Everwake (Tim)

[Bannanachair]

"I ordered Fraseco to ask a court martial to write him up," I say. "What the hell is he doing here? Nevermind that, what matters is that the Crestrisen must have been smuggled in over time. I tried to get one alive for questioning during the ambush, but Fraseco killed my prisoner."

[Tikobe]

The Shrine pulses again, but this time you and your men are in the vicinity in which the pulse travels. As the deep green burst hits your group, you begin to feel nauseous and slightly light-headed. A quick look around would reveal everyone else to be in the same boat.

"Urgh. Don't tell me your man is one of those self-righteous bastard types," Captain Bayod groans, completely unaffected by the pulse, as well as the rest of the guards from what you can see. "If you'd please, just let's not talk about him anymore. I'd rather not find myself tempted to put him at the front of the line when the Crestrisens arrive. Or more tempted than I already am, at least."

Another pulse and your group has the same adverse reaction. Captain Bayod, once more seemingly immune to it, notices your group's sense of discomfort. A quick expression tells you he knows what's going on, but it clearly wasn't very important since Captain Bayod doesn't share.

"Anyways, regardless of what's causing it we currently don't have a way to really know that. What do you wish to do, Admiral?"

[Bannanachair]

"Fortify the perimeter as heavily as possible and prepare for the Crestrisen to arrive. How many men do we have?"

[Tikobe]

"I had forty men just like how the Crestrisen have right now. Emphasis on had."

You recall Bayod's previous statement about half his forces deserting. Meaning twenty. With the men you had now, there would be around thirty-five to meet their forty.

"I'm setting up all the barricades and defenses we can, but we don't know how hard they're gonna hit us or what strategies they'll employ. We may even need to take it in there."

The "there" Captain Bayod pointed to was what appeared to be a hole leading into an elaborate hall...

...carved into the side of the Wyldun shrine.

"It's actually pretty impressive inside," Bayod explains before you or your men could point out that he was talking about fighting in a pulsing prison of some terrible power. "The spell who made the shrines was aware of the dangers that came with leaving humans of all things to manage these things. As such, it made sure to make the insides of the shrines filled with natural fortifications, secret passages and terrain that gives an overwhelming advantage in terms of fighting a defensive battle. Indeed, in times of crisis, these things were sometimes used as shelters to help safeguard non-combatants way back when. However, since the goal of the Crestrisens is likely inside of the shrine itself, I'm hesitant about drawing the line of defense inside of that place."

[Bannanachair]

"It could work as a secondary line of defence, a fallback location, but we need to cordon off this part of the city to ensure that they can't get there." I think back to my military training. I focussed on naval strategies, not ground strategies, but some of the basics were coming back to me. "Try to create chokepoints with alleys, so that our disadvantage in numbers won't be that bad."

[Tikobe]

"That'd be a great idea, except that'd only work if we could perfectly barricade roads to the point that there'd be no need for city walls. If we expand our circle of defense too wide we'd stretch our men out to the point that the Crestrisens would just need to band together and hit single small point to break through. Not to mention that they're already doing that. No reports have come in so far of them breaking up into smaller groups, just that they're all travelling along one of the main roads leading here. Our numbers are too small to try and intercept them with 'chokepoints' and alleys that they're not even moving through."

[Bannanachair]

"In that case, that road is where we'll have to meet them."

[Tikobe]

"Well, nice to know we had the same thoughts, Admiral Therinean. I've sent my men to make a barricade. However, with the preparation, order, or lack thereof, and time we have, at best we'd be able to make a single wooden barricade with planks just wide enough to fit a spear through. Thankfully, we have spears set aside for this kind of an occasion, though they're flimsy since we never really maintained them since there wasn't much reason to. And they're also old. I've tried to get some newer ones but really the generals don't care about this kind of an outpost except for show, they mostly send people the nobles don't like to get them cursed by the Wylduns or something. Well, now we're getting off topic."

You heard some talk that a Shrine post was kind of a punishment for lesser nobles who pissed off a major house since it was quite shameful for noble families to have a cursed child, but Captain Bayod basically confirmed it. Not that he seemed to care, and since you've never heard of a "Eses" house he either wasn't a noble or the Eses family was so small that it faded into obscurity meaning that Captain Bayod probably didn't care. Actually, from his attitude he most definitely doesn't, not in the face of bigger problems.

