>Bohemond learns about the elite Varangian guard and wants to pay a visit to his pagan cousins
>Raymond IV of Toulouse gathers the crusader nobles, discusses planning and the oath that will have to be sworn
>Godfrey of Bouillon wants to teach tactics and startegy to Hugh of Vermands and Stephen of Blois
>Peter the Hermit is making his way through the city in a hurry in the middle of the night

Each commander gets stars. Each * represents combat expertise and adds +10 in 1d100 rolls. With time and experience commanders can get more stars. Commanders can die.

Bohemond of Taranto ****
Godfrey of Bouillon ***
Baldwin of Lorraine***
Robert II of Flanders**
Stephen of Blois*
Raymond IV of Toulouse*
Hugh of Vermands

You have my attention OP, bumping

>>5991408
>Bohemond learns about the elite Varangian guard and wants to pay a visit to his pagan cousins
let's recruit and convert

>>5991408
>>Godfrey of Bouillon wants to teach tactics and startegy to Hugh of Vermands and Stephen of Blois

>Raymond IV of Toulouse gathers the crusader nobles, discusses planning and the oath that will have to be sworn

>>5991408
>Raymond IV of Toulouse gathers the crusader nobles, discusses planning and the oath that will have to be sworn
Varangians were very Christian and heavily Anglo-Saxon at this time, doubtful they'll welcome a Norman amongst them

>>5991408
>Bohemond learns about the elite Varangian guard and wants to pay a visit to his pagan cousins

>>5991544
>>5991545
>>5991565
>>5991588
2 for planning, 1 for varangians, 1 for teaching tactics.

Locked.

>>5991408
A crusader quest? In the year of our Lord 2024 A.D? And we get Bohemond of Taranto as the Protagonist? DEUS VULT!!! Instantly a great premise to the quest, and I hope we can continue on with the Conquest of Jerusalem, before working from there to the whole of the Sinai and Egypt. They may have Coptics, but better Orthodox leaning Christian’s as your subjects then Muslim Sunni’s instead.

Also, keep a fucking eye on Stephen, it’s because of that dumbass that Alexious abandoned the crusaders in the middle stages of the crusade, and helped permanently damage the political alliances built by him and the crusaders. Let’s not try and let our closest as strongest allies think we’re doomed for failure eh?

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Several days pass. It's night time but the huge city is bustling with vibrancy, especially the Latin neighborhood. Word has spread among the soldiers that very soon the crusade will start moving again and most want to enjoy the leisures of the cosmopolitan city as much as possible. Taverns, brothels and churches are enjoying plentiful patronage, Greek merchants fight over rich Frankish customers, Muslims and Jews hide in their own neighborhoods waiting for the new non-believers to leave. Three riders enter the left wing of the Imperial palace, build by Justinian himself.

Raymond IV of Toulouse is a slender, middle-aged, tall frank, with blue eyes and black long hair, accompanied by two Occitan knights that are more swarthy in appearance - Estève and Frederic. Their fathers accompanied his father too, they were friends since childhood and he trusts them absolutely, which is why they are here. Entering the meeting hall, he sees all other nobles already gathered around a massive oak table, behind each are many oath sworn knights shadowing their lords' movements, carrying their colors. They notice him and loud greetings are exchanged, Raymond knows many of them. Many don't know each other but this great common cause of theirs soon breaks the awkwardness and everyone is talking. There are exceptions of course. Baldwin and Robert II have crossed swords for the last decade in their homelands and now they are trying to keep distance. Hugh of Vermands, a 16 year old boy, the second son of the count of Vermands, has recently received a huge black eye and now is throwing a long stern look at Raymond. The duke ignores him.

A loud voice booms My noble lords, brothers in Christ... I hope that you have rested well as we are only halfway to our destination. the source being a wide man wearing a worn-out monk tunic, Peter the Hermit, that finally brings an official tone to the gathering As many already know, Turks are ravaging the hinterland of Asia Minor, killing our fellow Christians with disregard. They are a ferocious enemy if facing the weak, but cowardly if met by a proper force. With the support of our roman brothers let us invade their heathen lands, route them and later rest easy that our backs won't be stabbed, once we reach the Levant.

A monk giving strategic advise... some knight mumbles.

I have been hearing for weeks that the Turks like mobility and antagonize their target from a distance. They are familiar with the mountainous terrain and know we can't utilize our heavy cavalry in a proper way there. Baldwin gives his estimation.

Afraid of some cliffs? We came here to fight infidels, you know that right... Robert II feels obligated to disagree with him.

And infidels will be fought, but let's fight them at the right place, Jerusalem. Baldwin cuts him off.

And how do you think we will get there, unless we march through Turkish territory? Robert II replies.

[1/2]

>>5991719
My lords, I might have a solution... Raymond IV gets in. The Doge of Genoa is a friend of mine and his ships sailed my army here, it's a quite efficient method of transportation I must say. Even though their ships that are in the harbor won't fit us all, if our land forces keep a course close to the shore, we can receive a steady supply of produce and men from the Genovese. That way we can keep our distance from the Sultan of Rum and make sure that our forces are intact for the battles in the occupied Holy Lands.

The Byzantines are helping us because they expect help from us. They want their old cities. If we help them, Byzantine help will always be close while Genoa is far away. Bohemond enters the conversation, everyone respectfully listens. Also if we go with the Genovese, the land army will be pressed against the sea on one side at all times. This wouldn't be very smart... His name is well recognized, just as the mountain of a knight that stands guard behind him. Tancred is his name, a mighty devotee of St. George, handling a huge two handed sword called "Joy".

The Byzantines... these almost Christians... Look, they lost their lands out of incompetence and cowardice, and now want us to spill our blood for their past mistakes. I don't want to swear allegiance to them, I don't want to clutter my soul with oaths to half-pagans, I don't want the blood of my men to be our payment to them. Raymond IV says the final words almost hissing. There are shouts of approval.

And what will the Genovese want as payment? The word that goes around camp is that you want to have cities in your name... Bohemond says.

So what if I want property? All of us should have the freedom to enrich ourselves with non-christian gold.

This is a crusade of the spiritual! Such vanity will be our downfall, Raymond! Christ's sepulcher in Christian hands is more than enough to be our only reward. Adhemar backs his friend. Many shout with support.

The bickering continues late into the night. Huge chandeliers continue to burn with oil fat, smell of flowers permeates the hall from the gardens outside. There is something idyllic about the scenery, Godfrey of Bouillon thinks to himself, despite the chaotic movements of military men all around. Behind him are two guards in pristine ebony cloth and armor, both the same height, grey eye color, blond hair. They are the notorious Swabian twins Gelfrid and Gebehart. Godfrey raises his hand to speak and accompanied with the loud spear stomping of his guards on the marble floor, the hall is soon quiets.

My lords, what will it be? As our struggle is a joint effort and no man is more than the next, I say let's put it to the vote:


[2/2]

>>5991724
>advance in the hinterland of Asia Minor and meet the Seljuk Turks in battle until you reach the Levant, receiving the support of the Byzantines, swearing an oath to emperor Alexios that you will return all conquered land in his hands, except for Jerusalem
>travel along the coast of Asia Minor, receiving support from the Genovese ships, avoiding big clashes with the Turks, keeping your strength for the Levant, not knowing what exactly the Italians will want as payment down the road
>thread the middle path and choose the unorthodox approach. Destroy the orthodox! Try to take over Constantinople. If your Latin Empire is established here, give rights to the Venetians, Pisans and Genovese to trade, grant them the management of unruly cities, use their ships for the continuation of your crusade
>write-in

>>5991726
>travel along the coast of Asia Minor, receiving support from the Genovese ships, avoiding big clashes with the Turks, keeping your strength for the Levant, not knowing what exactly the Italians will want as payment down the road

>>5991726
> [Write In] advance in the hinterland of Asia Minor and meet the Seljuk Turks in battle until you reach the Levant, receiving the support of the Byzantines, swearing an oath to emperor Alexios that you and all your fellow crusaders will retain all conquered land as their own, with the exception that they all in return swear oaths of fellowship and loyalty to Alexious and his kingdom as vassal states that fight to protect the Holy Land from all invaders and infidels. With the except for Jerusalem as it would be a neutral ground where all crusaders and byzantines are treated equal and where no man may take up arms against his fellow Christian’s unless it be in defense against the hoarded of the barbarous Saracens that flock the land like Vultures.

