What happened to you? That was ages ago.

Below the channels of Angelfalls, in a secluded smugglers cove you and your followers have been holding out against the might of an entire Elven Fleet. Nightmarish ghouls of your own creation and walls of spears at the main entrance, your gutted warship’s broadside at the twisting cavern entrance, and your clockwork dragon have held steadfast against the series of assaults. The siege has gone on for many hours and many of your follower’s lives have been lost.

However, the latest assault predicted by the interval between the others has not yet occurred. Are the Elves preparing for a larger push then before? Or maybe the Duke’s army has arrived at last?

Take stock of the situation or take action. Merger of “rule of cool” ideas or majority rule as always…

>>13056188
Lack of inspiration, direction and pursuit of other interests.

Now however, I'm going to attempt another resurrection.

Give me a minute to read up on the last thread. I had a plan back then but I've forgotten what it was.

D: right when I need to head to work. I'll be able to join in about an hour from now and I hope this is still here.

>>13056209
Ah, best of luck to you.
I'm off to bed. I always liked reading your quest on suptg but our different time zones are against me.

Only on chapter 20 even though the first thread was more than a year ago? Well I guess this Friday night I'll be rereading the evil quest threads again, same as what I was doing that exact same day last year.

>>13056227
Enjoy your job and ability to provide for yourself.

Wow, great

Just when I decided to finally retire for the night suddenly one of the best venerable quests decides to come to life again!

Damn, I would have liked to participate but I need to get up early.

I hope this session will be successful as the previous ones were.

Evil, don't leave us ever again :(

Sally forth once more with your San'layn to slaughter the enemy

Okay, questions from the last thread I still need answered.

We have access to gunpowder. Is the gunpowder we have access to enough to collapse the cove and thus the slums above it?

Have we been putting out false rumors about what the elves may be doing? This last one is particularly important. I suggested it in the previous thread but I don't know that it was actually done.

In any case, my suggestion which came after the last thread ended: Okay, move the cannons from one side of the ship on to land and conceal them as part of the barricade. Turn the ship so that the side that still has cannons faces the tunnel so it can fire on any elven ship that tries to enter.

Have Kelgris swim slowly through the tunnel and check for nets, but not leave, just check and come back.

EVIL QUEST ALL UP IN THIS MOTHERFUCKAH.

Hell yes!

>>13056356

Seconding cannons and Kelgris plan.

>>13056356
in addition to all of this, make sure as many sailors as possible are on the side of the ship that's facing away from the enemy.

we may be evil, but those sailors are valuable assets.

The Elves outmatch our pathetic troops to a great degree, have us on a blockade and ready to destroy us the moment we leave, and have mages to boot.

We can escape, but our ship, and all of our sailors, likely cant.

Though, our Shadow jump could give us an avenue of freedom, and we know we can bring people with us in the jump.

Could we manage to take our mistress(Is she still at the castle?), the children, and the engineers away, to a small home nearby, slay the occupants and hole up there? While our Sailors attack on two fronts, a skeleton crew attacking from the ship, while the rest charge out the inn, with our pet dragon going under the water to tear at the armada from below.

>>13056356
>We have access to gunpowder. Is the gunpowder we have access to enough to collapse the cove and thus the slums above it?
Certainly the wooden slums above would crumble from the shock wave, the entrance to the ocean would collapse. The limestone with ALL the gunpowder would give way, which may be bad since you would be under the collapsing rocks.

>Have we been putting out false rumors about what the elves may be doing? This last one is particularly important. I suggested it in the previous thread but I don't know that it was actually done.
You left Catharine to run with those rumours, and she in your stead has been using her noble blood to rally the nobles, which may have already yielded fruit.

The ship has already been set up with cannons on each broadside facing both entrances to the cavern. And no nets were spotted either. It is unlikely the elves want to hold up their own ships since they rely on fast assaults.

>>13056405
>Could we manage to take our mistress(Is she still at the castle?), the children, and the engineers away, to a small home nearby, slay the occupants and hole up there?
She is still at the castle. You could take a couple of passengers with you, but it will be tiring.

>>13056461
Would we be able to take armfuls of children and the engineers, maybe some of our fanatically loyal cultists?
In multiple trips of course.

OH SHIT, EVIL QUEST!

OH MY DEVIL, EVIL QUEST IS BACK! YES!

>>13056544
The engineers and a few children if you used up what you have left after creating those ghoul abominations. If you found yourself amidst the enemies upon stepping back into real space you'd be defenceless though.

If you went by yourself you could probably reach the castle by homing in on Cathrine's location with the same result.

Anything more then options or (lesser ones you think of will still work of course) like this is beyond you right now.

Bullshit, we aren't sneaking out. We're fighting, motherfuckers.

Spill some of our blood into the water and create several small dolphin/shark sized constructs of evil to go out and fuck elf ships up.

>You left Catharine to run with those rumours, and she in your stead has been using her noble blood to rally the nobles, which may have already yielded fruit.

Not THOSE rumors. In the last thread we were using a secret escaped tunnel to send some men out to scout and check the situation topside. As the elves had the area locked down I suggested we have some of them start a rumor that the elves were doing something strange underneath the slums.

It's kind of integral to my idea.

We set the gunpowder to collapse the cove and use the secret passage to sneak out the children and Gregor an Miranda(or did we already do that?) with some of our men. A small group of our remaining men pilot the ship and set it to drift out with Kelgris hanging onto the bottom to sneak him out into open waters where he can escape to safety. Those men should use a life boat to come back into the cove when they did their task and use the secret passage to escape as well. We set the fuse to detonate the gunpowder and shadow step out to safety. The slums are destroyed and countless lower class human lives are lost. Because of the rumors (if we had them started) the elves are blamed. We spin this as the elves doing this to remove what they consider to be "scum" from "their" city.

