The Battle of the Chapel

As Ivan ravages Pellenar his cousin, Count Viktor Drazkharov, marches his own rebel army into Dortland, with the infamous Black Knights of The Grimholt forming the steel-clad vanguard.

Viktor descends on Gross Dortbeck, with the aim of securing a southern base of supply at the mouth of the Great Cannaur River. The threat posed to Galamory and Sudhafen cannot be ignored by imperial forces and the army of Sudhafen, led by the Steel Count Toumas von Schaffernacker, moves east to intercept the rebels. Count Toumas blocks Viktor’s advance at the village of Mittelhamm, using the houses and the local chapel to garrison his troops and so turns the town into a make-shift fort.

Viktor’s attack is ferocious, his rebel army supported by undead beasts. As the battle unfolds, capture of the Chapel proves crucial; the commanding position acts as a redoubt from which a large contingent of the imperial forces can mount sorties against the undead lines before they regroup back behind the safety of the walls. Viktor’s assault is supported by shrieking bat-winged terrors wheeling in the grey skies above, borne upon tattered black wings suffused with dark magicks. Below, the Steel Count’s knights charge through the cobbled streets, and the renowned Greatswords of Sudhafen clash in bitter hand-to-hand fighting with marauding ghouls that try to storm over the walls of the graveyard.

The battle ends in a decisive victory for the Drazkharovs when, after hours of sorties and repulsed assaults, Viktor’s troops surround the Chapel and put the buildings and the grounds to the torch, burning the few remaining devout Sigmarite warriors who steadfastly refuse to flee. The imperial cavalry, unable to break the encirclement, can only look on helplessly as the town goes up in flames.

With his army almost destroyed and his son Rickard badly wounded, Toumas withdraws west to the safety of Sudhafen, leaving open the road to Gross Dortbeck. Viktor wasted no further time and quickly moved south to invest the town.

Frightened locals flee their homes at the sight of Drazkharov banners appearing on the horizon. The terror of the Drazkharov Rebellion strikes deep into the Imperialist southern provinces.