There are times, yes, where you wonder what it is that made you come here. A short month ago, you helped a man by the name of Cephalas escape from both his brother and the empire he was rebelling against. With him out of the picture, you quietly assumed control over the meagre force he was to raise here in the valleys. As such, you have made yourself at home in this half-ruined barracks of the Mithradian Empire, not that it is of much joy to one such as yourself, and you can see why Cephalas was eager to be rid of the place. The git had seen fit to drink most of the wine himself, it seems, considering the amount of wine-stains in the cloth of the curtains and bedsheets.
The Mithradian conscripts he managed to skim from whatever half-dead village he found them in are scrawny, poorly trained, poorly equipped, poorly led, and above all else, their morale is face-first dead in the gutter. Their horses are suited for ploughing and draft work, not war. Your Tauten troops, by contrast, are the finest and perhaps most heavily armoured host within the mountain walls that you now call your home. You wouldn't trust the Mithradian levies in battle, let alone in an independent operation, so you keep them at the base, repairing the building and training. Even then, the language barrier between the two groups has left you doubtful as to their effectiveness in the field when they have to cooperate in joint operations. Hopefully that day will be far off.
Aside from that, there are other matters to attend to. Your mainline communication with the rest of the crusaders has been poor, not because of the enemy harassing your messengers or anything, but because of the remoteness of your position. Most of the crusaders chose to march south, where it was expected the bulk of the infidel's army was located. You haven't received any report about anything, but you have barely been here a month, so you hope to at least receive some news before the direct passes in the mountains snow in, which would make your lines of communication even longer.
The supply situation is calm for now; you bought up enough salted fish along the coastal towns before you went inland, but if you are going to stay here for a longer period of time, it would be a good idea to send some men into the few remaining cities and villages to buy up supplies if the need arises.
