The Pestilence, March - ?, 2520 I.C.

The Pestilence, March - ?, 2520 I. C.

It was not long after the Battle of Ueblingen in February that Nurgle himself unleashed a great Pestilence across the land.  Many fell ill and many died.  Even the mortal followers of Nurgle were not immune to the wretched machinations of the Plague God.  While deamons continued to haunt the North Coast and coastal villages and towns, all campaign activity halted for many weeks as the forces of Nurgle hoped that the Great Plague that their master had set upon the Empire would do the work their armies could not: weaken it to the point that the realms of Karl Franz would fall with little difficulty.   

While the Pestilence was indeed devastating and caused great disruption to Nordland, the people's faith in Sigmar and in Mannan increased.  In the villages, towns, and cities efforts to combat the Plague were doubled, and doubled again.  Nonetheless, the plague swept through Nordland like a wind among the grass.  Many wizened old men and women quickly were felled by the Pestilence, but it carried away even those who were young and strong.  At first only children seemed immune, but in the end many of them died too.

It was in these difficult days that a focus of hope came from an unexpected quarter.  In the weeks after her victory at Ueblingen, Finari, Justiciar of the North, consolidated her forces, buried her dead, and burned the vile corpses of the Nurgle Lord's army.  Finari then sent out scouting parties down the coast road toward Hargendorf.  By the end of March these scouts could report that the raiders had withdrawn leaving behind a ruined husk of a town that had suffered terribly under the yoke of Lord of Decay.  Desiccated remains of Imperial soldiers were strew about the town's remains as were those of the former townspeople who were unable to escape.  All was devoid of all life and not even a bird's song could be heard, and the eerie, unnatural silence was only broken by the low roar of the sea.

As Finari's scouts searched the ruins of Hargendorf they investigated a horse-barn that was one of the few structures left intact.  As the scouts moved toward the building, suddenly the doors of the barn bust open and from them came a lone young man in his teens clad in tattered rags of Nordland livery (blue and yellow), screaming in a wild rage and brandishing two Gladii, short swords of the kind that Mannan, God of the Sea, carries to protect his home deep in the fastness of the wine dark sea.  Although his voice was shrill with hoarseness and his body was rent with wounds that would have felled far more robust men, the young man set upon the scouts as if they were his mortal enemies.  While the young man's heart and soul were strong his body was weak from wounds and the clear signs of torture.  His blows were easily turned by the scout's light armor and the young man soon collapsed and sobbed inconsolably.

The scouts carried young man back to the army at Ueblingen, his wounds were tended, and his body nursed back to health.  He soon ate and drank heartily, but would not speak other than to recite one of the many Litanies of the Faith sacred to Mannan, God of the Sea.  Those who tended him in these first days after he was found said that although he was almost totally silent the young man was dutiful and kind.  In the fullness of time Martin, Theogonist of Marburg came to him. 

While many died, many more lived, and when the Pestilence burned itself out, Count Thedoric was ready again to defend against the forces of Nurgle.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C. (Imperial Calendar). After the defeat and death of Edouard von Marburg, Chief Forester of the North at Hagendorf the week after Lord Mundfilth ordered a force of Marauder infantry and cavalry supported by two magic users & some Furies down the road to the village of Ueblingen to search for more relics this time sacred go Nurgle that had been lost in the “Everchosen’s” retreat.

News of the Edouard's defeat reached Finari, Justiciar of the North at her castle in Schlaghugel late on the Sunday evening of February 2.  She immediately ordered her domains to a war footing.  Pegasus riders were sent to Count Thedoric at Salzenmund with the news.  Riders were sent pounding down the road to the great stone span at Bridgenorth that crosses the River Demst to raise the country.  By the time these reached the common at Belien about two-and-a-half leagues from Schlaghugel on Tuesday morning February 4 the village was already in a state of alarm.  The riders found the village militia had been called to the standard and the dispirited remains of Edouard's host huddled in the Belien's hostels, inns, and barns.  Much to their surprise, Finari's riders at Belien found some of the militia and townspeople from Ueblingen who had fled their town after learning of Edouard of Marburg's defeat.  Indeed, the riders that Finari had dispatched to Ueblingen, barely two miles from the site of Edouard's defeat Hargendorf, stopped sort of the village for fear that it too had fallen to the forces of Lord Mundfilth.  The town of Hargendorf was of great importance because it not only sits at the mouth of the Demst, but also is the western terminus of the Coastal Road that begins at Norden way in the eastern part of the county on the border with Ostland.  Thus, Finari was confined to protect the towns and village of Hargendorf, Beilen, and Schlaghugel with only the forces that she could muster from the western reaches of the county.

