Battle of Gatsinula
The three detectives settled in at the Loyalist headquarters where General Otso told the party what he needed them to do. Shao traveled south to examine the terrain of the battlefield. Sauc went north to examine a patch of woods seperating three Loyalist camps. Tillo fish-hooked northwest and went behind the rebel lines to gather intel on their numbers.
Shao gathered that a deep creek flowing north to south seperated the two armies. a dried out branch of the creek carved a trench going northwest to southeast. He met with a hermit who lived on the creek in a small log cabin and interogated him into telling Shao about ways to cross the creek.
Tillo interogated dwarves of his own. In a forest behind rebel lines, Tillo was able to capture two rebel soldiers and lashed them to a tree with rope from his adventurers kit. When they came to, Tillo used lemon drops and backhands to get information about the size of the rebel army and their intentions for battle.
Sauc explored the woods and found a ruined cabin with an erie arcana. Sauc remembered tales as a child which told of a dark elf witch who lived near the area and believed the home must have belonged to the witch.
He entered the building with caution and after illuminating the abandoned haunt, he looked for usefull items. A single book left on the bookshelf caught his attention, but being in a language Sauc did not speak- he could not decifer what it contained. He grabbed the book and left the building.
At sunrise the next day, the rebel north flank charged across the dried out creek bed, but was met by Loyalist infantry. The rebel infantry and cavalry crashed into numbers twice their side and the battle began. The party members rushed all over the battlefield to gather intel. After five hours of intense fighting, the north flank seperated in a pause in battle and the rebels withdrew behind the creek bed.
Acting on the detectives' intel, General Otso rushed his central lines forward across the shallow fords of the creek toward the rebel headquarters. The two armies clashed in the chest-deep water where the fight reached its most brutal climax. Tillo arrived at the scene to find the commander of the central Loyalists directing soldiers. When Tillo asked on an update of the battle- the general pointed to soldiers drowning each other in the creek. The future of the battle now rested on the southern flank where the Loyalists had sent a small unit to intercept the rebel artillery.
Shao informed General Otso of a way to cross soldiers across the deepest part of the creek. The night before, the general sent three hundred infantry across to capture the enemy catapults. When the main units of Loyalist cavalry and infantry charged across the bridge toward the artillery, they discovered the hard way their night assault had failed. Shao directly entered the battle using make-shift explosives to distract the rebel artillery, but it was not enough. A reinforcing rebel army had cross the river to the southwest in time to save the rebel artillery.
The Loyalists slipped back across the bridge having fought a stalemate battle on all three fronts. With the rebel army reinforced, General Otso considered his options. Shao left the group to explore the enemy camps on his own. Sauc and Tillo lit camps along the creeks to make the enemy believe the Loyalists too had been reinforced in the night- and the plan worked.
When Shao crossed the creeks and explored the rebel command points, he found the rebel army had withdraw back across the river and had abandoned their invasion. General Otso declared victory and champaign was enjoyed vigorously.
The party sat after their long mission and debated over their next move. They finally decided to gain intel on the existance of a rebel underground movement of rogues in northern counties. Sauc remembered he "knew a guy" in Nuevo Eborakon- the largest city on the continent- who would have information.