Warband

Chapter 25. Fence Posts and Punji Sticks.

“That is a story that is not known to me directly. There are only rumors passed down from the ancestors. From what I can derive from those rumors, my people were once guardians of this place. Along with those on the other layers. We kept Bhalkur’s power in check.

“Adventurers would come and do battle with the corrupted things that would sometimes spawn, and with our armies, we handled anything too powerful for the small bands of adventurers to deal with. Over time, the adventurers ceased to arrive, and our numbers, and those of our neighbors, the gnomes, dwindled.

“Corruption set in, and we were forced into the area around our city which we strived to keep clear of Bhalkur’s influence. Now, we are what you see here, a fraction of our original number, and a distant shadow of what my people once were. That is what the histories teach, but of course, I’m sure some details have been lost to the centuries,” Elder Lhass explained.

“Thank you, that gives me a better picture of what this place is. I suppose the first step I need to take is to find that critical location interface thingy you talked about. While I do that, your people can recover from the attack and get settled in here,” Silas said.

“I suggest looking by the portal platform, it should be linked in some way to it,” Lhass suggested.

Silas did just that, making a complete circuit of the platform. He found nothing and then did circuits up each level of the stairs to see if there was anything integrated into them. That was also a bust, and Silas was a bit embarrassed to find a small, lightly glowing green rune off to the side of the portal platform itself.

He'd never noticed it since he was focused on the battle around him. Tapping the rune cautiously with his foot caused a System prompt to appear.

You have activated the critical location control node. This node is now linked to your interface and can be activated whenever you are on this layer of the pit.

Critical location (unnamed).

Defenses: none.

Garrison: none.

Construction. Limited options are available.

I had three different items in the interface, and it seemed like the System wanted this place to become more than just a simple teleportation platform with a bunch of naga refugees running around. The only thing with an option beside it was the construction tab, which I activated.

Construction options.

Labor teams: 0.

Simple perimeter fence. You can order the construction of a simple fence around the critical location using locally sourced materials.

Command post. Using locally available materials, construct a command post structure that will unlock a focus option for this location.

That was it, just a command post and a fence, neither of which I could get started on since I had no labor force. Looking toward the naga, I figured that I might just have something resembling a labor pool if they agreed to help. It was time to talk to Elder Lhass once more.

“Elder, I know your people would like to return to their city, but for now, I could use some help in fortifying this place. I have the option in my interface to construct a fence around the perimeter, but I would need your people to assist,” Silas asked after making the trek over to where the naga had seemed to gather near the lake shore.

“In return for the opportunity to stay here until our city can be recaptured, I’d be glad to lend some of our people to work with you. After all, it’s in our interest as well that we have some defenses in place,” Lhass said. Silas pulled up his interface and selected the construction tab again.

Construction options.

Labor teams: 1.

Simple perimeter fence.

Command post.

Silas assigned the labor team to the perimeter fence project and watched as a dozen naga, mostly women, the elderly, and some of the older kids. Started to head toward the edge of the jungle. That brought up another worry Silas had, until the fence was done, this place was wide open to another attack.

“Elder, I’d also like to have some of your warriors start patrolling the jungle nearby. We don’t need them to get sucked into a battle, just give us advance warning if something is headed our way. While we’re at it, do your people know how to make any traps?” Silas asked.

“I have decided to appoint Talixs as war chief for our people, and he was already organizing the patrols you requested. As far as traps, no, we had a few trackers that set snares for small game, but that’s about it,” Lhass replied.

“I’ve got nothing but time right now, if you give me a few of your warriors, hell, even the civilians can do what I have in mind, we can see about making this place a bit safer for us all,” Silas said.

His mind drifted back to his old experiences in the Vietnam jungle. The VC had been experts at traps and ambush, and Silas had seen the damage that simple materials could do when positioned correctly. Given the foliage and the soil they were working with, he had a good idea on how to get the defenses started.

“Nebram, choose another warrior to join you, and four of our people not engaged in any other critical task. Follow Silas and do as he commands. Will that be sufficient, Silas?” Lhass asked.

“That’s a start. Once this crew gets the hang of it, the traps are simple enough that they can train others after a bit of time working on them. Get your team and meet me at the jungle’s edge, Nebram,” Silas ordered. The naga smiled and rushed to complete the task, eager to please both his elder and Silas.

