As soon as he saw the scouting report, General Thomas Blackwood knew he had to act immediately. "Raise the alarm!" The small camp outside Southport erupted in activity as they knew the situation was more than serious.
The young noble was there on behalf of King Denas, acting on his first mission as the newly appointed Royal General. He was to inspect the area for recent outlaw attacks that were reported by the caravans. In his arrogance, General travelled to Southport way ahead of his assigned battalion, believing the issue was easily solvable. As it would turn out, however, that backfired horribly.
Once he had arrived to Southport, he sent out scouting missions, believing that the outlaws would be easy to find. Instead, the scouts found far more than they expected. A large group of goblins and orcs were spotted camping nearby and could quite possibly threaten the area. Unaware of their objective, Thomas could only raise the alarm and gather whatever forces he could to fight them.
And the situation was far from ideal. While the city could close down its walls, settlements around it were not safe. In addition, Southport was crucial was for the trade on the Crystal Sea so long term trade disruption was off the table in terms of acceptable consequences. The General had to deal with this immediately. He muttered curses under his breath as he observed the area map while the camp was in full rush mode.
His luck didn't improve much by the end of the day. The available forces to him were only a Southport militia company under captain Clancy Dowding, several city mages and a dwarven bombard crew that was in the area by accident. Not exactly the best unit the kingdom could provide. At least it would serve well for the time being. It also helped that there was a good place to engage the enemy at.
There was a bend on the highway that led into the city that would serve as a great battlefield. Heavily forested on both sides, it forced both sides to take the highway and engage there. Thomas was glad at least something would go his way and immediately went to inspect the place. There was a nice patch of trees that served great as cover for the bombard and as such it was immediately dragged to that position. As for the rest, he would place the militia spearmen as the frontline, archers and half of his mages as the skirmish line and have a flying reserve and a nasty surprise to plug any gap.
General made an inspection of units provided to him. A motley crew of farmers, blacksmiths, hunters and other civilians pressed into service. It wasn't a great fighting unit, but at least the morale seemed high. The situation was much better with the city mages. While lacking battlefield experience, they were capable enough with their spells. In fact, General was quite delighted to learn that they were capable pf providing quite a nasty surprise for the enemy.
As for the bombard crew, he was glad to have them. While the dwarves were an inexperienced crew, they were taught well. Not to mention their elders wouldn't let them out of their sight if there was even a chance at mishap. "So don't worry one single bit about us. We will get those greenskins tomorrow.", the dwarf commander said, with glee in his voice. General felt a bit calmer after the inspection. At the very least, it wouldn't be a complete disaster.
The battle itself would happen the next day. The motley army prepared their position on the bend. General found a small high ground from which he could observe the battle while the captain would remain with his men. Once on the high ground, General noticed how there was a small gap between the forest patch and the rest of the forest. Had the enemy decided to go left instead of following highway, they would have bypassed the militia line. Yet, General believed to have no concern about that.
Not soon after the army made their position did the enemy attack. Goblins charged in first to try and disrupt the frontline. Militia held their position, taking the brunt of the attack. The goblins' plan fell apart as the bombard and the skirmish line tore them apart. Unfortunately, the booms from the explosions unnerved the inexperienced militia, doing more than the goblin's plan while also giving the approaching orcs enough time to strike and create confusion.
Tougher than their smaller cousins, they became the priority for the militia.
In the bloody melee that ensued, the spearmen became easy prey for the orcs as inexperienced militia struggled against them, their armour proving a good challenge against pitchforks and few spears facing them. Meanwhile, some goblins passed through the frontline, forcing the General to force his reserve to come online. At the very least, the prepared nasty surprise came in handy. The other half of the mages had a prepared Rain of Fire spell which pulverized the goblins that passed through. In the end, nothing passed through so General tried to feel pleased.
But how could he after seeing the end results? Yes, they had managed to kill 48 goblins and 8 orcs, but it came at a cost. 8 militiamen wouldn't return home and more would carry the scars from the battle. Normally, bombards wouldn't strike so close to the frontline nor would Rain of Fire strike so close. So it was understandable to see that most of the militia was quite unsettled by the battle. It was unlikely that General could count on them for the next operation.
So, when the militia captain and a squad of his men volunteered to continue, General was both surprised and pleased at the turn of the events, accepting the unit under his command. Despite the brutal fight they went through, they refused to stand down while there was a threat to their homesteads. In addition, the dwarven crew and the mages would continue to serve under him. Not to mention, his assigned battalion was scheduled to reach the next day. So, for the time being, he had a reliable unit under his command.
The big question had remained. Why were the goblins and orcs there in the first place? The general and the captain had inspected all recovered bodies, yet no clue was found. Only some gold, crystals and their weapons. The gold was redistributed, the weapons taken apart and the metal sent to the blacksmiths to get reforged into something more useful while the wood would end up being used as pyres. The crystals were placed in storage per the order of the captain as their role would come in later.
