>>5139035
Constanzia howls in self-evident anguish, bleeding from her eyes as they rapidly reassemble themselves and force the last of the debris out. Her eyes then open from behind the mess of purple blood, her face a mask of pure, insane, unyielding rage. The size of her body reduces somewhat, bony wings sprouting from her back like a grim and skeletal bird of prey.

“What was that the old man said?” she mutters to herself, power still surging in waves. “Something about psychopathic tendencies?”

Her eyes lock with yours. “Noel, former number seven. Weak point is the heart or brain. Death instantaneous.”

She glances at Zoe. “Zoe, former number ten. Weak points are too numerous to list – dismember and prevent from reattaching limbs. Death will be slow.”

Then she looks to Salem. “Salem, abyssal one. Equal in rank. Dismemberment by tearing at gaps in armor. Death by exsanguination, slow but effective.”

Then, finally, “Sabela, abyssal one. Weakness uncertain. Hypothesis – break her spirit with the death of her only child.”

>That... doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well for me. A little help here, everyone?
>Rafaela was keeping her in check this whole time? Sabela, can you do something?
>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?
>Other?

>>5139046
>>That... doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well for me. A little help here, everyone?

>>5139046
>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?

>>5139046
>>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?
Let's hope this doesn't end badly

>>5139046
>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?

>>5139046
>That... doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well for me. A little help here, everyone?

>>5139046
>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?

>>5139046
>>Okay, I’ll serve as bait. I just need to protect my brain and my heart, right?

>>5139046
“... I’ll be bait,” you declare quietly while Constanzia continues to mutter to herself.

Zoe stares at you. “Are you sure?”

You nod. “She has me figured out, but if I concentrate on protecting my vitals I’ll have a shot. You figure out how to take advantage of it.”

“I don’t like this,” Sabela insists flatly.

“I know, mother.”

“It’s a stupid idea,” she continues.”

“I know that too, mother.”

“... I’ll make sure it;s not for nothing,” she concludes.

After a moment, you nod in understanding. “I trust you.”
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 1, 7, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>5140632
Go high

Rolled 10, 10, 4 = 24 (3d10)

>>5140632

Rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12 (3d10)

>>5140632

Rolled 8, 2, 1 = 11 (3d10)

>>5140632

>>5140632
And with that trust, you move forward, leaving yourself somewhat open in the process. Constanzia falls upon you with a predatory ferocity, practically baying for your blood. And she gets it straight away, scoring a hit you can really feel against your ribs on the left side. But importantly, your blade being in the way keeps her from getting anywhere close to your vitals.

She smashes into you, sending you crashing into the front doors of an apartment building, her wings keeping Salem and Sabela at bay as she chases you down. You barely manage to turn your head to avoid her clawed fingers, and duck under her wings before raising your guard again. It’s all you can do under these circumstances to dodge, and nobody expects anything more from you, so dodging and staying alive is exactly what you do.

Your wounds quickly heal each time, and each time one or the other of your allies gets in some kind of hit. It’s incredible that Constanzia can still fight like this after all that’s happened. If only she could be convinced to join your side.

>You need to step things up. You can/t keep regenerating forever.
>Keep this under control. You can still go for a while yet.
>Call out directions to your mother, see if you can’t coordinate better.
>Other

>>5141853
>Call out directions to your mother, see if you can’t coordinate better.
>Other
Call out Constanzia's stances and openings from your perspective.

>>5141853
>>Call out directions to your mother, see if you can’t coordinate better.

>>5141853
>You need to step things up. You can/t keep regenerating forever.

>>5141853
>You need to step things up. You can/t keep regenerating forever.

>>5141853
>Call out directions to your mother, see if you can’t coordinate better.

>>5141853
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 2, 4, 7 = 13 (3d10)

>>5143610
RNGesus hear my prayer

Rolled 7, 7, 6 = 20 (3d10)

>>5143610

Rolled 2, 6, 3 = 11 (3d10)

>>5143610

>>5143610
You decide to call out to your comrades – to work as a team rather than just as bait, to really take advantage of the situation as best you can. But it’s much harder in practice than you anticipated. In order to call out what you see Constanzia doing you both have to pick out the finest details of her movements and positioning, commit to minimizing their impact by moving and positioning yourself, and also put it in clear, concise words quickly enough that a nearby comrade can do something about it. With the speed that Constanzia is moving at, there’s simply not enough time.

So you take a different approach.

[Left.]

With your left hand you signal your own intentions, the way you intend to move in response to Constanzia’s line of attack. The blow digs into your shoulder, which immediately starts to regenerate, but she misses the fatal blow she was aiming for.

[Parry.]

You raise your sword in your right hand, with the flat of the blade preventing your enemy’s attack from penetrating although the force behind the blow nearly knocks you off your feet. But this time, Zoe manages to get in a shallow cut against Constanzia while she’s in the process of hitting you, before she ducks back.

Another fleeting gesture. [Back.]

When you do so, you see Sabela gesture to Salem with a subtle hooking movement of her fingertips. [Flank.]

Constanzia commits to a powerful hammering blow, which you evade by leaping backwards, leaving her open for Sabela and Salem to attack her from opposite sides. Salem’s attack cuts deep into Constanzia’s arm, while Sabela takes off a few fingers.

[Under.]

Her movements become so sloppy that you do something particularly stupid – you evade by sliding between her legs and rolling to your feet, which means that she leaves her back exposed. Sabela catches one ‘wing’ and pins it in place so that Zoe can strike at one of its joints, severing part of it and leaving a stump behind.

Constanzia howls in wordless pain, borderline feral now with rage.

>Go back on the offensive, try to focus on striking the joints of Constanzia’s legs.
>Keep this up, let the others wear Constanzia down before finishing her off for good.
>Try to get Constanzia to do something reckless, see if someone can finish her NOW.
>Other?

>>5143718
>>Keep this up, let the others wear Constanzia down before finishing her off for good.

>>5143718
>Try to get Constanzia to do something reckless, see if someone can finish her NOW.

>>5143718
>Try to get Constanzia to do something reckless, see if someone can finish her NOW.

>>5143718
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 1, 9, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>5144510

Rolled 7, 5, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5144510

Rolled 1, 8, 10 = 19 (3d10)

>>5144510

>>5144510
Waiting on one more.

Rolled 4, 10, 5 = 19 (3d10)

>>5144510

>>5144510
“Is that all you have?” you taunt, taking a few steps back in the mean time. “I’m disappointed... you must not have cared about your sister that much.”

Constanzia locks eyes on you as you continue to create space. “What... did you say?”

“I mean, you seem more annoyed than anything else,” you continue. “Like I took away a toy you wanted to play with. It took you forever to even realize she was gone.”

Constanzia charges you blindly, straight past your comrades who each deliver terrible blows as she passes. Salem and Sabela strike the same spot in turn and manage to sever Constanzia’s dominant arm at the shoulder, and Zoe leaves a deep, bleeding gash in her left side right under where her ribs should be, but that doesn’t stop her from slamming into you like a massive clothesline caught under your chin.

Even as the impact threatens to strangle you, it’s obvious she intends nothing so peaceful as that – she intends to slam you into something and decapitate you.

In desperation you swing yourself upwards, feeling your windpipe about to be crushed by the combined forces, and plant your foot in her gut. That frees your chin and lets you roll out of the lock, and you fall to the ground below her feet. One step lands on your left elbow and smashes it at the joint, but it could have been worse. Constanzia slams into a metal lamp pole, one of the few things hard enough not to just break apart under that amount of force – that would’ve smashed all the bones in your neck at best.

But she’s not done.

She rounds on you and charges back to where you’re still struggling to get up. She almost seems to ignore the fact that Sabela has charged after you, shouting your name.

