"Honey, my father died..."

Sara came to you as you were preparing for your nightly tryst, but she was fully clothed and you could tell she had been crying. "What's wrong?" You asked, going to her at once and holding her tight. At first she just buried her head in your shoulder and cried come more but finally she was able to explain. "A post rider came to the camp an hour ago: he had a message from Master Septimus, my father is dead: he died last Moon's Day. some kind of problem with his heart..." She said, and only then did you realize she was still clutching the letter.

You guided her to the bed and sat her down on the edge of it, then took the letter from her and read it yourself.

To the Care of Countess Sarah Fitzroy, nee-Carpenter.

__

My Dear Student,

I am sorry you must hear it this way but I was the only one informed of your route who also was given the ill news I must now impart.

Your father, Dylan Richard Carpenter, is dead.

They are unsure exactly what happened, something to do with his heart they think, but your mother found your father lying on the floor of the kitchen yesterday morning; that was Moon's Day, the 20th of Palorian; dead as a coffin nail. As you know your parents are strict Sellunites and so your father had to be buried before next Moon-Set, but all the divinations were done and there is no evidence of foul play.

The wake will be held on next Moon's Day as is traditional in your parent's faith, and I have sent messages to all the Order, they will have horses waiting to speed you on your way the whole journey. If you have made half as good time as I think you have you will almost be at the old castle manorial by now, thus your husband cannot go with you else you will incur the Queen's displeasure at letting the goblin attacks go on, but you at least should be there for your mother and sisters.

Would that I could have spared you this news till you were settled in your new home but there is no time due to the strict burial customs of your parent's faith. You must be well on your way by the end of the night, and use all haste that may be managed.

Yours in Sorrow,
Master Septimus Sylvia.

You clutched your darling wife close then and cried with her. You had met her father only a handful of times, he had been a gruff, taciturn, and plain spoken man but clearly a man of deep feelings who cared about his wife and daughters greatly. You had no idea that he was ill, you would have hired a healer to make him well and costs be damned, but apparently he hid the signs from everyone, or didn't know himself, and now it was too late. Yes, in theory he could be resurrected, but the diamonds to do it were all property of the Royal Treasury, and reserved exclusively for the Queen and her heirs. To bring anyone else back to life via spells of resurrection was high treason and you had no intention of even trying to do so.

After you both had cried for while Sarah began to talk of her father and what she most remembered of him, his long low rolling laugh, his flashing eyes that betrayed the true passions which he kept in check with an iron will, the way her mother used to blush whenever he walked into the room, even though they had been married for fifteen years; then eventually began to disrobe.

"Sarah, we don't have-" you began before she silenced you with a kiss.

"I want to, I need to. When I come back to our new home I want to do it with my belly starting to swell with our first child, and set right to decorating the nursery for their arrival. I don't know if I am pregnant yet but this will be my last chance to catch before I leave, in fact as soon as we are done making love I must mount my horse and be on my way. Give me this Alex, **** is a heavy burden, and the only thing which can lift that burden is a new life." She said brushing her hand over your beard.

How could you say no? Why would you even try? You made love for the final time before you will either win back the Castle Manorial of Ambuscade County or die in the attempt, not the hot, lustful lovemaking of your wedding night but something longer, slower, and more passionate and pure, then, holding your spunk inside her with a false cock made of polished and varnished wood held on by a set of leather straps she mounted her horse and road away into the night...

That brings us up to the present, and the decision you must make...

As you survey the old castle with your spyglass you note five possible methods of approach to retaking it:

1: The castle never had a 'wet moat', only a dry ditch with wooden spikes set into the bottom. The spikes are long rotted away and in one place the old curtain wall has collapsed outward, leaving the ditch filled in with rubble. You could probably bring your entire **** in that way, then fan out to slaughter the goblins. However the towers to either side are intact, and if the goblins rally to a strong defense they might kill many of your men while you made the crossing over the rough ground...

2: There is a sally gate on the other side of the castle which has been quite destroyed by the ravages of time, and you could bring a smaller **** in by that route, more of a raiding party that a full attack ****, but with stealth and guile you might catch the goblins unaware and set them to rout. The risk there is that if they catch you before you have gained entry they will have every advantage in terms of defense that the old citadel affords and furthermore outnumber your **** badly.

3: Off in the distance is a burnt out farm house, and you note it because you were informed that it conceals a 'secret' entrance to the Castle Manorial Ambuscade. Under the hearthstone is the beginnings of a passage which links up with the castle cellars, by which a very small band, no more than 5 people or so, could enter the castle and sneak around within like burglars or assassins, taking the goblins one or two at a time and eventually opening the main gate for the whole army to come through unopposed. This would be the perfect chance to test your metal in the complicated role of dungeon delver, and determine the loyalty of your captain of the guard: but also be a terrible risk, as you would be outnumbered dozens to one and while you would have to get lucky every time the goblins would only have to do so once.

4: And that brings us to the next option: the combination approach. you could split your forces and use all three avenues of attack, and as should be obvious it's advantage is also the risk here: on the one hand the goblins will be caught off guard by a three pronged attack, for while they rush to guard the main approach from a large ****, the other two teams, acting by stealth, take them from the rear and crush them between hammer and anvil. Yet, conversely, each **** is weaker in it's methods than it would be were you to use only one, those fording the ditch are smaller in number than they otherwise would be, those entering by the secret passage face a fort alerted that they are under attack, and those using the sally gate may encounter resistance right away and be slaughtered.

5: And then there is the last method: besieging them. You would not attack at all right away, simply set your men about the task of preventing the goblins from escaping while you alone, using your magic to attack from unexpected angles felling one or two at a time grind them down into the dust and eventually **** them to surrender. The disadvantage here is that you would have to split your men into 5 ten man squads, which if the goblins attacked one in ****, before you could reinforce them they might be wiped out...