The opening day of the Battle of Damme was straightforward enough; while the French fleet outnumbered the Angevins more than two to one, the Earl of Salisbury and his commanders knew that with most of their troops off beseiging Ghent, the ships represented more prize than peril. Furthermore, many of the ships were anchored outside the harbour, which was not big enough for all of them. True to form, the English brushed aside fairly weak resistance and seized the outlying vessels, burning those they could not carry away. Each de Dovre son took a cog to add to the family's fleet, with the father taking a yet greater prize - the transport of a French Baron, laden in with supplies for the campaign. The second day, however, was another matter - taking a chance, Salisbury pressed the attack into Damme itself, knowing the French army was making its' return. Still, the English were successful in taking many more ships, and burning many they could not - blocking the harbour with wreckage to such an extent that Phillip II scuttled the remainder of his blocked-in fleet. A great victory for the King.
-That, at least, was the high-level viewpoint. Henry and Robert could instead tell you the story of a pell-mell retreat dodging both burning hulks and arrow fire and keeping a step ahead of the returning Frenchmen. Both brothers got out - "more or less" - as Robert tends to say - but at a price. Making the way out with their raiding parties through the jammed harbour entrance, the brothers had to choose between a narrow gap which the French crossbowmen had clearly found the range of and heading straight for the debris of a burning hulk and hoping it would break up before they got there. Henry chose the former, Robert the latter - and ended up having to fend off the remains of a burning barque from drifting into his line of passage. Henry took a crossbow bolt to the leg for his troubles, but the wound did not become infected and healed with time; Robert, on the other hand received substantial burns to the left side of his body while preventing the fire from spreading to his boat. Some of the blistering healed with time but much remains including on the left side of his neck and face, and his left ear in particular was left as a blackened, melted and useless stump which he had cut off ("for all the good it does me, I had better be free of the weight").
+That, at least, was the high-level viewpoint. Henry and Robert could instead tell you the story of a pell-mell retreat dodging both burning hulks and arrow fire and keeping a step ahead of the returning Frenchmen. Both brothers got out - "more or less" - as Robert tends to say - but at a price. Making the way out with their raiding parties through the jammed harbour entrance, the brothers had to choose between a narrow gap which the French crossbowmen had clearly found the range of and heading straight for the debris of a burning hulk and hoping it would break up before they got there. Henry chose the former, Robert the latter - and ended up having to fend off the remains of a burning barque from drifting into his line of passage. Henry took a crossbow bolt to the leg for his troubles, but the wound did not become infected and healed with time; Robert, on the other hand received substantial burns to the left side of his body while preventing the fire from spreading to his boat. Some of the blistering healed with time but much remains including on the left side of his neck and face, and his left ear in particular was left as a blackened, melted and useless stump which he had cut off ("for all the good it does me, I had better be free of the weight"). Nor have the mental scars healed with time, and those who watch him closely will note that Robert always seats himself looking away from the fire when sitting down to eat in a room which is heated by one.
+
+For William, the battle proved a near disaster and he resolved to take steps to prevent both heirs being involved in such a situation again. As such, he dispatched Robert with a group of small coastal and river boats to try his hand at growing the family's fortunes along the North Sea coast, assuming such a move ought to keep Robert out of the way of most of the cross-channel skirmishing still going on between the Angevins and the Capetians. Robert has been plying his trade here ever since, working to provide transport services to people with scattered holdings, and acting as a middleman in the wool trade, collecting up smaller shipments to sell on to merchants who would make the journey across the North Sea. It was in the former capacity which Robert first contracted with EdwardOfMilton, who recently proved willing to provide sufficient of a retainer for Robert to dedicate the majority of his riverboats to Edward's service. Robert had not known, initially, that the University's Rector of Law was additionally a magician; upon learning that he was (at the same time that Edward decided to hire Robert on as the covenant's major supplier of river transport) it made little professional difference to him - Robert knew almost nothing of magic, but having seen death felt no particular need to fear the unknown, and felt sure that contacts in the powerful and secretive Hermetic Order must have at least some benefit for a man trying to earn a living...
+
+### Short-term goals
+
+* Continue to improve his command of English such that he doesn't feel the need to take at least on French-speaking crewmember with him on long journeys
+
+### Moderate-term goals
+
+* Find a suitable wife (ideally one who'll accept his disfigurement, not just one who'll marry a noble's second son because they're gentry)
+* Learn more about the Order of Hermes and what a merchant might be able to get out of hanging around a group of wizards
+* Continue evading military service
+* Grow his business, contribute more to family resources
-For William, the battle proved a near disaster and he resolved to take steps to prevent both heirs being involved in such a situation again. As such, he dispatched Robert with a group of small coastal and river boats to try his hand at growing the family's fortunes along the North Sea coast, assuming such a move ought to keep Robert out of the way of most of the cross-channel skirmishing still going on between the Angevins and the Capetians. Robert has been plying his trade here ever since, working to provide transport services to people with scattered holdings, and acting as a middleman in the wool trade, collecting up smaller shipments to sell on to merchants who would make the journey across the North Sea. It was in the former capacity which Robert first contracted with EdwardOfMilton, who recently proved willing to provide sufficient of a retainer for Robert to dedicate the majority of his riverboats to Edward's service.
~jdamery / ArtibusWiki.git / commitdiff