Character story: The Empire strikes back.

By the spring of 4E175 soldiers from all over the remaining empire started to arrive to Cyrodiil. Barristus’ legion was attached to general Jonna’s army having mostly legions of Nords.  General Jonna was a hardened veteran of the Imperial Legion whose courage and endurance was legendary and was very popular among his soldiers who were willing to follow him to Oblivion if need be. Barristus soon noticed the toughness of the sons of Skyrim. They were strong and tall and bore easily with the hardships of the soldier’s life. They were also fierce and brave in battle but also hot tempered during marches and the time between battles.  Some of them had the attitude of looking down on the Imperials calling them milk drinkers and soft people. Ragnar the Red-Head a six foot tall broad shouldered red haired Nord with a big beard was one of the worst.  After bearing with many of his insults Barristus finally challenged him to a brawl. The fight was ferocious, Barristus stood his ground for a while but at the end Ragnar was victorious. Nevertheless the insults were stopped and some of the Nords even had a pint of ale with him.
The Emperor had a great plan to turn the tide of the war by retaking the Imperial City and destroying the Elven army in Cyrodiil. He ordered General Jonna to encircle the Imperial City from the south and link up with the legions advancing from the West. General Jonna’s army begun it’s advance towards the capital.

Barristus and his men on patrol

Barristus’ unit was one of the vanguard units. During the advance on the Blue Road the Elves set up an ambush. A large force of Nords was caught by surprise by Elven archers. Barristus and his Imperials were advancing south of the road and after hearing the noise of the battle they turned North and overrun the elves from behind saving most of their ambushed Legionnaires. Ragnar was one of the men that barely escaped from the deathtrap. Next evening the Red-Head paid all the mead rounds Barristus could drink. They both ended getting terribly drunk and sleeping under the table.  Next day Ragnar told him ”I can punch you into the dirt, I can drink much harder than you,  I can wield an axe much better than you, heck even my cock is three times bigger than yours  but you are my friend and should you have trouble with anyone let me know and I’ll hand over his head.” 

Imperial legion crossing the Niben

The advance to the capital in the beginning was easy but as they got closer to the Imperial City the Elven counter attacks became more frequent.  Finally the forward elements of General Jonna’s army linked up with the vanguard General Decianus. The Imperial City was encircled, a big part of the Elven army in Cyrodiil was trapped within the Imperial City walls and cut off supplies.