The Great War

[Deathclaw]

 "Deathclaw, our scouts report many vermin armies marching towards us, picking up support on the way. They seem to want a war," quickly blurted out a young guard.

"Double the wallguards, change tower guards every four hours to keep them fresh, lock all gates. Warn my captains to get their soldiers ready, tell the navy to be prepared for vermin ships. Get all the lockdown centers well armed and well guarded."

The young soldier rushed off to do his commander's bidding.

Deathclaw's Fortress was well guarded. It had outer walls, which had to be broken through to get a shot at the inner walls. Guard towers were placed at regular intervals, well armed, with a large amount of food and drink, and with guards replaced every 8 hours, two watching at a time switching after two hours with two other guards who would be resting or eating. Tunnels were the only way into the towers, besides being let in through a door by the guards. The tunnels were dug by the armies mole population.

The army consisted of hares, shrews, otters, and squirrels, with the odd mole, who normally dug holes into enemy territory, etc., rather than fighting.

Deathclaw strode to the walltop, ordering a captain to come get him when the vermin appeared, which would be sometime the next afternoon.

Deathclaw knew he had better soldiers, though outnumbered by about 2 to 1 odds, assuming most of the vermin in the land fought, but not all. He had the advantage of vast farmland, the sea to fish in, several ponds and small lakes for water, and ample trees for firewood, arrows, spears, etc. He knew he could withstand a siege for many long seasons.

Now, all he had to do was wait for the vermin, meanwhile having all blades sharpened throughout his army.

[RazorClaw]

 OOC: Sweet! An RP!
RazorClaw was tired. Being a mercenary and the only halfway-decent fighter in an army was tough work. He had sharpened his scimitar, polished his black boots, washed his clothes, took his first bath in four days, and prepared himself. He was a weasel, with sandy-yellow fur, muscular arms, and a lean build. His eyes were a piercing blue. A few shades lighter and they may have indicated insanity, but as they were they were cold, interrogative. He was impeccably dressed. He wore a simple black silk shirt, comfortable and sweat-absorbant, as a base layer, which had a simple fluff on the end, not quite a frill, which concealed wrist binders, to prevent his hands from being severed. On the interior of this was a sheet of black diamond, 6x6 inches. It was the exact shape of his chest, a final shield if the enemy were to manage to defeat him. He wore a black vest, from the leather of a cape buffalo he had slain single-handedly, which had plates of black diamond protecting his sides and back but not limiting flexibility. His pants were also of the silk material, with interiorally sewn and concealed plates of black diamond on the shin, knee (again, plates for flexibility) and on his thighs he had the same leather as his vest, which also had black diamond beneath. He wore black leather boots, with a rounded steel toe. He was ready to march.

He did not get payed a large amount, merely 10,000 gold for each battle. But he was also provided food and protection, which, in itself, nearly made the job worth it. He'd leave in an instant if offered better pay or circumstances, but as was... He sat, tired, and ate an apple, then took a nap under the shade of the tree. Tomorrow would be a long day.  

[Deathclaw]

 Deathclaw slept well, but light. He woke up in the morning, ate, and made sure the guards had breakfast sent to them, those on the walltops. The ones in the towers had plentiful supplies of food.

About two hours after lunch, a dustcloud rose in the distance.

"That will be our vermin friends?" asked Deathclaw.

"Yes, scouts have reported back of their presence," responded a tall, lanky hare captain.

"Check that all the guards are well armed, I'll see to gathering my army."

Deathclaw strode off, and assembled the part of his army not on other duties, telling them to be ready for a battle. Deathclaw grabbed a canteen, checked that he had all of his weapons, and went to wait on the walltops for the vermin daring to march upon his land.

[windhound]

 A large fleet of ships sailed quietly down the coastline, mostly skiffs with a few larger ships mixxed in belonging to the leaders.  The group known as Windhounds was an entirely seabased navel raiding fleet, and its current objective was a well supplied fort known to be under the command of Deathclaw.  Its position was unknown (ooc: I'll let you decide how far inland your fort is Deathclaw, be it waterfront or a bit in, but as you said you can fish and have a navy it cant be that far =) )  but as they had overtaken several small fishing boats and could see a fair size navy in the distance they knew they were close.  

