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[Maximum Spin]

On a similiar matter, I'll take it that Maximum Spin's character is a Kabbalist, due to the two demons - and not an enchanter which sneaked itself in somehow.

Ah yes, that should have said Warlock, not Enchanter. Must've done that thing where I wrote the word I was looking at instead of the word I meant.

[escaped lurker]

On a similiar matter, I'll take it that Maximum Spin's character is a Kabbalist, due to the two demons - and not an enchanter which sneaked itself in somehow.

Ah yes, that should have said Warlock, not Enchanter. Must've done that thing where I wrote the word I was looking at instead of the word I meant.

Yeah. In hindsight, the choices of the second turn, are quite confusing overall - but I am a damned sucker for giving a broad field of starting choices for the protagonist. Even though I know it lowers participation, I just can't help myself on that point. (I know I should compromise on that and give fewer, clear-cut choices. But I don't want to. Simple as that.)
While I also posted that turn a bit late in the day, I waited ~20 hours until I posted the next. Between further delaying the turn / slowing down the game in its initial stage, and getting a "cheap" victory choice, I took the later.

For all it is worth, a "Metal Mage", is not a very common choice, as far as magicicans on these forums go. Neither are demonic elves, nor mercenaries taking over a fief.
I'd like to think that the overall themes are promising, and also that I can make them work. Well, the interest of you, dear readers, will tell. Only thing I can promise, is that I am currently rather motivated in regards to this thread. If it is as promising as it seems to me, only you can tell.

[chubby2man]

Troop Comp:
Magic Infantry, Harry Archers
Warlocks, Hallowed Guard, and Hallowed Knights.

The knights should be lead by the vice captain.
Send Archers and Hallowed guard to fight.

I really enjoy the writing style so far, keep it up!

[StrawBarrel]

Troop Comp:
Magic Infantry, Harry Archers
Warlocks, Hallowed Guard, and Hallowed Knights.

The knights should be lead by the vice captain.
Send Archers and Hallowed guard to fight.

I really enjoy the writing style so far, keep it up!

+1

[escaped lurker]

Turn IV - 1

Having made your decision, your orders are quickly relayed to the two companies in question, allowing you to set out after a short while.
Leading the Hallowed Guards, is Chief-Aide Rotburl, a long-time veteran who served in his position since the previous captain.
Leading the Harry Archers, is the High-Elven Acolyte Leymor, her interest in the dark arts her reason for having singed on, her talent in leading troops the reason for her position.

It does not take long before Kirmik meets up with you, and with him comes a closer picture.

~

According to him, the beast-folk travel near the road, and before the lights came into their view, periodically checked our tracks on it. Their mood seems fitting for a raiding party –  somewhere between exhilarated, festive, and pumped up. A few Fennec-kin refugees, clearly mentioned the badger-men among the forces that drove them from the oasis, too. Your head scout doesn't doubt their hostile intentions for a moment, and neither do you see any reasons to do so.

The enemy travels in a “tribal skirmish formation”, which is better described as “undisciplined rabble”. Most of them have spears, axes and maybe some short-swords, while their armour is predominantly light and made of leather. Over three dozens of them, are equipped with weak short-bows and slings, none of which should deal any damage to the armour of your hallowed kin. These ranged units, keep themselves in the middle of the host. So do their twenty-or-so champions, and Kirmik strongly suspects that they might be guarding some shamans in their midst.

(Each Head accounts for ~10 People)

During the tactical meeting, the two Lieutenants and the Head Scout, mention the following points.

Kirmik knows of two places where we could meet the enemy on favourable terms.
The First Site, places us in plain view, but on top of an incline. Simple, effective, but they also might run off once the element of surprise has left their side.
The Second Site would allow us to set up an ambush, or at least flank them, but we would have to hurry – our guards would enter combat somewhat drained.

Rotburl mentions that we won't be able to do anything fancy with the numbers we have. He proposes to have the guards in front, either in a line, or a wedge, and the archers way back, outside of the range of enemy archers. While doing so would lower their accuracy, and make it more difficult to pick off any enemies that are trying to flee, he thinks it the best way to keep them safe.

Leymor thinks that focusing the first volley into the enemies centre, might ease our battle. Even if they don't have any shamans, it could still disrupt their chain of command and lower their morale, to see some of their strongest wounded or even dead. Should we go through with the ambush, they would have to fire normal arrows first, or their magic would give us away.


There also is the question of where you want to be during the battle, and which spells you plan to use.

Footnotes
It is Night.
A Half-Moon hangs in the sky, no clouds in sight.
Dark-sighted Blight Elves have no problems.
Dusk-sighted Mutt-Bloods have no problems.

Well, don't worry - this won't go turn-by-turn, but will have a bit of a tactical note to it.
Let's see how it pans out.

[StrawBarrel]

I really like the tactical map.

