[IC] A War Filled World (NecroKnight x Valchyrie)

[Valchyrie]

Eternal Grounds had gotten it’s name from it’s current ruler: Queen Marosa Saint Cherival. She had been said to have ruled the kingdom for more than five hundred years, and have seen the world change, the way that no other creature would have been able to. The reason to her immortality was unknown and she didn’t share many secrets with the people inside the kingdom. She was not a ruthless ruler, she was a Queen with the heart in the right place, but she could be tough if she needed to. Tough decisions had made the kingdom last for all these years and the tough decisions had been the reason behind their survival against the Giants attack that usually came once every one hundredth year. It was a beautiful kingdom and the location of it, gave it a lot of sounds that the nature was responsible for. All the birds singing in the trees, the different growls from different predators and so on. A beautiful place to behold, at least for those that didn’t live there. For those who did live there, it was also a beautiful thing, but the people also knew that the mountain and forest that the kingdom was located in, were a dangerous and treacherous location to walk around in and live in. The beautiful tones of the birds, could lead you into a trap, set by mimicking animals, or animals that worked together for a share of the food. A beautiful place indeed, but dangerous.

Queen Marosa Saint Chervial knew the forest and the mountain like the back of her hand, she could track anyone and anything that moved through the forest and mountain, and she loved to hunt in the forest, when her guards didn’t make her stay back in the kingdom. They didn’t want her to risk her own life, when the kingdom depended on her for it’s survival, but sometimes she wanted to get away from the Royal Duties of a Queen, and just live like a normal person, or at least as normal as it could be when you are skilled with magic and bow and arrows. Therefore, when she got the chance, she went outside of the kingdom and started hunting the animals in the forest. It was two-hundred years after she had claimed the throne, that she then met a companion that should prove to be much more than a normal animal. A white wolf, with yellow eyes had been hurt and was in pain. While Marosa loved to hunt and loved the thrill of taking down a target, she also felt sorry for animals that weren’t killed instantly. This wolf had been caught in a bear trap, which had gnawed into it’s right back leg and it couldn’t get free. Instead of killing it, Marosa approached it slowly and cared for it. The wolf didn’t want to get close to her at first, but it couldn’t move away from her, and it was too exhausted to try and defend itself against Marosa, so it had already given up the fight, despite being a strong wolf. Though when she started caring for it and just stayed by it for a few minutes, it dropped it’s guard and became more curious at the situation. Marosa then freed it from the bear trap and took care of it’s wounds with some leafs and tore a piece of her clothing at that time, and wrapped it around it’s leg. The wolf never left her side since that day. Today, the wolf was still alive, 400 years later, and a close companion of Marosa.

This event was a very highly debated topic at the time, how Marosa had managed to tame a wild, yet beautiful big wolf. But today, it was more like a fairytale, than fact. People that were alive today, hadn’t been around when the event had occurred and many thought that it was a story created by the former citizens of the kingdom, because of Marosa’s immortality. They couldn’t deny that the wolf had been there for a long time, but in their minds, it could as well had gotten a baby wolf, and that baby wolf could have become an adult and then repeated the cycle for all these years. Marosa herself hadn’t spoken about it to the public as she saw no need to tell them the story of what happened. Besides, as stories were told repeatedly, it was always changed into something different and she knew that you shouldn’t underestimate a good story, it could really boost morale.

