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Esla Tollsen
Esla Tollsen
House Peckledon
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Title Official Titles
  • Lady of Garfield
  • Squire of Envy
Alias Ella
Religion Chaos
Status Alive
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Paternal {{{Paternal race}}}
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Esla Tollsen is the daughter of Corbus, and Nira Peckledon making her a member of House Peckledon. Esla Peckledon would come to be married to her long time betrothal in the form of Ryman Tollsen and the two would be very much in love and she greatly loved him for allowing her to become a person for the first time in her life.

Esla Tollsen would be born in the city of Highgarden where her family was a vassal of House Tyrell, and throughout her youth she was close with her brother Elmar Tollsen of whom introduced her to a group of people that would define the relationships of her youth of which her friendship with Aiden Huttor, and romance with Orland Appleford would become the most influential of these teenage relationships. Esla would become betrothed to Ryman Tollsen at the age of sixteen and this caused a lot of problems as she was in love with Orland Appleford, but loyal to her family she left her home and travelled to Castle Tollsen and would marry Ryman Tollsen. Esla Tollsen would take part in the conflict known as the Badger Rebellion and would be horrified when her husband Ryman was killed during the fighting and she would be taken prisoner by Harry Schwartz. Held prisoner by Harry Schwartz she was eventually taken back to a small badger hideout following the fall of Tollsen and she would remain there until Franklin Brent arrived and released her. Following her release she would not return home but instead she traveled back to highgarden and she would remain in Highgarden emotionally devastated by the death of Ryman and unwilling to return home to her young children who reminded her so much of her late husband. While staying in Highgarden she would begin an affair with Orland Appleford of whom by this point had risen high in the region of Highgarden but was also married with children causing quite a stir in his lands.

History[]

Early History[]

Esla Tollsen would be born in the city of Highgarden where her family was a vassal of House Tyrell, and throughout her youth she was close with her brother Elmar Tollsen of whom introduced her to a group of people that would define the relationships of her youth of which her friendship with Aiden Huttor, and romance with Orland Appleford would become the most influential of these teenage relationships.

Ryman Tollsen[]

Esla would become betrothed to Ryman Tollsen at the age of sixteen and this caused a lot of problems as she was in love with Orland Appleford, but loyal to her family she left her home and travelled to Castle Tollsen and would marry Ryman Tollsen.

The Badger Rebellion[]

Main Article : The Badger Rebellion

The Badger Rebellion
You ever wonder how Tree Hill fell Franklin. You ever question how so many Orcs could just walk blindly across this kingdom and not a soul saw them. Maybe its time to start asking questions.
Kieth Shwartz1
After Tree Hill Sophia, nothing made sence. Why had the Orcs failed to complete the task? The orcs were meant to destroy Tree Hill, and then from there ransack southern Lucerne and hopefully damaging if not destroying Forks. When that went to hell I was forced to destabilize the region in other ways.
Bill Lovie to Sophia Lovie

Following the destruction of Tree Hill, it was the continued attempt by Bill Lovie to further destabilize the region and unable to understand why the Orcs hadn't destroyed Tree Hill completely and unable to meet with them he begin going back to his old trickery of creating bandits and using them to attack his own people. The Badgers of Lucerne were one of the many banditry groups he created, and they were especially dangerous as Bill Lovie sent Kieth Schwartz specifically to lead them, and he was a truly dangerous man and this was only made more dangerous by Kieth bringing his nephew Harry Schwartz, and fellow Circle of Magi member and demented psychopath Tobin Aven to act as commanders for him. Outside of this main leadership James Lovie also sent Luthor Clune who would be commanded to move against the principality of Limca using his family connections to have them support bandit movement against House Brent at Marburg. The Badgers were able to quickly gather forces through bribery, and intimidation of the small villages south of Castle Garfield, and from there begin raiding merchants and noblemen all across the province of Northern Hillsbrad. During this initial time the Badgers were able to turn Edmund Frotenhood to their side with the promise that he would gain the lands of House Tollsen following his siding with them, and desperate to remove his hated brother he would agree to assist them placing a powerful noble on the side of the Badgers. At first it fell under the responsibility of House Garfeild to deal with this problem and they went about this by calling in nearly all of their personal forces, and vassal forces and moving into the smaller villages searching for the Badgers. This would have great effect as they were able to find their way to the Badgers main hideout in the hills where they would attack it and kill many members of the Badgers, but unknown to them was the fact that the Badgers had been tipped off about the attack and most had fled including Kieth Schwartz westward where they were finding the work of Luthor Clune was going very well with the forces of House Haushka standing behind the Badgers.

