Redwall Under Attack! [EXTRAVAGANZA EVENT]

[Krantor the Brutal]

"I will have you know, young one," Brother Fred stated, "our Abbey, has always stood for righteousness, and good. We cannot simply surrender it to those with malicious and evil intent."

[Lady Amber]

OOC: I guess I'll go ahead and make a character and jump in.

Raylin: A young squirrel who would like to go adventuring far beyond the Abbey walls sometime. She's good at climbing trees, and is an average shot with a sling. She's usually good-natured and likes to laugh. She is a bit over-confident in her abilities, though, and is sometimes sarcastic.

BIC:
Raylin was up in a tree when she heard shouts and cries of alarm from the Abbey. She heard someone yell, "Vermin!" and immediately her ears perked up. She scampered up to a higher branch where she could just barely see over the Abbey wall, and gasped in horror and alarm at what she saw. She couldn't see much from where she was, but she could make out scruffy fur, ragged clothing and weapons. Lots of weapons. Chipped swords, blunted spears, and jagged knives. Though the weapons weren't in the best of shape, they still looked like they could do a lot of damage.

Seeing Abbess Hannah, Skipper, and Brother Fred on the North Wall, she leaped to the ground and ran for the stairs. She climbed hurriedly and reached the top in time to hear Brother Fred finish speaking. She reached the little group and stood next to them, looking over the side of the wall, down at the creatures amassed at their gate. It was a huge army. They all brandished weapons, and were yelling threats up at the four creatures on the wall.

Raylin gritted her teeth and crossed her arms across her chest. How dare they. How dare they come over here and expect us to just hand over the Abbey to them, she thought. Who are these idiots?!

She held back biting insults, though, and glanced over at the others, wondering what they would say.

[a crumb]

The Abbess, flanked by Brother Fred and Skipper, stepped up to the parapet, decisively resting her forepaws on the heated stone. Nothing of the horde was hidden. Here was a true threat facing down her beloved, adopted Abbey. She found the speaker easily, and adjusted her head to make clear eye contact. She would not be cowed, not in her Abbey, nor anywhere near it. Brother Fred, the creature who had first welcomed her inside the gates seasons ago, had spoken bravely and honorably in defense of all the Abbey stood for, to its residents and all Mossflower. Peace was the value she had adopted and embraced. And unlike far too many of the Abbey's peachier souls, she knew the opposite of peace. And she knew an undeterrable hostile threat when she saw it. She whispered to Skipper, telling him to check all the wicker gates were secure, and turned towards the path below her. The Abbess, on no level consciously bidden, offered her innermost thoughts to the giant rat and plunderer below her.

"Listen, you overgrown rat! Whatever unconscionable schemes...strike that. Let me say something you'll be able to wrap your enormous ears around, and not just drip off the back of that colossal skull of yours. This Abbey is armed, and we do not take our joy and plenitude for granted. Its defenses are lean and primed. If you're looking for a  cowardly, miserable, pickletoed, toggle-eared, mossy-coated, bloated easy picking, take a look in a pail of water! Larger hordes than yours have faced this Abbey, and none survived. We are generous creatures, so let me offer one a piece of advice. Take your flail, your ditchwater-colored army and go find a log to conquer, a challenge that actually befits that lump of oat-mash atop your shoulders!"

Long ago, a philosopher-hare Hannah had met in her travels in the south badgered her with unanswerable questions. One of them, she remembered, had something to do with what would happen if a complex and very large tome made contact with a specimen of vermin whose capacity for smart and clear thinking had been called into severe doubt. Unfortunately, the philosopher-hare was not present when the surprising still spry Abbess reached into her habit, leapt onto the parapets, and hurled down a history tome, formerly property of Brother Fred, onto the head of Zanna Crowely.

[HoltLutra]

Zanna, ever quick on her feet, managed to lean slightly to the side. The tome missed her head but still slammed into her paw. There was a sickening crack as her paw broke as the tome hit it. Zanna slowly looked from her now-useless paw to the aging squirrel standing on the parapets above. Zanna could see that the squirrel would do anything to defend her Abbey. "You stupid squirrel! Once I get into that precious Abbey of yours, I'll take care of you myself!" At a slight nod from Zanna, the archers sent a volley straight toward the four beasts that dared to stand in her way. Zanna grabbed the shoulder of a black fox, her healer, and walked to the back of the army with the fox healer. "Fall back! Make camp. We aren't giving up that easily!"

[Captain Tammo]

Wally turned to Raylin the squirrel, who was also hiding behind the ramparts. He was about to let out a string of curses but cut himself off and winced as several arrows, each dangerous enough to kill, sailed overhead and arched down to the abbey lawns. Wally could hardly believe it - Redwall was now at war!

Regaining his composure, Wally turned once again to Raylin, "Did... Mother Abbess just throw the very old, very priceless, and only copy of the Colonel Wolff tome we have at Redwall... at a warlord as a weapon? Because I truly hope she did not. And if she did - to which I say again, I truly hope she did not - I hope none of those monsters can read. Colonel Wolff was a military genius!"

[Nadaz, voice of the host]

Skip was walking down the wall steps when the arrows soared past him. he followed the abbess'S advise and barred the wallgates he then headed inside to marshal those who could fight to grab their weapons and prepare for battle.

[Lady Amber]

Raylin ducked behind the protection of the ramparts, wincing as arrows arced down around them, thudding into the ground below the walls. Hearing Wally's remark about the tome, she turned towards him and grimaced. "Yeah, I think she did. I sure hope they can't read!" She glanced around. "We need to get back to the main building before we get killed! Come on."