Your mother takes the blow meant for you, a hole punched clean through her gut and out through her spine, but she also grabs Constanzia around the arm and digs her clawed feet into the street. “Do it now, Noel!”

Now out from under your attacker, you raise your blade and thrust upwards at an angle with all the strength you have left, all your body mass, all your heart and soul behind the single point of your sword. It hits the open wound where Constanzia’s right arm used to be and sinks in up to the hilt, poking out of the left side of her neck. Then, for good measure, you pull the blade free, turn as you fall, and slash deeper into her side where Zoe left a gash before.

Her spine now severed in two places, Constanzia finally falls. Sabela pulls the hand out of her guts and falls as well, coughing up blood as she pushes herself towards where you landed flat on your face, breaking your nose in the process.

>Finish Constanzia off now.
>Your mother comes first.
>Other?

>>5145140
>Your mother comes first.

>>5145140
Take care of mom

>>5145140
>Your mother comes first.

>>5145140
>>Your mother comes first.

>>5145140
>Your mother comes first.

>>5145140
>>Your mother comes first.

>>5145140
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8 (3d10)

>>5145591

Rolled 6, 7, 6 = 19 (3d10)

>>5145591

Rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10 (3d10)

>>5145591

>>5145591
You manage to get to your hands and knees, and crawl towards where Sabela has fallen. “Mother... how are you feeling?”

She coughs up more blood. “Fine... fine... think she got a bit... of my lungs there. You?”

“Nose broke,” you admit, still keeping your broken arm close to your chest. “Arm’s still broken. Working on it though.”

“And Constanzia?”

You realize she can’t actually sit up to see for herself, since a pretty decent-sized chunk of her spine is just gone. “She’s worse off than you are.”

You hear a shout from Zoe and Salem, and turn to find Constanzia looming over you... with your mother’s hair speared through her in about a dozen places.

“She may have been taunting you,” your mother declares, “but she was right. You blamed your sister for your awakenings, didn’t you?”

Constanzia coughs loudly, several of the hair-spears having passed through her lungs. “How... did you... know that...”

“Lucky guess,” Sabela admits. “But it seemed likely.”

“Ah,” Constanzia muses, before collapsing again. “It seems I’m dying.”

“Seems that way,” Sabela agrees. “Sorry that I can’t feel sorry about this, but it needed to happen.”

“I remember...” Constanzia ignores your mother. “I remember my sister, when we were young. We were... playing in a creek. She fell in and got soaked... I used to get her in so much trouble.”

“I had forgotten that. I wonder... if she...”

After a moment, you make a decision. “We’ll bury you together, at least.”

You can tell she heard you, though she may not really be listening per se, lost in her own final thoughts. “Maybe... it would have been a kinder fate... to have died together... back then.”

During the moments that follow no one speaks – Salem and Zoe return to their fully human forms, with Zoe offering Salem her cloak to cover up. Once the colossal hole in her stomach closes up your mother is in need of similar assistance – though both are covered in blood.

Civilians have begun to leave their homes, and some are obviously angry at what they’re seeing. A few even gather around Rafaela’s corpse with tools and random household objects, apparently with the intention of defacing it.

>Leave someone here to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.
>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.
>Make it clear to the locals why what they’re doing bothers you.
>Other?

>>5145710
>>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

>>5145710
>>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

>>5145710
>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

OP I like your writing style, would you be open to a collaboration for something not on /qst/?

>>5145710
Other.
Do a sweep for hidden org spies and watchers. Bet clarice was watching the whole thing go down with suppressed yoki

>>5145710
>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

>>5145767
Probably not going to happen, sorry. I barely have time these days to run my own things.

>>5145710
>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

>>5145710
>>>Take the bodies with you to check on your other team.

>>5145710
You coordinate to carry the bodies away, leaving a few of the locals with a stink-eye on the way out of town for their disrespect towards the fallen but otherwise trying hard to avoid engaging with any of them. Generally speaking it’s better that way when you’re angry – especially as the reigning queen of a nation that still remembers your father’s last days, you don’t want to build a reputation for outbursts in public.

When you find the others you take quick stock of their situation. A few of the soldiers have been killed or wounded but all things considered casualties are light. None of your silver-eyed comrades are permanently wounded, though many of the wounds you noticed do look like they must hurt, and all of the awakened beings are dead.

“They fought to the last,” Helen muses quietly, staring at the former warriors who have been left wherever they fell. “You look like hell.”

“I nearly died,” you admit. “And the town?”

“There’s some damage,” Helen admits, pointing out a few buildings where there’s still smoke and dust rising. “But it could have been much worse.”

Then she glances at the bodies of Constanzia and Rafaela. “What do we do about the bodies?”

You consider the most appropriate course of action with a frown. “Bury them near where they fell. The only requirement is that Constanzia and Rafaela should be buried together.”

“And the fallen soldiers?”

>Bury them in a different spot, but keep their personal effects to be returned to their families.
>We should bury them in the town’s cemetery. Properly mark their graves to be maintained.
>As awful as it will be in practice, we should consider ways to get them back to Hazaran.
>Other?

>>5148737
>We should bury them in the town’s cemetery. Properly mark their graves to be maintained.

>>5148737
>We should bury them in the town’s cemetery. Properly mark their graves to be maintained.

>>5148737
>>We should bury them in the town’s cemetery. Properly mark their graves to be maintained.

>>5149058
>>5148737
Maybe also send an officer or an injured soldier to inform the mayor of this, so that they don't mistake it, these men died as heros defending them.
And obviously take possessions back to any family they might have.

>>5148737
>We should bury them in the town’s cemetery. Properly mark their graves to be maintained.

>>5148737
>>5149058
>>5149077
This

>>5148737
You instruct a few of the surviving soldiers to begin digging holes for the awakened beings to be buried in, and send two more into the town to find whoever happens to be in charge right now to inform them that you’ll be burying five men in their cemetery. The wounded are already being tended to, and your troops brought their own medical supplies – half again enough for the number of wounded. So that won’t be a concern.

Leaving Helen’s team to oversee burial of the awakened beings, you and yours do the same for the Hazari soldiers. There’s only two shovels to go around, so you look around the area of the church and find two more, meaning it can go that much quicker. Townsfolk gather around muttering and staring as your subordinates dig the holes into which they’ll lower their fallen comrades, now covered over by their own rain jackets.

After a while, you try to take one shovel. “I could finish this quicker.”

“No, ma’am,” the soldier whose shovel you’re trying to take insists. “I will not allow my queen to dirty her hands with this task.”

“He has a point,” Zoe insists, taking the shovel from the opposite side. “I’ve done this enough in my time to know how to do it quickly.”

Sure enough she has a six-foot hole dug in what seems like just a few minutes, while Sabela does the same. Salem however watches from a short distance, seemingly uncomfortable with the whole business. Instead, she watches the growing crowd.

“They seem restless,” she mutters quietly.

“It’s understandable, in a way,” you admit. “Word probably spread of how we were fighting, and there were likely injuries or even fatalities during the shelling. So we’re probably not too welcome here.”

One among them in particular stands out, better dressed and a little on the older side – you’d almost say ‘dignified’. Almost. He watches you with a frown, arms crossed and brow furrowed.

You approach him. “Can I help you?”

“Who even are you people,” he growls.

“Queen Noel Tiberius di Hazaran,” you reply calmly, “and we are here to bury our dead. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

“The mayor around here,” he insists curtly. “I told your boys we didn’t want any more trouble, and yet here you are digging up holes in our churchyard.”