We all had heard how the Garfield's were dealing with a bandit problem, and we were all overjoyed that we heard they had destroyed the bandits after sieging their camp. Then to hear that Jedyon, and his mother were dead and a castle taken by the bandits led to a massive counter assault by the vengeful Hillsbrad forces.
Liam Greymane
Now realizing that House Garfield was an immediate threat to their movements the Badgers under the command of Kieth Schwartz would prepare to capture Castle Tollsen that was the seat of the small House Tollsen. Supported by his protection at Limca by the forces of House Haushka it was Kieth would use deception, and bribery once again to to bring about the capture of Rosomund Garfield, of whom he believed that once he captured her he could cause a chain reaction which would lead to all out war in the region. Sending a new arrival to his forces in the form of Fredrik Gurse to capture her from her home, he would march his forces to the site of Castle Tollsen where they would wait for Fredrik Gurse to capture Rosomund Garfield. Fredik Gurse was able to get within the walls of Castle Garfield and during the night kidnapped Rosomund of whom he quickly took during the night riding his horse ragged to Castle Tollsen hours away, and when he arrived he would be shocked by the reaction of the Badger leadership. With his prize in hand Kieth Schwartz would execute her without much consideration and quickly after and left her broken body at the edge of the road into Castle Tollsen where he knew the Garfield loyalists of House Tollsen would be quick to report this murder. Lord Gregor Tollsen's men would discover her body the next day and the loyal Gregor Tollsen would do what was believed he would do when he sent his eldest son Rymen Tollsen, and his wife Esla Tollsen to Castle Garfield where he would tell the Garfields about the murder of Rosomund Garfield.
Esla Tollsen Gif
This led to Jeydon Garfield the heir to the house, and the leader of their forces to travel to Castle Tollsen with a small force of men to retrieve his mother and find out what had happened to her at the same time. On the march to Castle Tollsen Jeydon would be ambushed on the road into the castle by Tobin Aven and killed. All of the men with Jeydon were killed outside of his wife Anrea of whom had accompanied her husband but her fate was worse as she would be raped by several of the bandits following the ambush, and then in this emotionally destroyed state she was forced to watch as the bandits took on the identity of the Garfield men as their clothes were taken, and the Badgers preparaed to use them to infiltrate Castle Tollsen. The group now dressed as House Garfield would come to the front gate and using Anrea as a vocal member of the group the Tollsens would allow them inside, and once the portcullis were raised to let them in the group would kill the guards within their reach before taking control of the gatehouse, and making signals for the main force Inside the castle they allowed in the rest of the bandits and took control of the castle, with little to no resistance. Once in control of Castle Tollsen they would strap Gregor Tollsen to a pole in the center of the main courtyard and he would be forced to watch as the bandits put much of the castle to the sword including one of Lord Gregor's sons. As if this was not enough they would burn down the ancient Tollsen Tree which spread smoke high into the air, and would bring about the attention of Rymen, and Elsa Tollsen of whom had went to the estate of House Frotenhood following their telling of House Garfield of the death of Rosomund Garfield. Seeing the smoke Rymen and Elsa would lead their small detachment of Tollsen forces alongside the forces of House Frotenhood led by Galbert Frotenhood, and his two sons Edmund Frotenhood, and Franzal Frotenhood of whom as a force would move towards Castle Tollsen.

Counter Attack[]

Liam Greymane2
I'm not sure what their endgame was. Did they not know that the moment they attacked that castle the entire state would be moving against them? Did they not know that several hundred bandits was going to be no match for thousands of loyal Lucernian soldiers? I guess what do I care why they acted like idiots.
Liam Greymane

With the fall of Castle Tollsen the entire forces of House Greymane were aware of the attack, and Liam Greymane would lead the charge to eradicate the Badgers. Calling for all the vassals of which were many tens thousands of men at arms and thousands of knights was not needed so he called on House Crowley, and several other houses to travel with him and deal with the bandits. As the army was growing Frank Brent would send his son Franklin Brent to join the army as Frank was best friends with Gregor Tollsen, and Franklin Brent would immediately answer this call with his force of Unwashed of whom Frank hoped that due to his involvement in the conflict Franklin would come to better understand the rigors of combat. The army camped south of Tollsen a month after the castle had fallen, and by this time the area around it and the southern section of Northern Hillsbrad was in flames from the work of the Bandits. House Garfield had made attempts to stop them now under the command of Andrew Garfield, but the Badgers had begun force-ably recruiting men from the villages, and had armed most of Castle Tollsen into their forces, and were using hostages to maintain their loyalty if needed. Finding themselves up against a little more then a thousand troops the forces of Liam Greymane spent another two weeks waiting for reinforcements from House Lerman of whom unexpectaly were sent northward to assist with the action. Dexter Hill, and Franklin Brent led their personal forces first in the vanguard and would be used as a lure for a large group of bandits that was burning across the province. The lure worked and they were brought into battle where they were overwhelmed by the entire army of Greymane of which now moved into a siege of Castle Tollsen.

The Battle of Castle Tollsen was quick due to the fact that there was no actual battle. The Badgers didn't actually want to fight, they simply were cowards playing at the edges of society. There first taste of real fighting had been a bitter one.
Franklin Brent

As the Badgers were sieged in Castle Tollsen, they were damaged as a single man stood on the tallest tower and used Magi to torment the siegers with whispering in their minds causing many to be unable to sleep, and others to be forced to leave the battle completely. When this did not end the siege though Kieth Schwartz understood clearly he couldn't hold, and talks were starting amongst the forced men fighting for him that they should storm the dungeons and regain their hostages of which would allow them to turn on the Badgers. With this happening, Kieth Schartz would send some two hundred men of his forces (mainly the forced members of his forces) outside of the castle and he begin planning a full scale retreat. As this happened the two hundred men sent out of the castle would begin infighting as the Bandits were bullied by the forced members, and this led to some sixty of the two hundred (all of the true bandits) heading westward trying to retreat away from the siege. Seeing this Franklin Brent, and Dexter Hill would lead a charge of their forces into the sixty, while Liam moved the main army to attempt to stop a full retreat. Franklin Brent's Unwashed would wipe out the sixty bandits, while Dexter Hill killed many of the outriders that were retreating from the broken force. Liam reached the castle to late to stop the retreat, and Kieth Schwarts was able to pull out of Castle Tollsen with some two hundred men, while the remainder of the loyal Bandits were dead during the revolt that had taken place within the castle.

