Two years ago…
A host of 3 thousand Tiefling horseman assembled right at the Archothinrian border. Almost the entire tribe. Only a few were left to guard the herds and children. There wasn’t much left to guard anyways. A series of tough years and increasingly harsher tribute put on by Avarov was bleeding them dry. There was no point in raiding other tribes, Cossack villages or trading posts in the mountains as they were either too poor or under protection of the Lord of the Steppes. Archothiria was the only option.
Batu Khan, the tribes leader rode forward and signalled the rest to follow him. He already sent out scouts before so he knew where hus targets were. After a couple hours of riding in one group, while avoiding any major roads, they split up into three. Each of them were going to a different city, or rather its unprotected outskirts. The plan was to pillage the surrounding fields and villages and flee with the loot before any of the garrisons can react.
The city Batu’s group was heading towards soon appeard on the horizon. In one moment the villagers were going on about their daily business, in another a cloud of dust appeared in the distance and a thousand horsemen descended upon them. They barged into the villages, trampling, shooting or cutting down anybody who didn’t get to safety in time. They would ransac the bodies and barge into houses, stealing anything of value and setting them on fire with magic. They emptied granaries, led away animals and burnt and trampled the fields. All of the loot was loaded onto horses, as each warrior had multiple, and after a village was cleared of all valuables they would move on to the next one or retreat to a designated meeting point.
Archorintian borderlands have not seen a raid of this magnitude in years, ever since the Great Khan was slain by the Veletians and the steppes incorporated into their young empire. But how would the Archothirians respond to this new situation?
