The Vale Campaign(2)

After arriving at the Eyrie we camped outside Gates of The Moon. That was the first obstacle, but it was the easiest.

The Vale forces had stationed 50 archers on top of the mountains, that was kind of stupid, what will 50 archers do against 66.000 troops.

Either way my climbing forces got a test. They managed to climb the mountain with 0 falling, and they slaughtered the 50 Arryn men.

You could get down and up on the mountains from the gate and they simply opened it. The first step was over.

Only about 9000 men in total fit through the gate. 5000 Vance men and 4000 Mountain Clansmen were chosen.

Late next day the climbing force went into action. They would climb at the first darkness.

POV Switch to Jon.

I alongside Jorgen went with the climbers.

We had gotten simple but strong gear. Climbing shoes, built by blacksmiths and designed by wildlings. As well as hooks. Additionally we had groups connected by a rope.

At first darkness we began climbing. We had 25 wildings and experienced climbers and a total of 250 troops. Units of 10 were selected to climb and we began climbing. I and Jorgen were in the same unit alongside Bronn, 6 of our men and 1 wilding.

The climb was hard but it was not extremely dangerous. Though the class didn't go deep into the stone but it fit perfect into the holes and stones. It was definitely easier than the wall. But you still had to be careful.

One of the mercenary teams fell down just as the first team reached the top because they relaxed. After that eye opener we got everyone into the cell just fine, we spread out into 4 different cells and even then it was cramped.

As everyone got up, we took a break for 20 minutes. When we reached the 20 minute mark Bronn began screaming and punching the door.

"EMPTY CELL MAKING NOICE!" Mort shouted as he went into the cell, only to be stabbed behind and the door to be held open from closing.

I immediately got the keys and began opening the doors to the 200 other men. That's when I heard.

"Psst! You open the door! And I'll help you!" Someone said.

"Yes, me too!" Another said

"I will too!" A third said.

I looked at Bronn and he nodded. And with that I went around opening the doors. The armory was beside the prison and they therefore got gear.

With this our force increased to 350.

The forces outside had formed up Infront of the bridge. They weren't in any formation but standing around in the shadows. There was no lights so it was hard to spot anyone. Especially the Mountain Clansmen who were used to it.

We were sneaking through the halls. Though the Eyrie Guards were on guard, but they still didn't believe we would attack immediately. Additionally they only have 3000 guards and their Lady had left with her heir.

Bronn was extremely skilled in sneaking through corridors and killing silently. He also had companions equally skilled. And as such there was extremely hard for them to spot us. We didn't clank with our armor but instead used our ability to sneak by tip toing around.

And soon enough we reached the gate.

The gate even at night was guarded by 300 men at arms.

Bronn signalled for us to stop.

"They're too many, we can't sneak through so we will fight openly now." He said. And with that he charged forwards and began killing.

The guards were spread throughout the gate. 100 on top, 50 at stairs and 150 on the bottom.

The 150 men were outnumbered twice their number by people twice their skill and were quickly suppressed and put down.

By the time reinforcements arrived from the gates but they were outnumbered.

"Jon and Jorgen open the gate!" Bronn screamed.

Me and Jorgen was fighting side by side. With a quick nod we began pushing through.

I was fighting 2 men and I quickly threw their sword to the side with my left hand sword and beheaded both in one slash with my right hand sword.

Jorgen also killed 2 men as we began pushing through.

The Arryn's were well organised and focused on defending the stairs, however they used round shields and therefore couldn't block very much and we could cut their feet's off. I was defending from behind as multiple attackers attempted to kill us while Jorgen was overpowering those above us.

2 minutes later we reached the top. I continued fighting from the stairs we he went in.

He closed the doors from the right where I wasn't. He then began turning the wheel dragging the gate upwards. Immediately after 700 Arryn reinforcements arrived and our elite force quickly retreated up the stairs.

As the last guy got up I was standing at the stairs alone. Holding them off. Luckily only 2 at a time could come up and it was easy to hold them back.

The Clansmen pushed through and began killing the Arryn's. The Clansmen had fought Arryn men for a long time and knew their weaknesses.