I told you the truth back in Hillsbrad Lord Brent. I told you the truth and it is up to you whether you choose to believe me and the facts I bring to the table. I'm not forcing anything. Believe what you will.
Dexter Hill

With the Badgers at Tollsen defeated with their number mainly dead, and a small amount retreating westward with Kieth Schwartz, the threat was seen as all but gone. Liam would send the Lerman's after the retreating forces, while he led the main army into Castle Tollsen where he planned to spend several weeks rebuilding what was lost, and adding what he could to the area. Dexter Hill, and Franklin Brent would meet on the battlefield, and Dexter learned that Kieth Schwartz was leading the Badgers, and told this information to Franklin Brent of whom didn't fully believe him yet, but begin to seriously suspect Bill Lovie of nefarious actions, and also begin to further trust Dexter Hill. Logan Lerman, his two brothers, and his father would lead the Lerman forces into a fake chase of the Badgers, and Logan and his younger brother were shocked when they stopped their forces to camp, and were met while camped by the remaining Badgers. Logan, and Krandell Lerman attempted to fight them, but they were laughed at by both their older brother Faedra Lerman, and their father and after they started the Badgers also started laughing. Seeing this turn of events the brothers came to understand that they were working together with the badgers and that all the violence that had been done they had basically supported. Several dead bodies were passed across, and a mass grave was shown to Logan of which would be identified in case they needed to as the place they buried the remaining Badgers. One of the badgers a younger looking man introduced himself to Logan as James Nighting II. and had been sent by his family and revealed to Logan that despite his families prominent position they had become dire hard supporters of the Bill Lovie led regime.

End of Darkness
Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this.


I pulled my sword out of the poor man infront of me and collected myself around the rest of my men. A quick look told me we had lost very few if anyone in the charge, but looking to Edric Maul I knew my anwser would come quicker. "Edric what were our losses?"

"Simon took an arrow to the face, and Tohmen was slashed on the neck." Only two casualties wasn't terrible considering how many of them we had just overrun, but as I looked out onto the field and saw how many were in retreat I knew this was just the beggining."Probably more injuries, but we won't know that until after the battle Milord." As he spoke I spotted the personal banner of Dexter on the hill before us, and knew I wanted to have a chat with Dexter about what was the next plan for the complete defeat of the Badgers.

"Thank you Edric."He bowed his bloodied face at me and I turned towards the rest of my men. "Follow me men." As quickly as I said it I could hear the men trotting behind me as I made my way towards Dexter Hill of whom was stopped on a hill nearbye watching the retreat of the Badgers. Nearing him several of his men rode up the hill ahead of us, and spoke to him, of which the conversation was still going as I finally reached Dexter.

"A cousin of the man identified him."

"That will make for an interesting story. Where is this cousin now?"

"He was struck down by an arrow, but with his dying words he told me Milord."

"Then I suppose this information shall remain with us."

"What information shall remain with you Dexter?" I wanted to trust Dexter. He had never given me reason to think he was a liar, but the simple fact was that everyone I met made a special point to tell me not to trust him, and that had unfortunatly seeped into my thinking.

"Look out at the retreating Badgers Frank. Do you see the man carrying the banner? " 

"Yes. I see him."

"Beside him is the man leading the Badgers."

"It seems obvious that the commander would be near the banner. What sort of..."

"Yes this would be obvious Franklin, but its the identity of the man that is interesting. I have learned from a dying man that the man leading the Badgers was none other then Kieth Schwartz."

"I do not know that name."

"Kieth Schwarts is the best friend of our glorious king my friend."

"How could that be." There had never been any real truth to Dexter's story that our King had been the cause of the destruction of Tree Hill, but if his best friend was truly here then that would be damning.

"I have a feeling that the anwser to that question is further truth to what I told you of Tree Hill."

"But it just doesn't make any sense. Why would the King of Lucerne go to such lengths to destroy his own land." I saw briefly a look of disapointment across Dexter's face as I once again resisted what he was telling me.

"I told you the truth back in Hillsbrad Lord Brent. I told you the truth and it is up to you whether you choose to believe me and the facts I bring to the table. I'm not forcing anything. Believe what you will." With that he waved at his men, and they went riding down the hill towards the main force now entering the castle. I didn't know what to think right now, but I know that my father would have a better understanding of what was going on in the world.

After speaking with Krandell for some time he believed that he had also convinsed his brother that despite it being morally wrong they had no choice due to the oaths they had sworn to always serve and honor their lord and their king. Spending weeks riding around basically pretending to fight against the badgers Logan and his brother Krendall would stay very close keeping eachother company and this continues until the end of the Badger Rebellion when his father leads the Lerman forces back to Castle Tollsen which shows major signs of improvement under Liam Greymane and it is here that the Lucernian forces meet to discuss next steps.

Siege of Limca[]

Karyl Reyne Cover Amazing1
You think you had anything to do with the support you got here Franklin? It was all Karyl.
Coyle Ordos

Following the discoveries it was Franklin Brent IV. that travels to Marburg with Karyl Reyne where he meets with the leadership of the city in the form of his father and his fathers vassals and attempts to convince them that the bandits are funded by the king James Lovie and to give him more forces so that he might attack. Franklin stays several days in Marberg waiting for the arrival of House Ordos of whom is sending delegates there at the request of his father so that House Ordos can hear of what is happening, and while waiting he continues attempting to convinse them further about his designs. Franklin's cousin Kyle Darkwood arrives in the town by chance and Franklin attempts to convinse him to come with him to Limca but Kyle is cold to the idea telling Franklin how little there is to gain by going against the king in whatever violent attept he is making. After Kyle Darkwood leaves Franklin is disapointed in his continues failures and returns to his room where he finds Karyl waiting for him and not wanting her to see him down he barks orders at her which in his head he is disgusted at himself for the way he speaks to her but he feels a growing desire to touch her which scares him.

