Micky Bunkered up. The enemy kingdom was on the retreat but the line was still set. Micky also doubted that he would be recovering from his loses while the enemy army had maintained a steady stream, and consistent count of soldiers throughout the skirmish. Too blatantly steady. It was fairly obvious now that they had been maintaining their armies elsewhere while only keeping the Aene Kingdom at bay. Of course, this is obvious now, but it wasn’t at the time. Micky had to wait for them to show their cards, and count the deck. Since they were content to stand still and look pretty Micky would have to similarly dedicate his limited resources.

Currently the two sides were trading SLSP or super long range siege spell bombardments. Micky had given them a good bloodying last night and they had been FUBAR trying to set up their camp in the midst of the night but now two glowing shields were facing off against each other. This was fine, Micky was only buying time anyway. When his monument was finally complete would be when the world truly knew what Micky was up to. Granted even he wouldn’t see it to it’s completion.

But that was fine. Micky didn’t need to see it to its completion for his name to be on it. He would show the world the greatness of Aene! He had sent the appropriate teams to start the queries of stone and timber. Not only were the quarries vast and untapped, but they were also beautiful high quality stone. The keep would be made from holy marble that would use the holy element and could be connected to some of the more prominent gods of the Aene empire to gain their protections and boons. But not done, there was a royal jade mine that contained a purple green royal jade perfect for enchanting small protective formations but there were vast quantities of it. Not to be outdone the concentrated aether copper could be found in an untapped dungeon mine.

Unfortunately it was simply a natural dungeon and not a cored [Dungeon] but the aether copper would still be perfect to run the larger protective formations preventing any kind of siege from being successful. Not to mention the vast amounts would allow the entire road to be pathed, walled, and protected with formations. The vast aether networks in this area may have prevented civilization from removing the monsters but the resources were immense and would allow for true greatness.

Finally, the dragonscale timber, only found in known places to have shed dragon’s blood. This timber is not only beautiful with a dragon scale pattern, but it is also some of the strongest and elemental resistant wood known to the races. This alone is something that the elves and dwarves may go to war for if they found it to be anywhere near accessible. Unfortunately for them, the proximity to Aene and the opposing empire, plus the vast untouched monster forests in the area make it safer and better for them to simply trade for the lumber. Albeit at cutthroat prices. In all likelihood there might even be treaties specifically specifying this lumber be transported in vast quantities to the neighboring empires and kingdoms of the vast powers. Luckily the monsters care not for natural resources and prefer more ethereal, ephemeral things.

Micky couldn’t stop drooling. He had a desk made of dragonscale wood and another shipped back to the baron’s town along with a beautifully crafted matching chair to go with it. He wished he could stay within the fort himself, it was sure to be a beautiful thing, he had created vast gardens and sprawling landscapes such as lakes and pounds that double as parade grounds and backup water sources. There would also be several underground aquifers constructed just to make poisoning the water supply a truly impossible endeavor as well as vast fields so that in peace time the fort can be self sustaining to the point it may even turn a profit depending on how it is staffed. Though admittedly the defending duke at this moment has the smallest standing army as it was unnecessary to station more troops at the time, this is bound to change.

Micky could see that the enemy was already adapting to the new tactics and likely understood that there was a new overall commander in charge. He would only be in command for this one campaign and only for a short time but during this time the two sides would be adapting to each other and feeling them out.

Micky did not have any classical training to fall back on. The only training he did have was founded by the adventurer’s guild and that would not work here. While he was sure he could send in small surgical strike teams to harass and harry their supply network as well as poisoning and destroying their infrastructure while also killing off their command structure. However, there was no way that such tactics would work in warfare of this scale.

Instead, it would be a game of chess as the enemy adapts as Micky learns. Already Miicky could see the enemy constructing and successfully using new siege engines. The same siege engines that the enemy had when this whole clusterfuck all started. Massive and destructive sending over boulders the size of carts. Micky was going to lose his fortifications here in time even if he returns the siege fire.

But Micky had planned for this in the first place. He always has a plan for retreat. Or at least he tries. When your dependant on some fuckface for your lifeline it’s always good to have a plan to gtfo. Because they are going to fuck it up somehow, and if you aren’t ready, you’re [Dead]. Micky had already seen one support, a healer he faced in a trounement in his time at the adventurer’s guild, that has been [Crippled], possibly for life, because their teammates did some stupid shit and made a mistake. Micky didn’t even have that much.

No, he would step back soon. But when he did, the enemy wasn’t going to know what to do with themselves. Sure the land would be perfect for a new fortification. And when Aene comes back to these lands she will clean the place up and put one there. But until then they shall regret chasing off Micky Anderson!

While Micky was having delusional visions of grandeur the battle continued to rage. Admittedly it was not very exciting. The shields, like two giant eggs in some kids game, were waiting to be cracked. The two sides sending siege spells, giant mountains of the elements, towards either side. There was a rhythm to the spells smashing the shields. Bang, bang, spwoosh, bang. Each side seemed to almost give each other a turn at their opponents shield. Not that that was what they were actually doing, but it seemed so. No, the mages manning the giant formations would be seen chanting. Finally the spell would light up and send off whatever particularly flavored spell of the mages’ choice off. Then the apprentices would rush in while the advanced maguses were cooling off, chanting, matitating, or drinking various concoctions to recharge. All at the direction of an [Arcane Mage] of some sort of course.

The yelling and screaming as the formations were cooling down under the directive of arcane mages as they hurried to reactivate the formation that much faster. Screaming and yelling, correcting some novice errors that would cause catastrophe with keeping others that would only weaken the spell or cause the formation more damage down the line in the name of expediency. The wizards and magus of siege craft are old hat at this kind of thing. They were a well oiled dwarven machine.

All the while the apprentices were learning. Siege craft was an artform. And it is and will always be a valuable skill. These kinds of craftsmen will never truly have to worry as either side will take them in and simply renegotiate the contract should their side be captured, much like healers. After all, you never truly wanted someone with a giant siege spell pointed at your back to be pissed off at you. Should these apprentices learn it and master it they should find employment on inumeral battlefields across Aene and beyond. They will be highly prized by any noble and will find themselves the prize and valued object of a cutthroat bidding war fought by nobles before the battle even begins. So each apprentice learns and absorbs as much as they can by reapplying the formations before rejoining their masters to fuel the awe inspiring formations. Afterall, few are as thrifty as Aene itself when it comes to funding siege formations. And that isn’t even considering that ace in the whole formation the Commander in Chief was constructing...