A red fox with a rather violently orange tail slowly paced the deck of one of the lead ships.  Usually overtaking a small to medium sized fortress and raiding their supplies was much easier than foraging on their own.  However, this area that they were approaching had a tense feel to it, as though they were already expecting an attack from another source.  
"Ah well,"  he said aloud to noone in particular.  "If there is a battle, maybe we can sweep in and pick up the leftovers."  
"Anon!"  the red fox shouted, "Anon, prepare the troops for a raid"
"Aye windhound, we could use the new supplies" came the reply

windhound nodded and wandered down to his cabin.  he might as well catch an hour or two of sleep, given he had had little lately and the upcoming raid promised to be interresting

[wolf bite]

 wolf bite tees up the ball. Takes a large back swing, then ?four!? The ball goes flying off into the air as the wolf hands his golf club back to the caddie. The caddie says ?Sir, there is a battle scheduled for this field at 4 PM.? The wolf says "I think I will play through."

[Deathclaw]

 Deathclaw's fort was somewhat inland, close to water but out of range of ship fire. If Deathclaw's massive navy, which could compete and defeat most if not all navies, was defeated, the walls of the fortress would still need to be broken, both sets. Guard towers lined the shore as well, for added defense, with a firepit to use to make flame arrows.

"Deathclaw, my lookouts have spotted the navy of Windhound moving towards us," reported the Commander of the Navy, Seapaw, an otter deadly with all manner of weapons.

"Send some of your otters with some sort of drill or blade, they will swim to the side of Windhound's ships, go underwater when they are almost in range of sight, and put holes in as many ships as they can, then get away. Send four otters for this mission. Make sure they do this right, and be prepared for battle, surround Windhound and give no quarter. I'll reinforce that back wall a little so that more soldiers can come help if needed."

Nodding, Seapaw ran off to send off his chosen four for this mission.

Deathclaw reinforced the back wall, along with the other walls, just in case the vermin launched an attack soon, which was likely.

[RazorClaw]

 The vermin swept forth. RazorClaw sat back with his commander, Argen, looking bored. Argen, a large rat, glanced at him amusedly. "Your time will come. I need you to give orders from the rear. Do what you wish, you have the numbers, and you're a good strategist... I'll come and sweep up the survivors towards the end. RazorClaw screamed, "Halt!" The ragged but massive hored stopped simueltaneously, getting into perfectly straight lines. "Battle formation!" The lines became uneven, so that every beast had a clear shot at the fortress. "Shamed ones!" A group who had commited crimes, the shamed ones, appeared. RazorClaw strapped large barrels of gunpowder on their backs, lit a long fuse to them, and shouted, "charge!" The Shamed Ones sprang forth, knowing that if they ran fast enough, they would be able to set the explosives and still live. "Archers! Provide cover! Flaming arrows! Flank one, fire, back and reload! Flank two, fire, back and reload!" And it went on. The Shamed ones were coming closer to the wall... The enemy would either be decimated by arrows or else blown up and infiltrated. A nearly fool-proof strategy. He had come up with it himself.

RazorClaw was curious. Why was the full guard not concentrated on the frontal assualt? Then he saw it, a fleet of skiffs and a few larger ships. RazorClaw got out his crossbow, shooting a message arrow to one of the ships. It dug into the deck. It read, "Stay ouy, but keep back of fortress preoccupied. We are after this place of plenty, but we can share like good little boys... RazorClaw, mercenary captain"

[Deathclaw]

 Deathclaw, seeing the strategy, opened the gates, sending out fifty soldiers to meet the Shamed Ones head on, taking the explosions themselves if they could not stop the explosion. 15 had water, trying to douse the fuse. Meeting them far from the walls, the explosions would not harm the fortress.

Twelve soldiers were cut down by arrows heading towards the battle. 23 died from the explosions, the rest surviving, dousing the fuses thoroughly.