My father said I was brilliant. My father always said I could talk the most charismatic man into giving me the coat off his back. Had my father lied about who I was? Was I notas great as he had said I was?
Franklin Brent IV.
Sleeping for several hours he leaves the room to go and find his father but is stopped by lord Deitrik Greentail of whom tells him that he has had a change of heart from his earlier refusal to assist Franklin and will send his son Estmar Greentail with a force of one thousand to support Franklin's movement and at this news Franklin feels better and goes to see Kyle but before he can its his sister Fiona who tells him that House Ordos has arrived at the city. Meeting with Coyle the day after Coyle agreed to allow House Brent to intervene its Coyle that lets slip to him that Karyl Reyne has been also moving in behind him and furthering his points to those he speaks, and Kyle Darkwood insults Franklin over the fact that he hasn't actually been convinsing anyone but actually it was Karyl. Furious at Karyl he storms to find her but she remains calm and tells him that she is his wife and she will do anything to help him, and she attempts to be physically intimate with him, but we discover that he is unable to touch her due to severe distress she touches him.
Karyl Reyne Gif
Karyl attempts to console him as he breaks down as he was shown to be so weak, but he won't let her and he leaves her alone, and gathers his men. Following this Franklin Brent marches at the head of the force from Marburg he has been able to gather northwards towards the town of Limca where Dexter Hill has told him the remaining forces of the Badgers have gathered under the command of Kieth Schwartz. Meeting with the force of Dexter Hill outside of Limca he discovers the army of Limca having gathered outside the walls and sends out a scout with a white flag which leads to a meeting between the forces of Franklin and the forces of House Haushka. Meeting with Lord Swen Haushka and his brother Ottkar Haushka he and Dexter are finally vindicated when they discover that Kieth Schwartz stands with them openly revealing his presence among the army of House Haushka. Following the discussion the forces of Franklin Brent place the town under siege while the forces of House Haushka launch attempts to break the siege but are repulsed through the work of Dexter Hill whose cavalry push back any attempt to break the siege. Karyl Reyne arrives at the siege camp several weeks into the siege and Franklin is suprised when he is quite excited to see her, and for a moment he wants to reach out and touch her but before he can he is overcome by his fears and pulls back. Karyl and Franklin spend time in his tent where they discuss what has happened during the weeks of the siege and Karyl gives him advise of what he should do advising him to turn Swen Haushka against Kieth Schwartz through trickery and trusting her advise Franklin raises a white flag bringing the two sides to discussion. Meeting with the leaders of the Limca rebels including Kieth Schwartz its Franklin who is prepared to use the advise given to him by Karyl but as they speak Franklin mentions in passing that William Lovie III. is at Forks and Kieth stops the entire debate immediately. Demanding more information on this Franklin says that once the Siege of Limca is over he has been asked to travel to Hillsbrad to join the meeting with House Greymane and the Grand State of the Westerlands where their decision on whether to support William will be made. Kieth without warning orders Lord Swent Haushka to stand down and surrender, but forces favorable terms for House Haushka and the Principality of Limca stating that in return for this favorable term then House Haushka will support the prince at Forks. As the terms are agreed over its Kieth who asks to speak to Franklin separately and unable to get Elsa Tollsen to not go with him she joins them for this final talk, and going far enough into the field that no one can hear them Kieth tells them the truth of the Badger Rebellion. Elsa is held back by Franklin as she tries to kill Kieth for clearly being responsible for the death of most of her family, and then without apology or any attempt at gaining forgiveness Kieth wishes them good luck and to tell the prince what he has told them, and then he pulls out a rock and disappears into nothing. Returning to the remaining rebels they accept the surrender of House Haushka on the terms agreed upon and following this Swen gives Franklin information on the location of a Badger hideout and then has his son Ottkar join with Franklin alongside several hundred Haushka troops.
Badger Hideout[]

Main Article : Assault on the Badger Hideout outside Limca

Esla Tollsen Cover Wide
You are coming with me Tobin. You tell the truth and I'll let you go. I promise.
Franklin Brent IV.

Following this information the forces of Franklin Brent move towards the location given to them by Swen and traveling the road he talks things over with Ottkar who does a good job at explaining why they did what they did in supporting the King. Arriving at the hideout they would surround the entire camp with their forces while Franklin, and Ottkar moved in on the hideout with an elite force of a hundred knights. Entering the camp the Badgers led by Harry Schwartz would attempt to surrender, and a discussion opened up about accepting their surrender, but when it seemed like they were going to allow them to live it was Ser Poliver of Brent that discovered the imprisoned Edmund Frotenhood and removed the coverings from his mouth. Allowed to speak Edmund would reveal the depths of violence committed on the orders of Harry Schwartz and the other badgers in the camp and unable to talk his way out of it Franklin would execute Harry on the spot. The remainder of the badgers in the camp were also executed with only Edmund being taken prisoner back to Hillsbrad where he would be tried and decided what his fate would be. Among the rescued prisoners was Esla Tollsen of whom would be offered assistance in returning to Castle Tollsen and her family but instead rejected this and took a horse alone heading to her childhood home of Highgarden. Tobin Aven would be taken prisoner during the assault on the hideout and taken back by Franklin Brent to Hillsbrad in order to testify as to what the actions of James Lovie had been.

