09-03-2017, 08:49 AM
The street layouts were better than Dane has hoped. In this case, that meant they were seemingly random, making the small town like a maze. The town centre was still in the centre and setting up fortifications with old carts and wagons as well as with spare wood and other materials wasn't hard. It probably wouldn't hold, and simply climbing over wasn't too taking, although it was awkward and would certainly leave anyone doing so vulnerable to arrows and attacks from range. This wouldn't be a large scale fight after all. There wouldn't be more than 100 individuals on the battlefield at once - that was few enough for him to individually micro-manage most of his men.
That said, there was a core problem. One rookie soldier was thought to be the same in strength as one average demon. Which was fair. But, Dane had fewer soldiers than there were predicted to be demons. Maintaining his low casualty aim would be hard if he just let this stay a standing battle. Falling back to the ford would have had the same problem. And at that location, there wouldn't have been time to prepare. Here, however, there was. Some token wooden spikes were also wedged and nailed between the barricades. And although the demons could easily scale both them and the houses, Dane's plan was for it to offer a reasonable enough delay to reposition troops, and for it to spread their forces.
With the demons spread out rather than as a large mod, two soldiers could fight one target, massively increasing their chances of survival. Initially, the town had panicked upon the news that demons would be coming here, and some civilians had attempted to flee. Dane had actually ordered the soldiers to prevent that, forcing them to stay. Some were disagreeable, but the end result was the whole populace either being in the town hall or in the food storage area underneath it. If the town did get overrun, there were enough supplies there easily sustain the populace and any wounded soldiers until a relief effort came. Although Dane couldn't afford to lose this. He was technically defying protocol. Should they lose, there was no guarantee the demons would stay. They could move on and push forwards to other towns prior to any other forces being able to protect them.
Not that he was going to lose. Demons were stupid. Dane was smart. It was as simple as that. With the soldiers organised and accustomed to following his orders, he had just two things left to do. Fortifications were still being added with some of the townspeople helping, so he felt no need to oversee them. The sun was still high in the sky, so he easily had time.
Stepping into the town hall, he spoke. "Who here has experience with magic?" He flicked his wrist, sending a small spray of sparks flying from his hand, serving to draw attention from the populace and most of the soldiers. Many of which didn't know he was capable of such cantrips. "Get back to work," Dane grunted, tilting his head back in their direction. To his surprise, he actually got a couple of "yes sir"s in response, although his intended audience was silent. Country mages were rare, often discriminated against by some due to their 'privilege' and 'luck' in life. In truth, those that remained at their homes often actually lacked the mana or magical prowess to be useful to the Mages' Guild - so had neither of those things. Anyone could reach their ability with training, just as Dane was working towards.
"Don't worry about your skill or mana, we may have need of your assistance. I can provide a short tutoring covering anything left unknown to you, and I can promise you shall be rewarded in any way you desire - to the best of my ability." Still silence. The crowd shuffled slightly, but no one came forwards. There were a few looks towards one of the groups within the mass, but Dane couldn't identify anyone in particular. With regards to training, Dane knew the theory and workings behind a lot more than he himself was capable of. "Just basic knowledge is fine. All I need is people who are naturally magically sensitive, or have some skill in the area." More shuffling. He shrugged, appearing to forget the topic but in actuality moving it down on his list of objectives.
Dane's philosophy in these instances was simple. Focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Don't waste time on useless endeavours or those that bare no fruit, but instead pursue other objectives or work around the lack of progress. That, of course, doesn't mean you can't think about the objective and plan a better method or even divert small unneeded amounts of your attention towards it while focusing on another pressing matter.
"On that note, who has martial training? I don't expect any of you to take the front lines, or even risk your lives - that's the job of my men - but as per the regulations some of you should have been trained with the bow." Dane shifted his arm, causing the papers in his hand to shuffle. On the back was a small list of names of people in the area next to a small checklist. Presumably one of the people saw it, or just simply decided to come forward willingly, steps inaudible over the sound of hammers. The windows of the building were beginning to be covered by wood, although Dane had already prepared candles for that event. After the first person, others followed. He didn't bother to ask for names, but he actually ended up with more people than he was expecting. He assumed this was because some were hunters, legally or not, they'd honed their skill with the bow.
