The Butcher of Gadobhra

Claudia watched the preparations with some amusement as she ate a plate of food supplied by the Butcher. She had brought up half of her troops to the end of the narrow street, formed up and ready to charge. Behind them, the Butcher and Caldrius were stuffing their faces with smoked meat that had been produced from his curious storage bag. The first item to appear was a barrel of sausage, followed by a large ham, a side of bacon, and a few sizzling slices of Mage's Delight. The Butcher had handed a heaping plate of sizzling meat to Caldrius, and then done the same for her.

"Might as well eat up, your Excellency. I hope I'm wrong, but my gut tells me we have a trap to spring and then a hard fight after that. I only have a little of the ham and bacon, but there's plenty of sausage for your soldiers."

She took the plate and detailed soldiers to pass out the rest of the barrel. She'd had his sausage before, but he'd improved on the recipe.

<table border="1" class="chapter-table" style="border-collapse: collapse">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.629%">
<p><strong>Sedgewick Legendary Special Reserve Sausage!</strong>
<em>Made by the Butcher of Sedgewick from locally sourced meat, mixed and ground by hand. Then he smokes and cures his links with his blend of special herbs, spices, and secret sauce for that sinfully dark, sweet flavor.</em></p>
<p>Increase Maximum stamina and mana by +150 each for four hours. (Maximum benefit of one sausage per Tier.)
Restores +150 stamina and mana.
Have them with every meal!</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

"You got better."

He smiled, "That I did. It helps that we're getting some good crops of herbs from our local farmers. A few tons of magical gopher fertilizer and unicorn blessings are giving the plants a great flavor. And our local Peppermancer has peppers hot enough to burn through steel. It's a blessing to have quality ingredients and good help at my smokehouse. I've been able to practice my craft for hours every day and gain a few levels of experience."

Claudia could feel the extra levels. She had her doubts they had all come from making sausage or butchering, but she couldn't deny that the meal he'd given her was some of the highest-quality battle enhancements she'd ever had. Her troops were enjoying the sausage. Extra energy in a battle meant they could use special skills without exhausting themselves. The benefit to an army eating this food was a huge bonus. She'd researched the old legends about the Butcher's Brigade. Not all of them were dark and bloody, and some mentioned magical foods like this. She'd have to pry some extra gold out of Carl and put in an order with the Kallveks before anyone else realized what was being made in the Barony of Gadobhra. Word had spread through the mercenary companies about the order of sausage she'd purchased earlier, and if war broke out, they'd all be placing orders. But this was the first she'd seen of these improved recipes.

She wondered again about the man. Handing out samples of his product before a fight she could understand. There was no better way to get her attention. But volunteering to lead a charge into an ambush went beyond advertising his wares. If this was a way to curry favor for his Baron, she wished more nobles would think this way.

<table border="1" class="chapter-table" style="border-collapse: collapse">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.629%"><strong>Legendary Ham of the Apocalypse<em>
</em></strong><em>Made special by The Butcher of Sedgewick. It all starts with Hellpig hindquarters cured in a mix of spices and maple sugar. Then the hams are slow-smoked until they are bursting with benefits and flavor.</em>
<em><strong>A one-pound serving grants +100 Health, and +100 Mana, along with increased Health and Mana regeneration for 1 Day.</strong></em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<table border="1" class="chapter-table" style="border-collapse: collapse">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.629%"><strong>Legendary Trifecta Bacon</strong>
<em>Made from the local boars found in the forests of Gadobhra and gathered into the slaughter pens, this bacon is given heat and flavor from a special recipe using honey, horse radish, and 11 herbs and spices. Heavy with mana, it provides benefits to Health, Stamina, and Mana for 12 hours. Up to three pieces may be eaten in 12 hours before bad things happen to your digestion.</em>

<strong>+75 Health, +75 Stamina, +75 Mana. (Stackable: x3)</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

She considered his warning about this being a trap for her. She had to admit it, was a good spot for one. The narrow street would channel spells from the wizards and give them no place to take cover. If they couldn't break through the front door quickly, they'd be forced to retreat or take heavy casualties. And if she was setting a trap like this, she'd try to cut off their escape. A surprise attack from the rear when engaged to the front or falling back could be the end of them. She leaned close to one of her sergeants. "Take command of the back two ranks and hold them in reserve. I'll yell if I need you to engage. Keep an eye out for a rear attack and use your judgment if it happens." He nodded and slowly spread the word to the men now under his command. A rear attack with surprise would hurt her, but an attack on troops ready to lock shields and engage would be a nasty surprise for someone else.

Caldrius set aside his own plate and patted his belly. "That stokes a furnace nicely, thank you for that. And that bacon wants to burn something badly. I can hear its voice in my head already. Tell me your plan of attack. Do you have a Heat Shield?" The Master Fire Mage knew of only a few of his peers who could cast the spell, but the Butcher had already been full of surprises.