Final Meeting[]

My brother what our father says is wrong. We are wrong. I will let Lord Greymane the truth of this and I shall accept whatever punishment I must. I cannot. I will not accept to be on the wrong side of what is right. I cannot.
Krandell Lerman

During this meeting Logan is once again impressed by Liam Greymane and after the meeting ends he is approached in private by his brother who reveals that he will be telling Liam about what actually happened and concerned that this action will lead to the imprisonment of his entire family he goes to his father and tells him what is going to happen and at his words his father quickly has his brother imprisoned and sent back to the Lerman seat of Lehaven. The chapter ends with Logan having betrayed his brother now in an extremely emotionally devastated state but returns with his father to Lehaven where he is overjoyed to see his uncle Wren again of whom is the man that Logan sees as his true father and the man he knows will tell him the truth of everything.

An Affair of Sadness[]

She would remain in Highgarden emotionally devestated by the death of Ryman and unwilling to return home to her young children who reminded her so much of her late husband she would begin an affair with Orland Appleford of whom by this point had risen high in the region of Highgarden but was also married with children causing quite a stir in his lands.

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax[]

Main Article : Battle of Castle Stragnarax

Battle of Castle Stragnarax
Everyone was moving on Westbridge when the monsters came to our doors. We were horribly outnumbered, but we had strength of our own. I would be damned if I let these monsters beat us.
Castle Stragnarax1
The construction crews of the Order of the Grey Dragon still lined the streets, and nearly seventy percent of the towers were incomplete when we got news that the Orcs were crossing the line and heading towards us.
Thomas Brent
Castle Stragnarax was designed as the center of the western defenses of Lucerne, alongside the rebuilt Eyes, and the castles of Dragonhorn, and and it was during the period following the Invasion of Westbridge that its purpose and defences would be tested for the first time. Following the end of the invasion and with the armies of Lucerne retrurning to the valley after victory the Eyes caught sight of a large force of Orcs moving towards Castle Stragnarax. Commander Lothar Wornwayne would realize the severity of the coming attack, and thus The Eyes immediatly sent ravens and a single scout to Castle Stragnarax. Learning of the attack the defenders under the command of Thomas Brent would send out dozens of scouts and runners to the surrounding region both warning them of the coming attack, and also requesting immediate assistance at the castle.  The two main places that they sent requests for assistance were to Hilsbrad and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from Marburg.
Karyl Reyne Gif1
Alongside this it was Karyl Reyne the loyal wife to Franklin Brent that went to work when she travelled to Castle Greentail to convinse Lord Deitrik Greentail to lend his forces to the defence of Castle Stragnarax. At her words Deitrik Greentail would once again lend his support to Franklin Brent during the Battle of Castle Stragnarax but this time his infatuation with Karyl Reyne would become a problem when her convincing set him over the edge and he tried to rape her only stopped by the arrival of his son Estmar Greentail who stopped him from raping Karyl. Stopping this Estmar would take Karyl alongside the Greentail forces and she was able to force him to promise to her that he would never say a word of what had happened to Franklin and he agreed despite his growing friendship with Franklin Brent. Alongside these two though the very powerful House Mountain would be sent word, and while they were not expected they would eventually prove to be one of the most steadfast comers into the conflict.
We knew we could never hold them off, but every Orc we killed with an arrow was one less the defenders would have to deal with.
Lothar Wornwayne

For his own part Lothar Wornwayne was forced to deal with the Orcs overruning the Eyes, and this forced him to recall many of his troops into the cave systems they had long set up. Lothar would send word to his second in command Rolly Reyne of whom would be commanded to follow as closely as humanly possible to the forces of the Orcs, and find out as much as possible about their numbers, while the rest of the Rangers either defended themselves or in the case of Lothar prepared to make the rest of the journey for the Orcs as miserable as he possibly could.

Lucernian Forces Strength
Castle Stragnarax The defenders of the castle were swelled to some 5,500 men and held very few women and children as they had been cleared from the castle. The castle itself was nearing fully completed but the southern and northern approach did not contain the proper defences that were meant to be in place, but the main gate was a killing zone.

House Ordos

House Ordos would send some eleven thousand troops of mainly cavalry led by Franklin Brent, and Kieth, and Jamie Darkwood, as well as four thousand troops from House Greentail led by Estmar Greentail.
House Greymane House Greymane sent some eight thousand of split cavalry and infantry to the defence but only three thousand would arrive in time to do anything.
House Mountain House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attack.
House Darkmore and House Darkwood House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attac
Others
  • The Order of the Violet Dragon commited all of their available forces that were in Lucerne as the castle was their headquarters
  • The Order of the Blue Dragon had several Magi in the vicinity of which   Alann Roil, and Brann Voil would lead these forces to great effect during the Battle.
  • The Rangers of the Eyes had some four hundred men of whom caused horrible damage to the Orcish Horde over the course of the week they travelled towards Castle Stragnarax
  • The Order of the Red Dragon sent ten Griffins to assist in scouting of the Orcish forces but they didn't arrive in time to greatly assist in this task.
  • The Knights of the Summerwall had some sixty Knights, and four hundred men at arms and formed an elite guard at the main gate.
Hundreds flowed into the gates of the castle, and from these our defenders swelled. We prepared as best we could for what we believed was our deaths. When the Orcs arrived they would find a well defended Castle that was not going to die easily.
Blake Dinton

