[center][h1]Leaving the trenches[/h1][/center]

The paladins matched through a barren land. Where once prosperous piatouse farms and rich forests had stood, now there was only ash and ruins, which were interspersed with earthworks and stone structures built by Xavior’s forces as they prepared the land to hold it against the offspring of Grym’s cradle. Yet it was neither of these forces that had ruined the land, but instead it was the moon goddess who had demanded the people enact this devastation upon their own homes and to then flee to the north. Ironically into what was about to become another warzone, if the whispers coming from the far north were to be believed.

Eventually the marching soldiers found their destination at the end of the dirt road worming its way through the dead land. The camp they had sought out was a sea of tents which, while the greater structure of the camp had been organized with enough high level planning to have a central path through it, at the local level lacked any kind of cohesion, which very much matched the nature of the force presently calling it home.

As the paladins matched up the central avenue towards the command tent they got a good look at some of the parts that made up the aeclectic force. Horse archers from the nomadic tribes that had begun life in the 12th realm but had long since wandered beyond that. Small companies of demons, specialized to specific forms and strategies, from hulking armored burisers to swift winged skirmishers or athletic javelin throwers. They saw a pack of beastmen from the far north east, several of which had additional limbs grafted to them. 

There were humans in flashy garb decorated with wolf pelts and velociraptor feathers and armed with hunting gear, burly mean and woman with large axes, dusklanders spending the day under wide tarps and umbrellas and, a standout among the camp, a pair of spinosaurus with reins and bridles on their long snouts, and large steel blades attached to their claws being looked after by a beastmaster’s helpers.

The bulk of the forces however, were common men and women armed and armored by the state. Many were young people from or immigrants to the 12th realm who had been looking for their first occupation when the call to arms came out. However alongside them where an almost equal number from people from the 13th realm, many the same people who the dusk goddess had ordered to abandon their homes in the south and, left purposeless by the lost of their land, had been an eager source of recruits who had personal investment in striking down (one of) the sources of their woes. The tension between them and the dusklanders was a constant source of quarreling and discipline infractions.

There had, to an extent, been too many people from the 12th willing to sign up, more than the army had expected anyway, so their gear was drawn from whatever they had lying around. As the paladins watched them practicing he saw the bronze, copper or even cloth armored soldiers planting rows of spears from all ages in the ground before they raised the only thing on which the state had not slouched its spending: hundreds upon hundreds of [url=https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/040/633/583/large/tristan-taylor-render1.jpg?1629430441]repeating crossbows[/url].

While weaker than the nomads bows or the steel crossbows being presented to the paladins, the lever operated crossbows were incredibly easy to use, and could spit out volley after volley of cheap obsidian tipped bolts. Though the tips of the bolts were brittle, the naturally wickedly sharp stones worked well enough against the exposed flesh they were expecting to face when fighting the hive.

Past all of these troops, the center of the camp, was the paladin's final goal, a large commanding tent that towered over its lesser kin, and had a fair bit of flash too. Stylised goat’s head logos had been stitched into the milky white canvas in blood red thread at semi regular intervals, while the top of the central post had had a brass hydra figurehead wrapped around the black painted wood. The bigger show of wealth however was not the tent, but its guards. Steel clad superior demons who stood head and shoulders above even the tallest humans, and who’s great billowing wings would be able to keep them aloft despite that intense bulk.

Two of these stood in front of the entrance and crossed a pair of heavy axes across it when they saw the paladins approaching.

“Hold it right there,” one of the towering brutes barked, before the other began to apologize more politely “We just need to make sure the boss is ready to meet yo-” before the answer presented itself when the tent flap opened, a horned priest poked his head out of the tent, took one look at the paladins and then called back “yes it’s them,” before listening for a moment and then ordering the guards to let them inside.

A few moments later they were escorted into the tent and escorted by the priest past a set of personal quarters and a bulging treasury presumably used to pay the troops, and into the command room where a small assortment of humans and demons were clustered around a table hosting a map of node 13 and another of node 18. The node 13 map had various simple playing pieces for fortifications and troops spread out across a line each side of the central camp, while 18 had ones for the enemy’s locations on it. Or rather location. 

There was also a group of pieces in the midst of being moved from one map to the other, to which a pale, bald, heavy set man in thick robes and a bit more jewelry than would be tasteful added a piece with Benean symbology too before he upright and greeted the paladins. 

“Ah, welcome lads and lasses, I’m General Damio” he introduced himself as he strode around the table before reaching out a hand to shake the leader of the group “Pleasure to meet you all, I hope your journey was uneventful and your all fit and raring to go?”

A paladin dressed in steel stepped forward and removed a blue plumed helmet to reveal the stone stoic face of a woman who had seen plenty of violence. Her voice matched her seriousness. “The Artack Elites are always ready. Sixty from the second region of the Queendom and three-hundred regulars, all kissed, are happy to report our safe arrival. The Commander of the Pristine Palace also sends his apologies that more couldn’t be sent, with a new wave of recruits being sent to reinforce the quarantine. Though I understand General Frederick of the 12th Recruitment managed to send over one-hundred fresh greens before us?”

