Andreas rode out with 2 of his house-knights, 3 sergeants and 6 men-at-arms, as well as Sir Justin, Sir Gerren, their scout Rhan, and their 12 men-at-arms. Sir Morgath's player insisted quite forcefully that his scout retain, Algol the Bloodthirsty, was remaining with him in the castle. It was only once the posse had ridden out, to the echoes of me the GM saying "no backsies!", that the players fully computed that their two commanders with Battle 6 each had left the castle under the command of the teenager Flora and Sir Morgath with his Battle 1.
Rhan's tracking was unsuccessful (failed Hunting + Presence), and so it took them several hours of falling false trails through the hills before they saw their quarry on the plain, over a mile away and riding with a lit torch. I made riding checks for the three important NPCs - Sir Satyrion and Wassel (a NPC from the previous session, who had carried news of the PCs' pending arrival to Cyprus) fleeing and Sir Andreas in pursuit; Sir Gerren and Sir Justin's players rolled theirs. Sir Justin was easily able to catch Wassel (4 successes vs 1) and I allowed him to wheel about and tackle Wassel, with Wassel's first round of defence not being able to inflict harm on Sir Justin. As it turned out, I rolled 2 successes on Wassel's 9 dice (Brawn 3, Arms 3, +3 for armour and weapon) and Justin's 14 dice yielded 10 successes, and so Wassel was reduced to 1 die in the first exchange. I described him being knocked from his horse and unable to meaningfully fight on; Justin trussed him up.
Satyrion, on the other hand, had rolled 6 successes against Sir Gerren's 5, and so Sir Gerren wasn't able to catch him, although was keeping pace. I called for another set of opposed checks and Satyrion won again. This was enough to settle that Sir Gerren couldn't catch him before he reached the castle he was riding to, with the boy Theo. Sir Gerren therefore turned around and rejoined the others.
<snip>
Morgath and friends were able to escape the fallen castle. Agol was successful (Hunting + Presence) in leading them to join up with the others on the plain between the two castles.
There was some discussion. Wassel offered to tell all that he knows in return for being traded for Theo in a prisoner exchange. Sir Justin had visions of trading Wassel for Theo and two castles, but Sir Morgath thought that might be a little optimistic. Morgath decided that, in any event, to properly interrogate Wassel they should first return to the castle on the northern coast garrisoned by the PCs' main force. The other PCs agreed, and someone (I think Sir Gerren) persuaded Andreas to come with them, there being no other meaningful option. Unfortunately, the roll for Agol (guiding them through the hills to the north) vs the NPC army's hunter (trying to track them down, with a penalty for their larger size) was tied, and so the PC's group was spotted as Morgath helped Elizabeth scramble up one of the last of the ridges. So then it was a sheer contest of speed, Brawn 3 (the weaker value for the PCs' group) vs Brawn 3 (the weaker value for the pursuing group): and the PCs lost.
We ended the session on that cliff-hanger; the next session will begin with finding out what happens to them as their pursuers close on them just outside the walls of the castle where their own soldiers are the garrison.