Try to ambush the enemy at the second site.
Maintain current formation.
The Harry Archers should fire the first volley at the center with normal arrows.
If the enemy initially advances, the Hallowed Guards should hold off their attack until last possible moment for an effective counter charge.
If the enemy initially retreats, the Hallowed Guards should advance carefully towards the enemy.
Cedarcoil should be with the Harry Archers company. He should try to focus fire steel (“Bolt Salvo") at the champions as long they're a viable target.
If Kirmik is not a combatant, he should maintain watch over the battlefield in case of enemy reinforcements.

Tried to make a plan that balances offense and defense. I think we want use this opportunity to deplete their forces as much as we can to lower the threat of future raids on our territory.

[escaped lurker]

Turn IV - 2

Deciding on the ambush site, the troops hastily advance upon the position. Hunkering down in the dry riverbed to stay out of sight, it takes only a short time until the enemy arrives. Almost too short, but Rotburl is confident in the endurance of his troops.
At first it seems like the raiding party would pass your formation all together, but at some point they grow restless and stop their advance. Fearing that their noses gave your presence away, you give the signal, before they have the chance to figure out exactly where you are hiding.

Spoiler: The Battle Proper (click to show/hide)

Initial Situation

The harry archers emerge from the riverbed, and take aim at their priority target. While the enemy notices them, their arrows soar before five breaths are drawn, and strike at a good number of the still confused badger-men. Promptly, the usual hell breaks loose.
While the archers and you prepare for a second, magic volley, the guards already have emerged from the river. After taking formation in front of the archers, they make a relaxed march towards the approaching horde. Said rabble approaches with a multitude of growls, screeches and what might pass as whooping for their kind, but before they can reach the guards, take the full brunt of a magic volley. You see over two dozens of their warriors go down, and from experience, can tell that over half of them will stay so. Your demon Kxhir claims your bolts responsible for at least two of the later, and draws your attention on where it thinks your next ones should be cast at.

A few moments before the initial charge, the enemy arrows make impact at the guards. This serves to break the concentration of a few of them, but most of them greet the advancing enemy lines with a conjuration of their own.  Twenty paces from your men, the enemy line gets peppered with about forty magical projectiles, which leaves several of them burning, wounded, gasping for air and similar afflictions – and some of them, simply dead. Taking advance of the expected lull in their charge, Rotburl leads his own.

Your men crash into the enemy lines, pushing them back and killing a few in the initial moments. If displaying the combined efficiency of plate armour, demonic possession and – leading, elven blood, made the raiding party falter before your troops, Leymors third volley, breaks their spirit. Owing to the close proximity of the enemy archers, the magical projectiles strike true more often than not, burying themselves deep into the flesh of their lightly armoured targets.


By this point, about a third of the enemy is disabled outright, and many of the remainders nurse some wounds of their own. The only damage on your side, is a guard using his sword as a provisional crutch, hobbling towards the archer lines. Their leaders, contrary to expectations, get the message, and sound some signal for their withdrawal. Safe for a handful of the badger-men, which charge at the guards in presumably suicidal rage, the rest of their numbers make haste, shying away from the hallowed.

What begins as a controlled retreat, with their archers firing the occasional projectile at the steadily approaching hallowed warriors, quickly turns into a rout, after another few volleys of your own archers find their marks. You follow after them, but as some point they leave behind their more seriously wounded, and with renewed speed, finally manage to get out of the range of your archers.

Battle Results
Doing a quick count, the battlefield is strewn with about 70 corpses, and about 18 prisoners, also fall into your hands. Your only “casualty”, is a broken leg, which was caused by one of the badger-men-champions barrelling a guard over, possibly while under the effect of a strengthening spell. Or so you are told. The loss of several hundreds of now unusable arrows, will also keep the archers busy fletching for a couple of days, but you doubt any of them aren't used to that by now.

On a personal note, Kxhir claims you to have slain five enemies, and the creature also took great delight in the one-sided slaughter. You suspect that it will stay appeased for at least a week or two, before it grows unruly.


The Aftermath
While you have successfully repelled the would-be raiders, there are some points left to address. Mainly, if to pursue them further, or leave them be.

“Let my archers go after the rest of them, and do what they do best.”, is what Leymor options in. You have little doubt that they can whittle down the badger-men numbers further, at little risk to themselves.

“Do that, no skin off my back.”, counters Rotburl. “Little chance that “we” will catch up to them, given their light equipment and fright. 'Sides, we already did our part for tonight.” He's right, at least about the catching up part. You could order him and his hallowed otherwise, but they wouldn't like it.

The half-gnoll keeps out of the discussion, only mentioning that he wouldn't be a big fan of splitting up, but would accompany the archers – for their safety, and tracking purposes – if you want him to.


