text: [Themes: historical]
  
  Your infantry courageously charge at the oncoming cavalry while you and your archers make a run for the gate a few hundred yards away. The townsfolk are happy to see your army return and open the gate for your troops, but there is no time for pleasantries. Your archers immediately run up the parapets and towers to see your infantry taking heavy losses.
  
  Your infantry spot your archers atop the castle and drop their weapons and shields, then make a run for the gate. Meanwhile your arrows rain from the sky over the space your infantry just vacated.
  
  In the heat of battle, Lurdu's cavalry is unaware of your archers' bombardment until it is too late. They enter its volley radius and many are riddled with arrows and crumple to the ground. Your archers' vastly higher ground greatly improves their range and turns the tide in the skirmish. With arrows falling all around them, many of Crown Prince Lurdu's troops are unsure of where to go. In the chaos that ensues, one of your arrows shoots Lurdu dead. His forces scatter without their leader and completely dissolve.
  
  You emerge from the battle victorious, with 13 thousand infantry and 5 thousand archers remaining.
  
  You take some time to regroup and heal your wounded. After you do so, you march back to Mongolia.
  
  The dawn had hardly begun when you gaze down at the first tribe. Fifteen gigantic yurts, or tents, flap in the cool breeze. There is no human activity save for a few early risers tending their goats. You waste no time charging into the yurts and raining chaos onto the unsuspecting camp. As predicted, the Mongolians still had no idea you were coming and did not conscript any soldiers. The first settlement surrenders quickly, followed by their neighbors. You slaughter their leaders, force their successors to pay monthly tributes, take a few young women as trophies, and commandeer what supplies your army can carry.
  
  Upon your return to your capital, your citizens are delighted to hear your tales of victory. One ardent supporter invents the ballista, a gigantic crossbow that fires spear-sized arrows. These spears deal much greater damage and have far greater range than arrows fired by handheld bows.
  
  You are impatient to conquer again. You institute a draft to conscript more soldiers. However, after the last revolt you feel you must now leave enough men behind to guard your capital, so your marching army stays the same size for now.
  
  You yearn to capture Governor Toleron's territory, but worry about how you can defeat the much larger enemy force.
  
  One day, help comes from an unexpected source. It seems that a group of bandits had robbed a caravan traveling through your kingdom on its way to India and your police was able to arrest them and confiscate the loot. When your police could not locate any surviving owners, they gave you the wares as a gift.
  
  It turns out they were carrying gunpowder, an extremely rare and powerful substance. When it is lit on fire, the fine particles explode violently, causing great destruction. The limited amount you have is converted into its most efficient form- arrow bombs. Shards of broken glass, straw, and gunpowder are held together with cement inside a hollowed out miniature watermelon with a wick leading out of it. The bomb is then tied around the base of an arrow. Your archers would light the wick on fire and then shoot the bomb at opposing troops, causing shrapnel explosions and igniting blazes. You do not load your ballista bolts with bombs as multiple bombs strapped onto one bolt would explode right next to each other and waste its considerable blast radii. In addition, the ballista's long reload time makes quick barrages impossible. Furthermore, salvos would be limited by the number of ballista you have at a time whereas with arrows you can fire as many bombs as you have archers.
  
  Gunpowder is extremely rare, so chances are you will never get any more of it. On the other hand, since very few other people have ever even heard of gunpowder, its effects may very well seem supernatural to the average enemy soldier.
  
  Brimming with confidence from your new secret weapons, you march South toward Governor Toleron's kingdom. But before you reach one of his cities, you encounter the army of Commander Wan.
  
  Wan is a local warlord with ties to President Min and Governor Toleron. Min, Wan, and Toleron are currently enjoying an uneasy peace between them, as bloodshed has decreased in their region for the time being. He has not achieved much else of note. You are not impressed by this lackey, and prepare for battle.
  
  Your spies had reported that his army consists solely of 20 thousand infantry, and you see that they are absolutely right once again as a dense cluster of 20 thousand infantry stand in formation to block your way. Wan looks out at your 13 thousand infantry, 5 thousand archers, and the one ballista that your carpenters have finished building. The battlefield is a flat plain with the occasional small tree. Nothing else is notable about the terrain or weather.
  
  Do you:
  
  > blast away at the enemy with your ballista and archers while maintaining maximum distance; keeping your infantry on standby; without using arrow bombs
  You believe you can win this battle without using your arrow bombs. Your secret weapon may prove more useful later on when the odds are more stacked against you.
  
  You order your archers and ballista to fire at the enemy. The ballista is an impressive machine, and you watch it wipe out wave after wave of enemy infantry. It takes their footmen a while to reach your troops; in the meantime your giant ballista repeatedly pummels their ranks.
  
  Once they do catch up however, your archers and ballista are far less effective in close combat against Wan's infantry. Your own infantry is forced to engage his. Your ballista and arrows have whittled down Wan's advantage in numbers, so it is a close contest. You watch as thousands of soldiers from both Wan and your army fall in battle.
  
  Hours of intense fighting later, it all comes down to a few hundred combatants. In the frantic chaos, you are left to fend for yourself. A small unit of Wan's soldiers closes in on you. You manage to inflict mortal wounds on three of them before succumbing to a spear in the heart.