"Follow me." Dane turned around, exiting the hall without an explanation. Tentatively, the men followed him. It felt strange to order people twice his age, especially considering he was so young for a 'commander'. He dismissed it as an unneeded but ingrained part of the social hierarchy. He was smart. Age didn't matter.
Dane gestured towards a stack of unstrung bows in a large basket with some of the loose strings nearby. "Take one and string it up. If you don't know how, ask your mother or somethin'. If you've forgotten how to use it, now's a good time to say so." Despite his detached and someone vague commands, he received no complaints, the men obey his orders without question. Confidence is everything, it seems.
"Alright, form a line along her. You seven, by the right of the door. You six, by the left. Leave a gap in the middle, I want that door to stay open until I say otherwise. Dane was strangely thankful for one thing, the Door was a push door from the outside, meaning someone on the inside would have to pull it to open it. Technically, that meant it was slower to exit the building, but it did mean it was easier to leave the door open and easier to barricade. He made a mental note to situate the bookcase next to it so it could quickly be moved to block off once it was closed. Not that he expected to need to close it, but there was a slight possibility that falling back to the town centre would be necessary.
"Arrows coming through, get out of the way," Dane yelled down the road ahead. There were only two men there, apparently finishing off the closer barricade in the road. If his men were trained, at least somewhat, then there shouldn't be a problem. But there was no point taking unnecessary risks.
With no human targets in the way, Dane was free to start the quick practice. "You each have three arrows in your quiver. I want you to fire three volleys. The first should go over the first barricade. The second should just reach over the second. The third should just go over the third. These bows and strings are strong, I want you all using the full draw. You have muscles, so no excuses. If you need additional practice to get warmed up, then so be it. We've got some hours."
Grabbing another bow, Dane joined them. They likely had more training than he did, but with some subtle magic drawing the bow was easy enough. He just had the angles for certain distances memorised. With only three positions to remember, rather than actual training, organising the small group of archers wouldn't be hard. So that's what he did.
Over the next hour, he drilled the positions into their small country brains. The sky was beginning to turn slightly orange as the sun started to approach one of the hills, but he deemed there was still time left. Reasonably, there wouldn't be a caster in the small town. But given the people's reactions, he guessed there was one about. Searching for magic with his limited mana was hard, but that was the next thing on his agenda. Even untrained, a mage could always be of use, regardless of what the guild and soldier academy thought.
He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. Like he was overlooking something incredibly simple. Deciding it was just nerves, he suppressed the thought.
That said, there was a core problem. One rookie soldier was thought to be the same in strength as one average demon. Which was fair. But, Dane had fewer soldiers than there were predicted to be demons. Maintaining his low casualty aim would be hard if he just let this stay a standing battle. Falling back to the ford would have had the same problem. And at that location, there wouldn't have been time to prepare. Here, however, there was. Some token wooden spikes were also wedged and nailed between the barricades. And although the demons could easily scale both them and the houses, Dane's plan was for it to offer a reasonable enough delay to reposition troops, and for it to spread their forces.
With the demons spread out rather than as a large mod, two soldiers could fight one target, massively increasing their chances of survival. Initially, the town had panicked upon the news that demons would be coming here, and some civilians had attempted to flee. Dane had actually ordered the soldiers to prevent that, forcing them to stay. Some were disagreeable, but the end result was the whole populace either being in the town hall or in the food storage area underneath it. If the town did get overrun, there were enough supplies there easily sustain the populace and any wounded soldiers until a relief effort came. Although Dane couldn't afford to lose this. He was technically defying protocol. Should they lose, there was no guarantee the demons would stay. They could move on and push forwards to other towns prior to any other forces being able to protect them.
Not that he was going to lose. Demons were stupid. Dane was smart. It was as simple as that. With the soldiers organised and accustomed to following his orders, he had just two things left to do. Fortifications were still being added with some of the townspeople helping, so he felt no need to oversee them. The sun was still high in the sky, so he easily had time.
Stepping into the town hall, he spoke. "Who here has experience with magic?" He flicked his wrist, sending a small spray of sparks flying from his hand, serving to draw attention from the populace and most of the soldiers. Many of which didn't know he was capable of such cantrips. "Get back to work," Dane grunted, tilting his head back in their direction. To his surprise, he actually got a couple of "yes sir"s in response, although his intended audience was silent. Country mages were rare, often discriminated against by some due to their 'privilege' and 'luck' in life. In truth, those that remained at their homes often actually lacked the mana or magical prowess to be useful to the Mages' Guild - so had neither of those things. Anyone could reach their ability with training, just as Dane was working towards.