Your Spoils
20 Bars worth of Copper Scrap
Not much, nor worth all that much, but there's always demand for copper. Easy money.

15 Days worth of Nightmare Feed
You still have a few wagenloads of “jerky” left for them, but more feed, is always welcome.

14 to 18 Prisoners
Some of their wounded, won't make it through the night. Blissfully ignorant, and thus Currently docile. The warlocks, will be happy.
Hm. Not sure if "that" is where I wanted to go in regards to battles, but I don't really dislike it either. We'll see, I guess.
Just a small choice this time around - need some time still wrap up the oasis proper, but on that point, I like what I have so far.

[StrawBarrel]

Pleasantly surprised that the battle went so well, I didn't think we were that much more powerful than them. Good to know.

Everyone return back to camp with spoils.

Might be a bit conservative, but the raiders are probably natives to this area, while we're probably unfamiliar with these lands. Who knows what beasts or other animal men are lurking in the badlands.

[Weirdsound]

Pleasantly surprised that the battle went so well, I didn't think we were that much more powerful than them. Good to know.

Everyone return back to camp with spoils.

Might be a bit conservative, but the raiders are probably natives to this area, while we're probably unfamiliar with these lands. Who knows what beasts or other animal men are lurking in the badlands.

Return to camp. Let the beast-men regroup. They pose little threat to us, and dragging out this conflict gives us more opportunities to feed our demon in battle than we would have if we were to try and remove them quickly.

See if any of the Mutt Bloods can communicate with the beast-people. The prisoners might know more about our fief than we do, and we have ways of making them talk.

Consider locations near our Fief where we might go and sell our copper.

[escaped lurker]

Turn V

Ultimately deciding against pursuing the beast-folk, you give Ashting an update on your situation via the scouting-teams com-crystal. A candle later, two wagons arrive at the nearby road, allowing for easy transport of your spoils. The guarded prisoners, bound with leather strips, make their way back on foot, though a few of the more heavily wounded ones are allowed to sit on the wagons, instead of pulling down every-ones marching speed.

When you arrive, it is only two candles to sunrise, and after handing over the prisoners, you relieve the archers and guards from their task. All personnel involved, you included, make way for their tents shortly thereafter.

~

By the time you rise from your bed-roll, the sun is already approaching its zenith. With a bit of time left until the communal lunch, you take the liberty to take a closer look at your new possession – which settling in yesterday evening, didn't leave much time for. It doesn't take long for your vice-captain to join you, which turns the planned relaxing stroll, into a full-fledged report of what has been discovered about the place so far.


Formally known as “Ber'Tarrai” - “Place of our Home” in the fennec-kins dialect - it is regionally better known by its informal name “Fox Den”. While it is well within your rights to rename the city as would please you, for the time being your troops have opted to use the informal name.

Situated in a box canyon, its single river has flowing water only during the spring flooding, caused by the far-off southern Mountains. During that time the water fills up a mostly natural basin, by which the city was founded.
Connected to that basin, is the most impressive construction of this place, an extensive aqueduct system, serving two functions. Most important, it uses scoop wheels to transport the water uphill, and into two reservoirs, carved into the bedrock under the oasis. Far more extensive, is the second system, which distributes the gathered water for agriculture. Sadly, the reservoirs in question have seen better times, mostly owing to the conquerors using the wells that reach into them as lavatories and chutes for trash disposal. The less is said about the specific state of these hillside caves, the better. As for the aqueduct system itself, it also had sections vandalized, with the scoop wheels missing altogether.

Later that day, the head of logistics presents you with his basic take on this matter.

Looking at the rest of the oasis, presents a rather mundane state of affairs. Most houses are made out of the local clay, with wooden beams to hold the construction, but especially their flat roofs in place. Of similar build, are the walls surrounding the place. Made out of sun-baked clay, they are just that – walls, which have been constructed with no walkways or siege fortifications to speak of, safe for an observation tower each, at the two main gates.

While it originally might have been a charming place of sorts, many, if not most of the houses have been vandalized, with the former centre being the worst off. The inner gardens, once crowning the top of the hill, and surrounded by the final defences of the oasis, have been thoroughly laid to waste, much as the fortified buildings that once surrounded them. The outer walls, too, have been breached and toppled in multiple places, leaving much to be desired in term of defences.


The only place spared such devastation, are the outer gardens – an artificial, multi-canopied forest, frequently crossed by the aqueduct waterlines, and filled with fruit-bearing trees. The iconic date palms, which function as the uppermost canopy, even you can name, but the broad-leafed trees under them are mostly beyond your recognition. Safe for the palms, all of the trees seem to be out of season, but even the dates seem to have been harvested recently. You doubt this situation will change much before the next spring-melt, but what remains of the dates, will make a welcome addition to your tables.