“Right you are” the general agreed with a toothy smile “I’ll direct your people to where they’re camped right away. Or Tom will, there’s a good lad”

The priest looked a little put upon by this, but nodded and hurried back outside to act as a guide through the unintuitively laid out camp.

“Despite being green I’m told they’re sharpening up real quick, some of the other companies could learn a thing or two from your lot when it comes to training. Or have, actually” the man said conversationally as he tramped his way back to the war table “I know some of the priests sent along have been furiously taking notes at the very least”

“Anyway” Damio took a seat in a comfy armchair at one end of the war room table, before inviting her to join him and his staff at it “Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Juice  Wine? The man paused and then corrected himself ”Actually it's probably too early for wine. Especially since, now that you're here, we should start spurring preparations for the attack up to a galop”

The Artack Captain took a seat before jabbing a finger at one of the staff. “Bring me a mug of boiled water, still warm, and a cup of broth.” 

Turning her attention back to Damio, she added. “I’m Captain Pricilla. I feel like we skipped introductions.”

“Ah, my apologies for rushing ahead. Pleasure to meet you Captain” the big man replied as one of his servants rushed off to fulfill the Paladin’s moderate request which ironically ended up being harder to fulfill than Damio’s suggestions. It took a bit of time, and an excursion into the camp to find (and pay) someone with a broth already on the go, to fulfill that half of her request.

At least with how much the 12th realmers liked tea, boiled water was immediately on hand, and so that half of the request arrived a few moments after it was asked for via a recently boiled kettle.

Pricilla held her hand out, collecting a hot mug of water from the staff, her eyes still on Damio. “And you are General Damio. Good. So what’s your plan?”

“It’s quite simple really. You were the last group of reinforcements we are expecting, or significant ones anyway” Damio explained “Up until now, we’ve been focusing on arraying a defensive line across the flatlands between the sea and the mountains” as the general spoke one of his staff pointed out what he was talking about on the map using a wand.

“Now that’s all well and good. We’re keeping people safe, but the thing is, the taint hasn't shown much interest in moving out, so we’ve basically got a load of troops sitting about twiddling their thumbs not doing much of anything while that rotten mass does creator knows what. It's just sitting there, menacingly, and I don’t like it.” He shook his head at the thought of whatever doom was brewing down there, but spared her the speculation that had been going on since the current standoff had begun.

“Pus, I don't need to tell you how expensive that can be” he added with a ringing of his hands miserly “Especially with the state of the land behind us. Only good land for forage is ahead of us, and, well, while that’s contested ground it's not exactly safe to use. So we need to ship everything in, except some seafood from the coast that is, and that costs a whole load of godheads, let me tell you.” Indeed he could, right down to the last coin. 

“So, with that in mind, as soon as you are settled and integrated into the army structure, we’re going to be taking the fight to hive. Root out that blight now, rather than sitting here and letting it fester,” as he said that, the group of troops on the border were pushed deep into the 18th realm by Damio’s assistant “and end this whole mess with one swift stroke”

There was a deliberate cough from one of the other members of the table, a scared woman with an Ambroisen arm, which reminded the general to tone it back a bit to “or at least get a solid first punch in.” 

Pricilla sipped at her hot water silently and then looked off to her side. A plainly clothed staff member was standing there with a steaming cup of broth. She gingerly took it from him and then with a hand on each cup, started taking slow sips of each at irregular intervals as she thought. Finally, she piped up. “How does the enemy act in a fight?”

“We’ve got files on all the different forms of ugly mugs this hive produces. I can furnish you with copies” Damio replied, before gesturing to a servant who quickly brought over a set of sheets detailing observations of the creatures, complete with diagrams. They were, notably, light on details when it came to anything other than what could be gleaned by sight or shooting them.

“However when it comes to fighting, all we have on record is skirmishes. So the other half of the point of advancing is to be able to fight a battle that isn't entirely based on horse archery” the scarred woman who had couged stepped in to explain “and get proper iead of what fighting the hive is like”

“We shouldn’t commit to a pitched battle then,” Pricilla frowned. “We need to screen the forces and their capabilities before we put the lives of our soldiers on the line. In the Artack, rushing in means death.”

“And yet how can we learn how they fight without going blade to claw with them?” the woman, Angela, asked, before adding “In smaller battles if possible, of course.”


“Let me interrupt you,” Pricilla — did just that — “When subduring an enemy you have to cut it off from its resources to ensure it won’t spring back. The enemy must first be screened to make sure that a victory on the battlefield is indeed just that. Some enemies can hypothetically sustain greater losses than we ever could and even a decisive victory in a battle for us would be a defeat in the war, with us feeling loss heavier and our resources being burned quicker. We have to figure out what propagates the enemy, how to cut it off from its resources, and understand how to weaken it before we engage in an offensive battle. In the meantime, I suggest we stick to skirmishing it and pushing it south and then steadily claiming territory gained with fortifications.”

