trans_9 | Under Siege Part 2

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Under Siege Part 2

The previous night, the team had learned the details of the situation. King Demetrius Fenley had once been a fair but strict ruler. Three years ago, he had acquired a new advisor, a beautiful woman named Diana Wynnthrope, who came from a small nation on the other side of the mountains. The changes were subtle at first, with the king becoming more suspicious of others’ intentions and enacting harsher laws.

Baron Archand had noticed these changes, and had spoken up about the new laws. He had always respected his king. What had happened?

Nasat was located near a mine that produced precious gems and metals for the kingdom. King Demetrius had become convinced somehow that the town was not paying its fair share of taxes, and accused the baron of hoarding said gems and metals to fund an army and take the crown. Archand had done everything in his power to refute the false claims, but to no avail. So, with word that the king was sending an army to seize the rebellious town, he had sent for aid from his friend Baron Raleigh in Pertus. Raleigh had readily agreed, also being uncomfortable with the new laws, and was further seeking the help of the bronze dragons (bronze dragons that looked exactly like Crucible) in the nearby mountains he had his own alliance with. Unfortunately, Raleigh’s troops would not reach Nasat before King Demetrius’s.

It was impossible to find a person in Nasat that wasn't helping to prepare for battle in some way. Even the children were busy, packing food and clothing for evacuation and carrying supplies to and from for the adults.

There was an entire section of the town dedicated to the creation of weapons and armor: women making arrows, blacksmiths forging blades and breastplates, and engineers building siege engines. Oil was being gathered, along with firewood, and a fire brigade was sent out to place buckets of water in strategic locations throughout the town. Mages gathered and shared their spell components with each other.

Nasat was clearly a town where everyone was used to helping their neighbors, and happy to do so.

Baron Archand was not adverse to getting a little dirty and helping out himself, either. While making his rounds, he worked the bellows for the master blacksmith for a few minutes, chatted with a group of older ladies while fletching arrows, and dug one of the holes for a wooden spike with a shovel.

Sentries had reported that King Demetrius's forces would arrive the next day, and there was much more work to be done.

[OOC: Backtagging in the previous post is definitely okay and encouraged! The next post will be going up on November 26th.

Feel free to NPC the townspeople in the first subthread! You can be creative with how your characters help with preparations, too, so have fun with it!

All subthreads are open!]

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Having been part of more battles than she cared to count (and still less than her siblings, she reminded herself), Sandry knew exactly where she would be of the most help. With her mage's kit in hand, she walked quickly and quietly to where she was told she would find the Healers.

Preparations, it seemed, had been under way for some time, and they had an impressive amount of bandages and salves ready, but she knew from experience that they would probably end up needing much more. She looked around the room until she found the woman who looked to be in charge, and walked up to her.

"My name is Sandrilene fa Toren," she began with a polite smile. "I am trained in the art of thread magic, and spent several hours back home helping tend to the sick when needed. If I may, I would like to offer my services."

The woman, obviously in a hurry, gave Sandry a thankful smile and waved a hand toward one of the far corners. "You can set up shop over there, lady. If you need a runner for anything, just grab one of the apprentices running about. They'll get it quick enough." The Healer was off again before Sandry had a chance to respond, but the thread mage only paused a moment before heading to her work station.

Clef gave the newcomer a wan smile.

"It's been like that," he assured her before returning his attention to the salve he was preparing. "She must be overwhelmed."

Sandry nodded in understanding. "I wouldn't doubt it, nor would I blame her for being short with everyone here." Preparation for battle was never calm. When the fights finally broke out, she knew it would be even busier than this, and people only stretched so far. Tension would only grow higher from here.

With a glance at the boy's project, Sandry went to work cutting bandages and laying spells over them for healing and protection against infection. "How long have you been here?"

"Here? An hour or two, I think." He had thought to help somewhere else - perhaps with defenses - but this was where he felt most confident. He could brew potions, wrap bandages, and prepare healing spells for hours without thinking twice about it, whereas he did not know how to properly defend a town he had only recently arrived in.

"Sendrilene, you said your name was? I'm Clef."

The thread mage felt much the same. Here, she knew that if she had a steady supply of cloths and materials, Sandry could sit for as long as might be necessary. It was often the reason they worked in turns at home--many mages lost themselves in their work, and it was easy to lose track of time and use too much energy.

"Sandrilene, yes," she replied, setting the first strips out, "though I tend to go by Sandry. It's nice to meet you, Clef."

