Bjorn Ironfist
The company's war-leader and final authority in battle. Bjorn directs the raiders personally and decides when blood has purchased enough silver.
Avaldsnes is larger, wealthier, and more powerful than Ravenfjord. From its crowded harbor sail several captains whose names are already known along the coast. Among them is Hersir Bjorn Ironfist, who can call approximately forty warriors to his banner.
The Three at the Head
Svend the Iron Wolf
A hard fighter trusted with the company's huscarls. When ordered battle becomes necessary, Svend holds the strongest warriors together.
Thorvald Stormbreaker
Bard, herald, and battle-companion. Thorvald turns attention with words, preserves the company's victories, and makes certain Bjorn's name travels farther than his ship.
Order of Battle
The company fields four compact warbands. Each represents an effective fighting body rather than an exact head count; actual manpower is tracked separately and totals roughly forty men.
| Warband | Approx. Strength | Battlefield Role |
|---|---|---|
| Seasoned Huscarls | About 10 | The veteran core, used against the hardest resistance. |
| Huscarls | About 10 | Armored retainers who form and hold the shield wall. |
| Seasoned Raiders | About 10 | Experienced ship-fighters trusted with dangerous independent work. |
| Raiders | About 10 | The company's ordinary warriors, numerous and aggressive. |
The Raid on Dunwic
The Norse came upon Dunwic quickly, before the village could properly organize its defense. Hersir Bjorn Ironfist divided the raiders, sending his companions toward the most important prizes while he remained with his own men near the village center.
Thorvald and the Church
Thorvald led the Seasoned Raiders toward the church. Villagers were already gathering there. Thorvald did not immediately order an attack. Instead, the skald stepped forward and used his words to hold their attention. His first attempt failed, but after drawing upon his luck, his presence caught them. For a precious moment, the English hesitated.
That moment was enough.
The Seasoned Raiders charged.
Spears tore into the villagers, and the resistance around the church collapsed under the sudden assault.
One Englishman broke away and ran desperately for the church. He was trying to reach the bell. A spear flew after him. He fell before he could sound the alarm.
The bell of Dunwic never rang.
Svend and the Thegn's Hall
While Thorvald secured the church, Svend the Iron Wolf advanced upon the hall with the Huscarls and Seasoned Huscarls.
They entered expecting resistance.
They found it.
Eadwine the Thegn drew his sword and called his household retainers forward. The hall erupted into brutal close fighting.
The retainers struck hard. Even the Huscarls suffered badly beneath their swords, taking repeated heavy blows as the two shield lines fought for control of the hall.
Svend went for Eadwine himself, cutting into the thegn while the warbands fought around them.
The Seasoned Huscarls initially moved against Eadwine, forcing him back toward his own men. Then they turned their full strength upon the retainers.
The result was devastating.
The Seasoned Huscarls smashed into Eadwine's household warriors and broke them with a savage attack.
His retainers destroyed and Norse warriors filling his hall, Eadwine surrendered. He pleaded for mercy.
Take the silver, he told them. Just spare him.
Bjorn in the Village
Meanwhile, Bjorn Ironfist and his Raiders encountered the last organized resistance in the village.
Two mobs of armed villagers came against them.
They were brave.
They were not warriors.
Bjorn waded into them with his greataxe while his Raiders drove forward with their spears. The rabble managed to bloody some of Bjorn's men, but they could not withstand the Norse counterattack.
The second mob fared no better. Bjorn and his Raiders continued cutting through the resistance until the villagers broke.
Dunwic was theirs.
The Withdrawal
No bell had sounded.
The thegn's retainers were defeated.
The remaining villagers had scattered.
There was no reason to remain and wait for the countryside to discover what had happened.
The raiders stripped Dunwic quickly. Silver from Eadwine's hall, valuables from the church, food, goods, weapons, and whatever else could be carried were gathered.
They did not try to empty the village. They took what they could carry.
Then Bjorn gave the order.
The Norse withdrew down the southern track, carrying their wounded and their plunder with them.
Behind them lay a battered and terrified English village.
Ahead waited their longship.
Before anyone beyond Dunwic could gather enough men to stop them, the raiders were back aboard and pulling away from the English shore.
A Parallel Road
Bjorn's company and the crew of the Sea Raven inhabit the same coast and the same season of raiding. Whether they become allies, rivals, or merely names heard across a crowded hall has not yet been decided.