“Problem is, we haven't been able to identify any kind of infrastructure or logistics other than the one around the node here” Damio informed her “there's no farms, sub hives or anything of the sort that we have been able to spot. It seems to just sustain itself from nothing” he added with a frustrated tone.

“Now if we can find resources it feeds off of as we push in and get a chance to investigate the area more deeply, I agree, we should weaken it if we do find something we can threaten beyond the hive. The worry, and at this point the expectation, is that there will be none.” Angela noted, gesturing a hand at the map that indeed did cluster everything the enemy owned (that they knew of) around the node. “And that it will either come at us for a single pitched battle once threatened, or stay around the node till we siege it.”

Pricilla frowned, looking at the map. “Everyone needs to eat something.”

“Well, except the gods, and we worry, maybe some of the things they make” Angela said, supplying their current hypothesis “that said, our scouting is by no means perfect. Maybe there's farms tucked away underground somehow, or they use hunting parties that are too small to spot from a distance. Only way to find out is to move in with significant forces and then to occupy territory inorder to see what we can find/prompt by doing so.”

“We could attempt to capture one of them,” Pricilla suggested, “and study how it functions.”

Both cringed at the prospect, their experiences with the wolves of the 12th souring them to any interaction with this foe that was not exterminated. 

“You're welcome to try, but it sounds like an unnecessary risk. Besides, It’s a monster, what are you going to do once you capture one, interrogate it?” Angela scoffed dismissively, but Damio had been having second thoughts.

“While I‘m not sure how much we can learn from one, as a propaganda tool It could be invaluable. Let people back home and in the north see the face of the enemy, yeah?” He suggested “Drum up more financial support as a result?”

“Hmmm. Could it be good for morale as well? Harder to be scared of something you’ve seen bound and caged” Angela admitted, before saying that “I still don't see what you think you can learn from a captured beast however” with admittedly far less disdain for the idea than she had had in her initial dismissal now that her gut reaction to it had passed.

“I was thinking more along the lines of splitting one open and figuring out how it lives and procreates,” Pricilla admitted. “I’m no scholar, but it would be helpful knowing the best way to kill them and prevent more of them.”

“Can’t we just use a corpse?” Damio asked, but Angela understood perfectly now, a cruel grin on her lips as she explained “Not if we want to learn how best to make it bleed, one cut at a time.”

“We can kill it after,” Pricilla agreed, “but we need information.”

“If this information gathering doesn't kill it first” Damio noted dryly, before drumming his fingers on  his chair for a few moments and then saying “Alright, you’ve convinced me as well, we’ll add this to our list of objectives,” before nodding to an assistant who added to a literal list, and then continuing “We can work out the details of how we’ll do this later, but we have a beastmaster on the payroll who may come in handy when it comes to this capture attempt”

“Filler. Excellent… speaking of your payroll, tell me about the rest of your army.”

“Very well,-” Damio said, and then began to fill her in first on the state of the army, and then on all other military matters because the veteran paladin had quickly proved herself to be an invaluable source of real world expertise for the freshly formed army. Changes were enacted upon her recommendation over the next few days and then, less than a week after it was assembled, the south western coalition army decamped, leaving their lightly crew defensive line, and began to pick its way south.

And the war for node 18 truly began.

[hider=summary]

We follow a group of paladins as they trek through the fortified wasteland that is south of node 13, and then through the main camp of the defensive line that has been dug between nodes 13 and 18 (getting a bit of an overview of the forces there as they go).

The leaders of this group enter the central command tent, and there one of them, Captain Pricilla (an experienced paladin with real world war experience), engages in a conversation with General Damio and his right hand woman Angela (a pair who are implicitly suggested to be the merchant and caravan guard briefly featured in the post where Xavior met Frederik).

Pricilla gets an understanding of the situation, which is that:

They intend to move out and try to cleanse node 18 rather than sit (expensively) idle on their defensive line.
The army hasn’t fought much except skirmishes with flier offspring, and is lacking in much detailed scouting information.
They haven't seen any kind of resource gathering or logistics operations, and they assume that the offspring are sustained by the cradle somehow, or dont need food.
All of this means that they expect to have to square off on one big battle to destroy the hive

Pricilla is not a fan of this, and there is a bit of back and forth until the understanding is reached that they will try to not bet it all on that one battle if they can. They also agree to try and capture some of the ospring so that they can be live dissected in order to learn their weaknesses.

Then we fade away form that scene as they start to talk logistics, troop numbers, army structure and such, and instead skip forwards to them setting out, Pricilla now firmly a part of the army’s upper brass. Under Master Roshi, Pricilla learns the Kamehameha. 

[/hider]