1471

## **The Trollclaw Malice**

**1471****DR:** Roughly 23 years after the last major attacks from trolls on the southern highlands, the giants repeat the process against southeastern Hugheshire.

It was estimated that increased traffic through Trollclaw Ford, including southern highlands traffic, had incited the trolls. Twenty-odd years was what it took to replenish the troll population from the decimation it took after the last battle.

There were 62 casualties – all of whom were from caravans that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was ugly.

Alerted by the rangers, the Hugheshire Arms met the trolls in uncontrolled territory…

### **The Aftermath of Malice**

The changes instituted, though expensive with the addition of rangers and militia training, paid off handsomely in the coin of lives saved and property preserved.

With surveillance and reconnaissance provided by the rangers, the regular infantry company intercepted the toll horde in open territory and destroyed them within minutes of contact.

As before, the trolls were harvested – except for the noses. Those were soaked in a salt solution that prevented regrowing the rest of the troll – and the string of briny troll noses were hung up at the rest area where caravans were slaughtered.

The message was sent, but it resolved the initiative to clear the Trollclaws once and for all.

## **From the Marshalls to the Guard**

There had been several different and competing defensive experiments, designed to create a smaller, specialized response and gendarme role. For 20 years, there had been proto-guard forces supplementing the regular infantry in their police and security roles.

This stretched from the rear-guard protection of the forward-deployed Battalions, to the Stonehearth-zone police forces inside the Baldurian walls, to the North Point quick reaction force. All of this had been an effort to create a new, smaller dedicated defensive force that would allow the Battalions to be deployed over extended periods to more distant theaters of war.

The proactive approach had worked for closer threats, Stonehearth wanted to use that for more distant threats, too (like Thay... which was an annoying gnat with their harassment operations at Dragonspear castle and so on).

### **A Hybrid Model**

The Arms had more than 150 years of their own best practices and lessons learned to lean on, but the last 20 years of defensive specialization had been a goldmine of divine inspiration and novel mistakes. The leading model, implemented at North Point, had been the Marshall concept. These were mobile infantry who were specially trained in gendarme law-enforcement techniques.

Stonehearth used them as the base, and incorporated best practices from *all* the defensive prototype troops. The end result was a new, quiet proto-branch of defensive specialists known simply as the low-profile named "**Guard**." The main Mobile Infantry *loved* the concept as this allowed the troops an actual down-time cycle for rest, recuperation and training.

John Q. Public in the Marquisate was loudly *not ready* to lose their protector Battalions – especially only a delicate decade after so spectacularly repelling the Shadovar-Netherese attack. However, building a track record of success would build the momentum necessary for parliament to buy the change. The Guard was the way of the future.