Colden is a man of many traits, but big bursts of emotions is seldom one of them. However, this is one of those times. He walks up to Laggie and embrace him in a tight, fatherly hug. A huge weight on his shoulders and in his hearts loosened by the fact that the kid is alright.
After an unusual long time, probably 1,5 seconds, of hugging, Colden releases Laggie and finds his normal composure. He brushes of dirt from his clothes, straighens out the creases and make him self presentable. He also make sure his hat is tipped just an inch to the side to give that extra swag.
"Can you walk?" He addresses Lagrord. "We should probably round up all survivors and head on our way. The sooner we reconvene with the rest of the Astorwind forces, the better."
“What in the Valley is wrong with the princess?” asks Jirt, coming up just as Garta storms off.
Sus’Ann leaves to help care for the injured. She cares for several of the injured and with her skills, and the assistance of some novice barbarian witch-healers, she manages to save some from death. But the terrain is dirty and the night is cold. Many will die by morning, unable to access the medical attention in Astorwind that could save them.
FG-11 stands alone amidst the bodies of the orcs he killed, now a mass of oozing bones and flesh. He holds in his arms the bodies of the woman and the child with the bite marks in them, staring in horror at the carnage he caused around him.
“Death... death... the end of existence... the loss of consciousness... a return to the collective of unawareness...” he mumbles for any close enough to hear. It seems he is in a daze, unsure how to comprehend what happened and what he did. Were he a person, you would say that he is in shock.
You search the bodies of the dead but find nothing of particular value. As usual, the orcs are poor and destitute. Though their weapons are sharp, they are not the high quality of the steel in Astorwind, and so need to be sharpened far more frequently.
Kagnan approaches you, casting a sidelong look at the mourning golem.
“Were it not for the spirit, we would have been soundly routed,” he says solemnly and reverently. “Nevertheless, we have sustained high losses. I suggest that we wait until morning to asses who of the people the spirits have chosen for life and death. Then we make haste to the pass.
“What say you? Some of my counselors, Harsf—I mean, Herald in particular, believes we should set out immediately. He says it is likely the orcs will not be in the pass, and if they are will not wish to fight after witnesses the destruction wrought by the spirit.”
“We are a vagabond people,” he says. “For us, those who would die on the move would not survive idle. We would leave in the morning only to give the healthy among us the rest needed to fight a potential battle, and to assess our losses. But it may be that we could avoid this battle altogether in order to be of greater use in a larger battle.
“I am torn in the matter and wish the advice of our new allies.”
Nareth was so overwhelmed by the sudden resurrection of Lagrord that he could not keep his mouth shut. Realizing that his stupid facial expression aroused laughter and ignoring the ridiculous gaze of Jirt, Nareth rose slowly and frowned, angrily threw:
“ What are you staring at Jirt? As if the spirit of Refiner was resurrected! Raise your drool and run to help the wounded ”, but still the captain was glad that the half-orc was alive, he was already beginning to rebuke himself that he could not save his life and repay same. He turned to Lagrord:
“ Aye, It’s not an easy task - to kill you, mate! ” Nareth smiled and approached Kagnan “ I ask you to take the wounded ones who still can move, Chieftain. I am against leaving them to feed these orcs, this contradicts our military Codex. We can move slower, we still have some time until the orcs regroup, but we have to send scouts around to keep track the orcs troops around, at least they can warn us. My men and I will help you with everything we can. Your folk will receive aid as soon as we join the main King's forces! The Refiner's spiritual guardian is on our side! ", he nods in the direction of FG-11, notices Herald and nods:
" My Herald! Are your hands strong enough to help someone else to move forth? This is the first commandment of Refiner's - to help someone else. "
"Nareth hath spoken! We do best to follow his advice." Colden walks up to Nareth and stands next him, as some kind of head priest for a God would do. He still plays the part of propelling Nareth up to become a leader and, truth be told, he finds it quite amusing to play with the minds of these barbarians (and with Nareth himself). It's all steps that need to be taken for the greater good, after all, but no harm in having some fun along the way.
