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Entry tags:
- * npc: commander grothia,
- * npc: da'ud,
- * setting: hattin 1187,
- * tdm,
- achilles [fate],
- aloy [horizon zero dawn],
- angela zieglar [overwatch],
- arthur [inception],
- ashitaka [princess mononoke],
- chiron [fate],
- daenerys targaryen [asoiaf],
- diana prince [dc],
- eren yeager [attack on titan],
- henry cooldown [no more heroes],
- jacob frye [assassin's creed],
- jon snow [asoiaf],
- kate bishop [marvel],
- midnighter [dc],
- morrigan [dragon age],
- siegfried [fate],
- soldier 76 [overwatch],
- takatora todo [samurai warriors],
- yoshitsugu otani [samurai warriors]
THE SKY WENT BLACK,
WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Agoge's inaugural TDM.
WHEN? The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.
WHAT? Agoge's inaugural TDM.
WHEN? The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.
FROM JERUSALEM WITH LOVE;
the horns of hattin, 1187: the holy land
read the jerusalem setting infopage
Your eyes open, and above you is the roof of a tent, a heavy woven material that blocks you from what must be an otherwise glaring heat that is beating down. Near you stands a man - you understand him, but you aren’t sure you are supposed to. Aware as you are that he is speaking Arabic, a trickle of words as he dabs water on your brow, that as you go to reply, you realise, you are speaking Arabic too. Urging you to sit up slowly, and now that you are awake -
“Good, slowly does it. You are meant to have heat stroke. Nothing sudden now. The Commander will explain it to you soon - in here it’s safe, no outsiders can come in. Check your BCE, it will tell you what has happened - ”
As he indicates to the small pack that seems to hold your belongings, he explains: you are in the encampment of Saladin, the greatest commander in all of Islam. He has been fighting the crusading invaders since the death of the Crusader King Baldwin VII. But one of the most important was about to start: you are here, at Hattin, though the enemy hasn’t arrived yet. Not that it means it’s time to rest: this is a war camp. There is much to do. Saladin runs a impressive army, and it wins by its discipline, no idle hands here, and for you, newly awakened to it, there is just as much to do. So enjoy the first few moments of reprieve, there won’t be much of it in the coming days.
MISSION OBJECTIVE
The forces of COST-- allied, today, with the armies of Saladin, though they will never know-- aim to win the day.
This is imperative, because Saladin's victory at Hattin makes his next victory possible: he intends to march on Jerusalem, long held by invading Crusaders, and take his city back. Historically, he wins a Hattin and at Jerusalem. But, the Regency supposes, if they could weaken Saladin in Hattin, perhaps even completely defeat him, he would not be so able to take the city.
Preserve the flow of history. Aid Saladin's army. Defeat the Crusader army at Hattin.
A MESSAGE FROM GROTHIA
>>@CMDR
@ALL I don't have time to explain right now, but the transporters have played havoc on the way in and we think that the - nevermind, the techdacts don't make any sense at the best of times. Your memory has been tampered with, one of the Regency's tricks, no doubt. Price for late intelligence, we didn't know until we made the transfer.
Short of it is, I put you all down as having a bout of heat stroke that knocked you out and that’s the story you need to stick to. Even if you don't want to trust me, you're going to have to follow my instructions if you want to live through the next week. We can do our reintroductions later.
Follow our instructions and we’ll all make it through this with minimal casualties.
Welcome back, soldiers. Good to have you with us again.
WIN THE DAY
MEDICAL
Help build up the army after the Siege of Tiberias.STEALTH
After this battle, Saladin's forces turn toward Jerusalem, and eventually take it from Crusader control. It's imperative, then, that Saladin's forces are strong, healthy, and most importantly, alive. This is war: there are a larger number of soldiers who are wounded and require medical care to maintain the numbers. Saladin's forces are lucky: their medics are some of the best in the medieval world. But there is constant need for more hands on deck to assist. Whether that’s holding down a soldier to cut off his leg - or dress a wound. Maybe it’s just as simple as a soldier that wakes up from his fever wanting water, there is always something that needs doing.
Sabotage the water supply of the crusaders.STEALTH
All armies march on their stomach, and in the desert, access to water means life or death. Saladin knows this, and the Crusaders are heading for the largest oasis between Jerusalem and Hattin to replenish their stores. Saladin has placed a line of defense at the oasis to stop the Crusaders. Some truly desperate Crusaders are risking death, attempting to break through the defenses in an attempt to get some water. Your orders are simple: no Crusader should be getting to that water.
