Constance is an ex-basilean soldier of the 78th Legion of the Basilean Hegemony and current mercenary leader of a unit of Men-at-Arms Crossbowmen
Biography
3837
Constance was born in the year 3837.
3854
At 17, Constance had joined the Basilean legion was part of the 78th Legion of the Basilean Hegemony, which was lead by Captain Dionne.This was until Dionne disobeyed orders and rebelled agains his Basilean commanders. Despite Constance not joining Dionne, she along with other members of the 78th were discharged, branded and imprisioned by Dictator Hugh as punishment for Captain Dionne's rebellion against the Duma, guilty by association.
Six months after being imprisioned Constance was released. Out of the 23 soldiers from the 78th Legion of the Basilean Hegemony who were sent to prision, only 9 survived including herself, Jaque and Hayden.
3865
Hunt For Dionne
By 3865, Constance had formed a mercenary group with her former soldiers Jaque and Hayden which she also led. Constance managed to recruit additional members over time including Carmen, Mallius and Wulf (30 in total).
Constance's mercenaries were then recruited for an expedition to hunt down their former captain Dionne and were waiting for the arrival of Tancred, 15th Order of the Sacred Ark Cohort and the 32nd Legion of the Basilean Hegemony along with other members of her unit including Jaque, Hayden, Wulf, Mallius, Carmen and 25 others (30 in total). Jaque called for Constance after he spotted Tancred and his force approaching. Jaque and Constance, now joined with Hayden, met to greet the forces representive, Captain Georgis. While discussing the atire of the mercenary unit, it was revealed to Constance that the force would be lead by Dicator-Prefect Hugh of Athelle which caused Constance to immediately call off the deal and refuse to help due to her past experience with Hugh. Captain Georgis reported this to Tancred, who approached Constance and managed to convince them to honor the agreed contract by having them fight for the 15th Order of the Sacred Ark Cohort instead of 32nd Legion of the Basilean Hegemony.
Constance and her mercenaries began to travel with the 32nd Legion of the Basilean Hegemony and 15th Order of the Sacred Ark Cohort and were 3 days away from the Mountains of Tarkis, setting up camp to rest for the night. Constance observed a circle of men-at-arms swordsmen and her mercenaries watching a paladin and men-at-arms member called Eustace fighting. Eustace had bragged about being unbeatable however the paladin challenged and beat him with Eustace lying unconscious on the ground. Jaque was disappointed that the entertainment had ended, and Constance offered a story or two to end the night around the campfire. Jaque left and gathered other members of their unit (such as Hayden, Wulf and Mallius) and Constance told the story of the Fenulian Mirror.
Eventually the expedition force arrived south of Emalitos, Constance and her mercenaries have set up camp and were discussing the events which occured within Emalitos against the townfolk between Orion and Hugh. Constance, Wulf, [[Jaque] and Mallius discussed the specifics of Orion's actions with uncertainity about what actually occured. Jaque decided to go thank Orion for his actioned however Constance was unsure it was a good idea and went with him. The duo managed to find Orion and told him they wanted to pay their respects towards his actions today. Orion dismissed Kell and began to discuss the day's events, straightening out the specifics of the story within the Inn. Constance and Jaque went on to tell Orion about their own relationship with Hugh and their imprisonment. Constance and Jaque thanks Orion for listening and left for the night.
Battle in the Fields of Emalitos
As Dionne's began to attack the expedition, Constance and her mercenaries began to get into positon, moving north and taking postion to the right side of the road near Emalitos. Hayden have short blasts on his horn to communicate to those who could not hear Constance. The mercenaries arranged themselves into three columns, with ten men/women each row. Looking ahead of them, they saw hundreds of warriors in formation. Constance order the unit to load.
Constance and her mercenaries began to fire at the incoming Men-in-Arms Swordsmen while being peppered with shots from the rebel's crossbow unit as the Swordsmen marched towards the mercenaries, and were managing to slowly pick off swordsmen while taking their own losses. Hayden would quickly tend to the wounded the best he could.
