* XXV *
"Now that we're all here," Jaarmath began, "I'd like to introduce everybody."
Arden didn't feel this was entirely necessary; she knew who each person in the room was by now.
"Varassa Kaal," he gestured to the well-dressed lady on his left, "one of Brindol's most successful merchant traders." She frowned and nodded to the room. Arden was well aware of her intense dislike for the Mayor; this was mostly down to the amount of both favours and money that the city owed her. "She is in personal command of one hundred of her House Guard," he added, "fine warriors, whose presence we are very grateful for.
"Lars Ulverth," Jaarmath continued around the room. Arden shifted in her seat to try and get more comfortable; she felt like this was going to be a long afternoon. Boshley waved and smiled enthusiastically at the Guard Captain, who he had made acquaintance with before. "Captain of the Lions of Brindol, and my most trusted military commander.
"Tredora Goldenbrow," he gestured to the Cleric on Ulverth's left with a smile. The sparkle in his eye and lightness in his voice betrayed to Arden that the rumours about Tredora and Kerdan Jaarmath might be true. "High Priestess of the Temple of Pelor," the Mayor completed. "She is taking overall command of sixty of Brindol's Clerics, many of them from her own temple.
"Sellyria Starsinger of Starsong Hill," Jaarmath continued as he presented Eldarion's mother. She was already well known to all of the party, not just her son. "The Elves in the north of the Vale are few in number, but Sellyria has bought seventy-five of her Owl Riders with her, who can act as scouts and mobile archers.
"Lady Soranna Anitah of Drellin's Ferry," he announced; this was another who was well known to the group. She smiled at them all with recognition. Arden was pleased to see that she'd escaped to Brindol. "Soranna will help to command the Militia that we have conscripted, several of whom are citizens who travelled here with her from the West. Also, quite significantly," he added, waving a new piece of parchment in his right hand, "she brings a report of the forces that we can expect to be facing supplied by… Joerr?"
"Jorr," Seranna corrected. "Jorr Natherson."
"He survived?" Elantar cut in.
"He did," she smiled. This was good news. Arden hadn't yet discovered if Soranna knew his secret, but had never wanted to risk exposing him by asking outright.
"Soranna?" Jaarmath gestured, as he passed her back the scouting report that Jeor had provided. He re-took his seat, and sipped at a cup.
"There are several thousand invaders moving through the Vale," she began.
"How reliable is this information?" Varassa interrupted.
"Jorr risked much to get this to us," she responded. "I've known him for a long time; he has no reason to invent what he's seen. Besides, other, more recent, scouting reports seem to corroborate what he's stated."
"Three of us met him," Arden added, "and can vouch for him too." Buttercup looked directly at Varassa and thumped her chest. This seemed to silence her, for now.
"Jorr didn't take an exact head count, but I trust his judgements. Their mainline infantry numbers at around six-thousand, about a third of which are Archers. There are several Goblin Auxiliary units, including around two-hundred Dire Wolf riders." Arden's eyes widened at that. That was an impressive cavalry force. But there was more to come.
"About one-hundred and twenty Ogres; two-hundred Doom Hand Clerics; a few units of Doom Fist Monks; a hundred Bugbear Berserkers; two-hundred Hobgoblin Warbrutes…" Several around the room sat aghast at the numbers arrayed against them, and a few looked uncomfortably at Jaarmath.
"He counted twenty-two Hill Giants; Around thirty Sorcerers and Mind-Benders, and about fifty various monsters, including Wyverns, Barghests, Manticores, Greenspawn Razorfiends and one huge Red Dragon."
"Well…" Eldarion started, but didn't quite know how to continue.
"There are still Greenspawn Razorfiends?" Gravak asked. "We didn't kill all of them?"
"The spawning pools at Rhest were their largest concentration of Razorfiends," Sellyria answered, "but they had others." Gravak cursed under his breath and shook his head at this.
"If we can finish the introductions?" Jaarmath came to Gravak next in the circle, and hesitated. "Err… Perhaps you'd all like to introduce yourselves?"
"We've met most here before," Arden answered sharply. "If we've not, you'll get the hang of us pretty quickly. Gravak, Elantar, Taldir… I'm Arden… Buttercup, Boshley and Eldarion," she listed quickly, completing the circle back to Jaarmath.
