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>>44468815
You stood around Cormann’s temporary battle map with your officers. Ser Lynn, Gnome and Captains Malaine, Jirou and Moss were joined by the Vitrian Grandmasters Toren and Lucas. The map itself was a piece of canvas with important details painted onto it, most particularly the division of the enemy forces. The tent was still illuminated with torchlight as the sun had only barely began to peek out from the horizon and your men were readying themselves for an assault right after dawn broke.

“There’s two possibilities for the raid, based on our intel,” Cormann says, beginning the briefing. “The rear encampment is too far away for us to effectively hit it, so that leaves the two forward encampments.” Cormann’s fingers point at the three points of the triangle that is the Taouran encampments, with your camp just south of one of the edges. “Volante is in one with his cavalry and heavies. The other is all mages and mage-knights. The rear seems to have their engineers and remaining mages but we can’t touch them.”

You pick up the briefing at this point, saying, “We’re limiting ourselves to a raid, rather than an all-out battle. I know that a couple of you think differently,” you pause briefly to glance between Lynn and Grandmaster Toren, “but if we get drawn into a pitched battle with the Taourans we’ll lose our edge. We don’t know how many vampires that Volante has but between his remaining tricks and his large number of veteran troops we’ll be gambling too much for too little to let this raid devolve into a brawl.”

>continued

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>>44468825
The question, you say mentally to yourself as your earlier speech sinks in, is which camp to hit. Before you can say anything, Gnome jumps in.

“There’s still more risk available, if we care to take it,” she says. “If we hit the mage encampment and do well, we’ll surely cripple Volante’s ability to advance south. He simply won’t have the numbers or magical ability to assault a city or fortress with strong magical defences.”

“But he’ll still hold everything in Vitria north of Vale river,” you interrupt. “If we take a risk and go for Volante’s camp, then if we can hold him off we can do damage and take out his best troops. Without those he’d have a lot of difficulty holding his position against an all-out assault once we rally our remaining troops.”

The officers nod, but rather than begin to chatter they look to you for a decision. You’d expected this and made your decision ahead of time, it’s…

>1. Go for Volante’s camp, with the intention of taking out his elite soldiers. Risky, as you’ll be engaged with Volante for longer, but success will make it easier to take all of Vitria’s former territory.
>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.
>3. Something else entirely

>>44468853
>>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.

>>44468853
>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.
depending on his move after that we may be able tot take Darlesia.

I'm so happy to see you running things again. Welcome back.

That said, I can't believe what happened with Sylvian. That was fucked mane.

>>44468853
Can we go for the mages, but at the same time, once those are taken care of/preoccupied for the most part, have our archers/mages/etc. do AoE attacks on the Volante camp with hopes of crippling a number of his heavies?
If we get some aerial recon I could see Saul starting to chop away at one end of the camp, then retreating once Volante gets too close for comfort.

>>44468853
>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.

>>44468853
>1. Go for Volante’s camp, with the intention of taking out his elite soldiers. Risky, as you’ll be engaged with Volante for longer, but success will make it easier to take all of Vitria’s former territory.

>>44468853
>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.

>>44468951
Cav>archers

>>44468853
>1. Go for Volante’s camp, with the intention of taking out his elite soldiers. Risky, as you’ll be engaged with Volante for longer, but success will make it easier to take all of Vitria’s former territory.

We'll make a (dead) man out of Volante.

>>44468925
Anon

We don't talk about it anymore Shhhh

>>44468853
>1. Go for Volante’s camp, with the intention of taking out his elite soldiers. Risky, as you’ll be engaged with Volante for longer, but success will make it easier to take all of Vitria’s former territory.

>>44468896
The main issue with this as far as I see it is that we don't really have the manpower to go for Darlesia without pulling a lot of troops out of Vitria, which we can't really afford if northern Vitria is still in Taour hands and has Volante lurking around.

In fact, I'd wager Taour is more capable of constructing a second army than we are, which means, if Volante can force us to leave a lot of troops in southern Vitria just by sticking to the north, they can probably fuck us up by coming at us from Darlesia with a second army sooner or later.

>no taira
>no fluffy tails
goddamnit guys if we're going to vote talon dead we can at least carry on his legacy

>>44468979
Better range though, and some arrows may still hit home. I'm not saying to start a battle, but it's not exactly taking more risk if we have the mage camp under control, as Volante's camp would try to intervene anyway.

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>>44468853
>>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.

>>44461225
Have you ever heard of something called slow build up?

So question, is it possible for Mal or Gnome to do anything to disrupt vampire magic or is it to foreign/different. I don't remember if we ever tried anything like that in the original AEQ.

>>44469045
That kind of subterfuge thing would be a lot more in Taira's domain, I think.

Wouldn't Gnome be really fucking effective against cavalry?

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>>44468951
>Can we go for the mages, but at the same time, once those are taken care of/preoccupied for the most part, have our archers/mages/etc. do AoE attacks on the Volante camp with hopes of crippling a number of his heavies?
Volante's going to be mobilising the rest of his force. If you wanted to do this, you'd have to split your forces and leave both open to counter-attack - Volante's not going to sit in his camp while you hit one and shoot the othe rwith magic.

Also, once you have the mage camp 'under control' Volante will be on top of you with his best men.

>>44469010
>In fact, I'd wager Taour is more capable of constructing a second army than we are
Ah, shit, I knew I forgot something. Was supposed to have somebody mention that Taour is more than capable of recruiting more troops, particularly with Shropham's assistance.

>>44469045
Gnome could try to disrupt shadow magic where it's being used externally but it would be more difficult (as the vampires generate their own power). Mal can't touch them because his disruption is about preventing the opponent from casting a spell in the first place for the most part. Blood magic is uninterruptable.

>>44468853
>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.
Additionally, set up traps for Volante's force on possible approaches to stall and maybe even cripple his forces.

>berserker manlet stronger than talon in single combat
I like this

>>44469123
We're not exactly a berserker, and I hope we will eventually stop needing to rely on BDR for single combat.
I much rather like a fighting style of trickery and skill than brute forcing our way to victory.

>>44468853
>1. Go for Volante’s camp, with the intention of taking out his elite soldiers. Risky, as you’ll be engaged with Volante for longer, but success will make it easier to take all of Vitria’s former territory.

>>44469138
We're a Glass cannon class in another word

Going Beserk is in the manual
It's the first page and only page
"Kill them hard and fast before they kill you"

>>44468853
>>2. Play it safer and go for the mage camp. You’ll still need to hold off Volante and his counter-attack, but you should be able to do enough damage and pull out. Success here will end his campaign but leave him in control of the northern territory unless you take a big risk.

This is one of those scenarios where I feel we have no way to plan our way out of facing a really difficult situation or doing more damage than initially seemed possible.

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2 wins. Writing.

>>44469138
>We're not exactly a berserker
yet.

Also, while moving away from bdr and becoming more of a trickster does sound fun the minmaxer considers it a waste. Better to build our skills up to work well with it.

>>44469197
We're only a glass cannon as far as the proportion of our defense and offense goes.
We aren't particularly fragile, and Asp said one of the available future dragon abilities will be regeneration.

>>44469101
Sorry, but I going to ask for more information here. What are the rough numbers and troop composition in each camp? Are there any notable terrain features between the camps? What are Taour's recruiting capabilities and how quickly can they replenish their losses from our raid?

>>44469039
Slow build up, hah, nothing can get agreed on in that quest. It's like "twitch plays BQ" it's supremely rare for any sort of coherent plans to be carried out

>>44469229
>the minmaxer considers it a waste
Not really, BDR is fixed and only goes to 7, getting our regular strength above that costs more than getting our speed there and getting a skill that lets us use it in single combat, since otherwise we'd have wasted XP on upgrading TC.
Also Saul's best option is magic, ge gas top tier potential, so a minmaxer would build on that instead of mid tier once a day short unreliable boosts.

>>44469280
What you said isn't at all relevant to what I said.
The slow build up was on the part of the qm, not the players.
Darzi is basically a shoe-in at this point, and Mik WILL end up with a harem unless he dies or goes completely bonkers or something similar and gets removed from his party and society.
Now then, that's enough talk of another quest.

>>44469064
Kind of maybe?
As far as I can tell, the main issue is that the only thing she can do on the fly is Earth/Stone control, meaning that in an area without preexisting stone she isn't going to suddenly create a bunch of deathspikes for the cavalry to run into.

