The Relief of Skyrim by Legate Publius Cornelius

by r4g6

Ulfric and his Stormcloaks have expelled almost all presence of the Empire from Skyrim and have cornered General Tullius in Haafingar Hold and besiege Solitude. Through the commentaries of Publius Cornelius, Legate to General Uulium, the tale of the 19th Legion is recorded as they embark to relieve the siege and turn Skyrim back to the Empire.

1. Book One

19th Legion at Pale Pass

General Titus Uulium

Legate Publius Cornelia (writer)

3300 (understrength)

-2700 Infantry (veterans of 10th and 18th)

-350 Skirmisher Infantry

-250 Cavalry

Sequence of Events

Pale Pass

Uulium addresses the Legion and states his initial goals for the campaign:

-March up to Solitude and relieve the siege of General Tullius

-Turn Holds back over to the Empire and remove Ulfric Stormcloak from his position as high king

-Find out what happened at Helgen

With that, the army crossed the border and escalated the Skyrim Civil War into a war against the Stormcloaks.

Bloodlet Throne

The southernmost defensive point in Falkreath Hold. Held by vampires but abandoned when the army was being levied on the border. Provisions were made which ensured a constant stream of fresh provisions and men through the pass to keep the army supplied.

Fort Neugrad

Stormguard Garrison fled before the army arrived. Camped the night at the fort and, after interrogating the imperial legionaries in the fort jail, found out the intentions of the enemy and that they were fleeing Falkreath to Combine forces further north.

Helgen

The first objective the Legion completed was discovering the fate of Helgen. It was a small town but was heavily fortified and served as the imperial foothold in the south. Hadvar was in Helgen when it fell and reported that it was the work of a dragon attack. He was laughed out but now we can see he was telling the truth. We pitched camp inside the walls and set up our base of operations from within the ruined walls. The town was scavenged, and many important documents were found and sent back to the capital for evaluation. It was here that the decision was made to go to Falkreath itself with only a smaller portion of the army.

Falkreath

Uulium and I left with the cavalry and 200 picked infantry and went to Falkreath itself. Whilst it did put the command of the army at risk, Uulium wagered that the rest of the Hold was without defence and that Falkreath would capitulate before a single sword had to be removed from its sheath.

The gamble paid off as representatives arrived from small settlements around the Hold to Helgen and their surrender was accepted, and garrisons were sent. When in Falkreath itself, the small force loyal to the Jarl locked itself within his keep and refused to surrender. During the small-scale siege townsfolk greeted the men and talked of the Jarl's dishonesty and that he locked up the former Jarl (who not only supported the empire but was his nephew). As well as this, reports emerged of the local soldiers abusing their powers and making hell for the townsfolk.

For this reason, when our soldiers eventually entered the keep through the store rooms underground, the Stormcloaks and the Jarl were taken to the town centre and publicly tried and executed. In the Jarl's place the previous Jarl was freed and restored. He was grateful and, as a sign of his gratitude, he pledged regular deliveries of grain and other provisions to Uulium in Helgen.

Stormcloak Training Camp

Whilst Uulium was marching back from Falkreath, a scouting party returned to Helgen missing almost half of its number. A Stormcloak training camp had been discovered east of the ruined town and its inhabitants had been harassing Imperial scouts as well as supply wagons. Word was sent by speeding horse to Uulium who was still at the head of his small detachment. Uulium was unwilling to leave his men due to the new threat of Stormcloaks in the Hold so sent me as a Legate to handle the situation.

I arrived in Helgen and quickly set about talking to the survivors of the scouting party. Once the location of the camp was identified, I left with 100 men and 50 skirmishers. All the cavalry was with Uulium's detachment, so our strength was hampered.

We arrived as night came. The small size of the detachment allowed me to quickly manoeuvre the men into three positions around the camp. The first was a distraction with most of the skirmishers and 20 infantry, whilst the rest were split into two groups, one at each flank of the camp.

A signal was given using an arrow and the night attack began at once. The skirmishers fired their missiles into the camp, hiding between trees. As those in the camp realised what was happening they mounted a defence against the missiles. I saw one soldier kick over his commander's fine wooden table to hide behind it.

The 20 infantry with the skirmishers formed a shield wall in front and presented themselves to the enemy. Their attention was grabbed, and they began to charge the wall. At this moment the two other parties charged into the camp, killing most of those inside before forming another shield wall behind the stormcloaks who had now stopped charging.

Faced with Imperials on both sides, the Stormcloaks surrendered.

Loot and important documents were taken from the camp and were sent back to Helgen. The Stormcloaks were sent to Helgen as well but the camp leaders were sent to Bloodlet Throne to be further interrogated.

Leaving Falkreath

When the army was reunited it was decided that no more time should be wasted in the holds and that we must move if we wished to complete our task of reliving General Tullius. A garrison of 100 men were left in Helgen with the task of rebuilding the town and protecting the supply wagons which would follow the army.

The 19th legion left Helgen on the following morning and headed north west towards Markarth. We made brief camp at the Half-Moon Mill and men were happy to purchase ale and food with their salary. Across the lake, the sunken fort known as Ilinatra's Deep could be seen. Uulium was wary of it and considered garrisoning it but a local convinced him it was empty.

Uulium led the army out the following day after the Mill had taken in more gold coins in one night than it had in the last year. We followed the lake a little further north and then halted and planned our next move. In a normal situation, these campaigns are planned beforehand but Tullius' situation was dire, and the army was a quickly formed one. It was decided that Markarth was too mountainous a Hold to safely take the army through and so instead a separate path was chosen through Stormcloak held Whiterun, hugging the mountains to our left always to limit the possibility of being engaged head on.