governor of Shedet, the rebel troops under mercenary leader Maummar of the Meshuesh moved towards the fortified harbour of Shedet and its shipyard.
There a serious battle pitched them against troops who'd remained true to Gyptos.
The three rebel units (two of veteran Meshuesh mercenaries, one of freed slaves) met one Gyptian unit and two Kushite units in the plain between the fortified harbour and Shedet.
To the left of the Gypto-kushite units, a crest occupied by Kushite archers, to the right: the sea.
But as the two armies of approximately equal strength fought each other in the plain, some Xola scouts who'd rallied to the new master of Shedet were climbing towards the crest from the south. They surprised the Kushite archers and took them by the flank.
This minor fight had an enormous influence on the whole battle: the decimated archers routed and fled to the plain, hence causing the Kushites to panic too.
Only the Gyptians actually managed to resist till the end of the battle, but they eventually had to surrender.
Maummar had the Gyptian leaders executed on the spot,
but allowed the defeated infantrymen to go back to Pi-Abet (500
km to the north), on foot, without any food nor water.
After his victory, Maummar gathered all male adults from Shedet and had them executed. Women and children were made prisoners. The city and the fortified harbour were sacked, the ships requisitioned and filled with the loot.
Then the city and all the facilities are burnt down.
The victors, the freed slaves and the prisoners make up a huge
column and head south...
BÚDJUMBO LIVES AGAIN
After two weeks of harsh trekking through the narrow gorges of Eastern Punt, rendered dangerous by the heavy rain, Maummar's column reaches the ruins of Búdjumbo, Southern Punt's legendary Ndogo city, destroyed by a coalition of Nomadic Xolas about seven years ago.
Maummar decides it shall become his capital and calls it 'the free City of Búdjumbo' whose governor, of course, is Maummar himself.
While his men explore the ruins of the city and clear up the rubble and the sand brought by the wind, his Xola auxiliaries explore the region and establish the first contacts with the local Seballas and Awilis.
But rumour amongst the new settlers already has it
the city is haunted...
COMBATS ON THE COAST OF ZANDJ
The seven Meshuesh ships found a small bay in the
South of Zandj and stayed there while a gathering party was sent
out to get food and water; meanwhile, the carpenters repaired
some minor damage caused by the monsoon.
Small boats brought 300 to 400 men to the nearby beach.
They entered the Ad'anti territory and started looking for supplies.
All around them, hidden Ad'anti horsemen and Ndogo
infantrymen had been waiting for them, and started following them
into Ad'anti land.
One hour later, they attacked the intruders. The
Ad'anti cavaliers charged the Confederate infantrymen on their
front, while Lalibêa's men attacked their back.
But suddenly stunning light rays sprung out of the Confederate ranks and hit the Ad'antis' horses, which reared up and fled. From over 700 charging Ad'antis, only about 200 reached the Confederate troops, and their charge lost momentum.
Melee ensued.
During this time, Lalibêa's men had stopped
their advance and refused to fight against the invaders.
The melee soon turned out to be at the latters' advantage, and the Ad'anti cavaliers promptly retreated in good order and rallied their fleeing comrades, then manoeuvred to prevent the Confederate infantrymen from getting back to their boats.
The latter disappeared into a thick obscurity, and
fled further into Ad'anti territory...
Meanwhile, Ndogo and Kleshites pirogues were attacking the Meshuesh ships in the small bay. Hornet nests were thrown to the rowers through the hatchways, cables were thrown onto the ships to allow boarding.
During five to ten minutes, cries of pain could be heard amongst the Meshuesh rowers.
But then, all of a sudden, the insects... left the
Meshuesh ships and decidedly attacked the pirogues, while fire
balls and stinking clouds appeared among the Bandogo and the Kleshites,
who fled.
Against such heavy magic, Lalibêa called a truce and started negotiating with Ibrahim, the captain of the Meshuesh fleet.
The Meshuesh eventually agreed to leave the Siren Sea (which Lalibêa claims as his own) and to turn back north.
The Confederate fleet left, escorted by the Ndogo-Kleshite pirogues.
Some km to the north, the ships stopped to re-embark
the infantrymen who'd fled the Ad'antis; the men were waiting
for their comrades on the beach.
But as small boats were coming to get them, the Ad'anti cavaliers charged out of the forest, in majestic clothes and intricate war paintings, and to the beat of their war drums. With an amazing quickness, the Confederate troops formed a chevron-shaped defence, holding tight their ranks, each man holding his spear set to receive the charging Ad'antis and protecting himself behind his neighbour's shield.
The shock of the charge shook the defenders but they
didn't break their ranks. As the Ad'antis were gathering to launch
a second assault, a volley of various missiles hit them: arrows
and javelins, thrown by two Confederate units who'd stayed hidden
behind the crest of a sand dune.
The charge was broken and many horsemen got injured; the remaining ones had to stop attacking.
The Meshuesh took advantage of this respite to re-embark
onto the small boats who'd eventually made it to the beach.
MERTIBERIA BREAKS NEW GROUND
Mertiberia, the new Sheikh of the Awilis, is still innovating.
After having managed to rule over almost all the Awili clans, after having built "mobile towns" to centralise barter and crafts, he's settled one of them to turn it into a trading centre for Punt.
But the very first contacts with his Seballa neighbours
weren't too good, since the latter were told to leave Awili land...
well, isn't this a strange way to start a trading relationship!
QART QATON BEING BUILT
The building of the new Pheacian city of Qart Qaton,
on the coast of Dogobar, is under way. If the stone buildings
are far from being finished yet, the small brick houses and the
walls of the city are under completion.
PHEACIA LEAVES LAND OF THE DRAGON-MEN
Although the outcome of their battle against the Dragon-Men was rather to their advantage (see previous issue), the Pheacians decided to leave all the facilities they'd built on the Land of the Dragon-Men.
The troops there were redeployed to other Pheacian possessions in the region.
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