Prola 4

Swish! Moonlight lit the panicking camp as arrows rained down on the camp, carrying the sound of death with them, blocking out the moon with the pure quantity of arrows. Upon reaching the wooden walls next to the archers, Legate Adromium looked out to utter darkness, and the enemies were nowhere to be seen, hidden in the darkness of the night.

Witnessing an arrow go straight through the eye of a legionary standing next to him, Legate Adromium immediately ordered the light and fire elemental mages to throw out light and fire spells to light up the pitch-black night and expose their cowardly foe. Simultaneously, he ordered the archers to draw their arrows and fire them as soon as the barbarians were exposed in the night. 

Boom! Sounded through the camp as angry mages used their magica reserves to light up the sky of the battlefield, taking away the barbarian's advantage. The barbarian archers were exposed 100 meters in front of the camp, kneeling on one knee dressed in black head to toe, blending in flawlessly with the night until the mages lit up the sky. 

As soon as the sky was artificially lit and the enemies spotted, the archers let loose at the surprised enemies. Hiss! Five seconds later, 1000 arrows smashed into the panicking exposed barbarian archers cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. Screams rang through the air as the barbarians were split open by a multitude of arrows.

Standing on the walls covered in arrows, Legate Adromium, dressed in his Lorica Segmentata with his sword strapped at his waist, watched this unfold with a sadistic smile as the sneaky barbarians were torn apart. He proceeded to decide to leave the walls and ordered the reserve spearmen to form up and prepare to sally forth to meet this unexpected threat taking the battle to the barbarians. 

Reaching the front of the formation, Legate Adromium shouted, "Forward," as the wooden gates opened, allowing them to run straight at the archers. Unfortunately, like the cowards they are, the barbarians had already started retreating toward the city's protection. 

Chasing after the archers, the spearmen, who wore heavy armor, were slower and less maneuverable than the archers, who only wore black tunics. Legate Adromium could have run ahead with his power rank but decided that would be a foolish move. Unfortunately, this allowed the lightly dressed archers to outpace them, reaching the vicinity of the city's walls, forcing Adromium to turn around or risk being counter-attacked or attacked from the city's walls. 

Returning to the camp, a frustrated Adromium immediately got to work cleaning up the camp from this new mess. The camp was in disarray, with doctors running from screaming legionary to the next, carrying them on stretchers to one of the medical tents, many with arrows penetrated deep into their skin. 

Melancholy at the extra loss of life from the enemy ambush, Legate Adromium ordered the nearby legionaries not on sentry duty to pick up the arrows and once again count their dead, which would be recorded on ledgers, so their families could get the deserved compensation. 

Immediately after ordering the nearby legionaries, Legate Adrimoium left to meet with Marshal-General Helvius once more to discuss the current events. Upon arriving, he witnessed Helvius still wearing just his tunic, stroking his chin in deep thought surrounding the events that had happened within the last hour. 

Slightly startling Helvius, Adromium began speaking.

"Marshal-General, barbarian archers used the cover of night and blended in wearing all-black clothing; as soon as the rats were exposed, they turned tail and ran back to Prola."

"Ah, Legate, you surprised me for a second there. So it was all planned what else do they have up their sleeves? We must first focus on the battle that awaits us before we fully investigate what happened here on this fateful night.

Under the circumstances, I have taken command of the Royal forces and have already ordered 2000 of the Royal Guardians and Mages to surround the medical tent where they are treating His Majesty, ensuring his safety. This has freed up the other two Legetas, who should already be waiting for us in the command tent, ready to plan the changed battle plan." Marshal-General Helvius replied resentfully, not knowing yet if His Majesty would survive his injuries.

Ten minutes later, three Legates and the Marshal-General were all seated in the torch-lit tent at the command table, with a map of Prola covering it, deciding the best plan of action. The King had previously decided to play it cautiously while scouting the tree line and simultaneously battering the city with the siege engines attempting to draw them out.

Unfortunately, after the dastardly attack on the camp and the King, this plan was now obsolete, the leaders fearing another surprise attack from the barbarians.

Marshal-General Helvius decided to move forward with a similar plan, still starting with bombarding the city at dawn but with a higher intensity, not allowing any respite for the barbarians. Additionally, alongside the scouts, Helvius decided to send legionaries and mages trailing behind them in hopes of being able to ambush whatever awaits them, hiding in the woods. He planned to first deal with what lay within the woods before turning and attacking Prola with full might, starting with the siege weapons and then with the legionaries assaulting from all sides.

To accompany this, Legate Rascius also suggested rotating shifts, with half the army resting and recovering and half manning the walls in preparation for another surprise attack. Also, quite brilliantly, he suggested placing torches on a 100-meter perimeter around the camp, which would allow a much wider view of the pitch-black darkness. 

Five minutes later, 50 legionaries left the gatehouse carrying torches and placing them at a 100-metre perimeter every 10 steps. Suddenly, being able to see out in the darkness relieved many uneasy legionaries standing on the walls in preparation for a potential surprise attack.

Luckily for these legionaries, another attack never came, and the light started to rise as the engineers pushed out the onagers and ballistas, placing them in front of the camp gate, ready to rain hell upon the rats that lay within Prola. On each side, 1000 legionaries surrounded the siege weapons, offering protection from a potential attack on these important weapons.