Shaman’s Records
Sixth of December, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War.
Shaman Koroc the Singer of Clan Glacierheart recording
Given the success of Shaman Mul the Silent's raid on Fort Westmarch, it seems a tactic worth repeating, as supplies and weather permit. However, Sgt. Gork's warband needs more supplies than it has remaining to continue this strategy. Shaman Mul the Silent and I are planning to head back to the Clanhold for those supplies, and perhaps to bring more troops forward as the weather permits. Breaches can be made in the fort's walls, which will enable us to possibly take it by storm. The snow on the ground will impede movement outside the fort, and will slow the rush itself, but the Army of the Jeweled Cities will have had to clear the interior just to move about. If our troops can get past the wall, we stand an excellent chance of taking the fort outright.
Perhaps I am wishing for too much however. Our foe may be packed tightly into a small space, but that does not mean that they are fish in a barrel waiting for a spear. They know that they have no place to fall back to, no path of escape is open to them. On one hand, this is good, for we can not afford to have them escape to fight again: Westmarch, Ironbark, and Glacierheart need a crushing victory to force the Jeweled Cities as a whole to reconsider the (un)wisdom of their invasion. On the other hand, the Army of the Jeweled Cities will fight to the death with no place to run. This will drive up the bloody cost of this war, and embitter both sides against each other in future conflicts.
This possibility must be brought before the Elders of Glacierheart and the commanders of Westmarch and Ironbark for debate. It is not a decision to be rushed into, nor is it one to be made by a warband commander in the field. For now, Shaman Mul the Silent and I will labor to resupply Sgt. Gork's warband and bring up reinforcements. With the snow four feet deep and still falling steadily, the Northern Outposts form a sturdy barrier against the Army of the Jeweled Cities moving further north. It will hold our foe until we can decide what to do with them.
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Lord Ochen Shagari’s War Journal
Sixth of December, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War
Snowfall or no, it is clear to me now that some of the buildings here in Fort Westmarch are too insecure to use as barracks blocks and store rooms. I have ordered all buildings adjacent to the outer wall to be evacuated, the troops moved into housing closer to the center of the fort and the supplies put into any space available. The gunpowder for the Ruby siege cannons is the only exception: it cannot be put near any inhabited buildings or other store rooms. The raid on the third of December made that clear: if a detonation can pierce the walls of this fort and start a fire, then it can detonate any gunpowder stored on the other side of that wall. This leaves our stores of gunpowder in an awkward position. In any coastal fortification in the Jeweled Cities, the gunpowder for the artillery would be stored in a buried bunker, hardened against incoming projectiles and fire. Often the officer responsible for maintaining that stockpile is quartered above it, to keep his mind on his task. But here we cannot follow the same procedure because the ground is frozen too hard to dig into deeply. Accordingly, I have ordered the gunpowder stockpile to be broken down into several smaller lots, to be stored in the now-empty outermost buildings. To mitigate against the chance of a repeat of the previous raid setting them off, they are to be ringed about with sand and dirt stacked atop extra shot for the same weapons. The barricade of dirt should absorb any explosion and the burning splinters from a breached wall. And should that barricade fail, the smaller lots of stored gunpowder would produce a smaller secondary detonation. It is far from an ideal solution, just the most workable one that I can think of.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As to how the raid on the third of December was carried out, the investigations that I ordered have come to the following conclusions:
* The amount of gunpowder used was no more than two barrels, with a total weight of three hundred pounds (barrels included) based on the weight of barrels in our storage. This was deduced by the total number of fragments of iron barrel hoops found strewn across the blast area or recovered from the bodies of the wounded and dead. There were enough hoops for two barrels, and some of them still bore the stripes of red paint we use to indicate hazardous and / or flammable contents.
* Following on from the above, the gunpowder used in the attack was most likely seized from one of our convoys. Almost certainly the convoy from Ruby that was attacked on the Sixteenth of November, given the missing and / or destroyed cargo associated with it.
* The attacker used a sled to bring the barrels into position, concealing their passage with white clothing and sled coverings to blend into the falling snow. The darkness and weather conspired to force our sentries to stay close to their watch fires, providing the opening the attacker needed to approach the walls. Once the sled was in place, the attacker lit some sort of time delay fuse and fell back into the storm.
Given the quantity of gunpowder transported in a single wagon of our convoys, and machining a minimum number of assumptions, I have come to the unhappy conclusion that such an attack is probably repeatable. One wagon carries between sixty and sixty-six barrels of gunpowder. If two are used per attack, that means a total of twenty-nine to thirty-two further such attacks are possible, if and only if the raiders managed to seize one intact wagon and carry off its entire contents.
Given the now overcrowded state of Fort Westmarch and the likelihood of further such raids, it has become imperative to seize at least two of three of the Northern Outposts. Each is capable of housing a battalion of troops and their supplies. The battalions in question would be exposed to enemy attack and easily cut off from reinforcements (which was my primary objection to capturing said outposts earlier) and so must be drawn from my 'heavy' eight-hundred-man strong battalions, probably reinforced up to full strength by disbanding depleted squads and platoons. I hate to send out these formations into this weather on their own, but it has become unavoidable.
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Reth Nakima’s Journal
Sixth of December, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War
I don't know who I hate more: Lord General Ochen for ordering my platoon disbanded to reinforce an Opal battalion and then sending us out to take one of the outposts in a near-blizzard or the damned rebels for making those orders necessary. At least we got to draw extra winter uniforms to bundle up in before being sent out, which is no small thing in this weather. I expect half of the battalion to have frostbite by the time we get to our assigned outpost. And just my damn luck, we drew the outpost with the Ironbark flag over it, which means we may have to actually fight when we get there.
I'm not expecting a real fight, but we have no information on how many rebels are going to be there to greet us. If they have half a brain and see us coming, they'll probably run away without a fight. I kind of hope they are stupid enough to try and fight however, It's time to get some payback against those bastards.
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Aris Cretu's Journal
Seventh of December, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War
Another winter day, cold and clear. The snow stopped last night, which means Shamans Mul and Koroc should make good time to the clanhold. If the weather continues to hold, then they should also get back with the food we need faster too. It would be nice to see some reinforcements too, even if it means more mouths to feed on a limited stockpile of food. It feels kind of lonely out here with the Army of the Jeweled Cities not even half a day's march away.
Tam's banner is still flying, storms be damned. We've taken to calling her the standard bearer, even though that's an honor she'll probably never receive. Or if she does it will be some years in the future.
Contact. Enemy battalion incoming. No time to run away.