Your Plan awaits

“You're it?” Sir Zachary's tone is more disbelieving than incredulous.

Before you stands the might of Castle Hillgard. The most powerful vassal sworn to your house. Whose lands stretch far and wide. Whose grain feeds half the province and whose gemstones decorate noble finery across the land. There are ten men.

“His excellency, sends his apologies, but he cannot spare more men at this time.” The leader of Hillgard's soldiers is a nervous little man called Cutter. His hands were constantly moving, his eyes twitching, his toes tapping. You doubt he knows one end of a lance from another.

“I did not ask the Count to 'spare men'. I commanded him to raise me an army.”

“H- his excellency, the c- c- c count thought that the men would be better served protecting the lands around H-Hillgard. He fears that the nest is another trap like the one that took your, your, your beloved father, at Riverrain.”

The rage that fills you is near to bursting. You could kill this man with a word. With a gesture. Life itself is in your palm. Ten men. Tannis must know your plan, of course. But ten men is an insult. You feel the magic growing inside your veins. Adrianna look over at you with concern. You cannot feel it, but you know the brown in your eyes has turned to hazel fire. The men await your judgment. If anything, the ones behind Cutter seem MORE afraid.

“Your lord sent you to fight.” Kill them! Kill them now! Your power screams inside your mind. “And so you shall fight.”

You **** the magic from your body once more. Control, Magus. You must have control.

“Sir Zachary will find you a place in our formations.” You nod to the knight. Who never quite meets your eye.

Which way the fire will blow your ashes next, you wonder?

Your army is in turmoil. They know nothing of the machinations against Hillgard. All they know is what they see. They'll have to fight this battle with half the men they planned. And they'd pay for that surprise with blood.

You gesture to your quartermaster and hurries over despite his considerable belly. Was there ever a thin quartermaster? He spreads a map of the valley and the small mountains that overshadow it upon the ground, weighting down the edges with lovely but worthless stones.

The situation you are in is rather dire. The nest above you is like the fabled Leviathans of the southern seas. Only a piece of their bone white form can be seen from above the water, but waiting below is a deadly giant. There are some hundreds above ground in a makeshift camp -smithing weapons, hunting, building sledges and crafting arrows- but in the tunnels that run deep into the mighty mountain, untold thousands more remain. Upon attack they would spring up from the ground like a diseased weed, threatening to **** the life from your army.

You needed those damned Hillgard men. Without them, you'll take losses in the coming battle, to say nothing of your plan to take Castle Hillgard. As it stands you have two options before you. You could charge into the nest of Goblins. They'll have nearly every advantage, terrain, morale, defending their wretched homes; Frost knight have overcome worse, but it would take a toll. Your only other choice is to take a defensive position back at your tents and wait the Goblins to launch a raid into the valley. Safer for you, but it would leave you paralyzed in the field for weeks or even months and the horde grows larger every day.