With the Orcs incoming the defenses were prepared and all troops were called in from the villages and farms nearby. This swelled the defenders of Castle Strangarax to a force of some 5,500 men at arms along with the twelve training members of the Order of the Violet Dragon that had remained in Castle Stragnarax under the command of Benjamin Bradfoot. The castle itself was commanded by Thomas Brent but his percieved inexperiance meant that he left the defence of the city to his honor gaurd commanders and Benjamin Bradfoot, along with the council of his military force. One of the other premier commanders of the castle was the recently arrived Edric Summerwall, and his Knights of the Summerwall of whom had been commanded to move themselves from their previous home in Forks to Castle Stragnarax where they would be the official Knightly Order of the castle. The Plan for the defence consisted of holding on for as long as they possibly could while they waited for the army of Hillsbrad to arrive and relieve them, alongside the rest of House Brent coming as well. As the Battle reached the point that everyone knew it was going happen they would drain the women, old, and young from the town and they would make there way eastward towards Marburg of which was the closest nearbye town. As the old, women, and children were withdrawn, and in their place came wagon after wagon of supplies from the surrounding region they knew there preperation was about to end as the Orcs were nearly at the castle. Fionna Brent would be one of the few women that didn't leave the Battle and she would lead a contingent of Dragon Priests of whom preached the power of Glaurung and tried to raise the moral of the forces. Knowing how long they had before the attack the defenders would send out some two hundred cavalry of whom were tasked with further scouting the incoming Orcs and giving them some extra amount of knowledge when they would attack. In Hohenstein the leadership of House Mountain would make the decision to assist Castle Stragnarax after Baelor Mountain stated that he believed this would help to uplift them in the eyes of Lucerne, and specifically the King in Lucerne of whom was not exactly shy about his distain for those who sat on the sidelines. As the furthest away of those who cold come to the aid of Castle Stragnarax, there assistence unknown by most and they were going to arrive later then the others anyway. By this point Franklin Brent would marshal his personal knightly order, and while he did this his father would gather the forces of House Brent, of whom would meet with House Ordos outside of Marburg and prepare themselves to also assist Castle Stragnarax. Franklin Brent would lead his forces seperate from his father Frank, as he was still unwilling to forgive his father for being passed over, and while making the trip the sickly Frank Brent would be forced to return to the Brent Seat and thus left command to Franklin. The Knights of the Gilded Fell would also mount themselves and leave their seat at White Hill led by Desmond Hill and make their way southward, and their location meant that they would arrive hours before the Orcish army did and they were thus able to enter the castle before the Orcs blocked the routes in. One of the final arrivals was the unexpected forces of House Darkmore, and House Darkwood of whom had been meeting in the Darkwood of seat of

The eyes had done their part for sure. Rangers of the western approach had caused casulties to the Orcish horde, while we knew every piece of strength they had coming at us.
Baelor Mountain

While the scouts did this it the Rangers of the Eyes were continueing to harass the Orcish Hordeas they moved eastward. Special attention was paid by the Rangers to the dozen or so Gronn that had accompanied the Orcish army. As the Orcs continued to move they lost four of the Gronn to hit and run attacks as the Rangers used hidden caves and cliff tops to rain arrows down on the Orcish army while retreating once they had done the damage they could. Lothar Wornwayne was constantly harrassing the Orcish force, and this only increased in intensity when he and Rolly Reyne finally met up days away from Castle Stragnarax, and in a join ambush during the night they killed some four hundred Orcs before they were forced to retreat southward and into Dragonhorn while the Orc army had finally reached the outskirts of the Castle Stragnarax.

The Orcs Arrive[]

Orcs Incoming

Orcs had once again overrun the western border, but this time there numbers had been detailed by the scouts of the west, and their movement carefully tacked.

The first sign of the Orcs was the massive stream of screaming and shouting that came from them. They were definetly not going for stealth because they just wandered into the open and those stragglers were shot by our archers, while the remainder of the army chopped down trees in the forest.
Benjamin Bradfoot

It was nearly two weeks after the Raven fortold of the coming Orcs they arrived west of the castle and begin chopping down the trees that were there to use to construct ladders, and siege towers. The Orcs spent an entire day doing this and as they worked the defenders of the towers were firing long range balista shots at them which were able to destory one of the towers before it was able to be used the following day. Also during this day the Orcs attempted to push forward siege machines in order to batter holes in the walls but they discovered the accurasy of the balistas was extreme as each siege machine pushed forward was destoryed in turn with only a few shots getting off and dowing little damage to the wall. When the final batch of catapults were brought up defended by large trenches and by blocks of wood meant to shield from the Balistas it was Alann, and Bran Voil that had the entire Order of the Blue Dragon force set the field ablaze destroying the remaining catapults and hundreds of Orcs manning the trenches, shiels, and catapults.

Arriving at the castle it was nearly completely surrounded with only the southern wall not having a massive crowd of Orcs miling about.
Franklin Brent

As the day wore on the forces of Franklin Brent arrived at the Battle, and he would make his forces move towards the southern wall where he arrayed against the large southern Orc host. Sending word into the castle that they had arrived, this would greatly uplift the defenders moral who knew they were in some amount of trouble. Franklin constructed a series of trenches lined with anti-cavalry poles of which he planned to retreat into in case the Orcs sent an army to deal with his forces. After spending all of the energy constructing the siege machines they found that the catapults and such were destroyed the moment they got into range, with only a few actually able to launch a real shot at the walls. The Orcs were forced to place more forces in the southern end as the arrival of Franklin Brent meant they were now threatened by somone outside the walls and the mainly cavalry force was of great danger to them. Without any hope of launching their catapults the Orcs would move their forces forward and their seige towers that had been hidden would be pushed forward for the first attack.

