The tent of General Cog, commander of the dwarven army“First off, Barbarossa” said Cog as he sat down “well done. It was a well executed plan in difficult cirdumstances and the only causality was one you could not have prevented. But, I have to asked, why did you decide to assault the marksgoblins alone? That was foolish” Barbarossa winced as he lowered himself into the chair. The dwarven doctor on hand had prescribed several years of bed rest, whilst the elven one had chided him for walking on it, which had apparently not helped and then provided him with a splint that should have him up and going within a few months. A fight had broken out between the two doctors and for the first time Barbarossa was glad to have elves on hand. He had
never expected
that would happen, ever.
“Sir, if I could explain?” he asked. Cog nodded “I was merely going to surprise the goblins, allowing the assault team to take them unawares. Otherwise we would have almost definitely lost someone coming up. They fired faster than expected. It was Quote who really saved the day, he did what I attempted to do, but did it right. I’m sorry sir.”
“Huh” grunted Cog “Well, you did well, so I can’t really reprimand you. You’ll be please to know, I think, that we have offered Quote a place as a speardwarf and he accepted, not that he had any choice. Now, on to business. Who do you recommend to command 11th royal swords? Purely in combat operations, I’ve never seen a dwarf go through rockwork faster than you and I don’t want to lose that.” Barbarossa hated rockwork. Engraving reports, stockpile levels, the amount of dwarves in the company and who was paid what, he had the knack but not the patience and eventually took to dictating everything to a master engraver. He decided not to mention this.
“Sir, I’ve gone through the li-” he was cut off.
“I’ve heard good things about Vilien” suggested Cog, who had a list on the table in front of him
“Sir, Vilien can be a good leader but he acts like his in a war story those humans write or a saga sung by one of our poets.”
For clarification, he’s the leader in a training exercise. They’re trying people out to see how good a leader they are.“Well” said Cog “What about Bardbeard? His father was Bloodbeard you know” Barbarossa had discovered that the day before and was understandably shocked but hadn’t found the time to speak with him yet.
“Sir, Bardbead is an excellent soldier and an above average squad leader but he can’t command a full company. He isn’t ready for it.”
Bardbeard dislikes maps, its true. Sorry about the title, it was supposed to read Bardbeard, not Barbarossa“And besides, he may become a bit irrational when faced with goblins thanks to his father’s death. You can’t have an irrational commander.”
“Yes, I see your point” said Cog “what about…” he looked down the list “Oldbeard?” Barbarossa just stared at him
Lets be honest, what did you expect?“Yes, okay, sorry” said Cog. But commander, you need to find a leader within the week. We can’t have such a prestigious unit without a commander.” A goblin walked in. Barbarossa blanched and pulled out his crossbow.
“Barbarossa, stop!” commanded Cog “This is our spy,
Gaust Greyson. He’s been providing Intel on goblin movements. He’s been beyond the border.” Barbarossa relaxed, slightly.
“Why does he have a dwarven name?” he asked. Gaust looked at him and spoke in a raspy and distinctly goblin voice.
“Elven magic did this. We skinned a goblin and they attached it to me. They have ways of learning a language magically. All I had to do was butcher an animal slowly and the godsdamned greenskins welcomed me with open arms. I can’t get close to the original demon opening though. Only the inner circle, their most prestigious warriors, can. I’m a worker, not a fighter.”
“And he is the basis for our next attack. We will be slowly converging on the goblin defences on the pass, to distract them from the digging we are doing through the mountain” explained Cog
“How is the digging going?” asked Barbarossa
“We have not started yet. Several goblin patrols are blocking the path. We need to clear them within the month. We have chosen the 2nd Royal spears as well as your group to do the job.” Barbarossa nodded. He would work on that right away.” He saluted and left the tent.
If you can tell where I got the idea of the whole leadership “faults” thing, you get a cookie.
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Topic: To venture north, into Hell: Othtar Noloc, world at war (Read 106450 times)