Crawling on all fours so she wouldn't expose herself above the top of the battlements, she headed for the stairs. The squirrelmaid glanced back at the others and beckoned for them to follow.

[HoltLutra]

As Zanna made her retreat, she nudged the heavy book with the long knife she kept in her belt. "Grab this." she told the fox, gesturing toward the big book.

As the army reached the flatlands outside the Abbey, well out of arrow range, the horde made camp. Dusk began to fall on Mossflower. The vermin lit fires and began cooking their meager vittles, which consisted mostly of roots and fruit, with the occasional bird mixed in. Zanna called three of her officers to her at the roaring fire in the center of camp. The officers were Ashtail (the black fox), Halfchop( a tall weasel who carried a battleaxe), and a rat simply known as the Shadow. The Shadow was the officer that Zanna really wanted to see. "Shadow, I need you to go check out the Abbey under cover of dusk. See if you could find anywhere we could get in, or where the defenses seem the weakest." The rat nodded and slowly disappeared into the darkness around the camp.

After he left, Zanna began to flip through the tome that the insolent squirrel had thrown at her. Zanna was one of the few vermin in her horde who actually knew how to read. She looked at the cover. It read, Colonel Wolf. Zanna's interest was suddenly aroused when she saw diagrams and sketches of beasts fighting. "Well, this could be useful!" she whispered to herself.

[a crumb]

Hannah's gambit at serious injury to the horde leader thoroughly unsuccessful, she deftly climbed down the stairs. The Abbess shook her head sadly once she stood alongside Raylin. "I feel I've made a blunder here, friends."
The Abbess scanned the Abbey grounds. No creatures were present except those near the gatehouse, and Skipper as he headed for Cavern Hole. That was good -no Abbeybeasts vulnerable to attack, random arrow or otherwise. Hannah resisted the urge to turn back to look at the walls. She knew the walls were there, and were strong. Nonetheless, the feeling of unreality was creeping back onto her, the incident atop the wall fading away. She decided to ignore the sensation, and addressed Brother Fred.
"Brother, I regret the loss of your book. But if you are able, perhaps a few of the other ones you have might be of use now? In the meantime, we need to find everybeast Skipper finds and deems of use. We should make sure the perimeter of the Abbey is secure. How exactly we defend beyond that precaution...I don't know."
Hannah had never previously considered how to defend Redwall against an attack. She remembered enough of her young seasons to know the danger of vermin, and basic strategy for the Abbey as it stood around her. But in all her seasons here, she had not encountered any threat remotely like this.

[Captain Tammo]

OOC: Oh no... Zanna can read

BIC: Wally was back in Redwall's library. At Brother Fred's orders, he was pulling out every article that could possibly have mentioned anything about war, fighting, battles, warriors, war lords, and the Long Patrol. Books made an intimidating tower on the various desks about the great room. Brother Fred entered the library, Abbess Hannah in tow. He was explaining to her the plan: to search through as many of Redwall's records as possible and collect everything having to do with defending the abbey. They would use this new collection as a means of not only fighting back against Zanna Crowely, but maybe even predicting how they would attack!

As the pair entered, Wally exclaimed to himself, "The Long Patrol! They could save us! Gotta find out if there are any birds nearby who could make the trip to Salamandastron with a message. I remember reading somewhere that birds usually live in Redwall's attics..."

OOC: @Crumb and @Krantor the Brutal , I hope you don't mind me playing a tiny bit as you to bring things up to the library! Let me know if you do and I can change my post.

[HoltLutra]

As Ashtail put Zanna's paw into a splint and bandaged it, Zanna began muttering about the stupid squirrel and big, heavy books. After the fox finished mending her arm, Zanna sat down by the fire and began to read Colonel Wolf. The beginning was simple tactics, pincer movements and coming at an enemy from behind. The further Zanna got into the book, the more complex the military strategies became. A particular page caught Zanna's eye. She grinned wickedly and closed the book...

[Ashleg]

Heh eh, nevermind, Rune is up for grabs.

[Lady Amber]

Raylin had decided to volunteer to help up in the library, joining forces with Wally in the search for information. She frowned thoughtfully at Wally's idea. "Mm, maybe. But the Long Patrol wouldn't be able to show up immediately, and the vermin are right outside our door. How would we defend ourselves in the meantime? We might be able to send for the Long Patrol, but we also need to think of something we can do that can help right now."

She plunked a pile of books down on a table. Dust plumed up from the volumes and filled the air, making her cough. She glanced at the title of the book on top of the stack and saw that it was part of a series of books on the history of Redwall Abbey. "Huh, this might help," she muttered to herself, and started scanning the pages for information.

[a crumb]

ooc: not at all.

Abbess Hannah had listened with interest to Brother Fred's plan. It was a reasonable course of action, if seemingly slow. Wally's exclamation greeted the Abbess and Brother Fred upon their finally entering the library. "Hello, Wally. Raylin. Now, Brother, be precise: what exactly did you have in mind for what to research? Is not the Long Patrol our best option here? Even with strategy, this Abbey is not of warriors."

The Abbess observed Raylin began to work through a selection of books. She recognized a few, from the numerous times she had ventured to the library. She was vaguely familiar with the book Raylin had just grabbed. Thinking that it was in fact the most useful of the books in that pile, she simply left the squirrel to her reading.

[Nadaz, voice of the host]

Skipper was digging pits behind the gates and filling them with spikes. To be sure that the vermin in the unfortunate event that they broke into the abbey grounds would fall into the pits he disguised them with a grid of twigs over the hole and leaves  over the twigs. He had made his way out of the main building by crawling under a table always keeping it over his head to protect himself from any stray vermin arrows. After completing his task he went back in  side to prepare his weapons for battle.