>>5991737
I figured that of the three options presented, this would be the one with the most amount of Freedom of choice in regards to who and what we can do with our men and the future of the Outreme after we try and successfully conquer Jerusalem and any number of forts and castles along the coast and hinterland on route to it. Getting involved with the Genovese is just going to antagonize both ourselves and the Italians against Alexious which we do not want if we want to hold the holy land and not die a slow or brutal death by the saracens.

But swearing all of this land back to the Greeks, also robs us of any means to supporting ourselves, or for the satisfaction of our fellow Christian’s and nobles that will be effectively fighting and dying to return land back to a weakened empire, that is just going to lose it in a couple of decades and force us to either go back home or live as indentured servants of the empire.

This plan, at least allows us to get an opportunity down the line to get genovese help, without the threat of antagonizing our local allies, and allows us to hold and govern land of our own, in exchange for doing the exact same thing we were going to do anyway, by stamping out and fighting the Saracen hoarded to the bitter end. It also means we get a new bank for ourselves to use, in the form of the Byzantine Empire that will be forced to send their vassals money and support in times of need, else they ruin their standing and trust in their other vassals and open themselves up from further rebellion and attacks by both their subjects and Muslim and Turkish hoardes close to the land and its city.

>>5991737
eh, fuck it, support I geuss since the other options are either devil bargains or trap options. Do we know how much our time would be delayed making it too Jerusalem if we fought in Asia Minor compared to just rushing it down the coast?

>>5991737
>>5991774
I'm vetoing this write-in, Raymond and his supporters won't participate in the crusade if they know that they are becoming vassals to an orthodox ruler. This would severely deplete the manpower and doesn't fit the way I want to paint the franks. You can't have the cake and eat it too

>>5991796
Welp, I guess I should have seen that one coming. If Raymond wants to play ball, then by all means come and play.

If nothing else, I’m just going to stick with Alexious, since betraying an ally leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and it weakens the local Turkish warlords rule over the land that they could otherwise use to send mercenaries and supplies further down south to bog and hem us in Jerusalem if we manage to make to the Scheplucure and conquer it in the first place.

>advance in the hinterland of Asia Minor and meet the Seljuk Turks in battle until you reach the Levant, receiving the support of the Byzantines, swearing an oath to emperor Alexios that you will return all conquered land in his hands, except for Jerusalem

>>5991726
>advance in the hinterland of Asia Minor and meet the Seljuk Turks in battle until you reach the Levant, receiving the support of the Byzantines, swearing an oath to emperor Alexios that you will return all conquered land in his hands, except for Jerusalem
Let’s watch the first dominos of the crusader states form, and cuck Baldwin of Edessa before he gets a chance at getting the county.

I'm going to play this quest, but it's becoming clear that I need to upgrade my Crusader-autism if I'm going to hang with you fellas.

>>5991737

Supporting even if I don't understand all of the politics just yet.

>>5991929
Appreciate the thought, but the QM cucked us of having that option be possible and told us to pick again.

As for getting knowledge, there are a couple of videos for you and the thread that can serve as good history reminders of what happened in history. (Honestly the general video is as long as it is, because they chalked full on a ton of details for all of the various battles, a lot of background information prior to the crusade, and a lot of the most minute details that really filled in the video a lot. Also Real crusades video is in my opinion the best one of the three.)
https://youtu.be/jiakD6Pm9eE?si=J45f23TQd7KjaiSF
https://youtu.be/kxfP_BSnmyw?si=o1Lk_P7A96MbJENA
https://youtu.be/UnAxaBnxjV4?si=V3OSkArl24OVKBSf

In terms of what’s going on, we’re in 1097, but before either the major seige or battle of Nicea or Dorylaeum respectively. If the Alexios option wins, then we will be choosing the choice that happened in IRL history. Hopefully if we choose that one, then our combined army of over 50k men (the single largest combined army size since the fall of the western Roman Empire, as sad as a thought that maybe.) Means that we should act as a united and coherent force that must always win first before any Greek forces come in and steal the hard earned lot that really led to a major strained relationship between the crusaders and the Greeks in canon. That was because, booty in this war goes under the “the first that got it, keeps it” rule, which majorly pissed off the crusaders. Since that meant when the Greeks captured Nicea, the crusaders who fought for over a month long seige, earned nothing but blood and sweat for the efforts without a sliver of silver or gold for their efforts. Another is to have the army, not split up and instead act as a major coherent force. Where we could split portions of the army’s off to the commanders to launch massive punitive raids against local Muslim communities and cities in order to cause massive damage and fill in our coffers to fill in for the men who will want, water, food, and Gold a plenty for the sacrifices they have made to get this far for the crusade. Once our march through Anatolia is done, we should try and set up a base of operations in Edessa before launch a seige of Antioch before we move down to conquer Jerusalem in one final move. After that, we are moving out of historical knowledge and moving into new ground territory that we have far less knowledge of then before.

>>5991727
>>5991810
>>5991928
2 for supporting the Byzantines, 1 for choosing the Genevese.

Locked.

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The sun was already climbing the horizon when Godfrey of Bouillon left the meeting hall. Still walking through the huge gardens he could hear the distant commotion of the waking capital. He is young, has auburn hair and when clean shaven looks just like a boy. He left an infant son and wife back home, carrying only a strand of hair from the child in an ornamented pouch around his neck, allowing himself the pleasure of this memento. The son was precious to him but the loveless union, he was stuck in, was part of the reasons why he chose to carry the cross. The marriage guaranteed his borders, but made him leave his bedchamber for the past year, on a quest to find new lodgings every night. He usually jokes that he found the wife of Socrates in his bed, pleasing to the eye but ferocious in every other aspect. He remembers how Doda, his Flemish wife, was combative with the helping hand, his maids, his cooks, his guards and him especially. The accusations of homosexuality struck him the most. And she didn't mind his backhand. With a wife like that his holdings were definitely secure, Godfrey thought.

The angry shouts coming from his men's quarters are almost overwhelming, Greek speech is hurling insults left and right. As he and his two guards come closer to the barracks of the Latins, he sees a huge crowd made out of locals getting into brawls with Frankish soldiers who were unwise enough not to carry a weapon. With a hand movement he dispatches Gebehart ahead and in seconds the westerners, that are armed, form tight formation that makes the Greeks flinch but not back off entirely. Godfrey learns that a local woman was raped through the night and soon a Breton knight is brought before him. He doesn't recognize him, but Gebehart assures him that the knight joined his retinue while they were back in Buda. He is in his early twenties, his nose is broken, his only garment is a was-white-now-red gown, red with his own blood. The Breton seems discombobulated and ashamed, Godfrey hears him mumbling It was the wine, m'lord... The lord asks him his name. The beaten man responds - Claustar of Wirisoric. He is admitting his guilt, the populace wants to deal with him themselves.

Godfrey makes his judgement...

