Halfdan and the Vikings ....

Halfdan after his failed attempt to kill Lady Hilda had been imprisoned. While Lord Wilfred prevaricated over the punishment for his son, Halfdan planned his escape ...

---oXo---

Early one morning Halfdan with assistance from a loyal supporter escaped from his room and made it over the pallisade; the supporter covering his escape was cut down by one of Lady Hilda's hearth-guard.  Halfdan ran full pace to the wood, with arrows whizzing past him - two of his friends were waiting there - they vanished into the woods... 

---oXo---

Within a couple of days, Halfdan and his men were raising funds, by stripping churches off their finery, the last church they raided was St Walpurga's at Charbury Minster.

The next day Halfdan met with some viking raiders at Nollerton, to buy their support ..... (with the promise of a bigger payoff and more plunder)

---oXo---

Meanwhile Thegn Rodor and his men were searching for the vikings ...

The news of Halfdan's treacherous agreement with the vikings reaches Lord Wilfred and Lady Hilda

Word is sent to the monks of Wuduceastre, outraged by the desecration of churches they send a party of armed monks join the forces assembling to deal with the threat posed by Halfdan..

Within a couple of days Lord Wilfred and Lady Hilda have mustered some of the local fyrd and with their hearth-guards set off to deal with the threat from Halfdan and the Vikings....

Lady Hilda's hearth-guard ...

A personal standard for  Lady Hilda, shown with her loyal female hearth-guard ...

the hearth-guard have been supplemented by some new female warriors (Bad Squiddo shield-maidens)

Through Thornleigh wood ...

Ragnar Olafson and his viking raiders, having defeated and dispersed the fyrd sent to intercept them, split into groups and set about pillaging and looting the area.

The group led by Ragnar was heading towards the village of Woodeaton (and then back to the rendezvous point); they had come down from small rise and had to go through Thornleigh wood, a mounted scout was sent forward to check the pathway through the wood.

---oXo---

The scout reports back that the path through the wood is clear ...

They head slowly down the woodland path ......

Ragnar hesitates, a man to sent to look in the woods to the right tells him their is open marshy ground with probably hard ground by the edge of the wood; Ragnar wanting to avoid a possible ambush from both sides orders the men to move through the wood to the right...

they make slow progress, men fall an get stuck in he boggy ground but just manage to extricate themselves; as they pick their way through a small group of warriors move along the woodland path...

Going is slow but there is a dry way along the edge of the wood ....a straggler moving along the woodland path is picked off - an arrow strikes ... 

The warriors on the woodland path find their way blocked ...

They rush forward to attack, a saxon slinger downs one of them and archers another two....

Two men get across the barricade and fight the saxons to their front, as arrows whizz past them ...

Meanwhile the main group moves forward by some rocky ground ... 

The pack pony comes to halt and refuses to budge, as they try and get it to move they disturb a wild boar..

One of the men stumbles in a rabbit hole and falls.. an irate rabbit appears (and soon runs off)

Ragnar and the rest of his men move forward reaching the edge of the marshy area......

The pack pony exhausted keels over, the men have to gather up the loot and carry it ....

Ragnar and his men reach open ground and are joined by the one surviving member of the group that went down the woodland path.... a couple of saxons hang back by the wood ...

Ragnar and his men are no free to move on to plunder the village of Woodeaton ....