[JonPop]

After much furious activity, the draw bridge was lowered and all of the mounted Moderator Knights, led by the Kings, rode out.
They stopped while the soldiers that had been garrisoned outside the walls, formed into ranks.
A quick visual inspection by the Kings saw that the soldiers had all been fitted with the protective metal.
This had been very neatly applied as the metal had been cut into patterns and fit well with no gaps.

The Officers of the soldiers were at the heads of their ranks and reported to the Kings, that all of their men were accounted for, armed and ready for the march. The wagons were loaded with enough food and water for the men and horses, spare protective metal and medical supplies to sustain the army for 2 days.

It was still quite dark and torches that had been lighted all throughout the camp were now being extinguished.
The Kings, turned and with the Moderator Knights taking point, and flanking the convoy, headed out to do battle with the spammers.

Moving several thousand men at night was slow going, with a few mishaps along the way, but they arrived at their staging area with about 45 minutes to spare, before first light.

Sir JonPop Instructed Sir Kdub and Sir Stud to leave their horses and enter the swamp at the point they had discovered the spammer nest, to scout and report back.

Meanwhile, King Thunder had moved with as much speed as they could muster and still remain relatively silent to the far end of the swamp to position themselves to cut off the spammer retreat.
King Arthur had instructed the Captains of the foot soldiers to deploy right and left to form the open ended circle. When all were in position, they awaited the return of Sir Kdub and Sir Stud.

The morning was starting to brighten quickly when the two Knights emerged. They reported directly to Sir JonPop that all was well and the spammer camp was still there with most sleeping and just a few guards posted.
Sir JonPop dispatched Sir Want8 and Sir Loki to ride to the right and left to alert the Captains forming the circle.
Sir Sikdogg was to ride to King Thunder and his Moderator Knights and inform him that as soon as the Sun was visible cresting the hill, that they would begin the attack. As soon as they had delivered their messages they were to return here to bolster the reserve forces.
King Arthur was talking with the Captain's forming the part of the circle that would do the push up the middle and all were waiting for the command.

The Sun was just peeking over the hill, when the trumpets were sounded all around the swamp and the soldiers begin entering the swamp with fierce roars and battle cries. The progress through the swamp was very slow going as there were many obstacles, bogs and quicksand. The swamp was dense and the soldiers used their swords to clear the way as they advanced. Unbeknownst to the Kings and Sir JonPop when they had formulated the battle plan, the spammers now knew, that their laptops and the Ctrl Alt Delete device was useless against this new armor that the Knights and soldiers were wearing and had devised a plan to build many booby traps and to fight with conventional weapons.

Many soldiers were lost from falling into pits lined with sharpened stakes and ropes strung across the easiest access points through the swamps to release heavy objects to swing from the trees to crush an unlucky solder. Other traps would spring up when stepped on and impale a man with a sharpened wooden spear.
Many sniper spammers were waiting in ambush to shoot arrows into the advancing ranks and then fall back to the main spammer nest to do battle.
The spammers had many days to prepare for such an attack and had done their work, well.

The evening that Sir Kdub and Sir Stud had entered the swamp looking for the spammer nest, the had been observed, but had been allowed to leave. When they entered this morning, the spammers had made it seem as if the nest was sleeping while in reality they were springing their deadly trap.

Because the semi circle had been formed over such a large area, it was difficult to form groups to attack with any force.

The spammers were killing at an alarming rate, the solders, one by one.
The Captains of the 3 sides of the circle rode to bring King Arthur the news of the battle.

King Arthur and Sir JonPop decided to send in, on foot the heavily armored Moderator knights.
King Arthur had under his command, 30 Moderator Knights from Thunders and the Moderator Knights from BetterMan.

Meanwhile, King Thunder and his troop of knights were still waiting for the spammers to come running from the swamp in full retreat.

The Knights that were to be the reserves were now the main attacking force.

All dismounted, charged their squires with the care of their mounts and lances and set off on foot with shields at the ready to enter the nest of the spammers.
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