>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.
>Don’t you dare deface these graves when we leave. If you do, THEN we’ll have some “trouble” on our hands.
>If you have a problem with us giving our fallen comrades a proper burial, you’re not much better than the monsters that killed them.
>Other?

>>5150035
>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.

>>5150035
>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.

>>5150035
>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.

>>5150035
>>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.

>>5150035
>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.

>>5150035
>These men died freeing your town from some of the most dangerous monsters in existence. They deserve at least this much.
Btw is anyone else getting a potential security risk warning when trying to access suptg?

>>5151515
suptg has moved to lws.thisisnotatrueending.com.

>>5151542
Thanks mate.

>>5150035
Apologies for the delays. It tends to be my habit that I start Claymore second because it typically moves slower, but having a full work schedule means I sometimes crash way earlier than I'm used to.

I'm working on the update for this morning.

>>5150035
“These men were all volunteers,” you glare sharply at the man. “Ordinary soldiers with ordinary human abilities, who volunteered to travel far from home to help us fight some of the most dangerous monsters in the world. They died so that your town could be free, and so that no other towns would be threatened the way you were.”

“So if you would deny these men a proper burial, then it seems to me that you’re the ones making trouble.”

“We didn’t send for the Organization’s help,” the mayor insists curtly.

“We’re not the Organization,” you assure him. “We don’t charge anymore. We also don’t go in for petty vengeance either.”

“Of course we wouldn’t pay you even if you demanded it,” the mayor snaps. “Some of our people were hurt, others were even killed!”

“As opposed to being farmed for meat?” you continue to stare at him. “Help me understand this, because I’m confused – it almost sounds like you’d have preferred to live out your lives as actual livestock rather than be rescued without having to lift so much as a finger for yourselves. And that now that you’re free again, the first thing you’re doing is telling us that the men who died freeing you don’t deserve to be buried.”

“Am I getting that right?”

“All we want is to be left in peace,” the mayor counters.

“And you will be,” you assure him, “AFTER we bury our dead. I’m absolutely NOT backing down on this. If you have a problem with it, you can have your own regional leaders lodge a formal protest with my own government.”

“We have witnesses who say you’re all monsters as well,” the mayor accuses you. “And you’re burying the monsters you claim to have killed on our behalf. So why should we trust anything you say? Why should we make any allowances for you?”

“The Organization gave us these abilities,” you reply calmly, “as a tool to kill yōma on behalf of people who can’t.”

“That’s not an answer,” the mayor crosses his arms.

>That’s the only answer you’re going to get. This conversation is over.
>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.
>A detail will come to repatriate these men later. If they find any tampering there WILL be consequences.
>Other?

>>5152411
>>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.
Its not the smart choice, but Noel is running high on adrenaline and is really pissed off

>>5152411
>"Tell me, how did you choose whose guts get eaten?"
There should be no way to answer this question without highlighting how shitty their life was under Constanza and Rafaela.

>>5152411
>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.
>>5152444's reasoning sounds very much in character.

>>5152411
>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.
>>5152506
Support for this too

>>5152411
>>5152506

>>5151515
>>5151542
This is temporary as the site owner is trying to fix the cert issues.
>>5152411
>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.
and
>>5152506
have it.

>>5152411
>>"Tell me, how did you choose whose guts get eaten?"

>>5152411
>If he wants to know the full, horrifying truth, then fine. That’s what he’ll get.

>>5152411
>A detail will come to repatriate these men later. If they find any tampering there WILL be consequences.
>Other?
The org might steal the bodies for study

Ask the mayor if he was happy to work with yoma selling out the townsfolk for kickbacks or promised safety of him and his family.

>>5152411
“So... how was it you decided who would get their guts ripped out whenever your former masters got peckish?”

The only immediate reply is obvious discomfort settling in throughout the crowd.

You’re quick to guess what that implies. “So you didn’t choose. You all just kept your heads down and prayed it wasn’t going to be you?”

“And what were we supposed to do?” the mayor snaps angrily.

“How do you think we warriors came to be?” you ask him, circling slowly to one side as you speak. “We were each recruited – orphans of crime, war, or yōma. Former slaves, or children of poor parents sold for coin. We allowed ourselves to be ripped open, to have yōma blood pumped through our veins and yōma flesh sewn into our bodies. Most of us died in agony, but those of us who survived went through brutal training and indoctrination. And once we were in the field we were all subject to abuse and neglect. We were feared and hated by the very people we were sworn to protect, and manipulated into losing our minds or our lives by the Organization that used and discarded us.”

“We were nothing more than experiments in how to engineer a stronger warrior. Every single mission, every rule we followed, every tradition we observed, was designed with the intent of either killing us or driving us insane.”

The mayor remains silent, perhaps finally knowing better than to interrupt you.

“And yet we’re here now,” you growl. “Putting our lives on the line on your behalf. Fighting for the people too weak and cowardly to fight for themselves, even if you end up hating us. We’re here entirely by choice, as the men who fell today were. They made the choices and took the risks you never could, and now you’re begrudging them a decent burial because of it.”

You turn without letting the mayor talk back to you, and lay out your plan to Sabela. “Let’s find a coverstone too big for them to safely move.”

Your mother nods in agreement. “Alright. That sounds like a solid plan.”

...

The soldiers are eventually buried beneath a few large, relatively flat pieces of unworked granite that serve as slab coverstones – ideally these should prevent the townsfolk from trying to exhume the graves for any reason. The smoke from where you left the rest of your group told you before you even returned that they took the approach of burning the awakened beings’ corpses as preparation for burial.

>Say a few words.
>Nope. You’ve got nothing.
>Ask your mother and Salem about them.
>Other?

>>5156542
>Say a few words.
>I didn’t know them very well, but each and every one of them was a brave man. Brave enough to stand and fight while others cowered and fled from Monsters. They died too soon, I can only hope to live up to what they sacrificed.

>>5156617
>>5156542
I like this

>>5156617
>>5156542
I'm good with this.

>>5156542
>Say a few words.

>>5156542
“... I didn’t really know any of them personally,” you admit quietly, from a hilltop outside the town from which you can see both the burial site where Constanzia and Rafaela are as well as the churchyard where your subordinates lie. “Neither the awakened beings, nor the men who died fighting them. But they all should have our gratitude – to the awakened beings for clearing the path ahead of us in their time, and to the soldiers of Hazaran who helped us stop them after their time had passed. Their selflessness is something we should each honor in our own way.”

You turn away. “Let’s go home.”

...

You make it a point to have the dead men’s personal effects returned to their next-of-kin, and leave Noventus to plan an expedition in the future to recover their remains. But that won’t happen for a while – at least long enough for the messy process of decomposition to play itself out. The ignominy of returning heroes to your homeland half-rotten away is something you deliberately avoided.

...

“We were fortunate,” you admit to your comrades over the map table in Blackthorn keep several days after your return to Scaithness. “We suffered only a few casualties, and some serious wounds which eventually healed. But our combat abilities weren’t degraded at all, while the number of our enemies has decreased.”

“Is it really just the Organization and Clarice now?” Valentina muses.

Justina nods. “Seems so.”

“Reports suggest they’ve rebuilt much of their capabilities,” Helen points out, “though there area also rumors of mutinies all across the occupied northern territories.”

“Hazaran’s other borders have been stable this whole time,” Laura adds. “It really does appear to be only Sakia and parts of its neighbors that have been occupied, though much of Sakia itself is apparently under only indirect control.”

“They’ve only followed the roads?” Lucia shakes her head. “Strange. I expected... better?”

“Covering every inch of territory would be a waste,” you observe. “It’s the right strategic decision in their position.”

>We can make use of it though, foment rebellion in the Sakian highlands and hill country.
>If we cut their supply lines, it will keep them on their back foot for a while longer.
>Enough of this. We need to pull this weed out by the root, ensure it won’t grow back.
>Other?

