I must set down for posterity what has happened to the brigade, though it be against tradition for the Captain to write these journals, it has been done in extremis.
I am Tefra, Captain of the remnants of the Exiled Red Brigade of Galadiahos.
Captain Aheeros died of the plague in the city of Merah when we were under siege by the outlander tribes. I took over believing that I was to preside over the final demise of the brigade, That we are still alive (and indeed in some number- new recruits after the breaking of the siege brought us back up to seventy-five once more) I attribute purely to the desperation of the city elders in turning over the full command of the military forces to us. With a single, central and strong command, we managed to weld the disparate forces of the city onto a cohesive fighting whole and drive the outlanders back from our walls. Instrumental in this was the Kedros calvary of T'Heros which we had worked into our strategy. T'Heros also presided briefly as commander of the brigade and hence the whole army when I was incapacitated by a thrown spear which pinned me to the ground. T'Heros took command of the line and his command of the Kedros charge by giving the signal as we had planned saved the day and all our lives. I therefore promoted him to Lieutenant; my previous choice, Kelanger, having been slain in the battle after the shortest stint in office of any officer in the history of the brigade.
Many of our most senior brothers were killed not by the enemy but by the plague. Montelo, who matured into a reasonable officer, was one of the first to die. Aheeros followed soon after, plunging us into chaos. Treada's death some days later was almost the final blow that slew morale. It was only the inspirational speech of Eksafeelo that saved the day; for this reason he is breveted to our chaplain despite the fact that he is not an ordained priest. Sheeda remains as our seemingly indestructible sword master. Rapeezo is quartermaster, Kanela is engineer.
We are engaged in mopping up operations clearing out the local bands of outlander tribesmen who are still hanging around in the hope of getting more loot. we have also been helping with the rebuilding of Merah outside the walls, although the destruction is nothing like as bad as it looked when we were under siege. The invaders had not even slain most of the population, just chased them off. Outlanders have a higher regard for the land than one might expect from nomadic tribes and are very territorial. Once they had displaced the people and taken hold of the land they thought they were in charge.
I am hoping that brigade can find momentary respite in Merah, despite the curse, for we need a bit of a breathing space to recover from the ravages of war and the ravages of disease. I myself have no real wish to remain as Captain long, for I am quite old and I have a yearning to see my homeland again, specially as the news has just reached us that Mapas the Butcher is dead, slain by Tharos, his own third son. Tharos apparently had to kill his brothers to stay on the throne but has seemingly escaped without censure for this action as it seems to be generally recognized that he is bar far the best man to come from the royal line in some while. It is even said that the shadow of Rodenos the Great can be seen following him in the evening dusk.
Comments and suggestions to:
Hywel Phillips:H.T.Phillips@rl.ac.uk