>>15583405
Go over to Lena.
"Find something interesting?"

>>15583507
seconding.

I think the original plan was to do a mass night strike. Should we stick with it? Rest for today.

>>15583638
We could do a mass aerial night-time bombing raid.
Is that what you're suggesting?

If it's to be a conventional raid, I don't think we have the numbers to be able to do anything significant without taking lots of losses.
On the other hand, we might be able to do drive-by artillery strikes with our mangonels and heavy repeaters on autowagons.
Only problem is that we might get hit by elementalists and mages.

You shrug, lacking anything better to do you make your way over to Lena. "I take it you have found something interesting?"

Lena shrugs "I am just trying to figure out whether foci or painting Arcane Designs onto your body is a better method?"

You sit down next to the girl, curious "And what are you finding?"

She shakes her head "foci are quicker, and can be more readilly available... but there is almost as much history on Arcane Design tattoos, so I must be not finding something." She looks down at her book again before muttering "I should have brought more tomes..."

You chuckle "Are you certain that you arent... biased, towards the body paint? No doubt you and Wulf enjoy applying it..." you trail off, grinning slyly as Lena blushes "though I suppose cleaning it off is fun for the two of you as well..." Lena turns redder than you have seen her for a long time, which is good, considering how dour her mood has been of late.

A noticeable, yet playful rap to the back of your head ruins your smile "Do try to be kind, Love." Jayne chides you "I have your other books Lena." she informs the girl, sitting down next to you "How... how is your sister doing?" she eventually asks, seconds before Lena is again lost to the pages of her tome.

The girl frowns "I have pushed bakc almost all of the magical damage, so her pain is mostly gone. So long as none of the healers make mistakes, she should be healed and active in a few days."

>>15583679
"That sounds like encouraging news.
"I was wondering, do your arcane designs have anything to do with runic symbols? Could the two of them be combined?"

>>15583726
Second. Also, might be worth talking to those mercs one more time and sending em to Janos. We could start the hiring of another merc unit for ourselves potentially.

>>15583747
I suppose it can't hurt.

>>15583794
Well it could if our mystic was wrong and some of them are spies or apart of the cult. But I figure this is also apart of doing that favour for Eago. Pretty much guaranteed they'll get a job AND we can give them crap from our armoury.

>>15583806
True. And we need to keep up our end of the bargain in order for Eago to keep up his.
I'll be glad when this campaign is done and over with.

>>15583874
If we do direct them to Janos, It might be worth telling the mercs to look for Lord Helmet and send our bird back with a letter to him telling him to wear a helmet if they do look for him. There's still a minor chance they're Uurlanth that could know him and if they are assassins/spies/etc. at least there's a chance he won't be recognized then.

>>15583926
Agreed and second.

You smile warmly "Excellent news." you quip, ruffling Lenas hair. For a while, the three of you sit in silence. "Lena, are Arcane Designs at all related to Runes?"

She shakes her head "Aside from the fact that they both affect the flow of the Arcane Mists, no."

You shrug, and return to your silent reverie for a while. By noon however, duty calls. the deserter mercenaries are finally ready to make their departure, and you feel inclined to see them off. "Commander Trentz, I cannot thank you enough for aiding me as you have." the leader of the group says, clasping your hand.

You smile "I'm always willing to help travelers on their way. I would suggest you and your men make for DragonsReach, and ask after Lord Helmet. He's one of my men, and wil not only be able to replace your lost arms and armor, as well as offer you work, if you wish for it."

The mans smile deepens "You are too kind, Commander."

You chuckle "No, I can assure you taht I am not. My armory is..." you trail off, for a while an awkward silence hangs in the air, which you break by asking "What are the rumors of me in Uurlanth?"

The mercenary laughs heartilly "That you cannot be bested in battle, that you are eight feet tall, can tear the earth asunder with a flick of your wrist... that no woman is safe from your advances. Some even hold that your men are invincible, or some form of beasts from the first age. Truly, you have a long way to go to live up to your reputation... some of my men were disappointed that you are the true Midnight Dragon." And at that, the ragged band of mercenaries sets of tot he west, a spring in their step, and a seemingly bright future before them. Truly, you envied their ignorance of the true scope of things.