And morale was something they could use now. The orcs had come out of nowhere, and in numbers that hadn’t been seen in years. They were much more intelligent that they used to be, and their armor and weapons looked like they were made by professional weapon smiths and not just something that had been thrown together in a random fire pit somewhere. They were organized and tactical about their approach of the kingdom, but of course, Marosa hadn’t managed to stay Queen of the kingdom without fighting, so even though the orcs were more organized than usual, her soldiers and her managed to keep them out of the city. The battle against the orcs were taking place all over the forest and the mountain, between all the trees and jungle like terrain. The problem wasn’t that they couldn’t defeat the orcs strength, that was a rather easy task despite their upgrade in intelligence and weaponry. The problem was the insane numbers that the orcs had suddenly arrived with, without any explanation as to why they had arrived. Marosa had heard that there had been orcs who were waging war and taking over territory, but she hadn’t expected it to be this much of a hassle. When they reached the third day, even her men were starting to get tired and make mistakes, which meant they were starting to make mistakes and get caught off guard. At the end of the third day, she sent out ten scouts with a message for help. She couldn’t promise a reward in the midst of a battle, but she hoped someone would send help against these brutal beasts, before they would gain too much territory and before they would gain entrance to the city. The fight could still be won inside the city, but the causalities would rise dramatically and that was the last thing she wanted.

[NecroKnight]

Archibald Riverdane, looked over the dead scout - that had been brought to his War Room. The poor lad had died on his way through the Bone Desert - he had to give the scout credit. Not many were eager enough to treck through the Bone Desert - it wasn't called that, because of its dryness. More so, its deadly sand-storms, poisonous critters and near lack of water for miles. Still he had managed to reach the lands of Zaros, before he died. Luckily a few border guards had recovered him, and the message he had been carrying.

The message itself claimed a request for aid, from the Eternal Grounds. That was rich and ironic in its own sense - namely because, often times it had been called on how the Eternal Grounds - were the equal of some ancient cultural civilization and the all the others were savages. Well, atleast that was the tone that was usually used whenever, they talked with the Zaros Imperium. It wasn't so much an Imperium and more likely - a single large city ontop of a mountail structure and all around them sand, sand and more sand. It wasn't much to look at, but it belonged to the Zarosians and they defended their land to the death.

Their lands were a death-trap in itself, but the bounty of the land came, from where many overlooked it. Underneath the sand and dry ground laid the largest caches of mineral resources in the lands. It what gave Zaros its might and what many kingdoms, warlords and rulers before - had attempt to get for themselves. Usually at the prospect of trampling and killing off the people living there. It had been only around two centuries ago, that the first King of Zaros - had declared no more, rallied what people remained and constructed a great fortress in the mountain complex that existed in the Bone Desert.

Ever since then, many of their people had become something more. More militant, more harsh and more...some say cruel. Some spoke on how, Zaros was breaking the right of its people. Enslaving them, forcing them into their army, warlike mentality. Experimenting on their own people, to create war soldiers. It wasn't like Zaros had any choice, they lived for war - since their neighbours time again showed that the weak subjugated the strong. And to stop that, the weak must become strong. Nowadays, none dared risk the wrath of Zaros - less they be attacked by their endless hordes of golems and deadly rifles.

A weaker man, would have simply ignored this request and laughed as the Eternal Grounds was reduced to cinder - many times like how Zaros had been whenever it had been attacked and left in rubble. However, being a War-Master he had always the duty of taking the hard choices - choices that made him out to be a monster, tyrant and sometimes inhuman. However, like this choice now before him - it was all done for the Greater Good. "Summon the Desert Knights and awaken the War Golems. We have a war to reach," spoke Riverdane, readying his people for war.

---

It was on the tenth day of fighting, around the Eternal Grounds that the Zarosian Army arrived. They had marched five days to reach the Eternal Grounds at that. It was at that point, that the first sign of the orc horde was spotted. It was on the tenth day, that the might of Zaros was unleashed and proving why many others feared them now.

Lead by War-Master Archibald Riverdane himself, he blew the mighty War-Horn said to be carried by the First King himself. Hundreds of Desert Knights and War Golems charged forward at that point - the mighty warframes of Zaros leading the charge. Golems made of metal, stone, flesh, rock and even molten lava. The fury of Zaros soon clashing with the orc horde.

