No Man's Land, The Small Hours
Iranon had, almost the moment the enemy forces had shown up, sent one or two of his friends to infiltrate the camp followers, and if they could, without getting themselves killed, some of the rank and file.
One of those was just as glad all the nobles were dead, and likely would not actually have been broken up if the queen had not escaped. He and Leda had never gotten along. But that was neither here nor there.
He loved all the ideas that had been bandied back and forth in the strategy meeting, and had offered to guide those who would be setting said traps.
"So, everyone got everything they need?" he asked.
Blossom
"Always," Blossom nodded sharply, ready to head out. "Our side knows we're doing this, right?" Because of all the magical... what was that word?
...
Ah! Scrying! With scrying a possibility, marking a set of maps was probably not a good idea.
Karla
"Mother Night I hope so," Karla murmured absently, her Sapphire glowing gently at her throat and her attention on the weaving in front of her. "Friendly fire isn't--and these traps aren't even remotely friendly."
Iranon
"As the idea is to draw the enemy into coming for us through this area it's not a huge issue." Iranon assured them. "But since no plan survives encounter with the enemy, yes. And they're aware of what to look for besides." That was the main thing for avoiding traps really. Knowing they were there was only the smallest fraction of it.
Blossom
Blossom hesitated and then added a grenade to the spring trap she was sketching...
And then erased it again. If General Skuld figured out it was possible to make the traps she designed lethal, so be it, this was a war and he was fighting for his life, but Blossom wasn't going to start them that way.
"I still think we should put a few archers in that area with the trees so they can deal with any flyers." And didn't she wish she could be there to help them. "And did anyone work out the illusion that creates random doubles of the people actually in the army? That will totally save our ambushers if there's trouble and they need to run."
Karla
"I have a few," Karla said, wiping her mouth after tossing back another Ether. She was going to have to make sure there weren't any kind of negative side effects to downing a bunch in quick succession. Oh well, something to check on later. "They're not very good."
She called in a wooden box lined with cloth. Inside that box were small mounds of clay with streaks of blood worked through them. "They're shadows and not even particularly good ones," she admitted. "These are first stage shadows and are mostly stationary. The second stage shadows can move around, but they have to be manipulated like a puppet and I won't have the time or focus to do that. And I'm not strong enough to make third stage shadows, though they have to be manipulated, too."
And she didn't have a Jaenelle handy to make whatever kind of amazing shadows that she had learned, under the guidance of the Arachnians. Blast it.
She set those aside and began pulling long strands of spidersilk out of thin air, running them back and forth around two old trees. She almost looked like a spider, scuttling between them, weaving a web that would indeed entrap her prey. The silk was white and shining, though as the web took form, it somehow began to take on a dark and malevolent appearance.
This web wasn't a very nice trap, no.
As soon as the last line was tied and Karla added three drops of blood to the center, the web vanished from sight, leaving just two normal trees behind.
"Don't go through there," she said quietly. "It won't be pretty."
Blossom
Blossom handed off her sketches to a few men and directed their placements near other trees and bushes before turning back to Karla, concerned. "Can they be activated by the others or do we need to set them up now? And do more non-magic trap setting; you need to save yourself for tomorrow! Remember, they're as dependent on magic as your people and they're not expecting us to be fighting back without it."
Karla
Karla just grinned. She looked a little tired around the edges, but was otherwise mostly fine. "I'll be okay," she promised. "A good meal and a decent night's sleep and I'll be good to go tomorrow. These Ethers have been a life-saver."
She handed the box off to Iranon, telling him to hand off the clay balls to the scouts that would be part of the ambush party. "They'll be able to use them. A few drops of blood will trigger the Craft and then they can set the shadows down and run like Hell."
Iranon
Iranon smiled and did as she directed. "In answer to your question," he said, "Yes that's part of a scout's bag of tricks. Also making their arrows invisible." He shrugged. "The enemy knows those tricks too I don't doubt. But..."
A young woman who's skin seemed the same color of the trees appeared, holding a flute-like instrument.
"What they don't have, are Dryads trained in bardic magic."
Blossom
Blossom was slightly confused. "What will that do?"
Iranon
"Bardic magic can, at the most basic level, affect people's moods." Iranon explained. "And with everything else, my friend here can really mess with our uninvited guests' minds."
Karla
"Good," Karla said, from where she was weaving yet another trap. "Make them feel scared. Paranoid. Play up the creeping feeling of dread and the resignation they're all going to die. That will feed quite nicely into some of the things I'm weaving here."
Blossom
"Ah!" That actually went well with Blossom's traps, too! "So they'll be more careless? That's good. Especially if we make some of the traps easy to spot." And she moved off to set a few trip lines. On a few, she didn't hide the line very well.
