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Spinneweiss
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(Date Posted:08/23/2003 10:21:42)
Part 2: The Weapon
"Are you mad?" Liutentant Deveaux asked Martin, for the fifth time, as the pair of them strolled toward the picket line, carrying saddle, blanket and pad. "You can't ride into battle unarmed."
"I won't be unarmed," Martin said. "I just won't be carrying any weapons."
"Ohhhh," Deveaux said. "I see. So, for anyone else, no sword, no lance, and no gun means they're unarmed, but not for the impossible Captain Martin Aryes."
"That's right," Martin said, smiling grimly.
Deveaux paced along beside him for a few more strides. "Sooo... what is this invisble weapon of yours?"
"The horse," Martin said.
"Your horse? That sack-of-bones?"
"Lightfoot is coming along nicely," Martin said mildly. "If his last groom had bothered to feed him, he wouldn't be a sack-of-bones, but you're right, he's not ready to fight yet. I'll be riding Hyperion." He pointed with his nose as the immense gray stallion tethered by himself at the far end of the picket.
From this distance, Hypherion was a thing of beauty. Broad-chested, clean-limbed, with a noble bearing, Hypherion was a "gift" from L'Emperuer to the late General Du Bois, whom he had trampled to death the first time the man had tried in to mount him. He had since smashed under hoof any would-be-rider who dared to saddle him. Only the fact that he was a gift from the Le'Empeurer has saved him from being shot.
Deveaux stopped, thunderstruck. "So, your plan is to get killed before you go into battle."
Martin shook his head, watching Hypherion picking through tussocks of grass looking for something untrammeled and tastey. His glossy coat rippled with every small movement, like silk in the sun. If a finer horse had ever galloped the green fields of Theah, Martin could not imagine it. "Did I ever tell you my first job in the army was as a groom. Lieutenant DuBois pressed me into servince to polish his tack, and from there I started grooming the horses, and then warming them up and cooling them down, and then training them. Eventually, almost by accident, I learned to ride. By the time I got my commission I was training horses for generals."
Deveaux kept his eyes fixing suspisciously on Hypherion as if he expexted the horse to explode. "You don't need to know how to ride with that one. You need to know how to fly."
Martin snorted. "No. Hypherion isn't a bad horse. A bad horse won't let anyone get near him. Hypherion never gives his grooms any trouble. Only the riders. Why do you figure that is?"
"Because the grooms aren't trying to sit on him. I tell you. That horse is possessed. I saw what his did to the general."
"No. He's not possessed. He's proud. Everyone who's sat on him so far thinks they're better than he is. He just proves them wrong."
Deveaux turned his head slowly to look up Martin. "Just like you, eh?"
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So, you choose suicide as an active defense.
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Spinneweiss
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(Date Posted:08/23/2003 20:26:09)
The Battle:
Cannons roared and bellowed, spitting cannonballs, belching fire, and shaking the ground. Black smoke grappled with white morning mist, rolling thickly through the battlefield gullies and veiling the sky. Troop upon troop of marching men plied the murk, as bullets, like black wasps buzz and stung. Men and horses screamed in pain, but the battle claimed even the noise of their suffering, breaking it up and burying it under the rolling clatter of gunfire.
Baron Roygal sat above it all in the midst of his personal guard. Standing in his stirrup he glassed the battlefield, searching, seeking for that wretched upstart, Ayers. A creature of Legion was he, unnatural and ruinous to all that was upright and noble. Too often had he interfered with Roygal? strategy and tactics, extracting men from danger who Roygal meant to sacrifice for the greater good, snatching away Roygal? victories and his glories, making his plans seem follies in the eyes of his commander.
?o more,?SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Roygal swore. Today Ayers would meet his doom, and without him Lord Freis?feeble strategies would falter. Freis would be shown up as the weakling he was and the Roygal would use his connections and his cash to get himself appointed general of this army at last, and he could go about collecting glory for L?mpuerer properly.
There he was! Roygal caught sight of Ayers cresting a nearby hill on a great gray?ontaigne? blood! Was that Hypherion? Yes. Only the Legion-steed could glow so white in the gunpowder gloom. This was further proof that Ayers had crawled up from some forsaken pit; no natural man could tame that fell beast.
Roygal followed Ayers with his glass, the man raced back and forth in front of any enemy infantry square hands stretched above his head, waving and mocking the foe. The enemy? guns sparked and smoked, but still Hypherion pranced before them, unmarked.
?ill him,?SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Roygal snarled. ?o I have to do everything myself??/FONT>
Ayers topped a rise just as the guns banged again. Hypherion reared and toppled sideways. A cloud of gunsmoke engulfed horse and rider, like the fires of the pit rising up to claim their own. When the cloud dissipated. Ayers and the mad horse were gone.
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So, you choose suicide as an active defense.
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Spinneweiss
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(Date Posted:08/23/2003 22:40:36)
Part 4: Du Ayers
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Martin lay across Hepherion? neck in a muddy, bracken filled scoop of land, what felt like inches from the Castillian lines. All around him guns and cannons roared, steel crashed on steel and men screamed in the universal language of pain. Beneath him, Hypherion heaved and rumbled, terrified of being off his feet amidst the chaos, but trusting of his new partner.
It hadn? taken much to win the horse? friendship, just respect for his power and pride, a firm hand but not brutal, a shared language of touch. Indeed, getting Hypherion? trust had been the easy part.
Martin lifted his head and scanned the battlefield. Before him stood a Castillian square, holding and firing at the very edge of broken ground. Behind him?here were Roygal? troops? The Castillians had been weathering his cannon fire, refusing to yield. That would infuriate him, and Roygal could always be counted on to do something stupid when he was furious.
