"Captain, we have one of the eighteen evil souls and our scouts report that those creatures are setting up further ambushes behind us. Surely now is the time to retreat," Phillip said, his cold eyes soaking in the angry heat of the wall of flame.
"How can you suggest returning when we are so close, Phillip? Our prey could be right beyond those bushes for all we know. Gods, with only a day's more searching they could be in chains!"
"Or two days, or a week's or a month! All the while our forces are whittled down, and no one makes it back to warn the townspeople. You saw their clear demonic influence, you know that the congregation of innocents in Tariak will prove irresistible to the scions of darkness and their occult rituals."
"Their rituals? Phillip, they are goats! Don't worry so much, we can handle them no matter how many beasts they send to test our faith. Rest assured, the Three will show us the way to ultimate victory."
"Jack, I'm a priest. And I can tell you the Three don't care us much as that. Their jurisdiction is the afterlife, it is up to us to see their will inacted in this plane of existence. Now turn around captain, steer your men to safety and save the townspeople at the same time."
Turning to him, Jack found his most trusted advisor standing before several more crusaders. They were all moving uneasily, eyeing their flanks constantly with rigid hands constantly ready to snap to their blades.
Further behind their forces were stretched too thin, with many of the militia men new to the stresses of battle showing the signs of mental decay. Some chatter nonsense, others sharpened already razer shape spear tips while more jerked their heads endlessly towards the ambient noises of the forest.
While Jack could continue the hunt, it was clear to him now his forces could not.
"Warriors of the Thunberad Crusade!" Jack announced, a chorus of heads twisting to make out his unshaven face.
"We have suffered many hardships, but we have now successfully defeated one of the 18 evil souls!" In truth they had found it dead ready, the strange cobalt armoured creature left behind to taunt them. Meanwhile Trog had vanished entirely, how does one just make a mountain Troll vanish like that?
Peering at his little silver knife, Jack wondered how much damage such a creature could do before he put it down. The knife began to shake. Jack forced his hand to be still.
It seemed even he was not immune to the stresses of battle.
"And with the fruition of such a feat, I now call for our forces to march to Tariak. There we will send messages to the One, regroup, resupply and recruit! But more importantly, we will muster Tariak's defense's against the creatures of this forest that hold evil intentions against our fair people. Creatures that will break before the will of man like leaves to a mailed fist!"
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The men cheered, and when Jack activated the blessing of [Goldenheart] they roared.
"Scouts! Attend me, and the rest of you prepare to march!" Jack's grin faded as soon as he turned around, becoming a grimace as his scouts explained the situation to him.
They were surrounded on all sides, the enemy archers were positioned to continue to rain death and monsters were being corralled into positions along any conceivable path. While some trails were less populated by monsters, Jack shuddered to think what kind of trap might lay in wait that even his scouts could not uncover.
And with his scouts being picked off like flies, he couldn't just send out more to check. In the end, Jack decided to go with the path furthest from the main enemy forces, hoping that at the least the enemy would be able to draw in less reinforcements from the sourrounding area. Another benefit of this plan would be that Warden Company would leave the forest near some remote villages, where they could warn those who might otherwise have been left to be enveloped by the horned threat.
Orders given, Jack had his warriors press on. Soon after arrows descended like rain, and yet the enemy was never sighted. His priests used [sight] to warn of possible amushes, but the enemy still managed to remain unseen as they fired, until Phillip noticed the arrows were coming from closeby and gestured to Jack.
Jack in turn gave the signal.
"[By the Everseeing, be revealed or be destroyed!]" chanted Phillip, his many priests adding their prayers of [restrain]. In an instant a dozen Fauns were revealed on floral paths that had until that moment been invisible, their hooven feat bound tight with chains of light - and in the next were bathed in red as Warden Company warriors cleaved the beasts into bloody pieces.
"We can't do that again today, Captain. We don't even have the blessings available for healing, it's a race against the enemy now," Phillip said, leaning on his stave with stiff hands.
"Then we march with speed! Come members of Warden Company, let us show these animals the power of humanity!" yet while the warriors saw their enemies butchered, and the path before them clear, Jack had no such false notions. They had just used up their most valuable blessings on a temporary victory, and would be sitting ducks when the enemy reorganised and attacked again.
And if Jack new anything as he continued to trudge through this putrid forest, it was that the enemy were guaranteed to attack again.