Reggio, A Crusader Kings AAR - Chapter 3: Earth-shaking Fire
LJ Cut for Length and Pictures.
It was in February in the Year of Our Lord 1068 that a large tremor shook Messina. The Reggio regiment was mustered and set across the straight. We waited... surely Etna would erupt soon.
And there was. A great eruption. The liquid flame belched forth from the great mountain destroyed a number of the enemy's coastal forts. While the road was useless now, the enemy would have little to no forewarning of a fleet movement. The mustered Messina regiment and the Reggio regiment proceeded south aboard ships and disembarked near the enemy's fortress. We dispatched a courier as well. May 21st, 1068 was the beginning of my first undeclared Crusade.
The enemy's Shiek and I met briefly for a parley. It's a pity he was an Arab and a Muslim. Under other circumstances I think he could have made a good Christian, but on this day I saw him at his worst. He rallied his men and sallied forth, meeting us on the field with ash and smoke from Etna all around.
The engagement lasted nearly a weak with brimstone poisoning the very air we breathed, but at the end of it Ibn's army was routed with 400 casualties. My own army was far better off. 113 dead and several more with light wounds that did not prevent them from doing their duty and laying siege to the fort. We first took up our positions surrounding it on the 15th of June.
Curiously, I learned that on the day I declared war upon the Shiekdom of Siracusa, the Shiekdom of Trapani on the far side of Sicily likewise declared war. I don't know how to interpret that, or even if it was a portent.
September 2nd was the day the fortress surrendered. The Shiekdom ended and the titles to the land thereof was transferred to me. I was now Count Reggio, Count Messina, and Count Siracusa. A scant few days later, my brother the Duke arrived with several regiments of his troops. He had been uninvited and it was obvious to all that he had planned to steal this victory and this land from me. Stealing from his own brother! God forgive me for writing this, but at that moment I hated my brother like I have hated no other man on this Earth.
It was in February in the Year of Our Lord 1068 that a large tremor shook Messina. The Reggio regiment was mustered and set across the straight. We waited... surely Etna would erupt soon.
And there was. A great eruption. The liquid flame belched forth from the great mountain destroyed a number of the enemy's coastal forts. While the road was useless now, the enemy would have little to no forewarning of a fleet movement. The mustered Messina regiment and the Reggio regiment proceeded south aboard ships and disembarked near the enemy's fortress. We dispatched a courier as well. May 21st, 1068 was the beginning of my first undeclared Crusade.
The enemy's Shiek and I met briefly for a parley. It's a pity he was an Arab and a Muslim. Under other circumstances I think he could have made a good Christian, but on this day I saw him at his worst. He rallied his men and sallied forth, meeting us on the field with ash and smoke from Etna all around.
The engagement lasted nearly a weak with brimstone poisoning the very air we breathed, but at the end of it Ibn's army was routed with 400 casualties. My own army was far better off. 113 dead and several more with light wounds that did not prevent them from doing their duty and laying siege to the fort. We first took up our positions surrounding it on the 15th of June.
Curiously, I learned that on the day I declared war upon the Shiekdom of Siracusa, the Shiekdom of Trapani on the far side of Sicily likewise declared war. I don't know how to interpret that, or even if it was a portent.
September 2nd was the day the fortress surrendered. The Shiekdom ended and the titles to the land thereof was transferred to me. I was now Count Reggio, Count Messina, and Count Siracusa. A scant few days later, my brother the Duke arrived with several regiments of his troops. He had been uninvited and it was obvious to all that he had planned to steal this victory and this land from me. Stealing from his own brother! God forgive me for writing this, but at that moment I hated my brother like I have hated no other man on this Earth.