As the Legion made their march into the mountains, Galea was facing awkward time as she was the newest officer to serve as commander of one of the units, in her case the wizards. The young blonde mage from the capital lacked the experience compared to her peers, not to mention that she was joining the outfit that had plenty time to establish friendly relations among the soldiers, forcing her to catch up with everyone else.
The good thing was the veterans wizards helped integrate her faster, especially since they lacked a commanding officer this whole time. They were mobilized back at Southport and never received a dedicated leader. Princess Alleria only took over after the Silveroak Forest and even then she wasn't a dedicated wizard so she instead have them help out with her rangers off the battlefield. If nothing else, the veterans appreciated that now they had a leader that could utilize their abilities to their fullest.
She also had a personal reason for trying to impress the rest of the army. Their current destination was the Stormcloud Temple, the home base of the Order of the High Sorcerers, which served as the rivals to Galea's Order of the Arcane Wizards. The two magic orders of Kingdom of Linirea served as the kingdom guardians and as the places of learning when it came to human magical teachings. And, as the human nature would dictate it, they became rivals as each order wished to be recognized as superior one.
Most mages joined one of those two orders when desiring to study magic further and reach the heights of their abilities. Such was Galea's tale when she joined the Arcane Wizards. After graduating from the position of the apprentice, she chose the Wizards to further her studying. As it turned out, however, she joined at a difficult time. The master of her order, Vez'nan, clashed with his old friend the king to the point of the wizard resigning from his post. His student, Magnus Spellbane, was the one who inherited her position.
Despite the times troubling her order, Galea excelled at her study and, now that the war broke out in earnest, she was seen as trustworthy and reliable enough to lead the Wizards within the Royal Legion. And so, with her blue neck and her violet scarf decorating her uniform, she went to work to learn about the people that would serve with her from now on. Her first stop was the previous commander of the wizards, Princess Alleria and her rangers.
She made her way to the rangers' camp during the lunch break. Some of the troops were sneaking in some training once they finished with their meal. Rangers were no different. As Galea reached the place, she was met with a surprise. Some of the soldiers were watching the results of the rangers' training. And when she had the chance to see why, she was also impressed.
The archers improved quite a lot under Alleria's leadership as they now drew their bows faster than anyone present in the army, almost as fast as the elves themselves. They also adopted the green colour scheme that the elves themselves wore for easier camouflage inside the forest. Of course they knew well they were first going into the snowy mountains and then into the wasteland so the camouflage was completely useless, but still they wore it proudly. And they also learned another trick from the elves.
In a spectacular showcase, they all managed to summon vines which enveloped their targets. The army cheered and clapped, Galea being among the loudest. Once the training had ended, she took the chance to introduce herself to the elven princess. Despite the differences in their stations, Alleria was quite welcoming to her. After all, in Royal Legion, they were peers and equals.
As the army started the march, they conversed. Galea opened it up with something that piqued her interests. "So, how did you manage to train the rangers to use spells already? Normally it takes much longer to train up someone from start, let alone show something more advanced like that."
Alleria's face turned a bit more serious. "Yes, normally it would be. But there are shortcuts for those willing to accept the risks."
Galea tilted her head. "I know. That is something that is essentially drilled into us since we start training. So, telling me they all took this and accepted it makes me nervous."
"Of course it should. But thankfully, enough research material has been made already."
Galea laughed nervously. "I don't think something created by the illegal hedge mages should be seen as research."
"And that's where you would be wrong. Like it or not, the deed has already been done. At least honour the victims by seeing if something could be made out of it."
Galea made a piercing gaze at the Princess because of that comment. "And didn't that mentality led to the rise of the dark elves?"
Alleria, seeing the comment coming, answered immediately. "Of course there are drawbacks. But then again, sticking our heads in the sand led us to the current war, didn't it?"
Galea sighed. "Yes, I guess that is true."
Alleria continued. "In any case, we combined the research with the elven knowledge on magic and this is the result. The rangers have been given complete mastery on how to control the vines. In exchange, however, they will never be able to learn any other spell."
The mage was surprised. "Oh? What do you mean?"