[Valchyrie]

Marosa had been forced to divide her army into groups after the seventh day, because of their losses. The orcs kept coming no matter how many they cut down. It had been impossible to keep her men alive, if she hadn’t started acting a lot more tactical than she had done so far. It pissed her off, to put it mildly, that the orcs had gained intelligence and strength to counter more or less anything Marosa and her army could think of and pull out of their sleeves. They still hadn’t gained entrance to the city, thankfully, but they had been damn close with a few attempts. A few orcs had been seen running on the far side of the mountain, coming close to the city walls with primitive bombs strapped to their chests. Luckily, her archers on the walls had spotted them before it had been too late and had fired arrows into their bombs, making them explode just before they could reach the city walls and do major damage to them. However, that hadn’t stopped the orcs from trying to conquer the city.

The three groups she had assembled on the seventh day, had been an aggressive group, which had the task of drawing the orcs attention and keeping the fight where it was. The second group had been given medical assignments, which meant go and rescue any soldier that had fallen to injuries and take them back into the city. Besides that, they were in charge of bringing out potions and other medical items to the soldiers who were fighting, without putting themselves at danger. The last group was a scouting-assassination group. Their task was to go around the enemies and slowly take out a few of them when they could, without being spotted by the orcs, and at the same time, they had to gather information. This tactic had bought Marosa and her soldiers some time, at least a few days, since the orcs hadn’t figured out that Marosa had changed the tactics of the war.

In the meantime, she was assembled with her two generals in the castle war room. “We can’t keep this up Marosa! The orcs have numbers never seen before! If we keep fighting, everything will be lost!” that was her general that had expertise in strategy, and he had been one of the brains behind their new tactics, but even he knew that this was impossible to keep up. The other general that was in the room was the one in charge of warfare. “And what do you suggest we do General Tura? Give up and wave the white flag? The orcs won’t take prisoners, they never have and those they do take, are turned into orcs themselves, through extreme and painful torture. Would you want that for our citizens?” he asked him. Tura, the strategic general gritted his teeth and hit his fist down into the war table in front of them “Some might be sparred! We have no real clue as to what the orcs want or who are leading them General Harker.” Harker shook his head “Exactly! We don’t know anything of their true intentions and you are proposing that we give up!” Marosa slammed both her hands into the war table “ENOUGH! You can discuss and kill each other all you want after we have finished this battle, if any of us are still standing! Both of you shut up now!” they both went silent, taken a moment to calm down, at least for now. Marosa then looked to both of them “I don’t plan on going down without a fight, and I certainly don’t plan on giving up. If I am to be defeated, it will be by death. Our tactics have bought us some time, but it’s time for me to go out again and join the fight, the same goes for you two. We’ve had a few days’ rest, that’s more than any of our soldiers out there. With our own strength, we can buy ourselves a few more days.” She said, looking at them both. Tura sighed “To what point? Sooner or later we will be defeated.” Harker shook his head “I agree with Marosa, if we are to be defeated, it will be in battle. That’s what we’ll do now.” Tura shrugged “Then let me suggest that we start using our witches and mages to enhance our archers’ arrows.” Marosa nodded “Your request is granted. Do as you see fit. Now let’s join the fight.” With that, they all left the war room and joined the battle.

That was on the seventh day, since then, they had now reached the tenth day and many of her soldiers had fallen in battle now. Marosa herself had taken heavy damage from arrow wounds and sword wounds, but she used potions and magic to ignore the pain and she was still fighting. She was running through trees, firing arrows, while her two generals were still alive, and doing what they could against the orcs main forces. She shouted out to them “Any news from our scouts!? It’s been days!” Tura sliced off an orc’s head before shouting back, even though he couldn’t see her. “No news Marosa! I think it’s safe to say that they are all dead!” Marosa sighed. Then so be it, they would have to hold out as long as they could, and deal as much damage to the orcs army as they could, before they would die in battle. An immortal Queen, she had lived for so many decades just to be defeated by orcs. Though one hour later, the scouting group suddenly shouted “Assistance! Bloody hell! There’s assistance on the way! We can turn the tide!” Marosa looked through the trees and there she saw the army that was approaching. There was no mistaking it, the army belonged to the Zarosian Kingdom, and they had arrived at around noon on the tenth day, just in time to make sure the Eternal Grounds kingdom wouldn't fall, as they were fighting on their last strength and energy here on the tenth day. It was raining hard and thunder was striking across the sky furiously, but they had a chance now. Marosa shouted to all her soldiers, using magic to get her voice to carry with the wind, which meant the Zarosian army would be able to hear her voice come roaring through the air and sky “Give them your all! We will defeat these dark creatures and send them back to the hell hole they came from! Zirana hack-ti!” she shouted out on the mother language of the Eternal Grounds kingdom. The fight was going to be turned around now, and Marosa would make sure that the orcs would remember their defeat for many years to come.