Nareth nods:
" Aye. We must have rest now and leave at dawn with all the wounded that can be carried or can move themselves. It is slow and risky, but our scouts can at least warn us in case of any danger. The King's army is not far away and orc raiders won't have enough time to come back with reinforcements. "
@mashedtaters sorry for misunderstanding, no, he proposes to wait until dawn and take the wounded. I missed this point in his speech.
The morning dawns crisp and sharp, with the sun rising behind FG-11 as he moves among the battlefield. It seems that he spent the entire night burying the dead of the barbarians. He made beautiful graves for the children and women who were slain, a rough-cut rock with a small bouquet of flowers placed at each of them. The bodies of the orcs he piled into a heap.
The barbarians are convinced that the manifestation of spirit has smiled upon them. They get up slowly and pay reverence to FG-11 as he monotonously moves about the dead.
By morning, several of the injured have died. Sus’Ann was able to save more lives than would have been were she absent. But it is not enough, by her standards. The young man who lost an arm, however, will live, though he is in terrible pain right now and will likely be unable to care for himself for many weeks. Such a traumatic injury takes an incredible toll on the body.
“Please...” he says to her as she cleans his wounds and helps his fever break. Sus’Ann did not sleep much throughout the night. “Please... I must be sacrificed to the spirits... it will be best for my people... I’m better use to them dead now that I can’t fight... I can make supplication in the halls of the dead on their behalf... please...”
You can tell, though, that his true motivation is the incredible pain. Tears of stress and torture are squeezed from his eyes during his plea. Sleep overcomes him, a welcome relief to both Sus’Ann and the young man. His name, you learn, is Fengar.
The women have been tasked with carrying and caring for the injured as the group moves to the pass. The sun shines fiercely in front of you, bright and hard on such a cold morning. You are reminded that the harsh mistress Winter is lying in wait. The dew is mixed with the black dust as it settles like mist, raining down from the sky.
You leave for the pass as a group, the numbers of your fighting men reduced from 60 strong to under 50. That is a harsh loss. But when you see the pile of orc bodies, you realize that, despite the losses, you were indeed victorious.
The pass is on the other side of the lowlands, behind a heavy scrub of brush. It looks as though a giant hand had pressed the mountains apart. Colden recognizes that this may have been the stress point of an ancient earthquake or landmass movement. The twin peaks look as though they have been split into two, once one, but now an unmated pair. The two mountaintops look across the gap between them forlornly, as though missing their long separated lover, within sight but unable to touch for untold time.
The pass was once an outpost, decades ago, held by Astorwind, before the birth of prince Casak. It had since been overrun by the Bloodeye Clan and absorbed as part of their lands on the northern border of Astorwind’s country. 20 year old abandoned ruins were built into the pass, once a method of raining arrows down upon the enemy. The pass was taken from Astorwind at great cost to the barbarians, but the king and his forces have been unable to take it back.
Nareth, Jirt, and Kefto had taken part in some campaigns, made by the ambitious, to take back the pass and gain favor from the king. King Corak, however, did not ever seem completely committed to reabsorbing the pass back into Astorwind lands, giving the reasoning that it now belongs to the Bloodeye Clan by right of conquest. The pass would be too costly to regain, being so far from the castle, he said. Guarding it would be resource intensive, and he argued that the Bloodeye Clan would take the initial brunt of any who tried to invade through the pass in any case.
His words proved to be prophetic. The orcs have veritably decimated the Bloodeye Clan and cowed them away from their lands. It is strange that Nareth, having participated in so many campaigns to wrest the pass away from the Bloodeye Clan, should now approach it from the rear hand-in-hand with the barbarians.
The orcs now maintain the pass. You can see movement among the ruins and their newly built trenches. You cannot tell how many of them there are as they are taking great effort to hide, but you know they can see you.
You slowly approach, until you come to the entrance. Kagnan turns to you. “It is my hope that we can overrun them,” he says. “My scouts reported yesterday 30 of them milling about openly. Now they hide themselves. They are doing that for one of two reasons, I believe: either they hope that they can deceive us by hiding their numbers and intimidate us with a force they do not possess, or they have set up an ambush.”
