Welcome back to the second thread where we take the role of Anlec Falconcrest, a veteran of the first and Second war, who has returned home to a land that is considered a den of traitors by the rest of the Alliance. Put in charge of the town of Strahnbrad, an important trading center of the Former kingdom, you have taken it upon your self to bring the Kingdom to it's former glory.
The way ahead is hard and paved with danger, already, you have made powerful allies, and even more powerful enemies.
This is the map of Alterac. The orange box is the location of tower pointe, the garrison is held by a high ranking noble of alterac with his own household garrison. Prior to the first war, it was the place where Stromgarde was held back by the redoubtable general Hath. Now, the fortress is not being held by any one from alterac.
Hunter Hill
the brown block is the location of the forces of Stromgarde. They are encampled there, in striking distance of Tower Pointe, (marked in orange) and are nestled between the spurs of the lower foothills of alterac.
The blue boxes are the fortresses that Uther Lightbringer captured during the siege of Alterac city. It is still being held by Lordaeronian forces, but you have sent your militia to garrison them while the Alteraci army is in tatters. The fortress of Falcon's rest (closer to strahnbrad) has been abandoned and secured.
The encircled area is the hinterland of Strahnbrad, lands that feed your people and let Alterac remain free from the machinations of your larger neighbors.
Luke Young
As the story last stood, your militia, led by captain Garth Ryson, your right hand man was en route to the Falcon's rest. The nearest of the fortresses to garrison it. On the surface, the kingdom of Alterac seems to be recovering well from the war. The new king, Isiden Perenolde is popular enough with the court, despite his long fostering in Gilneas. Due to his closeness with Genn Greymane, there has been a flurry of activity in Alterac city as it is being rebuilt. Large numbers of gilneans architects are finding work there, along with some grumbling from the local alteraci populace who prefer to migrate to Stormwind or to Strahnbrad.
You are personally worried that Genn may be more than just a close friend and might be controlling Isiden from the shadows. Since you vouched for him in the court of Lordaeron, you cannot overtly go against him. Instead you have decided to undercut the gilneans by siding with their rivals, the Naval nation of Kul Tiras. Gilneas is building a navy, and the forests of Northern Alterac are of importance to them. Large parts of it fall under your fiefdom, and you have promised Grand admiral Daelin Proudmoore that you will hinder the attempts to gilneas to take it. In return, he pays you with weapons and money. An underhanded tactic, but it has helped you equip your militia rather well.
Not all has been well however. The dispossessed nobles have gone underground and seem to have organized themselves into a shadowy group that plans to liberate Alterac by killing everyone they deem to be collaborators. Your name is chief among them, as is general Hath's. They call themselves the syndicate and have caused the kidnapping and murder of General Hath. You received his signet ring covered in blood and a promise that you would be next. Your attempt to seek aid from the city state of Dalaran has been rebuffed in no uncertain terms.
Jaxon Ramirez
As it stands, you are now chasing after the rebels yourself. You are accompanied by a band of cavalrymen that you have trained yourself. They aren't a match for the knights of Lordaeron or stromgarde, but that is not their purpose. They carry pistols aplenty and are armed with quarter plate armor. They are outriders who only press home a charge once their enemies have been whittled down by shot. You are accompanied by the ambassador from Dalaran, Arcanist Rathaella. She has not been the most helpful of people but has done exactly what you asked of her. She came to you with a proposition from her master, the Mage Krasus. He needed you to be his eyes an ears during an investigation into the nobleman Daval prestor. You don't know what happened to him but you upheld your end of the bargain. The city of mages however, doesn't care about your concerns. As it is, the only person you have to rely on is the Arcanist. She has analyzed the letter and told you where the letter was written based on the arcane properties of the ink. It comes from the yetis that still dwell in Alterac valley and you intend to go there and rout the conspirators and rebels. It is better to nip this problem in the bud.
Jacob Phillips
Arcanist Rathaella has asked you about the history of Alterac as your small force moves down towards the northern entrance to Alterac valley. Alterac is by far the smallest of the Alliance nations, and it's conduct in the second war has been terrible. Since you have nothing better to do, you tell her the story of how Alterac came into being.