As he looked over the land, and the opponents he faced, Silas realized that he would need to make some adjustments to his plan. Leg breaker traps, and the simplest of punji stick traps wouldn’t work. They would do well enough against the rabid gnomes, but the naga under Bhalkur’s control would just slither safely over a trap designed for just a foot to break through.

He'd have to expand the traps a bit, making them larger to be a threat to the naga he’d be facing. In the back of his mind, Silas was also considering the three jungle lords that he would have to deal with as well at some point. The traps might make them avoid this area, or just the opposite could occur, and the traps might enrage them to attack.

He'd just have to deal with the possible risk of the jungle lords, as the threat of Bhalkur’s minions was a guaranteed one. Nebram and the others arrived, and seemed a bit unsure of Silas, who after introducing himself got them to work. First off, he tested out several of the plants, one was almost bamboo-like in its structure, and while not quite as sturdy, would serve just fine for the spikes they needed.

Digging proved to be more of a challenge than Silas had anticipated. He didn’t have an entrenching tool, and the naga had simple wood tools that were cumbersome to use and prone to breaking. In the end, he had them dig out a hole three feet in diameter, wider than the footprint of the largest naga’s tail when they moved.

At just over two feet deep, the pit itself wasn’t really a threat, but Silas had them place and sharpen dozens of the bamboo spikes into the pit. Whoever, or whatever stumbled inside the pit would be having a bad day. It might not kill them outright, but they would be too far injured to fight effectively.

Most of the traps that Silas had faced in Vietnam, save for those that involved explosives, were designed to maim, not kill. The VC rightly deduced that a wounded soldier was more of a burden than a dead one. It took at least two soldiers to haul away their injured comrade, not to mention the opportunity for an ambush when they arrived to help.

With Bhalkur’s corrupted minions, helping each other out wasn’t likely to happen, but thinning another attack wave by wounding or killing a percentage of the attackers might mean the difference between winning the fight and being overrun by their numbers. As for the location of the traps, the first they placed directly across from the portal platform, just inside the cleared area where it met the jungle.

“I had you place that one here, so it was outside the jungle, but tell me, Nebram, do your people generally move through the treetops? The one that attacked when I met you did, and if so, we need make sure these pit traps with punji sticks aren’t placed where the attackers just climb past them,” Silas asked.

“It is possible for my people to travel among the foliage, but it is exhausting and generally used like the crazed one did, as a point of ambush. An attacking wave, like we faced earlier, would not waste the time and effort to approach that way. If a large force tried, we’d hear them long before they could attack,” Nebram assured Silas.

Despite what Nebram said, Silas laid out a dozen locations for the pit traps, all just outside the jungle line. It also took some time for Silas and one of the workers, an older naga woman, to device some good cover for the trap. The woman wove baskets for the tribe and did a rough framework of small sticks that she covered with leaves and dirt and grass to conceal them.

A small animal, like the various lizards and rodent-like creatures he had seen in the jungle, would pass over without any trouble. A humanoid sized victim would break through the hidden cover and impale itself on the spikes below. He made it known that his team of trap makers would need to make the rounds every few days to see if the covers needed any work. If they were too visible, they’d have to patch them up.

As for inside the jungle itself, Silas showed the team how to make a mace trap with a tripwire trigger. The mace trap was essentially a heavy chunk of wood with spikes set in it. A tripwire fashioned from vines would release the mace where it would swing down and smash anything walking on the trail. Looking at the route the previous attackers took, there were more than a few spots that were heavily trafficked and prime candidates for a mace trap.

Just like with the pits, a lack of proper tools hampered the trap team, and the maces took far longer to create than Silas would have liked. They had limited manpower, or nagapower as it were, but if there was plenty of time before the next attack, Silas was sure the enemy would hate the new additions to his defenses.

As for the perimeter fence, it was a shoulder-high affair made of logs from the tree-like plants of the jungle. It was like the one that had been constructed around the naga city, but shorter. It wouldn’t stop a determined attack, but it would slow any attackers and allow the defenders the time they needed to form up and respond.

Just like with the traps, progress on the fence was slow. They started at the edge of the critical location, where the cliffs at the border of the layer met the jungle and were slowly working their way around to encompass the whole, massive area that Silas now controlled.

He was making things happen, but the enemy was still out there, and he wasn’t sure how long they had before the next attack occurred.