>he is your knight! He has been beaten enough, no further punishment, disperse the crowd if they get too rowdy. Your men feel you have their back
>give him twenty lashes and send him to the Latin medbay
>torture him without mutilations, you don't tolerate acts unworthy for a knight
>execute him publicly, make a thorough example out of him to your men. Beheading, good death for a soldier
>give the knight to the Greek crowd, fully appeasing your new allies

>>5992115
>give the knight to the Greek crowd, fully appeasing your new allies

>>5992115
>>torture him without mutilations, you don't tolerate acts unworthy for a knight
Wine is no excuse, be a lesson to the other men and die on the battlefield

>>5992115
>give the knight a choice, either we give him the Greek crowd or he is beheaded
Not only is it fornication outside of wedlock, but rape sullies a woman for life and is akin to mutalation. He must be punished in kind, it will be up to him if he is willing to be executed by his fellows or if he will be at the mercy of the crowd.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>5991929
>>5991972
Keep in mind that I will keep some artistic freedom, the characters and events won't be exactly as they have been described in the anals, so even if you don't know anything about the historical figures, you can read along freely
>>5992116
>>5992139
>>5992163
1 for torture, 2 for execution, 3 for giving the knight to the mob

For future reference, the taken decisions will affect the reputation of the characters among the army.

>give the knight a choice, either we give him the Greek crowd or he is beheaded
Time to see how this knight will react when given the choice of how to die. Maybe he will redeem himself with his choice?

>>5992203
Nvm, it seems we are going to kill him the clean and fast way.

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>Crusader quest
You have my attention

>>5992224
Unfathomably based, but can you send a link of the source of that drawing? I’m curious if their are anymore genuinely amazing pieces as this one that I can get for my crusader piece collection.

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>>5992203
It's early morning and the army of the cross has already finished it's disembarkment on the shore of Asia. Far in the distance, the dome of Hagia Sophia glistens with the morning light. Several days have passed since the crusaders made their oaths of friendship and cooperation with emperor Alexios. Each of them swore his oath on the veil of Mary herself, [i]the Greeks have quite the artifact collection[/i] Hugh of Vermands says with disdain to his accompanying household knight Otto. The boy noble is the only prominent crusader who decided not to swear the oath, not buckling under the pressure from his seniors. Even Bohemond couldn't get through him. Thankfully Alexios, pragmatic as always, benevolently let the boy's stubbornness win, having in mind that Hugh leads the smallest contingent of the seven commanders and his age wouldn't sway many possible followers in the near future. Otto is glad that Hugh didn't take the vow. The boy has enough brains to know that he won't honor it, so why give it in the first place. Otto likes his determination. Even though a second son on paper, Otto knows that Hugh is actually adopted. He isn't sure if the young lord knows that himself. Nonetheless, Hugh wears expensive norman-esque chainmail and breastplate with the image of Mary on it. He is her devotee, maybe the reason why he chose not to swear on her cloth fragment, Otto thinks. For his 16th birthday he received a queer gift from a visiting guest - a sword made of strange dark material that doesn't let any type of liquid to remain on it's blade. From water to blood, all rolls off the edge through the the sword's black crevices. His incredible dueling skills have received a worthy tool. Hugh named it the [red][i]"Bathing Virgin"[/i][/red].

______________________________

Forces: 6 999 knights | 35 000 foot soldiers | 9 000 archers and crossbows

Morale: Very High
---> piety/discipline: Very High
+piece of the True Cross +Adhemar +Peter the Hermit +sworn oaths on Mary's veil +harsh but fair punishment of criminals
---> provisions: Very High
+spring +Byzantine supply lines

>>5992283
No colors :/

The crusader army is marching in two main groups in order to ease the logistical effort of the supporting Greeks. The second group is marching with two days delay behind the first one and each of them are further divided to vanguard, middleguard and rearguard. There is an appointed commander on each one of them. Now Hugh is riding in the first group, alongside the great Bohemond, leading their troops towards the capital of the Sultanate of Rum - Nicea. Byzantine spies have informed the latter that the sultan of the Seljuks - [b]Kily Arslan[/b] is expecting a much smaller crusader force to siege his well-supplied capital and is preparing to ride out with good amount of his force. His Turkic cousins to the east - the Degismen, are creating substantial trouble along his borders and he wants to meet them in battle.

[blue][i]We have two choices... [/i][/blue] Bohemond says to Hugh [blue][i]we can let Kily Arslan leave the fortress and then rush the walls of the now smaller Nicean garrison before he hears about our true levy size, hoping that we can take the city before he comes at our back. The fall of his capital will be s severe blow, but then we will have to chase his light cavalry around and he will be deciding when to engage us. The other option is to rush our group and lay siege on the capital before he leaves it. That way the Degismen will ravage the eastern part of his holdings and once we defeat him in Nicea, the Sultanate of Rum won't be a big issue to our crusade.[/i][/blue] the experienced commander finishes with a raised brow, as if waiting an answer from Hugh, the same way a teacher expects a response from a student. Hugh keeps his sullen expression for a moment and answers with a neutral face.

>we are letting Kily Arslan go, then we make haste with the siege preparations

>we are rushing towards Nicea, Kily Arslan has to be in our hands

Bohemond nods. [blue][i]Go to the rearguard and tell Godfrey.[/i][/blue]

>>5992285
Always nice when a choice made is vindicated, and glad to see the army actually agrees and respects the punishment meted out towards the knight turned Rapist. In any case, I say go for Nicea hard and fast. The bastards are going to be surprised of a force of more then 2,000 knights suddenly appearing before their capital, with a hoarde of more then 10,000 soldiers at the ready to climb the walls or breach them should the fortifications be as pathetic as they were in IRL, it also helps that we are rolling a 1d100+40 thanks to Bohemond for our armys rolling. Besides, if we rush in fast, not only do we have a great chance of catching the city early, we also get a chance at capturing Arslan, and if we get him, then we can pull off either a Richard the Lionheart and Bankrupt his kingdom in its finances and supplies for the captive price, or launch it into anarchy by killing the king and throwing its command structure into utter chaos.

>we are rushing towards Nicea, Kily Arslan has to be in our hands

Alright, so if we want to have everything go as in canon, then letting Kily go would be the correct course of action, the problem with that is that their is no way in hell he would actually defend his holdings from the Turks. He spent that entire seige raiding and harassing the crusaders seige, before getting off Scot free and proved a continual thorn in the side of the Greeks and Christian’s for almost a decade afterwords before his drowning. And while he did at times fight the Degismen, he mostly focused on raiding and attacking Edessa and the Byzantine holdings in Anatolia. Which was why the crusade of 1101 A.D. ended in such a military defeat before it ever marched down south to the Levant like it had originally been planned for.

>>5992383
With that knowledge in my mind, I don’t care about ransoming the bastard, though the money would be nice, I want to just kill the bastard and be done with him, before or after the ransom.
>we are rushing towards Nicea, Kily Arslan has to be in our hands

>>5992285
>we are rushing towards Nicea, Kily Arslan has to be in our hands

>>5992385
Oh shit! I forgot, he’s also the fucker that helped cause the break up of the army, because he helped cause massive fire and salt campaigns to cause as much logistical problems for the crusaders as possible, hence why he poisoned many wells and burned crops that otherwise could have easily have been pillaged and harvested by the crusaders as they were moving through his territory after they won the Seige of Nicea. Now I doubly stand by wanting to capture and kill this fucker now. Because for whatever harm the Turks could cause to his holdings, they would still need to break open the holdings to get the stuff, rather then the holdings just following orders of destroying their own supplies in order to spite the enemy without losing a single man to enemy raids in the process. And from whatever the Turks can steal from Rum, we can just as well steal it from them as we make a detour in order to move along into further southeastern portions of Anatolia in order to make allies of the local Armenians in Edessa that would love to have some solid protection against the local parading Seljuk raiders.

