Recliffe Castle, Preparing for the Worst (OPEN!)

[Teagan]

Teagan sat in his study, hands on his forehead, sighing heavily as he stared at his desk. His desk was cluttered with books and papers, filled with reports, few of which were any good. Teagan rubbed his temples with his fingers, and picked up a piece of paper. It had been read several times already, but he needed to look at it again, blinking to see if this was real or not. It was. The Chasnid were massing in the Kocari wilds.

He sighed as he placed the paper to the side. That wasn't the only piece of news. Alistair, his nephew, had left Denerim, and was now off playing Warden with that pirate woman he had given a ship to. Teagan had advised against it, Alistair's place was here. Maker knows how much trouble the lad has gotten into abroad…

Even before Alistair left, there were several events already in motion that urgently needed his attention. In his own court, there were stirrings of revolt against his reign. While Teagan had his suspicions that many came from none other than his darling queen, he kept his mouth shut. He had never trusted Anora, nor would he ever trust her. She was too much like her father, only much smarter, and being a woman not taken as seriously as a threat she should be. This was a mistake, and Teagan was not sure how seriously Alistair was taking it. There was also that man she was spending a lot of time with, the Teyrn of Gwaren… He scoffed. That man was a viper, worse than Loghain. He had no honor, but was damn good at pretending he did. Teagan had several spies in his household, as undoubtedly Landon had in his own. Still, he was someone to maintain a heavy eye on.

Also, there was the matter of that Orlesian “guest” Alistair had brought. Teagan had his suspicions on her as well, but he had yet to meet her, or even speak to her. Business in the Arling had kept him busy, and even if she was who he expected, he was far too busy with Ferelden problems to care for Orlais.

To add to the situation, the mages and Templars were now fully at war with each other and event much predicted and anticipated, yet still horribly inconvenient. It didn’t help that his nephew, Connor, had been in the Ferelden Circle, and Teagan feared the worst.

But all that he could not help. He could not deal with the rabid mabari in the cage when there was another charging towards him. And that mabari took the form of a large Chasnid and Avvar horde gathering in the south. A storm was coming, and dark times where ahead a mere 10 years after the blight. Teagan grabbed several pieces of paper and began to write for aid. While he was confident the army of Redcliffe was a formidable force, and would undoubtedly hold the mountain passes and Redcliffe castle, he feared for the surrounding lands. He wrote to several allies in the Bannorn, in the hopes that they would send men to aid him. He wrote another letter to Vigil’s Keep, in the hopes that some knights of the Silver Order would come to their aid. He even sent a letter to Orzammar and a few Dalish clans in the region promising trade rights and grazing land, respectively, for their service. He even wrote to Highever, in the hopes that Fergus put down his pint of ale long enough to actually read it. Finally, he wrote to the capital, Denerim, beseeching the aid of the royal army. What concerned him whenever he asked the capital for anything were the strings that came attached. He did not trust Anora would send the army for free, or worse, she’d send the Teyrn of Gwaren at its head. That thought made Teagan seethe, yet he still wrote the message. Better to let the queen know he was building an army to fight the Chasnid than have her assume he was building one to fight her. Still, he did not relish the thought of having to deal with Landon. If only the Circle and the Templars were not at war. He could have really used the mages support in this battle. Also, it would have been nice to see Connor again. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Teagan sighed as he finished the last of the letters. Fate always had other plans. He called his guard and handed him the letters.

“Have the scribe make 2 copies of each letter and send three riders per destination. Make sure that the communique to Orzammar is delivered directly to the hands of the king, for it will get lost in the Assembly. Tell those headed for the Dalish Clans to be nice to the elves, we don’t want to risk insult at a time like this. For the ones to the Bannorn, make sure they arrive directly into the hands of each Bann, not the steward, not the captain of the guard, but the Banns themselves. The rider to Vigil’s Keep needs to deliver this directly to the Seneschal. Make sure the letter to Highever is delivered directly into the hands of Fergus as well, preferably while he is sober. Finally, as for the letter to Denerim…” He paused, looking at the letter. “The one to Denerim I want delivered to the Queen.” The guard pounded his chest and left immediately with the scrolls, and Teagan sighed, looking over at the scout’s report on the barbarians. He then picked up an old book on Chasnid and Avvar culture, and began to study his enemy. He needed to get into their minds, understand better how they work. The only way to defeat ones enemy was to understand them, Teagan knew this concept well. Pouring all of his concentration into the book, he spent many hours reading, taking notes, desperate for any scrap of knowledge he could use to his advantage.

The storm was coming. He had to prepare.

[Teyrn Landon]

(I hope its alright that Landon arrives Redcliffe a little later.)