The corpses of the goblins and orcs were dragged to one spot, placed on the pyre made from remnants of their weapons, poured on with oil and then set on fire. The mood was sour and there was no celebration as the pyre started to become intense. The black smoke that rose up was visible from inside the city. The event was rushed as it was reported rain for the next day. That would buy time for the battalion to reach Southport before more attacks. General took his leave and returned to the city.
The next day he was surprised to learn that the captain summoned the full unit to one of the warehouses for some unknown purpose. It was arranged using his authority in the militia which made the General curious. And so, while the rest of city was taking it slow in the downpour, he had made his way to the warehouse to see what was going on.
The scene there was unexpected. Captain had essentially made an improvised classroom with chairs, tables and even a chalkboard. The captain was in his regular clothes and preparing the material when he noticed the General. "Ah, Milord. Good timing. Shall you join us for our first lesson?" Confused at the sight, he could only comment: "Carry on. I will just observe."
With a nod of approval, captain started his lesson. "Right then. I have gathered you all here because, let's face it, that was not great performance yesterday. And since we don't want to be a laughing stock and be disregarded, we better start working our butts and cooperate better."
As soon as he said though, the room erupted in argument as everyone pointed fingers at others for the blame. In the end captain banged his hand on the wall to silence them. "Listen, we can argue all we want, but you just proved we need a better cooperation. So, unless you want our dear General here to leave us behind, we better shape up. Agreed?"
He only got nods of approval, but that was enough for him. "Right, we will have a lot of work ahead of us, so let us start with something basic that no one can argue against. The knowledge of our opponents."
He prepared to put a crude art of goblin on the chalkboard which caused the dwarven crew to groan, but their commander shut that down. "I don't give a damn you know about goblins and orcs before. You will practice with the rest of us and I shall hear no complaints. Do I make myself clear?" After waiting for a moment for an answer, he raised his tone.
"Do I?!"
"Yes, Sir!", the dwarfs answered. The commander felt pleased. "Right then. Carry on. Though I do wish to comment about the orcs."
"Thank you, Sarge. And of course. Now, to continue after the interruption..." He placed the art on the chalkboard. "Goblins. Your bog-standard enemy. Humanoid, small and with no feats other than being fast, able to keep up with humans. Their preferred weapon is a crude wooden club. Now, as I said, the buggers have no special features. And no, speed and numbers don't count as features. There are other creatures that are as fast as humans and as numerous as goblins. Anyway, back to the topic. As they are humanoid, the goblins share the same organs as us so the heart and the brain are insta-kill zone, chop off limbs to maim them and they can bleed out. Any questions?"
After seeing no raised hands, captain took the goblin drawing off the chalkboard. "Right. Sarge, you are up." The dwarf was surprised. "Oh, I just wanted to comment on some things, but alright." The dwarf stood up and approached the chalkboard. But before he could pin the crude art of an orc, he realized he couldn't place as high as the captain did and that the table would obscure him, making it difficult to see, so rather than moving the table, he just returned for his chair.
After all, the flimsy human wooden chair wouldn't carry him. Oh, no. What he needed was the dwarven craftsmanship, the famed metal folding chair. The blacksmiths sung praise to the famed tool that the dwarves loved to carry everywhere. No blacksmith could sell one without proving that a fully armoured dwarf could stand on it without even a trace of frame bending. So it was natural for the commander to go for his chair than asking for another one.
After placing the drawing, he turned to everyone, letting others see the long-haired and goatee wearing dwarf. "Right, Sarge Agate Sandaele here, giving you a briefing on the orcs. They are bigger greenskins, towering over you."
As soon as he saw some raised eyebrows, he corrected himself. "Okay, as tall as a human. Anyway, unlike their cousins, orcs are better equipped, often coming with crude plate armour and an actual weapon. Now, to be frank, they are far away from something like a knight, but don't be fooled. Even a dumb brute can easily power through, as you learned yesterday. Unless you got a great weapon, either try to strike at the leather strips to remove the armour, go for the head or just get a mage to fire a lightning bolt at them since they pass through like a hot knife through butter. Any questions?"
This time, one of the militiamen raised his hand. "Do we have to worry about getting teamed up there? Ogre distracting us while goblins flank us?"
"No. Melee monsters rarely, if ever, coordinate their actions. For the time being, you don't have to worry. If there are any such monsters, we should get to warn you ahead of time. Regardless, don't overthink about this. You won't have the time for that on the battlefield."
The militiaman nodded in approval and then the lesson continued. General was quite happy to see that. He had a reliable unit under his command and he needed it. For all he knew, this was far from over.