They had been unsuccessful in capturing the fortress at Bucharest or the island of Snagov, but nonetheless, they pressed on. According to an eyewitness account recorded by papal legate Niccolò Modrussa, who reportedly received the information from a Wallachian veteran, Vlad Dracula and his force of some 24,000 men had taken shelter in a mountain refuge near the capital city when the Ottomans arrived.