If the rumor hasn't been set though than I think this plan is not so good save as a last resort if we are in danger of losing though.

canon+grape shot=dead elf

have canons with solid shot guard the sea enteance move the canon with grape to the entrance the elves were useing.

if we have enough cannons, move some off the ship to locations near the attack routes

>>13056608
We don't have the energy for that after creating those exploding ghoul monsters we used last thread.

>>13056630
Yes, yes that will work nicely. There was indeed the secret passage used by Brem when he escaped. Although he is long gone, it is a distinct possibility that the elves will not know where it leads and an absolute that Brem is long gone instead of setting a trap.

It has also been a number of hours, so these scouts most certainly would have had some time to spread the rumours.

If you engage that plan, I'll wait for someone to second it, you would most certainly lose your ship completely and several of your men will probably lose their lives but it will work.

We still have 531 sailors? Didn't we lose a whole bunch fighting the elves last thread?

>>13056730
Yes, oversight on my part. You have about 250ish left if I am not mistaken.

>>13056702
They give their lives for balance.
None of the mercs or sailors we picked up, unlikely to go through with it. The cultists would work best for it.

Its a good plan, I'm all for it.

>>13056630 again.

Just an addendum: If we time this right we may be able to make it happen as the Duke's army arrives. The elves pulled the guard from the city walls to facilitate their lockdown, but they didn't tell them anything if I recall correctly. Only elven soldiers have been assaulting us. They've kept the humans completely in the dark and will be hard pressed to give any satisfactory explanation.

>>13056759
That's actually a good thing. The less of them there are the less chance they'll be noticed as they trickle out topside to escape.

if were going to ditch the ship, strip it of anything of value first. if we can ourt the stuff into piles of waterproof and stuf that will be ruined by the water.

we can pack to water proof stuff and have our dragon minion take it with him when he sneaks out and stash it somewhere along the coast where we can pick it up later. take what we can of the non water proof stuff, what we cant bting with us we will store in the secret passage and come back for when the elves are distracted.

also dont for get any of our fancy trinkets on the ship

>>13056762
>>13056630
Hold up. Have we decided where we are hiding the children and our engineers yet?

>>13056839
yes, find a place to hide first. loot what we can from the ship second, then leave and blow the cave up.

The remaining sailors unload the barrels and barrels of gunpowder stowed away in the King of Black Waters and start lining them along the cavern walls, the entrances, everywhere they can fit them, tie them, or stuff them. By the look in the men’s eyes they get the gist of the idea…

You stride over to Gregor keeping Mirada behind his back like a doting father would and demand, “This should be sufficient? No?”

Gregor does not respond right away, but his eyes wander along the cavern walls.

You raise your voice louder making even the walls of limestone tremble, “IT IS SUFFCIENT? NO?” You almost reach down the hoist his old bones up but he holds the side of his head and finally speaks.

“More on the west wall!”

You pull back your hand and nod at a sailor who was standing behind and to your right.

The King of Black Waters has been gutted even further, nothing of value remains except its wooden and iron hull, a pitiful frame of its former glory as a new revolutionary warship, but in its final journey it will do its job. The clockwork body of Kelgris stirs the pool of water in the cavern circles the ship till he settles calmly under the hull, the ship rocking back and forth but finally hold steady and still. The sailors carrying armfuls of goods from the ship and other supplies they have looted line up and drop them by the secret entrance.

The secret passage swings open and with you in the lead two by two behind you the men follow behind you, the last one with a long fuse to which in the center of the cavern splits to the piles of gunpowder throughout the cavern.

The remaining men with oars and heavy labour push with all their might to glide the King of Black Water out through the twisting entrance to the sea outside, they still think they might ride the iron armoured ship long enough to break the blockade and escape in the chaos, but probably not…

>>13056839
>>13056882
We've had spies/scouts out for a while now, I'm sure they know of a place that's away from soon to be ground zero.

>>13056945
>>13056945
Okay, I initially had us staying behind to light the fuse ourself so we could perhaps deal with any last minute surprises, as we could escape via shadow step. This will do too I guess.

The only question is how do we fix our Facade before we meet with the Duke and other humans. We won't be able to effectively advise and manipulate the human nobility via Dark Imply if we look like the very monster the elves are trying to portray us as.

>>13057048

Pretend to be wounded; hopefully the bandages will both convince them that you're just a man, and conceal your evilface.

The passage twists and turns, heading south and east it appears, the sound of footsteps trudge behind you grumbling with the heavy weight they are carrying.

After only minutes the end of the passage comes into sight. One man stands at attention by a torch lit stone wall next to a wooden chair fallen on its side. The man next raps on the stone wall and with a groan of stone against stone the walls rolls out of the way and natural light flows into the tunnel.

Your scouts standing at attention in what seem to be an abandoned house report, “The tunnel seems to end at the edge of East Angelfalls. The entire area is being patrolled by the enemy. They haven’t found this house yet, so we could only get a few men to get the story out. We could not get back into the slums.

Walking past the man you walk over to a glass window of the house. The elvation tier architecture of the city lets you over look the east slums below where you can see the elven fleet circled out blockading the harbour. Patrolling the streets below are also many of the elves. Catching your attention you notice out another window facing toward the water fall in the distance. Tilting your head up you can see the castle above on the crest of the waterfall. On one of the castles still flies the Elven flag, but on the tower (without the lighthouse) the flag of the Duke and Angelfalls has been hoisted up once again. No one has been able to make it that far and report back, so the scouts have no idea what is happening.