>>5992320
>>5992385
>>5992392
3 for trapping Kily

Locked

File: capital-siege.png (2.44 MB, 1373x789)

2.44 MB PNG

>>5992878
It has been a day and a half since Bohemond gave the triple-time marching order for the infantry of his crusader group, but despite their fervent effort, the footmen were still few hours behind the galloping knights. War horses really do make a difference. The second group, the one purposefully lagging 2 days behind the first, has been informed to hurry up. It's late evening now, the animals' pace is brought to a walk as a small break, they are foaming at the mouth and are covered in sweat, exhausted. The lights on top of the Nicean battlements burn bright in the distance, the crusaders are approaching the capital from the south. The cloud formations make the night almost pitch black. Bohemond orders each horseman to light two torches, making his force to appear bigger than it actually is.

Godfrey of Bouillon will block the northern routes to Nicea, Bohemond's force will face the main gate and will cover the eastern paths, while Hugh, as the most inexperienced and having smallest force, will stay here and take care of the southern routes to the city, receiving the first infantry reinforcements at dawn. The Byzantines will use small ships to block the Ascanian lake from the west. Time passes, maneuvers are made, soon the crusading commanders are on their respective posts. Kily Arslan is successfully trapped inside.

The siege of Nicea begins.
__________________

Commander: Godfrey***
Side: Northern
Force: 799 knights
Effects: -exhausted from galloping

Commander: Bohemond****
Side: Eastern, facing the main gate
Force: 1100 knights
Effects: -exhausted from galloping

Commander: Hugh
Side: Southern
Force: 200 knights
Effects: -exhausted from galloping
__________________

The Turkish city guards are making noise on top of the walls, alerting for enemy presence. Will they call the crusader torch bluff?

>3 anons roll dice+1d2, majority 1 for successful crusader bluff and the knights receive the infantry reinforcements in the morning, majority 2 - the Turks start a night attack against the exhausted knights

>>5992277
I found the original artist a long time ago but I don't think I can dredge it up now.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5992890

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5992890

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5992890

>>5992902
Ah man, that sucks, but still thank you for spending the time and effort to mention my reply and for trying to tell me if you know where the artist is or not.

>>5993100
DEUS VULT!!!! The Saracen Infidels did not Call our Bluff! And, now we have rested our knights and have received massive reinforcements for our knights holding all of the gates of the city! Hallelujah!

>>5992903
>>5992909
>>5993100
majority is 1, the crusader bluff is successful.

>>5993112
The night is tense but the turks seem intimidated and caught unprepared for battle by the sudden arrival of the westerners. The former stay put, which gives enough time for the knights to recuperate from the long ride. The morning comes and with it - a black forest of spears is on the horizon, the infantry. They are plenty tired but their commanders find them work on creating proper fortified positions against the looming city. In noon a mass of disorganized groups of people start joining the crusader camp. These are all the merchants, cooks, smiths, prostitutes and the like, who have been accompanying the franks for the past several months. Their numbers are around 20 000.

Taticios, the greek commander in the second group who works as a representative of emperor Alexios, arrives soon after the infantry. He is accompanied by Robert II of Flanders and his men, both of them have been rushing as madmen in order to boost the frankish numbers. The Greek informs Bohemond that his spies put an estimate of Nicea's defenders around 15 to 20 000. Him and Robert II join Hugh of Vermands on the weaker southern side.

Evening comes. All commanders have a sit down in the tent of Bohemond, which isn't any bigger than the one of the common man-at-arms. Only the pristine royal banners hung on the walls give the spartan place a more aesthetically appeasing look. The generals have to decide how they will approach the siege:

Can choose several option, time gets stacked, ram/tower/trebuchet can be chosen more than once
>build ladders (1 week of work)
>build ram (2 weeks of work)
>build a siege tower (1 month of work)
>build a trebuchet (2 months of work)
>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)

[1/2]

>>5993158
_________________________________

Commander: Godfrey***
Side: Northern
Force: 799 knights | 4000 infantry | 1030 archers and crossbows
Effects: +harsh&fair commander +fortified positions -exhausted

Commander: Bohemond****
Side: Eastern, facing the main gate
Force: 1100 knights | 5500 infantry | 1400 archers and crossbows
Effects: +legendary leader +fortified positions -exhausted

Commander: Hugh, Robert II**, Taticios*
Side: Southern
Hugh's force: 200 knights | 1000 infantry | 260 archers and crossbows
Robert II's force: 700 | 3500 infantry | 900 archers and crossbows
Taticios's force: 100 cataphracts | 500 infantry
Effects: +fortified positions ~rumors around Hugh -greek commander in the ranks -exhausted

The commander stars have a stacking effect when commanders are in the same army wing
_________________________________


The siege decision planning is almost over when battle horns are sound outside. The commanders rush the exit and in the darkness see the Seljuk warriors leaving the gates in droves, trying to break the encirclement.

Battle begins!

>3 anons roll dice+1d100+30 for the Northern wing, dice+1d100+40 for the Eastern wing, dice+1d100+30 for the Southern wing

[2/2]

>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)
Since this was the one that worked out best, since the walls, the number of defenders, and the greekfire they have on hand is really dangerous, the tunneling seems like the best thing to do in my mind.

Rolled 58 + 30 (1d100 + 30)

southern wing

Rolled 55 + 30 (1d100 + 30)

Northern side

Rolled 55 + 40 (1d100 + 40)

>>5993159
>>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)
East Side rolling

>>5993192
Oh, shit I forgot to vote! Well, same thing I was going to vote for anyway.

>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)

Really hope Kily is the only commander on their side that has a Star on them, otherwise they are going to need to roll amazingly well in order to try and beat us on the other sides of the city from our troops.

>>5993196
Alright, I just checked Wikipedia, and they have him as the only commander of the army in charge of the city during the Seige. Here’s hoping he rolls like dogshit against one of our commanders (my money is it being on the main gate against Bohemond.)

>>5993167
>>5993169
>>5993190
>>5993192
alright, we have the 3 rolls for our battle. I thought that you guys will choose more than just one option for how to handle the city walls. I will start writing in a couple of hours, until then you can choose several at the same time, have in mind that the time for each option will get stacked. If you want us to try and speedrun the siege with the underground teams, just leave it like that.

>>5993196
I don't think that I will be assigning stars to enemy generals, our guys might only receive penalties if they are face to face with someone more noteworthyy but we'll see

>>5993159
>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)

>>5993201
PS. The stacking of commander stars when there are two or more commanders on the same wing at the same time will only go through in this battle, otherwise it will get too OP when the rest of the gang arrive. From now on if there are two or more generals in the same place, only the one with most stars will be added to the battle dice roll.

>>5993196
This is me.
>>5993201
Awesome, and in this case it makes a certain amount of sense, Kily from the dating puts him at 17 or 18 years old at the time of this Seige, and he’s had precious little combat experience prior to this Seige, so him being able to use his Turkish warriors to cause hit and run tactics, which are his only main advantages have been rendered obsolete by this Seige. And hopefully we can avoid having a large number of penalties effect us from her on out.

>>5993211
Ah damn, well we had some great advantages while we had them, and at least it saved our southern forces from defeat in this breakout attempt.

>>5993158

>build a trebuchet (2 months of work)
>send underground teams to erode the foundations of the walls (1 month of work, unless tunnels collapse, dice roll)

Obviously, the trebuchet and tunnels go together here. My general thought is to avoid bloody walltaking efforts and instead bring the walls down directly, which might even prompt a surrender on general principles.

>>5993201
>>5993192
>>5993190
>>5993169
>>5993159
I can’t believe I missed the rolling session for the opening battle. Eh, doesn’t matter with those kinds of Rolls we are Stomping Hard on the Turks no matter the outcome. Besides that, I’m thinking if we get the chance at capturing Kily, we should try to pull of an exorbitant price on his Ransom to his Sultanate, before letting him go and poisoning him the day before we hand him back over. Once that happens, we get a legendary amount of loot of all kinds, we completely destabilize central Anatolia opening the way for Greek reconquest, and give an easy way for the Greeks to also nab much of the western coast of Anatolia as Chaka hasn’t been assasinated by Kily, all the while, the Dashameids will keep themselves occupied by fighting any armed resistance from Rum, and their other nearby neighbors while we move on, and any other cities that we come across won’t resist and drag us into a Seige thinking we’re going to betray them, and massacre the people and Ruling elites of the city.