For all their splendour, these gardens are currently in decline. The lack of caring hands and water, has started to wither even some of the palms, not to speak about other trees, shrubs and whatever may have grown in the small, partitioned fields, that used to thrive in the shade.

After having seen far more from the settlement than you originally planned for, it is already time for the midday meal. Simply cooked travel rations, already a significant improvement over eating them on the road as-is. You also spy that some dates are served and traded among the troops, and some of them even find their way to you. All in all, the mood is close to jovial, for a variety of reasons. Your refusal to have wine served, puts a slight dampener on the mood though. Before that, there is still plenty of work to be done.

~

A candle after lunch, the various heads of the band have gathered in the command tent. There are additional reports to be given, discussions to be had, and a course to be plotted.

“I've handled the interrogation of our visitors. Smooth understanding isn't possible, but we manage.” According to Kirmik, the specific dialect of beast-folk speech that the badger-men use, is a bit too far removed from what he, or others with beastly blood in the band know of, as to easily make sense of it. Luckily, some among the prisoners also have a trifling understanding of northern orcish, allowing a pidgin-speak of sorts to be performed.
They seem to call themselves the “Moon Claws”, are one of the five badger-men tribes in the greater area around here, and are willing to accept our new claim on our city. “Funny creatures.”, you add to that. No-one seems particulary amused.
While quite willing to talk about what creatures might be found around here, and how to hunt or defend against them, they are hesitant about pointing out any hunting grounds. The same goes for their relationship towards their kin, where those live, nor how many warriors or people these tribes are home to. Unsurprisingly, the same holds true in regards to information about their own tribe. Other humanoids in the area, are fair game though – a list, is in the process of being written.
For now, Kirmik has requisitioned a magical infantrist (half kobold, of all things), who is closest to their language, to acclimate himself with it – using pidgin under distress, sure to hold less, or crucially lacking information.

He asks if, besides the obvious questions he already mentioned, others would come to mind for those present, and also if you want to attend some of the torture-sessions planned for in a day or three.
“Right, before I forget. They made it especially clear, that we can trade their sorry hides against copper, should we let them go. About three bars, each.” This time around, people are laughing.


Having finished that point of discussion, Copsehelm, leader of the warlock company and head of logistics, says his piece.
“I have three points of discussion for us today. First, we need to patch up the walls and fortifications of this place. Second, after the war, we only had a week of rest at the unions capital – the men are exhausted, and pushing them too hard now, will only serve to hurt our morale in the long run. Third, the water situation – we can keep afloat by conjuring water for now, but that is only a temporary measure at best.”
Going into detail, he had the logistics team inspect the walls in detail. Repairing them with a temporary measure – speak, sealing the gaps with existing bricks, taken from ruined houses in the city – would prepare us against the worst, and greatly increase security. Walls rebuilt so, wouldn't hold out against a determined assault though, but they should do for now. Doing so, would take any two companies at least three weeks, two if we drive them hard.
To patch the walls up using earth magic, would be the best option – but would need all the warlocks on the task, and even then it would take a month or two. He thus proposes that we might make use of our prisoners, call on some greater demons of earth, and be done within a week. All for the bargain-price of 10 of our prisoners.

He asks, which method you would prefer, and what resources or time-frame you want to commit to the task.


Speaking of morale, that is a far easier problem to solve. You wisely packed two wagon-loads of wine, and other alcoholic refreshments. Enough for three months of casual consumption, half a year of limited access, or one month of feasting. Casual consumption, would leave two companies out of work daily,  feasting would leave barely two companies on guard rotation,  and limited access would have no bearing on workload, but would do by far the least for overall morale. The current mood, is exhausted, and slightly irritated – the later, mostly because your new “haven”, turned out to be far more work than initially imagined.


For the third point, he gives word over to Vulk, leader of the magic infantry. Towering a full two heads above most elves, he is among the most effected by the local climate, sweating profusely and being visibly miserable in general. Hailing from the far south, one half of him is tundra-orc, the other is snow-elf. Normally of graceful, noble behaviour, he is schooled in the arts of etiquette, and has proven himself an asset off the battlefield as well. Since entering the badlands, his distress at the local temperatures has grown considerably, and it is known to you that he has paid a hefty sum to the enchanters, in a bid to lessen his ailment.

Incidentally, he is also a talented conjurer of ice, and in line with that, responsible for water procurement of your band.
“Let me be honest, Chief”, he rumbles, fairly hung-up on the – by his standards – envious title. “The sooner we can clear out the aqueducts, the better. Right now they are more noxious than the withered swamps, but once we drain one of them of that filth, we can have the warlocks call on some water demons, and lift our water-troubles for the time being. As is, we are straining to support the whole band with water – with the reserves we started travelling with, we have another month, before our conjurations can't keep up.”

