The first day passed without engagement.
The Threian advance guard deployed across the hills north of Thornfield in the standard defensive disposition that the kingdom's military doctrine prescribed for a force establishing contact with an entrenched enemy. Infantry companies occupied the hilltops, their positions chosen for observation rather than assault. Cavalry patrols probed the flanks, testing the orcish screening positions with the cautious aggression of riders who were looking for gaps rather than fights. The mages, six practitioners of various capability levels, established their observation posts on elevated terrain where their enhanced senses could survey the orcish defenses with the analytical precision that magical perception provided.