"A useful shortcut like this still comes with a major drawback. In order to give them the complete mastery over the spell in such a short time without driving them insane or giving them major drawbacks, we had to nullify any magical potential they might have had and instead essentially make it seem as if it were part of their body."
Galea was stunned. "Yeah, that's not what I expected to hear."
Alleria nodded. "They could have been good mages if they had it in them. In fact, they could have even had the potential to rival Magnus. Now they will probably never know."
"Well, when you put it like that, it essentially means you have swung the double edged sword and there is no coming back."
Alleria nodded. "And that's one of the two new abilities that the rangers come with now."
"Oh? What's the other one?"
Alleria pointed to the back of the army. "You have seen the large carriage in the back, yes? One that the gnome is commanding? Come there tonight and I will show you. Now then, I have shown my unit's tricks? How about yours? The Arcane Blast should come in nicely, even if it takes concentration to pull it off."
"That is true, but thankfully, we also come with another trick of ours. The Teleport."
Alleria sighed. "Look, while it is useful for better dodging, deploying you right in the middle of the fighting is just stupid. You should stay in the back." As she sounded a bit arrogant, she closed her eyes while talking. As soon as she did that, she heard a whooshing sound around her. When she opened her eyes, she was in the field about 50 meters from the rest of the stunned army.
Meanwhile, Galea yelled out: "I didn't catch that, mind repeating yourself?!" As Alleria saw her wildcat running towards her in concern, she couldn't help but make a big laugh as she returned back to the line. After calming her wildcat down, she turned to Galea. "I had no idea Arcane Wizards have figured out how to teleport other people now."
"It's a recent development. It also requires concentration, it takes longer to cast and we cannot send them that far away, but I think this will be quite useful to breaking down the enemy attack."
Alleria eagerly nodded. "You have certainly convinced me."
"Good. Now to see what our rivals will bring to the table."
"We shall see."
As the day passed, the army made its march to the mountains. Rather than risk unnecessary casualties, it was decided to spend the night at the entrance to them, making the troops refreshed enough to continue the march the next day. It also gave Galea a chance to visit the gnome that Alleria had mentioned. As it turned out, the elf also had a reason to be there.
When Galea came to the setup, Felineas was handing over some bottles filled with green liquid to Alleria. "Here you go, fresh new batch." The elf thanked him and prepared the bottles for carry. That was when she noticed the human. "Ah, the funny mage. Good timing."
Galea was surprised and confused. "What's all this?"
Alleria: "Another advantage to my rangers. Quite a special addition."
The gnome nodded. "Yes, my special Sapper brew. I am quite sure it will come quite handy."
Galea: "But wait. Isn't that p-poison?"
Alleria: "Why so surprised? You didn't think we would ever bring something like this to the field?"
Galea: "But did the General approve?"
Felineas: "Of course he did. What did you expect, that this should be secret to all of us?"
Alleria continued. "Not to mention all other commanders approved its use. Even if you wish to protest its use, you won't overturn the decision."
Galea: "I... see. I am sorry, I didn't expect to see something like that in use. Especially with elves."
Alleria shook her head at that answered. "You are clearly a city girl. Otherwise you would know that, even when we tame the nature itself, it can still throw nasty surprises our way."
Felineas continued. "Not to mention, I am sure you overestimate its potency. Most poison you would think off are designed to kill their victims quite fast, no? This isn't designed for that use. No, there are three things about it. One, its main target is against large targets. The ones difficult to stop easily."
Alleria: "Yes. You can still kill someone with one arrow if you know where to fire. This is mainly for those that refuse to stand down and when you fail to kill in one shot."
Galea: "Hm. I understand. And what are the other things?"
Felineas: "Well, if you want to brew something so potent that your target dies instantly, you probably ought not to do it while on the road. You need precise measurements and perfect conditions, something the road doesn't provide well. The Sapper brew has higher tolerance."
Galea: "I concur. And the last thing?"
Alleria: "Tell me, you know about the Musketeers, yes? Apparently, according to their officer, many recruits end up checking down the barrel of their muskets without knowing if the gun is loaded or not."
