"I thought you'd like the sound of it. Meet us out in the courtyard within the hour." He glances toward the exercises with an air of approval, nods to the couple of mages who make eye contact, and heads off.
The group heading out is a larger one than he has hazarded to leave the city for a while now, eight templars and four senior mages not including himself and Dorian. With guard recruitment up and the Gallows itself more stable than it has been since before Meredith's death, he believes they can spare the manpower. They need to with the raider threat on the rise.
Instead of sailing for the Kirkwall docks, the ferry takes off in a different direction. It's a brisk sail across the harbor toward an isolated strand surrounded by towering cliffs with one narrow, winding path down to the rocky beach. The day is fine and hot by Marcher standards, with a stiff wind blowing in from the east. They disembark without incident. Two forward scouts, one templar and one mage, head up the path to be sure the guard contingent they've come to meet are there and ready for them.
As soon as they hear the signal, Cullen calls the march. He takes up the rear for now, in higher spirits than he has been since before everything went to shit. Despite being here on work, it feels like a taste of freedom. He had forgotten how heavily the Gallows can sit on a pair of shoulders when not left behind for a while.
They've decided to set up camp a good distance from where they know of raider activity. The strategy is to form a strong base of operations and then coordinate a series of ranging attacks in shifts, whittling down their numbers and disrupting their supply chains. Bran has promised naval support after these initial attacks. Cullen suspects that's when things will get particularly hairy. With this day devoted to set-up and planning, he's relatively relaxed and pitches in with everyone else to erect the tents, set up the operations table, and get a couple of good fires going.
Later that afternoon, carrying an armful of firewood, he spots Dorian and calls out, "So, how is it comparing to Sundermount so far?" The number of guards is a few more than templars and mages combined. Aveline seems to have the lot of them well in hand.
no subject
The group heading out is a larger one than he has hazarded to leave the city for a while now, eight templars and four senior mages not including himself and Dorian. With guard recruitment up and the Gallows itself more stable than it has been since before Meredith's death, he believes they can spare the manpower. They need to with the raider threat on the rise.
Instead of sailing for the Kirkwall docks, the ferry takes off in a different direction. It's a brisk sail across the harbor toward an isolated strand surrounded by towering cliffs with one narrow, winding path down to the rocky beach. The day is fine and hot by Marcher standards, with a stiff wind blowing in from the east. They disembark without incident. Two forward scouts, one templar and one mage, head up the path to be sure the guard contingent they've come to meet are there and ready for them.
As soon as they hear the signal, Cullen calls the march. He takes up the rear for now, in higher spirits than he has been since before everything went to shit. Despite being here on work, it feels like a taste of freedom. He had forgotten how heavily the Gallows can sit on a pair of shoulders when not left behind for a while.
They've decided to set up camp a good distance from where they know of raider activity. The strategy is to form a strong base of operations and then coordinate a series of ranging attacks in shifts, whittling down their numbers and disrupting their supply chains. Bran has promised naval support after these initial attacks. Cullen suspects that's when things will get particularly hairy. With this day devoted to set-up and planning, he's relatively relaxed and pitches in with everyone else to erect the tents, set up the operations table, and get a couple of good fires going.
Later that afternoon, carrying an armful of firewood, he spots Dorian and calls out, "So, how is it comparing to Sundermount so far?" The number of guards is a few more than templars and mages combined. Aveline seems to have the lot of them well in hand.