A battle sounds out back at the other window. The King of Black Waters has finally been pushed out to sea, and it being attacked by several Elven galleys. The sailors drop into the water and try to swim away, but it is a blood bath. Not all the men can fit into the small house, but one pushes past them all with a fuse in hand and with a bow offers it to you.

>>13057126
>you should have have
>wut

>>13057073
You know what the awesome thing about this is? None of the nobility, or anyone besides that backstabbing crook, know our current persona has any ties to the King of Black Waters.

Hope the rumors have taken enough of a hold so that people are thinking of them as they recover from what is about to befall them.

Woot! Evil Quest returns! How I've missed this. Time to catch up since it's been forever.

>>13057073
"You Shouldn't Have. Torch."
Light the fuse, and Here, We, Go!

>>13057188
Nice try, fag.

Let's light the place and go I suppose. In regards to our facade being gone... Yeah, I guess go with the whole injured and let Catharine do the talking at that point. Make us look like we were victimized by the elves for trying to stand up to them if possible? We have no way of regaining the facade other than time as I recall so I don't know what else to do.

>>13057226
We can regain our facade faster if we do good deeds, and thus diminish our self, if I recall correctly,

>>13057255
Isn't it a 'good' deed to get rid off all the whores, robbers, scum, and smugglers in the Slums?

In your right hand the fuse, your other hand held open and calling for a torch it is promptly produced and placed in your hand by a random sailor. Without hesitation, but with patience, you savour the event as you slowly being the two together. With a hiss the fuse sparks and quickly the hungry flames eats its way up the long fuse twisting at a man’s jogging pace through the tunnel. The sailors still in the tunnel step out of the way and press against the side of the tunnel as it goes by.

You turn and watch the scene below. The King of Black Waters has been skewered by several long ballista arrows and the elves have begun to secure and take it over with a swift boarding action with dozens of elven sailors. From this height you watch a shadow under the water; it slinks under and past the blockade until it disappears into the distance.

After about another minute you hear the sound of urgent yells and bellows before, running full speed through the streets the elven soldiers down below in uncharacter like panic double time it trying to get out of the slums.

“Too late,” You say mockingly as you raise your right arm in front of you. Holding your middle finger and thumb together you hold it steady in the air and then snap them off each other, the small sound echoes in the silence of the small house.

On cue with the snap there is a dull thump, and then only three seconds later in the middle of the slums a geyser of dust shoot up thirty feet into the air and settles back down, with it a mighty roar of an explosion. From the geyser that quickly falls back down to earth the wooden slums buckle and break and rip apart. Sea water gushes forth and a wave pushes out into the harbour capsizing some elven galleys too close to the slums and pushing several others into each other not far from those capsizing. Like dominoes stacked in many lines the wooden slums crumbles. With the water gushing forth fire balls erupt briefly into the air and fall all over the slums and quickly catch the brittle dry wooden roofs of the slums of fire and the entire place lights up even under the midday sun.

Well, now that the slums have been removed, wait for chaos to erupt, and then slip away.

Doing something so evil as destroying an entire section of a city and killing hundreds if not thousands already must have made us just a tad more evil.

>>13057272
No, cause we also killed all the otherwise normal people who have to live and work around the docks. And possibly a number of human soldiers who were stationed too close to the blast zone. Also, we didn't do it to clean the trash from the streets so to speak. We did it to make the elves look bad.

>>13057342
Might be worth getting some of our men in any potential chaos to try to stir things up against the elves? With enough people doing it, a mob might form and react to it. Regardless, I think we need to speak to Catharine and find out what's going on with the nobles soon.

>>13057355
Also to brew a city wide war between elves and humans.

>>13057300
Evil laughter time?

>>13057364
Yes! Send some of our most honest and down to earth looking minions and sailors into the city.

"THE ELVES HAVE DESTROYED THE SLUMS! THEY'RE KILLING US!"

>>13057364
For that matter, would forming rescue parties make us look good to the nobles and humans? Would that profit us any?

>>13057342
We can't just slip away with our job only half done. Catharine needs to know we are still alive, she must be worried sick. Also we need to repair our Facade, it's completely broken, and even bandages won't hide that from anyone who is perceptive. Also, what if another paladin has arrived? We need at least a partial repair.

>>13057382
I think more of a chuckle would do at this stage. It would seem more quietly menacing.

>>13057399
Yeah! Send some of our men to go scream about how the elves are attacking and how they destroyed the slums.

Send others towards the slums and have them "rescue" people on behalf of Grimmith Fermento or whatever our fake name is, and recruit them to revenge against the elves.

>>13057399
not sure we have the man power for that, also the elves could follow our men back if any of our men seem suspicious

Also, is fire a big threat to us now?

>>13057423
Repairing our facade would require a good deed right? What kind of good deed can we do that is good enough to repair our facade at least partially but also not get us to much notice from the public?

>>13057399
Yes, I think sending out small groups of our men to "help the survivors" would be a good idea. But we should wait 20 minutes or so before we do to make it look like we were as shocked as everyone else.

>>13057433
this, but have a group of our more competent men loot a few buisness or a boank if we can find one. do thit subtly and try to pin the plame on the elves.

The earth shaking shockwave that hits the entire city sends the people around the city into panic. They flee from their houses were they were hidden from before. They take time to look upon the destruction and then flee from the water front. The Elven patrols in the area rush with all speed to down to the disaster zone around you.

Carried by the wind the dust of the docks hangs above the entire lower tier of the city where the other two slums and the ruins of the east one are now. The line of sight between the fleet and the castle are cut off completely.

>>13057448
Send criers first to blame the elves. Don't need many, just a dozen handsome and clever loudmouths. Fire brigades/medics in 15 minutes later. Make sure they curse the elves for this too. We have 200 something men left. That can make a good sized splash, especially if everyone else is derping around. Don't underestimate the abilities of a small group of organized people to make things happen, if they are the only people with an agenda.

