The Black Death. Even after the lapse of centuries, the phrase still chills the heart. At no time in history did so many people die in so short a time: a third of all Free Folks in the space of three years. Demographers will argue the details--that the death rate was actually higher among Humans and Dwarves, slightly lower for Halflings, and only 20%-25% among Dwarves. Figures for other Free Folk are hardly more than conjecture.
We know now that the Drow had been planning for decades. But the world learned of their intentions on 13 October 2090, a Friday (ever since then, Friday 13th has been regarded as unlucky). They emerged from the Underdark and cast the awful spell.
Unlike all other known magic, the Black Death was a spell that behaved like a disease. A Drow sorcerer had only to infect a single individual. That person, so long as he lived (which was not long), became a carrier of the spell, which he could communicate to others through breath. In its most virulent form, the spell could even be transmitted by sight alone. All were vulnerable, even livestock and other animals. Indeed, the Black Death even touched the Wild Folk, though with far less effect (demographers estimate 10%-20% death rate among Orcs and Goblins).
There were no battles for the first few years of the Century War, almost as if the Drow believed the Black Death alone would win victory. It nearly did. So many were dying that the Free Nations could not respond, even to simple piracy. In March 2091, Behuchet and his pirates burned Portsmouth to the ground. In July, another pirate, Huequiret, captured several British vessels and threw their crews overboard. In October, Southampton was burned and Drow completely overcame the island of Guernsey. The following year, 2092, Drow pirates attacked all along the coast from Kent to Cornwall. Kentish fisherfolk, mainly Halflings, were captured, mutilated, and set down again on the coast.
In the same year, 2092, Hobgoblins invaded Guyenne. This marks the first appearance of a new wave of monsters, among whom were Ettins, Wyverns, Ghouls, and Golems. Most numerous, though, were the Hobgoblins. They captured Blaye on the north bank of the Gironde River. They assaulted Boulogne with the help of Drow pirates, who burned thirty ships at anchor, hanged their captains, and burned the lower town. The upper citadel held.
King Edward of Britain went to the Halflands in 2092, taking up a splendid residence at Antwerp. There he put together the first coalition, consisting of the lords of Allemain, Halfland, and Brabant. Early in 2093, he at Ghent, where his wife Phillipa gave birth (6 February) to a son, John, known thenceforward as John of Ghent. Edward publicly called upon King Philip of Gaul to join the coalition. Despite years of rivalry between the two nations, Philip agreed.
Battle of Sluys, 23 June 2093 AUC
Between them, Philip and Edward mobilized twenty thousand warriors and two hundred ships, which they assembled at the port town of Sluys, in the Halfling county of Flanders. The intent was to sail to Ys, off Brittany, which was the homeland of the Drow pirates, but they tarried too long and allowed the Drow to bring up their own fleet of about 150 ships. The captain of the humans was Robert Morley, but the fleet included Elvish and Halfling ships as well. The Elvish captain was Jehan; the Halfling captain was Blankenberghe. Commanding the Drow fleet was the infamous pirate Barbenoire.
Captain Jehan urged Admiral Morley to put to sea, arguing that the Freefolk would have both the tide and the wind against them when the Drow attacked. But Morley wanted to fight deck to deck, so he wanted to draw the enemy to him. He ordered the fleet to form three battle lines: the Britons and Gauls were in the first line, on ships that had giant crossbows and catapults. Elves and Halflings had the second line, while Allemanns and Normans manned the third line, accompanied by a handful of Dwarves. While all were armed, not many were experienced soldiers, and only 150 out of the 20,000 were actual knights.
The Drow weighed anchor at dawn and were sailing into the bay by 9am. The catapults were effective, but the Drow ships were manned by Hobgoblins who served as marines. Many were armed with crossbows, which took a fearful toll. King Edward was in the thick of the fighting. He was wounded in the leg and blood stained his white leather boots (Edward was ever the stylish dresser). Around noon the first line was overwhelmed. Those who surrendered were beheaded at once, so many jumped overboard to avoid being captured by Hobgoblins or Drow. The wounded begged to be thrown over. The sea was thick with bodies and red with blood.
The worst of the fighting now ensued. Morley got his wish for fighting deck to deck, but the Freefolk were as yet largely unacquainted with Hobgoblins and panic set in quickly once a particular fight started to go against them. Ships began to burn, adding to the distress. Then, about thirty ships, mainly from the third line, took advantage of the tide and wind to make a run for it. Barbenoire roared and cursed, but the Orcs who made up the bulk of the crews were preoccupied with looting at this point and the ships got away. King Edward was on one ship, with Jehan. Morley and the Halfling captain were never found.