Constance's mercenaries continued to fire at the oncoming swordsmen, even ignoring getting hit herself, as they got closer and closer. The enemy crossbowmen had turned back from the Paladins and continued firing at the mercenary unit. Constance was hit in the leg by an incoming bolt but pushed on. Jaque began to worry about how close they were however Constance yelled back to not run or they will be cut down and to keep shooting. One group of Men-in-Arms Swordsmen managed to get close enough and charged at the mercenaries and locking them into hand-to-hand combat.
As Orion's paladin's charged, the enemy crossbowmen shots attempted to slow them down. Some of the mercenaries had began to flee as Orion saw Constance and Jaque on the front lines, then he heard the order from Tancred to break off his attack which he complied despite the shock of the Constance's mercenaries.
The rebel swordsmen charging at the mercenaries stopped as they reformed to face Orion's paladins. Constance ordered her mercenaries to fire while they had the chance. The rebel swordsmen turn again to fact Constance and her mercenaries once they saw Orion's paladin's cease their charge. As they did, Tancred and his paladin's smashed into side of the swordmen, spliting the unit into two. The swordsmen turned to run, only to be cut down by the paladin knights. The battle was won.
The Battle's Aftermath
After the battle, Hugh ordered Platus to get Constance. Limping towards the group, Constance arrived, assisted by Jaque, as requested with Platus. Hugh attempted to commend Constance and her unit, however Constance replied with hostility. Despite Platus reminding Constance to talk to Hugh with respect, she continued to be hostile and Platus went to strike her with his hand. Orion grabbed Platus by the wrist, stopping him, and threatened to break him if he was to strike any soldier in in the force. Tancred called for Orion and he released Platus. Hugh dismissed Constance and she left back to her unit, questioning why she threw his gratitude back at him with Trennio backing him up.
After reforming and continuing the hunt for Dionne, Hugh, Constance and the rest of the 32nd Legion arrived in Torgias to meet up with Tancred, Orion and unknowningly Aestelle. Hugh, along with his aides Platus and Trennio, rode over to the two paladins and Aestelle. Constance dismissed her unit and she along with Jaque and Hayden went to see if Orion wanted to join them for a drink which Orion wanted to accept however Orion knew they will soon be on their way north. Hayden then left to round up the mercenary forces before they got too drunk while Jaque inquired to why Orion shaved his head. After discussing with Constance and Jaque, Orion agreed to stop shaving his head so he looks less intimating.
The expedition continued on through the Mountains of Tarkis, as they rested Constance was summoned by Hugh, via Tancred, due to an issue at the head of the column and left to meet him along with his aides,Platus and Trennio along with Aestelle and Captain Georgis. Hugh pointed out smoke coming from a small fishing village, called Peleura, indicating that it had been attacked and was burning down. Constance didn't believe that Dionne was behind this, still believing he was honourable, and Hugh did not want to divert course unless there was evidence that Dionne was behind it. Aestelle offered to go and find out what happened then report back, with the expedition continuing North until Aestelle was back.
A short while later as Constance rested with her mercenaries, including Wulf, Mallius and Hayden. Constance spoke to Hayden as he was writing a letter to his daughter, Maya. A rider approached informing of Aestelle's return and Constance left to meet up with Hugh. As Constance approached Hugh and Captain Georgis while Trennio was instructing the packing of Hugh's tent. Tancred arrived also just in time for Aestelle to deliver her report to Hugh. Aestelle advised about the Abyssal attack and her discussion with Am'Bira. As they discussed, Hugh summoned over his aides,Platus and Trennio. Constance dismissed the reports, insisting that Dionne wouldn't side with the Forces of the Abyss which Aestelle insisted to be true. Constance and Aestelle disagreement became heated with Tancred having to step in to calm the situation. Hugh decided they were going to go south to chase down Dionne and the Abyssal Legion which Aestelle informed that they would have only been able to amass such a force by the use of a portal stone. Hugh then ordered Aestelle to go South inform the Duma of the situation.