"Anyways, with the width of the street, we may be able to get around ten men to poke at the Crestrisen with their spears. I'll try to find those of my men who are good with it, or better yet, those who have their own spears that are in better condition than the ones we have stockpiled, I think I have about five of those. Get about another seven or so to run in just to replace any of the initial ten who run into issues and that'd be the best we could do. However, it remains fairly apparent that the Crestrisen aren't just gonna run at the barricade and let their selves get stabbed, as convenient as that would've been. That'd be the point that they would likely send of detachments of maybe five or so each into the alley to flank the man at the wall. We need to find a situation that'd counter that issue. We have roughly ten minutes left until we need to meet them. Something we can do in that short amount of time. The only real plus we have here is that no one wants to set up a business this close to the Shrine, so this area is slum territory. The alleyways are a maze-like mess because of that."

Looking at your men, they all carry short swords or other light weaponry. Their equipment is very uniform as one would expect of a military division, unlike Bayod's guards, which are allowed to wield any weapon they feel comfortable with, Bayod himself using a shield and a mace. There are a few proficient with short spears, but not spears the length that Captain Bayod is mentioning. Still, they could probably improvise better than Bayod's rag-tag force, but it leaves the question of whether or not you want to put men of the skill level your force requires at a position where they're just sitting there "poking" the enemy as Captain Bayod put it. Especially when the main issue isn't the men assigned to the wall but how to deal with the inevitable stragglers who may try to flank the forces at the wall or worse use the alleyways to bypass the wall entirely to reach the Shrine undetected or at least where the guard's weak. Bayod mentioned that the alleyways were a virtual maze but that can also be just as much of a problem for your side as it would be for his side.

[Bannanachair]

"My men can patrol those smaller alleyways," I suggest. "It unfortunately means splitting our forces, but with the barricade you won't need another two lines of men behind what you already have there. Do you have a map of where they might be likely to try to flank us from?"

[Tikobe]

"Nah, never needed one, mostly because we've never faced this kind of a crisis ever since the Shrine itself was made. However, there are some talented men among my guard, myself included, who patrol this area quite frequently. I can arrange them to act as guides to your men. Hell, it might even be better than a map, we'd probably know the most likely paths they'd stumble across. If we cut the back up at the barricade to six and have one man stay here to blow a horn in case one slips by, it should work, though we'd wind up having only three groups patrolling, four if you wanna cut the back up men to five."

[Bannanachair]

"Hopefully three groups will be enough," I say. Not enough patrols and they could sneak past, but not enough men on the barricade and they could force their way through. It's a difficult balance to maintain.

[Tikobe]

Captain Bayod simply shrugs.

"Well, I'm not gonna question it. I haven't been in any good fights since they brought me along to wipe out the Paladins, and even then I wasn't in a command post. My position here as guard captain is probably the highest rank I've ever had, though some would contest that considering that it's Saffur of all places. In other words, you probably know more than me. Anyways, ahem," he says he clears his throat before bellowing out what was practically a roar matching his bear like appearance straight from his diaphragm, "Lester!"

One of the nearby guards looks over and comes running over to Captain Bayod.

"Yes, captain?"

"You play the horn loud enough. Hide here and blow the horn if you see any enemies reach here, and then run away like your life depends on it. I'll give orders to the rest of the men."

You notice Lester was surprised by Bayod's order, but he nods with a loud, "Yes, sir!"

"The barricade is that way, Admiral Therinean," Captain Bayod says, pointing out a road. "I'll organize the rest of my men and get your groups their guides. Let's not waste time, we don't even have a quarter hour here."

[Bannanachair]

I don't wait to say "goodbye". As soon as he points me in the right direction, I begin walking there as briskly as I can to ensure that the men are all in formation. Should I have had my men guard the barricades and his men, more familiar with the city, be on patrols? It's too late to second guess myself now, I decide, as I look at the defences.

[Tikobe]

(Sorry for the wait, had to leave work and bike my way home)

The men were almost done setting up the barricade. Just a few more planks and it'd be ready.

Captain Bayod arrives with the rest of his men except for Lester. He shouts out an order so loud you'd be surprised if the enemy, who you could see running at you from the distance, didn't clearly hear it. At this point six men run off to the barricade, while Captain Bayod and two men, both wielding swords and carrying themselves with some degree of skill. They're clearly some of the finer guards of the bunch, with the only ones who could match being a man with a two-handed sword and another with a bow and arrow, both of them being weapons that wouldn't have worked very well in the confined spaces of the alleyways. And there was Bayod himself, but honestly it would seem more likely that he'd maul down a man and overcome him with raw strength and power before skill with his weapon. Even then, he now carried his mace and shield in his own hands, and even from his relaxed stance you could tell he knew how to use what he had very well.

"These two and myself will be the guides. You may argue I should be here commanding but if I'm to be honest, every skilled man in the back up counts and I'm absolutely lousy with a spear. There's not much to order around here anyways, just stab the enemy, if someone needs to be replaced, replace him. If the barricade is torn down, retreat to the Shrine to set up a defense and get Lester to blow the horn so we can jump out from the alley way and flank them. Honestly, there isn't even much I could do here in terms of commanding, I wouldn't know what the hell to do in an emergency. Anyways, enough rambling, tell us where you need us."