Though, it will mean that the length needed to complete the ransom could drag us on into 1098 if the negotiations for whatever reason drag on, or take way to long to complete.

>>5993447
Also, what’s this weird ~ sign about Hugh? I wasn’t aware of their being allegations about him being gay?

>>5993158
>build ladders (1 week of work)
>build a siege tower (1 month of work)

>>5993447

Do we really want to meta-game, though?

>>5993619
This is not Metagaming, the reasons I outlined are something that everyone of the commanders can and should be fully briefed on what could happen for our Seige of Nicaea and our capture/killing Kily Askalon. The only problem in my opinion for the option I presented, is that we probably won’t be able to do it from a choice narration as it might run a foul of the samething that happened to my last write in idea, which was vetoed for it being a cake and eat it too, situation.

Which, would genuinely suck, but if that were to happen, I would advocate that we make a Ransom instead of killing Kily. If we ransom him with enough exorbitant amount of their treasury, we will severely weaken any attempt by the Sultan to recover from its losses, either the monetary, property, or manpower aspect that we just came in with, and destroyed in our lightning Seige of the capital. And once we leave, with most of his Dultans army dead or captured, his kingdom broke, and losing his most significant and important Capital gone, in addition to all of the damage caused by the Dadhemeids (and us in the future), combined with his age, and Kily will likely be killed in either a coup or a mob attack less then a month after we release him back to his Sultanate.

>>5993206
>>5993192
>>5993196
>>5993233
>>5993584
majority is for tunnels under the city walls, if the miners aren't successful after the diceroll we will make another poll on how to continue the siege

>>5993448
no one is accusing him of that, anon

Battle update follows

File: seljuk-attack.jpg (491 KB, 2047x1333)

491 KB JPG

>>5993740
_______________________
Eastern side
Rolled 55 + 40 = 95

Bohemond and his crusaders are outside the range of the archers alongside the city walls, so now hundreds of light cavalry have used the huge main gate to ride out fast in droves, galloping in circles close to their fortification, raining arrows over the Normans. Light and heavy cavalry tease the besiegers but are repelled by masterful crossbow and archer volleys, keeping the Turks at distance successfully. Mounted knights clash with their enemy counterparts only a couple of times, yet manage to slay them in huge numbers, proving the superiority of western chevalier prowess in open engagement. Bohemond believes that the Turks aren't trying their best with him and suspects that the pressure of the battle is put somewhere else. He dispatches messengers to the other two sides of the siege, inquiring about their status. The Norman lord is right, soon the Turks retreat through the main gate, putting an end to the fighting.

Battle on the eastern side is over.

Distinguished fighters:
Guidmund of Apulia, knight
Tedbalt of Bretel, knight
Youseff of Carthage, Christianized berber crossbowman

[final losses: 6 knights, 40 infantry, 1 archer]


_______________________
Southern side
Rolled 58 + 30 = 88

The crusaders successfully keep the Turks at a distance, Taticios promptly advises Robert II and Hugh about various Turkish tactics. The commanders see that the seljuks aren't especially committed in their attacks. Suddenly, a Turkish heavy cavalryman rides out alone from the rest of his men, his armor and beautiful stallion suggest that he is an officer of some sort. He throws a heavy spear that lands stuck in the crusader's wooden palisade, unmounts and challenges the crusading nobles for a duel. The Christian men looked pissed off by the brazen display of disrespect, the Turkish spear is still wiggling, buried deeply in an ash tree plank.

A face, half-swollen, makes a barely noticeable grimace. The 16 year old second son of the count of Vermands, Hugh, silently takes up the challenge...

>Hugh gets off the palisade and approaches the turkish officer. He draws his queer blade [Duel begins. Incoming dice roll (known dueller +10, has 'Bathing Virgin' +10, swollen black eye limits view -10)]

>Robert II stops him and takes his place [Duel begins. Incoming dice roll (experienced +10)]

>Robert II stops him, leaving the challenge unanswered

>before he gets any closer, Taticios orders crossbow volleys to be shot at the turkish officer

[no current losses]

[1/2]

>>5993790
_____________________________
Northern side
Rolled 55 + 30 = 85

Here the seljuk turks fight viciously. Mixed Turkish cavalry is constantly charging and retreating only to charge again, probing relentlessly for weak spots in the newly made fortified positions. They sure are mobile, making them a harder target for the Christian archers, yet receive a vicious sting in their numbers whenever they get too close and meet volleys from the crossbowmen. Godfrey orders some knights to dismount who are now assisting the infantry with long spades on the makeshift wooden battlements, others stay mounted and play the cat-and-mouse game along the flanks. The turks form an infantry line of their own and steadily get closer, in the distance their Northern gate is spitting multitudes of infantrymen.

"They are really going for it" Godfrey says to the his two Swabian twin guards, Gelfrid and Gebehart. Maintaining defensive orders across his wing, the lord of Bouillon rides towards the lake, gathering his heavy cavalry in one cohesive unit, the two germans follow at his heels.

The turkish infantry assault is at hand. Normal ladders are used to reach the top of the crusader palisade and ferocious hand-to-hand combat ensues. Archers and crossbows deliver volley after volley into the enemy masses. Sergeants rotate the already exhausted fighting soldiers, giving them a chance to catch their breath before joining the melee again. The turkish forces accumulate for another couple dozen minutes under the wooden palisades, swelling their number to almost 3 000, making another great attempt at piercing the crusading position. This is when a battle buisine is heard, sounding the knight's advancement.

Godfrey has made a classic crescent-shaped encircling maneuver, crushing the Turkish cavalry on one of the flanks and is now leading 500 knights in the back of the enemy infantry at full charge. The sound of metal clashing in metal and bone is deafening. People are impaled, slashed, maced, trampled by the huge western war horses. Realizing that their flank is destroyed and the enemy is hacking and slashing both in their front and back, the Seljuk morale crumbles and soon all infantry routes. The friendly battlements are no longer in danger and the infantry advances as well. However, now Godfrey's knights are closer to the city walls and are in enemy archer range, already taking several enemy volleys in their exposed backs, killing men and horses.

Godfrey sends out orders...

>focus on destroying the pinned 3 000 enemy infantry (morale and significant number loss for the besieged; surge in knight fatalities)

>regroup and get out of enemy archer range, letting the 3 000 men to return in Nicea

[current losses: 35 knights | 180 infantry | 12 archers and crossbows]

[2/2]

>>5993790
>Hugh gets off the palisade and approaches the turkish officer. He draws his queer blade [Duel begins. Incoming dice roll (known dueller +10, has 'Bathing Virgin' +10, swollen black eye limits view -10)]

>>5993792
>>focus on destroying the pinned 3 000 enemy infantry (morale and significant number loss for the besieged; surge in knight fatalities)
A tough choice. I'm willing to hear out other anons, but I find destroying them now more urgent even though it might bite us in the long run.

>>5993792
>>Hugh gets off the palisade and approaches the turkish officer. He draws his queer blade [Duel begins. Incoming dice roll (known dueller +10, has 'Bathing Virgin' +10, swollen black eye limits view -10)]

>>>focus on destroying the pinned 3 000 enemy infantry (morale and significant number loss for the besieged; surge in knight fatalities)

>>5993792
Hot damn, those rolls saved our asses big time, and man am I glad we rolled high with Godfrey on the North side.