The battle lasted into the night, for the remaining crews knew that only death awaited them. The people of Sluys abandoned their city. They could easily find their way for the night was lit by so many burning ships that witnesses said it was as bright as day. On the morning, the Drow landed and occupied Sluys. Flushed with victory, they marched on Tournai but lacked siege engines and the city was defended in part by Dwarves. Philip arrived with a fresh army in August and the Drow withdrew to Sluys. Edward returned to Britain in September. The Battle of Sluys had eliminated the first army raised by the Free Folk and left the Channel in almost undisputed possession of Barbenoire.
Worse was to come.
Battle of Crécy
In March of the following year, a new front opened when a bizarre army appeared in western Brittany. Again commanded by Drow, it was composed of a core army of Gnolls supported by bands of Ettins and swift Wyverns. Duke Jean III, already old and childless, sold his life in a desperate battle outside his own castle. The half-Elf Montfort stepped forward to claim the inheritance, but his claim was disputed by the Human, Charles of Blois. These two refused to cooperate, even in the face of a common enemy. In November 2094, Montfort was besieged at the town of Nantes. In a sortie, thirty of Montfort's knights were captured and beheaded. The Drow catapulted the severed heads over the walls of the town, terrifying the inhabitants. Bravely, Montfort surrendered himself and his town to save the population from a massacre. The Half-Elf was taken to Ys as a captive, but his Elvish wife continued to resist. Furious with the continued Elvish resistance, the Drow murdered Montfort in 2098.
The loss at Sluys unleashed a Hobgoblin army into northern Gaul. While cities were relatively secure, and castles more so, the countryside was utterly vulnerable and suffered terribly. Unlike earlier encounters with the Wild, though, where the monsters sought only local advantage or mere mindless destruction, the new Drow-led armies had as their goal the destruction of the monarchies and the elimination of nations. So, while they did devastate the countryside without mercy, they also laid siege where they could to towns and castles. This proved difficult, for many were Dwarf-made and had at least a small contingent of Dwarves to help with the defense. Moreover, when a Hobgoblin army settled in to a siege, it risked being attacked by a Gallic or British army.
Frustrated in their attempts to capture anything significant on land, the Drow in the spring of 2098 launched a three-pronged attack: in Brittany, in Normandy, and in Guyenne. The Norman offensive petered out fairly quickly. Great success was achieved in Guyenne, however, under the Hobgoblin lord Gross. They struck into upper Gascony and captured Bergerac. La Reole fell, after a siege of nine weeks, and Angoulême fell by storm soon after. At the same time, Thomas the Worthy Dog, commander of the Gnolls, launched an offensive in Brittany.
The Gauls retaliated in 2099 with a massive army--reputedly a hundred thousand men. They put an end to the Hobgoblin threat in Normandy and bottled up the Gnolls in Brittany. But these successes came at a grim price. Lord Gross, joined by Hardcourt, a Hobgoblin lord, began a drive on 5 June 2099 with 15,000 soldiers. They struck northward, trying to join with the Gnoll armies. Along the way they destroyed everything in their path: haystacks, corn ricks, orchards, vineyard and wine vats, mills, barns. They slaughtered the livestock and burned the fields. People were tortured to reveal the location of magic items, and were killed whether they told or not. The town of Barfleur resisted and was put to the sack. Cherbourg and Montebourg fell also.
This type of warfare was called a chevauchée. Lord Gross managed to draw the Gauls away from Brittany, but comparatively few Gnolls succeeded in joining him before he had to turn and make a run for Sluys. He knew he was terribly outnumbered by the Free Folk and that he could not remain in the field for long. His one chance was to reach the port and sail to safety on Ys. King Philip and the Gauls, of course, were determined to prevent this.
Still, the Hobgoblins could not resist an easy target when it presented itself. The city of Caen, capital of Normany, was not walled, for the strength of the Normans themselves had always protected it. The city fell on 26 July and was looted for three days. The desperate citizens hid in their homes and threw wooden beams and iron bars down on the Hobgoblins, by which tactic they killed over five hundred. But over three thousand Caiennais paid with their lives, and hundreds more were taken away to the Goblin slave markets.
They made a run at Paris, but it was largely a feint. The Gauls tried to trap the Hobgoblins by burning the bridges over the Seine and the Somme. But a bridge near Poissy was only partially destroyed and was restored by Drow magic. Philip set out in pursuit. He thought he had them at the Somme River, but a local Kobold showed Lord Gross a ford near Abbéville, called the Passage of Blanche-taque. Local citizens tried to slow the crossing, but failed. Philip was so close that he was capturing slow baggage. But when he came to the crossing itself, as the first contingents were crossing, a Drow mage cast a flood spell. The river rose several feet in a matter of minutes, and the opportunity was lost.
It had been a hard race, and even Hobgoblins tire.