>>13057477
>The line of sight between the fleet and the castle are cut off completely.

Completely you say? Is Kelgris still in the area? Can we tell how disorganized the elven fleet is?

This could be a prime time for Kelgris to sink a few boats and up the elven casualties while we ingratiate ourselves with the humans by organizing a rescue effort.

we need a volumous cloak to hide our form for travel
ill just admit right away that im not realy good at this evil stuff, its much easier to simply be efficient and forgiving all the time.

With the success of the explosion the men around you cheer, hoot and holler in celebration. Phrases commonly mixed in, "Oy' got dem pasty pointy ear'd buggars but good!"

You then raise your hand to silence them and they all go quiet in a second.

"Organize a rescue anyone not Elven."

They all look confused for a moment, their eyes say, "Wasn't all the collateral part of the plan?"

You don't say anything in response, but they quickly make their way out of the house pouring out an impossible amount from such a small house. They push against the crowd, but since they are all still armed those fleeing eventually give them room to move down to the docks.

Alone now in the house you look back up at the castle, there seems to be signs of battle there as well that has just broken out.

>>13057542

i think we should break contact for now, we worked too hard to get out of that situation, itd be a shame to waste it.

>>13057498
Too soon to start the blame game. Give it half an hour before we start outright blaming the elves. Our rescue crews should just chat with other humans as they work and drop subtle hints at first. "I heard the elves were moving alot of strange supplies through the slums after they set up that lockdown." Or something like that.

>>13057614
Damnit. It looks like we need to head to the castle to help them out but I don't know if we should risk it with our facade broken. We should maybe check on Catharine at least.

>Alone now in the house you look back up at the castle, there seems to be signs of battle there as well that has just broken out.

Shit. Catharine.

Maybe we should shadow step to her room? We'll need a helmet though, one with a faceguard to conceal our features. Actually I think we may already have one of those.

>>13057699
The façade is less a visual thing and rather an aura. You face, except burning red eyes, is the same as it ever was, but an aura of power you put off gives an initial impression of "VERY WRONG". To your minions though that inspires them rather then makes them afraid.

>>13057678
I think Cath is at the castle.

>>13057746
Indeed. Shadow step to her is what I meant and get an assessment of the situation. If the Duke's forces are desperate enough, us walking out there and saving the day might be enough for them to ignore our facade for now.

>>13057760
Shadow step at that range might weaken us too much, i say we cloak up, and go out on foot for a while, before shadow stepping at a more energy efficient rate, in the case we need to grab her and run right on arrival.

Before we leave, I think we should make sure the children and our engineers are secure and guarded, and make sure Andrea is safe from he other children.

From where you can feel Catharine you guess she is in the main court deep inside the East citadel tower. The fighting that is currently escalating at the citadel seems to be on the bridge that spans over the waterfall connecting the east and west towers together.

That west tower still flies an elven flag.

>>13057433
jog most of the way to the castle, keep watching it for signs of whats happening then shadow step once we are close enough for it to be easy. if it looks like the elves are wining shadow step imidatly

>captca: beating Torseave
are any of the elf commanders named Torseave?

>>13057833
>>13057865
Seconding the half jog half shadowstep plan, and if, while jogging we should see anyone who needs rescuing, we should selflessly step in to help.

Need to get that aura of ours down.

>>13057928
Agree with this. Make sure the children and the engineers are guarded, however. I don't want them getting away

We definitely need to get Cath, but it seems like its going to be hard. We need to make sure that the battle is in the thicks at the castle before we attempt a shadowstep. If we enter the castle with our facade broken its going to spell trouble for us, and I don't know how much power we have left after all those ghouls. I suggest organizing our remaining expendable men that don't already have jobs(anyone not helping with hiding the kids or helping the citizens) and make a quick sly dig at the the castle but make sure that they know to get out as soon as they have the attention. Whilst the attention is on the attack we can then shadowstep in, grab Cath and make our exit. If the plan goes well we can shadowstep way farther on the exit because we wont be worried about being found out.

Upon leaving the house the flood of people evacuating the area is slowly turning into a trickle rather then a full out flood.

People part the way for you as you jog past but as you head further you notice the people are becoming thick and over populated instead. As the crowd gives way you notice that the Elves have set up roadblocks to cut off any approach to the upper tiers of the city much to the dismay of the populace wanting to escape.

By the time you have gotten close enough to get this scene a patrol of elves have spotted you and yelling out their commands rush you position, the people around you panicking and trying desperately to fall back. You stay standing steadfast. With Kingslayer the first elf with spear lowered on the chrage is easily parried and with a single step your arm length and height allows you to sink the chilling sword into the elf's chest and he crumples to the ground as the frost eats away at the rest of his chest.

A few more exchanges of swordplay later the elves have been cut down as they charged you and then as you ran them down when they tried to flee.

The people watch in horror, but as you approach the barricade and with a swing of your sword you tear it down in seconds. You continue toward the castle, and the cautiously a mob follows behind you.

Looking up at the castle bridge it appears there is a stalemate between banners belonging most likely to the duke and elven banners trying to push into the east citadel.

>>13057928
I agree with the jog part, but also maybe follow the plan suggested by>>13057984
Half jog half step, help out, get aura down, make sure that the little inserstion knows to run as soon as they have the attention, and then grab cath get out.

>>13058036
Well then. Maybe it's time we turned the tide for the Duke directly rather than just jumping to Catharine? The mob seem afraid of us but they are following us. I think the Duke would use our help at this point against the elves if we appear guiding a group of survivors. A little dark imply going on about how we're bringing refugees to the castle and it might work out.