Furthermore, it's not like we're talking about vanilla cavalry here.
Everything is magical and badass here, meaning there's a decent chance elite cavalry is actually capable of yoloing through anything Gnome didn't have time to fortify seriously.

That said, if one of the bigger issues is really a lack of stone for control and a lack of time for stone, we might want to consider creating stone "caches" in advance so that, if we retreat over them Gnome can use the stone noone was expecting.
Not necessarily suited for this engagement, but something to consider.

>>44469344
*lack of time for stone summoning

>>44469344
I was more thinking just generally fucking up the terrain, making pitfalls and shit, which I assume would be easier than death spikes but could still fuck up a cavalry charge if enough horses fall or get held up by it.
>>44469218
If it's not completely retarded, can we bring it up with Gnome?

>>44469388
Le'ts ask her about a one night castle while we're at it.

>>44469344

>>44469111 Here. This idea is excellent for setting up traps between the camps.

>>44469388
Yeah, but badass super cavalry may just laugh at your pits and casually jump over them.
Who knows what they can actually do, but it's worth remembering that they are considered very elite units even though everyone but the peasant levies is wearing magical power armor.
Terrain probably needs to be seriously fucked up before it really impedes them.

>>44469464
I don't think even super cavalry could jump over a pit that opens up right as the horse's front feet reaches the ground. Horses aren't known for being able to change their momentum completely with just their hind legs.

I highly doubt Cav is as impenetrable as a monster make them

They'd be OP as fuck if traps couldn't fuck em to an extent

>>44469490
You'd think that the first thing any country that has extensive contact with mages would do is breed flying horses so that they don't have to deal with bullshit like this.

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>2.

Placing your finger on the mage encampment, you say, “At this stage, taking on too much risk threatens our ability to defend Vitria. If Volante repels our raid then we need to be able to double back to the Vale river and hold him off. We risk that if we take on his elites right now.”

Acknowledging the possibility of defeat typically didn’t go down well, which is why you were glad you only had the grandmasters here. They should be experienced enough to understand how wars work, instead of getting spooked because their leader didn’t think he was invincible. The officers give a round of nods and you move onto the next step.

You moved onto the nitty-gritty of the assault, namely how to manage the raid. You had a strong core of heavy knights when you combined with the Vitrians but you had to split those between preparing for Volante’s counterattack and the raid itself. If you had to reorganise your army mid-assault then the less experienced Vitrians and newer mercenaries could very easily break or get confused, leading to disaster.

“My Black Dragons are best suited for rapid assaults and given their experience they could easily refocus on another force,” Ser Lynn says, his voice seeming to dare the others to contradict him. “Combined with Malaine’s support and some assistance with the battle-mages and we should have things well in hand.”

>continued

>>44469547
I don't think many countries regularly have to worry about their cavalry facing Gnome.

>>44469547
Who needs flying horses when you already got flying powered armor?

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>>44469569
Well in hand with considerable ground support, you think. Still, Lynn had a point. His heavy knights were extremely effective at rapid fighting and charging – it was all they trained for at times. The issue was that they were also your best troops and your best chance of holding off Volante’s knights.

“My warriors and I have no issues on either front,” Jirou adds. “We’re trained to fight cavalry but raids are also part of our regimen.”

The other issue was how to deal with the mages and Volante at the same time. The reality was that you’d find yourself in the thick of a magical firestorm as you hit the battlemages in the core of the camp. At the same time you’d be facing a charge from a unit of heavy cavalry and potentially vampires. Your best counters to mages also happened to be your best method of doing damage to and holding off Volante’s counter-attack – namely Gnome and Maloric.

>Brief discussion on how to split your forces. Going to keep this relatively short.

Your force is:

>200 Black Dragon Knights under Ser Lynn
>200 Flying Mage-Knights under Captain Malaine
>500 Arcane Archers under Captain Moss
>200 Pharosian Mercenaries under Captain Jirou
>500 Noble Knights under Sir Merrl and the Vitrian grandmasters
>100 Battlemages under Archmagister Maloric
>4000 general soldiers (relatively ineffective in the raid)

>>44469584
WhyNotBoth.jpg

>>44469636
Cost effectiveness anon, cost effectiveness.

>>44469584
We should make a version specially for horses. Our flying cavalry will be the talk of legends.

>>44469594
Gnome should handle the Calvary while Maloric handles the Mages

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>>44469547
Cavalry isn't used extensively, and the most elite cavalry ride spiritual beasts like hellhounds, wingless griffins etc. Also, effective flight enchantments have only been developed over the last decade or so.

>>44469344
Gnome can make pits, summon earth spikes etc which could be pretty effective but the cavalry still have a chance against it. They're heavily armoured and extremely fast/well trained horses.

>>44469271
The camps are roughly evenly split with the elites split as discussed. Not much in the way of notable terrain features. You're in a valley with some hills (which the encampments tend to be based around to limit raids). You don't know much about Taour's recruiting capabilities beyond the fact that they can likely replace expensive and rare equipment pretty fast due to a wealthy benefactor.

>>44469594
I say have the Black Dragons lead the charge to the mages, and have them work on chopping away at them somewhere where they could potentially refocus on defending against Volante.
Have the mercenaries contribute to the raid initially, then focus on defending once the cavalry attacks.
Mal focus on mages, Gnome on traps and defense. Once the mages are in more manageable numbers(this camp should have at most like 220 enemy battlemages, we have more than that I think), he can refocus on defending.

So focus on a heavy initial hit with all our elites on offense and FMK and mage artillery going for mass damage while our forces aren't inside the crowd of enemies, then stop that and dedicate what is necessary to fighting Volante.

Feel free to pick out good ideas ans disregard bad ones from this, anons.

>>44469594
Since Volante will be heading to us with his cavalry, we should have the Pharosians positioned towards where Volante will likely attack.

Can we try to spring ambushes with our AAs and Vitrian Noble Knights along Volante's likely attack path? It might not stop them, but it would slow them down.

Maloric should be with us and Gnome should go against Volante with an anti-cavalry magic.

>>44469669
Yeah but it's cool

Being Cool > Money

>>44469699
>>44469701
These, though we need the mages and AA for and opening salvo before the BDKs charge in. Have Gnome set the traps and the res of our forces in defensive positions for intercept duty. With the mercs kept hidden as a flanking force.

>>44469798
>With the mercs kept hidden
Anon I very much doubt we can keep forces hidden here.

>>44469594
First thought is that Gnome and Jirou's men deal with Cavalry while everyone else goes mage hunting. Send them into the mage camp on the flank where we think the counterattack will come from. Keep the Black Dragons next to that flank as well so they can about face and counter charge if things get bad. I'd really prefer to keep Mal on the mages outside of shit really hitting the fan, but if things get too bad we plan to retreat anyways correct?

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>>44469701
>Can we try to spring ambushes with our AAs and Vitrian Noble Knights along Volante's likely attack path?
There's a fair bit of distance between the camps, but this is former farmland you're in so it's very open. At best you can try to set things up so you can flank them but keeping troops hidden isn't going to be easily possible.

>>44469729
Well, in a state faced with a lot of warfare these "cool" units tend to be the first to be sacrificed.

>>44469830
Ah well, then position our non-Black Dragons troops so that they won't be able to get an easy charge in without being flanked?

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>>44469594
I don't know exactly how the camps are distributed but I imagine we want to do something like this

>>44469810
>>44469830
Sorry for misleading descriptions, I meant in flanking position, keeping themselves as unnoticeable as possible.

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Anyway, plans seem pretty consistent to have Gnome and the Pharosians face the counter-attack from Volante while most of the remaining elites go for the mages directly (with some knights to support Gnome).

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>>44469594
>>44469873
I imagine this would also work well because we would kill of all their engineers who can't fight back but are crucial for their ability to siege our cities.

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>>44469873
My plan's more like this.
>>44469908
I think no one really objected to the Pharosians initially contributing to the charge on the mages, then once that's done switching to guard duty immediately.

>>44469837
That'd cause they ain't cool enough

>>44469966
Oops, forgot to add the AA so they can switch target to the other group if things get rough, or for an initial volley for when they begin to charge us.

