Defensive Planning

Brought to the war room where the Warden and the Generals of the Warband are discussing the potential upcoming battle.

"Thou've arrived. How is the town?" Asterion asks.

Astur nods, "Good. Citizen discontent is low, soldier morale is high. overall, no one is deliberately causing any trouble, so I'm quite satisfied with the current status quo here. If there was any problem I need to point out, it would be…" Astur trails off, turning an eye to a small spider in the corner of the room, "Perhaps better security for areas like this, where important information is spread."

Asterion follows Astur's gaze, "Understood, yet prevention of this kind is difficult to deal with. Such minor things are hard for people like us to notice. Most of us hither do not hast the sensory abilities to perceive such threats with ease."

Kretea and the other members of the Warband in the room caught on quickly to the meaning behind their bosses' words, that there's been a breach. On the other hand, Elizabeth and Ystur seem a bit clueless. But Ystur figures it out once she sees the familiar and unsettling sight of a mass of spiders crawling out from small crevices in the room while a female voice calls out.

"How rude, calling me a threat like that."

As the mass of spiders begins to take on a humanoid shape, the members of the Warband take a fighting position. But they lower their weapons as Astur raises her hand and signals them to stand down, although they don't relax their vigilance.

"What a rude welcome. Is this how newcomers are treated? Perhaps I should go back," Illsrvati says, but not seeing any response from Astur she continues, "Jokes aside, I've come to fulfil my end of the deal. At least for the time being, I'll work under the banner of the Holy Oulvgar State. I even brought some information for you. Aren't I just a model employee, not even a minute has passed since I arrived and I already have some news for you. So how about a raise?"

"If you want a raise, talk to silly vamp about it," Astur points to Elizabeth.

"Hey, what's with that name!" Elizabeth shouts.

"Oh, my bad, I mean the small vampire," Astur says.

Immediately Elizabeth kicks Astur's leg, but it doesn't amount to anything other than Elizabeth hurting her foot from the recoil.

"Putting that aside, what information do you have?" Astur asks.

"Oh, it's nothing much," Illsrvati takes a quick unseen glance towards Asterion before continuing, "I just got word that the crusaders are going to concentrate their full force towards Dawn. It should be soon, sometime within the next one or two weeks."

Thanks to the previous lighthearted and joking exchange, most of the people in the room relaxed a bit as the conversation took a fun turn. But Illsrvati's information brought everyone back to reality as the atmosphere chilled and became more serious.

Astur sighs, "How troublesome. How long until all the fortifications here can incorporate the organic metal?"

The member of the Warband in charge of the construction teams stands at attention, "Ma'am, according to our current progress to incorporate your organic metal into the entirety of Dawn fortifications, it will take roughly one and a half months at our current pace. If we rush we can bring it down to by a week and a half at most, but the chance for an oversight increases. But even then, it will still take more than a month and we won't be able to meet a deadline of two weeks."

"What about the outer layers of the walls?" Astur asks.

"If we rush, then we can get the outermost layer done in roughly twelve days. The outermost layer is the most difficult to work with due it its size. If we cover the entire outermost layer of the walls, then we won't have time to do much else, assuming we will be attacked after two weeks."

Astur closes her eyes and repeatedly taps her foot on the steel floor, "Hm…" after a few seconds Astur snaps her fingers, "Go, take care of the outer wall. In the face of an imminent attack, strengthing the first line of defence is the priority for the construction team. Where's the mech idiot? I mean Zrathno."

"He parked his ship 'twixt the second and third layers of walls. As for what he's been doing, I never wot. Yet occasionally, strange sounds can be known at night around his ship. He hay yet to explain the origins of these sounds," Asterion says.

"I think I got that. Basically, Brother Zrathno is currently living between the second and third walls doing things that make strange sounds during the night and he hasn't explained it. Is that right?" Ystur asks.

"Yeah, that's what he said," Astur says as she sports a slightly confused expression, "But why are you calling him Brother?"

"I called him Uncle at first. But he made the same face you make whenever someone calls you old and told me to call him Brother. After I did, he gave me candy," Ystur says.

"I was already going to talk to him about upgrading the defensive armaments on the walls, but it seems I need to speak to this good for nothing relative about other things as well," Astur says with a clearly annoyed expression on her face as the fur on her tail stands straight up.

Seeing the movements of Astur's tail, Illsrvati can't help but ask, "Are you sure you're not a cat?"

Astur glared at Illsrvati who instantly made the wise move of dissolving her body and retreating into the crevices of the room.

With physically retaliating against Illsrvati a non-option, Astur can only verbally refute her, "Canids also do this!"

"We should return to the topic at hand," Kretea says.

"Right," Astur acquiesces.

Moving the conversation along, Astur and Asterion arrange for a multitude of traps to be set up in the area surrounding the fortress. A discussion on the strategy and tactics for the upcoming assault takes place. Everyone is discussing plans for any possible situation that might occur, including for plans that don't directly involve Dawn, such as a case where an attack on the fortress is a feint and the real target is the Sea of Trees or Hadrow. Just for this scenario, Astur intends to send Zrathno to help bolster the defence in Hadrow while she'll remain in the periphery of the Sea of Trees to watch for any attempts to invade the forest, at the same time, Oulvgar troops will be transferred to Dawn from both Hadrow and the Forest since Zrathno and herself can make up for the lost numbers and their respective areas being more suitable for guerilla warfare as well as Dawn still being the main front with a need for more soldiers.

"Everyone's got their jobs so get moving!" Astur shouts.

"Yes, Ma'am!" The Warband members respond before leaving for their respective missions.

"Elizabeth, Kretea, and Ystur. You three can head over to Zrathno's ship. I still have some things to take care of first. I'll meet up with you soon," Astur says with a serious expression.

Seeing her face, the three of them don't argue and quickly leave the war room, shutting the door behind them. As they leave, Illsrvati reforms her body, leaving her, Astur, and Asterion in the war room.

"So the other half you didn't mention earlier?" Astur asks.

"The goal of the Crusaders is the Warden. During their next operation, they intend to kill the Warden and are using their full force to do it. Their reinforcements from all the nations have either arrived are almost arrived, including several teams from the Church's Order of the Sun. In case you didn't know, a team from the Order of the Sun can pool together their mana to create large humanoid magic constructs, not too unlike that Steel Mirage of yours," Illsrvati explains.

"They're starting to pull out the big guns now. Heh, A shame their efforts are moot," Astur laughs.

"You have confidence in this matter? From what I've seen so far, there are twelve teams from the Order of the Sun here. You should know there are only thirty in total, so nearly half of them are here."

"I'll admit that they are difficult to deal with when there's that many of them," Astur says before letting out a deep sigh, "It's just a shame."

"What is?" Illsrvati asks.

"Everything about this matter," Astur turns to Asterion, "Do you want to explain it or me?"

"It matters not. The issue shall not change. All is as fate decrees. Mine time is up regardless."