The First Attack[]

Castle StragnaraxFirstDay
An undesiplioned mess. Sometimes numbers can make up for mistakes in leadership, but there has to be even a semblence of leadership for that logic to work.
Thomas Brent

With their seige machines set up the Orcs attacked in a vast wave of upwards of 25,000 of which the vast majority attacked the main gate while some 7,000 attacked the southern section defended by Marbrand Keep. The northern wall also had some two thousand Orcs attack it but these were extremely disorganized and the least of the problems of the Castle. Outside of the seven thousand sent towards the southern wall four thousand Orcs were sent against the army of Franklin Brent in order to keep them away from the fighting. Mainly Worgs this force would chase Franklin's forces into the trenches they had constructed, and suffered many casualties to this traps before fighting broke out between the two forces. Franklin Brent was forced to battle against a large Orc of which had killed two other men, and finally reaching the Orc he and the Orc dueled for several minutes until he shot the Orc with a hand crossbow he was finally able to reach off his back. Staggered by the shot the Orc would be sliced across the chest fatally by Franklin as he attempted to pull the crossbow from his neck. Following the large Orc's death the other Worgs became less threatening but there numbers still meant that Franklin could not advance agains the southern forces and aid the defenders. As the Orcs advanced they were devestated by the massive array of archer, and balista fire by the time they reached the wall they had lost significant numbers. 

Attack on the Main Gate[]
Tower Balista
If a wall is forty feet high and your ladder is twenty feet tall, I really don't see the value of even bringing the ladder.
Thomas Brent

The attack on the main gate went disastrously with all four of the Siege towers destroyed, and with the huge array of archers present the Orcs that massed on the ground trying to get up the ladders were caught in a killing zone and lost huge numbers before the Orcs retreated leaving behind the ruins of much of their force alongside the destroyed siege towers. The Balistas that sat on the towers continued to destroy anything that even resembled a battering ram, and because of the hoardings all along the wall the few Orcish archers that were on the ground found very few targets, and the few they did were unable to be struck because of the hoarding. Along the main gate though despite this horrifying aray of weapons the Orcs did manage to get several of their number onto the walls where the Knights of the Gilded Fell under the command of Orival Black would stand in the breaks and kill them as they climbed over the walls. The Magi of the Order of the Blue Dragon had been completely concentrated along this defence and had been responsible for two of the towers going down as they lit them on fire using spells.

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant[]
Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant
When I got word that we lost control of the Tower of James I felt my first trickle of fear into my heart. I thought for a brief moment of the deaths of the entire castle, and in that moment I nearly paused. Benjamin grabbed my arm as if he knew what I was feeling, and with that I shook my head and ordered the counter assault on the tower.
Thomas Brent

The Orcs attacked the three areas and it was only at the tower of James the Vigilant that they had any real success. The Orcs were able to keep their seige tower alive in this section and with its survival they were able to mass over the wall, and this caused the beggining of an intense fight over the tower. The Orcs slowly pushed them back into the tower, and forced the defenders to lock the gates into the tower, and block them outside. The Orcs attemtped to break through the gate, and during this time the Orcs begin to take fire from the inner wall as they were free to fire on them now that the defenders were gone. As they took heavy casualties they found themselves unable to break into the tower itself, and begin spreading throughout the walls of the western walls to the point that they attempted to break into the main forces at the main tower itself. During this time Thomas Brent would order the main reserve forces sneaking out through the more southern tower and behind the Orcs of whom were busy sprawling all over the walls. Now behind their lines the relief force set the siege tower alight and then was able to get back through the tower with minimal casualties. As the siege tower burned down the Orcs found their reinforcements ended and they were slowly wittled away at by the massive number of archers all along the James Towers. The final holdouts were to be dealt with personally by Benjamin Bradfoot of whom was directed to the castle under the command of Thomas Brent of whom was worried over the prospect of Orcs within the walls.

Attack on Marbrand Keep[]
Castle Stragnarax8
The goal was to get them to cross the wall so when they did we weren't exactly worried that they had climbed the walls.
Domeric Marbrand

Marbrand Keep was defended by Domeric Marbrand of whom defended the large keep with some three hundred men, while the main wall was defended by another three hunded. The men on the walls were designed to hit them with as many arrow barrages as they could, but the moment the Orcs manned the walls the force was to enter the heavily fortified gates and make their way into the keep. The Orcs would attack with some two thousand forces against the wall, and at first for the Orcs the Attack on Marbrand keep went well at first with the Orcs able to climb over the walls after suffering some three hundred losses to the defenders on the walls. With the ladders against the walls the defenders retreated into the towers and through the tunnels allowing the Orcs to get into the actual castle but once there the design plan went into affect with the Orcs now stuck in no mans land with no ability to get over the next defences. The Orcs attempted to follow the retreating defenders through the tunnels into Mabrand Keep but discovered the tunnels filled with nearly twenty feet deep gates that would be nearly impossible to break through without Magi, or some sort of explosive. The Orcs then attempted to charge across the field but the defenders of the keep were able to fire acurate shots into them and caused horrible casulties against them. By this point the Orcs were in panic, but begin to run past the Keep and into the city proper where the nearly five hundred remaining Orcs were confronted by a force led by Thomas Brent himself. Leading his most elite troops they would battle against the Orcs and defeat them causing them to retreat back as they came, and they were basically anihilated with very few returning to camp.

