Two weeks to work with. Captain Schwarzkopf provided Nicholas Meyer with his own canvas tent complete with a wooden desk, and a sleeping cot of his own. At least this arrangement beat barracks life. All six kitchen staff had shared the same sleeping tent for the past three years, dragging it along from campaign to campaign. The head cook, Bellsman, snored loudly every night that he went to bed drunk. In other words, he snored loudly every night.

  True to his word, the next morning Schwarzkopf arranged for a generous supply of parchments, pens and ink bottles to be delivered by one of the Thuringian swordsmen. Nicholas arranged his meager belongings, using the stacked parchment boxes as makeshift file storage unit, and leaned both his clothing duffle bags in the corner, hanging his newly acquired 3rd Lieutenant uniform from the tent pole just above the bags. Nicholas sighed and thought to himself, 'I guess that I have to start somewhere.'

  But what to do? First Lieutenant Hartmann was not going to be any help at all. Hartmann wished all the best for Nicholas Meyer's project to improve the fighting abilities of the Flying Eagles, but he knew little of magic and magicians. His only advice had been to tell Nicholas the story of the one and only battle wizard to ever serve with the Flying Eagles. Belton Wiggles was a mage of the Flame magic variety. Ten years ago, the upper ranks of the Eastern Front army had insisted Captain Schwarzkopf make use of his talents. Something had gone wrong at the height of the battle vs. a Hobgoblin horde. Too much manna expended caused a power surge and explosive flames swept the area around Mage Wiggles immolating the wizard and dozens of Flying Eagles halberdsmen. The Captain never forgot the incident.

  So what was the best approach in this situation? Careful analysis of all of the analytical parchments recording Flying Eagles battle abilities had revealed to Nicholas that improvements were needed in almost every department. It was also worth noting that there were specific requirements when fighting Orcs. Their brawn had to be blunted somehow, and the Prussian armour buffed in some way. The power behind the attacks made by Flying Eagle weapons had to be strengthened. Was there a wizard capable of such magic? Did he want to work for the Flying Eagles? Nicholas Meyer reverted to the perspective he had from before he became a soldier in the Holy Prussian Army. Where could he find an unemployed wizard? Well, the local public house of course! Nicholas had met and spoken with hundreds of such mage's in his years at the Crown of Swords public house in lowly Pfieldorf. Not one in ten were worth the robes they were wrapped in, but there were a few diamonds in the rough out there. Nicholas was never much of a drinker, but obviously it was time to return to his former environment. He knew that the uniform would definitely be a hindrance to his tasks and so he left the fancy blue and yellow striped officer's suit on the hangers and headed to town in his street clothes.

  _______________________________________________________________________________________________

  The Swine and Goat Inn was said to be the largest public house in all of Kobenz. And the rowdiest. Perfect for Nicholas Meyer's needs. It was a little odd being on the customer's side of the bar, but Nicholas soon got used to it. There were plenty of adventurers at this establishment since the facilities included a substantial hostel, well equipped to house all sorts of travellers and their belongings, including there beasts of burden, mostly pack horses. Nicholas soon met several different adventurers, and using the small budget provided him by the Flying Eagles, he was able to grease the wheels of conversations by paying for several rounds of locally brewed ale. Progress was slow, however. There were wizards, but such a motley crew of them, that as day turned to night, Nicholas wondered if anything positive could come out of the experience. There was a group of trekkers who had explored a pulverised castle in the northern section of the Stone Mountains. Their group consisted of a dwarf, two swordsmen, a thief and a wizard of the Emerald variety, not a particularly powerful form of battle magic, but he at least could speak coherently. He went by the name, Madrona Firbark. The group had apparently experienced a shockingly fierce attack by a pack of Dire wolves, losing most of the loot garnered from the castle ruins and barely escaping with their lives. That had been the last in a long string of adventuring failures and this night was to be a send off for the disbandment of their group. Nicholas quickly constructed a data parchment in his mind for the Healing Wizard from the stories told by the adventuring party:

  Emerald Wizard: Madrona Firbark

  Wizard level: 2 spells known

  Leadership ability: none

  Fighting skill: 1

  Attacks: 1

  Quickness: 4 (wiry and agile)

  Power: 2

  Defence: 2

  Speed: 5

  Armour save: none

  Magical save: 4+? (Just a guess, but that emerald amulet around his neck looked like a reasonably powerful ward against injuries)

  Wounds: 2 (maybe just 1)

  Weapons: wooden staff

  Special abilities: Wound healing spell, usable on a group of at least 5 individuals at a time, possibly more.