[NecroKnight]

@Valchyrie



The first from the Zarosians to engage the orcs - were the dreaded and feared magma golems. Spoken to have been forged in one of the few active magma pits in the Bone Desert. The fire inside them visible through their stone skin, as the two dozen in the front soon clashed with the orcs. Their weapons had less effect on stone at that - some even starting to melt, when they made contact with the more bright spots upon the magma golems. The golems in return however, had no sense of hesitation - as their large fists were already drawn back, before impacting the orcs around them. Hard enough to shatter even the tough bones of the orcs - their armor saving them none from death and injury.

They were merely the heavy-impact troops as, the next wave of shock troopers arrived. These were as well, forged in fire - as the many myths about the Army of Zaros contained. These were the feared war golems, armored in strong suits of steel, given shields and maces that no man was able to wield - they were more precise in their attack, rather than the rip and smash fighting style of the magma golems. These heavy-hitting monsters, clashed against the mighty orc berserkers and the large domesticated trolls. While trolls had enough strength to crush a human or elf into paste easily - against the war golems, they only managed to dent their armor and make the war golems more pissed; as skull after skull was caved in by their maces.



Only after the more heavy-hitters had moved in to engage and sow chaos amongst the orc horde - did the more...human part of the Zaros Army arrive. The disciplined Desert Knights, garbed in their mix uniform of armor and leather - they marched in lockstep, a wall slowly moving forward, a musket in each of their hands at that. Any orcs that dared approach this slow march, ended up receiving a bullet from half of their soldiers in the vicinity. They moved on at that, not stopping to reload - they namely reloaded on the march. One half shooting, while the man next to him fired - it was a continous wall of gunpowder, as the Desert Knights didn't stop at all. As they slowly marched towards the exhausted forces of the Eternal Grounds.

Leading them at the front, was the current King of Zaros. Namely one War-Master Riverdane, decked his ornate armor that was inscribed with several glyphs and ancient blessing in their ancient tongue, all written in golden and silver. He wasn't marching behind the Desert Knight line, infact he marched infront of their line - rather several metres infront at that, the line following after their King. He didn't dodge nor attempt to sidestep, whenever an arrow was shot at his direction. Namely they impacted and bounced of his plate-armor. Whenever some orc managed to get close enough, he raised the flintlock pistol he carried - and shot the orc, with the pistol unleashing enough force to tear the orc in half with the loud noise of a cannon being fired.

Marosa herself would understand the reason. It was one of the few magical feats from Zaros. While their people lacked access to higher magics - like conjuration, divination or even summoning. They did infact possess a different ability - namely the ability to affect bane. Or as some of her people knew, as life-energy. Some of the best healers in the world came from Zaros, since the greatest banecasters could heal a person with a snap. There was however, another type of ability for bane. Namely a thing called bane-hardening - using life-force to harden the armor, or improve the power or sharpness of a weapon - a hundred times over at that. Making normal steel almost as hard a stone wall; or enable a simple rifle or pistol, to fire with the force of a cannon; or have a simple sword have the potential to cut solid stone, like butter. It was one of the few things, that many called the Zarosians barbaric and inhumane for doing. Since many assumed that they used human sacrifice, to fuel such weaponry and enchantments. Whatever the case was now, it made the King whom marched infront of his army - essentially immune to the arrows shot his way. And any orc stupid enough to try and fight him, ended up essentially a red mess on the forest floor - or cut in half by his likely bane-hardened steel sword.

