The priests had chosen to build the camp on an island from Dracon Fen; it was swampy with hidden mires in places that didn't have wooden walkways.
The dark beasts wouldn't be able to move freely if they ever got inside the outer walls.
The trees in the outer ring all had scout platforms built into them with archers on them, and the outer ring of the camp had wooden spikes and barricades interspersed with the mires.
Chronos wondered how they had approached the camp without being seen when there were that many eyes keeping watch. Ah, apparently, they had walked through an unwatched path, and several more scouts had been sent to new trees to prevent another occurrence.
Just inside the gate was a small barracks that most of the priests who had come to the gate returned to, they must be on duty in case of a major attack.
Holding the island against invasion would give them a good point to stage their own assault from, and it was even small enough that they could use magic to move the whole island if they were being overrun.
Further inside they came to the first of the sleeping quarters, large tents that could sleep twenty men to a tent. Judging on the spell circle's woven into the tents they would maintain an internal temperature and had cleaning racks set up just inside the door to deal with the mud people would track inside. The armory and field kitchen were also set up in the middle circle of the camp.
The field kitchen was surprisingly well stocked so someone here must be able to grow food and not just the [Rice and Beans] creation spell that all dragon priests knew.
There's probably at least one knowledgeable priest or shaman in the camp. Each building is propped up by a few roots, keeping them off the ground and safe from water seeping in.
The inner circle of the camp had the command center and leaderships tents in the center, on the far side was the field medic's tent and just outside of that tent was a whole field of statues. It looked like they had been collecting them here but had only freed a few of them to preserve the priest's power.
"You can leave your friends outside the medics tent. If they are determined to be necessary for our operations within the void they will be freed from petrification, if not they will have to wait till we collapse this void space. After that come to the command tent, I want more information about what you have seen here." High priest Morgan said as he went to the command tent ahead of them.
Nodding Chronos went to drop off Gregory and Sariah before he was forced to attend the meeting.
"Great two more for us. Alright, how strong are they and are they needed immediately?" Said a tired healer that came out to meet him.
"Both of them are almost in the third rank, I understand that it's not much when compared to battle priests, but they are both excellent at their jobs. I'll try to get permission to restore them from command." Chronos reported.
"Well, I'm glad you at least understand that noble rank doesn't mean anything here."
"Have there been a lot of people like that?"
"Not since we refused to treat them. Now it's just the leadership of the second order that we have to deal with, but High priest Morgan ordered us not to help them unless he says to." The healer said as he pointed to a group of statues slightly separated from the rest with a red X on their chests.
Most had desperate expressions on their faces, some were pleading for help.
Amongst them Chronos saw a few that looked genuinely enraged, including Roland Malric the second orders vice-commander that had lost a fight to him and Gregory.
Pointing at him while smiling Chronos said, "Better restore him last and on his own. He looks like he'll try to cause trouble the moment he is free."
Chuckling the healer replied, "Oh don't I know it, he was threatening to have all of our heads if we didn't save him before everybody else. The second order's commander is still trying to convince the High priest to free him to assist with command."
"Alright, I leave my friends in your capable hands. I'm pretty sure they are still conscious since they gave off killing intent before."
"Unfortunately, you're right. They are still conscious, just unable to act, we try to put most of them to sleep until we undo the petrification. Good luck convincing the High priest." He waved goodbye to Chronos.
Walking back to the command tent he heard arguing from inside.
"Now that we know where the swamp lord is we should attack it directly." The second commander spoke in a loud voice, though it stopped short of a shout.
"It is a full rank above the strongest of us. If we attack it now, we'll suffer too many casualties." Adam sounded both angry and exasperated.
"Then free my order and we will lead the charge for glory."
"We have been over this before, the healers can only support so many people within the void. We must only restore those that can provide significant advantages. If we restored everyone in your order most of the priests in camp wouldn't be able to stand, much less fight." Came High priest Morgan's voice.
Looking at the door guards Chronos quietly asked, "Should I go inside or wait to be called?"
Before they could answer, the High priest called out, "Come in Chronos. Tell me more about the battle with the swamp lord and the villages square. Maybe we can come up with a good plan once we know more."
Entering Chronos saw the second commander glaring at him like all of this was his fault but chose to ignore him. Greeting Adam, the High priest, and Lyla he explained the layout of the square along with the known abilities of the swamp lord. Of particular interest to them was the crystal in the middle of the square.
"...So, it's guarding this crystal? We can safely assume that the crystal holds a great deal of value in maintaining this space or supporting the dark beasts directly." Head Priest Morgan summarized.
"The naga matriarch said we needed to break the crystal with her last breath, maybe we can leave once it is broken. Is this a common theme in void spaces?" Chronos asked.
"No, according to our history we needed to fulfil several conditions to collapse a void from inside, in the past we were able to close them externally. If we were still able to do that then the priests in the real world would have us out already.
I'm guessing that the crystal gives the space a stability that it lacked in the past thereby preventing external closure." High priest Morgan looked like he had a headache now.
"Which makes closing the tears far more difficult as so few of us can move freely within the void." Adam concluded.
"I disagree." The second commander spoke up. "If all we need to do is shatter a crystal then we can use a few of the mercenaries as bait and destroy it while the swamp lord is busy dealing with them."
Chronos had never had a good impression of the second commander but now that impression had dropped to the level of scum.
Even if they used a force to distract the swamp lord it wasn't going to leave the square, he knew this and would still choose to sacrifice others for no reason.
"That plan has no benefit; it would be much better to take a small group of elites to attack the swamp lord. Once they know that we only have to smash the crystal an individual can get past the swamp lord while the rest of the team engages it." Adam said.
His plan was better but there was no assurance that they would be able to leave once the crystal was broken. Whether they escaped or not they would still be trapped in battle with the swamp lord until help arrived.
"Why not just attack it with everyone in a formation?" Chronos asked.
The second commander sneered at him, "How are we going to protect the camp if we're all gone? Honestly, this is why stupid brats should stay out of war strategy. Hmph."
"We don't need to protect the camp; we can just take it with us. It's a floating island with nothing tying it to this location, if we move it near to or above the battle we could attack from a fortified position." Lyla stated.
Chronos liked that idea, the swamp lord being unable to fly wouldn't be able to stop them from attacking it.
"That could work." Commented High priest Morgan, "But moving the island would need powerful magic to get it moving and it would attract a lot of attention. Hmm, each plan has merits and demerits, we need to carefully consider what to do otherwise we may be trapped here forever."
"Another option is to find the Bog King's Breath potion, the younger naga matriarch told me they had finished it just before the swamp lord attacked. We didn't have time to use it before it reached the square." Chronos spoke with regret.