  Transform skin to bark spell, also usable on a group. +2 to the armour save? That spell seemed to have saved the lives of the group when the Dire wolves attacked.

  Experience points: Somewhere near 100,000 experience points, Nicholas would have to learn more to refine the estimate.

  Mount: Horse

  Not exactly the game changer that Nicholas hoped to find, but at least he was a beginning. The two men made arrangements for an interview at the barracks at the beginning of next week. Nicholas decided to call it a day and go back to his new tent, recording a hard copy of the data on parchment before he went to sleep.

  _______________________________________________________________________________________________

  The next day Nicholas returned to the Swine and Goat feeling a bit more optimistic. At least he knew what he was doing. Upon arrival at the pub he could see that many of the patrons, and even some of the staff members had also deduced what Nicholas was up to. Several magical oriented individuals made themselves available for conversations this evening. Again, there were several completely inappropriate candidates. A blow hard drunk from Silesia who prided himself on his ability to speak with dead people. A former battle wizard from Wurtland that was thrown out his unit for casting a confusion spell on his own unit. And a young mage from Badendorf who had learned a concealment spell from his uncle, that only worked in the desert.

  But there were a couple of promising candidates. An Astronomical wizard who had actually studied at the College of Astronomical Wizardry in the capital city of the Holy Prussian Empire, Badendorf. He knew three spells, and carried a staff of some significant power. Betelgeuse Orion was his name. The other guy that caught Nicholas's attention was an extremely interesting user of magic. From the outside he appeared almost as if he could be Captain Schwarkopf's brother: Burly, strong, clad in armour in the bar! (Mages usually hated armour). Nicholas would not even have recognised him as a magician except for the fact that he walked up and introduced himself as one. Cobalt Steel was his name, and of course he was a Metal magic mage. Nicholas constructed data sheets in his mind for both men:

  Astronomical Wizard: Betelgeuse Orion--------------------------------------------Metal Wizard: Cobalt Steel

  Wizard level: 3 spells known-----------------------------------------------------------Wizard level: 2 spells known

  Leadership ability: 6----------------------------------------------------------------------Leadership ability: 6

  Fighting skill: 2-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Fighting skill: 3

  Attacks: 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Attacks: 2

  Quickness: 3--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Quickness: 2

  Power: 3--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Power: 4

  Defence: 3-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Defence: 3

  Speed: 4--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Speed: 4

  Armour save: none-------------------------------------------------------------------------Armour save: 4+

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  Magical save: 5+ (from that star shaped gem in his staff?)----------------------Magical save: (possibly 4+ from his armour?)

  Wounds: 3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wounds: 4

  Weapons: staff-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Weapons: Cobalt mentioned an enchanted firearm

  Special abilities: Thunderstorm spell, meteor strike spell, wind blast spell---Special abilities: Improve firearm accuracy +2 spell

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Heat enemy armour spell

  Experience points: 200,000?-------------------------------------------------------------Experience points: 350,000?

  Mount: Horse---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mount: none

  That was the result of the night's work. Appointments were made at the end of the week for further interviews and once again Nicholas meticulously traced out hard copies of the data from the wizards. He still had the knack of evaluating an adventurer met in the moment! It was a bit like the old days in Pfieldorf but this time there was a serious side to the sheets. Could Nicholas actually use this information to hire the right wizard for the job?

  The following day was spent meeting with a group of inspecting officers from the Koblenz headquarters and so no more investigative work could be done that day. Friday was payday for the unit and Lieutenant Hartmann had informed Nicholas that he was to disperse the monthly stipend to the soldiers because his leg had still not healed sufficiently. That left just tomorrow, Thursday, as his sole remaining opportunity to beat the bushes and drum up another candidate for the position of battalion battle wizard. The two new candidates were likely better options than the Emerald mage, but Nicholas was unsure about all three.

