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>The civilisation gets -5 Prosperity, Productivity and Security.
It is decided. The assault shall be launched in the winter and four hundred blood-drinking warriors shall serve as the spearhead, backed by twenty-four hundred Croglatovic skirmishers. It is expected that the conflict will last most of the season, during which the chiefdom will be without a little over a tenth of its total population and almost exactly a fifth of its working population.
At this time of year, such a dearth of bodies is not as detrimental as it could be, but the Croglatovic will still suffer from the absence of so many labourers, artisans, builders and other key workers. Similarly, the mobilisation of so many blood-drinkers means that no one shall be tithed for the duration of conflict and traders will have to go without guards – but in the middle of winter, both the collection of taxes and the trading of goods slows down, so the impact is not particularly significant.
An unexpected boon is the addition of Shacol, who is eager to fight alongside the Vuvovic with a hundred of his Sharovic guards. The other hundred mountain men remain behind, to protect Baslagan and watch over the streets of Ancron.
It takes a little over a month for word to travel around the Croglatol and for almost three thousand men and women to gather outside of Ancron, eager to answer the chieftain's call to arms. By this point, winter has already begun and has already taken its toll. Though the weather is not so severe that lives are lost, many of the soldiery and militia suffer from fatigue and mild illness before they even set out for Tibuk territory. The rain has soaked through their skin and the wind has chilled them to their bones. With every day that passes as they trudge down the muddy bank of the Choslitol, their discomfort only grows and the strength of their bodies and wills alike is sapped.
Yet when the Croglatovic finally march into the land of the river bug tribe, they find that they met with shockingly little resistance. The token force that had been posted at the border was only a couple of hundred strong and rather than face the oncoming army, they immediately broke and fled, allowing the chiefdom's forces to stride into the easternmost villages of the Tibuk, to let them know that they are under new management – they now belong to the Croglatovic.
Some men and women put up a fight, but not in any numbers worth mentioning. It is defiance for the sake of defiance and these brave heroes who dare to take a stand against the invaders are pierced by Vuvovic spears. The vast majority of the Tibuk are smart enough not to fight back or oppose such an overwhelming force.