>so, anything else you want to take care of before we skip ahead?

>>15583989
Find Blackbird and see if he wants to be let loose to do his work in the newly grown tall grass.

>>15583998
Second.
Maybe after that, speak with the Skywings Captain, see how the air mercs are taking to our repeaters.

>man, where is everyone? Someone suggest something stupid, get the lurkers to be less shy

As the mercenaries fade into the distance, you head back into camp. You set out searching for Blackbird, or Captain Corinth. You encounter the latter first, who is busy preening a Valkerie with a braced neck in one of the stable tents. "Commander, how can I help you?"

You pick up a bucket, and ignoring the overpowering stench of bird, bird shit, and decay in the tent, go to work. Its much like cleaning Aquilla, only the feathers are larger, and the bad ones easier to spot. "I was simply curious as to how the Cloudscreamers are acclimating to repeaters."

The man chuckles, as he makes his way to the massive barrel of bird refuse on the far side of the tent "Now that they have used them some, they love them." he sighs "Though their unprofessionalness is rather frustrating. I dont suppose I could convince you to give us a mission where they will HAVE to defer to my better skill and experience, could you?"

>>15584255
"That...might be arranged. Do you feel that you could do a night-time raid of the Uurlanthi camp?
"My aim this time is simply to deny them rest. Without moons-eye paste, attempting to fly at night should be near-suicide for them."

"I think I have something in mind"

The Night Strike we are planning. Hit and run tactics only, maximum altitude. Come in from a random angle, unleash a missile storm and bug out. Sticking around gets you spotted and shot down by mages.

Blackbirds men could come in handy here. As well we should poison as many of the crossbow bolts as possible.

>>15584283
2 to 1 going for this plan now eh... I'm still hesitant to do this since if it goes wrong, we're in for a painful time and I'm still paranoid about their own range units and aerial units despite the advantages we have.

>>15584283
Actually now that I think about it, would their mages be able to see us in the night regardless due to their mage sight? And if we're as famous as we seem to be, I wonder if any of the lords will start to get arcana to help them fight at night. Or if anything like that exists.

>>15584283
Maybe wait for one more battle, where we can thin out their air cavalry and mages some more.

I was definitely for executing the night raid as soon as possible, but it seems that the enemy had brought along a staggering number of mages this time.

And I bet mages can see just fine at night through their mage sight.

>>15584439
Yeah, Pax has confirmed mage sight basically gives them night vision. I think it might be better to wait for one more skirmish to see if they have any other mages left. We've seen 7 so far and who knows how many others there might be.

I don't think we can afford to risk our air cavalry just yet.

So arcane focii are staffs and such. No preparations required and always available, but you can drop them in battle.

Arcane body-paint take more preparation, but seems to be used just as much in the First Age, so they must have something going for them too. Lena just needs to find out what.

I'll defer the night attack for now. We need to thin them out, and it will have a better effect if they are already feeling down.

We can still mention the idea to the captain but I think for now we should put the actual mission on hold until at least one more attack.

You smile "I do believe a night raid is in order, Moonseye paste, high altitude..."

Corinth smiles wickedly "Those iron arrows, some of Blackbirds... presents"

You start to chuckle "And ground support from the orc himself of course."

Corinth starts to laugh as well "Poor bastards will be afraid of the night sky for the rest of their sad lives. We can be away by dusk and strike at midnight."

You sigh contentedly, and reply "No, not until they have fewer mages with which to pluck you from the sky. But focus on that whenever the Cloudscreamers are beginning to wear on you." The camptain glares at you, dissapointed, but collects himself and salutes you as you leave the tent. Though you swear you hear him muttering something about teasing not being a manly thing to do as you leave.

-----CQ-----

You find blackbird and his men weaving together bundles of grass, and even going so far as affixing some of them to their armor, on the outskirts of camp. "Commander, how can I be of service?" the big orc asks.

You smikr "I take it you are putting the taller grasses to work?"

