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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 853513" data-attributes="member: 5137">War? Orcs? Hello?After resting for an extra day from their adventure, and plundering some of Bellos' beer stash, Bellos, Greppa and Merideth went to Theralis Ridge to have a look around and find out where they were assigned.And to see what they had helped build.As summer had approached, Theralis had kept its soldiers on a continuous circuit, marching between the border posts and watching for the enemy. The goal was to hit the first one to show up, hard and fast, before others could settle in and take up military resources on multiple borders. Since Theralis Ridge was usually the first place attacked, that's where most of the preparations had taken place. The results were... unsettling.Downslope, thick stone walls ran upslope. They were designed for one purpose: to break the enemy into digestible chunks, provide walls to either side for the shield wall, and to force the enemy into tighter quarters, for the next part of the military plan... a body of slightly over a hundred arcanists, most of whom had mastered the ubiquitous bursting spells of war in the past several years. They were housed behind a set of walls running parallel to the mountain ridge, designed to help repel the orcs, and to protect the arcanists while still allowing them to cast.None of the walls were great feats of architecture. Nor were they particularly or built to withstand a siege - they were present to help break up the enemy, and to enhance the more important wall of flesh that kept out invaders.The apprentices, nearly six hundred of them in all, stood by the arcanists on watch. Since they were not yet advanced yet to cast proper war magics (less than a year of schooling simply wasn't sufficient), their duty was to assist the veteran arcanists, both in focused will and in more mundane tasks such as keeping them cool and unfettered to fight fatigue.Slightly more than two hundred veteran healers and almost a thousand apprentice healers were also present, but these were mixed in with the ten thousand soldiers. The goal was that only instant death would actually kill a Theralis citizen; anything else would just kill the orc that did it.A less obvious change was the plan. The military intended to take the first charge of the orcs to smash them as hard and fast as possible. Rain as many fireballs as possible in as short a time as possible, to break the opposing army. And then the Theralis charge, a calculated risk to smash apart the enemy... and then follow the enemy into the forests.Few soldiers were experienced skirmishers outside of the shield wall, but maneuvers had been practiced for nearly a year now. The shield carriers knew how to slip through trees without breaking cover or continuity, and a new spear (the shaft considerably shortened for very close work) had come into use for fighting in the more limited quarters. And more specifically, nets of heavy, leaded rope had been woven - once the forest was breached, the goal was not to kill, but to capture.The orcs who fought Theralis today, would help make certain that the Theralese citizens were able to continue fighting tomorrow. Theralis wealth had suffered mightily the last few years from the loss of people in the fields. Now there would always be field workers.And, preparations made, Theralis waited for the orcs to show.And waited.And waited.And watched summer come and go. After the sound defeat of Breaking Cat, it appeared that no orc cared to try their luck, this year. Although vaguely disappointed... it was taken as a good sign, and as a victory, and a party was planned in the city proper.But they partied in shifts, just to be sure.</blockquote>

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