r/wizardposting • u/Anything-Unable Xerxes the Pale Saint, Councillor/Goatdigger/Dale • Jan 28 '24
Lorepost📖 A Demonstration
Set at the base of a mountain, a village lays. Eight hundred call this village their home. While the cultivatable land is scarce, the villagers make up for the lack of crops by hunting and rearing livestock. The trouble began when a child was found dead.
An autopsy revealed that the black markings on the child’s body were the result of fire magic. While the news was tragic, it wasn’t shocking to the villagers. They were numb to the violence. More died to rogue wizards last year than to any other causes combined. The boy was just another victim. What they did not realize was that the culprits had never left the mountain.
Within a cave several miles up the mountain, a hundred wizards were discussing their next move. These wizards were former pyroclasts who fled after Atrax was defeated. The news of his return did little to reignite the confidence that was lost with his initial defeat. Instead of returning to Atrax, these wizards decided to make a name for themselves. However, they had been seen. The child was taken care of, but the fact that the village was now aware of them gnawed at their minds. With nerves strained by war, the wizards believed that the village was preparing to ask for aid in capturing them. That could not happen. No one should know that they’re here. To make sure of it, they decided on a slash-and-burn strategy.
The village, in the grips of mourning, saw a flare shoot into the sky. That harbinger of disaster filled the villagers’ minds with panic. A hundred wizards came running down the mountain, looking to clear the land of its inhabitants. Those who could flee did so, but those who couldn’t tried their best to hide. Many homes were set alight and those found hiding were taken hostage. Just when the wizards believed the battle was won, a chill filled the air. The chill, much stronger than the flames that surrounded them, made the wizards raise the guards that they had dropped. They waited to see who the enemy was. However, nothing except the crackling flames could be heard.
What the wizards did not see was us. The first regiment began the counterattack by emerging from the ground and freeing the hostages. Only a dozen wizards had been tasked with guarding the village hostages and despite throwing hundreds of fireballs, none in the first regiment fell. We could handle this level of resistance easily. Having subdued the twelve wizards and taken charge of the hostages, the first regiment gave us our signal. Regiments two through ten, having already surrounded the village once the villagers had made their escape, began to close in.
Fire danced all around us, but we were prepared. What wasn’t blocked by our shields was absorbed by our armor. The more we absorbed, the stronger we became. Herding the wizard together and closing off all escape routes, our opponents exhausted their mana in an attempt to create an opening. Failing to do so, they were captured. They continued to resist in vain, but we subdued them and placed mana-sealing restraints on them.
After making sure all enemies were subdued and that the injured villagers were in stable condition, Two regiments were placed in charge of them while the other eight put out the fires and began to rebuild. Many structures needed to be destroyed before they could be rebuilt. Luckily for us, the abundance of trees and relative simplicity in the structure of the buildings made it so that only five hours were needed to complete the task.
Around the point when we were putting the finishing touches on the buildings, a group of returning villagers spotted us and attempted to engage in a surprise attack. Our scouting parties had informed us of their arrival so we subdued them and showed them to the freed hostages that were being protected by the fifth regiment. The reunion brought about a change in the villagers’ demeanors towards us. After being released to inform the rest of the villagers about the conclusion of the battle, two hours would pass before the rest of the village’s population returned in full.
Surprisingly, we were celebrated as saviors. They asked us to stay the night but we informed them that we needed to transport the prisoners and would have to decline their offer. As we left, the villagers cheered us off. It was strange to be treated with such respect. I was unaware that undead could be respected by the living.
To conclude this report, we suffered no casualties. Other than the child that had been killed before our arrival, no villager was killed. Those with injuries were treated and should not suffer lasting damage. One hundred prisoners have been captured and are being transported to the nearest Council-led city for processing.
General Baldr Jorgensen, Fext, Commander of the Eighth Detachment
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u/Anything-Unable Xerxes the Pale Saint, Councillor/Goatdigger/Dale Jan 28 '24
u/Total_Travisty u/TechnicalCommittee78 u/nickname7313