Going by past experiences, sacrificing a soul gives enough water for two weeks. Holding the water, though, is a bit of a problem. If you wait till the water runs out, you could refill those barrels in one go. Cleaning out one of the revolting aqueducts, would give quite the hit to morale, easily take two weeks if you commit both mutt-blood companies, and your blight-elf kin will reject such a task outright – or strongly begrudge you for ordering it. There also is the option of just digging out a new, far smaller aqueduct, though that would take a team of your warlocks or hallowed a full week, or two weeks in case of the mutt-bloods. While not a pressing matter, it is a vital one, which shouldn't be neglected, or so he ends his address.

Afterwards, the gathering peters out into discussing common matters, though you also get a quick input about the copper scrap. With the nearest market taking two weeks on foot, or one week mounted for a two-way trip, the copper alone is far too little, as to make the trip worthwhile. With public order in your fief still in dire straits, you doubt any merchants will come to take it off your hands anytime soon, either.

Unless you had other questions or considerations for the meeting, you eventually decide on some course of action.


Cedarcoil & People of Note:
"All present at the meeting. What are you on about?" (To be Done)

Spoiler: Camp Fox Den (temporary) (click to show/hide)

Camp Fox Den (temporary)
~300 Mercenaries:
~150 Blight-Elf Soldiers
~100 Mutt-Blood Soldiers
~25 Mixed Logistics Team
~10 “Moochers”
14 Badger-Folk Prisoners

Mood: General Exhaustion, Slight Irritation at the current situation.

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Inventory

Changes
Dates + "A few industrious individuals, have started to harvest the sugary treats on their own. Going by the positive reception, you have little doubt that this trend will continue on its own for the foreseeable future."

Provisions
Your supplies in rough numbers.
If coloured, signifies a full months' worth.
Trend is a monthly prediction. Shortages will be brought to attention.

Foodstuff: “Mostly dried goods. Not very palatable, but the usual.”
++ ++, Trend: ---

Water: “A precious resource in this climate.”
+, Trend: -

Nightmare Feed: “Only fit for a starving stomach. And the nightmares, that is”
++, Trend: --

Good Booze: “You splurged a bit, but are sure to get your moneys worth out of it.”
+++, Trend: ?

Other Goods

Valuables: “Much is golden coin from the union, but there also is plenty of plunder from the battlefields.”
+++++++++++++, Trend: -

Raw Black Billon: “The favoured, enchanted blight-elf metal - more spoils from the battlefields.”
~300 Bars, Worth: ~ ++++++, give or take +++, strongly dependent on the buyer

Copper Scrap: “Taken straight from the badger-men.”
~20 Bars, Worth: ++ to +, depending on the market

Military Equipment
“You are currently not in the mood to list the exact equipment of all your troops. Maybe later.”

I have no plans to turn this into a “number crunching” strategy game, but with the current situation as it is, it will involve an eye on the basics.
With that in mind, I tried to avoid it becoming bloated.
Glad I got those spoilers up - always a bit of a pain to make them coherent and stuff.

[Weirdsound]

Allow for a week of feasting and minimum work as we interrogate the prisoners. Attend some interrogations yourself.

During this week, send the logistics team to investigate the gardens and ruined houses, compiling a report on how many citizens we will be able to house and feed assuming water is provided. Eventually we will want to bring in a civilian workforce.

Wait on deciding about the walls and water until after we interrogate the prisoners. If everything in this region wields weapons as pitiful as the Badgermen, fixing the walls is actually low priority. I'm thinking we will actually sacrifice prisoners to have the greater earth demons carve us aqueducts and cisterns.

As we learn what non-badgerman races exist in our lands, and where to find them, start shaping some of our bronze supply into weapons and armor suitable for those races. I suspect we will be sending peaceful delegations bearing gifts soon.

Question: Can we get an overview as to what resources and boon we can gain by sacrificing stuff to demons? I'm thinking our plan should be hunt down and genocide the badger people as demon fodder to gain an initial plethora of resources.

[StrawBarrel]

Consult with Ashting on how to obtain more Nightmare Feed.

Find out how we can possibly get in contact with the former inhabitants of the city and Fennec-kin refugees.

During interrogations, see if there is a leader representing the group that would be willing to offer us a deal of some kind in exchange for their people's well being. See if any of the badgermen have skills that may be of use to us.

Edit: Fixed words.

[escaped lurker]

Question: Can we get an overview as to what resources and boons we can gain by sacrificing stuff to demons?

Sure you can. Without going into unneccessary details, see bellow.


Demonic Boons
As one of the leading authorities on demons in the central continent – or at least, among those races that venture on the surface of it – the blight elves have access to many benefits that come with the territory.

Hallowing:
By which means the blight elves have stumbled upon the methods for their exceedingly favourable demon-contracts, might be a secret lost to time. The strength that comes with their beloved possession-contracts though, is not.
While gifting their pacted demons with a soul speeds up their acclimatization and inert affinity with it, there is an upper limit to this, and thus such methods are normally considered a waste. If souls are currently superfluous though, they may be sacrificed to speed that process along, especially in case of promising individuals.

