"That's when we'll have the mercenaries sneak in through the sewers and get the gates open for us" Commander Wyrmsbane repeated. We had all gathered in the courtyard to go over the plan to push Al Rhundi's rebel forces out of the castle ruins south of Heidel. Al Rhundi, or Hero of the Peasants some called him, had once been a noble Soldier serving in the Serendian Army, but since his disapproval of how peasants were treated he had become a main player in the peasant uprising. Through the Heidelian Army was better trained, equipped, and outnumbered the rebels three to one, they had not been prepared for when the rebels took the ruins to the south and fortified it as their main base of operation. Thus the former king now lord of Heidel, Crucio Domongatt, had put out a large reward for anyone who was willing to fight to help end the rebellion and return peace to the area. Over one hundred mercenaries replied to his offer and fifty of us including myself would take park in the mission to sneak through the sewers of the castle and open the gates in order for the army to come through and finally put an end to the bloody strife. Commander Wyrmsbane selected one of the mercenaries to lead our fifty man group and dismissed us as he and his captains went over other plans. "It's cause we're expendables" a brown haired man said to another walking next to him " the more of us that go down during this suicide mission the less they'll have to pay" he continued. There was truth to what he was saying, and yet the power of money was what had driven most of us if not all of us here. A five hundred thousand silvers payout to anyone who joined. Just knowing hat he payout was that high told a lot of people that the chance of coming back alive was slim, yet o those brave or foolish enough to accept this would mean a great opportunity too rare to pass. I returned to my tent and proceeded to polish Moonlite. The Blade glimmered in the candle light as I slid the whetstone delicately along it's edges. I better get my last good night of sleep, I told myself as I sheathed the blade and blew out the candles. The next morning I arose before sunrise in order to practice my swordsmanship. It had been part of my daily routine ever since the day. Two thousand weighted sword swings, a five mile run, and three hundred Iaido, a sword exercise that involves drawing the sword from the sheathe and cutting an opponent simultaneously. Later I went to the food tent in order to grab a quick bite and returned to my tent to freshen up and change my outfit. I met up wit the 'Infiltration Group' a few minutes later to discuss the plans with our appointed leader David Vincent, a giant wielding two axes. He gathered us around a sand table in order to give everyone a better understanding of how we would execute the plan. The castle ruins was impenetrable and even the sewers were hard to infiltrate. One of the scouts who had been out to check a few of the underground entrances had reported that Al Rhundi had place ten guards on each of the entrances, and they were guarded 24/7. He also reported that out of the five entrances the one on the northwest was most likely our best avenue of approach. The guards on duty during the 0100 to 0300 hours tended to slack off and that would be our opportunity to strike. From there we would have only one hour to reach the gates and open them as another guard checked every hour to get reports from each entrance. For an infiltration of a castle that held four thousand rebels that was not a lot of time. After we had gotten into the castle we would split into groups of ten. Three groups would go about starting fires and the remaining two groups would head for the gates...TO BE CONTINUED...
March 19th 2016, 6:26 pm