Galea: "What about it? Wait, you don't mean-"
Alleria: "Accidents happen, nothing you can do about that. But I would prefer if my archers don't die on the spot just because one of them cut themselves on this and got some of this in. And before you ask, yes, we already handed out antidotes to everyone and had this happened already."
Galea nodded. "Well, I got nothing else to comment on then. Instead, I should ask on what you can do for me."
Felineas stroked his long white beard while beaming with happiness, knowing full well this was coming. "Of course. I have been hoping to assist the Royal Legion more. Unfortunately, the artillery crews already have their dynamite explosives set, so I can focus on other units. Let me show you what I mean."
Once inside his set-up tent, Felineas brought out a locked container to the table. Rather than speaking, he let Galea check it out for herself. After she unlocked it and saw what was inside, she was stunned. Inside it was a big wand with ice-like crystal. After a minute or so, Galea finally found her voice. "What?! Where in the world did you find this?"
Felineas grinned. "Oh, I got my contacts. I presume you know full well what this is?"
Galea: "Of course I do recognize it. It's the High Sorcerers' Chill Wand, designed to freeze large areas with one cast. Ii had no idea the people at the Stormcloud Temple are actually sharing this magical tool to others."
Felineas: "If they weren't, then someone has to explain how this and the Frozotov are now out. But let us focus on more important stuff. As the current commanding officer of the mages, this shall be entrusted to you. Do know this though. This is the only wand available to us and, depending on when it is used, we might not amass enough crystals to recharge it. So choose when to use it carefully."
Galea: "Of course. I shall take care of it." She locked the container and took it in her hands. "Anything else?"
Felineas: "That was it from me. Do remember to come here for additional Frozotovs.
Galea: "I will."
Alleria: "And remember, the troop briefing is in half an hour." Galea had learned about those, but still had no idea about what it was actually. And so she made her way to the meeting when it was time. She was quite surprised to see just how many was present there. Since she knew she was clueless, she sat down in the front and chose to remain silent, wishing to learn as much as possible.
The wooden board was prepared for Gerald who brought up a lifelike picture of the traitor knights who had attacked the capital. The magical technology of live drawing was only developed in the last few decades and it still wasn't wide spread outside cities. Regardless, the Legion still received several artists with their drawing boxes. Their job was to cover the journey and assist with the briefings by taking paintings of the enemies they encounter. They even came with the machine that allowed them to develop the paintings.
In the meantime, Gerald began his briefing. "Today, we start with the Kingdom's traitors. The Order of the Dragon Fang, nicknamed the Dark Knights. A dedicated knight order against the heavy threats such as ogres, orcs and even dragons, the namesake of their order, they have their armour strengthened to account for such threats. As such, we should expect our gunners, archers and the frontline have harder time putting them down. That being said, they don't have any resistance towards magic, nor they planned to have any. As such, they should be the priority for our mages."
The next painting was that of the flying creatures they had encountered. "Gargoyles. Quite an unexpected enemy and a big problem. As you can see, our frontline is basically useless and if they pass through, they can cause quite a commotion in our rear. We need to shoot them down as fast as possible. We have also started training the javelin throwing for our regular forces. It's rushed and it won't be effective, but it will assist against the gargoyles and any other flyer threat we encounter."
The next painting was that of an archer clad in black. "And the worst of all, the Shadow Archers. Why do I say that? Well, because until now all the enemy could throw at us was frontal attacks with limited tactics available to them. Now they can try to weaken us somewhere among our ranks and try to break through."
"Now, I must admit. This IS basic tactics, getting archers and such to support attacks. In fact, it's frankly amazing it took this long for us to actually encounter some. And the truth is very simple. The main goal of the enemy already present in our lands is to sow chaos, even if it means poor coordination among them. Unfortunately as we march towards our final goal, we should expect larger enemy numbers being well coordinated against us."
"And so, we need to adapt and try to remove these threats as soon as possible. Either shoot them, teleport them away or just chuck the Rain of Fire on them. Anything to lower our casualties. Because, once we are in the lands of Valardul, we won't have any more reinforcements available. I hope you understand the significance of this."
And so, the briefing continued.