Baron Humphrey of Mercy’s Hazard was not a large man, for a noble. He was about average noble height and of medium build. This still put him taller than most of the common folk, but only by half a hand or so.

That was one thing that John Simon had always liked about him. Not that John’d known him personally, of course, but Humphrey had a reputation and John had paid attention to it. Which is to say, most of the other nobles didn’t like him. When the other nobles called Humphrey short, John knew that simply meant he had other means of making his presence felt. When the nobles called Humphrey a bore, or a stick in the mud, John knew that meant that he was actually a man of honor who would uphold the Kingdom’s laws.

John was good at discerning the truth behind the rumors in a lot of situations. That was his main role in his adventuring party, putting a listening ear to the crowd and parsing out relevant facts to lead them to riches and glory. He was usually right too. He felt a bit bad about blaming the Viscount on all those nasty murders, but the evidence had mostly fit even if they hadn't thought to check the library records, and hopefully the approaching orc army might help everyone to forget his slip up in this case.

As it was, he did not head to the top of the wall with the rest of the guards and adventurers. While John wasn’t a bad hand with a sword or a bow, his true talents lie elsewhere. Instead, he slipped his lute over his back and made his way down to the gates where people were still trying to evacuate into the castle from the surrounding town. Orc raids were a known danger, but obviously not common enough around this viscountcy for the people to be in much practice. The outer bailey was stymied with throngs of people milling about, not knowing where they should go, and just generally getting in the way.

“Hey, you!” John found a guard who was trying, unsuccessfully, to direct traffic, “Do you know where all these people should go?”

It took only a moment for the guard to recognize him. It was one of the advantages to being part of an officially recognized adventuring party that John really appreciated, especially at times like these.

“That’s why I’m down here," the guard replied, "but I can’t get anyone’s attention, there’s too much panic!”

After conversing with the guard for a moment John had a pretty good idea where all these people needed to go- primarily towards the barracks and arming yard. That way the militia could be suited up and act as reinforcements if necessary, and the noncombatants would be out of the way and well defended.

John caught a hum in his throat and began to shape mana, using it to project his voice above the chaos and help draw people's attention towards himself. With the guard’s help, he was then able to promptly get traffic moving again as the panic in the crowd's eyes was replaced with determination.

All in a day’s work, for a Bard.

*****

Viscountess Violet of Haven’s Dawn was mortified at the event that had just taken place. She’d been on her guard of course, as soon as the Baron had arrived. When the questioning had begun, she wasn’t exactly sure what Baron Hazard was getting at. She knew the kind of work he did, primarily targeting nobles and rich merchants, pulling them down with all sorts of nasty accusations before dragging them back for punishment, sometimes for execution and sometimes to be put to hard labor for his so-called "Barony". The rumors said that he often targeted the particularly wealthy, so that he could bring a percentage back to his lands. Haven's Dawn was up and coming, but they'd had a particularly good year recently and were officially doing quite well, so she was prepared to fend off an interrogation. However, as soon as he’d mentioned - like prodding a sore tooth - that she was really the one who ran the viscountcy, all of the stresses of her sham of a marriage came pouring out at once. What were the rumor mills of Court going to say now? If it wasn’t for the imminent attack, she was sure she’d have made her way back to her chambers and just collapsed with dread thinking of the possibilities. However, that would have to wait, she had a castle to defend. Hopefully her fool of a husband was well clear, lest his absent-minded head end up on an orc’s pike when he wasn’t paying attention.

The Viscountess finished her journey up into the foretower of the keep, from which she could survey the surrounding countryside and quickly send messages to areas that needed her attention. There was a flock of castle runners already assembled to deliver her words all over the castle, a collection of the fastest young men and women from all over the countryside in a messenger’s uniform of short coat and short trousers. Each one had the Viscountess’s own livery on the shoulder and back, so they would be unmistakable and could go anywhere with the Viscountess’s authority at time of need.

