Back to square one
May 17, 1158: Gloucester falls. King Murchad marches back west to retake all the castles he was pretty damn sure he already captured earlier.
June 1, 1158: Amongst the sounds of mass slaughter, King Murchad teaches his son, Prince Brian, an important lesson about kindness.
Choosing to tutor my own son opens up the parenting simulator portion of Crusader Kings. Every once in a while, I'll get to make a decision about the young prince's upbringing that will affect what kind of man he becomes.
August 1, 1158: 1000 Irish knights land in Somerset to bolster King Murchad's forces.
It's risky pulling my retinue from Ireland, but with Gilla-Íosa dead, there is a minimal enough threat of rebellion that I felt comfortable enough in doing so.
February 26, 1159: Prince Brian is being bullied by his older sister. King Murchad tells him to man up.
June 21, 1159: Prince Brian learns the value of justice, as Bath is retaken with the help of the Knights of Ireland.
October 8, 1159: King Gudbrand scrapes together 1100 men, the most England has ever managed over the course of the five year war...
December 7, 1159: ...and they are crushed utterly by Irish heavy cavalry at the Battle of St. Pauls.
August 1, 1160: King Murchad's chancellor, who has had exactly one job since the reign of Queen Áine, finally fabricates a workable claim on County Gwynned, the seat of the most powerful realm in Wales. Ireland goes broke arranging the claim.
Better late than never, I guess. So I'm completely out of money, but I now finally have the foothold I've been waiting for since I became King of Ireland to conquer Wales. And that's on top of the claim I'm soon to win on England, which was far less expected. If I can take and hold both against the inevitable rebellions, securing my realm on both the isles, I may just be able to challenge the juggernaut that is Lancaster, having long held a majority of Britain. Such would be the last major hurdle to becoming Emperor of Britannia.
But there's a catch. And that catch is that some of my vassal lords are currently at negative 40 because of how long I've had their levies raised. So my new plan is to get Gudbrand to surrender England to me as soon as possible, wait for my vassals to calm down, then sail for Wales. There is only one entry remaining in this chronicle. Come back next week to see if the epic tale of House ua Brian ends in celebration or conflagration!