>>5157941
>Enough of this. We need to pull this weed out by the root, ensure it won’t grow back.

>>5157941
>If we cut their supply lines, it will keep them on their back foot for a while longer.

>>5157941
>Enough of this. We need to pull this weed out by the root, ensure it won’t grow back.

>>5157941
>If we cut their supply lines, it will keep them on their back foot for a while longer.

Just waiting to get ambushed by Clarice at this point

>>5157941
>Catalog
“The traps and stationary forts in the passes have held magnificently,” Valentina muses thoughtfully. “It helps that those big, lumbering beasts they rely so heavily on can’t seem to take any path through the mountains other than the ones everyone knows about already.”

“True,” you admit. “And our supply lines are hardly even close to as vulnerable as theirs are – in fact, that would be what I would suggest their biggest weakness is.”

“It would also give us a wide choice between targets,” Helen adds.

“And Clarice?” Justina questions.

Aurora shakes her head. “She can only ever be in one place at a time. It’s down to random chance whether we’d ever encounter her.”

“We should be careful though,” Sabrina points out.

You nod. “We gained momentum when we managed to get people questioning the Organization’s forces, and even rebelling against them. But if our moves to defend Hazaran undermine that progress it would work against us in the long run. Is that pretty much what you’re thinking?”

Sabrina nods curtly. “Yes, exactly.”

“That being said,” you declare, “this is all no substitute for cutting out the rot that’s taken hold in Sakia at its source.”

“Define source,” your mother interrupts, her tone calm, but her question actually quite pressing. Would your intent be to drive the invaders back into their port foothold then eventually into the sea? Or is there some way to pursue things a bit more aggressively, and defeat the Organization by defeating its backers on the continent?

>That would be a more pertinent question if we could choose to attack the mainland instead.
>The supply lines should come first. Sabotage is easy enough, and builds us more momentum.
>We had it right before – the key is to destroy the ports they use to land foreign support.
>Other?

>>5160461
>That would be a more pertinent question if we could choose to attack the mainland instead.
Doolittle Raid?

>>5160461
>We had it right before – the key is to destroy the ports they use to land foreign support.
We know nothing about the continent. Planning a raid there is folly.

>>5160461
>>We had it right before – the key is to destroy the ports they use to land foreign support.

>>5160461
>We had it right before – the key is to destroy the ports they use to land foreign support.

>>5160461
>We had it right before – the key is to destroy the ports they use to land foreign support.

>>5161549
This will get cleaned up as soon as 4chan deigns to allow it.

>>5160461
“I think we had the right idea before,” you admit, tapping your finger on the tabletop map for emphasis.

“The port?” Zara muses quietly, almost to herself.

“I always prefer a strike to the vitals,” you shake your head, “but the fact of the matter is we can’t launch a raid on the mainland. Even if we could get there we have no idea where to target our efforts.”

“So the next best thing is to strike at the connecting point between the mainland and our own region,” Laura nods in agreement. “But wouldn’t it be prudent to launch attacks at both this port and the island of Lavinia?”

“Lavinia is hostile territory now,” Zoe observes. “I wouldn’t think anyone here would be keen to return.”

“That said Laura has a point,” you sigh, shutting your eyes and thinking it over. “There’s a harbor there, deeper than the one in Sakia. That may actually be the more important location in the grand scheme of things.”

“A staging area for a maritime blockade?” Valentina mutters. “That makes sense.”

[So that’s the place we need to strike.]

“Not necessarily,” Aurora tells Serana. “Striking Lavinia does nothing to relieve pressure on us from Sakia in the mean time.”

“It may even make them more desperate,” Valentina suggests.

[Or it could demoralize them further,] Serana counters.

“Actually you both have fair points,” you admit. “And it could go both ways at the same time, just between different officers and units.”

>I suggest we disrupt groundside supply lines first. Work our way up from there.
>Hitting the harbor in Sakia first will keep them from rebuilding their supply lines.
>Lavinia is probably the closest we can get to a crippling blow. I say we go for broke.
>Other?

>>5161662
>Hitting the harbor in Sakia first will keep them from rebuilding their supply lines.

>>5161662
>Hitting the harbor in Sakia first will keep them from rebuilding their supply lines.

>>5161662
>>Hitting the harbor in Sakia first will keep them from rebuilding their supply lines.

>>5161662
>Hitting the harbor in Sakia first will keep them from rebuilding their supply lines.

>>5161662
“The harbor in Sakia is still our best target,” you declare. “It gave us significant time afterwards to move freely – this time, destroying their ability to replace key equipment and rebuild infrastructure could shift momentum permanently in our favor.”

“Any objections?”

Helen immediately shakes her head. “No, I mostly agree with you – but with one caveat.”

“You mean leaving them an escape route?”

Helen nods. “If we corner them, it may make them fight harder. Leave them the option of retreat, and the loss of their main harbor and many of their supply lines will cause chaos among their ranks.”

“Agreed,” you reply calmly. “But the questions for now are about how we pull this off.”


“I say stage simultaneous attacks,” Aurora suggests. “Don’t give them enough warning to harden their defenses anywhere.”

Serana waves to you. “Yes?”

[The two alternatives are to focus our efforts on one target, or to attack in phases. Personally I favor simultaneous attacks myself, but if we attack in phases I suppose that at least gives us a chance to adjust our plans.]

“Backup,” Justina shrugs.

Laura nods. “Good thinking – in any event, it makes sense to have some warriors held in reserve.”

>Then we launch the attacks simultaneously. Choose the targets carefully in advance.
>Focusing on one target at a time lets us take out more “significant” targets that require several warriors.
>I like the plan of staging the attacks in waves. Gives us a chance to determine where our focus should be.
>Other?

>>5163572
>I like the plan of staging the attacks in waves. Gives us a chance to determine where our focus should be.

>>5163572
>>I like the plan of staging the attacks in waves. Gives us a chance to determine where our focus should be.

>>5163572
>>I like the plan of staging the attacks in waves. Gives us a chance to determine where our focus should be.

>>5163572
>Then we launch the attacks simultaneously. Choose the targets carefully in advance.

>>5163572
“I like the idea of attacking in waves,” you admit. “Allows us to adjust for realities we discover in Sakia as we progress.”

“Then we start with the port?” Helen asks aloud for clarification.

You nod. “I think that’s what we were tending to agree on.”

“Will we have help from Hazaran this time as well?” Valentina asks you.

>Yes. This is their fight too, and we can use their expertise.
>No. This is a fight that I want to be apolitical.
>Yes, but I don’t think they’ll be alone – I want to recruit.
>Other?

>>5164924
>No. This is a fight that I want to be apolitical.

>>5164924
>No. This is a fight that I want to be apolitical.

>>5164924
>>No. This is a fight that I want to be apolitical.

>>5164924
>No. This is a fight that I want to be apolitical.

>>5164924
>>Yes, but I don’t think they’ll be alone – I want to recruit.

Literally an invasion from powers from a different continent that have been using this place as a lab and testbed for all sorts of horrors.

>>5164924
“I want this to be apolitical,” you admit. “So as much as I would appreciate the backup, I think it would be wiser to handle this ourselves.”

Helen shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s an option... you’re the queen of Hazaran, whether you intend to act in that capacity or not people will see you that way. So my thinking is that it would be more prudent to consider what would work best as an overall strategy, and that using the military capacity of Hazaran is that best strategy.”

“Hazaran is already something we’re using,” you counter. “Defensively, of course, but having a stronghold to fall back to has been incredibly valuable.”

“But it won’t be for this series of missions,” Helen counters.