On the way back, some of the troops acted injured, while others set tripwires between shrubs. There were pits bearing spears in place, two feet deep each and deadly as a full quiver of arrows to the heart.

Hurrying back from setting the tripwires, which were dulled with mud so that they were not seen unless somebeast knew they were there, the remaining fifteen entered the gates of the fortress, having them shut immediately behind them.  

[RazorClaw]

 RazorClaw grimaced. The commander would not be happy. "Archers! Fire flame arrows into that gate! more shamed ones! Guard them this time!" The last fifty Shamed Ones flew forth, guarded by five men each. Some five-hundred beasts were left in the rear to shoot the fire arrows. Suddenly, one of the shamed ones tripped. A boom sounded, audible for miles. One of the Shamed ones had tripped. RazorClaw cursed. Traps.

"Look out!" He shouted. As arrows hailed down, killing the Shamed ones, he had an idea. "Shoot that downed Shamed one!" About fifty feet from the wall, the shamed one lay, his eyes in an eternal stare, and arrow stuck in his neck. The arrows, flaming like great meteors falling in an Apocaplypse, landed on the Shamed one. BOOM. A massive explosion erupted, reaching the wall... A rumbling was heard. The smoke cleared... Dang. The walls were visibly shaken, some stones fallen out, the wall leaning n just a tiny bit, but still firm. "Keep it up!" And then, the gate started to burn.  

[Deathclaw]

 "Get the carriers, bring water to throw on the gates!" bellowed Deathclaw.

Water was quickly passed down the line, poured onto the gate, and the process repeated.

"Half of you fire at the enemies, the other half pour water on the gates. Send one extra archer to each tower. Hurry."

Hours later, the fire was being doused well. Everybeast was hot and tired from battling the fire, but the lakes and ponds had provided sufficient water to fight the fire. By nightfall repairers had replaced the dislodged stones. Losses were sustained on both sides of the battle, but not devastating ones.

Deathclaw called over a mole. "Get yourself and two other moles. Each tunnel into the enemy camp, and make pits like those surrounded our fortress inside their camps, mark their positions, and return. Do not get caught, but place as many holes as possible."

The mole nodded and went about his mission.

[Gen. Volkov]

 *Volkov walks serenely past, leading a herd of cows, with monkeys as his sheepdogs* *Troodons bring up the rear* *A rat walks up to the large fox* Sir? This is scheduled for a large battle at..  *The rat checks his clipboard* 10:30 and then another one at 1:45, could you please move your...... uh.... animals out of the way? *Volkov looks down* Oh sorry. I was just leaving. I hope the cow pies don't make too much of a mess. *The cows moo at him and sit down as one and start eating grass* Oh gee, we stood here too long. They won't get up now. Look what you did! *Shrugs and sits down while leaning against a cow* *The monkeys and troodons put on uniforms and bring him a simple meal with wine to drink* I guess I'll just watch the battle eh? *Watches the two armies approaching each other* This could be interesting. Wonder where my stoats got off too? Coulda swore they were right behind me a second ago. Forget me own head next. *Shrugs again and watches the battle unfold*

[windhound]

 "Sir!"  shouted a scout,  "little boats and swimming goodbeats on approach"
windhound looked and to his surprise he saw a small band of creatures led by an otter, all carrying tools which would spell doom to his wooden hulls.  He signaled to Anon, and told him to alert the other ships and head out a bit.  Just then an arrow burried its head into the planks at windhound's paws.  He unrolled the parchment attached, rolled his eyes and shrugged.  Just as well they were heading out.  He'd let Razor have his try at the fortress first, either way.  Deathclaw had clearly underestimated his fleet, turning around he watched the last score of ships round the bend and come into view.  About a hundred ships all told, each carrying atleast ten beasts.  
He'd pull his ships out into open water, out of archer or cannon range and get a decent view of the battle, and if the otter and his band prusued then they would be taken care of.  No sence in wasting lives after all, but if they wished to harm his precious ships then they would, ofcourse, pay the price

surveying the back of the fort, windhound noticed much to his surprise a large band of cows and misc creatures meander across what was about to become a battlefield, pause, and sit down.  Twas a tad close to view the battle from, though the cows could probably hold their own in a battle, these specimen were large, fine creatures that looked capable of bodyslamming the best of warriors.