>Hugh gets off the palisade and approaches the turkish officer. He draws his queer blade [Duel begins. Incoming dice roll (known dueller +10, has 'Bathing Virgin' +10, swollen black eye limits view -10)]
Why the hell does Hugh have a black eye? Besides that, we lose nothing by not taking it up, as Hugh has no stars at all to symbolizes himself of a man of tactics. And while he is someone with some amount of men, that amount is small, and they would almost all just fold themselves back under the command of Godfrey his brother if Hugh fell.

>focus on destroying the pinned 3 000 enemy infantry (morale and significant number loss for the besieged; surge in knight fatalities)
Yes, 100% fuck yes! Granted, having a surge in Knight casualties are bad, but this is from a force that holds over almost 800 knights strong, and in all lost only 35 souls from the fight so far in a massive cavalry charge. If we commit to this attack, even if the numbers surge well and truly past 300 knights, this will almost have surely put the losses of the combined army and garrison trapped in the city, dead of almost a fourth of its total strength in the first day of the Seige. Combined with the morale loss of the rest of the survivors and their other defeats so far, and this tally no matter the cost, easily is worth the sacrifice in men and horses.

>>5994003
Oh, and if our losses of knights against the whole army get bad enough, we can always try and spend the time and effort to gather together the best local candidates we can find, and then train and arm them with the equipment of those knights that have previously fallen in their duty for the Holy Land. Could also just ask the genovese to just transport any eager nobles or nearby knights from their city state and anyone close by that would love to come join us in order to make the reconquer of the Holy city possible.

And I completely forgot, that this entire fight, was with only half of our commanders and a portion of our combined army. We are making great bang for our buck of troops, pound per pound for losses.

>>5993917
>>5993961
>>5994003
Hugh gets off the palisade and Godfrey pins down the 3 000 enemy soldiers. Dice rolling time:
1 is always critical failure and isn't affected by any added score. 100 and above is always critical success.

>one anon rolls dice+1d100+20 for Hugh's duel.

Godfrey is attacking with 500 of his knights, his men are being pelted with arrows. Dice determines knight casualties.
>another anon rolls dice+1d250+150 (150 knights certainly die)

Rolled 198 + 150 (1d250 + 150)

>>5994041

Rolled 159 + 150 (1d250 + 150)

Rolled 20 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>5994041

Rolled 64 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>5993790

Here’s the Hugh duel roll if you need it

>>5994055
Whoops, I made a mistake by posting the same dice twice as the initial result didnt appear on my image feed. Please ignore this second one as i made it by mistake. Besides that, damn did I wish I could not roll high on anything else then a d100.

>>5994003
Hugh got a meat sandwich is Constantinople, it was mentioned in the meeting hall update. Also Godfrey isn't his brother in this story and he wasn't even in real life, as far as I can recollect.

>>5994053
>>5994055
>>5994060
>>5994061
I am taking the better result:

Rolled 64 + 20 = 84 for Hugh's duel
Rolled 159 + 150 = 309 knight casualties

Locked

>>5994075
Sigh, my attention span is like a ADHD inclined child, learning how to read it seems. I have no idea why I thought Godfrey or Hugh were related, though I chalk that up to remembering one of them was closely related to the king, and misremembering the origins of the other one in Godfrey’s case. And, yeah now I see the line where Raymond gave Hugh a Black eye in the hall. Sigh, I really wish I would not keep making these dumbass mistakes sometimes.

Besides that, at least Hugh isn’t going to die from this duel thankfully. But damn did Godfrey’s knight take a pounding from those fucking archers. All told, about he lost about 354 knights from this attack, which would be little close to half all told, most of which came from archery fire. Still worth it at the end of the day, in order to wipeout a force more then 10 times their number in terms of foes. And reinforcements should be arriving soonish in the next couple of days.

>>5993792
>focus on destroying the pinned 3 000 enemy infantry (morale and significant number loss for the besieged; surge in knight fatalities)

File: the-duel.jpg (13 KB, 253x199)

13 KB JPG

>>5994089
__________________________
Southern side
Rolled 64 + 20 = 84

Christian and Muslim shouts of encouragement for their respective fighters pierce the night air. Hugh is advancing towards his opponent with a steady step, only with a sword in hand. Seeing that, the Turkish officer throws aside his small round horseman shied, in a gesture of chivalry, and slashes the air with his scimitar. Soon Hugh gets into the range of his black bastard sword and having assumed the eagle stance, the Bathing Virgin comes crashing down the Seljuk.

He is first to swing and some infantrymen behind the palisade give joyful cries, must have won the first strike bet. The officer dodges the next few attacks and strikes as well. His people are giving him encouragements and advise for where to cut his opponent. The match is evenly matched and the turk manages to get a few hits but all are blocked by the heavier Norman chainmail that Hugh carries. The youthfulness and vigor of the Christian noble is apparent, his stamina is impeccable, he is slowly but surely exhausting his opponent under a barrage of ferocious scores that are barely being reflected properly.

Seeing that he is slowly starting to lose the conventional battle and hoping that the better armament of the Christian will make him less mobile, the enemy officer suddenly drops his whole body on the floor and like a rattlesnake goes for a slash across Hugh's calves. Alas, Hugh's agility is marvelous and he jumps over the lightning fast scimitar, making the men in both camps go completely silent just for a second. That second is enough for the noble to plunge his charcoal sword deep into the laying on the ground turk.