“Perhaps they’re afraid of our new killing machine,” says Jirt, pointing his thumb at FG-11. The golem looks incredibly morose at the description of himself as a killer. But he holds his peace.
“I suggest we charge straight in and let the spirits decide on our honor,” says Kagnan, in typical strategic planning of the barbarians. “Let the stronger arm in battle prevail!”
Kagnan looks at Lagrord gravely. “Indeed,” he says. “They are cunning adversaries. They ambushed us last night, which we did not anticipate. We underestimated them.”
"If that is the case, a blind charge would be ruinous."
We never fully defined that Laggy's education with COlden entailed. From previous encounters and his "job" he has basic etiquette, animal husbandry, combat training, and some basic botany. Do we wanna through basic military tactics into the mix?
That sounds fine to me. We left it open-ended on purpose because it’s up to you.
Kagnan looks at Lagrord his face turning red. After a moment, surprisingly, he regains his composure. “Than what would you suggest, master half-man?” he says calmly.
Kagnan looks irritated. “This is not necessary, master half-man!” he says rather angrily. “Time is of the essence. Your Astorwind tactics and thinking and planning is your weakness. Strike hard and strike fast!”
You can tell he’s nervous for the upcoming battle.
Hey guys, I am also verses now in order to attend a conference, so my response possibilities are a bit limited. I catch up a bit later in the hotel, as Nareth has a plan as well.[ Sorry for inconvenience/spoiler]
It seems I might actually have time to visit here a bit during the days anyways, but let's see what happens the rest of the week.
Colden feels pride when he listens to Laggie's reasoning. He tried his best to school the lad in his knowledge about stratagems and tactics, all learned primarily through experiences written down in books he had read and from discussions with the King and his military advisors, but written knowledge and actually taking decisions for real are indeed very different. When taking decisions that might cause soldiers to die on an imaginary battle field you can afford to take risks you cannot do for real.
"I agree, Nareth is our most battlehardened veteran here. Let's see what he has to say. But let me join Lagrord here, perhaps half human but in no means half a man (!), and advise against a full blown charge straight into them. At least one based on inferior knowledge. The only fact we have is your old scout report saying there's 30 enemies down there, one we don't know if it's still valid. Scouting ahead with the most sneaky one of us could perhaps help us create a better plan. Perhaps create a diversion while trying to slip in some of us behind enemy lines to attack them in the flank?"
Colden thinks back and recollects Kagnan can see reason, but perhaps he need to hear it from Nareth and not from Laggie or from himself.
" Ahem... If I may, M'Lord Colden. Chieftain Kagnan, with all the respect to your and your warriors valor on the battlefield, sometimes the brute force is not the best solution and here I should agree with this young lad " he throws a quick nod to Lagrord " Aye, indeed a one smart he is! The ways of Refiner teach that combat cunning and ingenuity sometimes can grant much more than blind sacrifice. But here is one tricky part, at the moment the initiative is on our side... I mean, we can ACT first, we have this opportunity " the captain corrected himself trying to avoid using too much military terms, unknown to the Chieftain.
" I can lead a small squad of ten warriors in order to perform a diversion, as M'Lord Colden said, but it is still risky, so we can provoke them and lead here... ", Nareth draws a simple plan of the area on cloth with a piece coal.
" Here... A tiny passage between these two rocks, perfect for an ambush. Kefto can help you with setting everything up, like our camp is located here, behind the passage" , he points aggressively to another spot on this improvised map. He turns to Lagrord:
" And you, me mate, with the rest of our forces will be waiting for us there. I will take Jirt and ... May I ask for 8 another, strong and proficient in hiding warriors to join our small merry party, o Kagnan? We do so, tonight we can track them and make follow us into this trap, but we should prepare everything. I bet, your men know how to hunt wolves or bears? We need similar traps around here... and here, not to let them attack our flanks. But we would better start now, there is no time already. What will ya say?".