  ____________________________________________________________________________________________

  Wednesday had been a tough go. Spending the day inspecting troops was not fun when you were on the soldier side of things, but Nicholas found it even more distasteful when he found himself doing the inspecting. By Thursday Meyer was ready to return to the confines of the Swine and Goat. Unfortunately it was a special night celebrating the return of some bawdy group of entertainers from eastern Pomerania. Nicholas was only able to identify two magicians in the large crowd of inebriated men, and neither was capable of coherent speech. it was with great disappointment that he packed up early and made his way back to the base through the dimly lit streets of Koblenz. A light drizzle filled the gloom with mist and seemed to suppress all sound. Nobody else seemed to be out that night and Nicholas expected an uneventful walk home.

  "You'd be the hirin fella from the barracks, I presume," growled a rough featured man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. The man wore brown robes, somewhat tattered, with a green scarf. He had long dark hair and a dark beard, although presented somewhat of a bald spot on his forehead. In his right hand he brandished a long wooden staff, emblazoned with bone materials near the top end of the staff. A wizard of the lore of Animalia, to be sure. Magicians who studied animal magic were usually anti social and kept to themselves. There was no 'college' of animal magic. Practitioners found learned and experienced Animalia wizards to apprentice themselves to, often far from civilisation. Nicholas had never before met a practitioner of animal magic.

  "I am said he," responded Nicholas.

  "I be willin ta offer me services," suggested the mysterious man. "Fer the Empire, don'cha know"

  There was something about the man that exuded strength and power. Nicholas felt no fear. The wizard presented no threat, and yet he reasoned that he should be careful. If this encounter were to go south there would be nobody to back him up.

  "Would you be available for interview at the barracks of the Flying Eagles on Monday? Say, 2:30 in the afternoon?" asked the nervous Third Lieutenant.

  "Eet would'na be my first choice, eef I's bein honest. But if that is what it takes ta help yees, than I'll have ta do it. I's been watchin them 'Flyin Eagles fer a while now an I believe theys cad use my assistance," explained the man.

  "Then I will expect to see you Monday, sir what was your name?" The man disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Maybe Nicholas had seen him leave through the hedge row on the left of the roadway, but as he glanced this way and that, he couldn't be sure. 'What exactly had just happened?" Nicholas imagined the stat sheet for the Animalia wizard. One long parchment of unknowns and maybes and question marks. He would have to wait until Monday until he could write up a hard copy for that character!

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

  Pay day was actually a pretty good day. It was a long day, and the paperwork had to be meticulously accurate. Lieutenant Hartmann insisted that Captain Schwarzkopf demanded absolute accounting of every copper pfennig. However, being the guy that handed out the money to everybody did have its advantages. Of course, Friday being the day all the soldiers received their money meant that the public houses were full of soldiers the rest of the weekend. There was no further opportunity to hunt for battle wizard candidates. Meyer did take the time to apply the prospective candidate magical spells to the data sheets containing the attribute numbers for the Flying Eagles soldiers and officers, but the effects were less spectacular than Nicholas had hoped. The killing power of weather magic seemed limited. The defensive buffs presented by Emerald magic were limited. And metal magic would likely work well for the cannons and rifle bearing troops, but when push came to shove with the Orc hordes, battles were decided with close combat victories and overruns. No matter what scenario or combination of spells and abilities, Nicholas Meyer simply couldn't imagine how any one of the first three wizards could tip the balance of the next battle against the Orcs, towards the favour of the Flying Eagles.

  ________________________________________________________________________________________

  Monday arrived. The first three interviews went about as expected. The only surprise was that the three wizards looked even more dishevelled in the light of day, than they had appeared in the lamp lights of the Swine and Goat. Especially the Emerald Wizard. It appeared that whatever healing abilities he possessed had been used sparingly on himself. If the man had presented himself as a beggar on the street it might have been a more convincing proposition than being hired as a battle wizard. No wonder his adventuring group was disbanding! Nicholas was able to add a few notes and changes to the three data sheets of the first three candidates of the interview process, but in his heart, he knew none were appropriate additions to an army being dispatched to fight Orcs.

  'Will the Animalia wizard show up?' was all that Nicholas could think of, as he updated the three data sheets and prepared a fourth for the last interview candidate. Several times he got up and poked his head out of the tent to ask his assisting soldier if there was any sign of the fourth wizard. Nobody had seen a thing. 2:30 pm arrived and passed. Still no sign and Nicholas asked one last time if his soldier assistant had seen the man. Nothing, but unbelievably when he stepped back into his office tent the mysterious magician was there inside, pacing like a caged animal.

