The Tymount Offensive
Flaming Fist soldiers in action.
The culmination of a month of planning, Duke Eltan ordered an offensive across the Winding Water, ostensibly to capture Tymount but actually to lure the devils into a trap. No less than seven companies of Flaming Fist took part, along with auxillaries from the adventuring population, and including representatives of the Order of the Radiant Heart, the Order of the Silver Rose, the Northern Watch, the Bladestone Foundation and the Zhentarim.
Map of Operations
The attack plan was multistage. General Scar led a company as bait, to draw out the defenders of Tymount by openly building a bridge across the Winding Water using wood provided by House Darius. This force was assisted by a group of adventurers led by Baldurian native and Flaming Fist veteran Thedran. Notably the Zhentarim were present in this action as well. Both General Scar's troops and the adventurers held off multiple assaults by the devils who had marched out from Tymount, and also engaged a strange troop of armoured devils until these withdrew north.
The second stage of the attack was the assault on Tymount, after its garrison had been drawn out, by another force of adventurers including elements of the Order of the Radiant Heart, Bladestone, and the Order of the Silver Rose. This force was led by Sir Aaron Lyonaler, with Derik Ranloss commanding some siege engines. The swift assault took the town, and provoked devil reinforcements to march from nearby outposts - as Eltan had predicted. The force in Tymount held off these counter attacks.
The third stage of the attack was the assault by five assault columns crossing the winding water, to encircle the devils attacking General Scar as well as those assaulting Tymount. All columns saw fighting, and there was more success in the west than the east.
In particular, while the fist wreaked a bloody toll among the troll soldiers in service to the Devils, and even the bearded devils among them, a series of running engagements with strange armoured devils took place, with many (although not all) of the armoured devils withdrawing north in good order.
The operations were assisted by raiders behind enemy lines led by Commander Di'Corvi of the Northern Watch. Heavy fighting intercepting devil columns headed for Tymount forced the raiders on the back foot for a while, and while the flow of devil troops was slowed, the group was not able to interfere with the withdrawal of the disciplined bodies of armoured devils.
The operation has ended in a significant victory. Its estimated the majority of the troll soldiers and devils within the region of Tymount were killed, and the remainder routed. The forces marching from the outposts suffered heavy casualties, particularly of fodder devils. The only setback was the ability of the strange armoured devils to avoid or fight off encirclement and make good their escape, but for all their discipline, their first appearance on the battlefield has been defeat.
While the Tymount's buildings and fortifications were leveled by Flaming Fist engineers before the place was abandoned, and the Flaming Fist are now constructing forts on the Winding Water, meaning to use the river as a natural defensive boundary against devil encroachment.
A note has been taken of all participants in the battle at Duke Eltan's order, so their service to the city is not forgotten.