What was that? I think it was a song. Can you hear that song people are singing? Just walk briskly there, and start saying and >implying that this is the elves fault, and we will go save the duke from their evil!

>somorb chap
Yes Captcha, we are one Somber Chap.

rolled 85 = 85

>>13058036
Turn to the growing mob.

"People! These elves have stolen your dignity. These elves wish to steal your lands! And NOW, they dare to take your lives and houses! Rise with me, and together they will never again touch your loved ones or our HOME!"

Ramp up the aura, "WHO'S WITH ME?!"

Charge castle.
Rollin' for Inspire Courage / Tyranny.

>>13058109
Even now your Duke fights for you, your nobles fight for you! The Elves wish to take all this from you, I Say No!

These elves have taken your lives, your homes, destroyed your land! To victory, friends! And then onward, to slaughter their lands, to cut them down to the last BEAST!

>>13058109
Agree. Cut our way to the Duke's banner. Then smash the elf standard bearer.

>>13058036
Hmm... Maybe we should pick out a few able bodied decent seeming people from the crowdand set them to rousing the upper tiers to the plight of the Duke?

>>13058132
Do we intend to join the battle ourselves? If we do we cant use any sort of Dark Magicks or else people will know for certain of who we are and were still trying to get Cath here. Just use Kingslayer

>>13058109
Hey, careful with that aura! It's only inspiring to our servants and cultists. It's freaky to everyone else.

>>13058156
No. Right now, we have a mob of frightened humans at our back. This is an immensely dangerous weapon, and it's ours as long as we show no hesitation and give it something to fear/hate/kill.

>>13058177
True, but maybe they'll follow the crowds decision and go with it?

>>13058094
This, explain that the elves were starting shit in the slums and were trying to sieze control of the city. Due to the reluctance of the nobles to hand over control the elves are trying to quietly kill off the nobles in the castle. We are now heading to the castle to strike down the trecherious elves and aid our leaders.

As you bellow as loud as you can to the people crowding the street you continue your march up toward waterfall itself. Through the east city and then into the center of Angelfalls where the craftsmen and shipwrights would be hard at work any other day. The mob is not panicked anymore, they are angry.

As you continue your march you find there are no elves to release their fury on. Finally the sound of horses hooves resound against the cobble stone and knights on horseback ride in formation toward you. The leader of the twenty knights has the others stop and the knight in full plate armour rides in front of you and raises his visor.

It is no one you know, but he soon introduces himself, "Count Nieborg of Felrix Bend, what goes stranger? Friend or foe?"

>>13058245
Dark Imply friend for now, hes not an elf so its probably the dukes guys looking for help or going to tell of something

>>13058245
Friend, to the Duke. To the elves who have blocked the streets and prevent rescue parties from reaching any survivors, who seem to be attacking our Duke, foe.

>>13058245
Sheath Kingslayer, "That all depends Count Nieborg, Do you fight for your Duke, or under the dismissive eyes of the Elves?"

>>13058245
"A friend to humanity. We march to the Duke."

If he seems to buy it or stunned/confused, it's "Forward!" and we get moving.

>>13058284
No, no, Lower. Bastard could be an elf in disguise. Or an elf sympathizer.

Keep walking foward. "Friend to the Duke and his allies. Foe to every elf on earth!"

we need to selflessly risk life a limb to save a burning peasent from certain doom

>>13058280
>>13058318
For these two, might want to actually gesture or point to the battle that is going on between the towers.

Count Nieborg takes a moment to gain control of and calm his horse that seems afraid of your presence. After skillfully regaining control he responds, "The Duke has called forth his retainers back to the city under the command of Lady Hinter. When we arrived much of the city was vacant, loyal guards opened the gates for our arrival and we established control of the empty east citadel. Our arrival shocked the elves who tried to get us to come to their aid against some threat. We in return were going to demand we regain soverign control of the city. When we broke to our camps again a large explosion errupted. Lady Hinter claimed it was an act of agression, and likewise the elves also prepared to attack and we met in battle on the great bridge. We are one of those sent to secure this eastern half of the city."

Taking a moment to calm his horse once again he asks once again, "Now, friend, who are you?"

---

Blue Lines: Human Controlled
Green Lines: Elven Controlled
Dark Grey Lines: Destroyed

1: West dock slums
2: Exterior Harbour
3: East dock slums
4: East Angelfalls (mostly residential)
6: Interior harbour
7: Central Angelfalls (craftsmen and shipwrights)
8: Angelfalls Market
9: Church and city gardens
10: West Angelfalls (mostly residential)
11: Warehouses
12: Angelfalls Citadel (each a tower on separate sides of the river above the waterfall connected by a stone bridge)
13: Noble's District
Purple Square: The Lighthouse of Angels
Yellow Diamond: The Great Angelfalls Lift

>>13058458
Should we just use our cover name at this point? State our relation to Lady Hinter and we were in the city trying to assist the civilians?

We could also say that we're Griffin, who stands in protect of these people and the death of the Elves.

>>13058458
Well, we could say we're a Rebel, the reason the elves demanded your help.

"The atrocities that the elves have done, magical horrors, puppets of flesh. They tried to destroy the evidence, with that explosion. My men work to save any survivors in the slums, but the elves hounded us at every hour. I'm glad you've at last arrived Sire."

Count Griffith Famento, That's who we said we were.

>>13058458
Identify our self as Count Griffith Famento, and ask how the Lady Hinter was doing when he last saw her, as we are worried about her.

There is a hint of shock but belief when you reveal yourself to be Griffith Famento, "Sir Famento was it?" Excellent, it was worried you might be in danger. If found we were to take you to the citadel immediately." Turning toward the others behind him he gives a few hand signals as an order and a spare horse is brought up from the back by another knight. "Lady Hinter wished you to return as soon as possible."

