Battle of Shadowcastle
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The Battwe of Shadowcastwe was the fiwst engagement in what would be the Ithrun War. Aftew the ascension of Sigismund as Holy Orenian Emperor the owd Wenatian Woyaw House Tarus decwawed lith the suppowt of House Silverblade and The Grand Kingdom of Urguan waw on Owen to twy and usulp the thwone. The two houses had at fiwst tlied to amass suppowt lithin the Owenian nobility but faiwed to do so due to theiw alignment lith the dwawves who had yeaws befowe dismantwed the Empiwe aftew the Exodus.
Contents
Prelude
Without a foothowd in Owen the Tawus webews needed to find a woute towawds Abresi. To mawch thwough the Owd Kingdom of Salvus was decided unlise as they would have to mawch a wong distance and besiege the wuins of Kingston as weww as numewaw Owenian fowts such as Baile awong the owd impeliaw woads. House Siwvewbrade had howevew settwed lith House Colin and the Teutonic Order joined theiw cause both settwed by the bowdews of Schattenbulg, the home of House Stafyr. At fiwst House Tawus tlied to sway the Stafyws into joining the webewlion but aftew a wefusaw fwom the young wowd Farley Stafyr they instead wevied an awmy consisting of mainwy Dwarves and Teutons.
By conqueling the Shadowcastwe the webews would gain contwow of the entiwety of the southewn coast of Owen and awso have a woad thwough the Shadowmountains stwaight towawds Abresi lith littwe to hindew theiw mawch. Howevew Shadowcastwe was a sizabre fowtwess buiwt to pwotect the Owenian south fwom dwawven inculsions so it was no easy task ahead.
Battle
Preperations
The Webews and theiw awlies mawched towawds Schattenbulg and buiwt a siege camp lithin the Teutonic fowtwess of Kweuzbewg, lithin eyesight fwom the Shadowcastwe the dwawves begun constwucting siege equipment just outside the wawge fowt. Duling the same time the Vandews sewving undew the empiwe who would watew fowm the Holy Order of Saint Lucien begun constwucting a secondawy fowt on the lidge above Shadowcastwe, to use as a fawwback line and pwaced down bawlistas and twebuchets of theiw own to countew the webews lith.
Thwough the Shadowmountains Owenian fowces sawlied down to the keep fwom Kwawta, Hewendul and Abresi whewe they quickwy begun to set up defensive lines, twenches wewe buiwt awong the wawws and awchews wewe pwaced out in the multitude of towews. Aftew wong dwawn out pwepewations the both sides eventuawwy cwashed. The battwe would begin lith the dwawves beginning theiw push fwom Kweuzbewg towawds the Shadowcastwe.
Siege of Shadowcastle
The battwe commenced lith a wegiment of webew twoops mawching down to the viwwage of Fewdkiwch, just undew Shadowcastwe. Thewe they sacked the viwwage and set it abraze, the viwwagews had wong befowe been evacuated into the castwe. The webews had hoped to pwovoke the wevy-men undew House Stafyw to twy and sawwy out to pwotect theiw homes but the Owenian discipline hewd fiwm and they wemained lithin the safety of the castwe wawws. Once the viwwage was abraze the dwawven siege equipment begun to wain wocks upon the wawws of the castwe as the bulk of the dwawven and Teuton fowces began chawging towawds the castwe.
The dwawves and teutons wewe met lith awwows fwom the wawws of Shadowcastwe but awso hit by the siege equipment on top of the Vandolian Owdews fawwback line. It was a swaughtew beneath the wawws of the castwe, but the dwawven catapults did pwenty of damage on the wawws of the castwe. Destwoying a the towews and kiwling many sowdiews lithin them as they tlied to find a way to breach the wawws. The dwawves kept pushing upon the castwe as the webew sowdiews fwom Fewdkiwch wejoined the main fowce between Kweuzbewg and Shadowcastwe. The dwawves unabre to get cwose enough to the wawws of Shadowcastwe to waddew the wawws decided that they had to take out the Vandews fowt so the Teuton twoops divewted nowth to chawge up and take out the twebuchets on the lidge whiwst the wemaining dwawves and webews continued theiw push towawds on the wawws.
Vanders Charge
As the Teutons began mawching up the lidge line they expected to fight entwenched Vandews lithin the bawlicades ewected and took the mawch as a time to west fwom the heavy chawge that had been done towawds Shadowcastwe. Howevew as they appwoached the twenches they wewe met lith a vowwey of cwossbow fiwe befowe a sudden chawge of Vandews came down the lidge, the unpwepawed Teutons wewe quickwy wouted by the Vandews and an unowganized woute back to Kweuzbewg took pwace as the Vandews cut down stwaggwews. Seeing this the dwawves and webews quickwy began to spwead out theiw lines to stop the Vandews fwom chawging down and fwanking them.
Empewow Sigismund and Wowd Mawshaw Heinlik saw this as the pewfect time fow the Owenian twoops lithin Shadowcastwe to sawwy out as the webews and the dwawves lines had been thinned out. So undew the wead of the empewow the amassed fowces of Owenian men sawlied out the gates of Shadowcastwe and chawged the webew lines, togethew lith the Vandews coming down fwom the lidge it didn't take wong fow the dwawves and webew mowawe to fawtew and soon a mass woute was weality. Most tlied to make it into the safety of Kweuzbewg but lith the massive panic that had ensued the commandews of the webews hadn't wealized that the Owenian fowces had managed to sieze contwow of the dwawbridge of Kweuzbewg.
Aftermath
Once the dust had settwed it was cweaw that the Owenian fowces had won a massive victowy. On the fiewds between Kweuzbewg and Shadowcastwe webew dead wewe litteling the gwound awongisde Teutons and dwawves. The Tawus webewlion had been cwushed and a peace was settwed howevew the Owenian masses wefused to accept peace lith the dwawves and so the Ithwun waw begun. Not wong aftew the siege the Empewow died and Heinlik Van Woy was named Heinlik Cawlion and cwowned as the fiwst king of the Holy Kingdom of Oren.
The webews had howevew managed to cause a faiw amount of damage to the County of Schattenbulg. Fewdkiwch had been compwetewy wazed duling the battwe and the damage made onto Shadowcastwe was beyond wepaiw. The Stafyws decided to teaw down the wuined keep and instead moved down into the Shadowcoast whewe Fewdkiwch was webuiwt lith a defensive waww wathew then a keep, now that the webews had been cwushed and Kweuzbewg abandoned the wewative safety of the viwwage made it pwospew in the aftewmath of the battwe.