It didn't take long for them to be pushed back. And 30 minutes later, The Eryie fell.

The ancient keep of the Arryn's. The castle that had never been taken over by a Riverlander. Successfully fell.

The Eyrie wasn't a city and never would be, it was a pure fortress for Highborn.

The moon door was quite the interesting prospect, but it was a bit out of my taste.

Either way I had my army come through. The Eryie could easily hold 100.000 men even though it wasn't a city.

During this time I attacked 2 forts. I split our forces into 3 units, led by Tytos which included Bracken Forces. One unit led by Emmon which included the Frey forces, Darry and the wildings. Meanwhile the last was led by Jason and included Mallister and the minor Houses. I sent the Frey forces to Wickenden, Frey Forces to Refort and Tytos to Ironoak. I stayed back with 5000 Bracken forces and we scoured the Eyrie for any secret entrance or tunnel.

Within 2 moons the 3 detachments fulfilled their goal, just in time for the Arryn army to be spotted. They left a 500 man garrison before leaving to meet me at Ironoaks. The Arryns had 70.000 men at Old Anchor. The battle would be determined anytime soon. In total we had lost 1000 men. And we 500 garrisons and 2000 at the Eyrie. So we only had 62.000 men left. While they had 70.000 men.

We began creating defenses outside the Ironoaks, laying spikes, digging trenches with spikes in it. We had 2000 archers on the castle walls.

At dawn the fight would begin. We had put a small camp behind the castle and could retreat there for the night which we did. Additionally a few of my elite men, named Bronn & Co, managed to sneak into their camp and light many tents and their archery on fire and artillery, namely catapults. This means they can't even take the fort if they win.

That night, I stole a bit of a Robb Stark tactic, and in the silent night, Jorgen, Jon and 50 men entered their horse stock and cut loose all their extra horses, each knight of the vale had 3 horses. Now they only had 1. They couldn't get to the main horses as they were way too protected and it was situated in the middle of the camp. And as such they didn't even try.

But the night was extremely rewarding. Next morning their troops will have a hard time fighting out energised and rested troops when they haven't slept, sure it may be a underhanded tactic, but a tactic is a tactic and it's dumb to not utilise Bronn's exceptional talent.

He can command men to sneak around almost as good as Brynden Tully "The Blackfish" but he isn't there just yet, especially with cavalry. He fights and commands better on foot. But if you combine those two, then good luck spotting our army and defending your food.

And after 30 of chaos in the camp they formed up outside. During that chaos ya'll might be thinking we could attack them during those 30 minutes, it is too risky, sure we would be able to attack within 30 minutes, but everyone would be hurried, the horses would make too much noice and we are much more effective on an open battlefield than inside a enemy camp.

Immediately after they showed signs of forming up, I blew the horn and my men woke up. The officers quickly took command forming our troops up.

Immediately after we began showing signs of forming up, they began counter-planning for our formation. The Frey/Mountain clan flank looked weak due to it just being a horde of men, at least it looked it it from the front. But behind those the Frey's were formed up. Either way, the mountain clans are stronger in fighting than their newly recruited forces.

The Frey's were positioned in the main vanguard with the Mountain clansmen Infront of them. But they would switch places when the mountain clansmen were tired. The Vance men led the right and Mallisters left. I had split half my men to the Mallisters, about 10.000 infantry and the 5.000 cavalry with the remaining 5000 in the middle.

25.000 in the middle, 20.000 left and 17.000 right.

The Arryns had 30.000 middle, 20.000 left and right with 5000 knights of the Vale on the left. They had no archers or artillery.

The plan was to match them in sheer quality. Most of our officers had been through war with recruits and knew how to handle them. We also had a large amount of veterans. Another strategy lies in the cavalry defeating the Knights of the Vale. Usually the winner of a cavalry fight is the winner of the battle.

And our last hope was my 200 elite units. They were hiding in the forest. And if timed correctly could strike a devestating blow to their command tent, hopefully killing their entire command and routing their forces.

And with that, the battle began.