  "You made it!" exclaimed Nicholas Meyer. "I was beginning to wonder."

  "I had sum deeficulty evading yer security folk. Sorry bout that. Eet made me ay bit late," explained the wizard.

  "You didn't have to do that! I had notified all of the gate soldiers to expect your arrival. They were watching out for you, and would have escorted you right to my tent," responded Nicholas.

  "I figured as much. No wunder I had such a tough time of it," answered the wizard.

  Suddenly Nicholas realised something important. This guy was a one off. A talent. A savant. This was a unique and unlikely opportunity to recruit a truly special talent and Nicholas couldn't blow the opportunity. Nicholas was going to have to employ every social skill he had ever developed to properly vet this man.

  "Could you please explain to me, in your own words how you think that you could improve the fighting results of the Flying Eagles? And if you wouldn't mind sir, could you begin with telling me your name?" asked Nicholas Meyer.

  "I kin indeed young lad. My name's Eagleclaw Wolverine, an I bin studyin' the animal lore of the Stone Mountains since nought 7, win I wuz just a boy. Thees is my first time ta town in forty odd years, but I cudn't stand ta see thas nasty Orcs gat the bast of yas another time. Ize tried ta offer my services ta Meester Schwarzchovs a couple'a times in the past, but he just had hees soldiers chase me off. Wan I hears that thar ees a differn guy doin tha hiren I came ta offer my services."

  "I see," responded Nicholas. "And what might those services be?"

  "Wall, I kin fight myself with the bast of them. No doubt about that, but my fighten wall ony gat ya so far. Eets yer fighten that I can halp ya with. I kin make ya fight faster. I can make yas fight stronger. I can make yer hides tougher, and I can make the Orcs softer. Four spalls, by yer way of accountin. Four gud spalls."

  Nicholas couldn't believe his ears. His inner red alert was bouncing off the inside of his skull. He always prided himself on having a gut instinct what to believe and what not to believe and to be able to quantify the information into a meaningful form. He could hardly wait to write up this guy's data sheet and see how he could use it to modify the fighting strengths of the soldiers of the Flying Eagles. But first things first.

  "You're hired. You start immediately. Do you want your own tent? You can have this one if you want," explained Nicholas waving his hands towards the cot and desk.

  "Won be necessary. I kin provide my own shelter an food. I do need ta be paid though. Three hunert pfennigs per month. That's three gold marks," explained the Animal wizard.

  "Three gold marks!" Nicholas had just finished paying off the entire battalion the day before. Nobody was paid 300 pfennigs! Not even Captain Schwarzkopf. Regular soldiers received 7 or 8 pfennigs per month. Officers, maybe 60 or 80. The commanding officer made 150. There were some extra bonuses for serving in combat, but 300 was never paid to a single individual.

  "That's the deal. Ya'll find that I'm worth the money."

  "Fine! said Nicholas Meyer. "You start tomorrow morning and I will have your pay packet ready when you arrive."

  "Grate," responded the mage, and once again he simply disappeared! But this time Nicholas was paying attention. He could have sworn that he saw a small bear or maybe a wolverine run out under the canvas of the tent.

  That night Nicholas Meyer wrote out a new data sheet, with great care. He could not be sure that the information was completely accurate but he trusted his instincts and wrote Eagleclaw Wolverine's data sheet out for the first time. Later, he combined the theoretical spells with the Flying Eagles data sheets and was very, very pleased. No matter what happened, Meyer had to get approval for Eagleclaw Wolverine's new salary.

  Animalia Wizard: Eagleclaw Wolverine

  Wizard level: 4 spells known

  Leadership ability: 5?

  Fighting skill: 7

  Attacks: 3

  Quickness: 5

  Power: 4

  Defence: 3

  Speed: 5

  Armour save: none

  Magical save: 5+?

  Wounds: 3

  Weapons: staff

  Special abilities: Undetectable movement, Increased attacks spell, add two attacks per soldier? Increased power spell, +2 power to soldiers power rating? Wolverine hide spell, soldiers gain wolverine tough hides, +2 armour save? Weakness spell, target unit loses 2 points from power levels? Able to change forms into a wolverine.

  Experience points: 500,000?

  Mount: none

  What a data sheet! Nicholas had never seen such a sheet! Now, would Captain Schwarzkopf share his enthusiasm?