"Lord! We've compiled the battle report! Last night, besides attacking Blackflame Pass and Fort Valor, the Rending Claw Clan sent out seventeen scouting parties to raid the outposts we'd established near the pass.
Of the seventeen outposts, nine sensed the danger in advance and chose to withdraw. We've lost contact with the remaining eight.
All our outer scouting posts have been wiped out. We've lost sight of the surrounding region. At present, aside from the scouts sent out by the elves, all our eyes have been put out."
While Lord Heather prepared her troops to personally retake the first line of defense at the pass, one of her tall human knight descendants brought her the bad news she'd expected.
Judging by the Rending Claw Clan's positions last night, they had no intention of giving the defenders time to adjust. They were clearly planning to seize Blackflame Pass, the only road into Transia, with a brutal surprise attack.
Lord Heather nodded.
At the huge sand table behind her, the Bloodsworn Clan commanders immediately removed the flags representing the frontline outposts and replaced them with little green flags representing the Rending Claw Clan.
The situation around the battlefield became clear at once.
The green flags connected to form a line, cutting off Blackflame Pass from the rest of the Dark Mountains. That was the direction the Rending Claw Clan was advancing from.
Those bastards were relying on their numbers, advancing on Blackflame Pass from three directions at once.
The route from the pass toward Hunger Mountain had been completely cut off. That meant Blackflame Pass had been severed from the Bloodsworn Knights' headquarters and Brass Fortress by land last night. Worst of all, the three forces together had more than ten thousand gnoll vanguards alone. That meant the Rending Claw army had