Battle of Cartref Mor
| Battle of Cartref Mor | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Part of the Cartref Mor Uprising | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Cartref Mor was the first and most significant battle during the Cartref Mor Uprising. The Battle was sparked after Adunian rebels from Cartref Mor/Faer'hin assaulted the capital under the cover of night and captured a religious Keeper by the name of Grigori. After Norlandic forces led by Marshal Ciaran Vildr assaulted the town and rescued Keeper Grigori, the forces of the Ashguard returned to Alisgrad with Aurelion Marsyr as a prisoner.
Prelude
In the leadup to the decisive confrontation, the Norlandic Ashguard had started to take measures to ensure that the Faer'hin war effort would be difficult to maintain. Under the command of the brothers Dominic Kvitravn and Eyvind Kvitravn II, the Ashguard was permitted to initiate a blockade of the capital fortress of the rebels. Tunnels through the mountains leading to Cartref Mor were caved in by Ashguard forces, a key bridge leading to Cartref Mor was destroyed, and a mix of barricades and towers were erected around the perimeter of Cartref Mor to monitor the movement of the Faer'hinians. As a result of this blockade, the citizens of Cartref Mor were forced to become self-reliant and started to sustain themselves off the small farms and berry bushes within the walls of the castle. On the Faer'hin side, the Rebels were weary of a potential Norlandic assault into the castle and began to erect large walls of Wood and Stone around the main Castle to make an assault more difficult. While Norland was weary to initiate a physical confrontation, Faer'hin decided to strike first and led a successful raid into Alisgrad which captured a Red Faith Keeper (soon-to-be High Keeper) by the name of Grigori. Viewing the capture of a Keeper as intolerable and an insult to their Faith, the Norlandic Government under King Odin approved the initiation of a Norlandic offensive to both release Keeper Grigori and capture the self-proclaimed King of Faer'hin, Aurelion Marsyr.
Battle
Norlandic Strategy
The Norlandic strategy was formulated by Marshal Ciaran Vildr, Chieftain Dominic Kvitravn, Eyvind Kvitravn II, and Kane Redfist. It was a rather straightforward plan: The bulk of the Norlandic forces would skirmish with the defenders utilizing bows and arrows. A task force led by the Kvitravn Brothers would be given the objective of circling the Castle's exterior walls and attempting to find a way in which would then allow the bulk of the army to flood the Castle and overwhelm the defenders. Due to having a slight numerical disadvantage, this task force consisted of only three people (Dominic, Eyvind, and Kane themselves).
Faer'hin Strategy
The Faer'hin strategy was formulated by King Aurelion Marsyr and Oliver Black (who, ironically, was the Son-in-law of the deceased King Ragnvald). Similar to the Norlandic strategy, the Faer'hin defensive strategy was rather straightforward. The Rebels would not allow the Norlanders to fight them on the exterior wall, and would instead hold out in the main Keep where they would keep a close eye on their prisoner Keeper Grigori. Should the Norlanders break into the Keep, the plan was to force the Norlandic Ashguard to engage in brutal room-by-room clearing operations where the Adunian commanders hoped to make the fight to clear the castle too costly to maintain.
The Battle
The Battle began with the Norlandic army marching towards the gate of the exterior walls, hoping to find the Faer'hin rebels atop them to begin the bow skirmish. To their surprise, they found that the Rebels had abandoned the exterior walls completely. The Norlandic command correctly assumed that the Rebels were holding out within the main castle, so they decided to wait atop a nearby hill overlooking the fortress while the aforementioned task force (save for Kane Redfist, who stayed with the main army) circled the castle to find an opening. The two Kvitravn brothers discovered a low point in the exterior walls on the west side of the Castle and climbed atop them. Upon seeing that the exterior walls were safe, the Brothers ran to the gatehouse and allowed the rest of the Ashguard to swarm through the gates and onto the grounds.
After completely securing the grounds outside the main Keep, the Ashguard began searching for a way to break into the Keep. This is when Eyvind II noticed that a balcony on the second floor of the Keep had been left unsecured and with the help of a few Ashguardsmen was able to climb atop the Balcony. Eyvind II, Dominic, Kane, and other Ashguardsmen began to bash down the doors on the balcony and successfully broke through. This took the Rebel forces off guard, as they had not believed the Balcony was capable of being reached. Fighting immediately broke out between the Ashguard and the Faer'hin bannermen in the room next to the Balcony, which quickly led to the Norlandic forces gaining the upper hand due to the Faer'hin bannermen being spread out through the castle and not consolidated in one position. After clearing out the first room, the Ashguard quickly began to swarm through the Castle in search of the captured Keeper Grigori and King Aurelion.
Fighting through the lower levels of the Castle, the Ashguardsmen discovered where the Keeper had been held. The Norlanders quickly untied and evacuated Keeper Grigori while the rest of the Ashguard stayed behind to mop up the Faer'hin Bannermen and search for King Aurelion. The Faer'hin Monarch had, in the meantime, gathered up the surviving Bannermen under his command and decided to make a final stand in the Throne Room of the Keep. After brutal fighting, King Aurelion's surviving soldiers were slain while he was taken captive after a hectic battlefield duel with Chieftain Dominic. Having achieved both objectives, the Ashguard quickly withdrew from the Castle and brought both the rescued Keeper and the captured King back to Alisgrad.
Aftermath
After holding trial for King Aurelion for the crime of treason, High Keeper Alisa Camian condemned King Aurelion to death. King Odin permitted Chieftain Dominic to carry out the execution himself, where he is quoted as saying:
"When you reach the void, tell the foes of the Father that a Kvitravn sent you, you son of a bitch." - Dominic Kvitravn
Following the execution of Aurelion Marsyr, the Rebellion fell apart. Oliver Black - who had survived the Battle - rallied the surviving Adunians loyal to the Marsyr's cause and fled South. Aurelion Marsyr's body was hung up on the Ashwood Tree of Alisgrad, and the Kingdom of Norland proclaimed victory over the Rebellion.