Victorious, Hugh of Vermands raises his now bloodied Bathing Virgin high in the air and loudly proclaims his war cry - "For the Blessed Virgin!" The whole southern crusader side explodes with ecstatic shouts of his victory. The blood upon his raised sword continues to slide away, as if having a mind of its own, until the blade is pristinely clean, as if untouched. A few people notice that.

~~~ Hugh starts to build a legend around himself ~~~


The battle at the Southern side is over.
Cont.

>>5994197
You beautiful boy, if I could, I would make you a Knight if you weren’t already made one already. Also, special sword should be kept an eye on so it can be used well in the future after Hugh’s death, either now in Anatolia and the first crusade, or later on afterwords.

File: soldier-being-knighted.jpg (53 KB, 512x335)

53 KB JPG

>>5994197
______________________________
Northern side
Rolled 159 + 150 = 309 knight casualties in the assault

The bloody business of the day is over. The stench of iron and blood lingers concentrated in the air all around. Dead bodies are gathered around the Christian palisade in order to be receive a proper Christian burial or to be stacked away from the living, if Muslim, and probably burned. The city archers don't allow for gathering of the dead knights in their range, maybe hoping to spread disease to the besiegers. Shouts of the wounded, friends and foes alike, can be heard for miles.

Godfrey is sitting completely exhausted in front of his tent, still wearing his bloodied armor, Gelfrid and Gebehart - stoic, silent, with red and black all over, are on his sides as always. The morning rays are rising over the battlefield. A lonely knight is looking for his brother somewhere in the distance. More than 4 000 souls have perished in the night, his forces bearing the brunt of the assault but providing victory. In front of him are the distinguished fighters of the battle:

Bernart of Aucorte, frankish knight
Adalbert of Clermont, frankish knight
Theodon of Werinberg, swabian infantryman
Arnold of Lyon, frankish archer
Bernardus 'Three Hands', frankish archer

Godfrey makes a gesture for Theodon to step forward and makes him kneel. Realizing what's to come, the German tries to clean his battlefield filth from his face as much as possible and raises his gaze to meet the eyes of his lord. Godfrey's sword is hovering over the kneeling man's head.

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath." Godfrey brings the sword to Theodon's left cheek and makes a stinging cut. "And that's so you remember it. Now rise a knight!"

The knighted one receives only the screams of the dying as cheers. The rest of the men receive spoils of war.

[final losses: 344 knights | 601 infantrymen | 70 archers and crossbows]
[gains: 1 knight]

The battle on the Northern side is over.

>>5994306
Well well, it looks like we now know how to recruit more knights in the future, but as always the horses will be far harder to place then the men, so they should be kept in the reserve so as to make sure the warhorses that we need for our knights, do not die from the heat or the lack of water once we start marching onward, from Nicaea and into the wider reaches of the Levant. Besides that, a solid and decisive victory for ourselves this day, as we took out a fourth of the entire garrison and army locked up in the city, for as many as 10 to 1 losses compared to our own. And we just need to wait a month, and then the city and its kings Glorius Ransom will be ours for the long trek to Edessa, Antioch, and finally Jerusalem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REPORT TO THE VICAR OF CHRIST ON EARTH FROM THE HUMBLE EXECUTIONER OF HIS WILL IN ANATOLIA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Our forces in the skirts of the besieged Nicea in order of their multitudes:


stars knights infantry archers and crossbows
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Raymond IV of Toulouse * 2450 12250 3150

Bohemond of Taranto **** 1094 5460 1399

Baldwin of Lorraine *** 900 4500 1160

Stephen of Blois * 850 4250 1100

Robert II of Flanders ** 700 3500 900

Godfrey of Bouillon *** 455 3399 960

Hugh of Vermands 200 1000 260
_________________________________________________________________________________________
total 6649 34359 8929
______________________
Relationships


Raymond IV doesn't like Hugh of Vermands, former had a fight with his favorite squire. Also is sore about Bohemond opposing him in picking Genoa as a provisioning ally.

Stephen of Blois and Raymond IV are close allies because of marriage ties back home and have been personal friends for years.

Robert II of Flanders and Baldwin of Lorraine hate each other since inheriting a generational border disputes in their fiefdoms.

Everyone, except for Raymond IV, suspect Stephen of cuckoldry and general meekness.

Except for the abovementioned, all get along amicably in their common struggle.


______________________
Nicean siege


Commanders: Godfrey***, Raymond IV*
Side: Northern
Forces: 2905 knights | 15649 infantry | 4110 archers and crossbows

Commanders: Bohemond****, Robert II**
Side: Eastern, facing the main gate
Forces: 1794 knights | 8960 infantry | 2299 archers and crossbows

Commanders: Baldwin***, Stephen*, Taticios*, Hugh
Side: Southern
Forces: 1950 knights | 9750 infantry | 2520 archers and crossbows
Taticios's force: 100 cataphracts | 500 infantry


NB! Underground teams are currently working on eroding the foundations of the walls


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE ONE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE TWO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________
Personal companions

Raymond IV of Toulouse
->Estève of Valldemossa, occitan knight, zealot
->Frederic of Nice, occitan knight, zealot, chaste
->Cassyon of the Pale, frankish squire, Raymond's favorite, outfought Hugh of Vermands, albino, strange birthmark, otherworldly presence

Bohemond of Taranto
->Tancred 'The Boulder', norman knight, devoted to St. George, has the sword 'Joy', huge
->Abelart of Quincy, norman knight
->Clement 'Silence' Harcourt, norman squire, dueling prodigy, mute, zealot

Baldwin of Lorraine
->Baldrick of Rayne, frankish knight, renown poet, has the sword 'Red Rayne'
->Wichmann 'One-eye', saxon, personal friend, saved Baldwin's life once
->Anno of Verdun, frankish squire, parents participated in a hellenic cult, suspected he-witch

Stephen of Blois
->Gisele Vavasour, Stephen's mistress
->Teague of Quinn, irish mercenary, known cutthroat
->Malachy of Fallon, irish mercenary
->Ezequiel Silva, portuguese knight, ascetic, zealot, chaste, devoted to St. Michael, has personal attachment to Stephen

Robert II of Flanders
->Matz of Elsinga, flandrian knight, known atheist, has the sword 'Dark Nun'
->Ceylan of Sibma, flandrian knight
->Killian 'the Omen' of Hall, flandrian squire, genius, flagellant, otherworldly presence

Godfrey of Bouillon
->Gebehart 'The Right Hand', swabian knight, twin, has given an oath to die if his lord or twin dies before him, suspected homosexual
->Gelfrid 'The Left Hand', swabian knight, twin, has given an oath to die if his lord or twin dies before him, suspected homosexual
->Bertin of Thionville, frankish knight

Hugh of Vermands, devoted to the Virgin Mary, chaste, has the sword 'Bathing Virgin', promising astrological chart
->Otto 'the Reckless', frankish knight, knows Hugh's real parentage
->Florian of Nancy, frankish knight
->Lucienne of "Bauldry", "accountant", hides that she is female, knows Hugh's real parentage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIGNED BY YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT, ADHEMAR DE MONTEIL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NB! Create 2 groups of 3 characters each (from the personal companions and/or the distinguished in battle). Then put a leader for each of the two groups (can be a personal companion or a commander) and assign the groups to each task below.

>there is a rumor of a religious artifact in one of the neighboring mountains. You send a group to investigate while the siege is waiting for progress.

>greek villagers living half day's ride from here, have participated in the reconstruction of the Nicean city walls some years ago. Send a group to ask around for possible weaknessess in the soil and the rock foundation under the walls. [increases the roll for the underground miners with +30 if successful]

>>5994556
>>5994559
the formatting came out all over the place and since my IP changed I can't color text anymore, so until the next thread you will have to suffer through the bland text. God willed it that way, boyos

>>5994567
That’s fine QM, at least you tried. And damn, this stuff is going to be a pain to figure out on how to create 2 groups of characters to try and do these two tasks.

>>5994572
This crusade is only for the committed :p

>>5994559
>Artifact in the Mountain
>Ezequiel, Clement, and Frederic. Under the leadership of Raymond IV.
I'm a bit unsure about this one. Zealots and hardy men are probably the way to go here.

>Greek Inquiry
>Killian, Abelart, and Baldrick. Under the leadership of Bohemond.
The poet and the genius can probably help us with social things. Bohemond has already been warming up with the Greeks so it makes sense.

>>5994559

>there is a rumor of a religious artifact in one of the neighboring mountains. You send a group to investigate while the siege is waiting for progress.
Group

Hugh of Vermands, devoted to the Virgin Mary, chaste, has the sword 'Bathing Virgin', promising astrological chart.
->Anno of Verdun, frankish squire, parents participated in a hellenic cult, suspected he-witch
-> Ezequiel Silva, portuguese knight, ascetic, zealot, chaste, devoted to St. Michael, has personal attachment to Stephen

Leader ->Killian 'the Omen' of Hall, flandrian squire, genius, flagellant, otherworldly presence

>greek villagers living half day's ride from here, have participated in the reconstruction of the Nicean city walls some years ago. Send a group to ask around for possible weaknessess in the soil and the rock foundation under the walls. [increases the roll for the underground miners with +30 if successful]
-> Bohemond of Taranto
-> Clement 'Silence' Harcourt, norman squire, dueling prodigy, mute, zealot
->Tancred 'The Boulder', norman knight, devoted to St. George, has the sword 'Joy', huge