Kagnan looks at the drawing on the ground, his face screwed up in an attempt to understand Nareth's strategy. It is clear he does not.
However, he nods along as though he understands perfectly. "Yes... I see..." he says, though he doesn't.
When Nareth is finished, he agrees blankly, yelling at ten warriors to join Nareth and Jirt. Then he hand picks 8 warriors and sets them aside. Then he looks at Kefto for instructions.
It seems that even though he didn't understand Nareth's overall strategy, he at least understood the directions.
Kefto nods at Nareth, understanding his strategy perfectly. And so, Nareth leads the ten warriors towards the pass and gives them instructions on how they will create the diversion. Nareth is sure that Kefto has things under control with the main group of fighters. Kefto is stressing repeatedly to Kagnan how important it is to wait until his signal to attack.
The other 8 follow Jirt's hollered instructions in setting traps along the route leading out of the pass. Jirt makes sure to allow for the orcs who may possibly see him--he tries to hide what they are doing from their peering eyes, though none of you know how successful he is.
After about an hour, you are ready to begin. Nareth and Jirt are with the group of 10 warriors ready to pick a fight with the orcs and draw them out of their hiding places.
Kefto is with Kagnan, Herald, and Garta as they prepare the ambush behind the two massive boulders with the remainder of the 50 or so fighting raiders.
Please, sound off your starting positions before we begin the battle, my friends. Where do you think you will be most useful?
Comments
After an unusual long time, probably 1,5 seconds, of hugging, Colden releases Laggie and finds his normal composure. He brushes of dirt from his clothes, straighens out the creases and make him self presentable. He also make sure his hat is tipped just an inch to the side to give that extra swag.
"Can you walk?" He addresses Lagrord. "We should probably round up all survivors and head on our way. The sooner we reconvene with the rest of the Astorwind forces, the better."
Sus’Ann leaves to help care for the injured. She cares for several of the injured and with her skills, and the assistance of some novice barbarian witch-healers, she manages to save some from death. But the terrain is dirty and the night is cold. Many will die by morning, unable to access the medical attention in Astorwind that could save them.
FG-11 stands alone amidst the bodies of the orcs he killed, now a mass of oozing bones and flesh. He holds in his arms the bodies of the woman and the child with the bite marks in them, staring in horror at the carnage he caused around him.
“Death... death... the end of existence... the loss of consciousness... a return to the collective of unawareness...” he mumbles for any close enough to hear. It seems he is in a daze, unsure how to comprehend what happened and what he did. Were he a person, you would say that he is in shock.
“Were it not for the spirit, we would have been soundly routed,” he says solemnly and reverently. “Nevertheless, we have sustained high losses. I suggest that we wait until morning to asses who of the people the spirits have chosen for life and death. Then we make haste to the pass.
“What say you? Some of my counselors, Harsf—I mean, Herald in particular, believes we should set out immediately. He says it is likely the orcs will not be in the pass, and if they are will not wish to fight after witnesses the destruction wrought by the spirit.”
He looks at you questioningly.
"How quickly and safely can we move the injured? I'm not keen on abandoning anyone."
*Lagrords speech is peppered with the occasional grunt and wince*
“We are a vagabond people,” he says. “For us, those who would die on the move would not survive idle. We would leave in the morning only to give the healthy among us the rest needed to fight a potential battle, and to assess our losses. But it may be that we could avoid this battle altogether in order to be of greater use in a larger battle.
“I am torn in the matter and wish the advice of our new allies.”
“ What are you staring at Jirt? As if the spirit of Refiner was resurrected! Raise your drool and run to help the wounded ”, but still the captain was glad that the half-orc was alive, he was already beginning to rebuke himself that he could not save his life and repay same. He turned to Lagrord:
“ Aye, It’s not an easy task - to kill you, mate! ” Nareth smiled and approached Kagnan “ I ask you to take the wounded ones who still can move, Chieftain. I am against leaving them to feed these orcs, this contradicts our military Codex. We can move slower, we still have some time until the orcs regroup, but we have to send scouts around to keep track the orcs troops around, at least they can warn us. My men and I will help you with everything we can. Your folk will receive aid as soon as we join the main King's forces! The Refiner's spiritual guardian is on our side! ", he nods in the direction of FG-11, notices Herald and nods:
" My Herald! Are your hands strong enough to help someone else to move forth? This is the first commandment of Refiner's - to help someone else. "
Nareth wants to leave for the pass tonight? Did I understand that correctly?