He lets out a disappointed grunt "Precious little of it survived the fires, but yes. I am putting it to good use. Soon enough the Uurlanthi aerial knights will be unable to see me and my clan from above."

>>15584616
"It's unfortunate but they did start the fires first. I had thought to keep the grasses long to let you do your work but based on your preparations, I assume you think you can still use what's left to do some damage. If you feel your clan is up to it, I'll look forward to the results of your work."

Tell Blackbird that the night raid will be soon. Probably after the next major battle. He needs to get his "presents" ready.

In the mean time, more traps. Earth elementalism traps. Regular traps. Poisoned traps. Patches of dirt that look like traps. More traps.

>>15584680
Yeah I see no problems with this. Perhaps throw in some training for ourselves as well if we have the time.

You nod "I had hoped to leave you the grass to do your work in, but..."

Blackbird laughs "These will do well enough" he assures you, patting his own pile of grass bundles.

You smirk "Aside from your usual trap setting, I hope to have a night raid soon. It will be your unit and the aerial cavalry only but it should be enough to make a sizeable dent in our foes moralle."

For a mad second, you think you see Blackbird pale, but it is less than a blink of an eye, and his face remains amused "My clan keeping our foes from escaping, death falling from the very skies. I look forward to it... though I do have gifts to prepare."

You smile even deeper "That you do my friend, that you do." and at that, you set off into the camp again.

-----CQ-----

You have the command of second watch that night, so the fact that you find yourself wandering the camp in the dark, Sansa at your side, both of you fully armed and armored is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is the small group of skulking forms making for the medicae tent, and a second group headed for the stable tents. "Isnt our watch ended?" Sansa asks, hlafway between groggy and on edge.

You nod "And those folk aren't moving like a new shift of guards." Sansa draws her blades, the moon reflecting off the slender, deadly works of art.

>>15584899
I say go after the closest group and let up a signal flare after we engage the first group. Let the camp know we have intruders. Yes they might escape but it's better than ignoring one group and letting them get to their objective. Hopefully we can take out one group fast enough so to stop the other...

Also let's try to grab some captives if we can.

Is there any alarms to sound? Sound the alarms.

Tell Sansa to head to the medicae tent. Protect the medics and life elementalists as a priority.

We are going to defend the stables. Hang on Spite old buddy! Daddy won't let the mean elves hurt you!

>>15585002
Actually yeah maybe we should go to the medicae tents period. Hopefully our bear cav can maul anyone who enters well enough...

rolled 31 = 31

If no one has complaints, Imma do a combat roll.

Bear cav can't maul anyone if they all get knifed while asleep. Someone needs to go and warn them.

>>15585151
I'm hesitant to send only Sansa to deal with 3-4 infiltrators alone though. She's good but not sure if she's that good. Although Dasesu has been training her with stealth. I guess she could take out at least one on her own. Give her the signal ring to use and we'll go help Spite then. I imagine he'll listen to our commands so we can get him to help quick enough hopefully. If Sansa suffers for this, you will pay GoldPanda. Heh.

>>15585038
seconding this, after raising the alarm of course

Okay, how about we send Sansa to the stables. Once she wakes up the Uursans they can do all the work.

We go to the medicae tent.

>>15585167
If someone will support my previous choice then I'll stick with heading to the tents.

>>15585188
sounds good to me

>>15585188
Agreed. Sansa is stealthy enough to sneak in there hopefully. A girl of many talents that one.

You smile cruelly "I do beleive the fools have stumbled into the dragons nest love."

The woman smiles back "How shall we deal with them?"

You peck her on the cheek, and fire off your signal ring "Why dont you go and let the Uursan out to play... and I doubt you would like your Whiskey coming to any harm. After that join me or deal with the infiltrators as you wish, love."

Her smile deepens "The Kharynchek I talked with all seemed shocked that I was able to find a horse that would willingly drink liquor, has such an amiable temperament, and is as fast as her." she muses, before returning your kiss and heading off into the night.

Within minutes you are at the medicae tent. Four agents are rustling through the tent, one adding to different phials from one of his own, another taking things at random... and two waiting for you, apparently.