Soon enough the column of rifleman and their King arrived, close to Marosa' group. The air smelling of gunpowder, and the War-Master whom stood close enough - that she could see his green eyes underneath the helmet that covered his face. His own appearance, being one of calmness and short, dry humor.

"Well, well. Queen Marosa, if I am not mistaken. The paitings of your image, don't tell the whole truth - I am afraid," he spoke, gently cleaning of his bane-sword of orc blood and calming reloading his flint-lock pistol. "It would seem you have an orc problem. One that required, asking the barbaric, backwards and inhuman Zaros Imperium for aid."

[Valchyrie]

Marosa watched as the Zarosian army went all out and led the orcs to hell. It was an impressive sight, seeing how the golems and the soldiers of the Zarosian army fought the orcs. However, the orcs were persistent, they had been so close to taking the Eternal Grounds’ walls, but Marosa and her warriors had been able to withstand that attack far longer than any of the other kingdoms the orcs had been able to conquer on their journey. It was a nice change of pace, and even though the orcs were being persistent, they were also being pushed back by the two armies that were now working together. This gave Marosa some breathing room, and when she was approached, and spoken too, but the commander of the forces, none other than Riverdane himself, she gave herself time to indulge in his conversation. Though there was one thing he seemed to have gotten wrong in his thoughts about Marosa and her way of thinking, and that was, that Marosa saw his kingdom as barbaric and inhuman, whereas she saw his kingdom as one, willing to do the necessary to stay alive, much like herself.

She was still wounded, but because of the breathing room that she had gained, her body started to heal on it’s own, though it took longer than usual because of the poison that the orcs’ arrows were coated in, but her body was countering it, if at a slow pace. “Commander Riverdane. I can’t tell you how glad I am to see someone finally arrive. I'm afraid that the paintings of me you have seen, were without the damage I have sustained in this war. I can assure you, that my beauty isn't justfied in the paintings you have seen.” She said with a small grin. She was exhausted and tired from her wounds, and even though they were healing, they weren’t closing. “But you seem to have misunderstood my view of your nation, which is understandable, as we have had little to do with each other throughout the years.” She said. “I have no thoughts of your nation, which would put you in a barbaric or inhuman light. I think of your nation as one, which is willing to do what is necessary, to stay alive in harsh environment, if the stories of your nation is to be believed, of course.” She explained. She didn’t know how Riverdane would take that kind of information, as it seemed to be quite different than what he usually were told, but that was the truth after all.

Marosa looked behind her and saw how the Zarosian forces, alongside her own soldiers and rangers were quickly cutting down the orcs and making their numbers decrease rapidly. It was a wonder that they had stayed alive for that long, though it had cost Marosa a lot of soldiers and friends, to stay alive. She turned her eyes back to Riverdane “I didn’t just send out one scout to reach you, I sent out ten scouts to ask the nations and kingdoms around the world for help, but it seems you were the only one willing to answer the call. Whether or not you want a reward, which I would imagine, is something we can discuss after we have finished up here, but be warned, I don’t have much to give and I will have to attend to a mass funeral first, before the reward can be discussed, as an honor to my people.” She explained. She didn’t care that much if he felt like he wanted to agree to that, but no matter what, he was a commander of a nation himself, and as such, he would hopefully understand what a ruler had to prepare for, after a battle like this had taken place.