"We're very gratified by your aid in this situation," Varassa nodded respectfully.
"Indeed," Jaarmath picked up, "you've accomplished much already… Now; to my plan for the defence!"
The Mayor unrolled a parchment, which was a detailed map of the city. On this, he began laying small carved wooden tokens, which presumably represented different units. Arden wasn't a brilliant strategist, but even she could see something very wrong with his ideas already.
"The river will form a firm anchor for our right flank, and the Shining Axes, a Dwarven mercenary company from Hammerfist Hold, on the left," he began, moving another wooden marker onto his map, this one carrying a painted pair of crossed golden axes. "The Lions of Brindol are elite combat warriors, and the finest that we have available to us; two thousand of them will form our main battle line, and will easily outclass the Hobgoblin front line troops." Elantar smirked at this, Boshley shot Lars Ulverth a concerned look, and Gravak frowned.
"We have few archers, but all those available will stand on the walls, ready to rain volley fire on the invaders. They will be supplemented by one-hundred-and-fifty Combat Sorcerers from the Mage's Guild, and as many of the militia that we can equip with crossbows. An Aid Station will be positioned just inside the main gate, where all sixty of our Clerics will be situated, defended by Lady Kaal's House Guard.
"The standing guard from Brindol and other towns who have fled in this direction number about five hundred: these, along with around five thousand Militia recruited from the population will wait in reserve, ready to move forwards and plug any gaps in the lines that may appear.
"The Tiri Kitor Elves of Starsong Hill will act as a mobile scouting and archer unit, ready to report on anything unexpected, and to deal with the flying creatures that we will face."
There was silence for a few seconds as everybody took this in. Jaarmath's plan, if followed, would be an appalling waste of life, and a sure-fire way to lose the city.
"How long do we have?" Arden asked.
"Latest reports," Seranna continued, "judging by their speed so far, put them around six days away."
"Are we in agreement?" Jaarmath asked expectedly. He moved towards the map. There were several murmurs of dissent from around the table that made him start. He immediately took on a defensive posture; Arden saw that he needed a bit of encouragement, but knew that nobody in the room really thought his plan was any good.
"Lord Jaarmath," she began politely, "I have no doubt that your Lions can easily outmatch the invaders, but hundreds of people have fled the Vale to come here, to Brindol, because it is a city that will be hard to take when the walls are defended by stout men such as yours." There were several nods of approval, not least from Ulverth himself.
"To deploy our forces in front of the walls," she continued, "surely throws away one of our biggest advantages, and places many more lives at risk than are necessary?"
"I believe she's right, my Lord," Ulverth responded. "In addition, we are greatly outnumbered," he continued. "Uncouth as their warriors are, there are at least three times as many of them than us. In the open field, that will be telling."
"Then… I'll hear other suggestions," Jaarmath said hesitantly, brushing his markers from the map.
"The Archers and Combat Sorcerers should remain on the walls," Elantar insisted, and stood to replace them where they had just been.
"The attack will surely hit from the west," Soranna announced, and repositioned a few units to concentrate forces, where Elantar had spread them more thinly around the city.
"The toughest units, your Lions," Boshley said with a nod to Ulverth, "and the Dwarves," he added as he picked up the relevant markers, "should stand guard behind the gates and the weakest parts of the walls."
"These walls have stood for centuries…" Jaarmath countered. "They won't break through them."
"You have square towers," Elantar observed. "They are a vulnerable point. Curved walls are much harder to break down, but you don't have any."
"Fine…" he mumbled. "What else?"
"If we have six days," Gravak answered, "there are several things we can do outside to hinder the invaders."
"Of course; we're already discussing a palisade and an abatis with our engineers," Jaarmath answered, determined to sound more competent. "They will have representatives here tomorrow for further discussion in any case."
"Good," Arden answered.
"Where does this gate lead to?" Elantar asked, gesturing to the north gate of the city.
"Towards Starsong Hill and Rhest," Sellyria answered.
"Are we sure that there are no enemy north of the Elsir?" she asked.
"We're fairly certain," she responded. "My riders are keeping watch on both sides of the river. The Red Hand appear to be keeping to the south bank."
