Thakria, led in this endeavour by Princess Kylan, Panaideos the Sorcerer and Baron Ingens put together a well-rationed legion of 1700 troops in Midsummer of 966. They picked a time when the Rangers Guild was poorly guarded, marched their troops down the Great North Road and through to the foot of the Rangers Guild in the Greenwood Forest. They met little resistance and managed to force their way up into the guild and set up their legions to besiege the well-fortified outer guild barracks. Intelligence had reported that the Rangers stored a great proportion of their commodities and valuables in their inner barracks.
Despite a modest defensive effort the Rangers were no match for the invaders and could not prevent the Thakrian besiegers from breaking all of the inner barracks fortifications to naught and slaughtering the few hundred Rangers left guarding it. However, just as Kylan marched her legions into the outer barracks in preparation for siege and plundering of the bountiful inner barracks, the Gods were forced to step in and halt proceedings. The unforeseen problems thrown up by the invasion were seen to and the Gods oversaw a recommencement of hostilities in Leaflost of 966. Both sides were set in the same position as they were when the battle was paused. This time the conflict fought to a conclusion.
Thakria had far the greater individual fire power, and the upper hand militarily. Their legion was united under one banner just outside the unfortified, undefended outer barracks. Around 950 Thakrian men remained after the destruction of the outer fortifications and routing of the defence force. The Rangers, on the other hand, had over a thousand men in the inner barracks but they were disorganised and partially assembled under Lilandrin's banner. She, the only Ranger with any real experience of warfare, was not present to defend the guild.
Tryn, newly elected to Guildmaster status was left floundering with willing but inexperience aid from primarily Scotty, the Deputy Guildmaster. The Thakrians had arranged for their people to pursue and slaughter any who tried to defend the Rangers Guild, with Kylan leading the 950 Thakrians within the guild and Panaideos back in Thakria pulling together reinforcements.
The Rangers started poorly. They barely knew how to command troops or muster legions. For the first day of the battle the Ranger legions were floundering about in the inner barracks, in small groups, vulnerable and directionless. Kylan used her legion to break open the door to the outer barracks. The scene was set for a Thakrian rout. Kylan marched all 950 men into the outer barracks and turned them to face the disorganised interior. However, inexplicably, Kylan neglected to order her legion to assail the Ranger legions in their vulnerable state. Instead she allowed herself to be separated from her legion, the whole legion remaining inside the barracks, while Kylan was back in the meeting hall of the guild. Had the Rangers thought quickly enough to lock their barracks up they would have trapped the Thakrian legion without orders or purpose.
Kylan would have been unable to get back to them as she had no troops left with her to break down the barracks door. They did not do so, but to the dismay of the watching Gods keen to see real battle, nor did Kylan or any Thakrian punish the Rangers for their disarray. Panaideos continued to toil near Thakria, bringing together a number of fresh legions of around two hundred men each, and leading them on the slow march south out of the city towards the Rangers guild. Though the Rangers and their allies continued to be hammered individually by the better-organised Thakrians little heed was paid to strategic concerns.
Slowly, fumblingly, the Rangers mustered their men into a single united legion in their inner barracks while but a single location away 950 Thakrian men stood awaiting orders. And while Panaideos, perhaps the only Thakrian with the insight to realise the precariousness of their position, marched slowly on through the northwestern Greenwood some distance still from the guild, the Ranger legion reached its full potential and assailed the leaderless and now less sizeable Thakrian assembly. The battle was fought without much attention from the mortal protagonists. The Thakrians were outnumbered and without initiative. All of the Thakrians were slain with barely over three hundred Ranger casualties. The Rangers had retaken the outer barracks and no Thakrian soldier was close enough to prevent them.
The one-sidedness of the individual confrontations remained unchanged. The Thakrians were victorious in almost all cases. Rangers and supporters (their supporters were few in body despite much verbal support beforehand) dropped like flies. But these scuffles were of much lesser importance. Despite their unexpected and resounding victory over the Thakrian legion, the Rangers were unable to press home any advantage. The accumulation of wounds inflicted on them by the Thakrians took its toll and the Rangers gradually dropped out of the defence until only Scotty remained to meet the Thakrian reinforcements. Panaideos finally closed in on the guild with his reinforcements but Thakrian morale was low and the cost of the battle was already over fifteen hundred men.
Perhaps this can explain yet another error in their military leadership. Rather than pulling the reinforcement legions together into one large group capable of defeating the Ranger legion (which was the only line of defence between the guild and the plundering of their commodities, treasures and resources), Panaideos sent smaller legions into the guildhouse which were quickly engaged by the watchful rangers and defeated before a retreat could be organised. It was fortunate for the Rangers that Scotty had battled his fatigue and remained for it was his standing order to the ranger legion to watch the guildhouse and attack as one any visible Thakrian targets. Three Thakrian legions of over two hundred men each were lost in this manner with minimal casualties on the ranger side.
At this point, some two thousand men down and with no material gain from the endeavour, Kylan and Panaideos swallowed their pride and anger and ordered a withdrawal. The remaining Thakrian troops marshalled for battle were redistributed elsewhere or taken back to barracks. The Rangers Guild had successfully repelled the Thakrian invasion - less as a result of the competence of its members (though the resilience of a few was noteworthy) than blunders and miscalculations by the Thakrian high command. Lessons learned on both sides, no doubt but the Gods were disappointed. They still await a real battle.