She grabbed her bow and gave him a small courtesy “We are driving the orcs back for now, let’s finish this and I’ll gladly have a more fulfilling conversation with you and your men. We will also provide living quarters for you and your men of course, so you can rest up, before journeying back to your own home once more.” With that, she stood up normally again and turned around. She jumped up in the tree closest to her, and her men followed. She was rather flexible and fit to be able to manage such a high jump without much effort, then again, she did live and had lived in the forest and the mountains for many decades. She now started firing arrows at a very high speed, from the trees, while making her way back to the front gates of the Eternal Grounds walls. Once she got there, she got on top of the gates with her six archers that had been following her after she had reached the wall. They all aimed up into the sky now and just as they fired, a lightning flash was seen from all six arrows. At first, nothing happened, but then a moment later, hundreds of arrows came falling down with the speed of light, only hitting the orcs. This, combined with the forces of Zaros, was the last thing that the orcs could take. They started to retreat from the battlefield. The battle was finished, but the war was far from over.

[NecroKnight]

@Valchyrie

War-Master Riverdane at that ordered his troops to move forward. Delegating his magma golems, to make sure the orcs left these grounds post-haste. And nothing inflicted some good casualties like hitting the enemy when they were retreating at that.

The rest of his War Golems he ordered to help go and delegate with the wounded. They were strong in that, they could easily help clear the broken trees and dead bodies at that. Decay and blood-borne diseases might settle in at that, and he wasn't upto seeing what kind of illness the orcs might carry at that. Setting up somesort of fire at that, for the dead horde - and letting it burn under the heat of the magma golems.

Luckily enough, he had brought alongside him several Banecasters. Namely people who were experts in the art of Bane - or lifeforce at that. Making them excellent healers, to the many those whom had received injuries but had managed to life on after the initial onslaught. He had his troops form a semi-circle - namely around the front gates of the Eternal Grounds. Incase the orcs decided to return with reinforcements at that. Or worse, tried to deploy a counter-attack at that.

For the most part he simply walked along the line - checking up on his soldiers, as they held the line and kept guarding against any further incursions or likely attacks. While the healers worked their magic and aided the Eternal Grounds warriors to get better. While the Golems cleared and burned away the wretched filth that had attacked the kingdom.

[Valchyrie]

After the orcs had fled the battle area, it was nice that Marosa and the Eternal Grounds kingdom had the help of the Zarosian army to take care of their wounded soldiers and help gathering up the dead orc bodies, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers. It had been a tough fight indeed, but it seemed like it was over, at least for now. Though why the orcs had attached, and who they had at their command, was unsure. It was clearly a well-coordinated effort to take down the Eternal Grounds, which would have been a very valuable and defendable area for the orcs to conquer, which was more or less the same reasons why Marosa and her men had managed to stay alive until help arrived. There were many things ahead of them that they needed to figure out, but at the moment, they had to clean up the mess that the orcs had made, and prepare what damage that had been done to the walls of the Eternal Grounds.

Now that the orcs had disappeared from the field completely, Marosa came down from the top wall and started walking around on the battlefield, helping the injured the best she could. Even though she was a commander, and a Queen, she still did the dirty work after a battle, on equal terms with the rest of her soldiers, instead of going back to her own chambers to relax and let her men do all the work. It was something that helped keeping the morale high in the Eternal Grounds, and it was another reason why the walls had never fallen. With the commander and Queen on the battlefield, there was a certain respect and sometimes fear, from most enemies, as they wouldn’t expect the leader of a kingdom to show up and join the battle from the very start. But she did, and it raised the men and women morale by a lot.

Now she came back up to the leader of the Zarosian army, Riverdane. She gave him a small courtesy again and then stood back up normally. “Again, thank you for the help. It’s appreciated and literally life-saving.” She said to him with a small nod. “My men are already preparing your chamber at the castle, while a housing is being arranged for your men and golems. There will be four big buildings that your army can share with each other; each will have their own bedroom and bathroom. It should be more than enough to house all of your men and golems. You’ll have a room at the castle as said, but if you prefer to stay with your men, you are more than welcome to join them in their housing as well.” She said, wondering if he would keep talking tough-guy talk, like he had when he had shown up with his army, or if he would calm more down, now that the battle was over.