Aiden Strom was a weak child who was cast away from his home because he couldn't ride a horse. The arathi highlands had a tradition of equestrian combat, and a son that was this weak couldn't stay in the capital. So Aiden the Unhorsed moved to hillsbrad which was sparsely populated at that point, and lived part of his life there. The summers in hillsbrad were rather hot, and there were problems with the snow monsters that came by at night to steal cattle and people alike. Being a frontier city of questionable value, the kings of strom didn't bother aiding the people of Hillsbrad. Strom took it upon himself and built a small army from the people who were getting increasingly dispossessed due to the aggressive yeti attacks. After a decade of staying there, when the snows began to melt in spring, Aiden led his rag tag army north, scouring the foothills of Alterac clean of the monsters. For raising an army against the will of his father, Aiden the Unhorsed was exiled from the domains of Strom. Undaunted, and becoming increasingly popular among the peasantry of Hillsbrad, he led his host into the mountains of Alterac, vowing to end the yeti menace once and for all. They succeeded after a year, and created the town of Strombrad, as far away from the foothills as possible. After hearing of his march, the new king of Alterac forgave Aiden Strom, and granted him the lands of Alterac to rule.
Alterac grew rather slowly over the next centuries as people used it chiefly as a conduit to pass north into the fertile lands of Lordaeron, and a few people preferred to stay in the mountains.
Hunter Thomas
As the lands grew increasingly tamed north and south of the mountains, Alterac gained a new life as the shortest route into the ever expanding human kingdom of Strom. Southshore hadn't been built yet, and the river to andorhal was infested with trolls that descended from the mountains. In Aiden's time, the trolls would have been destroyed, but the rapid migration of people had splintered the kingdom.
As a result Alterac began being settled more, and several secondary noble houses became prominent, among them the Perenoldes and the Falconcrests.
Gregror Strom was the last ruler with that ancient name, and in his time, he constructed the capital city and began exploiting the iron and gold veins of Alterac. During this time, Dalaran, bereft of it's magic users paid tribute to Alterac for protection, and Gregor spent it on creating the capital city and it's formidable defenses. He grew old and had only a single daughter as his heiress, and she ended up marrying the bard Morvan Perenolde. A minor courtier, he seduced her, or as the Perenoldes claim, courted her and took over the barony without a bloody war.
As you finish telling her the story, your riders come up and inform you that the tunnel is being guarded by what looks like a small force of ruffians armed with shovels, spades and a few weapons. Interestingly enough. The group armed with proper weapons armed like the soldiers from house Perenolde, House Falconcrest, and House Hath. Alterac Valley is largely avoided by the Alteraci as there aren't too many resources there. It is certainly not guarded by any group of sentries, let alone professional guardsmen.
Your father's personal guard disappeared after he died, and Otto disappeared. It would seem that he threw his lot in with the rebels. It is a lot to ponder over and perhaps you should return to Strombrad and cleanse the valley with your militia thoroughly. On the other hand, you should be able to take them easily.
>6d6 roll for combat
Kevin Harris
Rolled 6, 4, 5, 6, 3, 5 = 29 (6d6)
Jeremiah Morales
Rolled 2, 1, 2, 6, 1, 3 = 15 (6d6)
Julian Sanders
>tactics roll: success >combat roll: success.
Years of fighting in the brotherhood of the horse have made you a supreme horseman. While you are no Turaylon of Anduin Lothar, you can hold your own on a horse. You spread out your riders in a shallow arc around the camp with the majority of your forces concentrated on the side closest to the valley entrance on your command, your horsemen unload a furious fusillade of shot once. Nearly half the camp falls dead, their steel armor not much use to them. Just like you have taught them, the riders wait for the smoke to clear and fire another round, this time directed at the men who are running away into the valley entrance. You sound the charge, and your men follow, using the Kul Tirassian cutlasses and swords to cut down the wretches fleeing from the carnage. In a few moments it is over. One of the soldiers wearing your house colors is missing his head, while the rest are dead or dying. Gamil was right. This cartridge he invented for his gunrifle is incredible. Your men don't have to pour powder in seperately like the gilneans do.
As you watch, a soldier in Falconcrest colors - blue and orange - tries to stab you in the gut with his sword. Even as he does so, a puff of arcane dust appears and he is transformed into a sheep You turn and look at Rathaella. She smiles quite coyly and says, "thought you might need one for interrogating lord falconcrest." Clever on her part. You spend the next hour hiding the bodies and looking over them for any scrap of information that turns up as you wait for Rathaella's spell to wear off.
