The Siege of Thalasus - Hyboria Ladder Campaign

 In which King Conan arrives at his objective...

The Western Nemedian town of Thalasus

Arriving at Thalasus, Conan found the town, unsurprisingly, closed and well defended. The Aquilonians sent heralds to parley with those on the walls, offering to withdraw without fight if they send out the King's concubine. No such undertaking was to transpire. Grinding his teeth, Conan gave orders for the siege to begin.

The game was played once more with Dominion of the Spear; the defenders received the defensive position bonus. Readers are urged to suspend their disbelief and assume that the attackers have long ladders, grapnels and the like. As the defenders were in cover they had a slight numerical disadvantage. 

As the attackers advanced, a sortie by Nemedian knights sallied forth and fought the Aquilonian knights, quite successfully; however, they were soon overwhelmed.

The battle was inevitably one of attrition; waves of attackers stormed the walls and both sides suffered grievous losses.

By the latter part of the day, it became obvious that the Aquilonians would, once again, have the better of their foe.  

In a lull in the fighting, a postern gate opened and Governor Prudentius emerged to surrender the town to Conan.

Having secured Thalasus, Conan demanded the return of his concubine, only to discover that she had been spirited away by persons unknown during the previous night! "Smells like a plot twist to give the author an excuse for a second campaign", growled Conan. And so it was.

In his rage, the King ordered the citizenry leave the town. Thalasus was then torched (after the treasury had first been emptied of course).

The Aquilonian army marched home and Conan sent out his spies to attempt to discover where his favourite concubine had been taken.

It is three months later, and a heavily guarded caravan wends its way through Turan heading for the Sea of Vilayet...