"If we can make certain," Elantar added, "the north gate should be our line of retreat, should we need one. Any remaining civilians should head that way."
"Agreed," Tredora stated simply.
"Ah," Jaarmath began, "High Priestess. Given this adapted plan, your aid station should now be situated at the Temple of Pelor."
"Fine, my Lord," Tredora agreed with a coy nod. The rumours were almost certainly true, Arden thought with a smile to herself.
"Iss on an 'ill?" Buttercup pointed.
"Yes?" Jaarmath responded hesitantly. "It's excellently located: Central; easy to defend; easy to reach from all parts of the wall."
"An' an easy targit for their flyin' monstas," Buttercup insisted. "Da hurt people aren't safe dere… I've bin updere meself yesterday, an' it ain't easy ta diffend."
"My House Guard are more than capable of defending the Temple," Varassa Kaal insisted.
"I don't think that's the pertinent point here," Elantar interjected. "The Clerics are surely much more use closer to the front lines; where our fighters will be actually getting hurt?" Tredora looked horrified at this suggestion, but Elantar continued regardless. "Having to transport the injured half a mile across the city is completely impractical, and takes people away from other useful things they could be doing… Sixty Clerics spread out around the lines where they can do the most good: that's got to be better than this?" she asked, to much agreement around the room.
"I can't sanction that!" Jaarmath insisted. "The Aid Station must be as far from the front lines as we…"
'You just want Tredora to be safe!" Varassa shouted as she stood and pointed accusingly. There were several gasps around the table. Jaarmath bristled and blushed. Arden smirked. The rumours were definitely true.
"How about…" Elantar began to break the silence. "How about," she continued more confidently, "finding a body guard of ten for each Cleric, perhaps from the most competent members of the Militia? Or even from the City Guards or Lady Varassa's House Guard too?" This suggestion seemed to appeal to most present. Tredora Goldenbrow seemed unconvinced, but realised that any further protests were going to be shouted down, especially after Jaarmath himself had been won-over.
"Next item up," the Mayor continued with a sigh, "is the seven of you," as he gestured towards Arden and her companions. "Now… you all have experience fighting the Red Hand, and a great deal of success so far. We are very fortunate to have you." It might have been embarrassing if it wasn't so true, Arden thought.
"You seem to have valuable skills, and work well as a unit," Ulverth picked up. "As such, we feel it would be foolish to separate you out to fight amongst others with similar skills, and see it as prudent to keep you together as a specialist force to be dispatched to deal with serious threats to the line." On the one hand, staying with others she knew and trusted was very agreeable, on the other, it seemed to Arden like they would be given some of the more dangerous tasks.
"Is this agreeable to you?" Jaarmath asked. A quick glance around the table suggested that they were, as everybody nodded their assent.
"Finally for today," the Major continued, "Immersten the Red of the Mage's Guild has offered to set up a link by which we can communicate. This can include up to four persons, who will be able to communicate with one another for as long as they survive during the battle." This caused much interest around the table, and Arden got the feeling that there'd been some discussion over this already. "Because of the way that the spell is cast, Immersten will need to be one of the four. I, as overall commander, will be the second. One of the seven of you," he gestured to the party, "should be included."
"I'll do it," Arden volunteered, keen to represent them.
"Very good," Jaarmath agreed. "This leaves us one more space. Some around the table have ideas about who this should be." Varassa Kaal, Tredora Goldenbrow and Lars Ulverth all looked up at this point.
"I feel that," Varassa began, "seeing as my force will form an important part of the…"
"No," Elantar interrupted. "It should be someone in the air," she added, looking directly at Sellyria Starsinger.
"Definitely," Arden pressed. "The owl riders will have the best view of how the battle unfolds, and will be best placed to direct reinforcements." Ulverth and Tredora both conceded this point. Varassa Kaal betrayed her thoughts quite plainly; she felt like she was being shut out of the decision-making circle.
"Very well," Jaarmath concluded. "Do you have a Captain to nominate Lady Sellyria?"
"I will be there myself," she replied.
"So… it is decided," Jaarmath nodded. "We meet again tomorrow, after breakfast, to discuss the defences. Until then…"