It's Tree Mania time!! Those who have come to participate in this Academy of War exercise have been placed into two distinct groups. One is up in the trees where strategically placed perches have been placed, while the other is on the ground. Rather than traditional weaponry less killer equipment has been issued. Archers have had their tips taken to be replaced with blunt edges with chalk rubbed upon the tip. Loosely tied chalk balls are replacements for rocks or other projectiles. Everyone has sticks for traditional weapons, with each of them blunted with cloth and more chalk. Today's objective is simple. Those on the ground are to attack, and those in the trees to defend.

"I'm still not sure about this," Ian grouses, pacing very carefully on the uneven ground without his cane. He stumbles and catches himself on a tree. "But go ahead and give me the rope. I'll see what I can do."

Aethan is walking along next to Ian, and it's hard to tell what he thinks, considering his expression is what someone being diplomatic might call 'stoic,' and someone else who is less diplomatic but perhaps more accurate might describe as 'flat.' However, he moves along gamely enough, hefting the stick he has to simulate a weapon. "You'll learn something new," he says as he looks over to his brother, and considering his voice is as flat as his face, it makes a strange juxtaposition with words that might otherwise have been encouraging. But they do sound sincere enough.

Washgreets his crew. "Alright. Limited resources, reach and maneuverability are our enemies weaknesses. High ground, entrenched positions, and low value emplacement are their advantages. For our part we can concentrate forces, maneuver and improvise better. Our disadvantages are being easy targets and that vertical ascent. No shield walls. We'll move in squads of seven. Six shields and one person whose job is to wave these:" Wash introduces green branches with pine cones attached. "Safety first, we're not burning down the wood. So if a fire is started, you plant a round metal shield over it and hold position until it is out and watered." He looks to Aethan. "What do you have for vertical ascents?"

Brannen checked intellect + war at difficulty 25, rolling 13 higher.

Aethan checked intellect + war at difficulty 25, rolling 78 higher. Aethan rolled a critical!

Wash checked intellect + war at difficulty 25, rolling 24 higher.

Ian checked intellect + war at difficulty 25, rolling 15 higher.

Onto the battlefield...or...battlecopse, comes Sir Brannen. He's very shiny. He does, however, pick up a shield, since there's soon to be a lot of arrows. Once he sees Wash already giving orders for team ground, he eyes the man up and down, appraisingly. "Can we set false fires, indicated by a ribbon? I'd burn a forest to kill a threat to Arvum."

"Good thinking, but let's presume that an uncontrolled fire is counterproductive to our goals. Otherwise you undermine the parameters of the exercise. This isn't unlike an encounter one might face with an entrenched shav tribe. We want to eliminate the insurgents, win the affection of the tribe." Wash says to Brannen. "But you're head is in a good place for this."

"If you burn down our forest this won't stay friendly long!" The voice echos out from UP THERE among the trees. It's difficult, not impossible, if a keen ear is put to it to locate where the voice comes from (perception+survival for this action.) Ian's attention to that tree ALSO gets attention as a ball of chalk soars down at him (check dex+dodge). Above them the trees rustle heavily with what can only be enemy warriors getting into their own position (check dex+archery/athletics to attack them.)

Ian checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 43 higher.

Ian takes his time choosing the right tree to start his trip, and then begins to scale. He's going to, if possible, try to keep above the level of the defenders as much as he can, both because people in trees are unlikely to think to look up and because they'll have a harder time hitting someone who's above them. It's probably going to really hurt if he falls, though. He easily keeps the tree between himself and the defenders, at least for this part of the climb. Probably why he chose such a big tree to start from.

Washdoesn't concern himself with retaliating yet, just starts numbering off men into squads and directing them them together. The smoke needs to be going pretty thick before they send men in under those branches where larger chalk rocks could become an actual hazard. He's observant, looking for trees that have obvious fortifications or look sturdy enough for that purpose.

Wash checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 29 higher.

"We're going to need to pull fire..." Brannen says quietly enough for the tree people to not hear. "And then some others can flank. I'll come up from the south...with the shield...and....ah...5 others? That'll let the climber there make his way...and the rest of you..." Then Wash starts just separating people into squads...and he stops. "Of course, your Lordship."

Wash's question has Aethan looking that way, and he gestures to Ian when the other man starts to head that way, before turning to some of the others and pointing to a half a dozen of the men to go with him. "Keep to the level where he is," he says, "not any lower." That said, he begins to scan as well, staying a little bit back to have a fuller view for the moment.

Ian scales the tree fast, relying on his sharp eye for detail to plot his course and his powerful upper body strength to move him along. Soon, he disappears completely into the branches, blazing a path for the (probably) less experienced climbers to follow.

Washappoints Brannen as head of one of the squads. "You're a quick study Messer..." He asks. "Washburn Kennex. Admiral of Thrax." As this is an informal exercise, his tone is casual rather than commanding. "I'll hold here with a concentrated force. If you make enough noise, I'll find an opening to swarm a tree."

Norwood GM Roll checked dex(4) + archery(3) at difficulty 25, rolling 17 higher.

Norwood GM Roll checked dex(4) + archery(3) at difficulty 25, rolling 22 higher.

"Its Sir Brannen Harthall, Knight of Solace." He says grimly. He nods to the Admiral and then makes his way with a group of archers. He stands with the shield at a steep angle, helping to provide cover for the squad behind him, while they deliver their load in the hopes of drawing down fire.

Norwood GM Roll checked dex(4) + archery(3) at difficulty 25, rolling 7 higher.

Norwood GM Roll checked dex(4) + archery(3) at difficulty 25, rolling 22 higher.

