The realm · Cuman raids
Cuman raids on the towns
Every few hours the bells ring out over one of the realm's towns: Cuman riders are on the road, and whoever stands in the town that day is all it has to defend it.
The warning
When at least four souls walk the realm, a raid comes every three to six hours, and always on a town where players are. The criers call it to everyone in the realm: riders sighted to the north-east of Kuttenberg, or the south of Sedletz, and they strike in three minutes. Those in the town see it written before their eyes: Raiders are coming! Any of the realm's towns may be struck: Kuttenberg, Suchdol, Sedletz, Bylany, Maleshov and Raborsch.
The riders come from one side, out of the country and up the road, not out of thin air in the market square. Type /raid to hear how it stands.
Three waves and a chieftain
- Three waves of four to six riders each, more when more defenders stand in the town, and never more than ten at once.
- About one rider in three is an archer; the rest come at you hand to hand, and one in four wears armour.
- A new wave rides in ninety seconds after the last, or as soon as the last is cut down.
- The third wave is led by the Cuman chieftain, stronger than his men and better armed. Whoever slays him is named to the whole realm.
- The raiders hunt the defenders: each one runs at the nearest player in the town within 150 metres. They do not wait to be found.
Victory, and defeat
The town has a quarter of an hour from the first wave to break them. When the last raider falls, the Crown pays up to 600 groschen from its treasury, shared among the defenders by the blows they struck: a raider killed counts more than a blow, the chieftain most of all, and nobody who fought gets less than 20 groschen. The defenders earn the town's and the Crown's good opinion, and the deed is written in each one's book: defended Kuttenberg against the Cuman raiders. The fallen raiders' purses are there for the taking.
If the time runs out with raiders still in the town, it has fallen. They ride off with a fifth of the town's treasury, and the realm hears of the shame.
Dogs at the walls
A dog out with its master defends them. When a raid is on and a raider comes within thirty metres, every dog with a defender flies at the raiders by itself, inside the town walls too, where a war dog may otherwise not be loosed. When the raid is over, it comes back to heel. Only a dog told to stay, set on guard or busy on a scent stays where it is. See pets and dogs.
In the chronicle
Every raid beaten off goes into the week's Realm Chronicle and the Broadsheet, with the names of those who held the walls. The guide's page on the wilds tells of the other dangers outside them.