>>44469930
The engineers are in another camp entirely, baka desu senpai

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>>44469989
fuck, forgot to attach pic

>>44469966
ye, it is important though that we switch together with the Pharosians because otherwise they will probably just get killed by the vampire.

>>44470027
I didn't put us right next to them because we have better mobility, but that's fine, we can charge with the BDK and then extract ourselves when the time comes, I guess, or just stay on the outskirts of the battle.

Aren't the Foxes experts at fucking up mages? I say have the Black Dragons be our counterattacking force and let the rest of our units deal with the mages.

>>44469992
there camps form a triangle with the farthest from us being the engineers and so, right? That's the one we would attack in this strategy.

>>44470060
>“There’s two possibilities for the raid, based on our intel,” Cormann says, beginning the briefing. “The rear encampment is too far away for us to effectively hit it, so that leaves the two forward encampments.” Cormann’s fingers point at the three points of the triangle that is the Taouran encampments, with your camp just south of one of the edges. “Volante is in one with his cavalry and heavies. The other is all mages and mage-knights. The rear seems to have their engineers and remaining mages but we can’t touch them.”

>The rear seems to have their engineers and remaining mages but we can’t touch them.”

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>>44469930
The issue with doing that is that in the time it takes you to manouvre around them you'll be wide open to a counter-attack and Volante can easily just merge his camps. It takes time to wheel around that much terrain (the encampments are miles apart).

>>44470047
What foxes?

>>44469966
>I think no one really objected to the Pharosians initially contributing to the charge on the mages
Given that the encampments are relatively large (they each hold 2k+ men) you're really better off devoting your forces and pulling more experienced troops as necessary.

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>>44469873
I had something like this in mind.

>>44470047
They aren't foxes, they are samurais with polearms

>>44470084
We can't make that many traps, and the Pharosians would get raped on their own.
>>44470077
But the Pharosians are just a couple hundred, and as you said, the camps are miles apart. Why couldn't they do one charge, then pull out and set up for defense?

>>44470073
Yeah, the narrator is very negative.

>>44470077
My mother used to tell me there is nothing I can't achieve as long as I put my mind to it!

>>44470137
>We can't make that many traps, and the Pharosians would get raped on their own.
That's why I put them on flanking duty, they charge in only after the enemy has engaged our defensive lines.

>>44470171
You'd want the Pharosians to form the defensive line since they are used to fighting cavalry and can withstand the shock of being charged and have some other force be the flanking force.

>>44470145
>My mother used to tell me there is nothing I can't achieve as long as I put my mind to it!
How did that work out later in life?

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>>44470084
>>44469966
>>44469930
I think all these different battle-plans tell me not to skimp on a diagram next time.

>>44470137
>Why couldn't they do one charge, then pull out and set up for defense?
Alright, we'll do a vote for whether they do solid defense, flanking or try to pull defense after assaulting.

PHAROSIAN VOTE
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.
>2. Have them pull flanking duty, enabling other knights to receive the charge while they try to deal with any charge. May fail if Volante has more troops with him or delays his charge.
>3. Have them participate in the early stages of the raid then pull out and try to join the defense.

>>44470194
Well, he's here now, so...

>>44470171
>>44470193
>As far as front-line soldiers go, there is little that can crack a formation of these western warriors and they are extremely strong against monsters. They are not particularly fast and are vulnerably to mages, however.

So they are good at holding a formation against an enemy attack, and they aren't very fast.

Probably would do better as the lynchpin of the defensive lines, rather than flanking force.

>>44470229
>>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.
Alright, fine, if you really don't want to allow it then just say so.

>>44470229
>3

>>44470229
>>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

>>44470229
>3. Have them participate in the early stages of the raid then pull out and try to join the defense.

>>44470229
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

>>44470194
>PhD
>Good six figures a year
>Own a business

You could be a winner anon! You just need to try harder! And rename yourself Chad.

>>44470194
>>44470234
Please, I was just making a joke.

>>44470229
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

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>>44470280
This is the Internet and I'm inclined to disbelieve that but

Nice

>>44470229
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

>>44470229

>>44470238 Point made going with
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

>>44470229
>1. Have them placed to try to best receive the charge from Volante's knights and hold him.

>>44470280
>Owning a business

Sounds stressful, better to get a cozy government job instead so you can enjoy your huge vacation package and guaranteed low-stress 40 hour workweeks

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>>44470254
I gave advice one way and then you told me you wanted to do it anyway, hence the vote.

>plans seem pretty consistent to have Gnome and the Pharosians face the counter-attack from Volante while most of the remaining elites go for the mages directly (with some knights to support Gnome).

By the time you finish elaborating on the details of the battle plan your men are ready to march. This fact is almost certainly known to the Taourans, if their scouts aren’t completely useless, so you don’t let any time be wasted before beginning the assault.

You take up position on the hill once more, eyeing the battlefield. Aside from some abandoned and burnt out houses spread over the terrain, most of it is farmland across an open valley. The fields lay bare, the peasants having had no time to sow winter crops before the Taourans invaded. The camps were fairly distant from your current position but you could still make out them out and see that they were beehives of activity. Whether Volante’s scouts had noticed your movements or not, he wasn’t taking any chances regarding a dawn assault.

>continued

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>>44470398
It would take a good hour to close in on the camp if you didn’t want to tire your men out, and probably half that time for Volante to realise your target and actions. That probably gave you an hour or so before the bulk of his army hit you, and less before any vanguard struck. If you were lucky then Volante would charge in, thinking himself immortal, and giving you a chance to thin his elites and hold him off – hopefully at not too high a cost.

You fly down to join Gnome as she makes her way forward. She glances down at you and ruffles your hair almost immediately after you land, causing you to sigh.

“So, what are you going to do, Saul?” Gnome asks. “The mission is to do as much damage as possible, which is your speciality from what I can tell. If you want to minimise losses then you’ll need to hold off Volante – particularly as Lynn will need to lead her men for the initial charge before she can pull out to fight him.”

You will…

>1. Focus on the raid, leaving Gnome, Lynn and your men to hold off Volante’s charge.
>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.
>3. Go with Gnome so that you’re ready for whenever Volante might appear on the battlefield.
>4. Custom

>>44470377
>guaranteed low-stress 40 hour workweeks
Some people wish, anon. Some people wish. And others get that, because not all work is made equal and/or they're lazy fucks.

>>44470426
>3. Go with Gnome so that you’re ready for whenever Volante might appear on the battlefield.

>>44470426
>>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

>>44470426
>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

>>44470426
>>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.
It's not like we need to make extensive preparations to fight him or anything, we just need to be there on time.

>>44470426
>1. Focus on the raid, leaving Gnome, Lynn and your men to hold off Volante’s charge.

>>44470426
>>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

Maximum bloodshed.

>And others get that, because not all work is made equal and/or they're lazy fucks.

That's why you have to wait for Boomers to retire so you can transfer into that cushy gig.

>>44470426
>3. Go with Gnome so that you’re ready for whenever Volante might appear on the battlefield.

>>44470426
>>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

>>44470426
>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

I'm a bit concerned over whether we have the endurance for this, but we have pretty good mook murdering skills and it'd be a shame not to get at least some value out of them.

>>44470426
>2. Start with the raid, then redeploy to fight Volante once he nears.

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>>44470515
>That's why you have to wait for Boomers to retire so you can transfer into that cushy gig.
Sadly, if you're young and want to compete (at least in the current environment where I'm at) you need to prove yourself by taking on all the shit that others won't. At least the conditions are good enough to compensate for the hours and meh pay.

This is a clear 2, writing. Action starts from next update so warm up your dice.

>>44470426
>1. Focus on the raid, leaving Gnome, Lynn and your men to hold off Volante’s charge.
I think it's very doubtful that we could vanquish Volante on this first engagement, and given what you've said of him, he's very intelligent, so the more often we directly engage, the more he'll adapt to Saul's fighting style, and the harder it'll be to actually finish him later.

That said, I can see our men taking super heavy casualties as a result, though.

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>44470634
aye aye

ok guys try not to burn the dragon rage right away

>>44470679
We shouldn't burn it at all, we don't want Volante to take more note of us than he will already just from seeing us fight.

>>44470426
>Lynn will need to lead her men
Gnome knew that Lynn was a woman?

>>44470701
I agree. I hope we can survive without using it.

