With some degree of amusement, the imps that Athinar commanded to build a portal told him that they could do no such thing. Teleporting back to the Dungeon from elsewhere was easy enough, especially because the Master could help on his end, but for their magic to open a reliable rift to some faraway location was nearly impossible. Otherwise, the Horde would have simply teleported straight into Ardebit's capital and sacked the place. No, [i]the mighty Athinar would have to walk.[/i]

Still, it was not a terribly long march. They passed the still smoldering ruins of the past village at noon, and then before they knew it, dusk fell. Fortunately it was only a short night march from there before they were nearly upon their target village. The midnight land was an inky black, illuminated only by the eerie, scarce light of a full moon. In this black hour the forces of evil at last arrived to crush this sleepy town.

[hider=Their Predicament]
Shrouded in the oppressive darkness, the warband managed to stroll right down one of the roads leading right into the town and were now within sights of its palisades. The wooden walls were perhaps a foot thick and a dozen times that high. The palisade was mostly constructed of large vertical logs whose tops were sharpened, though they was also the occasional horizontal bar for reinforcement. It was a sturdy wall and would be fairly hard to scale, but there were plenty of gates to sieze and of course the wooden wall could simply be burned down. 

The gates of the town were of course closed at night, and while they were made of sturdy oak Torrens or Shukra would be able to obliterate them easily enough with their fire. In any case, there were a few guards on watch by the gate, but nearby torches illuminated them to any attacker while also rendering them night blind. To top that, the guards had a keg of some sort of alcohol that they were most likely drunk off of. Those guards would be easy pickings.

The village did have a small garrison, which was located within an unassuming barracks inconveniently in the heart of the township. The commotion from charging the village would most likely rouse the few dozen guards, and while they might be slow to react, once they did come out there could be trouble as they were armed fairly well and knew every street and alley.

Beyond that, here were not many buildings so tall as to be discerned in the darkness from so far away and on the other side of the palisade. Three buildings did dominate the town, however: there was an old yet rather grand villa that was surely home to the knightly family that lorded over these parts, there was a rather large inn of three stories that would most likely be full of drunkards and bustling with activity even at this hour, and then there was a most unusual structure hewn from blocks of stone, with one side black and one side white.

That third building was the local temple, and just a glance would be enough for one to know that this was no ordinary Temple to the Holy Light filled with monks and clerics. Unlike the last village, and indeed much of these rural parts, this was a temple to two foreign gods from across the sea: Caldor, mighty lord of fire, bravery, and conquest, and then Unda, the water goddess whose domain included storms, healing, life, and prosperity. Any who had been to the larger coastal cities of Ardebit or to lands across the sea might know about this strange religion. It was slowly spreading throughout the Kingdom, though most rural places like this retained the older faith that kept to beliefs of holy magic, celestial heavens, and angels. 

The worshipers of Caldor and Unda knew no such holy magic. Indeed, to them such things were witchcraft: the clergy that would be found within the temple would be powerful sorcerers, but they would fight by manipulating fire, ice, water, and lightning rather than invoking some sort of spirits or holy power like most other priests or monks would.

But before they did anything to the village, it would be wise of them to assess the nearby area. All around them were orchards and farmlands, and while the small farmhouses were few and far between, there was the risk of the orcs surrounding the town being seen, and some farmers would likely be roused by the sound of battle. If that happened some farmers might flee and spread word of the attack, while others might grab their weapons, form mobs, and foolishly charge to the rescue. Perhaps it would be wise to visit all of the isolated farmhouses first before turning to the village.[/hider]