Although the horse is afraid of you at first, by using dark imply you calm the horse to your presence. Although Nieborg is putting on the greatest efforts in civility you can hear the other knights behind him stir with worry about the strength of your aura, but they do not think to disobey their orders.

"We can also get your retinue safely to the citadel as well." Once more turning his attention to the knights behind him he calls to one, "Fredrick! Guide these people to the refugee camp!"

>>13058633
"The refugees should be taken to safety, but shouldn't we assist the battle currently going on?"

>>13058659
Nieborg as is well prepared to respond to that question replies, "We have not the strength to push across any of the bridges in the mid city nor push into the lower tiers. Our battle hangs now on trying to gain control of the entire top tier of the city."

>>13058697
"Very well then. If Lady Hinter has requested my presence immediately, I should not keep her waiting. Lead the way Count Nieborg."

>>13058659
Ask him if the Lady Hinter was well when he last saw her, as we were worried when we saw the fighting going on.

Also, perhaps we should inform him that when we attempted to make our way past one of the elven roadblocks we were attacked before we could even speak, just to make the elves look worse, in case there are any doubters.

>>13058633
Wait. I smell a trap. We need proof. At least the lady's seal or a password or something.

I don't trust this guy.

"Awesome! Now, if you'll come with me and my heavily armed escort, and we'll just get your blood-thirsty proletariat out of the way."

No. Fuck that. I think it's likely he's a dirty quisling.

>>13058777
the elves are not that subtle and are in to great of a panic to have arrangedsuch a thing with so little time to prepare

Escorted on horseback back to the citadel you are ushered into the courtroom by the good count. Waiting inside is Duke Gagné fully armed and Catharine both looking over a map, surrounding the both of them are many other nobles, some ready for war, others to old or the non fighting elite of the duchy. Upon seeing you enter Catharine whose face seems to have been laden with nothing but worry turns into a bright smile, she seems fatigued, but otherwise alright.

The court herald cries out your arrival formally, "Count Griffith Famento!"

The Duke leaves the war tables and walks over to you to offer a handshake in a formal greeting, "It is good to see you Famento. Lady Hinter told me you might have been injured when you left to investigate the elves."

You are quickly brought up to speed on the current situation. The battle still rages at a stalemate not too far from the court, neither side looks to give way anytime soon, but if the top tier is not taken and secured soon, reinforcements from the west side of town will overrun them. While out numbered, if they can secure the citadel at least then they can continue the fight against the elves and win a battle of attrition.

The legality of the fight is also assured. By placing the control of the city under Catharine Hinter her family's heritage allows for a legal loop hole. The Hinters is the only family still intact to this day that holds the right to amend the treaty. What conditions are changed are ultimately to be agreed upon by the elves, but with their aggression the non-aggression clause was broken, and they have yet to produce evidence to justify their actions. Since that evidence is you, as long as they do not defeat you, the elves cannot legally hold this end of the treaty and war is justified.

>>13058921
"From what I could tell while I was in the city, the incident in the east dock slums resulted from actions the elves took. It might be worth considering trying to take the docks under their control to deny their ships access to port and keep their men at sea. Unless you believe other locations should be struck first."

Excellent. Let's take the fight to the elves. Work with the soldiers to identify a weak point in their lines, and we'll lead the charge. Focus our aura towards the elves and make them break ranks. Let the soldiers follow up, we have to keep on the move so that elves with knowledge of us don't catch up.

Also: Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that our name is Griffith *Famento*, instead of Griffith Femto? The actual name of Griffith's God Hand form is Femto.

>>13058921
Eeeeeexcellent...

"I have seen firsthand the destruction the elves are capable of, and will commit every effort to finishing this as quickly as possible, with the least lose of life as possible... for the humans anyway."

"How may I be of service? Are there any plans to take the Citadel?"

>>13058458
Eventually if we are directing troops I suggest:

1. We should push into #6
2. Then use our forces to push from #6 to #5 east to make the elves fight against the ruined city. Possibly send any 'ranger' type units to harass the back of the elf force in #5 west from the ruined #3.

>Evil, what is #5?

>>13058921
I'd be interested in knowing if they know the numbers of elves in the other tower.

>>13059040
North Angelfalls, more residential.

>>13059071
The Elven vanguard army was approximately 5000 in total. Many of those soldiers are still on the galleys blockading the port. Each elven warriors has decades if not centuries of experience on any human soldier, and the numbers are even, but humans have come a long way in 1000 years, the elves have not. You currently have 3000 soldiers, 500 of which are heavy knights. These knights are shock troops that when on horseback the elves have no suitable counter without magic. Still, the bridge is not that wide, and a bottleneck does not allow your currently superior numbers to break through. If there was a way you could quickly break the 100 or so elves holding the other citadel it would turn the odds heavily in your favour.

Pushing into the lower tiers will be difficult, the bulk of the reinforcements and troops will no doubt land soon and they will secure those positions easily.

>>13059010
>>13059008
>>13058998

>>13059187
pull out the siege weapons and cannons.

Do we have any ships in port? If so, we can scuttle them near the docks to block them from access. The elves aboard the ships will be useless.

We can't use Kelgris in the open. Maybe we could rig up some pontoon bridges? Failing that, if the elves are blocking the bridge with packed troops, a good catapult would break them up nicely.

>>13059187
Hmm. Seems like we're going to have to storm the bridge to the citadel immediately then. It might also be worth it to have Kelgris hit those ships before they dock. The more men we can kill before they land, the easier it'll be.

Perhaps we should convince them to let us try to sneak behind their lines and cause havoc before assaulting again? Then we can shadowstep in to the lighthouse? For some reason, I recall it's easier to shadowstep to places you've been but maybe that's wrong.