I don't care what you nay sayers want. If we are going to fight Volante we might as well go for the kill, even if we have to use BDR for it.

>>44470701
Especially since there's no way in hell he'll be seperating from his backup, if he knows we can dragon rage, unless he can make sure it's a 1v1 (which he is still favoured to win).

>>44470701
Yup, we probably won't kill Volante this time around so we should try to save it if possible.

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>44470634
DIce

>>44470753
Thing is, we won't get the kill.
>>44470634
Also I'd like to say right now that once we engage Volante and things start to get heated, Golem is free to try and disrupt his magic, as you said she might be able to.

>>44470753
It's been said that even BDR probably won't be enough to kill this asshole

>>44470753
It isn't happening. It's all but explicitly stated that we don't stand a chance of killing him one on one, and he'll have his elite units around him.

>>44470775
I have qualms about trying the disruption. If we try it now and it succeeds, we'll have squandered it because he'll account for it in the future, limiting its effectiveness.

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>>44470713
No, just a mistake.

>2.

Splitting off from Gnome in short order, you join the Vitrian knights for the initial charge against the encampment. Lynn’s knights would be able to handle themselves, but you wanted to keep the Vitrian morale up and that means helping them through the most bitter resistance at the start.

The enemy encampment is abuzz with activity, something that is apparent even from several hundred metres away. You can see their archers and some of their mages lining up on the palisade that rings the centre of the encampment. It wasn’t a true defensive position as the encampment sprawled out from it – no doubt it had been erected before additional troops turned up from the looting and pillaging. From your peripheral vision you could see the Pharosians and Sir Merrl’s knights continue to march even as the main force halts.

All you need is a sending from Maloric telling you his mages are in position, then it’s show time.

You wait in silence, absent-mindedly reading the sendings as they come in from your officers and scouts. Far above you are Lieutenant Illon’s flying knights, watching for major movements by the Taourans. The battlemages appeared to massive atop one of the hills the encampment encompassed, no doubt preparing powerful defensive enchantments.

Where drama insisted there should be a howling wind coursing through the valley, breaking the silence before the storm, there was nothing but stillness. You couldn’t even see your breath despite it turning to Winter, due to this warm spell. Instead you merely gaze at the enemy encampment, waiting for Maloric’s message.

Then it comes. With a lazy movement of your arm you draw your sword and hold it aloft. The next second a sending reaches all your officers and the world erupts into a great roar as the storm begins.

[DC66 Mage Barrage]

[DC57 Charging Under Fire; DC66 Blitz]

[DC57/80 Gnome’s Preparations]

all this talk about cavalry

>tfw nobody wants magitech motorcycle mounted knights

Rolled 38, 54, 16 = 108 (3d100)

>>44470906

Rolled 77, 88, 7 = 172 (3d100)

>>44470906
I got a bad feeling about this

Rolled 70, 7, 33, 46 = 156 (4d100)

>>44470906
please, dice gods

Rolled 47, 23, 5 = 75 (3d100)

>>44470906
Doom.

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>>44470906
Damn, forgot to say that this is 4d100.

Rolled 33, 84, 74 = 191 (3d100)

>>44470906

Warm up

Rolled 10, 54, 44, 93 = 201 (4d100)

>>44470906

Rolled 99, 50, 35, 92 = 276 (4d100)

>>44470906
Kill me

>>44470929
WE CAN STILL MAKE IT LADS

Rolled 1, 55, 66, 76 = 198 (4d100)

>>44470885
But if it does work, it will give us a much better chance to kill him, which will save a lot of our troops.
Also Gnome could, again, try to manipulate the ground to fuck with Volante's balance, since if we preoccupy him he won't have as much time to try to counter Gnome's magic.
>>44470906

Rolled 32, 68, 96, 26 = 222 (4d100)

>>44470906
>>44470929

Rolled 24, 65, 20, 10 = 119 (4d100)

>>44470906
>>44470929
Welp

>>44470959
So if it works, what do you guys say to popping dragon rage right there and having the rest of our elites support us as we try to wipe volante out?

Looks like S, F, F, S.

>>44470949
>>44470951
>>44470959
>1 or 99, 55, 66, 92
Depending on how that 99 and 1 interact, I think we hit all but one of those DCs.

>>44470926
>>44470949
>>44470951

99, 54, 44, 93.

Gnome and Mages do super well

>>44470978
The 1 was the 4th 4d100 rolled

>>44470978
1 shouldn't count because we already rolled 3 4d100s

>>44470959
>>44470962
Ah, if only I was two seconds slower this would've been super fun

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>>44470926
>>44470949
>>44470951
These are the rolls that count as the first three 4d100s. Sorry to those that missed the chained DCs in the middle.

Exceptional Success, fail, fail, higher target success.

>>44470992
>>44470995
Ah, hadn't noticed that >>44470926 was a 4d100
>>44470929
Maybe separate each dice DC into its own [] from now on?

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>>44471022
You should really make it clearer how many dice we need to roll to avoid unneeded salt

>>44471022
Can we burn the accumulated success we start with since this is a combat scene?

Tbh I don't understand the accumulated system well

>>44471022
And I guess we can't use our accumulated success to turn one of those fails into a success?

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>>44471045
I've always done connected DCs in the same brackets - it's to make it clearer that screwing up or doing well in the earlier rolls affect the later results in a way separate to accumulated successes.

>>44471022
Oh, shit, sorry - there was an accumulated success in the mage barrage (plus the one you start with due to Flow Reading) so you can have one of your attack rolls success if you don't mind increasing the risk of dramatic failure.

VOTE
>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.
>2. Keep your successes for later (to offset any 1s or 2s)

>>44471109
>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.
The chance of getting a horrible failure is low, and we need the charge to succeed.

>>44471109
>>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.

What are the odds we roll a 1 in a 1d100? Burn it

>>44471109
>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.

>>44471022
>Exceptional Success, fail, fail, higher target success.
So we rekt'em good with the barrage, but our attack got smoked, we still have decent defenses. Well, better dig in and start shooting.

>>44471109
>>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.

>>44471109
1. Let's start strong

>>44471109
Can we spend just ONE of the accumulated success?

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>>44471099
>>44471174
When more than one roll beats a DC, you get to keep the success for the scene. One success can be burnt to convert a dram fail (a 1 or 2) into a regular fail, or two successes can be burnt to convert a regular fail into a success. This is separate to the bonuses gained from successes in chained rolls (those where the DCs are in the same set of square brackets).

This was stated when I first introduced the system. I just need to make a mechanics doc later (probably should do that tomorrow).

>>44471109
>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.

>>44471125
>What are the odds we roll a 1 in a 1d100? Burn it

why would you say that

>>44471204
But don't we get another accumulated success since Gnome's rolls were 93 and 92 and those both cleared the higher target?

So we would have 3 accumulated successes and would burn two?

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>>44471229
What could possibly go wrong?

>>44471271
s-stop that senpai

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>>44471271
You've doomed us all

>>44471125
Just below 3%

>>44471335
But you have to take in account that we are rolling multiple dice. So it's more like 9%

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>>44471300
>>44471328
The odds are in our favor, scaredy cats

>>44471335
>implying the dice gods won't shit all over us when we inevitably fuck up and Volante decides to 1v1 us and we critfail consecutively and have no more accumulated successes to burn

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>>44471232
>But don't we get another accumulated success since Gnome's rolls were 93 and 92 and those both cleared the higher target?

Those happen later (rolls are generally presented sequentially in terms of effects). I'm rolling for Gnome's prep because it's going to be important at the end of the update. Though you're right that you will have one as of the end of the update, so you'll still be able to offset dram fails. Still getting used to doing this in place of the contentious and annoying points system I used last time.

>>44471368
That is taking into account multiple dice. Here's the overall probabilities of every DC I'll use, with the second percentage being the chance of a dram fail (a 1 or 2 without any successes).

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>>44471109
>1. Burn both accumulated successes you have to succeed at the charge roll.
There's a 5.9% chance of us rolling a dramatic failure in 3d100.

What

could

possibly

go

wrong?

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>>44471666
nothing, that's what.