" Aye. We must have rest now and leave at dawn with all the wounded that can be carried or can move themselves. It is slow and risky, but our scouts can at least warn us in case of any danger. The King's army is not far away and orc raiders won't have enough time to come back with reinforcements. "
He turns and walks back to his camp. It is late and you turn in. Herald returns and you all turn in for as much rest as you can find.
Colden: Slightly injured
Kefto: slightly injured
Garta: injured
Nareth: uninjured
Lagrord: slightly injured
Herald: uninjured
Sus’Ann: uninjured
Jirt: uninjured
FG-11: uninjured
Food supply: good
Water supply: good
The barbarians are convinced that the manifestation of spirit has smiled upon them. They get up slowly and pay reverence to FG-11 as he monotonously moves about the dead.
By morning, several of the injured have died. Sus’Ann was able to save more lives than would have been were she absent. But it is not enough, by her standards. The young man who lost an arm, however, will live, though he is in terrible pain right now and will likely be unable to care for himself for many weeks. Such a traumatic injury takes an incredible toll on the body.
“Please...” he says to her as she cleans his wounds and helps his fever break. Sus’Ann did not sleep much throughout the night. “Please... I must be sacrificed to the spirits... it will be best for my people... I’m better use to them dead now that I can’t fight... I can make supplication in the halls of the dead on their behalf... please...”
You can tell, though, that his true motivation is the incredible pain. Tears of stress and torture are squeezed from his eyes during his plea. Sleep overcomes him, a welcome relief to both Sus’Ann and the young man. His name, you learn, is Fengar.
You leave for the pass as a group, the numbers of your fighting men reduced from 60 strong to under 50. That is a harsh loss. But when you see the pile of orc bodies, you realize that, despite the losses, you were indeed victorious.
The pass is on the other side of the lowlands, behind a heavy scrub of brush. It looks as though a giant hand had pressed the mountains apart. Colden recognizes that this may have been the stress point of an ancient earthquake or landmass movement. The twin peaks look as though they have been split into two, once one, but now an unmated pair. The two mountaintops look across the gap between them forlornly, as though missing their long separated lover, within sight but unable to touch for untold time.
The pass was once an outpost, decades ago, held by Astorwind, before the birth of prince Casak. It had since been overrun by the Bloodeye Clan and absorbed as part of their lands on the northern border of Astorwind’s country. 20 year old abandoned ruins were built into the pass, once a method of raining arrows down upon the enemy. The pass was taken from Astorwind at great cost to the barbarians, but the king and his forces have been unable to take it back.
Nareth, Jirt, and Kefto had taken part in some campaigns, made by the ambitious, to take back the pass and gain favor from the king. King Corak, however, did not ever seem completely committed to reabsorbing the pass back into Astorwind lands, giving the reasoning that it now belongs to the Bloodeye Clan by right of conquest. The pass would be too costly to regain, being so far from the castle, he said. Guarding it would be resource intensive, and he argued that the Bloodeye Clan would take the initial brunt of any who tried to invade through the pass in any case.
His words proved to be prophetic. The orcs have veritably decimated the Bloodeye Clan and cowed them away from their lands. It is strange that Nareth, having participated in so many campaigns to wrest the pass away from the Bloodeye Clan, should now approach it from the rear hand-in-hand with the barbarians.
You slowly approach, until you come to the entrance. Kagnan turns to you. “It is my hope that we can overrun them,” he says. “My scouts reported yesterday 30 of them milling about openly. Now they hide themselves. They are doing that for one of two reasons, I believe: either they hope that they can deceive us by hiding their numbers and intimidate us with a force they do not possess, or they have set up an ambush.”