Drums. Martin heard drums and horns sounding the march . Out from the swirling smoke marched column of Roygal? red-liveried men, ten-abreast, striding in locked step straight toward the Castillian lines. Into a withering hail of fire they marched, the front of the colomn crumpling as it came, leaving a trail of bodies behind. Leave it to Roygal to waste men on a futile assault in the name of honor and glory.
From the Castillian side a bugle sounded, form line. Martin tuened to see the Castillians preparing their counter-charge, the impenetrable square of pike-and powder unfolding into a long enfolding line to maximize their firepower against the encroaching infantry. For a moment, between formations, they would be vulnerable. Martin? heart pounded as he waited.
Waited.
Now!
As the sides of the square swung open, leaving its center vulnerable, Martin released the pressure on Hypherion? neck. With joy and relief, Hypherion surged to his feet, carrying Martin into the saddle. Martin leaned forward urging his steed to the gallop. Hyperion gathered himself and sprang forward, erupting from the scoop and plunging through the Castillian line, scattering soldiers line ninepins. Into the thick of the formation he rode, bearing down on the captains, guns cracked and swords reached for him, but Hypherion leaped and spun, lashing out with hooves fore and aft, breaking men beneath him. Martin planted his boot in the face of one pikeman. He cued a charge.
Through the line they broke, into the command formation, a castillian officer on horseback swung at Martin, but Martin caught the man? wrist in his hand and signaled Hypherion to pull back, yanking the man from his saddle. A drummer fell to Hyoperion? hooves. Pain screamed in Martin? leg as a bullet found its mark. He spied the standard bearer bearing a huge red banner emblazoned with a white Castillian bull. Martin cued Hypherion to lunge. The standard bearer slipped sideways and slashed, his blade opening a long wound on Hypherion? shoulder. Martin seized the standard, turned Hypherion, and cued a capriole. Straight up leaped the horse, lashing out with both hind feet. The standard bearer flew backwards, landing in a crumpled heap, and leaving Martin in sole possession of the banner.
Martin raised the standard on high, and wielding it like a lance, plowed into the castillian formation from behind.
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So, you choose suicide as an active defense.
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Spinneweiss
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(Date Posted:08/23/2003 23:07:28)
Du Ayers:
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Country of Origin: Montaigne.
Skills: Ride, Fencing
Knacks: Animal Training, Trick Riding, Cavalry Attack, Exploit Weakness.
Whether the story surrounding the foundation of the Du Ayers school is apocryphal or true remains a subject of debate amongst historical scholars, but what is certain is a young man named Martin Ayers presented L?mpuerer with a Castillian battle flag and was created the Marquis du Ayers, after which he supported his title by providing extremely expensive cavalry training to the Motaigne nobility, from whence the technique inevitably spread..
The Du Ayers Cavalry school, as organized by Marquis Captain Martin du Ayers was revived from ancient Numan dressage practices, where horses were trained to protect their riders in battle. Students of the Du Ayers school learn to use their horse as both shield and weapon. With subtle cues the rider guides his or her intensively trained mount to rear, leap, and kick on demand, scattering and crushing their foes under-hoof.
The main weakness of the school is the vulnerability of the horse? belly during many of the airs above the ground.
APPRENTICE:
Apprentices of the Du Ayers school have developed a strong rapport with their steeds, horse and rider respond instantly to each other allowing the rider to guide the horse through complex actions. Because of the rider? rapport with the horse, the rider may use his own Wits + Riding as an active defense against any attacks directed at the horse.
Ballotade: At this level, the rider can use any of his or her actions to cue the horse to kick, rolling the rider? Trick Riding plus Finesse to hit and damage as normal for a horse? kick.
JOURNEYMAN:
So well conditioned are the horses of Du Ayers Journeymen that the horse receives a benefit of +1 Resolve.
At the Journeyman level, the Du Ayers student had trained his mount to help in his defense.
Levade: The rider may spend an action (his own or the horse?), remembering the rules for interrupt actions, to perform a Levade where the horse rears onto its hind legs and holds itself at a 45 degree angle, forelegs tucked in to protect its belly, shielding the rider on its back with its bulk. This adds +5 to horse and rider? TN to be hit for the rest of the turn.
Corbet: If a horse is performing a Levade, it may Corbet--bound forward on its hind legs--giving horse and rider a free raise on any active defense they perform.
MASTER:
So well conditioned are the horses of Du Ayers Masters that they receive wounds like a hero instead of a henchman.
At the master level the Du Ayers student has learned to turn his mount into a 1500 pound offensive weapon. So refined is the communication between horse and rider that the rider may cue a Capriole, in which the horse leaps straight up in the air and unleashes a kick, like a cannon with both back feet.
Capriole: By spending two actions, only one of which need be current, and rolling and attack with Trick Riding + Finesse the horse unleashes a 6k3 attack which inflicts multiple wounds like a firearm.
Note: A Du Ayers student may only have a advanced rapport with one horse at a time. On an unfamiliar horse, he or she may only use apprentice level techniques. Training a new horse to advanced level techniques take several months.
+++ Meta Note: The bonuses to the horse? resolve reflect the fact that in most combat situations the horse (as written in the GM? guide) tend to be one-hit wonders.
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So, you choose suicide as an active defense.
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hillhome
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(Date Posted:08/24/2003 02:20:33)
only thought right now is that two of the three knacks are just basic everyday rider adv. knacks, how is this reflected in starting 1HP vs 3HP, also guild membership or no?
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Experience is the best teacher, but often a brutal one.
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