Attack on Redwall - A CYOA

[James Gryphon]

You roll to the side, and snap, "Knock him out!" The stoat turns the spear around in his paws and swings the blunt side down. The otter attempts to move out of the way and get his stick out, but nevertheless the weapon solidly connects with his head. He continues to stir, so your stoat hits him again. After that he stops moving.

You rise to your feet as gracefully as you can, dust yourself off, and make a mental note to take some herbs to relieve your splitting headache. You take your sword out of its sheath and call your vermin out of the woods. They come out of their hiding places to you, some of them right where you thought you heard the noise. That might explain it.

Afrig makes a quick bow. "Orders, milady?"

"Form up against that direction," you say, pointing towards where you think the sound came from. "In case we have any unwanted friends lurking in there."

A stupid-looking rat soldier whose name you don't know asks, "Why wouldn't we want friends, milady?"

[Delthion]

Cuff him and answer his question. Adding a few "birdbrains".

[James Gryphon]

You whack the rat across the head with the flat of your blade. "Birdbrain! I'm not talking about actual friends, but rather woodlanders spying on us. Don't ask such stupid questions!"

The rat rubs his head, and seems to be on the verge of asking another question, but an apparently more clever friend of his pulls him away from you just in time.

A few more moments pass. You don't hear any further sounds, except your troops muttering to each other. Afrig peers into the woods. "I don't see anything, milady. What do you want us to do?"

[Lady Ashenwyte]

Put some watchmen around the area where the sound came from. The watchmen will be changed with fresh hordesbeasts every few hours. A few officers will check the watchmen every thirty minutes to see if they're awake or alive. The horde leader will get some sleep.

[Delthion]

Same, but reduce the check time to fifteen minutes.

[James Gryphon]

"Set some guards over there, and check on them every once in a while to make sure they stay awake. Spread the rest of the troops back out in their hidden places in the forest. And get this otter out of the road. Bind and gag him and make sure he stays put."

The officer nods. "It will be done, milady."

With that arranged, you get back to the task of getting some beauty sleep.

Apparently the noise was nothing to be concerned about. No other visitors come, and the day goes by lazily. After a few hours of rest, you get up; it's now late in the afternoon.

If you leave now, you should be able to make it in time to meet the recruiters, scouts and foragers back at the ruins. Alternatively, you could check on the force surrounding Redwall and see what they've found and if they've caught anything. Or, you could do something else entirely.

What will it be?

[Delthion]

Meet the recruiters and the like and send the second-in-command, to check on the army around the wall. With orders to tell the forces if they have captured anyone, keep them bound and gagged out of sight of the walls.

[James Gryphon]

(You left Darkfang in command of the force surrounding the wall earlier, with similar orders, so I'll ignore that part.)

You muster your troops without incident, and begin the march back down the road. You have four beasts carry the otter, who's still out of it, and periodically change them out to keep them relatively fresh.

You arrive at the ruins to see a crudely built, but large campgrounds. Several spots for campfires have been set up, and Scarface's vermin are gathering the wood for them.

After a little while, the rest of your army begins trickling in. Milkeye's contingent had some success, picking up about sixty new recruits, a good mix of rats, weasels, ferrets and stoats. They look like they could use a good speech and show of force to enthuse them.

You see a male fox on the outer edges of the group. The stranger is dressed in drab brown robes, but looks confident and moves with poise. He carries a shining double-headed metal axe, quite a bit nicer one than any you've seen recently, and seems experienced with it.

You notice Ravenshade slink into the camp with his creatures. They're empty-pawed.

The foragers aren't back yet, but that isn't unusual, given your orders to bring as much as possible and that the sun hasn't fully gone down yet.

Your guards, no longer necessary for your protection, scatter around across the campsite and help with various work. The otter is laid fairly close to your tent. He seems to be starting to wake up, but is firmly bound and shouldn't be a threat.

What would you like to do now?

[Delthion]

Give the new recruits a rousing speech, then go talk to the strange fox, with hostility of course.

[James Gryphon]

You and Milkeye go through the typical recruitment initiation that you've rehearsed. After lots of yelling and throwing some creatures around on his part, and a few flourishes of the sword, a spin of the cape, and a dramatic leap on top of a convenient object from you, it's apparently exciting enough to muster up some cheers. Maybe not your best work, but these don't look like your best recruits either.

Having finished the performance, you make your way over to where the fox stands, casually leaning on his axe. He's taller than you, and looks strong and healthy, with sleek fur. You can see a large number of notches carefully carved into his axe-handle. You might want to be careful around this one.

He sees you coming, and looks you over when you arrive, but doesn't say anything. This gives you the opportunity to speak first.

What would you care to say and/or do?

[Lady Amber]

Ask him who he is, and where he comes from.

[James Gryphon]

Sorry for the long delay.

Just as an aside -- y'all are more than welcome to do some RPing here yourself. The idea isn't just for me to write everything, although I don't mind doing so if that makes y'all the most comfortable. You can write about scenery, your character (the warlady)'s thoughts and/or appearance, and what action she attempts to take in more detail.

Anyway...

---

You posture yourself authoritatively, and say, "Who are you, and from where do you come? I'm well acquainted with the fox clans in this part of the country, and I've never seen you before."

"I'm Malcolm," he says, in a refined accent, "A traveller from the deep South. I take it you're the fine beast over this host. I'm always interested in staying acquainted with the affairs of this country, and when your troops went storming through the countryside, I thought it was worth seeing what was underway here. I'm afraid I'm rather hard of hearing, and I might have missed this before, but I must ask you the same question; what is your name?"

[Delthion]

Gretla Longtail.

[Hickory]

Actually, it was. Upon taking command of the horde by murdering its previous leader and replacing the old officers with your most trusted, you changed your name to represent your rise to power. "Desmonda the Devil" is your name now, seeing that you leave no survivors and show no mercy.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

@Sage: I think it's first come, first served.