"TAKE THAT!" A voice calls out from above, and a veritable RAIN of blunt-tipped arrows fall downwards about Aethan, Wash, and Brannen. Ian is missed altogether, as they are quite above the people who are raining down on the enemy. The leaves shake under the attackers, creating their own visual hint of where the enemy is. "If you want us COME AND GET US!" There is cackling and taunts passed down. And insults. So many insults about their mothers.

"To your right Sir Harthall!" Wash calls as the man moves forward. "Twenty paces and then turnabout." This should put one fortification between his squad on the ground and Ian's squad climbing. To Aethan he confides. "We're well in the thick of it. The first outpost didn't do anything, so we're flanked. Shall we hold or advance?" He isn't going to be a sitting target, but he's only confident about dodging when all the missiles are coming from the same direction. "I don't know if the first fortification is going to stay where they are, they might have rope bridges between the trees that we did not notice."

Aethan checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 25, rolling 26 higher.

Up and up Ian climbs, pausing only long enough to make sure the squad assigned to him knows that they are not to participate in this exchange of insults. Up and up, and then he scans the trees below him. He's looking for where he's going, but also for any treetop ambushes or other surprises that the other side might have left for him.

Wash checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 33 higher.

The first volley has Aethan ducking and pushing off toward the left to avoid one of those arrows, and it misses him, but it's close. The bush next to him takes the brunt of it. "Advance," he says decisively to Wash after only a brief pause once he's straightened. "We've given them enough time to get in position in the trees, and we ought to take advantage of what's hopefully a surprise." He calls out the order to his group then, and they begin to move forward toward the trees.

Ian checked perception + survival at difficulty 25, rolling 57 higher. Ian rolled a critical!

Heavy fire comes down from above at Sir Brannen and his group, but he holds, shifting to the right. As he does so, one man goes down and is out of the game. "Get his arrows. " He says emotionlessly to the still in game archer in his group. To the comments about their mothers and so on, he starts in on a battle hymn, to Solace. His voice is low and sonorous. Its an eerie sound in the thick of battle. "Whe-ere there rooams, a theat to home, there shall we coooome, and not aloooone..." Then he suddenly shouts, "You won't gain this day! "

"Out axes!" Cries Wash, his cover blown by loose bracken and clumsy feet (Not his though, impossible!), as he groups up with his six shieldbearers and advances. "Gentlemen! If you cannot eliminate Sir Harthall's axemen in five minutes, they assure me that is all the time they need to bring down your tree! Consider yourself eliminated!" And with that, Wash moves past the fortification in his way and directs half of their reserves deeper into the forest, where he caught sight of a suspicious cluster of trees.

Aethan checked command + war at difficulty 25, rolling 33 higher.

Wash checked command + war at difficulty 30, rolling 21 higher.

Brannen checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 20 higher.

There's sudden yelling from two of the three fortifications above as Aethan and Wash take on their attacks. A few chalk balls fall mostly harmlessly about them. Finally they can't keep defending through, and yell out, "We surrender!" Two of three enemy camps down. It's Brennan and his men who takes a most of the fire. The arrows and chalk balls CASCADE about him and a few of his men are OUT as they are covered in chalk. One of them gets into the spirit of it and gives a very dramatic death full of "AVENGE ME MY FELLOWS!" before he flops to the ground.

Ian waits on the sturdy branch for his squad to catch up to him, and indicates to them, one by one, what he's seen. He pairs them off, two by two, so that the six men are given three separate targets, and then continues alone towards the third camp.

Ian checked command + leadership at difficulty 30, rolling 19 higher.

Aethan's group moves somewhere in between parallel and perpendicular to Wash's, staying aware of where the others are as he shouts similar commands to those with him. He can't help but snort when he hears the very dramatic death, but that's the only indication he gives that he realizes this is an exercise, not a real attack. His group shifts their path to converge on the third camp as well, attempting to time it with the rest so that the last camp is overwhelmed and goes down quickly.

Aethan checked command + leadership at difficulty 25, rolling 32 higher.

Washrallies the remainder. "Look lively men." He forms whatever men who are not down into a shieldwall and he advances slowly, acting as Aethan's rearguard on the approach to their final redoubt.

Brannen checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 15 higher.

The men with Sir Brannen are going down. He backs up, with what remains, using a tree trunk to help shield them. Its definitely a retreat of sorts. TINK, some chalk bounces off his armored foot. TINK, again, and of course his shield might as well be white by now. If the arrows could have really stuck into it, it would be a whole new shield by now. "Losing ground in squad three!" he yells to Wash.

The enemy above is quite taken by surprise. Ian's men take them from above, while Wash and Aethan take them from the ground. It's a long few minutes of men calling out as they 'die'. They probably would have done better except that Brannen is taking all of the attention off of the attackers. There's just something satisfying to attack the men at a good angle rather than the men right below them. Finally there are shouts of "I surrender!! from all over the forest.

Ian drops down onto the third platform JUST as the men atop it surrender. "Well fought," he says.

Washdoesn't quit giving orders right away after the surrenders. He gets the smoke torches extinguished, and delegates a headcount so they can assess injuries.

Once the surrender is complete, Aethan gives the command to his group to cease -- it's an exercise, after all. "Good work," he says, clapping one on the shoulder and shaking the hand of another as they begin doing the universal 'good game' rounds, before he takes Wash's cue and sees to any of the fires in his area, as well.

Brannen leans against the tree a bit, breathes, then makes a gesture to round up again. He helps one of the fallen up from the field. Then, finally he clanks on over to the rest as they unwind. He almost immediately pulls out a piece of parchment, looks like a folded letter, and writes on it with a really tiny pencil.