[NecroKnight]

@Valchyrie

"That is unnecessary," replied War-Master Riverdane, shaking his hand infront of them. "I am comfortable sleeping with my men at that, and incase orc assassins show up - it is likely the safest place to also be."

One might be curious if that was Zarosian humor, or if he was serious at that. "If such accomodations are presented to my men, then I will let them decide, where they wish to stay. For the mot part however, it is best - that you and I talk in private."

His tone wasn't that of a demand, more like a request - and his tone didn't betray the sound of greed or lust at that. As likely many a ruler had gazed upon her and likely wished to join her bed. Rather his tone was that of a military commander, taking one victory as a necessity to plan for the next one at that. "It's best, that we talk about this orc attack. In addition, the likely casualties and future."

Riverdane and Zaros was more than most accomodated with the idea - that the war wasn't won, until the enemy was beaten, broken and that you could see with your own eyes - that they wouldn't be a trouble for any particular future. "If you'd be so kind, as to share information and maps, over some tea - that would be very accomodating," he added - showing that underneath that gruffy and warrior-king persona, there was still the hint of royal decour and blood.

[Valchyrie]

Marosa gave Riverdane a smile as he talked about where he wanted to sleep and that his men would be comfortable with the accommodations that were provided for them. She gave him a small nod at that as well “Very well, if that is how you feel, you are allowed to sleep where you wish.” She said. She listened to the rest that he had to say, and was happy to hear that he wasn’t all brute and muscles, but that there were a tactician underneath the rough outside. Though that didn’t mean he could keep it for a long time, but at least it meant he could keep a civilized tone while they were talking and not in any kind of battle. Furthermore, it meant that he was open for working together for an extended amount of time, at least until the thread of the orcs had been dealt with.

“I’ll share with you all the information I have of the area, and the latest orc attack. From there, you could sleep on it and see what you think of the situation. Please follow me.” She said to him. Then she led him through the city, which was beautiful. There were a lot of wall paintings and beautiful nature all around the city. People were buying things from each other, like there had been no attack at all. The reason for this was that the walls had never been breached once, and while the orcs had been close this time, the people of the Eternal Grounds, had no idea of how close they had actually come to death.

Marosa led him all the way to the royal palace and into the dining room of the palace. Here there were a couple of couches made out of leafs and branches, though they were rather comfortable, even though you would have thought couches like that were uncomfortable. There were a few long tables with high chairs, clearly for the more formal dinner party that could take place occasionally, and there were paintings on the walls here as well. “Tea please!” she called out, before she sat down in one of the couches. She motioned for him to sit in the other couch instead of next to him. “Maps!” she called out as well.

It didn’t take long before both the tea and maps of the area had been given to them, and Marosa started going over the area for him. “As you can see, there’s only one way to get up to our kingdom, and that’s the same way you came from. The orcs must have taken that route, unless they somehow travelled through the sky, and last time I checked, they had no means of flying. So unless they have some new gear, which I strongly doubt, they would have taken the same route as you, which means, only one direction that we need to defend.” She took a sip of her tea. “However, it seems that it’s not that easy anymore, as they do seem more clever than usual, which could mean that someone else is controlling the orcs. But having managed to control orcs is not a small feat, so we might be dealing with someone who is interested in a lot more than the Eternal Grounds. Thoughts?”

[NecroKnight]

Riverdane looked over the map, she had shared with him and shook her head at that. "No. Unlikely," he replied, then looked at her. "I think, what we are dealing with here is, pardon this, overconfidence."

"Namely, when we came down that path, we saw no disturbance nor indication that any orc or horde of them, had passed through the land. It was one of the reasons, we had our golems up first. Since we had expected ambushes along the path," he spoke, then trailed a finger along the map - from where the orcs had escaped to. Namely it was in the opposite direction - and into forests that were supposed to be too dense to pass.