>>13059187
Are their any siege engines, catapults, ballistas, or trebuchet? Even ruined ones?

Did we remove any cannons from the KoBW before sending her to her death? If we did, pull them up and fire them at the barricaded doors of the other tower and at elven defenses.

>Might want to inform these people that we sent the men we had with us to organize rescue parties

No, I think you are right, and I believe some behind enemy lines distraction tactics could be just what the doc ordered. If we do it right we may be able to secretly bar the doors or gate or whatever of the other tower so the elves can't reinforce the group holding the bridge.

You have a plan for the bridge, and you quickly break the meeting short to get it into action as fast as possible.

Getting a group of able bodied soldiers you order them to collectively carry a cannon and move it to a certain point.

A little less then half an hour later you make your way to the citadel bridge. The soldiers are tired and there is a brief lull in the fighting. Still a wall of elven spears holds the line with mages in the back binding their wounds and letting them stand firm and not give without fail. With some of the soldiers you have gathered you march in formation to the line of elven warriors who seeing your arrival quickly take a defencive formation. In front of them you see an almost visible blue tinted barrier shield the front line of soldiers.

Behind you can hear the clank of steel and the smell of burning. The elven soldiers wait, and prepare for you assualt.

A soldier yells behind you, "Barrage up!"

You and the soldiers by your side step out of the way, and a small cannon has been lugged up the stairs of the castle. The elves look bewildered for a moment, but then with a loud roar a black shape moving faster then any eye can follow rips forward and passes through the blue barrier as though it wasn't there. A line of gore rips through the elven formation, a straight line of soldiers drop and in the confusion the elves falter for a moment. So too your own soldiers hesitate, but when you advance yourself they push.

Using a cannons like that is certainly something warfare of this world has yet to see.

>>13059457
Time to exploit the hole and rip and tear some elves and lead the way to capturing it. I suppose we should focus on the mages.

>>13059457
lead the assult and attack one of the sides, it does not matter which we just need to fuck up the spear formation. after we open the gap a bit more fall back and personaly strike down any elven leaders that seem to be keeping their soldiers together or attempt to organizine a fighting retreat

>>13059553
I agree with try for the mages. They are the most dangerous to us and our men. Without he mages our heavy armor can enter the fray.

That said, try and take a few alive. We could steal magi from them.

With a little unorthodox tactics and the elven formation broken the superior numbers of your troops quickly overrun the stone bridge. Any Elf fast enough has already started to fall back to the nearest stronghold they have. In the chaos a "take no prisoners" policy has taken control of the situation, and the Angelfalls forces push over into the citadel and into the west Noble's district.

Below in the lowest tier and east mid tier the bulk of the elven army has been able to land ashore and secure those areas of the city.

>>13059662
Then we should likely hit the west mid-tier since it seems their bulk is focused on the east. Hit them where they're not concentrated and give us more breathing room. Although we should try to get scouts out there to see if we can see where their mages are.

Also, didn't we get a solution on how to use the lighthouse? It might be time we try to use it to push these invaders out...

>>13059662
Ensure the citadel is really secure, try and make sure their are no elven saboteurs or pockets of resistance waiting for a moment to strike.

>>13059712
From what I understood of Andrea's description of the tower ritual, the lighthouse requires mages to sacrifice themselves or at least drain themselves of magic to it to charge it.

>>13059662
keep the cannon with us, send out scouts to the major buildings near by and a messenger back to the castle. if nessisary send a few runners with the messanger to fetch more gunpowder and grape shot

>>13059712
>>13059781
It needs to be fed magical energy, yes.

>>13059748
Done and done.

>>13059794
Although you could not salvage them from your ship and these cannons are rather small, it seems some were purchased and kept as a pet project by some noble. The Telreinz army does not incorporate cannons into its military strategy.

The Elven army will prepare for a fresh assault sometime soon. They may parlay just before they plan to attack. In the meantime you have time to take any preparatory actions or assaults of your own.

>>13059935
get wagons and building supplies to build a barracade aon the far side of the bridge. send our men in search of more artilery/siege engines and the supplies to use them.

if we can get some archers or crossbowmen have them fortify a nearby building so that if the elves attack the barracade they will be attacked from the side or the rear.

>>13059935
They're focusing their forces on the east mid-tier yes? I say we strike out on the west mid-tier and take some territory. That way we can force the threat of a flank if they do assault the citadel from the east mid-tier. Take the cannons with us I think.

>>13059935
was the rescue-people-from-the-explosion plan a good enough good deed to repair what we look like?

>>13059935
Are there any military capabilities of the Citadel against a naval assault? Such as catapults / trebuchets, ballistae, or other siege engines?

See if we can whip up citizens into a frenzy and have them stir up riots behind elven lines prior to a frontal assault.
Is there a way to nullify the mages power? Only to utilize our mounted knights to the fullest extent.
Or lead a small commando-esque style unit through the river and disrupt supplies / sink ships, sabotage information.

>suburbs houghtne
Rooftop archers? Bottleneck defensive positions?

>>13060026
It is sufficient enough to say for the moment you wont have to worry about your human allies turning on you at anytime.

>>13060016
Ample barricades under your command are set up to make life more difficult for any attacker. The greatest threat to you now is a land assault from upriver, or if the elves gain control of the great lift and use that to get their galleys to the highest tier. Their only other option now is to prepare their own siege.

With an exposed rear and no sign or message of reinforcements if the Elven vanguard army encircles your position you will eventually crumble. They have advertised this as a vanguard army, another fleet of Elves may appear within weeks, months, or years. It is hard when dealing with the lifespan of Elves how rushed they are in doing things.