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Accumulated Successes: 1

>Mage Barrage: Exceptional Success (+1 accumulated success)
>Charging Under Fire: Target not met, but upgraded to success by using 2 acc. successes

Accumulated Successes: 0
Mana: 15

Fire and ice rained down from above, turning the battlefield into a maelstrom that you and your knights found yourselves charging through. The camp was ablaze and filled with shouting and the clatter of steel upon steel. A series of magical blasts rained down from the hill in the middle of the Taouran encampment, turning the tents near you into ruins. You kept your blade ready, magic pumping through your body as you keep moving. The ground thunders as great balls of ice fell sections of the wooden palisade ahead of you, the logs slamming into the ground and creating a rumbling beneath your feet as so many tonnes of wood strike the earth.

Taouran soldiers in magical plate charge through the chaos at you, roaring battlecries as they do so. Your sword takes the first in the neck and a quick movement of your feet allows you to knock the sword of the next aside. The roars of the Vitrian knights next to you nearly deafen you, the helmets of the Golden Bears containing enchantments to boost the volume of their voice at will. The foe seems to tremble in response to the sheer fury and the Vitrian axes and swords rain down on them in response to their fear.

More magical fire rains down around you and you swing your sword down towards the hill, directing the knights ahead. Atop the hill you can see a great battle of magical might, with enormous volumes of iridescent light almost blinding your vision. You can sense the disruption magic of Maloric at work, trying to keep the enemy mages from bombarding you as you advance. It’s all that keeps your charge from grinding to a halt.

>continued (1/3)

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>>44471815
>Blitz: Target not met

Even so, the charge is met with bloody resistance. Fury is met with fury as the Taourans fight like men possessed. You’re firing off sendings with gestures of your fingers as you move, trying to keep the blitz from completely faltering. The Vitrian troops are already beginning to falter as they close in behind the knights leading the charge and see the chaos reigning over the battlefield. With time being your foe, you redirect many of them to aid Gnome and the Pharosians or just to hold position. More blasts of fire and light rain down from the hill as the mass of mages pulls off a ritual before Maloric can stop them.

Advancing is going to be painful but you can’t risk holding position. Time is of the essence and any sort of ‘tactical retreat’ will likely cause the Vitrians to break. You steel yourself and give the orders for all forces to advance, knowing that once the palisade is reach there’ll be heavy losses to bear. At least the wall is down, you think, and the losses haven’t been as bad as they could have been.

Your mind turns back to the matter at hand as you charge forwards, your sword and armour slick with blood as you battle through Taouran fighters. There’s little in the way of organised resistance at the edge of the encampment but you can see and hear the companies forming up at the palisade ahead. A gap yawns before you, having been torn open by your mages. Almost a hundred mage-knights guard it, wielding spears and trying to form up a solid line. Magical bolts ripple out from them, slamming into the knights around you. You spin your blade in a warm-up motion and keep your momentum, the shadowy afterimages of your sword holding off the enemy’s attacks as you move.

>continued (2/3)

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>>44471839
Power lurks within these mage-knights you realise and as you close, the Golden Bears roaring in fury, you realise that these aren’t ordinary mage-knights. A great screech comes from the commander of the enemy unit and the Vitrians stop dead. When the Taourans break formation and charge at you, spears forward and ready for blood you prepare to face the nightwalker forces.

>Gnome’s Preparations: Higher target met

Accumulated Successes: 1
Mana: 13

As your sword snaps aside spears and punches into vampire flesh you hear panicked yells and explosions from your right. With a wince you ignore a spear as it grazes your cheek and instead snap your sword up and into his head beneath his helmet. A sending from Sir Merrl makes it clear that things have gotten bad fast – with the blitz having slowed so rapidly Volante is already here. He and his cavalry must have ridden from the moment they knew your target. Accompanying them are terrifying fast heavy mage-knights only minutes behind them, moving with a speed that not even the Black Dragon Knights could manage.

On the plus side, you think as you blow away almost a dozen vampires with magic lanes to their chests, the explosions are likely Gnome’s traps halting the cavalry charge. The fact that you aren’t hearing horrifying screams from afar is also a good sign. Still, you need to make a decision with the blitz going poorly. You…

>1. Keep with the attack force until you’re through the palisade and the blitz can resume towards the mages.
>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.
>3. Save your mana for Volante and immediately pull out to fight him.
>4. Custom

Sorry that took so long. I'm also going to have to duck off for lunch again now, so the next update will be a bit delayed.

>>44471894
>>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

There's no point holding off Volante if we can't penetrate the palisades.

>>44471894
>>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

>>44471894
>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

>>44471894
>>2.

>>44471894
>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

More than a bit risky, but I think we need the momentum and Volante needs the personal attention.

I thought a regular success produced one accumulated success but an exceptional one produced two?

Or is it 1-1 regardless of the degree of success?

>>44471894
>>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

>>44471894
>2
We can resupply with manaleech from the more mundane knights.

>>44471894
>Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.
This is not the day we will defeat him.

>>44471894
>2. Launch a bunch of magical lances to help your knights through the palisade right now, burning a fair bit of mana. Then immediately head towards Volante and his knights.

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Back now. That's a clear 2. Writing.

>>44471980
Exceptional successes only produce 2 accumulated successes if they're not used as part of the roll. So if you guys roll two 96s, then you'll get 2 accumulated successes.

>>44472492
>Exceptional successes only produce 2 accumulated successes if they're not used as part of the roll.

What?

>Reading the flow, 1 AS at start of combat
>First roll was Exceptional, grants 2 AS
>Spend two AS to pass roll
>Have 1 AS left
>Pass final roll, now have 2 AS

I am so goddamn confuse right now. Are you saying that using AS from immediately after a roll takes away the bonus AS from Exceptional?

That kind of skews it when you are doing mass rolls instead of single sets.

>>44472625
No, we gained 1 AS from the crit, because it was used. If the crit wasn't used, we would have gotten 2.

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>>44472625
The accumulated success came from the 70 in the first d100, not the 99 in the third. The exceptional was used to be, you know, exceptional.

>>44472769
>>44472695
But how are we supposed to not use an exceptional roll?

Seems kind of cheap, but at the same time makes sense from a crunchy standpoint.

This dice meta hurts my brain, I'm too sick for this.

I get what you mean, now, though. Thanks.

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>>44472818
>But how are we supposed to not use an exceptional roll?
By rolling two of them? That's all it's there for, so that additional good rolls don't get completely wasted.

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>>44472861
Oh.

>>44472625
I'll give you an example.

If you roll: 46, 98, 18 against DC 60
You had an exceptional success (the 98).

If you roll: 46, 98, 66 against DC 60
You had an exceptional success (the 98).
You also had a 66 that passed the DC, but wasn't used, so you gain 1 AS.

If you roll: 46, 98, 100 against DC 60
You rolled an exceptional success (the 100).
And also rolled another that was not actually used (the 98).
So you gain the 2 AS.

>>44472818
>This dice meta hurts my brain, I'm too sick for this.

Brother. I got my vacation almost 10 days ago. The day I went home passed out sick for a few days.

This confused me as well. So sick anon please rest easy that someone has vomited up their christmas break and had problems with functioning as well.

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>2.

The blitz is the crux of the whole assault – you can’t let it fail. At the same time, you can’t let Volante have free reign over your flank. At best he’ll cause a whole lot of casualties, at worst he’ll smash through and destroy the raid itself. Even if Gnome ahd stalled the cavalry charge you still had a very powerful vampire general to contend with.

Mind made up, you draw on almost half your remaining reserves and demonstrate to everybody just why you’re going to be an emperor. The melee is over in seconds, dozens of vampire corpses with gaping holes in their plate litter the battlefield. The Vitrians seem to hesitate, unsure as to what exactly just happened.

“Take the hill,” you shout, gesturing with your sword. “I’ll move on the vampires. Grandmaster Toren, I’ll leave the knights to you.”

Responding to your orders by pumping their shields into the air, the knights resume the blitz, more soldiers pouring in after them. Your part of the raid is over now and you need to make haste to join Gnome and the Pharosians before things get too bad. Firing off a sending to Lynn to get him moving, you take to the air and cross the battlefield. You can see the chaos on your flank – and the incoming Taourans. You count almost two hundred purple-armoured knights charging across the open field at an inhuman speed with an army further behind.

