Oberon Plateau (Location B)

[Max Dirks]

The Oberon Plateau is named after Oberon, former General of the Gray Braves. A rock facing on the top of the plateau looks like the former Gray Braves tower. The Plateau is on much higher ground than the Treslizn River Valley, Magi Forest, and Rogue Desert (North) that it is connected to.

This is RumpleGrumblePuss' starting location.

Round two begins at 3:00 PM CST. Good luck to everyone involved.

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

The sun sat high overhead, the harsh rays beat down on me and my army. I refused to retreat into the shelter of the command tent, instead choosing to over see my army. I watched the Mandas and the DDP’s tend to wounded and set up camp.

“We need to get a tally of how many were lost in the last skirmish.” I had to looked back to see which Kelly spoke to me.

“Break the Mandas into groups of fifty and set them on tasks. We’ll be able to count them without alerting them. Also, give the DDP’s something to do. We don’t need them getting bored and causing problems.” General Kelly and GI Kelly walked away; as soon as they reached the main bulk of the army they began shouting their orders.

I took it upon myself to move the trucks to several different locations on the plateau. Each truck would be a good position to use as a look out and defense. It was only when I started the first truck and the truck promptly jerked to a halt that I remembered why I hated using a clutch. With jerking leaps and a string of words that would have me sitting in the washroom, a piece of soap clenched firmly between my teeth, I moved the decrepit trucks one by one.

Glaring at anyone I heard chuckling I walked through the crowd of grinning Mandas. Ignoring the pinch to my rear, I growled to myself. Perhaps I shouldn’t have made them so similar to the real thing.

“Eddie!” I yelled, jumping up and down a few times locate him. Finally I spotted the black beret walking away from me. A Manda tugged at each arm, dragging him along towards one of the trucks I had recently moved. I shook my head, not sure if I should be irritated or amused. Running after them, I mused over the fact that months ago, when I first found myself on Althanas, I would have been wheezing for air after a short sprint. I had to force the grin that crept its way across my face away as I caught up to Eddie and the Mandas.

“You know, inter office relationships are not approved of at the work place.” I waited until twin guilty expressions appeared on the Mandas faces before continuing. “Luckily for you guys we’re not in an office and there is no such thing as sexual harassment here. I’ve got to take Eddie for a bit. He has a job to do; perhaps later you’ll catch up with him again.” Deftly, I stepped between a Manda and Eddie. Taking his arm I quickly steered him away.

“Thanks.” Eddie muttered quietly. Glancing at his face I smiled at the mix of disappointment and relief I saw there.

“No problem, you know if you take one, you’ll have dozens yelling for their turn. Especially given how drunk they are.” I left Eddie near his crates of liquor with a expression of horror dawning on his face as he handed out bottles to the impatient Mandas. GI Kelly, just plain Kelly I reminded myself once more, stood near the command tent. I paused, eyeing the tapping obviously irritated foot she had going.

“Do we have a problem? Where is General Kelly? If you have a problem you need to talk to her first. She is, after all, co general of this army.”

“The red wolves won’t budge they have taken up a position near the eastern side of the plateau.” I looked over towards the small sea of dark fur; a few eyes watched me as well as the rest of the army.

“I’ll see if I can get the wolves to be cooperative. Remember they are intelligent animals and we lost around a quarter of them in the last skirmish. A pack is a family. Give orders to keep the Mandas and DDP’s away from the wolves for the time being. Also spread orders to keep the camp ready to move if need be. We’ll move out around sunset.”

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

I let the sun move nearly two full hand spans across the sky before I approached my Red Wolves. Several heads popped up from the furry mass of my remaining Red Wolves before I had moved a dozen yards closer to them. I stopped, unsure of just what they were thinking or how they would react. One by one tails started fanning the air in a sign of greeting, I sighed in relief.

A few feet from the edge of the mass I stopped and blinked in surprise. In the middle of my wolves nine of the dark elves we had fought previously. They sat in the shade of a tree; the dark jelly of several Shadows rose up from the ground in ropy tethers to hold the men to one place. I looked calmly at them despite the hateful glares being sent my way, after a moment I smiled nastily. I was pleased to see that several of them flinched.

“Greetings. I’m sorry for the delay in getting to you. I’m afraid in the move I had quite forgotten about you. Obviously my wolves had not. Now, I’ll have you released. You will serve in my army and there will be a Shadow and three wolves with you at all times. If I think for a moment that you will betray my army or harm anyone in my army I will have them hold you and kill you myself. Prove yourselves to be trust worthy and I’ll have the ‘watch dogs’ removed.” Something brushed against my leg, looking down I saw the female I thought of as the alpha bitch for the group sat patiently at my side. Reaching down I gently ruffled the fur between her ears.

“Leave your group to guard them for now. Come on.”

The short walk through my army put me in a good mood. Orders were being followed, a temporary, easily broken down camp was neatly being set up. Groups of Mandas and DDP’s were interacting easily. The tension from before, gone. I snagged two swords recovered from fallen DDP’s carefully slid them through my belt. I had no wish to fight but if it came to that I would rather have a sword or two at hand than one of the razor embedded paint brushes. Twin heads of gleaming auburn hair caught my attention. Near the command tent both the General and Kelly stood, obviously deep in conversation. Just as I neared them Kelly broke away and hurried off at a trot for one of the trucks stationed at the edge of the plateau.

“Problems?” I asked

“Perhaps, one of the Mandas spotted a creature flying over head that distinctly wasn’t a bird.” I frowned and looked up at the sky.