Leader
Taticios

Alright, this stuff is confusing enough as it is, but I’m going to try and outline my reasoning on why I choose who for what, and why.

For the Greek expertise, I’m sending Taciticos as the leader, as he’s the only one I know that can confidently speak Greek, and will easily both win and have the easiest time trying to get the locals to loosen up and trust enough to help out. And for good reason, it’s the personal general of the empire that ruled over them with a fair hand, a decade ago before the Turks came in and fucked them over. The others besides Taciticos, are those I trust to act on their best behavior to both the Greeks and Taciticos since for two of them it makes good in-roads on making friendly relationships with the literal leader of the Byzantine part of the faction helping to fund and run this crusade. And the other, is a skilled sword smith that’s a fucking mute.

For the artifact hunt, I trust Hugh to be great with a blade, and to be selfless enough to hand over that chart to help out the find by using the stars as a compass to find out where they hide. I don’t however trust him to be very good at it, hence why Killiman is the leader, thanks to his genius and otherworldly presence helping out with the general mystical and religious feel of this mission. Anno is their, because of their is any magic involved, good or ill, then I would trust to recognize it, and report it to Killiman as a sort of advice on what’s going to happen, as he learned this stuff from survivors of the people that burned his parents when they were part of a Hellenic cult in his childhood. And Silvia is their, because if their needs to be anyone that would need to invoke a prayer to a angel to ask for guidance on

>>5994599
where to go, asking a devoted follower of Micheal would probably be the best move of all else fails, and we need his angels and not our maps, tools, or wits.

>>5994599
+1. Unless someone's got a better idea of how to get local Greeks to speak and be trusted by the local European knights that don't require either Bohemond or the Greek General you've got my vote.

>>5994599
Hugh under the command of a squire? No knighted noble would ever accept that. Also Taticios and Bohemond in the same group? We are risking the live of two commanders if something happens.

>>5994979
For the Hugh part, it is explicitly outlined, that Abyone can become the commander of anyone if their put in command of the group, be it squire or knight, or noteworthy from the battle, which Hugh is most certainly the latter. And since he’s age has been changed to making him 16 years Old, I would think it would make perfectly fine sense that a squire that could be just the same age, if not slightly Older, but is a skilled servant and a personal genius, would more then be something Hugh could get behind following under, so long as the mission succeeded in its goal.

It’s why, technically anyone can make it so that, Stephen’s mistress could be made the leader of a group. Now, I’m not saying that choice would make sense, but it 100% is doable and fine by the QM to allow something like that.


Moving on to the second complaint, for why those two are together, for both of them, their safety was never in doubt, not least of it being every last person in it are veteran warriors with at least one prodigy swordsman, being put in solely for their protection in case somehow, a local group of Greek miners, not only decide to not help out, but actively turn violent, and for some retarded reason attack the leaders of a army almost 50,000 strong. As for the threat of danger, I would actually put the relic hunt as more Dangerous, as that involves leaving camp to trek into a nearby mountain, with no guards accompanying them in the wilderness, where either wildlife or Hoatile Turks, could be lurking out their at the worst time, and attack you. The miners by contrast, live explicitly close to the city, and are all about us trying to diplomaticly convince the miners to help us out, by telling which sides of the hundred ft long walls, are composed of the correct type of rock and soil composition. Which, should they be obstinate, puts their family, community, and ultimately, themselves, in direct harm of punishment should they try and refuse to help us out, with any harming of our characters by them, almost guaranteeing a massacre of their whole people should they do something as retarded as that. So, that’s why I’m less concerned about Bohemond and Tacticous being put together for the same group on this occasion and not for the relic hunt.

>>5994989
Anyway, that’s my reasoning on why I don’t think those concerns aren’t needed for this fear right now thankfully, it’s still way too early before we have to deal with the death or harm of crusader heros or commanders this early on in the crusade from our first ever Seige done so far. And, hopefully I won’t have to keep rewriting my post, every time because of a broken banned message for a completely separate person that hasn’t appeared in over a month, keeps screwing up my replies to you like the last half a dozen times now.

>>5994989
>>5994994
Put yourself in their time and in their position. It's all about glory, honor and social standing.

Nobles like Hugh will never let a squire lead them because they are either proud or will hurt their prestige. So to sort this out we can switch Hugh and Killian's places.

Regarding the two commanders in the same group - they are in an active military zone, only the majority of the turkish forces are besieged, not all. Also death doesn't discriminate and can come for anyone, anytime.

Both groups will have a retinue of soldiers with them.

>>5995003
Alright then, I’ll try and put those changes in then for Hugh and Killiman. As for the Turks, no their whole army is trapped in that city. That was the whole point behind running ourselves ragged to box Arslan into his city before he left it with his 10,000 army to fight the Dashemeids before wheeling around and becoming a massive problem in the future. The only other Turks that could help, are either local militia men in entirely separate towns or villages, or straight up the Dashemeids that will happily see Arslan be trapped and possibly killed, if it means they get an easier time at raising and Killing the Holdfasts of Rum.

Besides that, agreed with the soldiers idea, though I don’t know if I or anyone else can put in that command, since it reads like the QM wants this to be a hero sort of thing, rather then a more generalized army sort of action.


Changes:
>Relic Hunting
Hugh and Killiman positions as leader and subordinate are switched, but Hugh should consider any advice Killiman makes for where to locate the relic thanks to his naturally brilliant deduction skills.

>Add(?) groups of soldiers to both groups if applicable for the added protection of Hugh and his companions as they trek into the wilderness for their quest, and maybe for Taciticos and his companions for the Greek quarter of whatever local hamlet that lives relatively close by to Nicaea?

>>5995011
If there's some sort of tie, I can support this instead of my vote.

>>5995426
Oh, thanks man I would appreciate the thought, honestly I am just guessing that the QM is waiting for someone else to show up to make another plan, or waiting to see if new voters will come in and either make their brand new vote, or side with an existing plan. Though I think the past day or so seems to suggest that this is a no for the moment, hopefully the second thread will have a larger turnout of questers in that case then.

File: Under Hunter Map with names.png (171 KB, 861x861)

171 KB PNG

Map with Names, for those struggling to know who is who.

>>5995569
I think you sent this to the wrong thread anon?

>>5995449
I hope so too. This quest has too good potential to die so early.

I did, but the forum won't let me delete it now.

>>5995598
Same, thankfully at least the QM seems to be both the passionate, and knowledgeable type, and with that kind of effort put into something, it’s not really something that I think gets dropped a week in. Especially if their having a sense of humor to tease about the complexity of how the game operates, and that he intends to make another thread after this, gives me the hope that this will mean we will not have our beloved quest die. At least not this early.
>>5995631
Yeah, you can only do that a couple minutes in the posting, after that it clocks you out of any future attempt at deletion unfortunately.

>>5991740
>>5993639
>>5994003
>>5994089
>>5994599
>>5994989
>>5995011
You write the most and say the least. Always a pleasure to read your retard posts. If you are actually autistic strive to do better mate

Now lets make interesting teams:

>there is a rumor of a religious artifact in one of the neighboring mountains. You send a group to investigate while the siege is waiting for progress.

Leader: Ezequiel Silva, lets have an ascetic in charge
1) Matz of Elsinga and his dark nun
2) Gelfrid 'The Left Hand' to represent Godfrey's interests (maybe he dies and we lose his twin too?)
3) Wichmann 'One-eye', saxon, personal friend, saved Baldwin's life once (maybe the 2 germans bond?)

.
.
.

>greek villagers living half day's ride from here, have participated in the reconstruction of the Nicean city walls some years ago. Send a group to ask around for possible weaknesses in the soil and the rock foundation under the walls. [increases the roll for the underground miners with +30 if successful]

Leader: Taticios (we get his native greek bonus lol)

1) Cassyon of the Pale (curios about the otherworldly presence)
2) Teague of Quinn, irish mercenary, known cut throat (the guy for any dirty business)
3) Baldrick of Rayne, frankish knight, renown poet, has the sword 'Red Rayne'


Now we have mixed teams representing the majority of lords and 2 guys with named sword are there to make it cool

Looks interesting, will catch up before voting first.

>>5994599
Is this vote still open? It’s been live for a while now, and the results haven’t really changed much you know?

Hey, um QM are you doing alright? You've been quiet for a good while now?

>>5995011
+1

Why God, why must we be punished with the death of such a Glorious quest when we have done nothing but goodness towards you! We didn’t even sack Constantinople in your Name!

>>5999373
He was killed by the Mujahideen