[Bannanachair]

"Bayod, you know the streets better than I do. Where would they send splinter groups to sneak into the Shrine? I'll stay here and command the barricade - I'm better with a sword than a spear, but I'm not bad with a spear."

[Tikobe]

"Well, if you wanna command that's fine by me. The likely routes would be probably come out to be near that one dryad's place, my own house or the warehouse of some destitute noble who pissed off the local marquis and now is trying to make a comeback using Saffur's produce. Though, the best route would probably be to turn left in the direction of the Shrine till you reach old lady Setite's house and make a right, turn left on some minor street, turn right at the spot where some panhandler squats at, go through an abandoned house of some dude we arrested for kidnapping little girls, turn right and then turn left and you'd be there. However, there's almost no chance that they'd go through such a specific route.

[Bannanachair]

"Then go to those places!" I say. "Every second wasted is a second that the Crestrisen can use to get to the Shrine!"

[Tikobe]

"Alright boys, you heard the Admiral, get moving. Pick a group and lead them around. I'll take the route to my house like a man should, Oullivard, you take the dryad's house and Henier, you take the warehouse. Don't just try meeting them at those locations but take some damn initiative and patrol the nearby area."

Captain Bayod takes a group of your men into the alleyways while the other two follow suit. He clearly isn't skilled in command but at least it seems his men follow his orders well. Lets hope they follow your orders when you defend the barricade.

[Bannanachair]

"Alright men," I say to those on the barricades. "We are the primary line of defence between our Crestrisen enemies and the Wyldun Shrine. I'll be honest with you - I don't know what the hell they want with it. Maybe they'll even seek to set the bastard free. It doesn't matter what they want to do, because we won't let them!" If there's any spare spears, I'll take one and join in the formation. If there aren't, then I'll wait for a man to fall and I'll take his spear and his place in the formation.

[Tikobe]

"Aye aye, sir!" they shout. Most of them have spears you could hardly call spears at all. They were all warped and bent a little, and there was a notable degree of rust on the tips. Captain Bayod definitely wasn't wrong to send for new ones, rather even if this was a secret punishment post you were surprised that no one had listened to his request thus far. However, some of the men posted to the front line of barricade actually had some really well made spears. One of them was even a full metal one with a family insignia on it.

The Crestrisens were plain in view. You had no more then five minutes. If you have something quick you need to finish, do it now!

[Bannanachair]

A silent prayer that the men will be able to hold firm against the Crestrisen charge instead of fleeing is all that I have left to do.

[Tikobe]

As the Crestrisen rush at your wall, you could get a clearer view of their numbers. They must have already sent detachments when they saw your barricade since out of the forty men that were reported to your forces, you counted twenty five. A much larger number then your forces. Even though you have the advantage granted by the barricade, you were still outnumber by a decent amount, not to mention the set back of those crude spears.

The first wave of the Crestrisen get there. The ones with good spears were able to kill a few of them, hell, the one with the metal spear was even so skill he got two, but the guards with shabby spears could at best repel the attackers, and even with all of that a few the enemy slipped between the cracks to tackle the barricade with all of their weight. While the barricade was able to handle the initial blast without a moan and the ones who hit the wall were repelled, there were still more Crestrisens slamming against the barricade. It seemed that their initial strategy was not to target the spearwielders but the barricade itself.

It wasn't a smart strategy since you could see they had their own spearwielders they could've countered with, not to mention the guards with well-made spears were taking advantage of their idiocy and picking off enemies like flies, but at least they were being stupid and not using the spear wielders or having even used a spell.

However, it appears that they're attempting to take the advantage. You hear an enemy shout "Archers!"

They were gonna start shooting arrows from over the barricade.

[Bannanachair]

"Take cover!" I shout. I don't know how many men have spears, but those who do will be able to better defend against arrows. If any men on my side died, I'll try to grab their spear and join in the battle.

[Tikobe]

The men behind the barricade get a little closer. It was the safest area since the archer's would naturally shoot over the barricade so as to not injure their men and for other obvious reasons. The remaining men try to scramble off into the alleyways except for a few idiots who don't quite understand what's happening. Two men from the backup of all things died. Not counting yourself, there were four men left in the back up, though none of the initial ten were injured in the volley.

However...

Some of the guards on the frontline see their two dead comrades and lose their focus. This gave the enemy a chance to retaliate. Three men on the front line, all of them wielding only shoddy spears, have been killed.

[Bannanachair]

I make a rush to grab one of those shoddy spears, take it up and stab at the nearest Crestrisen. These men are doing well for holding for so long, outnumbered and with bad weaponry and likely lackluster training.