Day Four #5

In any era there was a variety of different tactics or strategies that would be similar to each other and could be placed into several categories.

The general ways to approach combat was to exploit the weather and its effects on the environment, attacking or creating a way to alert allies when someone suspects the enemy is nearby, concentrating attacks towards a certain portion of the enemies forces, night combat to provide various advantages and disadvantages to both sides in attacking or defensive positions, reconnaissance to obtain information about the enemy then finally smoke screening to provide concealment to advance and retreat.

Each part of those general tactics could be used to overcome just about any enemy but there were always cases where not every possible tactic could be used against certain enemies.

There were no changes in the weather that could assist Inis in battle against a group of Gnolls and while the forest was not completely dark enough to provide her cover, the Gnolls had better adaptability to the darkness so they would be in a more advantageous position than her.

Attacking blindly or concentrating attacks on them as a group would be effective if she could injure them enough to reduce their mobility or could kill one of them before they spotted her but there was always a risk of them chasing after and catching her once she had exposed herself and failed to achieve her goal of killing them or slowing them down.

They were already dangerous to her and when they were as a group, the chances of Inis getting out of the battle uninjured would be much lower.

Inis had to get past their long reach they had when they used the spears or staffs they held, even if their mastery over weapons was much lower the danger increased when the Gnolls worked together and reduced the chances of Inis getting close enough to land an effective strike with her bone blades.

The two final ones were concealment and reconnaissance which she had already done the second one to gain the information on their numbers, the type of creature they were and their estimated power as a group or individually.

That information was very valuable to let Inis decide on how to proceed next with the battle.

Far away from the Gnolls, Inis was using a stick to draw a small map of the forest while there were several stones placed around after she had finished looking around the forest. 'That method would probably be the simplest approach.'

She messed up the map on the ground and then began going over what was in her possession which was the herbs she had, the weapons in her possession and her own innate abilities that could be put to use.

After working on several things in the area and setting up a small campfire, Inis had moved to begin the battle.

The Gnolls were still moving around the same place as before but were showing a hint of impatience in their body language.

A strange scent began to spread in the air and there was some smoke rising into the sky not too far away from their location.

The smell that they picked up on was very attractive to them so they had moved towards that direction quickly without showing any signs of hesitation.

They had no time to think things over or to ask the approval of the others in their group due to the strange smell exciting them and drawing them in.

Once they had come closer, they were met with a cloud of smoke which had spread out the more that the fire burned at the centre where the source of the scent came from.

They were driven by their desires and stepped into the area where their sight was impaired along with their sense of smell being distracted by the smell.

Inis had already masked her scent so they would not be able to find her so easily and the strange scent had only helped to conceal her location.

Several figures entered the smoke from different directions and went towards the heart of the smoke towards the fire.

Many familiar and unfamiliar roars and cries followed then there were sounds of various creatures fighting in a frenzy.

One Gnoll walked inside and tripped over something then fell onto a spike that was facing upward at an angle slightly from put of the ground.

Another had been cut by something as it walked forward and red blood fell down from the wound.

There were many other creatures that were inflicted with a fatal or light injury due to their vision being impaired and them not noticing anything that was in front of their own feet or under them.

When they had heard the cries of their allies or the sounds that came from others, they had followed the noises so they could confront the enemy or to aid their allies.

Many that had met those that were not from their own race had begun to fight but in the smoke they had been unable to fight as effectively as they should.

It became a reckless brawl among so many creatures that had become attracted and the messy battle had only continued as they became more excited and aggressive.

Certain smells were very attractive for so many less intelligent creatures whether they were monsters, demons and animals so as long as there was a type of herb or elixir that attracted them, the easier it was to create such an outcome.

The added smokescreen had helped to allow traps to be placed around in the form of some blades or spikes and anything that was nearby had been attracted besides the Gnolls that Inis had set it up for.

A common tactic was to not fight directly and have others do the fighting, anything that was attracted and had wandered into the smokescreen had begun to fight among themselves without needing Inis to join in the battle or to put herself in any danger.

A lot of cries came from within as more were injured or were killed within and blood stained the area as the smokescreen was gradually thinning.

The Gnolls had died inside and there were few creatures that had been left uninjured as their appearances were shown.