You know what else armies need? Sleep. For those brave enough, its been encouraged to try and exhaust those Crusaders. Your orders are vague, leaving plenty of room for creativity: psychologically mess with them, mimic loud animals to wake them up, forcibly introduce these 12th century men to Cyndi Lauper at the top of your lungs. Whatever takes your fancy, just try not wake Saladin’s forces, they still need their beauty sleep. And most importantly: don't get caught.COMBAT
The Crusaders are here: fight them. Crusaders will in heavy chain mail into battle, often with a padded gambeson underneath them. Aim your weapons for the chinks in the points that quickly immobilize: the throat, armpit, inner elbow, inner thigh, inner knee. You will always want to aim for the veins and joints. This isn't about clean, this is about hard and fast. Battles in the desert are made worse for every hour spent in the gruelly heat.COMBAT / STEALTH
They fight with heavy sword and shield, and the metal they wear makes them more strongly defended, but also slower; they cannot mount their horses without some help, so if you manage to unhorse a Crusader, they must survive the remainder of the battle on foot. Often if you wounded a horse, it can kill the man riding it.
Medieval warhorses are huge animals that can do serious damage with a single kick; however, by Crusader tradition, many are stallions, which are famously willful difficult to control. Being thrown from one of these horses, especially in armor, is no small thing. This is where by contrast Saladin's army comes into its own. They ride a lighter horse more suited to this kind of warfare, and the cavalry works by spiking in quickly, reigning down an attack, then retreating. The Turks are famous for riding by, and shooting down arrows into foot soldiers before retreating out of range again.
Aside from the knights on their horses, keep an eye on hired mercenaries and others of all classes storming into battle. Watch out for crossbows: a single bolt can punch through thick metal, much less whatever you might be wearing. However, the shots take a great deal of time and strength to load, requiring the user to pull the bolt back while standing on the bow. The weapons are not stealthy, and striking an opponent while they load them is the surest route to victory. More traditional archers are far more difficult to defeat; though their arrows can't cut through metal, they can shoot from much farther away and draw another arrow ten times as fast. Other fighters charge in with cudgels, maces, spears, axes, polearms, and the fervent determination fanaticism brings. Do your fellow soldier on the battlefield a favor: try and take out an archer whenever you can. But for those fielding the arrows, don't stay put, they'll always try and take you out first.
The battle of Hattin is one of the most bloody in the history of the Crusades; famously, it is said that its outcome left the sky black for all the birds hungrily circling the carnage. Your job in this battle is twofold: fight to win, and survive.
Capture Guy D'Lusignan.
History dictates Guy D'Lusignan, current King of Frankish-ruled Jerusalem, is captured by Saracen forces, which later leads to Muslims recapturing Jersusalem from Frankish hands. Help the Saracen war parties ride out, make sure they aren't sabotaged, and attack King Guy's war party. Along with them, you'll find Reynard de Chatillion, another nobleman whose capture will herald a collapse of the Crusader forces. Medieval battle isn't like modern warfare, where soldiers fight on in spite of their leader's capture or death.
A medieval battle ends when one side gives up, or when a leader has been killed or captured. Capturing the heads of an army leads to the immediate death of the battle's morale and will to fight. To win the Battle of Hattin, it is imperative that Guy D'Lusignan and Raynard de Chatillion are captured, as they were in history.
read the jerusalem setting infopage
no subject
She glances away from her target to frown as he stabs out around them, like she's just noticing what he's really doing. ]
Hey, I think that guy was on our side? Are you even looking where you're stabbing?
no subject
[Shithead tramples over a screaming nobody, and Midnighter shrugs.] It's like a thousand years ago, almost all of these fuckers are murderous rapists and shit. I owe them a few stabs. You gonna try to sell me on a pacifist lifestyle or are you gonna shoot that asshole?
[They're getting closer.]
no subject
I can do both. I'm going to shoot this asshole and take him out of commission while pointing out that just assuming everyone's awful just because it's medieval times is stupid. They're just people, most of them probably don't even really want to be here. At least the guys on our side. How hard is it to just avoid stabbing anybody in a turban?
[ They come around a knot of knights and, with a glance at the banners to check the wind, Kate lets an arrow fly, a long arcing shot toward King Guy. ]
no subject
Can we quit the moralizing? I'm allergic to bullshit.
