Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar and his armies were at war in Southern Tyrol, Count Lothar was surrounded by his enemies. At the moment Lothar and his armies were sandwiched in between Count Otto ’s forces who besieged the city, and the Castle ’s garrison who valiantly continued to defend the Castle ’s walls against Lothar ’s onslaught.

Worse yet, right before he was trapped within the confines of the city, he was informed that his army that was sent to Kufstein had been completely obliterated. Though, he did not know the extent to which Berengar had put down his rebellion within his home territory, for if he did, the man would truly lose all hope of survival.

As such, Count Lothar was currently surrounded by his vassals who had traveled with him to Vienna, where they were engaged in a discussion about how to move forward. They were not in a good position; Count Otto ’s armies though depleted by attrition, still greatly outnumbered his own forces now that they had lost a quarter of their army in Kufstein and had been fighting a siege for over a month.

As the Noblemen spoke about their situation, blood-curdling screams erupted from the walls, as the defenders continued to die by the dozens defending their position within the city, thus adding a great degree of intimidation to the hearts of the noblemen who had followed their liege seemingly into the gates of hell itself. One such nobleman was addressing the gathering of Lords as he voiced his opinions about their options.

”It has become increasingly clear that there are only two options, stay within the city and continue to lay siege to the Castle while simultaneously protecting the city walls! If we can succeed, we can use the Duke ’s family as hostages to negotiate Otto ’s surrender! The only other option is to sally forth in a desperate attempt to break through the besieging forces and make our way back to Tyrol, where we can hold our ground against the Duke ’s forces when he returns from his conquest of Bavaria! ”