I've been running in circles today. Partly because my stomach has been upset and partly because I'm just disorganized right now. It's a little before 11:50 and I know that I'm going to cross the time meridian in the process of typing this post up. I'm listening to Enya and it's relaxing, I suppose. I am hungry but I can't eat yet. I am debating writing a story about that. I'm just not sure if it will come off as pro-anorexia, which is really not what I want to do. I am tired. I think my blood sugar is a bit high. It was better this morning than it was all day yesterday. Being sick with diabetes sucks. I have a few more days before I am done with the antibiotic. My sinuses have mostly stopped draining. I'm just tired and cranky. But I also haven't had any coffee yet today.
[...]
Well, I just ate a quick lunch. We'll see what it does to my blood sugar. I'm kinda dreading it. I'm having my cup of coffee (which I know can make your blood sugar run a little high) but not really getting any pleasure from it. Perhaps it is because it is cold. Perhaps it is because I am preoccupied. I'm having a hard time figuring out how one would run an operation to draw out a smaller force to meet a larger force when the smaller force is in a fortified position. Enough time has passed that the smaller force has become complacent in their hold on the location. The civilians have suffered heavy casualties because of the smaller force's efforts to maintain hold on the location by way of fear.
People have been executed for imaginary crimes and insults. Within the fortified town, the townspeople are afraid and struggling. Trade has dwindled because the people who hold the town by force have a reputation of unreasoning violence for violence's sake and as such, traders are avoiding the town. Town supplies are not low yet. But they are strained by how the occupying force is just squandering things. The fields are planted but not yet mature enough to harvest. The flock of sheep and the flock of goats are diminished by the occupying forces using them for fodder. There is no cattle. The terrain around the town is relatively flat with the town sitting on a slight rise.
The treeline has been pushed back from the effort of the occupying force to build a fortification around the town. This included the orchards. The town well is at the center of the town and has sweet water. It is considered sacrosanct and not even the occupying force will mess with it because it is the only source of good water for a good distance with out going into the wilds of the forest. Beyond the treeline, an army is in wait that is easily double the number of the occupying force of the town. This is an army made up of the wild people of the forest, known as the foresters. Their methods of combat are not the rank and file sort of the nobles and their vassals. They are more guerrilla warfare and strike quickly before disappearing into the wild forest.
The foresters were once disorganized and tended to operate as separate bands. They had acquired a well deserved reputation for being something of a menace for people traveling through the forest because they would capture travelers and demand 'tribute' of their goods for their release. When the Forest-Father who had loosely organized some of the bands was over thrown in a duel with Cormac, this brought about a new age for the foresters. Cormac and the enigmatic Sideria brought the different bands into order. They fostered communication between the bands and discouraged preying upon travelers. Instead, the foresters began to act as guides and protectors of travelers from the unallied bands still located in the woods.
Due to the ties between Cormac and king Erian, the foresters became the people that Erian called on for difficult missions or secret communication with allies. During the war with the Cordid, the foresters were the ones who carried out night time raids and laid ambushes against the invaders with great success despite the fact that they were not in familiar terrain. From these missions, they acquired a reputation of being dishonorable in combat with the nobles, though some privately were impressed with their effectiveness.
Bah, backstory for the foresters does not help me figure out how to draw out the enemy encamped in Greenwood.
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