Broken Skull

Inside the hut once again, I was joined by Lilith, Tyrant, and the two scouts who had brought back their maps and the body of the other dead skeleton. All of us were kneeling or sitting around the maps which had been spread out to help organize the information that was available to us. Tyrant would be the one to help determine our effective military strength for the upcoming battle, as he was the only one who truly knew the situation regarding our equipment at the moment, while Lilith and I would decide on a course of action that would be used during the battle. The two scouts would elaborate on anything that we missed or needed to clarify.

Outside the hut, I had assigned two veteran skeletons to stand guard in the event that the camp came under attack. After telling them the stakes, they knew to keep a watchful eye.

As for the body of the scout who had died, I had decided it would be given to Iliana for use in her healing experiments. While it could cause some controversy if it were known what had happened before their death, I decided the risk was worth it for the chance to heal those who had lost limbs or parts of their skull, as I had. When asked if they'd managed to find the orc that had killed him the other two scouts shook their heads, having not been able to go looking due to the number of orcs roaming about outside the fortress.

Damn things are probably created as quickly as rabbits breed. Dungeon Master's definitely on my shitlist in the future.

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I looked over the maps that had been drawn. Seeing the information about the weakened gate would be useful if we could use our mages to burn it down, although I didn't know how effective it might be, considering there was no information on how dry the wood seemed. On the other hand, there were glaring weaknesses on both sides of the fortress, consisting of the rather shoddy wall that could be scaled with little issue, so long as basic siege equipment was prepared, while the other weakness was a literal hole in the wall, just wide enough that we could probably squeeze through one at a time. Overall, it seemed as if the fortress itself was inviting us to come and take it from the orcs, rather than trying to deny us entry.

"While I do want to find a strategy that exploits all these weaknesses, I don't want to underestimate our enemy. The orcs have most likely held that fortress for some time now, and I don't want us losing to them because we failed to predict any moves they might make. Anyone have any suggestions?" I spoke while reading the notes written off to the side. The letters were crude, poorly spaced, and a bit sloppy overall, but they were still legible, which was all I really cared about at the moment. Unfortunately there was nothing about the inside of the fortress, so we would be fighting blind from the second we made it inside.

"Why not send teams out to attack the roamers? We could cut down their numbers while bolstering our own strength that way." One of the scouts was the first to speak up. He had reminded me a few minutes earlier that his name was Lakus, and that the first time he practiced with any kind of weapon was with me. I couldn't remember the event, but I decided I would take his word for it.

I thought about the idea for a moment, but quickly found a flaw that could prove fatal. "If we were to do something like that we might gain short term strength, but at the same time, the few that survive would remain inside the fortress itself, waiting for us to attack. At that point, we wouldn't be facing any weak orcs, but instead a hardened force of warriors who might very well be able to retaliate swiftly if we fail in the initial attack. If you can think of a way to circumvent that, I'd like to hear it. In the meantime, does anyone else have any suggestions on how we handle this?" Responding in a way that didn't throw that suggestion out entirely, I was hoping that if Lakus could come up with something else, it might be more beneficial than any plan I might come up with.

At the same time I was hoping that with him attempting to think of a solution, I could check if other skeletons would take the initiative if given the chance. Lilith was a clear example of a skeleton taking initiative, but I was hoping to see it happen with the more common skeletons that had been seen so far, even if they were veterans.

"Why not go with the plan written onto the map? We could create a diversion instead of taking all three routes, and instead attack them from two sides, allowing us to sweep away the roaming defenders quickly if we gather enough strength. If we could manage the first part of that, getting skeletons onto the walls would be simply a matter of time." Lilith however, did not get the message, and immediately suggested using the plan that had been on the table since the beginning.

"It's not a bad plan, but I'd like to hear what the both of you think. Is it feasible?" I gestured to both Tyrant and the remaining scout who both hadn't uttered a word so far. The scout looked at Tyrant who said nothing, simply staring intently at the maps that had been made.

"I wasn't there to check those areas, but the hole or a ladder could be used in theory. The problem comes from whether or not a distraction would be effective enough to draw them away. I saw torches being used to cover the bottom of the wall, so I don't think sneaking in would be easy unless the distraction was big enough. They weren't very organized, but I don't think they'd simply abandon their posts just to howl and hoot at you." The voice that belonged to that particular scout was more rural and rugged than I initially expected, but I didn't let my surprise register. Tyrant also grunted in acknowledgement to the scout's words.

"We have the equipment for a short battle, and I think it's a good thing that we don't have to rely on food and water the same way most living organics do. However, the lack of healers makes anything other than a lightning quick offense beyond costly. If this problem cannot be solved, then any battle you or your people face will suffer heavy casualties that we simply cannot sustain. It is also for this reason that I would recommend against attacking until you have sufficiently rebuilt your forces. It's not experience that we need. It's time. Both for recruiting, and for planning. Without these things, I do not believe we will win any major victories against any of our opponents. I think it would be better to be patient than to rush from fight to fight, risking more and more with each victory." Tyrant said his piece and sat back, allowing us to process his words.

I wanted to argue against him since I didn't have nearly enough time to simply wait for the right opportunity, but I could see that he was right. While we had the information, we'd lost a scout to get it, and if we retaliated it wouldn't end nearly as well as I was hoping it would. So instead of arguing I sighed before turning to look at him. I wanted to let a bit of my anger loose, to let it just burst from within me and wash over everyone, but it wouldn't help me here, so I forcibly reigned it in until it went back to simmering just below the surface. "Much as I hate to admit it, you're likely right about this. I'd rather overestimate our enemies than underestimate them." I gathered up the maps and notes while making sure not to mess up the charcoal writing, before handing them to Tyrant. "Until we can have a more organized system, I'd rather you handle these. I'm sure you have somewhere that you can put them that won't damage them before we need them." It took a moment before he took them from me, nodding.

I still had some ideas about how we could take control of an open area in regards to the siege itself, mainly centering around the shield wall tactic I'd thought of awhile back. However, those were thoughts for another day, as there was no way our encampment could actually field that many skeletons at the moment. For now, it would be better to focus on recruiting more skeletons and ensuring that we had a larger amount of healers and mages to supplement our ranks.

I turned Lilith next. "Lilith, I'd like you to pick ten of those you deem capable to go up to the second floor to strictly recruit as many skeletons as possible for us to train for war. After that, come find me. I'm going to start seeing how viable a tactic that was forced on me can be." At a nod from her, I looked over at the two scouts. "You two are the only ones down here at the moment. Find some candidates from the new recruits, get them approved by Kellor, and start rebuilding the scouts. I have a feeling we're going to need a lot more information if we're going to have any chance of winning a war against the orcs or the dungeoneers." At my order, they both nodded in unison before leaving the hut, along with Tyrant and Lilith.

Left alone in the hut, I couldn't help but grumble to myself.

God I hate being a leader. Furthermore, why do I feel so defensive whenever someone tells me to relax, to think of another plan? The fuck did that guy do to me?

I had so many questions, but no answers. It wasn't likely that I'd be getting any soon either, since he'd threatened to kill me in just two months.

Shelving those thoughts, I left the hut and told the two skeletons standing guard that they were relieved until the next meeting occured, and that they should take a rest while they had the chance. They almost seemed confused at first, before nodding and walking off into another part of the encampment.

As for me, I had a strategy to test.