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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 732900" data-attributes="member: 6533">ahh, but the Cressians have the lion's share of strategic advantages:After the battle the Cressians dissolve into the rough country that surrounds the town, regroup someplace cavalry is unlikely to follow, and send for reinforcements from the Cressian command thinking that these abominations are some sort of otherworldly threat that their godly forces would be better equipped to deal with than the Stempans.The Ta'jinn are bit concerned about the bizarre casualties among their infantry, but had such an easy time overall and saw so little of the Cressian's magical prowress that they decide the Cressians were simply a bizarre group of bandits.  They report the incident to the Griffin scout in general terms, replace thier losses, and set up a more vigorous system of patrolling, particularly at night.  They do decide to be very cautious about their raids.  Even using some of the captured Cressian weaponry to provide 'evidence' that 'normal' bandits are conducting the raids.  This confuses the Stempan allies of the Cressians to no end, but more on that later.After a week of learning the Ta'jinn routine and waiting for reinforcements the Cressians attack again.  Their expertise at guerrilla warfare enables them to move their men into a position close to the village without detection.  Their time watching the Ta'jinn has given them some idea of their alliance with a griffin, though they have no idea of its capabilities.  This time their force consists of 50 light archers, 50 light skirmishers, and 100 light spearmen as well as their prior complement of druids and deltas (is their any way we could come up with a more 'Cressian' term for these guys?).  They carefully set an ambush for the night patrol group of Centaurs using the 50 skirmishers two druids and their animals.  The ambush primarily works to lead the patrol on a merry chase away from the fortress and into traps laid by the druid.At dawn, the main Cressian force attacks the fortifications.  The infiltration force initiates the attack by first capturing the tower, causing as much chaos as possible within the camp, and using their spells to disable the gates in the Ta'jinn fortification.  Simultaneously, small groups of archers attack from hastily created brush covers that surround the camp.   A senior druid then uses his spells and bundles prepared by the men to destroy the eastern barricades through which the main force of spearmen pours into the camp.  A group of reserve archers takes up positions inside some of the closer houses and pours fire into the Ta'jinn ranks as the deltas work to ravage some of the still sleeping infantry and rejoin the ranks of the spearmen.  The centaurs find their ranks dwindling rapidly and the range and mobility advantages greatly decreased by the sunlight in their eyes, the close quarters, the disciplined tactics of spearmen taking advantage of cover, and spellfire from the tower.  The Cressians work to occupy as many of the houses as possible as quickly as possible.  Those few that are succesfully occupied by the Ta'jinn infantry, who had been the focus of the initial attack, are ravaged by deltas backed up by spearmen.  Eventually the Ta'jinn regroup enough to escape the town where they rendevous with the night patrol which had been returning with the coming of dawn and the dispersal of the skirmishers.  Realzing that they face an organized enemy and have lost many of their supplies and men, they decide to retreat, but not before saving face.  The night patrol stages a quick raid on the town and sets fire to the fields and as many of the buildings as they can reach with long range fire, and then rides away.  In the Ta'jinn culture this is simply a normal parting shot, though one that recognizes the dishonour of their enemy.  To the Cressians it is the final proof that they faced an enemy more demonic than any they had seen since the Jongan invasions.  The fires in the town are fairly easily contained given the druidic presence, and the men are encouraged by their overall victory but absolutely certain that the enemy is evil incarnate.  The presence of human allies and magical servitors simply proves their insidious nature.  The Cressians destroy the town in fury, erect a small monument to their victory, and retreat to camps they have created in the hills in order to fulfill their original mission.  The druids decide that the orders and high church must determine a plan to use in case these demons are symptoms of a larger threat.The Ta'jinn compare notes on the battle and decide that their shapeshifting, nature spell wielding, animal lead, and unorthodox opponents were far more than normal bandits and most likely in league with demons.  Likely they did not know that the Ta'jinn were arrayed against them in the first battle, and thus saved their demonic powers and uncanny tactics for when they saw that they faced as worthy an opponent as the demon-slaying Ta'jinn.  The decide to investigate the matter and determine a plan for how best to counter or destroy these new enemies.</blockquote>

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