>Taking troops with us will be too cumbersome – we need to act and react quickly.
>You have a point – we can use some troops to set up temporary strong points as we go.
>Now that you mention it artillery could be helpful – but how do we get it there unnoticed?
>Other?

>>5165996
>Now that you mention it artillery could be helpful – but how do we get it there unnoticed?

>>5165996
>Taking troops with us will be too cumbersome – we need to act and react quickly.

>>5165996
>You have a point – we can use some troops to set up temporary strong points as we go.

>>5165996
>>You have a point – we can use some troops to set up temporary strong points as we go.

>>5165996
>>You have a point – we can use some troops to set up temporary strong points as we go.

>>5165996
“... you have a point,” you admit with a sigh. “Even if they’re not joining us for combat purposes, Hazari troops are well-accustomed to building temporary fortifications while marching. That could serve to give us a good place to fall back to.”
>3d10, taking the best of the first three

Rolled 9, 10, 1 = 20 (3d10)

>>5167597

Rolled 10, 6, 3 = 19 (3d10)

>>5167597

Rolled 4, 10, 6 = 20 (3d10)

>>5167597

>>5167597
Within the next week the orders are given. A three hundred Hazari soldiers march, mostly from the area of the capital, and assemble in a field camp outside Scaithness. Their equipment includes horse-drawn carts with food and supplies, ammunition, and tools for entrenching and construction. Two pairs of mules haul new weapons on oversized wheels, multiple barrels rotating by a hand crank to increase the rate of fire. One set of mules also drags a mortar behind them.

You take a number of warriors with you – Helen, Valentina, Justina, Serana, and your ducklings are the core which you have brought with you, with others deploying to reinforce the various mountain passes under the leadership of former single-digit warriors.

After passing the carefully-positioned artillery towers and the concrete traps, horsemen rove ahead of the formation. Their mission is checking the pass to see that it’s clear of any troops loyal to the Organization, and when they find that it is you make your move. After nightfall and under strict orders of silence, your formation slips across the border and out into Sakia. The first day you and your soldiers spend encamped in a sheltered valley, waiting for nightfall again, watched over by patient and vigilant sentries in addition to your own borderline-tireless comrades.

That second night, you lead your soldiers to a woodland table hill – a classic location to build a camp. They set to work cutting wood and digging ditches to form a rectangular enclosure, taking the dirt from the ditch to build up the base of a low ramp with a wooden wall of stakes atop it. This work takes them the entire day, and even after that you know that they’ll be working hard to improve it so long as you’re in the area. The two cranked-guns are positioned to watch the slope running up towards the entrance, and the mortar is kept at the center of the encampment.

>Head out in small teams to scout the nearby roads under cover of darkness.
>Stick to the hills – look for large bridges that cross rivers or valleys.
>Scout out the nearest towns, try to identify which ones the Organization stops in.
>Other?

>>5168648
>>Head out in small teams to scout the nearby roads under cover of darkness.

>>5168648
>Head out in small teams to scout the nearby roads under cover of darkness.

>>5168648
>Head out in small teams to scout the nearby roads under cover of darkness.

>>5168742
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 6, 4, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>5169470

Rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11 (3d10)

>>5169470

Rolled 1, 4, 3 = 8 (3d10)

>>5169470

Rolled 5, 10, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>5169470

>>5168648
You divide immediately into pairs, to take advantage of the cover of night and your own unnaturally superior ability to see through it. Valentina with Justina, Helen with Alexa together, Serana with Nessa, and Jenna with yourself – just about perfectly balanced, exactly as you and Helen discussed prior to leaving Hazaran.

“So what are we looking for?” Jenna asks you, as you both crouch in the cover of a stand of trees.

You open up a pocket map, the most accurate that Noventus could find in the Capital archives for the region, transcribed and simplified without the need for perfect precision or scale. “Another hour in this direction should get us to a river. We’re looking for three bridges over that river that are shown on the map – and anything else that might not have been on the map.”

“That map was old?”

“Ten years,” you admit.

“That seems like an oversight,” Jenna shakes her head.

You shrug. “War with Sakia wasn’t a high probability until recently, and my predecessor winnowed much of the archive’s materials.”

As you march carefully overland towards where the river valley should be, you continue your conversation a little at a time.

“Do you really think this could lead to war?” Jenna asks you quietly.

“It’s possible,” you admit. “But I’d prefer to avoid open warfare.”

“Even if that’s what our enemy is after?”

You can’t help but chuckle softly. “Especially if that’s what they’re after, Jenna. Sometimes it’s better to settle for being difficult than chase after victory too doggedly.”

...

It isn’t long before you stumble across the river, and you can see the first bridge spanning it – here the valley is a bit wider, meaning the bridge can cross the river with two spans set fairly low within the valley. There doesn’t appear to be a town nearby, though there is a small square tower at one end of the bridge with what looks to be a series of rifle loopholes meant to allow defenders to observe the crossing and its surrounds.

>Split up, locate and scout the other bridges, then meet back here before dawn.
>Stick together, identify the bridges and their defenses, then withdraw.
>Get a little closer – try to blend in with the locals and establish contact.
>Other?

>>5170050
>>Split up, locate and scout the other bridges, then meet back here before dawn.

>>5170050
>Split up, locate and scout the other bridges, then meet back here before daw

>>5170050
>>Get a little closer – try to blend in with the locals and establish contact.

>>5170050
>>Split up, locate and scout the other bridges, then meet back here before dawn.

>>5170050
>Get a little closer – try to blend in with the locals and establish contact.

>>5170050
“We’ll split up,” you decide. “Scout out the other two bridges, then meet here before sunrise. If we can’t make that meeting, we’ll meet at the camp tomorrow at noon. If either one of us fails to make that meeting, we’ll consider it an emergency. Agreed?”

“What, you’re asking my opinion?” Jenna muses.

You nod. “Well, you’re doing half the work, so... yes. I’m asking you.”

“Okay then,” she agrees. “Then let’s get a move on.”

...

The next bridge is a little higher, spanning a set of more precarious river terraces much higher above the valley floor. It’s a beautiful example of public engineering, and a tempting target – just one support at the center of the span keeps the whole thing from self-destructing.

With the little extra time you have to linger before turning around and heading back to your meeting point, you search for any indication of military buildup around the area...
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 7, 9, 4 = 20 (3d10)

>>5171250

Rolled 7, 1, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>5171250

Rolled 8, 7, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>5171250

>>5171250
“What did you see?” you ask when you meet with Jenna again shortly before dawn near the first bridge.

“It’s a wooden bridge, almost like a joke,” she informs you about her bridge. “Looks to only be used by locals. You?”

“Soldiers were using mine extensively,” you recount what you saw while monitoring the area. “The ones guarding each end were wearing foreign uniforms like the other soldiers we’ve seen from the mainland.”

“So that’s our target then?”

You shake your head. “Not quite. While I saw some signs that heavy equipment like those tracked gun-carriers had been moving across the bridge I saw no evidence that it was recent.”

“So if we destroyed the bridge...”

“There’s no guarantee yet that it would have the desired impact,” you complete her thought.

“Then what do we do?”

>Go back to the fort. I’ll continue monitoring that bridge for signs of significance.
>We go into town. Try to get the information we need to make a decision about it.
>We fall back. Phase two will be surveying any locations any of us identified as possibilities.
>Other?

>>5172152
>We go into town. Try to get the information we need to make a decision about it.

>>5172152
>We go into town. Try to get the information we need to make a decision about it.

>>5172152
>>We go into town. Try to get the information we need to make a decision about it.