"Don't worry about your skill or mana, we may have need of your assistance. I can provide a short tutoring covering anything left unknown to you, and I can promise you shall be rewarded in any way you desire - to the best of my ability." Still silence. The crowd shuffled slightly, but no one came forwards. There were a few looks towards one of the groups within the mass, but Dane couldn't identify anyone in particular. With regards to training, Dane knew the theory and workings behind a lot more than he himself was capable of. "Just basic knowledge is fine. All I need is people who are naturally magically sensitive, or have some skill in the area." More shuffling. He shrugged, appearing to forget the topic but in actuality moving it down on his list of objectives.
Dane's philosophy in these instances was simple. Focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Don't waste time on useless endeavours or those that bare no fruit, but instead pursue other objectives or work around the lack of progress. That, of course, doesn't mean you can't think about the objective and plan a better method or even divert small unneeded amounts of your attention towards it while focusing on another pressing matter.
"On that note, who has martial training? I don't expect any of you to take the front lines, or even risk your lives - that's the job of my men - but as per the regulations some of you should have been trained with the bow." Dane shifted his arm, causing the papers in his hand to shuffle. On the back was a small list of names of people in the area next to a small checklist. Presumably one of the people saw it, or just simply decided to come forward willingly, steps inaudible over the sound of hammers. The windows of the building were beginning to be covered by wood, although Dane had already prepared candles for that event. After the first person, others followed. He didn't bother to ask for names, but he actually ended up with more people than he was expecting. He assumed this was because some were hunters, legally or not, they'd honed their skill with the bow.
"Follow me." Dane turned around, exiting the hall without an explanation. Tentatively, the men followed him. It felt strange to order people twice his age, especially considering he was so young for a 'commander'. He dismissed it as an unneeded but ingrained part of the social hierarchy. He was smart. Age didn't matter.
Dane gestured towards a stack of unstrung bows in a large basket with some of the loose strings nearby. "Take one and string it up. If you don't know how, ask your mother or somethin'. If you've forgotten how to use it, now's a good time to say so." Despite his detached and someone vague commands, he received no complaints, the men obey his orders without question. Confidence is everything, it seems.
"Alright, form a line along her. You seven, by the right of the door. You six, by the left. Leave a gap in the middle, I want that door to stay open until I say otherwise. Dane was strangely thankful for one thing, the Door was a push door from the outside, meaning someone on the inside would have to pull it to open it. Technically, that meant it was slower to exit the building, but it did mean it was easier to leave the door open and easier to barricade. He made a mental note to situate the bookcase next to it so it could quickly be moved to block off once it was closed. Not that he expected to need to close it, but there was a slight possibility that falling back to the town centre would be necessary.
"Arrows coming through, get out of the way," Dane yelled down the road ahead. There were only two men there, apparently finishing off the closer barricade in the road. If his men were trained, at least somewhat, then there shouldn't be a problem. But there was no point taking unnecessary risks.
With no human targets in the way, Dane was free to start the quick practice. "You each have three arrows in your quiver. I want you to fire three volleys. The first should go over the first barricade. The second should just reach over the second. The third should just go over the third. These bows and strings are strong, I want you all using the full draw. You have muscles, so no excuses. If you need additional practice to get warmed up, then so be it. We've got some hours."
Grabbing another bow, Dane joined them. They likely had more training than he did, but with some subtle magic drawing the bow was easy enough. He just had the angles for certain distances memorised. With only three positions to remember, rather than actual training, organising the small group of archers wouldn't be hard. So that's what he did.
Over the next hour, he drilled the positions into their small country brains. The sky was beginning to turn slightly orange as the sun started to approach one of the hills, but he deemed there was still time left. Reasonably, there wouldn't be a caster in the small town. But given the people's reactions, he guessed there was one about. Searching for magic with his limited mana was hard, but that was the next thing on his agenda. Even untrained, a mage could always be of use, regardless of what the guild and soldier academy thought.
He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. Like he was overlooking something incredibly simple. Deciding it was just nerves, he suppressed the thought.