"Anon, would you grab me a Sunkist?  The cooler in the stern should have a decent supply left, feel free to have one yerself" said windhoud
"Yessir, thankee sir" was the reply as Anon lightly threw a soda at windhound
"Oh, and if you will tell the cannons to standby, we may need them"
"Will do"
Then they both sat down to watch a rather interresting battle unfold

[RazorClaw]

 RazorClaw grinned. The forces had been halved. Now was the time to strike! "shamed ones! Head for the gate!" The remaining 20 flew off, dodging traps. RAzorClaw raised his arm. The shamed ones came within thirty feet of the gate, some falling... He dropped his arm. A hail of flaming arrows came down upon the shamed ones and their guards, who fled. Large balls f fire erupted  for a hundred-foot radius. Those Shamed Ones who had fallen over by the wall to the right also exploded. The brightness was blinding... And hen the smoke cleared. The wall to the right was close to down. And the gate... Was not destroyed, but the lower section was severely weakened. The fire had spread a long way up, killing many of the beasts throwing water. "All charge! Hack at that weak spot!" The large wave of four-hundred vermin poured forth. Axes, lances, swords, spears, javelins, arrows, everything hacked at the lower portion of the gate, a few beasts killed by carelessly flung weapons. The lower portion was almost through. early retirement was rare for a mercenary. Perhaps... CRUNCH. A large portion of the gate was fallen away. Beasts poured in. RazorClaw got up from his prone position to go help. Now was actual hand-to-hand combat.

[Deathclaw]

 OOC: did vermin have GUNpowder? And didn't you run out of Shames Ones already?

Deathclaw was glad he had an outer wall as well as an inner wall.

"Archers, snipe those vermin. We can thin there number, they're out of explosives and Shamed Ones. Double your fire, our inner walls are intact. Call in half of the soldiers from the east and west walls to the main wall, keep everyone back with the navy, though."

Confident he could repel the vermin, Deathclaw fired another arrow.

[RazorClaw]

 OOC: I dunno. I figured it'd be okay to breach the first wall, since you had a another one. And I had a remaining group of 20 Shamed Ones. The first gunpowder was invented in the real world in what, 1200 or something? SO it's nothing new.
IC: RazorClaw then realized that the enemy had an inner wall. Now was his time. "Argen," he shouted, "we're winning! It's your time!"

Argen had not been paying attention to the battle. He smirked and sprang forth, only to be shot in the arm by an arrow. "You..." His eyes were burning, his nose curled in a menacing grimace, "You tricked me! After all I did for you--"

"Fed me dry bread and stale mudwater? Gave me the shelter of an open road? Gave me a whopping 5000 gold per battle? Please. My service to uyou far outspread my reward. This enemy commander has plenty. I shall offer him my services, and perhaps he won't starve me while eating fresh fish and drinking wine."

The rat's fur raised at the barely veiled insults thrown at him. "So, that's how we wish to play, eh? Fine!"

Argen drew a great broadsword, half again as big as RazorClaw, who was fairly tall. He swung it around his head madly. The troops were being decimated. Just as planned. Then came the first swing, which RazorClaw dodged deftly. The second he jumped over. Then, drawing his scimitar with his right hand, he quickly flashed out a poisoned dagger with his left and flung it into the leader's throat. "Tra-...tor...." Argen choked a few times, as the blood poured from his neck, and then started walking forward. RazorClaw was suprised. Argen was stronger than he thought. Then, the massive rat stumbled, then fell. He twitched a few times, then lay still. RazorClaw kicked the corpse, to assure his demise, and nodded. He walked amongst the few remaining troops who were in prone position holding whiote flags. Deftly dodging a few arrows, RazorClaw shouted, "You have won! Stop firing! I would like to talk to the commander of this fortress!" He awaited a reply, verbal, or else a less welcome one with a pointy tip.