At one point, she knelt and pulled a hair-bow from her pocket. She took a few seconds to charge it with some of her energy and then set it on the ground with a bit of dirt over it; it wasn't visible unless you were looking right at it. "Do we have someone who can take a bit of damage with us? I've never actually tested this..."
She stood and charged another hair-bow as she moved a few feet away, setting this one in plain sight. "I need someone to step on that spot and then pick this one up. Both should explode on contact, just enough to knock you a few miles away." Unconscious and heavily injured, but alive and out of the fight.
Iranon
"Eh, just how loud will these explosions be?" Iranon asked. "We are trying to be sneaky just now remember?"
Blossom
"No real sound, unless someone screams. It's only a little bit of my White Light." Blossom waved a hand. "If I add more, it would, but this should just be a small energy release."
She moved to plant another hidden one. "If we don't test, that's fine. They just may not actually work; I usually use lots more energy and throw them. Like I said, I've never done land-mines before."
Scout
One of the scouts shrugged, and set down his own supplies. "I'm game. I'm very good at not screaming."
He stepped up to one of the mines and looked at Blossom. "Just tell me when."
Blossom
"I have potions that should take care of any injuries, too." Blossom grinned at him. "Just go ahead and step on!"
"Right," The scout took a breath and stepped forward. As soon as his foot impacted the small hill, a burst of energy exploded and he (and any dirt or debris in a foot radius) was thrown up in the air with great speed.
Fast enough that Blossom almost didn't catch him, actually. But she managed to snag his leg and flew a small circle to bring the volunteer back to the group.
Karla
Karla applauded from where she had just finished setting up the remains of her spider illusion from Jono's haunted theater. Adjusting it so that the spiders fell from the treetop instead of a ceiling had taken barely anytime at all.
"I just have a few more to add," she said, ignoring the way her stomach growled. "These are mostly little traps, made to confuse and disorient than actually attack. I just want to spread them out a bit so our traps aren't all clustered. We just about all good here?"
Blossom
"Totally better than I thought!" Blossom finished helping the guard with a potion. "I'll drop a few more a bit further out, random? But yeah. I'm done if we don't need any more trip lines?"
James
The grin on the face of the squire was not friendly, but it was satisfied. "A few obvious traps to make them overconfident, then the real traps beyond. I may have to start watching my purse around you if you continue on the Crooked Path."
Iranon
"Oh did you need that back?" Iranon teased. One of his scouts informed him that they were done on their end. As soon as the...he tried not to think of them as kids, were done they could skedaddle back to the city.
Karla
It took Karla about fifteen more minutes to finish setting up her traps around the trees. She was whistling as she came back, hands in her pockets and a smug expression on her face. "I'm a little sad we won't be here to watch what happens," she said, walking a foot or so off the ground to make sure she didn't trip anything herself. "Somehow I'm sure I'll survive, though."
The same couldn't be said of everyone who would be tromping through this minefield later.
"Iranon, did your people get the brews I made?" she asked. "And into the hands of your infiltrators?"
Let's see an army march with symptoms that mimicked dysentery, shall we?
Iranon
"That they did Miss Karla. Though we won't know about their success until the morrow."
Karla
"Well, then, I think we're good to go. Everyone else ready?" she asked.
Blossom
Speaking of brews... Blossom raised a hand. "I have to admit that I need a break for refreshments. Do we have time?"
Iranon
"Are they refreshments that need to be eaten at rest?" Iranon asked.
Blossom
Pshh. Blossom crossed her legs, sitting on an air pocket as she pulled a juice box from her pocket. She popped the straw in the box, circling Iranon as she did. "Not me, I can move. But I'm not very good as a look-out or anything. Not sure about the others?"
Karla
Karla saw what Blossom was doing there and sighed, also sitting down and taking out some snacks. "I'm eating, I'm eating," she said, sounding resigned. "And if we have time, I'll even try to sneak in a catnap."
Blossom
Who, Blossom? Try something to get her little bestie to eat and recharge? Nevar! She was totally thinking of the whole group!
Blossom's grin was so very catlike. "I'll carry you, if we need to keep moving. Or make a sling with my yo-yo."
Karla
Karla tried to make a face, but ended up laughing instead. "Too kind," she said. Turning to Iranon she asked, "What's next on our agenda? So I can schedule in rests for the little general here."
Iranon
Completely at ease with a levitating girl, Iranon still boggled a bit at the juice box. He'd never actually seen one of those before.
"Now, if you're all sure you're done, we get back to camp and rest for our big day. I think we've done all we can here."
[Now with actual coding! Thanks to Karla, preplayed with the afore-mentioned, and of course, Blossom and James.]