“If you spot it, shoot it. That’s why you have a gun, just try to not waste your bullets. What you have on you is what you’ve got. Now, I want you to spread the dark elves we captured among the groups watching the borders. Keep them far apart from one another. If they present a problem, kill them. If any of the groups encounter a spy checking out our location I want them brought to me. I’ll be looking at the tent if you need me.”

~~~~~~
The general watched Kahlina disappear into the tent with one of the Red Wolves and smiled slightly, glad that Kahlina had gotten to the wolves. Gathering her core group of Manda helpers she took rations and water with her over to the Red Wolves and the dark elves they guarded. Over seeing the distribution of rations and water first the General then sent the elves and their guards to different locations with orders to follow the Manda that led them there.

“Ah, General? That thing is back.” The General looked up to where the Manda was pointing to see a creature far too large to be a bird circle over head. Drawing her gun and taking careful aim the General fired three times at the creature. A tiny surge of satisfaction coursed through her when the creature shrieked and drop in the air several yards before catching itself. She started to take aim at it again then noticed that it was flying away, out of range for her 9 mil.

“Okay, ladies I want you to spread the word. We move to the next location ASAP. We’ve been scouted. I’ll inform Kahlina.” With a nod the Mandas scattered, hurrying to clusters of Mandas and DDP’s. The General walked through the quiet chaos to find Kelly. Finding her at the northern most position she quickly caught Kelly up to what was happening.

“We need you to take out a mixed group of Mandas, DDP’s and red wolves and scout ahead to the next location we are moving to. Take one of the trucks, pack it with as many as you can.”

“I spotted the creature flying away, good shooting by the way. You think there will be any others coming?”

“Of course, that’s why I gave orders to head out even before I altered Kahlina.”

“Speak of the devil…’ Kelly pointed behind the General with a toss of her chin. ‘She looks a little pissed off; better go tell her what’s going on. I’ll have a group moving within a few minutes.” The General shook her head and looked back towards the command tent; sure enough Kahlina stood out in front of the tent, behind her a team of five Mandas broken down the tent and began packing it away. Kahlina meant her half way.

~~~~~

“What’s this I heard of us moving?”

“We’ve been scouted. I wounded the thing that was flying over us. Undoubtedly we’ll have company unless we get moving.” I turned with the General as one of the trucks roared by, loaded to full capacity with troops. We watched it drive away, bouncing over the rough, pitted ground.

“I sent Kelly to check out the northwest location, we don’t want to walk into a trap.” I nodded my approval of the General’s action. A sudden uprising of shouting stopped my next words. I hurried over to see what exactly was going on. At the feet one of the new dark elves lay a person I had never seen before.

“Now we know for sure we’ve been scouted.” I murmured to myself looking down at the two.

“Get Eddie over here and check him over then bring him with us; we’ll talk to him later. I want everything ready to go within an hour.”

“We’ll be ready to move out in ten minutes.” One of the Mandas chimed in as I began walking away.

“Very good. See if you can make it five then.” I grinned back at them; several of the Mandas nodded and took off running, yelling at others as they passed them. A ripple of shouting ran through the camp, before it reached the edges of the group the activity within had picked up a frantic pace.

Moving to location D, Traslizen River Valley.

[Amaril Torrun]

((The entire army, besides a few scouts has moved from area E to area B.))

Darith let out a pained gasp as he looked at the sky. The draconian scout was returning, but the rigid flight patterns showed that something was wrong. Hardly a minute later, the draconian crashed to the sandy and somewhat rocky ground. There were two large and bloodied holes in the scout’s body, one through a wing and one through an arm. Both were bleeding profusely due to his determinedly, strained escape back to the Split Breed army. Another draconian broke the ranks to hold his dying brother, weeping silently.

Only one man thought about something other than the fallen comrade. He was a seasoned soldier, used to the pains of seeing a companion die. “Sir, what did you find? Did our enemy do this to you?” Hector stood over the dying draconian with little remorse in his voice.

The draconian gagged a little, trying to rub the areas that had impacted with the ground the hardest. There were broken bones and he couldn’t doubt the possibility of internal bleeding. His time in Gisela would end on that landscape, a mix between desert and plateau. “Yes, I saw the enemy. I couldn’t find out much about them though.” He took a moment to cough up a bit of blood. “They don’t seem very organized, but they do have technology on their side. Be careful with them. They seem unpredictable.”

----------------------

Darith and his small faction of draconians stayed behind to accompany their brother in arms until he passed on. They knew that the death wasn’t permanent, that the monks would revive him at the end of the tournament, but it was still a solemn affair. The rest of the army continued forward and finally reached the center of the Oberon Plateau. The feeling of being free from the desert bounced off of every individual, man or beast, regardless of the uncomely new region.

The entire place was a mess. Scraps of cloth, trash, and liquor bottles littered the area. It was evident that the place was deserted in a hurry and Amaril had a feeling that the now dead draconian had been right. Their opponent did seem a bit unorganized. Then again, his army didn’t really have very high standards on how to operate either. The three divisions hardly worked together and he felt that he, the leader, was more of an observer. He didn’t mind though. Kataneen, Darith and Hector knew how to keep their own troops in line. The half-dragon was merely a figurehead learning how to manage a large force.

Hector decided to send two more scouts to try to find the destination of their enemy. Knowing that there would be a battle this round send shivers of anxiety, anxiousness, and excitement throughout the army. No one wanted to feel the pain of death, but the idea of getting to show their prowess overcame that fear. Several more draconians took to the air, wanting to catch a glimpse of the fleeing army.

It didn’t take long for them to return to the ground, reporting that they found movement to the northeast, near a river. Hector whipped out his map and quickly pointed to the Treslizn River Valley. “That’s where they’re headed. If we hurry, we might be able to catch them before they cross the river.”

With many grunts of displeasure, the short break was interrupted by the officers who gave orders that the army would continue the march. Hector’s two scouts returned just in time to join the army. It would travel in the same formation it had already done in the desert.

((The entire army is traveling from area B to area D.))