Shattered Sanity

Cedric waited until the last murmurs had disappeared before turning towards Gwen, who removed the map pinned behind him and replaced it with a considerably larger version of the Academy grounds.

”Now that everyone understands what Black Week involves, let’s talk about what House Argent actually plans to do during those seven days,” Cedric said, as Gwen began placing several silver markers across the western portion of the map. ”We’re targeting a net gain of two thousand Merit Points, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to run around like idiots trying to grab every piece of land nobody happens to be standing on.”

The first marker appeared over the open woods immediately behind House Argent’s stone castle, while the second was placed directly over the House grounds themselves.

”Trying to control scattered territories is one of the easiest ways to screw yourself during Black Week.

You might capture six valuable locations across the Academy, but if each one needs twenty students to defend and none of them can reinforce the others quickly, congratulations, you’ve just divided your own forces for the enemy and can now be picked apart easily.”

Another silver marker appeared over Silver Stone Bridge.

Riven immediately recognized the location, as it was the bridge most Argent students crossed every morning while travelling from their House towards the western section of the Academy where several of their classes were held.

”So we’re going to do the responsible thing for once and form a chain.

The open woods protect our rear, our castle remains the center of everything we do, and from there, we extend forward through Silver Stone Bridge.”

Cedric continued as Gwen placed another marker over the Western Training Grounds situated beyond the bridge, followed by one final marker farther ahead.

The Spell Training Hall.

A few murmurs immediately spread amongst the students.

Riven understood why.

Compared to the other territories Cedric had identified, the Spell Training Hall was marked red on the map, since it yielded the most points per hour to control, and was somewhere near the heart of the academy as a whole.

”The Spell Training Hall is our most ambitious target, and I’m not going to bullshit you by pretending it’ll be easy to hold, since it’s historically a landmark that Sable tries to hold.

However, if we successfully control everything you see highlighted here, House Argent will gain sixteen hundred points just from holding territory alone.”

Cedric explained before tracing a finger over the map.

”Open Woods. House Argent. Silver Stone Bridge. Western Training Grounds. Spell Training Hall.

Every position supports the next.

If the Western Training Grounds come under attack, reinforcements stationed at Silver Stone Bridge can reach them quickly.

If the bridge itself is threatened, students from the castle can reinforce it.

And if some bastard thinks he’s clever enough to sneak through the woods behind us, we’ll already have people waiting there to ruin his day.”

More importantly, the geography itself protected them.

Silver Stone Bridge formed the only convenient route connecting House Argent’s territory with the central western grounds, while the terrain surrounding the river made moving around it extremely difficult.

’This is a good plan.’

Riven thought, as his gaze moved slowly across the silver markers.

The strategy was simple enough that even he understood its appeal.

House Argent was effectively placing its back against terrain that was difficult to cross while extending its forces outward through a single controlled route, ensuring that every position they captured remained connected to the one behind it.

Nobody needed to defend an isolated territory while hoping reinforcements arrived before they were overwhelmed.

”So understand your roles correctly today, and nobody tries to play fucking hero by disobeying orders because you spotted some easy Merit Points somewhere.

I don’t care if you see some insignificant building sitting undefended on the other side of the Academy and think you can earn us another five Merit Points an hour.

Unless House leadership orders you to take it, leave the damn thing alone.

We aren’t spreading ourselves across the Academy simply because territory happens to be available.

We stay concentrated, we hold a line we can actually defend, and we make the other Houses work like hell for every position they want to take from us.”

Cedric warned, as he rotated a firm gaze through the crowd.

”Now, understand that this is only the basic plan, and the seniors in this room already know this well that initial plans rarely survive contact with reality.

I don’t expect us to hold every one of these territories for all seven days. I’d fucking love it if we did, but I’m not delusional.

Things will change. We might abandon territory, expand somewhere else or suddenly find an opportunity too good to ignore.

That’s Black Week.

But when those decisions need to be made, House leadership makes them.

The rest of you have one much simpler responsibility. Learn your role, follow your orders and don’t fuck up a perfectly good strategy because you suddenly decided you were smarter than two hundred and fifteen other people.”

Cedric warned before stepping away from the map as Gwen moved towards the opposite wall, carrying several large sheets of paper that had remained rolled beneath her arm throughout the meeting.

”Of course, controlling that much territory requires more than throwing two hundred students onto Silver Stone Bridge and praying nobody gets past them,” Cedric continued. ”So every student in House Argent has been assigned a specific role for the opening phase of Black Week.”

Gwen pinned the first sheet against the wall.

”The Defense Division gets the castle and the open woods behind us. You protect our resources, watch the approaches through the forest, secure whatever prisoners we drag home and make damn sure nobody burns our shit while everyone else is busy fighting.”

A second list went up beside it.

”The Occupation Division holds whatever territory we capture. Once our assault force takes a position, you move in behind them and establish control. We aren’t wasting our strongest fighters standing around guarding a building they’ve already taken.”

The third sheet followed.

”The Support Division keeps everyone else functioning. Healing, supplies, communication, prisoner transport and whatever other problems inevitably appear once this whole mess begins.”

Finally, Gwen unfolded the last sheet.

”The Assault Division gets the fun job. You take territory, prisoners, and fight in enemy lands.”

That produced considerably more excitement than any of the previous assignments.

”Don’t get too excited,” Cedric continued. ”We’re keeping this group relatively small because your job isn’t to sit around holding ground afterward. Your job is to break whoever happens to be standing between House Argent and whatever piece of ground we want next. Second Years will form the majority of the division, while only ten First Years have been selected to join them.”

That immediately sent whispers spreading through the juniors.

Riven leaned slightly forward.

He had already suspected where House leadership intended to place him, although he waited until Gwen finished pinning the final list before rising alongside dozens of others who wanted to check their assignments.

Students quickly crowded around the four sheets.

Riven waited until enough space opened before stepping closer, his green eyes moving down the names listed beneath the Assault Division until he reached the section reserved for First Years.

His own name appeared among the ten.

Riven Dawnriver.

That much hardly surprised him.

What caught his attention were the names surrounding it.

Randy.

Batista.

Flair.

Jeff.

Matt.

For several seconds, Riven simply stared at the list before a faint grin slowly spread across his face.

House Argent had selected only ten First Years for its Assault Division.

But, six of them belonged to his infamous little group.