“Perhaps they’re afraid of our new killing machine,” says Jirt, pointing his thumb at FG-11. The golem looks incredibly morose at the description of himself as a killer. But he holds his peace.
“I suggest we charge straight in and let the spirits decide on our honor,” says Kagnan, in typical strategic planning of the barbarians. “Let the stronger arm in battle prevail!”
What do you do?
"How smart are the orcs? Have they been known to set ambushes?"
*Lagrord is very conscious of his ignorance*
Kagnan looks at Lagrord his face turning red. After a moment, surprisingly, he regains his composure. “Than what would you suggest, master half-man?” he says calmly.
You can tell he’s nervous for the upcoming battle.
"Master Nareth, what do you think?"
Colden feels pride when he listens to Laggie's reasoning. He tried his best to school the lad in his knowledge about stratagems and tactics, all learned primarily through experiences written down in books he had read and from discussions with the King and his military advisors, but written knowledge and actually taking decisions for real are indeed very different. When taking decisions that might cause soldiers to die on an imaginary battle field you can afford to take risks you cannot do for real.
"I agree, Nareth is our most battlehardened veteran here. Let's see what he has to say. But let me join Lagrord here, perhaps half human but in no means half a man (!), and advise against a full blown charge straight into them. At least one based on inferior knowledge. The only fact we have is your old scout report saying there's 30 enemies down there, one we don't know if it's still valid. Scouting ahead with the most sneaky one of us could perhaps help us create a better plan. Perhaps create a diversion while trying to slip in some of us behind enemy lines to attack them in the flank?"
Colden thinks back and recollects Kagnan can see reason, but perhaps he need to hear it from Nareth and not from Laggie or from himself.
" Ahem... If I may, M'Lord Colden. Chieftain Kagnan, with all the respect to your and your warriors valor on the battlefield, sometimes the brute force is not the best solution and here I should agree with this young lad " he throws a quick nod to Lagrord " Aye, indeed a one smart he is! The ways of Refiner teach that combat cunning and ingenuity sometimes can grant much more than blind sacrifice. But here is one tricky part, at the moment the initiative is on our side... I mean, we can ACT first, we have this opportunity " the captain corrected himself trying to avoid using too much military terms, unknown to the Chieftain.
" I can lead a small squad of ten warriors in order to perform a diversion, as M'Lord Colden said, but it is still risky, so we can provoke them and lead here... ", Nareth draws a simple plan of the area on cloth with a piece coal.
" Here... A tiny passage between these two rocks, perfect for an ambush. Kefto can help you with setting everything up, like our camp is located here, behind the passage" , he points aggressively to another spot on this improvised map. He turns to Lagrord:
" And you, me mate, with the rest of our forces will be waiting for us there. I will take Jirt and ... May I ask for 8 another, strong and proficient in hiding warriors to join our small merry party, o Kagnan? We do so, tonight we can track them and make follow us into this trap, but we should prepare everything. I bet, your men know how to hunt wolves or bears? We need similar traps around here... and here, not to let them attack our flanks. But we would better start now, there is no time already. What will ya say?".
Nareth looked at Kagnan questionably.
However, he nods along as though he understands perfectly. "Yes... I see..." he says, though he doesn't.
When Nareth is finished, he agrees blankly, yelling at ten warriors to join Nareth and Jirt. Then he hand picks 8 warriors and sets them aside. Then he looks at Kefto for instructions.
It seems that even though he didn't understand Nareth's overall strategy, he at least understood the directions.
The other 8 follow Jirt's hollered instructions in setting traps along the route leading out of the pass. Jirt makes sure to allow for the orcs who may possibly see him--he tries to hide what they are doing from their peering eyes, though none of you know how successful he is.
After about an hour, you are ready to begin. Nareth and Jirt are with the group of 10 warriors ready to pick a fight with the orcs and draw them out of their hiding places.
Kefto is with Kagnan, Herald, and Garta as they prepare the ambush behind the two massive boulders with the remainder of the 50 or so fighting raiders.