Battle of Fort Kenway

"A new power is rising, its victory is at hand. This night the land will be stained with the blood of Swiss. March to Kenway, leave none alive. TO WAR! There will be no dawn for Men."

- Pearson's speech to his commander Ponce de Leon to the battle

The Battle of Fort Kenway, also known as Battle of Hell's Deep, was the first grand-scale battle of the paradoxian War where the Swiss under Matthew "Apollo" Kenway-Goldtimbers defended the fort from Pearson's Army of Royal Spain's Army.

Pre-Battle
After being attacked by the Spanish Matthew went to the battle where his other commander was battling Pearson's Army. When Kenway got there, he realized that the army was scattered, so Goldtimbers told Kenway to help the refugees and send them to the Fort Kenway (Known as Hell's Deep) where many people from the west were also taking refuge. Soon Goldtimbers brought the British Miltia to defend Hell's Deep from Pearson's attacking forces. A local captain called Robert Stewart led the soldiers. Unfortunately, according to his other commander, "The soldiers have seen either too many winters, or too few."

The Battle


The Spanish quickly overran the first defence of the hill, but sustained many losses in it "filling up the dike to the top". After moving past the Hell's Deep the dagos arpproached the fortress of Fort Kenway they sent muskets or cannons into the fortress. However they did not get any response. But when they got closer they were met with a volley of cannons and rocks which made them break ranks. The Dagos soon got close enough to Hell's Deep and attempted to break the gate down with tree trunks, but were scattered by a small attack team led by Ishmael Venables and Ryan Warhawk from a postern-door that ran between the brink of the cliff and the wall of the Kenway. After the team had driven back the Spanish with the ram, the team retreated from the new assault upon the gate. While running back, two Spanish who had faked their deaths knocked Ryan to the ground. As Ishmael ran back to save him, a hidden Chris hewed the Dagos's heads saving ryan and giving Chris his first two kills to Peter's twenty.

The attackers then raised hundreds of ladders to scale the wall, the worn-out defenders threw down the ladder attacks, but were attacked from behind by Dagos who had crawled through the culvert at the base of the wall. Ryan and Chris with a unit of men from the Militia attacked the dagos who got through the hole. Chris, after getting twenty-one kills to peter's twenty-four, helped block the culvert with stones flooding the stream. Unfortunately, this blockage was destroyed along with a good portion of the wall by Pearson's devilry; 'the cannons (most likely gunpowder which the Grapeshots probably knew about but their secret was probably taken by Leon, and then by Pearson).

Once the wall was blown, the Spanish poured into the fort through the large gap that was made from the explosion, while another group of Spanish brought a wooden battering ram to the main gate and attempted to break it. Mel, having been thrown from the wall in the explosion, lay dazed right in the path of the advancing Dagos. Chris leapt from the wall amongst the enemy, forcing them to deal with the dwarf in their midst. This bought Mel time to regain his senses and rally the remaining British for a counter charge. The elves, despite being outnumbered, managed to stem the tide. Soon afterwards Ishmael, Chris and the elves were forced to retreat as the battle became more desperate; Lieutenant Still, still fighting on the wall, was slain by two Spanish before Mel's eyes. Mel rushed to his side, but he was too late.

The Spanish shot grappling lines onto the walls and used them to anchor massive ladders that carried dozens of Spanish up to the main Kenway walls. Although Legolas shot one down, many more sprung up. At the main gate, the Spanish had broken a hole into the wood of the gate and engaged the Swiss soldiers in a vicious struggle. Colonel Kenway was injured in this fight, but was able to fall back to a safer place to recover. Kenway, when asked what he needed by Ishmael, requested ''"Time, as much you can get me." ''To do this, Mel and Chris sneaked out the back of the fortress. To reach the crowd of Spanish, they had to cross a wide gap, which had to throw Chris across. Before he was thrown Chris said "Don't tell the fool", referring to Peter and what he was likely to say about the incident. Mel and Chris managed to buy enough time for the Swiss to brace the door, though it did little to slow the enemy's advance. Ryan fighting ferociously, the Militia or Swiss defenders were cut down quickly by the overwhelming Spanish numbers. With Fort Kenway being quickly overrun, Kenway ordered a retreat to the keep. Venables and Chris, trapped outside the gate, were able to scale the wall up to the Hornburg, via a rope cast down to them by Peter. During the retreat, many Swiss or Militia were killed.

Once inside the keep, Matthew Kenway fell into despair while his men tried to brace the door. Ishmael "Killer Angel" Venables sent word to evacuate the caves.

At this point, Chris Warhawk noted that the sun was rising, and Ishmael remembered Goldtimbers telling him that he would arrive at dawn on the fifth day, and convinced Kenway to ride out with him. Ryan sounded the horn of Swiss and what remained of the Swiss (amounting to barely nearly 10), along with Ishmael and Peter, mounted on their horses and charged the Spanish just as they broke through the door, at the command of Kenway'. Kenway's cavalry drove out all of the dagos from the Fort, killing and knocking out hundreds of Dagos and broke through the gate and the causeway, with Pearson's main host now gathered outside the fortress.

Outside the keep, Kenway and Ishmael Venables saw Goldtimbers arrive on the hill. Alongside him was Coaleaston and his cavalry, and together they charged down the valley. The Spanish formed up a phalanx of spears to repel Eomer’s horsemen; however, the British charged down with the sun behind them, and the Spanish defense was thrown into disarray when the sun crested the hill and blinded them. Between the combined forces, the Spanish were forced to retreat.

Immediate Aftermath
Less than half of the 10,000 Spanish survived the main battle, after being driven into Huorns at most one fourth managed to escape into the plains of Swiss. The surviving Swiss or British were sent home and their slain were buried in a communal mound. The spanish carcasses were simply piled off to the side of the battlefield and left to rot. One of the British dead was Still, a lieutenant of Venables's personal guard and doorman of Goldtimbers. Chris had lost his hat in the battle and was wounded badly on the head, but he had killed forty-two dagos to Peter' forty-one.