Wasting no time, you stride forward confidently, laying into the leftmost of the two. the dark brown robed man raises his punchdaggers in an attempt to block your blows... he fails in three blows, falling to the ground, his stumps held together, nonexistent hands clutching bleeding stumps. As you sever his head, you feel a blade kiss your armor, nearly slicing through.
>cont'd

>>15585188
Seconding this I doubt they're going into the stables to just hack away at our mounts.

You wheel about, and are faced by an elf, similarly garbed in dark, almost black brown garb, a similarly colored robe on the ground behind him. In either hand he holds a shortened falchion, and judging by his positioning, he is trained in one of the Seven Stances. You both step forward at once, striking out at once, your blow powerful and confident, your foes fast, and precise. A sudden clamor of steel on steel, then the two of you are facing each other again. Again the two of you strike out at each other, your foe alternating from one blade to the other with each blow, and lashing out four or five times to every one or two of yours. The battle is not the usual dance, it is disjointed, halting. Both of you more than happy to step past the other, so that you can be the aggressor of the next clash, both of you so skilled that each one an impasse. A blade impacts your shield, you punch back with the slab of steel, your foe dodges, and you swing with your blade, he catches with the same blade he struck with, before stabbing at your exposed shoulder-joint. You step aside and lunge at the elf, who rolls ahead and turns to face you.

again the two of you rush ahead, the elf leaping at you, stabbing down with both blades. You allow one to glance off of your shield, and step away from the other. Before you can land your counter, the elf rises and blocks, lashing out with an armored boot. You move to sever the limb, only for it to drop away at the last second, allowing the infiltrator to step inside your guard... not that you allow him to strike a joint in your armor. On and on the dance spins...

rolled 5 = 5

BEGIN RAGE ROLLING PROCEDURE

COMBAT ROLL GO

rolled 96 = 96

>>15585376
rolling combat

rolled 50 = 50

Elementalism roll for fissures underneath our opponent.

You laugh "Is that truly all? I have sparred with the god of war... on even footing for minutes of battle before he held back less. And you think you can best me?" you spit, as the elf pales in the moonlight. You stride forward, and without thinking, drop one of the other infiltrators into a pit. In the same second, you kick out, shattering the elfs right hand. As he drops to the ground, screaming, you sever his left arm. His screaming redoubles as the next watch reaches the tent "Beg, fool, and I may show you mercy." Sobbing, the elf looks up to you, working his mouth but unable to force words out, face emotionless, you smash your shield into the side of his face, spraying blood, teeth, and bits of lip and cheek into the tent. Calmly, you stride forward, and sink your balde into the fools neck... but only after severing his legs, and castrating him. Your breath heavy with rage you turn about "And the fourth one that was in this tent? The Stable tent? The well?"

One of the soldiers timidly steps forward "Y... your, erm, concubine? She... she dealt with the other infiltrators and... we, erm" he continues to stutter, clearly afraid of you as you flourish your blade, cleaning the blood from it, and return it to its scabbard."the fourth from this tent ran, he dropped his sack, but... He may yet evade us, and he may have some stolen items on him yet."

>>15585532
Hope the one in the pit is still alive. Earth sense Pax - we need to hunt this guy down.

Seriously?

112?

rolled 57 = 57

Earthsense to run this fucker down! No escape! No mercy!

>>15585584
Pretty sure we don't need to roll for stonesense. It was a passive ability. Grab a mount or two and we should be able to catch up with the guy.

You nod "He will not escape. I will see to his capture personally." As if on cue Sansa rides up on Whiskey, bow slung across her back, Spites reigns in her hand. You wipe your thrice half-melted, slashed, battered shield on the grass. Its ruined dragon face seems like some beast from beyond with how the blood clings too it, truly terrifying, though not recognizable as anything.

"Are you ready to finish this, love?" Sansa asks, tossing you the reigns. Grinning, you catch them, and leap onto Spites back, drawing your spear from the sheath on his saddle.

-----CQ-----

He is not even five minutes of hard ride from the camp. And, while the technical term is that you rode the infiltrator down, a more accurate description would be that you pierced his shoulder with your spear... then Spite bit his head off. After that, it is an easy ride back to camp.