The sun rose in the horizon and the sky was clear blue, almost none clouds were visible the morning, whereas the wind gave only a slight breeze as it grew warmer by the hour. The winter was finally over and the spring had arrived; only a few places one could still see snow, but most of it was now gone. The trees had again begun to get its green leaves, and a few yellow dandelion flowers covered the slopes, showing sign that summer were quickly approaching.

On the outskirts of Redcliffe village, near the bridge that connects the pathway across the waterfall; two young boys played a game with their wooden swords, where one pretended he was a Ferelden soldier fighting the other who played one of the rumored barbarians from the south. The two boys were siblings and while they fought they shouted words at each other, playing their role as an act where the two fought in the midst of the gigantic battle to come. From the distance their mother smiled as she watched, putting the clothes they had on a line from the house to a tree nearby. She was happy to see her boys have fun, but in truth she felt worried about the future as it was well known in Redcliffe what had already transpired in the lower Hinterlands and the Korcari Wilds. She feared for the life of her husband who soon would accompany the army to war, and she hoped things would go well, or if not she would possible become a widow and a refugee with her two children.

As the wind shifted, one could suddenly hear the sound of horses and the stamping of their feet when a group of knights appeared on the road. In front of the knights rode their leader upon a black stallion, clad in heavy armour made of silverite with the emblem of a golden dragon on his breast plate. Behind him, on both sides of his shoulder rode two banner carries, one holding the banner of Gwaren with the same emblem as on their leader`s breast plate, and the other holding a banner with the emblem belonging to Denerim. Behind them in a line followed a group of ten knights, all on horse. It was Teyrn Landon who had come and they were there on orders by the Queen, who had received the letter from Teagen approximately one month and three weeks ago.

Soon as the mother to the two boys noticed the knights approaching in fast speed on their horses, her face turned grim and she screamed for her boys to step away from the road while she went to grab them. The mother got one of the boys off the road first, but when she went to catch the other one, she noticed he stood silent out of fear as it almost where too late. Teyrn Landon nearly did not discover the boys as he reacted slowly when he was almost at the bridge, and right in front of the frightened boy, Landon pulled the reins and stalled the horse back, halting the entire group. The horse made a loud noise and Landon held tight on the reins to not fall off, almost hitting the boy with the two feet’s of the horse that wavered in the air.

Once the horse was settled and the boy was safe, Teyrn Landon turned his focus to the mother and her two children, angry that they had not stepped out of the way sooner. “Watch your kid’s woman, we could have killed them.” He said and sneered, calming the horse as he took a glance back at the woman. He thought she was beautiful and a lust to meet her later grew within him, but with a charming smile as if nothing had happened, he told the horse to gallop and toward Redcliffe castle he went, riding across the small bridge, with the group of knights following him. The mother remained shocked where she stood and she could not believe what just had happened, holding her children tight to her body she tried to comfort them as she watched Landon and his company ride off.

[Teagan]

Teagan sat quietly in his study, reading a rather dry and dull tome on Chasnid religious practices, when the sound of nervous armored footsteps approached, meaning that something was transpiring.  "Thank the Maker". He muttered to himself.  He needed something to take his mind off this damn tome.  If he read about one more variation of tribal dance he swore he'd burn the book and throw it off the walls.  The knight knocked on the door with three loud, solid knocks.  He had no idea how soon he would rue those muttered words.

"Enter."

The knight opened the door quickly and said "Beg your pardon my lord.  A group of riders have arrived bearing both the flag of Denerim and Gwaren."

"Gwaren?" Teagan thought to himself out loud, looking to his side a second, then frowning.  Dammit all.  It was Landon.  Had to be.  Question was, why was it only a small group?  He needed an army.  Standing up and fixing himself, he told the knight.

"Have the servants prepare quarters for our guests, I shall go to the courtyard to greet them.". The knight banged his fist on his chest and walked out as Teagan tied his sword belt to his waist.  Today would not be pleasant.

Walking outside, an honor guard had already been set up.  Good.  Teagan was proud of his men.  His brother had trained them well.  He stood at the top of the stairs in the courtyard, hand on his hilt, and watched the riders trot in through the gate.  His fears had been founded...

"Good morrow Teyrn Landon.". Teagan spoke cordially, in the matter all nobles had to, even when they hated the other.  He continued.

"I had not expected you to come so soon.  Had I had known, I would have made more proper accommodations.". 