Summonings:
Tearing a rift into the fabric of reality, and pulling a demon through it for a temporary amount of time, is a standard technique, as far as warlocks go. To call forth a greater demon, is something the blight elves make seem far easier, than it is for most others.

Greater Translocations:
While the price to activate one of their famed portals is enough to beggar smaller kingdoms, blight elves are among the few races that are - in theory - capable of instant transportation over greater distances. Despite their ludicrous price, and to the relief of many outsiders that know about this, these portals don't hold out for long. One rather commonly known use of their portals, is to evacuate at least parts of their clans from a doomed siege at their doorstep.

Sacrifices:
Blight elves are infamous for sacrificing slaves, captures and prisoners of war to demons, especially as a bargaining chip to call forth greater demons for the purpose of war. In especially dire circumstances, they might even sacrifice their own to do so.
They also are adept at handling souls themselves, using their inherent energy to create various enchantments, which tend to be a bit stronger than those commonly available. Not, that they have a monopoly, or better enchantments than races more focused on them, but as they are not shy about their methods, they simply tend to employ more of them than is overall regarded as “common”.

Special Resources:
It is not unusual for blight elves to call forth demons, which in exchange gift them with resources of their own make. Disregarding more common resources produced this way, below are those worth of mention.

Fire: Hellfire. Blinding, liquid flames, that may cinder even rock. Ethereal, short-lived, and highly destructible.
Earth: Demons of earth, are quite adept at calling forth the same. It is not unusual for permanent blight-elf settlements, to have fortifications made by them, especially if the surrounding environment lacks more durable types of stone.
Venom: While hallowed bound with a venomous demon, are often capable of calling forth rather nasty concoctions, their skill pales in comparison to what a summoned demon may create. Such high-class poisons, are generally referred to as “Demon Bile”, tend to be highly magical, and quite devastating.
Metal: While extremely costly, powerful demons may create metals normally not native to this plane, some of which are blessed with attributes that defy, bend or distort the rules inherent to it. Working such metals, tends to be even more dangerous than the weapons crafted from them – but ever so often, it proves itself a worthwhile gamble.
Emotional: BoUnDlEsS iNsAnItY, iN vArYiNg FlAvOuRs.  Granted, some nobles try their luck with demons of lust at times. They don't tend to last long. Other emotions, tend to be even more disrupting, with most warlocks mostly staying clear of such demons, more than justified.
Death: Secrets. Many Secrets. Untold amounts of Secrets. Staggering stores of Secrets. The whole Secret? Prepare thousands upon thousands of sacrifices.
Information:While unfathomably vast to mortal minds, the outer planes in which demons reside, tend to be connected. Transmitting information through them, is unreliable, costs souls, and is thus used rather sparingly, reserved only for important information.
Next turn is in the works. As it is another big "ground-work" update, too, I'd rather do it well once, than lagging after initial mistakes afterwards. Which means I won't promise it coming up tomorrow. (I plan to do so, true, but no guarantee. I'm kinda bad at keeping those. ;3)
Have this little "lore dump" in the meantime, seeing as it was requested.
That be said, I guess "the hidden cat" is out of the bag with this update. Pretty much the first game in which I gave a "necromancer" starting option, which wasn't taken, too. ;3

[Weirdsound]

Consult with Ashting on how to obtain more Nightmare Feed.
During interrogations, see if there is a leader representing the group that would be willing to offer us a deal of some kind in exchange for their people's well being. See if any of the badgermen have skills that may be of use to us.

I'm all for learning and asking these questions, but I can't envision a senario where the badgers are worth more to us alive than as demon food.

Also, get our Warlocks busy on calculating the most cost effective way to use demons to solve our aqueduct problem. I can see water demons pressure washing them clean, fire demons burning out the filth, earth demons carving us new infrastructure, and perhaps even Venom demons absorbing the filth.

[escaped lurker]

Turn VI
First Week, "Camp Fox Den", During the Feast

Considering your options, you decide to declare a feast.
No one seems to object either, safe for Copsehelm grumbling a bit about supplies, waste, and generally being faithful to his position and character.

~

Within half a candle, your lieutenants have drawn lots to decide who gets to drink first – a public spectacle that was well observed by most of your soldiers. A full candle later, the first barrels have been opened on a quickly cleared plaza, several pots of food bubbling over nearby fires and rugs strewn about the premises. The music, too, has started playing – the few in your band capable of skilfully doing so, freed from all guard guard duty and given extra drinks in exchange for their service.