-----CQ-----

The next morning you wake to the sound of the other commanders bickering in the central tent. From what you gather, they are planning for an approaching Uurlanthi attack. As you make your way over to the tent, you see Autronius gesturing for your attention, a rather catatonic Uurlanthi infiltrator clearly visible seated inside the tent your mystic is waiting just outside of.

>>15585730
Let's hear what Autronius has to say before speaking to the other commanders. Might be relevant to the upcoming battle.

>>15585730

Well now. Let's see what Autronius has gotten from this sad sack of shit. Better to come to the table late with new intel than have to regroup for it.

So what was in the sack that was so important?

You smirk groggily and make your way over to Autronius' working tent. Inside is dark, and just a little bit smokey, but otherwise empty, save a table and a few stools. "I take it the information you gathered from that sack of meat is the reason for the shouting match in the central command tent?"

Autronius nods, almost sagely... though his brusk military manner ruins the effect "Yes. I was able to uncover that Uurlanth will be striking on the morrow, though the composition of the force they will be striking out with was unkown."

You nod "And the goal of these infiltrators?"

The former legionary nods "Poison our feed, steel some of our medical supplies and utilities, in hopes of discerning where your ability to fight at night stems from, as well as poisoning some of the rest. I already had the poisoned phials and cremes purified by Crestus."

You nod, "I am glad that they did not make off with any of our more... unique supplies then. I suppose I should-"

Autronius raises his hand "The one that was tasked with stealing supplies had some items hidden in his clothing. There are several caches Uurlanth had prepared for this... which have been hardened against intrusion by mystics in this mans mind."

You sigh "Hopefully there was nothing important, continue attempting to-"

Again, the mystic raises his hand "Uurlanth sent thier mysics to cover the first day of a march north, by now the force is visible, but would be outside our usual patrol paths. If you leave soon you should be able to take them, though not unawares, by midnight. They seemed to have some sort of plan for the eventuality of our discovering the force, and even striking at night but..."

>>15585878
Well they were going to eventually come up with something to counter us... The only idea is what and if we should let them use it. Perhaps we should delay attacking the force until dawn.

Get Sansa to prep our men while we go talk to the commanders then I guess. Leave Autronius to keep working on the man if he feels it might lead to anything.

I guess also ask if the infiltrator had any info on what their morale is like or what they had left in terms of troops that could still fight?

>>15585920
Sounds like an action plan to me.

>>15585920
They can't reverse-engineer the moonseye paste in a day. I say attack at night.

Send out an earth elementalist and some bodyguards to look for hidden caches in the ground. We rode down the infiltrator after five minutes, so if he reached any caches, they are not far away.

>>15586013
I don't think they reverse-engineered it. I'm wondering if they might have ideas on how to counter it and might just try throwing out bright lights to see how it effects us. That would work. I figure why take the risk when they're expecting a night attack? They want a night attack so we shouldn't do what they want.

We take em out and we can search them to see what they might of had planned and account for it later in our next night attack.

>>15586038
That could very well be true, it wouldn't be wise to play into their hands

do we have a rough count of how many of the enemy's air cav we've shot down?

until we have air superiority, we shouldn't risk our flyers in a night raid. We have a few nights to figure it out, though.

Well, let's decide when we get there. Maybe we'll be able to tell what they have planned.

Yes. Let's pool our data with the other Commanders and try to get an estimate of the enemy's remaining forces.

You sigh "Keep working. I have a command meeting to attend... good work, my friend."

Autronius salutes as you leave the tent, and you notice that the catatonic stupor seems to be leaving the infiltrator, who begins again struggling against his bonds as you leave the tent. YOu realize, in a start, that Autronius had been holding that infiltrator in that state fro the entire conversation. Inside the CEntral Command Tent, your peers are arguing about how to best deal with the main force, rather heatedly. Noticing your entrance Malcius perks up and greets you "I envy you, Justinian, your planning is easy, and your task clear. Whether you take them in the day, or at night you only have so many choices, wehre as we..."