>continud

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>>44473158
Dust fills the centre of the chaos, the remnants of Gnome’s traps still providing loose dirt to be kicked up by the fighting around them. It’s a sea of armour within it, with dead and injured horses between the fighters or flaying about in terror. Volante’s knights are forming a tight semi-circle as your Pharosian mercenaries close in on them, their naginatas making it hard for the knights to easily close in with their shorter weapons and fend them off. At the same time, the power of the knights is apparent as Jirou’s men close in slowly, wary of leaving themselves open to an attack that could cleave right through their lamellar. Maybe you should see about getting them some plate.

A surge of vampiric magic draws your attention back to reality. You cut out the magic for your flight, just in time to see a brief flicker of red sear the sky where you once more. Crashing to the ground you find yourself beneath a cloud of dust, with little light penetrating. An enormous black figure, his armour seeming to absorb all light around him, stands nearby with an enormous greatsword in his hands.

It seems General Volante has picked his target well and you have a bad feeling you might not get out of this unscathed.

[DC80/92 Hasty Defense]

Hopefully updates resume a more normal schedule now.

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>44473180

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>44473180

Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>44473180

>>44473194
>>44473196
>>44473219

The dice gods laugh! Lalala! The dice gods laugh! Lalalala!

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>44473180

God, this is already really fucking tense.
All in all, a really shitty time for my body to decide that I should feel my sleep deprivation right now.
Curse you, feeble mortal flesh of mine!

>>44473194
>>44473196
>>44473219
At least we didn't fail

>>44473196
Good job, m8

>>44473296
That three almost killed my soul.

>>44473366
>>44473194
shit.. was it anything that's a 2 or below that's considered a critfail? I'm hoping it's not.

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>Target met

Accumulated Successes: 1
Mana: 7

A jolt of fear runs through your body and you surge to your feet, your sword flashing with its enchantments as you bring it to bear. The black figure that is Volante is on you an instant later. You feel as though a boulder hit your sword. Your sword slams back into your breastplate, the impact knocking the breath out of you and you let the momentum knock you to the ground. Volante crashes over you and spins an instant later, his black figure becoming clearer as the wind his movement kicked up dispels the cloud of dust around him.

You see him above you, tall and malovent in pitch-black armour. Against all possibility his armour seems to gleam and you marvel at how clean it is for such a wanton butcher of a vampire. The strange gummy resin you had heard about seem to cover his visor, preventing any sight of his eyes. He seems to stare down at you, insofar as a plate-armoured monster with no face can stare. Vampiric energy seems to hang over him like a cloak, though you’d be damned if you could tell what he’s doing. The dust cloud settles again a moment later and as the shadow falls over him you see it all too clearly.

A strange red haze hangs around him and in front of his face an odd red light. A red rictus grin seems to hang in the shadow cast by the cloud, where only dust and air should be. He raises his sword, his armour making no noise. It is pitch-black, as if the darkness of the night still hung over the world but had been cast into the steel of that blade. Terror bubbled up within you as you gazed on what you knew to be a monster beyond what you’d seen before. Death was here.

>continued

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>>44473706
Well, to hell with death. You push down your fear and rise to your feet. You can sense Gnome nearby, and Lynn too. You weren’t here to defeat Death, merely delay his scythe from falling over your men. Volante’s imitiation of the great reaper will just have to wait before acting out its macabre play.

Once to your feet, Volante takes a stance, his greatsword held pointed outwards. As the light returns once again, the battle seems distant as Volante returns to being merely an armoured figure. Gnome is to your right, nursing a nasty wound along one arm, and Lynn has just burst through the melee with a shield-charge.

Volante speaks, “You would be Waise. I won’t waste my honour on requesting a duel. Swallow what little pride you have and pray for a quick death.”

Such a nice man. You’d feel better about this if it weren’t for his overwhelming power earlier – he was as fast as you and far stronger.

>What’s your immediate action plan?

You’ve got a few main courses of action. Try Black Dragon’s Rage to hammer him, but sacrifice your ability to use magic for the time (and reveal your trump card to him)? Or you can simply try to lay the magic on thick with Explosive Thrust and Magic Lances. Alternatively you could try to delay him with Gnome and Lynn’s help.

All other plans are welcome, including specific ideas for fighting him.

>>44473729
Honestly I get the feeling the best idea is rapid magical delaying tactics also known as five magical lances to the face while we get Gnome or Lynn to show up as help.

>>44473729
Umm no matter what we do gnome and Lynn need to attack with us. This is no time for 1V1

>>44473791
I'm thinking black dragon rage should be a last resort thing.

He would never expect Saul to turn into the Hulk so he might get a decent surprise attack when they first clash if he uses that mid battle.

I honeslty feel like the teaming up and delaying action are the most sensible.
We have too little mana left to risk the mana heavy route and we aren't in any position to actually kill him with the dragon rage.

Better to keep our trumpcards hidden and get him to hate us even more.
That way he's all the more likely to try charging us next time as well when we actually set things up to kill him and he gest sucker punched by dragon rage.

>>44473729
How well can two flow readers sync together? Could the Gnome and Saul Sync up and try to set up an opening for Lynn or each other?

>>44473729
Remember, we shouldn't use BDR. As it stands, our best idea is probably to make use of the fact that there are three of us and only one of him. Surround him and restrict his movements. If he moves to attack one of us, the others have an opening. We're low on mana, so we can't just spam it, but we'll have to make judicious use of it. Throw it in every now or then.

Now, he's got a ranged weapon as well. Perhaps we open up with two mana worth of magic lances to try and get him to use his on us, so then his regeneration is slowed.

Another option is to have Gnome prepare a sinkhole or something that we can push him into. Just some way to keep him off balance..

In any case, send a sending to Lynn and tell her to keep her dragon powers in reserve for the key moment. We'll need to surprise him with a burst of power.

>>44473729
>>44473706

The Great Volante? Thought you'd be taller.

Bait him into a charge and try to explode and explode into a charge, trying to spear him with your sword. Throw a magic lance or two when in the charge to disorient.

I get the feeling Volante's a bit dismissive and trash talk would get under his skin better than if he thought we were equals.

>>44473729
Obviously we should try to blow a limb clean off or at least temporarily disable it with Explosive Thrust, that'll at least give him a moment of pause to heal, then we keep the pressure up with Lances or plain ol' attacking.

Aiming for his hands/joints should slow him down or hamper his fighting style, forcing him to resort to using magic to keep up and not regen because he is using magic, or backtrack and try to regen, thus being less of a threat.

Obviously we are trying to drive him off, not kill him, but hey, you never know.

>>44473729
Light him up I say, hes a beast in CQC and hes good at confusing his enemies. So nice and flashy but not overly explosive. We don't want to lose track of him, focus on lances vs explosions.

Captcha has been a pain today...

You know what? We don't really need to see much. Have Gnome create a giant-ass dust cloud so we can take advantage of our flow reading.

>>44473729
We need to make judicious use of flying, as it is something he cannot do. With two threats on the ground and one in the air, his attention will be quite split.

>>44473729
Aim for his hands, Disarm Volante. He's a terror with his GS so lets try to make it so that he loses his GS and needs to resort to hand to hand, then if possible, Have Gnome play keep away. She's too injured to actively deal with Volante. Lynn and Saul will have to tag-team with Saul peeling Volante's combat prowess.

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>>44473864
HAHAHAHA yes, make cracks about his height!

I mean Lyra told us to run for the hills instead of fight this guy but we are kind of determined. Maybe draw him into thinking we plan on going all Honorubu knighto against him would work in our favor.

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So a few plans.

One is to focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

Try to cripple or seriously hamper his regular ability to fight with a surge of magic at the start, probably an explosive thrust to his hands or forearms.

There's also the attempt to trash talk and bait him into doing something stupid, so you can get the upper hand over him. You have no idea how much that will impact him.

Any other major plans or changes before I put these to vote?

>>44473912
Why do you want a dust cloud for? You can sense his magic anyway - the shadows just make it visible.

>>44473834
There's not really any syncing to do. Flow reading/manipulation is just the ability to sense or use magical energy in a way that is advantageous in combat.

>>44473916
He can't fly but he does have a ranged attack.

>>44474102
>Why do you want a dust cloud for? You can sense his magic anyway - the shadows just make it visible.
Assuming he can't see through it, we're at an advantage if that happens. That's of course assuming he can't see through it and our flow reading gives us a good enough view of his movements even without seeing him.