By February 7 Finari had mustered a portion of her forces at Schlaghugel and marched them to Bridgenorth where they spent the night.  She moved on to Beilen the next day where she gathered the local militia and the remnants of Edouard's shattered host.  The presence of the Justiciar who was well-known to have years of military success behind her restored the morale of the defeated soldiers and soon they were spoiling to for a fight which they knew must come soon.  After pausing several days to collect supplies and water, Finari moved north to Beilen on February 13.  Her scouts reached Ueblingen that afternoon to find the village still free from Nurgle scum with only the heartiest of residents still in their houses.  The scouts pressed on northwards on February 14 and encountered a large force of Marauders who were moving south from Hargendorf toward Ueblingen.  Finari pressed forward with her army on the afternoon of the 14th and occupied part of a large field outside the village.  The morning of February 15 Finari occupied a line of low hills to the west of the village and she awaited the large force of Marauders. A fierce battle took place that resulted in an Imperial victory.




Finari, Justiciar of the North, & her standard bearer Jan of Altdorf lead their chosen regiment of elite Nordland Swordsmen into battle.



The Imperial line receives the Blessing of Sigmar before the battle. Finari deployed her handgunners and the mercenary Marksmen of Miragalino on the large hill to her left while the rest of the army deployed to their right.



The Nurgle line. Lots of Chaos Hounds and x 15 Marauder cavalry!!!  

 The Imperial Army received the Blessing of Sigmar from Martin,  Theogonist of Marburg.

 Townspeople came out to watch the battle.

 The Nurgle forces charged headlong to meet Finari's host hoping for another quick victory.

 But, Finari was not as impetuous as Edouard had been.  It was she who got in the first series of charges against the Nurgle foe.

A squadron of Marauder horse scattered the townsfolk and threatened the Imperial right!

Finari was all engaged to her front and had to leave her Great Cannon on its own..... 

 The artillery crew was brave, but was cut down by the cavalry.

 Ont he Imperial left a Regiment of Marauder Horse and a pack of Chaos Hounds charged the Marksmen of Miragalino and the Talabecland Handgunners.......

The contest was short and uneven.  The Handgunners saw off the Hounds and the Marksmen proved the value of the coin Finari paid them by slaughtering an entire Regiment of Marauder Horse.  

 In the center the Knights Panther and the Nordland Spearmen defeated their foes.

 But, despite the presence of Finari and the Battle Standard to bolster their leadership the Helmgeist Halberdiers proved no match for the Marauders.

 The victorious Knights Panther suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by the forces of Chaos!!!!  But these were easily defeated by the superior weaponskill and leadership of the brave Knights!

After shattering the Halberdiers, the Marauders scattered a battalion of Handgunners.

But, the Nurgle center completely gave way and the forces of Chaos retired in disarray.

Finari received a blessing of thanks from the Theogonist....

... and the thanks of the grateful townspeople....while a bard composed a song of her victory.

The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

While Yuletide 2519 passed without incident, the January fogs of 2520 on the North Coast were particularly thick and unnerving.  Superstitious fishermen began to tell tales of Kraken from the deep awakened by the Dark Gods, some claimed to see lightning and hear thunder in snow squalls, and when some fishing vessels and merchantmen were found dashed upon the rocks or disappeared altogether terror and fear again gripped the small Nordland coastal communities.   Lord Tykel von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet plied the fogbound waters in those early winter months.  While there were sightings of both Nurgle Plagueships and Norse raiders they always disappeared into the fog and avoided battle.  von Hargelfel’s Pegasus Squadrons were often grounded by the thick fog, and when they could fly found nothing. 

Elector Count Theoderic Gausser ordered local town and city militias to be increased, trained, and properly led, and even mobilized a number of state regiments to patrol the roads.  A sure harbinger of troubled times ahead manifested itself in the last months of 2519 when significant numbers of Flagellants began making their way to the North Coast.  As Gausser’s good friend and councilor Ludwig von Gallas of Zweedorf wrote to him at Yuletide 2519, “Flagellants congregating are a sure sign of famine, war, and doom.”  