>>5172152
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12 (3d10)

>>5173734

>>5173734

Rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11 (3d10)

>>5173734

Rolled 6, 10, 3 = 19 (3d10)

>>5173734

Rolled 1, 2, 9 = 12 (3d10)

>>5173734

>>5173734
“We’ll go into town,” you decide. “Hide our features.”

After a moment, Jenna nods in agreement. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

...

You head back to the town near the bridge you identified, and arrive just around the time many people will probably be eating breakfast. It’s a delicate few minutes, trying to get deeper into town without arousing suspicion, but eventually you settle into a roadside tavern that smells like it has breakfast. The inside is dimly-lit, and it looks like a lot of the tradesfolk who were drinking here last night are pitching in to cook breakfast this morning.

A pleasant-looking young man with messy black hair and bright green eyes greets you. “Welcome travelers. Joining us for breakfast, are we?”

“That’s right,” you lie, “we were caught off the road when night fell.”

“Yeah we see it sometimes,” the young man shrugs. “What’ll you have?”

“That depends,” you reply. “What’re you making?”

Breakfast here it seems is flatbread with butter and jam, some fresh fruit, some kind of flavorful rice dish, and little finger-sausages cooked fresh on the griddle, served with hot coffee.

“Thank you,” you tell your host as you and Jenna accept the food, well more than you’d normally want to eat – you’re going to have to force yourself. Jenna has made a show of pretending to be exhausted, and is now feigning a nap on a padded bench nearby “Would you mind telling me something about this town?”

“Sure, if it’s something I can tell,” the young man nods, taking a seat at a nearby table.

“Have there been many soldiers through here lately?” you ask.

The young man’s mood definitely shifts. “And why would you ask me that?”

“Business,” you lie. “My partner here and I used to sell fresh vegetables, eggs, and fruits – we’ve been trying to get re-established by offering those things to soldiers deployed far afield. Provides a good service for them, and keeps them from ‘foraging’ around people’s property and communities.”

Not your best lie, but it was good for the amount of time you had to make it up and you added just enough details to really sell it.

“Yes,” the young man admits, seemingly nervous. “Plenty of them, every day.”

>Press further on the military traffic
>Ask what this town was doing before
>Don’t press any further at all
>Other?

>>5174144
>Other?
How do they treat the locals? This is a natural question for someone wanting to trade.

>>5174188
>>5174144

this, and after that
>>Ask what this town was doing before

>>5174270
>>5174188
>>5174144
Supporting.

>>5174144
>Ask what this town was doing before

>>5174144
“So what was this town like before?” you ask, not really having to feign curiosity so much. It’s actually something you want to know. “And how did things chance when the outsiders came?”

“Well, you nailed the real problem straight away,” one of the men working in the open kitchen joins in. “They call it ‘foraging’, but really it’s just theft.”

“What do they do if someone refuses to hand something over?”

“It varies,” your first host admits. “Sometimes you’ll get by. But there’s been rumors holdouts’ve been shot.”

“Almost makes you wish the last king hadn’t spent all that money on that bridge,” the other man declares.

“Almost?” you repeat.

“It really was helping for a while,” a third man offers. “Before the outsiders came.”

“Yeah, now it’s the only reason the outsiders are even here,” the second man counters.

“I’m sure they’d still come through,” your host shrugs, “just not as much.”

“Is that how must of the town feels about it?” you ask, your tone cautious. “I’d prefer to know in advance if I was walking into a problem.”

“It’s pretty much everyone,” your host admits. “But hey, anything that could keep them from stealing our supplies so often would be welcome.”

“Anything?” you repeat. “Including taking the bridge out of the equation?”

“That’s something we’re kinda stuck with,” the man in the kitchen insists, “but yeah. I don’t think anyone would be too fussed.”

“You haven’t tried it yourselves?” you cock your head, feigning curiosity this time since you suspect you already know the explanation. “Why is that?”

“No gunpowder or explosives,” your host admits. “The outsiders even confiscated most of our weapons. All we have are knives, axes, and bows.”

“I see,” you muse. “That certainly would limit your options.”

>Wait until nightfall, then slash the center support holding the bridge up.
>Withdraw as soon as you have an opportunity, regroup with your allies.
>Other?

>>5174885
>>Wait until nightfall, then slash the center support holding the bridge up.

>>5174885
>Wait until nightfall, then slash the center support holding the bridge up.

>>5174885
>Wait until nightfall, then slash the center support holding the bridge up.

>>5174885
You take a little while to extricate yourselves from the town, using the time to confirm that what you heard over breakfast does actually represent how most of the residents feel about the bridge and the ‘particular crowd’ it’s attracted recently. Since you hear no one disagree with the idea that they’d prefer that the Organization’s troops leave and never return, even if it means losing their bridge, you decide to commit to the plan later that night.

...

After dark you sneak back to where you stashed your swords out of sight, retrieving them from under a fallen log, and slink down into the valley where the bridge is rooted in the middle of the river. It’s about head-deep rushing water, which means that you’ll need to be careful about how you do this.

“I think if you awakened partly it’d be easy,” Jenna suggests.

After quickly estimating the width of the river, you nod in agreement. “It’s basically the only way to do it, considering the depth and current involved... head back to where we left our swords. I’ll be there once this is done.”

“You think things will get busy here when you drop the bridge?” Jenna asks.

You nod once. “Probably.”

>3d10, best of four

Rolled 8, 4, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5176886

Rolled 2, 4, 9 = 15 (3d10)

>>5176886

Rolled 9, 8, 8 = 25 (3d10)

>>5176886

Rolled 9, 2, 5 = 16 (3d10)

>>5176886

>>5176886
You awaken your body, and make a leap – straight across the river at the bottom of the valley. Your strike is precise as it is powerful, separating the cement supporting the bridge above. The force starts the whole mass on an inexorable path, eventually causing the bridge’s own weight to pull it down into the river below leaving only the tell-tale concrete finger standing above the river’s roil, slashed in a way that no explosive or act of human strength could possibly be mistaken as responsible. There should be no acts of retaliation.

“It sounds like you succeeded,” Jenna muses as you rejoin her on the far side of the valley.

“Less talking, more running away!” you hiss.

...

Making a clean getaway allows you to return to the little fortress your troops have been maintaining – the last team of two to do so.

“Well?” Helen asks curtly.

“We destroyed a bridge,” you explain. “It took a while to decide where to strike exactly, and whether it would be possible to do it without losing support of the locals.”

“Sounds like they wanted it to go if it meant losing the invaders too,” Jenna muses. “You guys get something similar?”

As it turns out, there are a few likely targets throughout the region.

>Continue going after bridges. If they can’t move their heavy armor, they’ll be left paralyzed.
>Go after stockpiles of food and other supplies. A hungry army is more likely to rebel or desert.
>Put extra time and effort into targeting. Make sure each strike is crippling and well-received by the locals.
>Other?

>>5178106
>Put extra time and effort into targeting. Make sure each strike is crippling and well-received by the locals.

>>5178106
>>Put extra time and effort into targeting. Make sure each strike is crippling and well-received by the locals.

>>5178106
>Put extra time and effort into targeting. Make sure each strike is crippling and well-received by the locals.

>>5178106
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>5178885

Rolled 10, 4, 4 = 18 (3d10)

>>5178885

Rolled 3, 6, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>5178885

>>5178885
“I think we need to put as much time and effort as we can into targeting and verifying results,” you suggest, lightly tapping at the hint of your sword as you speak. “Strike a balance between affecting the invaders and keeping the locals firmly in our corner.”

Helen is quick to nod in agreement. “Always reassuring to hear you say things like that... I’m actually a little confused why it still surprises me.”

...

