*temp advisor 1
*temp warband 30
*temp wounded false
*temp warmachine true
*temp assania false
With the death of your uncle, you have been chosen as head of the warband. You have thirty fit soldiers and the last of the Malachite Forgebeasts from the Cold Stone Campaign. With General Murlong's armies close at your heels, it falls on you to pick your closest advisor. Heeding good advice is something your uncle always excelled at, though he knew the limits of his advisors too.
*fake_choice
	#I mostly listen to the advice of my childhood friend, the cunning archer Elaskin.
	#The cautious Old Mother Hua is ever at my side.
		*set advisor 2
	#I heed the instincts of Jormal, a giant in appetite, height and ferocity.
		*set advisor 3
The armies of General Murlong march ever closer. Your warband shelter in the ruins of the Wastaday Castle. @{advisor Elaskin has some cunning ideas regarding luring Murlong into a trap|Old Mother Hua advises fortifying the ruins and preparing for a seige|Jormal knows we cannnot fight Murlong head on, so he says the warband should try to bypass the General's column by sneaking over the treacherous Clawback Hills}. Your allies in Assania could give aid if only they could get to you or you could get to them.
*choice
	#Let's dig in here and hold on until a messenger can get word to Assania.
		You have trees cut down and rubble moved to secure the crumbling keep of the Wastaday Castle. 
		*if advisor = 2
			Old Mother Hua is a veteran of a dozen seiges and is invaluable in pointing out weak spots in the defenses.
			
			When General Murlong comes his forces batter at the ancient castle walls for days but none of his men break through.
			*goto assaniaarrives
		*else
			*set warband - 8
			*set wounded true
			General Murlong's army arrives. You become locked in a bitter struggle to hold up the defenses of the ruins over several days. Several times, small skirmishes break out as barriers are broken through and the defenders are pushed deeper into the labyrinthine castle ruins. Wounded and exhausted, almost one in three dead or dying, your warband wait in hope of respite.
			*label assaniaarrives
			*set assania true
			
			Eventually the grand storks call out over the scratching of talons and the army of Assania appears from around the Clawback Hills. They drive out the besieging force @{wounded while your wounded warband watch in awe from the walls|as you ride out to join them in punishing your enemy}.
			*label after
			
			After the battle, there is no sign of General Murlong. He must have fled.
			*goto irontown
	#The castle is a deathtrap. Let's leave the cumbersome forgebeast here and evade Murlong's column to head directly over the Clawback Hills to Assania.
		With a heavy heart, the warband pushes the last Forgebeast into the Wastaday Pit, deep in the castle dungeon. It may be a long time before you see its kind again. Wasting no more time the band set off into the Clawback Hills.
		*set warmachine false
		*if advisor = 3
			*set warband - 2
			Jormal scouts ahead, forging a bold path through the treacherous scrambleways and cliffsides. Only two people fall to an untimely death, which is considered a blessing when so few survive the hills.
			*goto meetassania
		*else
			*set warband - 4
			You wind your way along narrow ledges over deep ravines, clamber bleeding through the glassgroves, and make your way up and over the Minor Claw itself. Five of your comrades-in-arms die or have to be left to die along the way.
			*label meetassania
			
			Eventually you arrive in Assania and petition them for aid. Together you ride back out the long way. You ambush General Murlong's side flank in Plashy Plain. With the overwhelming force of Assania's Storkriders you scatter them without taking any wounded.
			*goto after
	#Let's set a trap for Murlong. Though outnumbered we have the element of surprise. This way we can avoid calling on our allies so soon.
		*if advisor = 1
			*set warband - 5
			Elaskin devises a clever trick he calls the Empty Castle stratagem. The ruins are left open with some fake bundling and the rut marks of the Forgebeast leading within. The castle is made to look like an obvious trap. Meanwhile, your warband hide, heavily armed, in the darkest dungeons of the castle, your movement maskked by eternal whistling of the Wastaday Pit. General Murlong's army see it as a trap and don't enter the castle for several days while they send scouts to see if you have fled into the hills. By the time they get to sending men cautiously into the castle, your men are able to pick them off one by one in the twisting dungeon. It's a long slog and six of your band are killed in the fighting but you are careful and cautious and eventually Murlong is forced to retreat for reinforcements.
			*goto irontown
		*else
			*set warmachine false
			*set warband - 6
			The plan is simple. You set the Malachite Forgebeast in the centre of the castle, make it look fortified so that General Murlong will break through the false seige, and then the snare is pulled. Six brave warriors step forward to command the beast. While the rest of you quiver in the foothills of the Clawback Mountain, the night is filled with sound of living malachite rising and roaring. When dawn arrives, the remains of Wastaday Castle lie in ruins and there is no sign of anyone, living or dead. Just green rubble and silence.
			*goto irontown
*label irontown
*page_break
A month later you arrive in Irontown. There are ${warband} of you in all, @{assania Assania's debt to you is now paid|you still have Assania in your debt}, and @{warmachine the last Malachite Forgebeast is still in your command|the last treasures of the Cold Stone Campaign have been spent}. The town is awash with rumours of a yellow-eyed stranger, and you learn the General Murlong is alive and has been recruiting against you in the Seacry Cove.
*if warband >= 25
	Morale is good and you resolve to spend some time in the town.
	*finish
*else
	Your band is running low on fighters, but here there will be a chance to recruit.
	*finish