[He stabs a guy, and a spray of blood makes a line down the side of his mostly hidden face.]
Our side. Their side. It's still murder. Picking and choosing is that big a deal? You're aiming to kill a guy you never met.
no subject
[ She's knocked and let fly another arrow before she finished the first sentence, sailing just in the wake of the first on a similar line. They're aimed to strike Guy in the shoulder and the knee, debilitating, joint-cracking injuries that should remove him from the battle without causing death. (At least not right off the bat. The likelihood of deadly infection doesn't really count, right?)
It's hard to judge her aim with the precise targets mostly out of sight, and also her player isn't sure if shooting Guy is actually allowed, but they must at least come close, given the hue and cry that erupts from the king's immediate retinue. It's all shouts and swords and armor flashing in the sun as men wheel about searching for the source of the attack while others cut down the crowd around them to try to relocate the king to a safer position. ]
no subject
[Guy's retinue explodes in panic, its leader wounded, and the knights surrounding him begin to charge out aggressively. One spots Midnighter's companion, and shouts something that's lost over the din of battle. Shields go up. Horses, as big as Shithead with twice as much armor, begin to charge.]
[Midnighter begins the arduous process of turning the goddamn horse around, not caring who gets crushed underfoot.]
Now hold that thought while I save your life.
no subject
[ Case in point: Kate's next arrow severs the saddle girth of one of the nearer approaching riders, and within a moment his saddle slides sideways, tumbling the knight onto the ground where he's...probably trampled by his charging fellows or stabbed by a nearby Saracen. Her next drills neatly through the gauntleted hand of another knight, pinning it to his own shoulder and knocking his sword into the dirt as he screams in pain. It's not exactly the clearest moral line she's drawing here.
Archery is also not the easiest way to deal with the thick of a battle like this, and as soon as she's about to say something about saving her own damn life thanks there's some soldier hauling at her leg trying to drag her off the horse, and then another stabbing up from the other side, and Kate's forced to lash out with the heel of a boot and the butt of her bow to try to fend them off, and amends her grumbled response to: ]
Can you save us a little faster? There's like a million of them.
no subject
[He turns the horse, pulling at the reigns, making every signal he can think of to tell Shithead to hurry the fuck up. He keeps one hand out the entire time, swiping at anyone who comes near their horse, cutting off at least one limb in the process. Finder's keepers, apparently.]
[Still not really making much headway.]
[Fuck it.]
Hey, whiny fucking kid. You trust me?
no subject
The question catches her off-guard. ]
What? No?
no subject
[He says it with a grin, now fully visible as the chaos has removed the black fabric hiding his face. It's all the warning Kate gets before he grabs her in a fireman's carry, an arm around her midsection. With his cargo secured, he leaps from Shithead's back, and onto a nearby Crusader. It's a dangerously fast maneuver, one that takes the Crusader by surprise, and all the better; his sword goes into the thin slit of the knight's visor before he stills. From there, Midnighter drops the girl back down onto the new horse, a chestnut stallion. He takes the reigns.]
Now fucking shoot!
no subject
She doesn't have time to get out another protest before she's suddenly upright and on horseback again, getting shouted at. Luckily, shooting is kind of her specialty, and even while her brain is still catching up with whateverthefuckjusthappened muscle memory can do its work. Shoot she does, arrows slipping between the joints of armor to bury into shoulders and knees and armpits as they...flee? ]
Where are we going?
no subject
[Fucking poetic, right?]
[Midnighter isn't, strictly speaking, real big on retreats. He's a go-down-swinging kind of guy. But his pride also isn't tied up in victories; he can run if he has to, and this girl (he's pretty sure she's a girl) on the back of his horse (he's entirely sure it's his horse) is better at fighting long range. He just has to get her there.]
[He charges through other horses, men with swords, screaming knights, doing his best to maneuver and crush where he can.]
It's your job to keep these assholes off our backs. You ever heard of cover fire? [He knows she has.]
no subject
[ Kate twists, shooting back over her shoulder, and then grabs at the back of Midnighter's collar, using him for leverage, a pivot point as she spins around to sit backwards, holding on for dear life with her knees. She's roughly a couple millimeters from getting bounced off and trampled at any moment, but that's not about to stop her from laying down that covering fire. It's still got to be strategic--she's down to a worryingly small number of arrows--and she does her best to stick them into the nearest threats, and the ones most likely to crash into someone else when they fall. ]
How much further??