During his round of check-ups, it occurred to Kang that he should probably stop by the healer's area and inform them of the complications that came with treating his kind, just in case. He would rather not have any of the other wounded, or the healers themselves, die because of him.

He entered the area, looking for someone in charge, and nodded at Sandry in greeting, glad to see that everyone had found some way to help out. Not immediately seeing anyone who fit the description, he decided to ask her, and check on how she was doing. "Do you know where the head healer is, Miss Toren?"

Sandry was already deep into another set of bandages, and barely registered the Draconian until he was closer to her station. She heard him long before she saw him, and pulled back from her work ready to reply with something along the lines of, 'Running about like a madwoman,' but instead looked up to see Kang and immediately lost her train of thought. He was even more daunting than normal, up close like this.

"Lord-Governor Kang," she replied, rising from her chair and giving him a small curtsy. Oh, was it hard not to stare at him. She only hoped that, given the heat in the room, the color in her cheeks would go somewhat unnoticed. "I'm afraid I haven't seen her in some time. She may be with the Novices again." They had been a source of several upstarts over the last few hours. "If you like, I could send a runner for her?"

Kang waved a hand, smiling, "There's no need to be so formal. And yes, please. It's something rather important."

"Of course, it's habit. Silly, really." Sandry waved the nearest apprentice over, and sent him running off--somewhat clumsily, she noted with dismay as he knocked over a stack of waiting cloths--to find the head healer and bring her back when she had a moment.

"Hopefully he won't be long, but I can't make any promises. It's been rather busy in here all day." This was calm to what it would be once the battles began, she knew, and it was hard not to think about how much more they still had to do to get even close to ready. "I don't doubt that it's just as busy elsewhere, if not more so."

"No doubt," Kang remarked, noticing the already high levels of activity. "I was lucky to get enough time to leave the engineers alone for a bit. How are you handling things?" She was young. She might not have ever had to deal with battle before.

Sandry nodded. "I can only imagine. It must be quite the busy bee workshop over there."

Smiling, she motioned toward the several baskets of cloths and bandages she had already finished. "Well, considering. The last time I attempted anything of this magnitude was several years ago, and I've learned to better manage my skills since then."

Kang tilted his head to one side slightly, "So this isn't your first battle. How old were you?"

Somehow, she wasn't surprised that he picked it up. From what Sandry had seen and heard of Kang, he knew his way around battle better than most. He would probably be able to tell when others had been involved as well.

"I was ten," she said, as nonchalantly as she could. "Our defenses and supplies were low because of an earth quake we had that summer, and a fleet of pirates took advantage."

"I hope there weren't too many casualties on your side." Kang frowned. "And I hope there aren't with this battle as well."

"Not as many as there might have been." The mages had been able to hold their own, and with the added help of the combined power of Sandry and her foster siblings, they had managed to keep the pirates at bay until help had arrived. Unfortunately, they had not known of the slaves on the ships, and there were more tragedies in that than Sandry cared to think of.

"I hope so as well," Sandry added, making the gods circle on her chest. War was such a useless thing.

There was a part of Kang that agreed, but also a part of him that enjoyed the rush that came from battling in a war. It was what he'd been raised for, what he'd grown up with, and it was just draconian nature to be a bit aggressive. "That's good to hear."

Overturning of a (thankfully empty) basket alerted him to the runner coming back, a woman with the look of authority following him. That must be the head healer.

Sandry nodded. "It is, though we will always hope and pray for less."

The break in conversation was made by the arrival of the woman who was, indeed, the head healer. She looked rushed, with the bedraggled appearance of a woman who had been running her hands through her hair to keep herself from strangling apprentices all day. She took one look at Kang and pointed for the clumsy apprentice to fetch her writing pad.

"What might I help you with, then?"

Kang nodded in agreement, and gave the head healer a wry smile, "I won't keep you for long, ma'am. I know you have too many things to do in too little time. There are a few complications when it comes to treating me, and I thought it best that you knew just in case."

Sandry stepped back to allow Kang and the healer a little privacy, and quietly set to preparing for her next round of spells.

The healer thanked the apprentice for the paper he brought, and waited expectantly for Kang to tell her exactly what needed to be done in the case that something did befall the...rather large lizard. "And what would those complications be, then?"

"My kind explodes when they die, so if I get too badly injured, keep me away from the other patients. About fifteen feet is safe." Kang spoke frankly.

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Under Siege Part 2

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