Gabriel glares at Vibius "A solid counter charge the entire way, even without arcane support, the shock value will ensure a victory."

Vibius shakes his head "Unlike Justinian, we cant just rush our foe, in fact, that would simply be playing into their hand. We have a prepared defense, I see no reason to not let them use it."

Malcius sighs "Why not let them charge through the traps, and strike at their flanks? Both of your units can split evenly, and my own maniple will serve as the anvil to your hammers."

>>15586161
First, we need that estimate of remaining enemy forces, especially enemy air assets.

>>15586175

seconding

>>15586175
This plus any other intel we can gather at this point. Is lennis still scouting?

You nod "What do we know of their forces?" you ask, evenly.

Malcius sighs "All but a few batalions of their heavy infantry mercenaries are deserted or dead, though the archer mercenaries remain."

Gabriel nods in agreement, easing himself into a stool "In addition to the casualties you inflicted, we slayed, perhaps 3 or four more battalions of elven infantry, and another two or three of sergeants gone as well. As to aerial cavalry, I would estimate half strength, but as those battles end before the day is won or lost..."

Malcius shrugs "I would expect them to use the rest of their mercenaries, their levies, and a handful of skilled infantry for this next battle. still the same numbers as the last however, as attrition isnt wearing on them yet."

>>15586411
"You're all aware of the force to our north, I will take care of them. It's of utmost importance that I find out how they intend to counter my moonseye paste, and I do believe it is my duty to protect the flanks.
Until I have a head count on the force I will hold back any offers of lending you my units."

>>15586454

sounds like a plan, seconding.

>>15586411
Steel rain should be done soon then. Their air assets are becoming depleted but they still have a lot of infantry left.

>>15586454
Thirding.

You sigh "Until I have a proper count on the force attempting to move past us to the north, I will have to hold back on offering the aid of any of my assets."

Vibius nods "Understandable. If anything I would expect the survivors of the last force you dealt with, with any holes the battle left in their force filled."

Gabriel shrugs "I would not try to deprive you of needed assets my friend. All of the minds commanding this theatre are fully aware that these larger battles are simply distractions and feints. Every war for hundreds of years back it has been the force that slips past the central line that plunders the Degnarian countryside."

Malcius nods in agreement "As to our battle..." the three of them continue for several hours, planning and postulating. You weigh in as best you can, but leave most of the decision making to those who will be on that field. The four of you leave the command tent as a group, taking a late lunch eventually. Your peers, glad to have a preliminary plan simply enjoy much of the rest of the day, planning to brief their command staffs in the evening. You however, cannot fully enjoy the meal, as you have a decision to make, and soon.

Deploy our air cavalry to scout out the enemy force that is attempting to bypass our lines.

Get our maniple ready to move out as soon as possible.

can we have one air unit keep his eyes and ears peeled around the area where we killed the fleeing infiltrator? if he dropped his loot in a cache we NEED to know if someone is going to collect.

Yeah, find out where they are then we can figure out what to do.

>>15586645
seconding the flyer recon.

Go in force.

As to the cache, blackbird's men and a few earth elementalists should be able to locate them if they're near our camp.

As the other commanders enjoy their meal, you set off to see to work. Before evening begins, you have your Skywings off to ascertain the enemy forces disposition, Blackbirds men searching for the enemy caches, and your maniple preparing to march. You check in with Autronius again, who informs you that the enemy force will be the remains of the the last one your faced, rounded out with mercenary archers, and padded out with additional elven light infantry.

By early evening, your command staff is filtering into your personal Command Tent, mostly informed on the situation already. After nearly five minutes, you remember that Wulf and Daeseu are away, and acting as if nothing happened, begin to officially brief your command staff.

>gah, this slowness is killing me, I had aimed to get this battle in tonight, but I'm to tired to pull it off, and we're already starting to die off
>someone archive please
>I'll be back sunday at 9pm server time
>if you have any setting/CQ questions jsut email me at paxcomquest@yahoo.com
>with how these threads are going lately, I think it might be best to drop down to twice a week (unless things pick up again of course...)