She stepped up to the window and fortified her heart against what she saw there. The orc bands had been restless lately, but this was unlike anything she had yet seen. Their attacks had been growing numerous, but were typically still small and disorganized, and despite her attempts to reach out they didn’t seem to have any central leadership which they could treaty with or to discern the cause. What she saw now though, descending from the surrounding hills, was a tide of green and gray flesh to put all previous attacks to shame. Not that she was particularly worried, they had plenty of stores for the surrounding populace in the event of a siege, so long as everyone got inside the walls and protected.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She then cursed when she noticed that the town outside the castle still hadn't finished evacuating into the outer bailey. They'd run drills for this sort of event of course, making a festival day of it, and yet people still couldn't get it right. As soon as she had that thought though, she stopped it and felt remorse. She really couldn't blame the civilians after all, they might not all have even been in town during the last drill, and a couple drills a year was no replacement for actual training. The outer bailey itself seemed to be keeping clear and well organized, thankfully. She sent a quick missive for a contingent of guards to help with the evacuation of the town. She also dispatched some runners to her commanders on the walls to prepare her longbowmen for defensive volleys. That should help buy everyone just a bit more time.

The successive volley of arrows did its job as the orcs' progress slowed and halted, giving the straggling townspeople time to organize and shuffle in through the castle gates, and giving the guard time to shut and lock the portcullis and fortified doors behind them. The Viscountess was just growing suspicious of what the orcs were waiting for, she would expect that they would return a volley of their own or press through it, when suddenly there was a flash and her eyes were filled with the afterimage of a collection of lightning bolts falling along her castle walls, followed by a cascading sound of thunder.

“They have spellcasters!” She could feel herself shouting, but couldn’t hear herself over the ringing of her ears. “Get some mages up on the walls! We need to-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence. Her vision was again filled with white, and she could feel a turning in her stomach like she remembered getting after doing too many somersaults as a child. When the white vision faded, her view had completely changed. Whereas before the white it had been mostly open, with rolling foothills forming a crest across her view with the sun just beginning to set nestled above them and a horde of orcs cascading down them, after the white her view was- wrong.

The plains that had previously surrounded them full of farmland and orchards and rolling hills were replaced entirely by mountains on all sides, feeding down into a valley with a crystalline lake reflecting a sun that was at entirely the wrong angle. From what she could see from her tower window, it looked as if someone had taken one of the mountains and lopped off the peak, then stuck the entire castle on top. The upper and lower bailey were still there from what she could see, and even some of the surrounding town, and then it dropped off into steep cliffs and mountainsides. They weren’t even on the tallest mountain in the range, from what she could see out the side, the range continued on upwards even higher to her right-hand side, whichever cardinal direction that was now.

She immediately thought of her husband, Quincy. Was this due to some nonsense he’d gotten caught up in with that fool Chief Arcanist of his? Was he even in the Castle, or was this unrelated? What was going to happen to the rest of the Viscountcy without their seat of power? That one she knew, some key resources and towns would get snapped up by their neighbors if they were near enough the border to control and protect, much of it would likely be abandoned back to the wilds. There was a reason that the Viscountcy had been titled Haven’s Dawn after all, as a Haven and new light for those risking the Wilds for great reward. It was a pity, but she also felt a bit of relief. The five long years since she’d married Quincy and been forced into managing the lot of it for him were stressful and time consuming. She’d been excited for the responsibility and respect at first, but there was only so long that lasted when she realized that he wasn’t going to contribute at all.

Still, there was work to be done. They had enough food and supplies to last a while, of course, but it was not indefinite without the surrounding farms and orchards. There were also going to be people wanting to find their way home, to family and loved ones that hadn’t been in the castle when… whatever it was had happened. Her first order of business would be to summon whatever mages or arcanists were left in the tower, so she sent one of her runners to gather them. She hadn’t seen Quincy’s Chief Arcanist since her fool husband had disappeared, but the Arcanist should have an apprentice around somewhere, and there were other mages in the castle as well. Hopefully one of them could piece together exactly what had happened.

If there were any miners in from the nearby mine when the event happened, they could also likely tell them something about the surrounding mountains. If she recalled correctly, the mine contract had been bought out by a nearby dwarf clan, so that would be even better. Dwarves, when properly trained, had a natural talent for things regarding rock and stone. When she thought about it, that adventuring party had also had a couple elves around, and it was a stereotype, but if one of them was a druid they could probably take a look at some of the surrounding flora and fauna as well. She sent another couple of runners out to gather those groups up.

Then she sent for some accounts sheets and her quartermaster and commissary, and her Guard Captain. She would need to know exactly how much supply they had, and how many people were currently in the castle.

She also sent for Baron Hazard. She wasn't sure she trusted him, but she was tired of managing everything alone. If nothing else, he was stuck in the same situation she was.