The Second Attack[]

Orcs Massacred
Nearly all our reinforcements were now in the area, and their commander was so bloodthirsty by this point he just charged at the southern wall with his full force.
Thomas Brent

The Orc army was still massive but it had suffered heavy casualties accomplishing nothing the first day, and in even worse news for the Orcish army was the fact that the reinforcements of the defenders had begun to arrive in heavy numbers. The full army of House Mountain led by Baelor Mountain had arrived alongside the forces of House Garfield and they were camped northwest of the battle moving in behind the Orc forces. Andrew Garfield would lead the forces of House Garfield into the fray as he was joined by several of his loyal retainers including Edmund Frotenhood, Esla Tollsen, and several other important knights of the region north of Hillsbrad. House Greymane had now joined the army of Franklin Brent bringing the southern army to more then ten thousand, and that number grew throughout the day as the southern vassals came north and more of the army filtered in. Realizing the main gate was a killing zone he didn't have the force to take down the Orc commander would move nearly his entire force to the southern wall of which caused most of the defenders to shift to the same wall. With this in motion the relief armies would move into place, and House Mountain was nearly completely behind them and was actually destroying the reargaurd of the Orc army as the Orcs attacked the Tower of James the Vigilant.

The doomed charge of a doomed army.
Franklin Brent

The Orcs charged the walls using three new siege towers and were this time unable to get any to the walls as the casulties of the previous attack, and the heavily increased defender numbers meant the three new towers took far too long to reach the walls. Stuck again with no towers the ladders went up and a great amount of fighting went all along the walls as the Orcs massed onto the ramparts. The defenders were hard up to resist, but as the battle reached a turning point the Orcs begin screaming as the forces of Franklin Brent, and Liam Greymane's army of House Greymane smashed into their rear. The commander of the Orcs would die during the inital assault, and as mass panic spread amongst the Orcs they begin retreating despite still outnumbering the human attackers, and nearly overwhelming the defenders at the tower. As they retreated westward they came directly in the path of the army of House Mountain and were cut down in their hundreds as the Mountain forces had entered the previously constructed Orc trenches and were in a great defence position.

Total Victory[]
I had defeated their army on the field, but as I entered the castle I found my brother was the hero. People were crying out his name, and he was truly beloved. I knew then and there that I was done here, and I would have to chart my own path somewhere else.
Franklin Brent

With the Orcish army completely routed and on top of this most of the army had been destroyed in the field leaving the remaining elements to move westward where they were chased down by the cavalry force of House Greymane, and House Ordos and thus the victory was completed. Damage was heavy in the James the Vigilant region of the castle, but elsewhere the losses and damage was nearly non-existence but hours were spent burning the bodies of the Orcs so that they would not send out spores and cause a real problem for the humans of the area. With the clean up beginning the relief armies would camp, while the leadership all met within the castle. Thomas Brent was by this point hailed as a hero and became known as Thomas "The Orc Killer" in honor for what people saw as his great victory, and this was in spite of the two larger armies led by the Mountains, and Franklin Brent moving in and being the true changer of the battle. The story of the battle that had not been seen through the eyes of Franklin Brent were told at dinner, and the next day the armies prepared to return home. Franklin and Thomas would say one last goodbye as Franklin told his brother that he was going to take forces and lead expansion in the Westerlands alongside House Arryn. The two brothers who had constantly battled eachother for position understood that Franklin was accepting defeat and they hugged goodbye knowing they would probably not be meeting any time soon.

House Lovie
The Rise of Lucerne
I saw the destruction of the world, and knew I had to stop it. There was nothing left to do but become bigger then everyone else. The Empire was never going to be the beacon the world needed it to be. Westros was on fire. The Bretonians had reached for the stars and been burned. And the old shadow of Numeron was fading far too quickly. It was left to us in Lucerne to change the fate of all those who wished to reject darkness. We were the last hope for a world who had long since given up on believing.

I had been trained alongside the noble elite in the Lucernian Academy for a year, and during this time I had specialized in siege warfare. That was the problem with the Orcs. I was trained to fight against diciplined troops using strategies, but the Orcs just flew out of the forest in this massive wave. They had a level of shock value to them but in the chaos they were seemingly charging at random. Easy pickings for the methodic fire from the walls.

I looked out over the rampart and saw them running about in the field out of range of all our firepower outside of the Balistas, and I was still taken back by their numbers. I could see the towers being pushed forward, and I heard Benjamin, and Orival Black barking out commands for the archers to prepare.

They were coming, and this would be the moment of either our salvation or our death. As I watched them pushing the towers forward, and watched as the first tower went up in flames I couldn't help but feel better. The second tower burned with the fire of Brann Voil of whom stood chanting on the top of the tower, and yet again even as they moved forward I couldn't help but harbor a growing level of optimism.

The saddest part of the charge was the fact that they had four siege towers, and then a huge number of ladders which they didn't realize till they reached the walls weren't tall enough to reach them. Watching the army run around at the base of the wall after ninety percent of their ladders weren't tall enough was one of the most shocking sights I've ever seen.

Death of Judith Krebs[]

Judith would follow Franklin into the Battle of Castle Stragnarax but it was during this conflict that she finally came face to face with her long time nemisis from the Circle of Magi in the form of Hartmut Ehrenfeld and the two would duel outside the castle but despite Franklin coming to her aid she was killed and Hartmut once again escaped.

Family Members[]

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