[Teyrn Landon]

The hooves of the horses trampled the ground as they rode across the bridge and through the open gate of Redcliffe castle, where Teyrn Landon and his knights entered the courtyard. The Knights who rode in a row of two divided themselves up and went left and right, to stand on both sides, while Landon himself halted his horse in the center of the courtyard and watched Teagen coming down the stairs in front of him. With a smirk on his face he listened to what Teagen said and then as Landon removed his helmet, he responded with a firm tone. “When Barbarians lies at our doorstep the Queen Does not like waiting and that is why I come to you so unexpectedly, once Queen Anora received your letter she sent me.” Landon`s golden hair wavered in the wind as his gaze remained on Teagen, and with an abrupt movement he took the opportunity to dismount from his horse.

Once Landon got both his feet on the ground, he continued. “We are to dispatch our forces as soon as possible, on her orders.” Landon said as he handed Teagen a letter with the royal seal and began walking toward the stairs, hoping he would be allowed inside where he could get a nice meal and something to drink. “I have brought eight thousand men with me, and another ten thousand is already waiting on us in Gwaren. Once you have mustered your men, we should leave south to them.“ Landon finished and cared not for courtesy, all he cared about was himself and the Queen. With a nod to the closest servant, he ordered him to come over. Removing the black cloak, he gave it to the servant and awaited Teagen`s response.

[Teagan]

Teagan looked at Landon with a look as calm and emotionless as he could muster. In truth, he felt like shouting. What the bloody hell do you fucking mean they're in Gwaren! I need them HERE dammit!. He thought to himself. He felt like shouting this at the arrogant man on the horse in front of him, but decided against it. No, he needed those troops, no matter what. The problem was the number.

"Did her grace not read the reports I sent with the letters?" Teagan asked, clearly disconcerted with the small number of troops that seemed to be. He himself had only 50,000 troops, seeing as how many thousands were lost against the blight ten years ago and her numbers had never been fully replenished. Redcliffe had borne the brunt of the casualties in the retaking of Denerim. "18,000... That's nowhere near the number we need. Dammit Landon, this isn't some war band of a couple thousand. We're talking a force of barbarians that would swarm that number in a heartbeat. We need at least ten times that many if we want to do battle successfully counter this horde..."

Leading Landon into the castle, he headed for his study, where he had had maps placed on the walls, and his books with research of barbarian culture and warfare practices on the desk. He pointed to the maps. "I've already called for aid from Highever and the Bannorn. As of now, only 5,000 have arrived from the Bannorn, with another 75,000 set to mobilize and arrive within the next two months. I'm still awaiting word from Highever and Amaranthine, but we desperately need their expertise in this war, and Fergus' numbers would more than double our own. That's not even including Drakon's Peak troops we can expect to arrive at roughly the same time the men of Highever arrive. We cannot expect to take these barbarians in one climactic battle Landon. We need a large force, as large, if not larger than needed to counter the blight, to quell this rebellion. A simple field army of roughly 50,000 or so as done in past battles won't cut it. We need to hit them on multiple fronts, take out their power bases in the Frostbacks and the Wilds, and ensure they're properly patrolled and our power maintained so that the large horde my scouts have seen will wither on the vine. Barbarians are fierce in battle, but they tend to be less so when their farms are occupied and villages under our control..."

Teagan sighed, and did some math in his head. Currently, he had 50,000 troops on hand, including the 5,000 from the Bannorn. However, a field army would require he leave a garrison in Redclffe, a garrison that'd have to be large enough should any plan of Landon fail (which, in truth, Teagan highly anticipated it would). With Landon's 8,000, that put the number here at... 63,000.... Not subtracting the 25,000 he'd have to leave behind to properly man the region from raids coming in from the Frostbacks. Nowhere near the numbers he was getting from the horde. One scout said their tents spanned from one horizon to another...

"I'm telling you, we need to wait. Reinforcements will come. Best to be patient now and gather the troops we need, then advance on the enemy. Right now, the barbarians are better prepared than we are. It'd be suicidal to move with a number easily only a fourth the size of the enemy's, and we aren't even certain of their numbers, their training, which tribes have joined.... There's even rumors that they're marching towards the Brecillian forests. If they're doing what I think they're doing, they're going to link up with the Dalish, and that adds a whole other army we have to contend with."

Teagan sighed heavily, looking at the maps with the reports tacked onto them, then back at the impetuous nobleman in front of him. "War is coming. Soon, the barbarians will have to go into small raiding parties into the bannorn to try and secure food, as they will not have a steady supply of their own as their villages can be raided by small bands of our men. We need this time to rally our forces and secure our food supplies, ensure our boys will be well fed while theirs starve. Then, once we've cut them off from supplies and fresh reinforcements, we can take the fight to them, our men rested and well fed, whilst theirs would have been starving and understrength for months."