Ambush on the Hilltop
After three days of tracking the Abyssals, the expedition were resting for the night when Tancred was awakened unexpectedly, sensing something nearby. Leaving his tent, he attempted to try to find the source of this disturbance and walked around the camp. Sensing Abyssal's sorrounding the campsite, he quickly ran to Jeneveve and asked her to subtly start waking up the paladin's starting with Xavier. Tancred then moved to two sentry guards on duty and advised them to quietly wake up Hugh and prepare his men for battle. Tancred advised the enemy was all around them and they began to set up their defences with Constance and her mercenaries to take the eastern side, Captain Georgis to take the north and west and finally the Tancred and his Paladins to take the south, with some of the best paladins preparing to mount their horses.
Constance, now awake and with her mercenaries on the eastern side of the hilltop, arrived at the far end of her crossbowmen by Jaque. Noting they can hear them chittering in the distance, Constance advised to stay hidden and to start shooting only when it's neccessary. Constance moved back to her place in the center of the line and waited. Suddenly, the Lower Abyssals emerged in their direction and Constance advised one of the squires to alert Hugh and commanded her troops to fire then quickly loaded again to fire off another shot.
Eventually Constance and the rest of the mercenaries were overun by the Abyssals and either captured or killed.
Capture
Constance awoke to find herself imprisioned by Abyssals with Jaque and Hayden inside a wrecked small farm building. Slowly coming to terms with the consequences of losing the battle, Constance learns from Hayden and Jaque that Wulf and Carmen were with them to begin with, however they were taken away and presumably killed. Constance stuggled to to stand and fell back down, as she did Am'Bira arrived in the doorway of the room. Am'Bira's lower abyssals then dragged the three out of the room to begin torturing them, breaking the spirit of Jaque in the process. As Am'Bira continued, Dionne arrived questioning why the prisoners hadn't been executed and Dionne discovered they were his old 78th Legion of the Basilean Hegemony troops that served under him. Dionne dismissed Am'Bira and decided to free Constance, Jaque and Hayden who then left the abyssals as quick as they could. Eventually, Hayden decided to leave Constance and Jaque to go retire in peace with his daughther Maya. Soon after, Constance informed Jaque that she was going to go back to Dionne, believing that there was still a chance to save him. Constance and Jaque said their goodbyes and Constance walked back to the Abyssals.
Constance, still wounded, arrived at the farmhouse to find it abandoned with the Abyssals moving on. Constance followed the Abyssal horde the best she could, eventually catching up to them. Spotting her oppotunity, she called out to Dionne and confronted him. Dionne then approached Constance and stabbed her in the gut with a knife, leaving her for dead.
Despite this mortal wound, Constance managed to find a horse and attempted to find help.
While Valletto was travelling north with paladin knights from the Order of the Blades of Onzyan, Silus and Lyen. They had encountered Constance slumped over on top of a horse, gravely injured which led to Silus attempting to heal her. After getting Constance off her horse, she told the trio that it was Abyssals with Dionne leading them. Valletto ordered Lyen to take Constance to nearby convent (assumingly the Sisterhood Order of the Penitent and Devoted) for medical treatment while Valletto sends a message back to Golden Horn before carrying on north with Silus.
After Dionne was defeated, at an undisclosed tavern, Hayden was playing music on his lute. Hayden then noticed two newcomers enter, Constance and Jaque. Hayden was happy to see them both and more so that they had survived. Hayden's daughter, Maya, was one of the serving girls and went to get them both a drink. Constance informed they were paid well from Tancred and were reforming the company, wanting Hayden to join them. Hayden refused however and they all, including Maya, sat down to catch up over drinks.
External Links
- Steps to Deliverance Paperback Edition - https://www.whpsupplyroom.com/fantasy/p/tales-of-mantica-steps-to-deliverance#gsc.tab=0
- Steps to Deliverance Digital Edition -https://www.manticgames.com/fiction/tales-of-pannithor/steps-to-deliverance-digital/
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