I'm not sure trashtalk is really all that useful here.
I mean, given how he already views us, just being a dishonorable asshole that focuses on delaying tactics and doesn't mind ganging up on him could to piss him off way more than any mere insults anyways.

>>44474102
>There's not really any syncing to do. Flow reading/manipulation is just the ability to sense or use magical energy in a way that is advantageous in combat.
I more meant that do you get a stacking bonus when two flow readers fight together because of their ability to anticipate and adapt to each other's movements and create openings for each other.

>>44474102
>He can't fly but he does have a ranged attack.

I'd rather have to focus on dodging ranged attacks and forcing him to waste mana than try to fight this beefy dude in CQC.

>>44474170
if anything, we should put off an impression of being trollish whenever he misses a swing. If he views Saul as a cockroach, then let Saul be the infuriating cockroach that somehow always survives.

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>>44474164
Well, given he literally can't see out of his helmet (the visor is literally gummed up with resin) you would think he has some method of magical sight.

>>44474185
No more than just regular coordination. Flow reading doesn't give you the ability to read somebody's strategy, just their immediate use and movement of magical energy and you already get a bonus for that.

PLAN VOTE
>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.
>2. Try to cripple or seriously hamper his regular ability to fight with a surge of magic at the start, probably an explosive thrust to his hands or forearms. Then move to delaying (unless you do a lot of damage).
>3. Attempt to trash talk and bait him into doing something stupid, so you can get the upper hand over him. You have no idea how much that will impact him.

>>44474290
>>2. Try to cripple or seriously hamper his regular ability to fight with a surge of magic at the start, probably an explosive thrust to his hands or forearms. Then move to delaying (unless you do a lot of damage).

>>44474290
>>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

>>44474290
>2

>>44474290
>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.
2 is just too high risk for me.

>>44474290
>2. Try to cripple or seriously hamper his regular ability to fight with a surge of magic at the start, probably an explosive thrust to his hands or forearms. Then move to delaying (unless you do a lot of damage).
Disarm him, grab his sword, and then RUN AWAY!

>>44474290

>3.

>>44474290
>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

>>44474290
>>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

>>44474290
>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

>>44474290
>>3. Attempt to trash talk and bait him into doing something stupid, so you can get the upper hand over him. You have no idea how much that will impact him.
You know what? Might as well. This couldn't possibly go wrong.

>>44474290
>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

>>44474290
>1

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1 wins. Writing.

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>1. Focus on delaying him by working with Gnome and Lynn, focused on restricting his movements and keeping him on his toes with judicious use of magic lances.

You decided to hold back on the response and instead focus on not dying – and on not letting him kill anybody else. Holding your stance, you backpedal far enough to leave Volante in the midst of the three of you. The vampire knight maintains his position as the battle rages on around all of you.

The sounds of the battle echo around you, shouts and yells, the grating sound of steel, the thunder of hundreds of charging knights from behind you. You’re in a bad position in the long-run, but that assumes any of the Taouran knights are insane enough to get involved in a battle involving Volante and three magical warriors. The dust is rapidly dissipating as the constant chaos wears away the loose dirt and the action settles down to a thick ball as the Pharosians find they’ve pushed the Taouran knights as far as they can.

A sending flickers in your mind and you fire off a response idly, ordering some Vitrians to reinforce the Pharosians in case the Taourans finally try to break through. It’s just a slight motion of a finger, with your eyes tracking across to your sword as you cast the cantrip and focus your mind. Less than a second where you have a less than perfect grip on your sword.

You hear the crunching of the earth. Instinctively, you shift your stance and shuffle to one side. Another massive cloud of dust springs to life from Volante’s position as he charges you, obscuring your vision of Gnome and Lynn. Like a coiled spring, all the power of the vampire closes in on you.

[DC80/92 Receive the Charge; DC87 Strike Back]

[DC66/80 Assistance]

[DC57/80 Raid on the Hill]

Roll 4d100 please. You have 1 accumulated success.

Rolled 86, 17, 17, 35 = 155 (4d100)

>>44474730

Rolled 65, 37, 65, 51 = 218 (4d100)

>>44474730
For Talon!

Rolled 17, 54, 75, 40 = 186 (4d100)

>>44474730
Oh god Jimmy NO

Rolled 74, 2, 97, 6 = 179 (4d100)

>>44474730

Mercenaries fight for money not honor Volante.

>>44474753
>>44474756
>>44474759
Wow looks like this will be a short quest

>>44474785
Next time we'll reroll the mage.

So I guess the raid gets upgraded to a pass, then we retreat.

We, at least, didn't get absolutely destroyed.

>>44471402
>tfw the dice are laughing at your probability

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>>44474835
>So I guess the raid gets upgraded to a pass
You need 2 acc. successes to upgrade a fail to a pass.

Receive the Charge: Lower target success
Strike Back: Fail
Assistance: Lower target success
Raid on the Hill: Fail

No additional accumulated successes, so you still only have one.

>>44474862
This is making up for all the insanely good rolls you got in earlier threads.

>>44474874
>You need 2 acc. successes to upgrade a fail to a pass.
>tfw you thought the 65 was a 66

FUCK

>>44474874
You turned on the bad roll troll bot now that shit got real didn't you?

>>44471402
>>44474874
the fact that you posted the probability is essentially asking for the dice gods to kill the quest by fucking with the dice.
You screwed us over intentionally.

>>44474874
>This is making up for all the insanely good rolls you got in earlier threads.

Fatepoints when? Because we're going to fucking die here.

And that's being optimistic.

Daywalker Saul when?

Would that even work with his familiar bond with Lyria? Questions questions.

>>44474930
I actually think doing a daywalker emporer quest would be fun as shit

>>44471271
>>44471389
>>44471666
LOOK WHAT YOU ASSHOLES DID
YOU HAD TO MOCK THE DICE GODS
YOU JUST HAD TO

>>44474930
bruh, we didn't fail receiving his charge. Counter attack and raid failed and we're out the MP we used so we kinda accomplished nothing, but we aren't anywhere near dead yet

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>>44474918

>>44474960
>still get made fun of for being short

>>44474967
>but we aren't anywhere near dead yet

Yeah, that's why we're going to be some vampire shit's boytoy.

>>44475040
>boytoy
This fella ain't a Slaaneshi son, he's full on Khornate.

>>44474960
given Saul's innate magical ability, if we were turned by someone already powerful like Volante we'd be an absolute monster

Saul > Talon > Felix as far as magical potential (I think?)
Volante > Aladria as far as masters go

ofc the hard part would be getting rid of Volante after that I guess

Holy shit everybody, you guys are acting like you never got your shit kicked in in a fight.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off.

Priority numero uno is making sure our boys are alright. No use being a general without troops.

Have Lynn/Gnome handle a retreat, Lynn handles troops closest to raid on hill to help them pull back

We'll embed ourselves with Pharosian troops currently engaging with Volantes nightwalkers, we'll have Gnome muddy the soil behind us. Even if Volante's Calvary can somehow magic their way past, the rest of his general troops can't and that will force him to break off a chase.

Thirdly, we will prepare better for an assault. Legitimately we got fucked because he offered tempting bait, we didn't prepare enough, and now we got screwed. I Am positive just doing essential planning before an engagement would have lowered dice DC;'s to a respectable level.

We are questers. It is our very nature to figure out what the DM is trying to do and fuck with it to make it in our favor. Abuse the write in system.

>>44475090
Wrong. Talon's flat out stronger than Saul absent shenanigans. Saul maxxes out a bit above full power gnome I believe. Capable of taking any human short of Alyce, no match for the three most powerful dragons, the lords, or Archangels/Archdemons.

>>44475107
Calm down dude were just having fun
>>44475090
I think Aladria > Volante simply because of the power draining stuff

>>44475075
Never said Volante was going to be the one to take us.

Why would he?

Shit nigguh

I'm wondering why we arn't already retreating? why did we send more troops in?

This was a hit and run attack that's why I voted for the magic blast delay tactic we should be pulling back.

>The best laid plans

I love it when a plan fails miserably

Now we have to make up for it later when we tell everyone how everything went to shit.

Now we have to do something stupid like 1v1 Volante so people will listen to us.

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>>44474918
>kill the quest by fucking with the dice
2 successes, 2 fails, no dram fails. Melodrama much?