Merry debauchery quickly follows, with games of dice and cards being played, duels and bets on them being held, and barrels being drained at a quick pace. The evening brings little change to this, safe for the occasional drunkard strewn about and sleeping on the ground, or pairs retreating into their respective tents for other amusement. Wishing best of luck to such activities, you withdraw into your own tent sometime after midnight.

~

While such festivities continue, you are not allowed to let loose as much as your common compatriots do, but are still able to relax outside of your duties.
Minding his own, Copsehelm brings you the following requested information over the course of multiple days.
- Spring fields, using channels to flood areas near the basin, make up a large area close to the city.
- It seems that the fennec-kin kept goats and poultry as well, though the scale isn't known as clearly.
- Some of the local fauna, was hunted commercially. How much meat this provided, is also unclear.

Going by the warlocks rough guestimates, the city itself might support up to a thousand if the gardens are properly cared for. The spring-fields, live-stock and hunting, might provide about the same. The local housing and infrastructure, before their destruction, hint at similar, if not higher numbers.

Reaching these numbers though, would prove difficult in the short run. None of the previous herds remain, nor do you know the locally used agriculture all that well.
On an economical level, it also isn't feasible for your soldiers to do the farming, their trade and contracts supplying them with far more coin than such peasant-work would be worth.


Bringing back some of the former inhabitants is something that you both deem as a possible merit, and discuss some specifics of doing so.

After their initial flight from their home, many of the fennec-kin should have tried to settle down in the surrounding areas of the union. Even being displaced like that, they are not the only refugees in these times by far, and some may have drifted even further. Others might also have succumbed to banditry, which has become more common as of late, many a drafted soldier returning to a ruined homestead – only to be forced into banditry himself. All of which, should suit you just fine.

Getting a couple hundred of desperate refugees to return to their homestead, is the easiest part of the plan. Keeping them fed and having them accept your rule, give you more worry than the possibility of too little scores of them showing up.


Said bluntly, the band can't really afford to sponsor more than maybe three to two hundreds of refugees, and even then you would have to seek out new work for yourself, soon. Luckily, that front should not pose too much of a problem anytime soon, as the civil unrest in the union, is still far from being over. Bandits roam the countrysides, several regions have a new lord not accepted or instated by the union leaders, with some regions also having declared their independence during the last three years as well.

Of special interest in both regards, would be the fennec-kin draftees, which should either have been released from their service recently, or are about to be released soon. Letting these war-veterans return, might prove a great boon, allowing your own soldiers to leave the city more easily. Foregoing the possibility of them already having become bandits or deserters after hearing about the fate of their home, the local military might be persuaded, if not glad to hand over these possible trouble-makers to you.
Getting civilian fennex-kin refugees, would be a far more simpler matter - just sending out a few local couriers with the message, would be sure to reach around. The local communities, intent in getting rid of their unwelcome guests, would be sure to spread the message, as would most of the hopeful refugees. You might still need to be wary of former nobles.
Taking in unrelated refugees, would lessen any social unity the vulpine populace might have on their own, and thus the political clout they could come to bear - but certainly not endear yourself to them, either.


The real question is thus complicated; Which refugees to approach, how to approach them, what terms to set for their return, and the number of them that you are willing to take.

With three to four months till spring brings new water to the region, you have ample time to plan and discuss this point further. Dealing with the badger-folk first, as to not have them fall into your back at an inopportune moment, might not be the worst idea, either.

~

After two days of festive activities, Vulks subordinate half-gnoll lets you know that he thinks to have extracted anything of interest, that the badger-folks would give without torture. He also asks for your permission to start said torture proper, and if you want to attend that occasion.


Entering the clay-hut in use for the interrogation, you are greeted by the head scout instead. After handing you a few parchments filled with information, he fills you in with an accompanying explanation.

As it stands, the badger-folk seem to think us mere brigands, instead of the rightful owners of the land they scurry around on. This misunderstanding might be partly forgiven though, as we seemingly weren't the first people to avail us of the fennec-kins absence. The absence of these presumed bandits, is easily explained with them faring way worse against the badgers, than we did. For now, Kirmik has not seen it necessary to amend this misunderstanding.


Close Points of Interest

A tenative map, drawn over an incomplete map acquired from a trader. Your northern borders aren't clearly defined and rather open to discussion, or so you would have heard.

Currently worst foe of badger-folk, by which they are often pestered, are some ochre hobgoblins to the east. The military settlement they tell you of should be “Fort Spearpoint”, a village staffed with more soldiers than civilians, and smack on the border to your neighbouring chieftain, “Darvak the Keen”. Aside from the main settlement being named Redvalley, you know little about the region, nor its goblin ruler.

The fort is currently only staffed by about up to a hundred – which is half of the normal guard detail. This lead to an initial increase in successfully raided caravans, and then to a lack of their coming. As it stands, only military convoys make their way to Spearpoint. Attacking the fort together, is something the badgers would consent to easily - especially after realizing that you sent less than half of your strength against them.