>>13060076
>>13060019
Securing your position a little more is possible, and securing #6 which is defensible.

>>13060148
Also, the citizens have been evacuated from the city and have taken up residence in refugee camps up river.

Forcing the able bodied into emergencies levies now provides you an advantage of numbers. You now double the enemy, but all those levies will be like wheat to a scythe against any competent elven soldier.

>>13060148
Hmmm. If we could grab 5 and the left over of 2, we'd have that side of the city under our control and it'd be easier to hold. Does their attack seem imminent? If so, perhaps we should prepare to blunt their attacks at this point.

>>13060187
The Elven army has a heavy presence in areas 5, 2, 1 and 11. They are also preparing to push forward at any time.

>>13060232
Then I say let's hold our position in 6 and aim to mess up the forces at 2 and 5 when they attack. The western part of the city should hold at the citadel and if we can weaken 5 and 2 enough, we can push them out and reduce our fronts.

What happened to the leftover of our sailors/minions? They go with the refugees?

>>13060259
Additionally, improve the defenses in 6 as best we can before the assault.

get our engineer and send word to find others, get them working on making siege engines. they will be our only hope for breaking elven formation apart from heavy calvery charges.

needless to say we will need lots. basicly fortify and make ranged weapons, range is our friend.

also send runner out looking for crossbows and bolts, their about the only weapon the cannon fodder have much hope of achieving anything with.

>>13060148
Are we able to somehow divert the river / waterfall so as to flood Elven fortifications?

Is the residential area build like townhouses where units could potentially move along the rooftops? Or are they spaced out housing?
If allowing rooftop mobility, go with archers!

Is the lighthouse in any capability to fire on elven units? Even torching their anchored ships will cause them to potentially starve within a few days.

>>13060259
You sailors probably fell back with the refugees, yes.
6 can be held, but a flank attack from 4 to 7 would cut them off.

500 - Knights (Heavy Calvary)
2,500 Men at Arms (Heavy Infantry)
10,000 Angelfalls Levy (Light Militia Infantry)
6 light cannons

These are the forces at your disposal.

>>13060287
About 1/5 can be armed with crossbows, the rest make do with spears and shields.

>>13060333
Flooding the city might be an effective plan, if you're going for a Pyrrhic victory. The lighthouse itself needs magic power, if you can find an ample source then it could be used.

Your levies are probably not trained well enough to pull off that kind of tactic.

>>13060447
I just realized the forces in 2 can only move to 5 at this point. I think then we should assault 5 before they move forward and stop them from taking more territory in that section. Cannon fire should help us crack their lines although it might be bloody. Thoughts guys?

>>13060447
caltrops. make thousands of them. have our men scater them over any areas the elves try to pass through in large groups

>>13060447
Have it be split down into groups, a core of levies with crossbows, two lines of heavy pikers (men at arms) in the front and supported by a small contingent of heavies (knights). Have them advance at all roads at the same time, to contain and surround pockets of Elves. If they chance upon a barricade, hold formation and use cannon.

Can pretty much divvy it 10, with only four contingents unable to use cannons.

Have the any remaining conscripted units unable to use crossbows be given cobble stones, or any other sort of projectile, including firebombs (Molotovs, etc).

Can we use the Elven archmage staff? If not, feed it to the lighthouse, and THEN burn those pointy eared heretics to the ground... although explaining that could be difficult to the nobles/Duke.

>Tureent forward

FORWARD, for TUREENT!

>>13060447
A Pyrric victory is fine for us. It's not like we care about the city, after all. Best of all, we can spin it as the fault of the elves, giving us a nice boost towards making them viewed as evil.

>>13060544
If this turns into a prolonged siege that can be arranged, in the short term it is not feasible.

>>13060612
The staff was just loot, you cannot use it, and it acts more of a conduit then a storage device for magical powers opposed to your own. There is an option open that would power the lighthouse, it isn't pretty, but its there.

You also have Kelgris who has yet to be given any definite order. Alone against the enemy fleet though he is bound to take enough damage quickly enough though.

I don't think Kelgris would be a good idea. Too visible in front of too many people. He has to be our ace in the hole.

>>13060717
Have Kelgis be an underwater hit and fade style guy. Wreck the bottoms of the boats and retreat before they can can counter.

>>13060717
>There is an option open that would power the lighthouse, it isn't pretty, but its there.
Human sacrifice?

As for Kelgris, is he able to stay underwater indefinitely? In that case have him sink ships from below... hell he could even wreck havoc in sections 1,2,8,9,11 via access from the river. Land assaults definitely under the cover of nightfall if possible.

>>13060781
>>13060762
>>13060759

Currently nameless Child Mages + Matrix

Too much time in the water will cool down his core furnace and he will be forced to hibernate until it can be restarted.

>>13060818
Some time in the water, some time near fires to warm back up. Flawless victory.

>>13060818
Order Kelgris to destroy ships in section 2, hopefully we can squash that side before it becomes an annoyance.

Afterwards, he should lay low and recharge(?) although definitely out of sight from both Elven and Human forces.

Taking a definitive hold on the Eastern half could go a long way, especially if we can get them land-locked.

Anyways, I'm noticing a significant decline in traffic as it approaches late night. I'm going to close the curtains on Part XX and resume XXI with the conclusion of the battle for Angelfalls.

Until next time, which wont be months, I promise.

>>13060928
What's your schedule going to be like for this?

This quest has been up for a while and we haven't had a shitfit.

Such a relief from Dragon Quest.

Have Kelgris grab some debris, fly above the enemy ships, and bombard them. Repeat until ships are gone, or until it's too dangerous to continue.

>>13060938
Expect it on February 24th.

>>13060938
Any weekday night when I have the time starting between 7-9.