"I have gotten no messages from my rear scouts. So that means, that they went through here and disappeared there, somewhere," he spoke, holding his finger on that spot on the map. "Since if you forget, the only way the orcs had to escape was through us - and we had a wall of gunpower and steel infront of them."

"So in my opinion, that leaves two options. Either somebody has carved a long path through your forests and hidden it with magic. Or the orcs have dug somekind of tunnel or network underneath your lands. Which do you think is more plausible or worse?" he finished, then taking a moment to try out her land' tea. "Mhmm. Not bad, minty."

@Valchyrie

[Valchyrie]

Marosa listened to Riverdane and what he thought of the situation. She found it hard to believe that either of the two scenarios he had suggested were possible. For one, if the orcs had used magic to hide the fact that they had destroyed a large part of her forest and gone through that way, that meant that not only did they have someone to control them. They also had someone who were very experienced in magic, and as far as she knew, orcs had never had anyone that were experienced in magic like that. The other suggestion were that they should have dug a big tunnel underground and come through that way, but if they had done that all the way into the forest, Marosa and her people would have felt the disturbances of the earth. It was truly difficult to figure this one out, which meant it was even more difficult to form a plan of defense.

She sighed a little and took a sip of her own tea as well, thinking it through before answering. “I’m not sure that either of the two scenarios are possible. The problem is that the orcs would have gained some powerful allies for either one of those scenarios, and we both know orcs aren’t really known for making allies of any kind. This would have to be someone who was willing to go to the orcs and, without getting killed on sight, somehow turned them into an obedient army, I simply can’t see how that is possible.” She shrugged a little and took another sip of her tea. “However, since you are here, I suggest that we prepare for both of those scenarios, just to be safe. We form teams to cover the ground and look for suspicious tunnels and we form teams that look for magical disturbances in the air. I will form some teams that can take to the tree tops and scout the skies to see if some kind of flying device, or if luck really isn’t on our side, a dragon might appear. This should at least buy us some time and give us some information as to what is going on.”

She had no idea if any of this would actually help, but considering their situation, it was probably the best they could do. They had managed to survive without even being prepared, which meant that if they could at least find some clues as to what was going on, preparing to the protect themselves against the next wave would be a lot easier and a lot more effective. Traps could be planted all around the forest and they could put up stealth scouts that could take out a large portion of the forces before they even reached the castle walls, but of course, to be able to do that, they would need facts, and they would only get that by risking their men and women to gather information.

[NecroKnight]

@Valchyrie

"Alright then. The other question, I might want an answer to - is for how long, do you expect for us to stay here?" he asked from her. They had cometh to her aid, without any possibility or promise of reward or reparations for their assistance. Plus, their stay would also cost them - in time and supplies, and while he had left a sizeable army to defend their homeland; as a leader of his nation, he had to put the welfare of his nation first and foremost.

"How badly were your own armies damaged. You have to understand, that we can't stay here forever," added Riverdane. It was the cynical and pragmatic part of rulership - depending on namely the ruler. Specifically it was the notion, that nothing was gained or given for free. Riverdane had called worth and marched upon the Eternal Grounds - since he didn't want to deal with the horde of refugees that might have cometh, in the case that the Eternal Grounds fell. Nor to deal with the orcish horde, when there was the possibility of stopping them before they reached his borders.

But now, when that conflict was over - many of his men would want to go home, and he was also inclined to agree with them. The battle was won, and for them so was the war in retrospect. So Marosa in essence, needed to provide them some reason to stay - other than, there being likely tunnels running through her forests. A deep threat or a more lucrative opportunity - might convince their armies to stay for now. But if Marosa had nothing to offer, then his armies - would want to do nothing and leave. And Riverdane wasn't about to force them to stay. Zaros had a history of bad neighbours - and them taking casualties was luck. If they started bleeding for another country - then it would be very hard to explain, why they needed to stay.