Somewhat of a surprise, is their willingness to warn you about a regional land-mark, the so-called “Fire Mountain”. The long dormant volcano is allegedly home to a dragon, with the surrounding drake-blooded creatures proving as much. While it seems plausible to have been the truth at some point in time, dragons are exceedingly rare, leaving you to severely doubt this account. Local claims of them are numerous, and generally considered false until proven otherwise. That badger legends retain what schooled folk would surmise as draconians, is a bit worrisome though – such dragon-kin known to often be in the service of their dragon ancestors.

Another point of interest is “The Gap”, where the local river flows into the earth, only to surface three leagues away, on the other side of the mountain. Caves around that area, seem to be home to ogres, and the badgers claim that they come “from bellow” during spring. They occasionally shake down the badger-folk, and the prospects of going against them together, are claimed to be good. Going by their explanations, they seem to be common ogres, and it is doubtful if they have access to the lands bellow. Going against at least a hundred of these lesser giants, is not something you would look forward to, nor suspect your troops to succeed in unscathed.

Unified in their animosity towards the fennec-kin, the loosely translated “thornfolk” are of reptilian make, and on ambiguous to neutral terms with the badgers. They seem to inhabit the more mountainous regions, some of which are also on your land, and seem to sport nothing better than copper weaponry, either.


Far, far away

Goatkin who settle a few weeks north, often assisted by Centaurs, occasional war against the northern badger-beast tribes. If they do so for slaves, as retribution for raiding, or as part of their culture, is unclear. You'd give all of the three options an even chance, considering what you know about those regions.

Going by hearsay, another tribe also inherits these northern areas. The moonclaws only knows them to have canine features, and are unsure if they are beast-kin – humanoids with bestial features, or beast-folk, beast in humanoid form. They are considered as enemies to their race either way, though their relations with the northern people seem to be unknown.

~

After digesting the report, you call for the the badger-folk champion, who seems to fill in as the leader for the captives, to be called in. While bound to a chair, and going through the half-kobold for translations, he pleads his case as such.

You already know about the ransom of three copper-bars per beast-folk, and remain unimpressed by the offer. The champion is told as much, and doesn't seem surprised either.

His second offer, which you doubt he has the political clout to be held true to, is a military alliance. You'd be given two thirds of the spoils and first pick, if you were to attack the ogres or fort spearpoint with them. After doing so, the chieftain would surely agree to pay you a tribute each season, though the range of which even the champion feels unqualified to say. His guess, is somewhere between ten to thirty bars of copper. “Or a knife in the back”, Kirmik offers as his take on the matter.

Probing further, the champion only seems sure of their superior ability as trackers and hunters in these lands, and being able to trade information about the same. Another point by which you are rather unimpressed, and with no further points, you have the badger-man led out of the room. For now.

You consider the information gained, and if to go ahead with some sort of diplomatic offer, or torture.


Cedarcoil & People of Note:
"After the feast~" (To be Done)

Spoiler: Camp Fox Den (temporary) (click to show/hide)

Camp Fox Den (temporary)
~300 Mercenaries:
~150 Blight-Elf Soldiers
~100 Mutt-Blood Soldiers
~25 Mixed Logistics Team
~10 “Moochers”
14 Badger-Folk Prisoners

Mood: General Exhaustion, Slight Irritation at the current situation.

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Inventory

Changes
Dates + "A few industrious individuals, have started to harvest the sugary treats on their own. Going by the positive reception, you have little doubt that this trend will continue on its own for the foreseeable future."

Provisions
Your supplies in rough numbers.
If coloured, signifies a full months' worth.
Trend is a monthly prediction. Shortages will be brought to attention.

Foodstuff: “Mostly dried goods. Not very palatable, but the usual.”
++ ++, Trend: ---

Water: “A precious resource in this climate.”
+, Trend: -

Nightmare Feed: “Only fit for a starving stomach. And the nightmares, that is”
++, Trend: --

Good Booze: “You splurged a bit, but are sure to get your moneys worth out of it.”
+++, Trend: ?

Other Goods

Valuables: “Much is golden coin from the union, but there also is plenty of plunder from the battlefields.”
+++++++++++++, Trend: -

Raw Black Billon: “The favoured, enchanted blight-elf metal - more spoils from the battlefields.”
~300 Bars, Worth: ~ ++++++, give or take +++, strongly dependent on the buyer

Copper Scrap: “Taken straight from the badger-men.”
~20 Bars, Worth: ++ to +, depending on the market

Military Equipment
“You are currently not in the mood to list the exact equipment of all your troops. Maybe later.”

Nightmare Feed and Cleaning the Reservoirs are noted, for the next turn. This one is already wordy enough as-is.
In the good news, I got around to re-draw some map-related brushes. Nothing special, but a god-send for making maps.