"No, not sure what that is. As for plans, I'm going to charge the front door. If nothing happens I'll break through it. If the shit hits the fan and they have some magical nastiness I'm planning on tossing up a

Shield

in front of me. It's something I learned in the smoke to protect a ship."

"Ah, some physical protection? That's good. I notice you have little armor except that apron. My

Heat Shield

will extend in a globe around us, giving us protection from Cold and Ice and degrading any effects from those types of spells."

Ozzy nodded. "Every little bit helps. I'll be using a couple of special abilities to boost my strength. And fair warning, I move fast when I get big."

Caldrius looked hard at the seven-foot-tall Butcher. "Big?" The Butcher simply winked.

Inside the small fortress disguised as a dilapidated tailor shop, Rodoslov the Evershivering, his four Ice Wizards, their apprentices, frost knights, and armored minions waited patiently for their prey to move into range. Operations in the north were about to begin in earnest and taking the Duchess off the board would let Winter exploit many other openings. Her mercenary company would be leaderless and those who replaced her prone to anger. The Duke would be shattered by her death, and it would be easier for their allies at court to manipulate him. Coupled with their ongoing plans to disrupt the teleportation system and use it to distribute Icy mana throughout the cities, the warmlanders would be pushed back and forced on the defensive.

Everything started here, after months of careful scouting and preparations. They knew when she traveled in the city and knew how she would react. Now they just had to wait for her to charge the building, her shield locked with the shields of her bodyguards in a wedge of force that would batter down the door. The troops were lined up and ready to charge.

"Ask the lookout if they still only have the one Fire Mage with them?" An apprentice raced away up the stairs. Their plans had assumed at least three would be brought along. A single Mage would make this operation far easier and more of his troops would live to fight another day.

The lookout on the top of the building was trying to answer that very question. He left the apprentice to watch and went down to the second floor himself, to report. "I could only see the one mage. Our strike against the market was more successful than we had assumed. Our agents in the streets have signaled that there are mages there trying to clear the remains of the blizzard and care for the afflicted. But..."

"But what?"

The lookout struggled to make sense of what he had seen. "The Fire Mage is sitting and eating. A man in an apron is serving food to him and the Duchess, and passing out what looks like sausages to the soldiers. They've spent several minutes just eating."

"I'll never understand warmlanders and their obsessions with food and drink. Do they think they need a picnic before charging? Fine, let them."

The apprentice whispered from the top of the landing. "Sir, they're getting ready to charge. The ranks have opened up in the center. But..."

"But? But? Spit it out!"

"But it's just a man in an apron and the Firemage, the Duchess is ten paces to the rear."

Rodoslov had to see this for himself, and against his own orders he cracked a second-floor shutter and looked out. Sure enough, a bald man in an apron had strode forward, the Fire Mage behind him preparing a spell. Before he could wonder what was going on, the man raised his hand and a large flaming polearm appeared in his grip, throwing off waves of Heat. He took two steps forward and grew taller by a foot, then began running, growing larger with each long step. Before Rodoslov's eyes, a seven-foot-tall man became a twelve-foot-tall flaming giant. Each step broke the flagstones beneath him and with every breath, he exhaled Smoke that formed into fantastical flying fish, all with sharp teeth.

One of his junior wizards panicked and yelled, "They have a Fire Walker. Dammit, how the hell is a Fire Walker here?!"

Rodoslov stared at the charging man, knowing this was no Fire Walker. No Giant could hide so well among mortal men This was something far worse, a Titan! "Hold steady you fools! Drop the door and fire the cannons. Anyone else, fire at will and stop him before he gets to us."
It was a shame to not have the Duchess in front, but if the warmlanders had a titanic ally, that was a piece he needed to remove from the board. With any luck, she'd take enough shrapnel to die anyway.

The door to the Tailor and Dye shops opened up revealing the barrels of two 6" cannons made of blue ice. The door between revealed two more. A wave of cold rolled out as the doors opened, freezing the courtyard. Normal troops would have been slowed or frozen to the ground, but the Titan kept coming, the ice evaporating as it met the sphere of intense Heat generated by the old mage.

Behind the stubby barrels of the Ice Cannons were huge Hoarfrost Tanks, crusted with ice and snow. Apprentices cranked open the valves and released the mix of pressurized mana and Ice Gryphon blood into the cannons. The guns could only hold the pressure for a minute, but there were only a few seconds until the Titan reached them.

"Engage!" As Rodoslov yelled, all four cannons fired, propelling thousands of frozen shards of ice crystals at the two attackers. The upper story windows opened and archers began to rain down arrows and all spell casters targeted the Titan with spells.

Behind the soldiers, two dozen disguised Ice Knights charged the rear of the Duchesses forces, stopping her retreat.

Ozzy saw the cannon and heard Caldrius laugh, "Still want to be in front?!"