It seemed as if von Gallas spoke with prophecy, for at the end of the month a small Nurgle raiding 
party slipped past von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet in the thick winter fog and made landfall near the village of Hargendorf.  The choice of landing was not random for Hargendorf was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen.”  

The Village of Hagendorf was a little fishing village is on the North Coast and was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen” whose mother had bee ravished by a Norse Marauder.  Before the Storm of Chaos the village contained fewer than 250 souls.  Aachon's incursions swelled the population to nearly 400 with an influx of refugees.  Baron Luther von Hargendorf had worked to spread these refugees who chose to stay in Nordland among is domains.  The abandoned village of Schlaghugel was repopulated with approximately 300 refugees from Ostland and Kislev, and the Elector Count fortified the stone span at Bridgenorth.  Both Hargendorf and Gausser intended Bridgenorth to be a bastion against any Norscican marauders sailing up the River Demst and the newly raised Demst River Patrol and the Nordland Rangers were based at Bridgenorth.  The Baron and the Count decided that the settlement of Schlaghugel would serve as a base of operations for the western parts of the county.  A castle was hastily built there and Gausser's Justiciar of the North, Finari, was stationed there with a strong force of troops. All seemed well as the decade of the 2510s moved forward in terms of the security of the coastal regions - especially in the western part of the county and along the River Demst.  Sadly, Baron Hargendorf fell from his horse whilst hunting boar in the forest of Laureleorn in 2018 and left only a four year old boy, Georg to succeed him. 

Lord Mundfilth received a vision from Father Nurgle that in this small village were relics of the fallen “Everchosen.”  These had been buried with his mother on her death in 2487.  They were children's toys and a baby rattle inscribed with sigils of evil and bore the favor of the Dark Gods.  Lord Mundfilth wished these gathered and destroyed as the Dark Gods commanded all their followers to do with relics of the "Everchosen." So it was that to this village Lord Mundfilth entrusted his champion Gorloth to take the village and ransack it to find the relics. He did not anticipate an Imperial force led by Edouard von Marburg, Chief Forester of the North, barred his way with a substantial force of men.

The townsfolk see the armies assemble on the plain outside the town.
 
 Brave Halberdiers and Greatswords stand against the enemy.



The forces of Nurgle were many and vile.
 
Edouard's army was strong and stalwart, but would prove no match for the Nurgle host on this day.

 

 Edouard's position was a strong one, but he soon became too anxious to get to grips with the forces of Nurgle.......

Edouard was impetuous and rushed to get to grips with the Nurgle foe.

The vile legions of Nurgle awaited the impetuous Master Forester......

The Warriors of Chaos with the Mark of Nurgle charged the Imperial Greatswordsmen and slaughtered them.

On the Imperial left the Knights Panther faced off against a group of Hounds and Marauder Horse.  The Knights easily disposed of both these vile units, but were taken completely out of the battle.

The Estalian Handgunners with Edouard leading them were caught by the Spawn......

The Halberdiers were routed by a unit of Marauders (horrid die rolling here)......

The Nordland Spearmen tried to hold the hill with a Great Cannon and Wisenmund the Grey.

But the vile forces of Nurgle slaughtered the Great Cannon Crew and Wisenmund the Grey fell victim to the Spawn!!

The Spawn and the Marauders then turned on the brave Nordlanders and butchered them like the sheep.

Edouard had succeeded in rallying his Estalian mercenaries and they made a brave last stand against the combined might of Nurglings and Marauders before they were overcome and slain.

The disaster at Hagendorf came as a great blow to Count Theodoric.  Edouard von Marburg, Master Forester of the North, was not among the survivors and his body was never recovered.  Some of the Estalians who were with him at the last rearguard and survived said that he fought to the end, till his sword was broken and his shield shivered before he was overcome by a Marauder's axe, while others say they last saw him being overwhelmed by a horde of Nurglings.  In ether event, his death was a setback to the Imperial cause and Theodoric issued orders across his realm to put the entire county on a war footing.  He also send Pegasus riders winging south to Altdorf to inform the Emperor that a new incursion of Nurgle devotees had descended on the North Coast and that he would require Imperial aid.  While all of these things were in motion news came of another battle near the coast.