>>44475184
Because the raid is only just getting going?

>Receive the Charge: Lower target met
>Strike Back: Target not met

Sparks fill your vision as Volante’s sword strikes yours. You hold him for a moment before you let your stance shift and his momentum begins to carry him forwards. Stepping back, you raise your sword for a thrust, preparing to channel magic into your blade and strike true in a joint in his armour.

Then Volante spins, as if he knows what’s coming. His sword snaps out at you as he tumbles to the ground. Time seems to freeze for a moment, your arm already moving as instinct registered his shifting magical energy long before your mind did. Relinquishing the magical energy you bat his sword out of the way and leap back. Dust kicks up around Volante as he rolls back to his feet, rapidly resuming his stance.

>Assistance: Lower target met

Lynn charges in past you, his shield glowing brightly as he slams head-on into Volante. The vampire knight receives the charge head-on with a loud grunt and you feel his energy welling up within him. Your throat catches as you begin to shout a warning, your feet already moving to join in the assault.

>continued

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>>44475288
The ground explodes where Volante stood as Gnome lands with a great crash, the vampire knight already leaping to the side and dropping his own attack against Ser Lynn. Refocusing your charge, you dart off to one side to keep Volante contained and he launches his shadow blade at you. There’s no dust cloud to warn you of the malevolent energy being hurled your way but you sense it and fall into a roll. Kicking up dirt with your boots, you rise to your feet and launch a handful of magic lances at the vampire to stop his charge. He casts his blade in front of his body as he halts his charge and you sense a barrier there. The dust from his own leap casts a shadow over him a fraction of a second later, and once again you see his rictus grin hanging in front of his face, unchanged. A thin film of red light catches your lances and they shatter against it, with but one punching through and battering against the vampire’s plate.

Volante eases back into his stance, a dull thud emanating from his armour when he strikes it where your lance punched it. “You made a hole. I’m impressed,” he says dryly.

A moment later the hole is gone, the metal of the armour seeming to creep back over it and the small amount of blood you’d produced seeming to ooze into the blackness of the plate.

>continued

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>>44475307
>Raid on the Hill: Target not met

While Volante’s positioning himself for another round, you receive an update from Malaine. The raid isn’t going well – Maloric’s had to reposition himself due to the oncoming Taouran reinforcements. Volante knows damn well that you’re going to pull out and he’s fanning his army out, trying to catch you in a net. With your archers and mages at threat, Maloric had pulled them closer to the encampment so they’d be covered by your knights. The cost was that the enemy battlemages had been better able to stop the blitz once again.

With Maloric in position again it can resume but the heavy mage-knight reinforcements are right on top of you and it could get very bloody, very quickly. You’d done a lot of damage to the regular troops, but if Volante had those mages he could still cause a lot of damage with an attack. You…

>1. Pull your troops back now, before things get bloodier. You’ll likely need to continue holding the Vitrian front against Volante.
>2. Continue as planned, with your knights making a final push before pulling out. You should be able to avoid a pitched battle but you’ll face heavy resistance on your flanks.
>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.
>4. Custom

>>44475331
>>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.

>>44475331
>>2. Continue as planned, with your knights making a final push before pulling out. You should be able to avoid a pitched battle but you’ll face heavy resistance on your flanks.

>>44475331
diagram please.

>>44475331
>>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.

>>44475331
>2. Continue as planned, with your knights making a final push before pulling out. You should be able to avoid a pitched battle but you’ll face heavy resistance on your flanks.

>>44475331
>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.

>>44475331
So does #2 mean that we run risk of getting double enveloped Cannae style?

I guess I'm not visualizing it well right now

>>44475331

>1. Pull your troops back.

>>44475331
>2. Continue as planned, with your knights making a final push before pulling out. You should be able to avoid a pitched battle but you’ll face heavy resistance on your flanks.

>>44475331
>1. Pull your troops back now, before things get bloodier. You’ll likely need to continue holding the Vitrian front against Volante.
We've impressed Vampire Sempai, mission accomplished. Now lets get out.

>>44475435
ya it is the worst option

>>44475331
>>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.

>>44475373
Second, before we commit to our votes.

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>>44475435
No, because you'll pull out. I'm not letting votes that completely contradict earlier plans go thorugh unless something massive changes - this is just a matter of waiting longer than you would otherwise.

Here's a shitty map that probably won't make it clear, but it's basically how many losses you want to take for whatever return you'll get. As said at the start, each encampment is basically the corner of a triangle so the armies have to come via the edges - getting encircled isn't really possible with the current plan.

Does anyone know how Volante thralls people?

>>44475642
Well, I hear he stabs people a whole bunch, then beheads them.

Not very effective, though, from what I gather.

>>44475331
>>44475609
>3. Refocus on the elites now that the mages are entrenched. Pull your knights out from the encampment via your current flank and try to smash through the knights and heavy mage-knights as you pull a fighting retreat.

>>44475668
I bet its defeating them in a duel actually.

>>44475642
very similar to Terce

but instead of singing he freestyles
he's not very good and fails often which is why >>44475668 happens

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3 wins. Writing.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

Warming up my dice, senpai

well, at least we have a clearer picture of how Volante fights, and what kinds of bullshit he can pull with his abilities

plus we didn't impress him at all which means he won't be overly wary next time we have to go up against him. Hopefully that counts as enough to lower the DC

>>44475847
Well, my guess is we are going to move to a siege of Vitria next since we probably won't do enough damage to his army to force him to suspend his campaign.

That could work in our favor since we have Vitrian reinforcements waiting for us at the capitol. Maybe it's for the best.

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>3.

You fire off some sendings to your captains, ordering a retreat. The catch is that you’ll have them pull out using a path that runs them through where you’re currently fighting Volante’s knights. If the vampire general wants to bring his elites to tango with you, then you’ll happily bring a great big party to join him. You’ll see if he’ll still mock you after that.

The way your sendings are acknowledged by your captains varies, but you have a feeling that a few of them might take ‘fighting retreat’ a bit more seriously than you’d intended. Maloric is in a good position right now so you have him keep an eye on the enemy mages – the last thing you wanted is a hundred Taouran battlemages hosing down your knights from behind with fireballs and lightning.

For the few seconds it takes you to organise your thoughts and fire off the sendings Volante holds his stance. If you were reading things right, he was hoping to delay you here in turn, keeping your army in position long enough to pincer you. You were no fool, no matter how much he might believe otherwise. Resuming your own stance properly, you watch the vampire closely. Offense is the last thing on your mind right now – you’re pulling out and the only left was keeping Volante in one spot while your knights trample over his.

>continued

>>44475899
Volante's thoughts after this fight
>eh, manlet whose reputation makes him seem larger than he is not that that's hard
>wasn't much
>I'll kill him next time
>won't get much honour or reputation for it, but whatever

>we go level up and have other successful campaigns
>Volante hears, is irritated that our reputation keeps growing even though we're basically a nobody that wasn't even worth his full effort

>30 threads later we meet again and stomp him into the ground
I'm okay with this

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>>44475993
“You handle command better than I expected of a mere youth,” Volante says suddenly. “Already I can sense your army shifting in response to your commands, and after only a few seconds. A strong mind, with an even stronger grasp on the intricacies of sendings. Perhaps it will be wasteful to kill you – I could use a good lieutenant.”

“I’ll pass,” you say without even hesitating. “I won’t serve a general who can’t match me.”

“Hah, such arrogance. We’ll see if it lasts,” Volante says.

His sword shift slightly and you catch the movement of his magic. He’s done this too many times for it to work again…

[DC66/80 Delaying Volante]

[DC57/73 Encampment Retreat; DC63/80 Flanking Charge]

Roll 3d100 please. 1 accumulated success. Probably the last dice rolls of the session.

Rolled 65, 42, 54 = 161 (3d100)

>>44476026

Rolled 43, 85, 33 = 161 (3d100)

>>44476026
I got this everyone

Rolled 29, 36, 71 = 136 (3d100)

>>44476026
Fine, I'll deal with this.

Rolled 7, 34, 44 = 85 (3d100)

>>44476026

>>44476049
>1 off
>fucking 1
>FUCK YOU 1

Nothing more frustrating

>>44476049
>1 off
NOOOOOO

>>44476049
>>44476050
>>44476051
>>44476053
Holy Emprah.. the rolls man..