The next phase of your plan is to identify two more locations to attack – each team of two warriors will be responsible for investigating one location, conducting the attack itself, then monitoring the results. You and Jenna will continue to be responsible for the bridge you destroyed a couple of nights before, monitoring to ensure that there are no reprisals against the people there who genuinely wouldn’t deserve it.

Helen and Nessa will be heading a little further north to a community where a rash of thefts from a stockpile of military materiel has forced the Organization’s invasion force to relocate their supplies to an isolated depot – leaving you and your allies with any number of avenues to destroying that materiel.

Serana and Alexa will be heading west to hopefully attack another bridge much like the one you destroyed already. Doing this should hinder the enemy’s ability to shift materiel further to the west.

Valentina and Justina will be going on a slightly different target, Their target will be a small fortified house overlooking a major road, which the enemy has converted into a base of operations for the region. There are apparently quite a few officers there, and messages being sent in and out of the building. Taking out that command post, and degrading the enemy’s ability to monitor and control the roads, would be a huge step in the right direction.

...

On the third evening after your destruction of the bridge, trouble.

The Organization’s soldiers arrive in force in the town, as though expecting to still be able to use the bridge – which now of course lies in ruins and is slowly washing away downstream. The damage you caused is obvious, there’s still a clean slice visible. It’s like you left a calling-card that no human could imitate. But that being said, the Organization’s soldiers start down a saddening path.

They drag men out of their homes and out of the public houses, but not just the fighting-age ones. They also come for young boys too small to hold a weapon properly, and for old men who seem to be the ones who understand most universally what this is, and who don’t even bother begging for their lives. This isn’t an act of reason, and so the murderers-to-be cannot be counted upon to be reasoned with.
>1/2

>>5179456
“We have to do something!” Jenna insists. “Anything!”

>You’ve always tried to avoid taking human life... but this crosses an obvious line. All bets are off.
>You’ll try to distract the Organization’s soldiers and draw them away from the town.
>You may be able to stop the Organization without killing anyone, but it’s going to be a gamble.
>Other?

>>5179457
>>You’ll try to distract the Organization’s soldiers and draw them away from the town.
the problem is, if we break our rule here, it won't save the people in the future. A missing troop will be investigated, the citizens punished, again.

>>5179457
>You may be able to stop the Organization without killing anyone, but it’s going to be a gamble.

No killing rules tend to be a bit of a pain to uphold in a war. Hell, the soldiers could even attempt to hold them as hostages if they felt so inclined.

>>5179457
>You’ve always tried to avoid taking human life... but this crosses an obvious line. All bets are off.

>>5179456
>>You may be able to stop the Organization without killing anyone, but it’s going to be a gamble.

>>5179457
>>You’ve always tried to avoid taking human life... but this crosses an obvious line. All bets are off.

These men are no better than Awakened Beings at this point. Start with the officers, and should the men not surrender? Remove them from the gene pool.

>>5179457
>You’ll try to distract the Organization’s soldiers and draw them away from the town.

>>5179457
>You may be able to stop the Organization without killing anyone, but it’s going to be a gamble.

>>5179457
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 4, 3, 10 = 17 (3d10)

>>5179964

Rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8 (3d10)

>>5179964

Rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>5179964

Rolled 8, 4, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>5179964

>>5179964
“Stop,” you command them after moving in from the edge of town and stepping out into the main road where the Organization has been gathering its intended victims. “These people had nothing to do with...”

Your immediate answer is gunfire. The first few shots you manage to evade but three strike home, and a heavier shell landing nearby knocks you to the ground.

“Miss Noel!” Jenna shouts, running out into the street from the cover where you told her to stay. She too manages to evade a few shots, but the mass of incoming fire is just too dense. Even when you force yourself to your feet and help block some of the shots with your sword you both get hit again this time.

“Cease fire!” you hear an officer call out.

You check Jenna’s wounds, which look bad but missed anything vital, but you encourage her to stay down. “Stay here.”

The look in your eyes tells Jenna not to argue this time.

“What a joke,” the officer smirks, drawing his sidearm and coming closer to where you and Jenna have fallen. “There’s no reason to be afraid of the witches, they’ve sworn not to kill humans.”

Just a little closer... a little closer...

He extends his arm, steps into range... and finds his arm severed at the elbow.

The cold glare in your eyes will be the last thing he ever sees, the realization that he misunderstood you the last thoughts to cross his mind. You grab him by the throat and lift him off his feet, yōki surging as you charge towards his soldiers under more fire, several bullets striking the officer from behind as you shield yourself with his body before slinging it at the nearest group of soldiers.

From here the battle is brief, but intensely violent. You barely restrain yourself, smashing men across the face with the flat of your sword in sprays of blood and teeth, punching others hard enough to break their ribs and send them hurtling across the street. Some you grab by their throats and throw through nearby windows, and some you settle merely for disarming. In some cases that means slashing their weapons, in others it means cutting off a limb.
>1/2

>>5180207
Two men simply throw down their weapons – these men you spare. Aside from them, every single one goes down battered and bloodied from your merciless onslaught. Even the gun carrier they brought with them is a target. You pull the side-gunner from his seat, ripping the harness that was supposed to keep him secure and slamming him into the armor plating. The loader loses several fingers on one hand when you slam the breech of the vehicle’s main cannon closed on him, and several teeth when you slam his head against the breech-block. The driver abandons his charge and actually makes it about a block down the street, only to be knocked out when you hurl a spent brass casing for one of the cannon rounds at the back of his head with a satisfying thud of metal against his helmet.

Meanwhile, the battered survivors of the Organization’s force here are drawing back under a new threat – several local women have come for their men armed with chair legs, torches, and some even with kitchen knives at the ends of hiking staves. One of the men has grabbed a length of chain that fell free from the gun carrier and is spinning it menacingly, while several others are fashioning the ropes that previously bound their wrists into nooses. Abandoned firearms are taken up by the civilians, and the shoe now seems to find itself firmly on the other foot.

Jenna has popped her head back out from cover to watch nervously as the situation continues to escalate.

>Stand aside for the mob
>Stand in the mob’s way
>Offer to broker a deal
>Other?

>>5180216
>>Offer to broker a deal

>>5180216
>>Offer to broker a deal

>>5180216
>Offer to broker a deal

>>5179457
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 5, 8, 3 = 16 (3d10)

>>5181223

Rolled 10, 1, 6 = 17 (3d10)

>>5181223

Rolled 2, 9, 4 = 15 (3d10)

>>5181223

Rolled 8, 9, 8 = 25 (3d10)

>>5181223

>>5180216
“Wait,” you insist, stepping between the mob and the soldiers. “If you go through with this, will you really be any better than they are?”

“Yes,” one of the women closest to you immediately insists, to general agreement.

“Okay,” you press, “maybe you’re right. But will you still be better enough to deserve peace and prosperity, or will you just be inviting more reprisals later when I’m not around to intervene? An understandable evil deed is still an evil deed.”

“Then what do you propose, young lady?” an older gentleman wonders, stroking his grey beard thoughtfully in anticipation of your response. “How would you imagine that any dealings with people like this could be guaranteed?”

“My name is Noel Tiberius, and I am the queen of Hazaran,” you offer. “For what little it may be worth to you any deal struck here will enforceable under Hazari law – including in breach or violation.”

“So in other words she’d use the Hazari military to punish them for future misdeeds,” the old man interprets your meaning for the assembled mob. “That certainly seems more civilized than beating them all to death with a chair leg.”

“Who among you can speak for your side?” you demand of the soldiers.

Eventually one junior officer, barely even an officer and so young he probably doesn’t have to shave, raises his good hand. “Me, I guess.”

>Then you will take this information back to your superiors. Do we have an understanding?
>You will answer only for your own unit’s deeds, and you will answer to these people.
>First, we must find the facts of the case – whose orders were you following in this incident?
>Other?

>>5181513
>>First, we must find the facts of the case – whose orders were you following in this incident?

>You will answer only for your own unit’s deeds, and you will answer to these people.

>>5181513
>>5181547
And tell their NCO to
>Then you will take this information back to your superiors. Do we have an understanding?

Wait, what happened to that first officer whose forearm got cut off? He seemed to be in charge, not the young butterbar.

>>5181513
>Then you will take this information back to your superiors. Do we have an understanding?

>>5181555
Dead. His men shot him trying to gun Noel down.

>>5181513
“Then you will take the results back to your superiors,” you insist curtly. “Take a moment to organize the treatment of your wounded, then meet me over there.”

You gesture to a tree that stands by the main road running through town, and this is where you and Jenna sit to wait. Eventually the junior officer follows, sitting to your right, while what looks to be the official in charge of the town takes a seat to your left.

“Am I right in thinking you’re the mayor here?” you ask.

The man nods. “Correct.”

“Then first let’s establish the order of events,” you begin. “My comrade and I destroyed the bridge in this town several days ago to limit the ability for your invasion force to use it. We did so in a way that clearly indicated who did the damage, and we confirmed today that the damage is still diagnostic. However, your force took steps to set up a mass reprisal killing of all men and older boys in this town. When I attempted to step in to reason with you I was immediately fired upon, as was my comrade. It was then that I decided to resort to force.”

“Did you see the damage?” Jenna presses curtly. “Yes or no?”

The officer nods. “We did.”

“And did you understand what caused it?” you press as well.

The officer shakes his head. “Some of us believed it was too clean a cut to be an ordinary act of sabotage.”

“But your commander disagreed,” you offer.

He shakes his head again. “I’m not sure. I don’t think he believed the stories about... well... about people like you.”

>Walk me through the time between your discovery of the bridge and the attempted retaliation. Who was giving the orders?
>I’ve heard enough to render a judgment and suggest a remedy, if you’re interested in hearing what I have to say.
>Mayor, tell me what happened between the time your town discovered the damage and the events that took place today.
>Other?

>>5182192
>Walk me through the time between your discovery of the bridge and the attempted retaliation. Who was giving the orders?

>>5182192
>>Walk me through the time between your discovery of the bridge and the attempted retaliation. Who was giving the orders?
even if the kid is lying, its reasonable to blame these actions on the dead officer, he did seem to be the kind of bastard

>>5182192
Walk me through the time between your discovery of the bridge and the attempted retaliation. Who was giving the orders

>>5182192
>vg
“So between when you discovered the destruction of the bridge and the attempt at retribution,” you continue, “what exactly took place? And who was giving you orders during that time?”

“There isn’t much to say to your first question,” the officer admits, “it was almost an immediate response. But to answer the second question, it was our former commander who gave the orders.”

At this, the chosen representative from the town whose men these soldiers tried to slaughter not more than an hour ago puts his disbelief into words. “Truly? You insist that this was entirely on your commander’s shoulders – a commander who is conveniently now deceased?”

“We have no contact with our rear command center,” the officer explains, “and our standing orders were vague enough that they could be used to justify almost any action in pursuit of our overall strategic goals.”

“Including mass murder?”

The officer nods silently.

>What did you or anyone else do to intervene?
>It’s a convenient out to blame the commander and let them off with the wounds they sustained.
>What exactly were your standing orders, exactly, and why would this further your goals?
>Other?

>>5184245
>What exactly were your standing orders, exactly, and why would this further your goals?
And then ask the Mayor about his side of the story.

>>5184273
>>5184245
supporting

>>5184245
>What exactly were your standing orders, exactly, and why would this further your goals?

>>5184245
“Mayor,” you address the civilian this time. “Can you tell us both what happened when your people discovered the damage?”

He nods thoughtfully. “We called a meeting of the town’s elders and top business owners, to discuss whether we should rebuild the bridge.”

“And?”

“It was outside our abilities anyway,” the mayor admits. “We settled on building a low pontoon bridge to replace it – the blocked flow down in the river would make that easier if you did it upstream, it would just be a little slower and a bit more of a challenge to move heavy loads into and out of the valley.”

“Did you discuss whether to allow the invaders to use the new bridge?” you ask.

The mayor frowns, but he also nods. “Opinions were sharply divided, but we eventually decided that we could not stop them from using it anyway, so it would be better to skip any arguments over it and go straight to the part where they used it even over our objections.”

You nod along in understanding. “Given your position it was probably a wise decision. Now, what exactly were your standing orders and how did your immediate superior think killing all these bystanders would pursue it?”

“The relevant orders were to keep and hold the logistical pathways open,” the young officer explains. “And the officer who was killed was adamant that regardless of the cause of the bridge’s destruction, word of the high cost of allowing that destruction to occur would serve as an example.”

>So it was about the message. The Organization has always survived on fear and compliance.
>Have there, to your knowledge, been similar events elsewhere in occupied Sakian territory?
>He was wrong. Instead the message will be the one you and your beaten soldiers will spread.
>Other?

>>5185426
>>He was wrong. Instead the message will be the one you and your beaten soldiers will spread.
tell them exactly what happend here, and do not miss any part about my actions, both about the bridge and mediating.

>>5185438
>>5185426
In with this guy.

>>5185426
>He was wrong. Instead the message will be the one you and your beaten soldiers will spread.

>>5185426
>>He was wrong. Instead the message will be the one you and your beaten soldiers will spread.

>>5185426
“He was mistaken,” you assert, “because the only message to come out of this is the one you and your defeated soldiers will spread.”

You decide to make your statements now, having as much meaningful insight into the order of events here as you’re ever likely to. “You will disarm immediately. This is non-negotiable. You will be allowed to remain here until your wounded can be moved, and provided with fresh water and food such as the locals can afford to part with.”

“You expect us to feed these people?” the mayor demands.

“Non-negotiable,” you stare back at him. “Regardless of how you feel about them they are now surrendered combatants and must be treated with a certain bare minimum of propriety. This is my position as the queen of Hazaran and my decision as arbitrator of this dispute.”

“When you leave this place you will be allowed to leave with any remaining stock of food and clean water that you have, and ideally this should be supplemented with food to last for one week with some rationing.”

“And what do we get out of this in exchange?” the mayor butts in again.

“The conditions are twofold – first, the town gets your weapons and equipment,” you declare. “Second, in exchange for your lives you are to spread word of what happened here – the damage caused by myself and my associate, the attempted retribution against innocents, my own intervention and your immediate violent response, the circumstances of the death of your commanding officer, and my efforts at arbitration as well as your treatment after having surrendered.”

“Are we to share this with our superiors or with the region’s civilians?” the officer asks.

“Both,” you reply. “And I want this story to be told among your comrades too. I want to make sure none of them are fool enough to try something similar elsewhere.”

“And if we don’t feel like complying with your demands?” the mayor presses you with a scowl.

>I promise you I’ll find out about it, and I’ll be back to deal with it personally.
>Letting a demoralizing story spread through the enemy’s ranks is better for us.
>Then get ready for the enemy to come back mad – and I WON’T help you next time.
>Other?

>>5187046
>Letting a demoralizing story spread through the enemy’s ranks is better for us.

>>5187046
>Letting a demoralizing story spread through the enemy’s ranks is better for us.

>>5187046
>>Letting a demoralizing story spread through the enemy’s ranks is better for us.

>If these guys dissappear they'll send five times the numbers looking for a fight and we won't be near to stop them.

>>5187046
“Even though you and the others are angry,” you frown, “I know you know that it’s better for everyone involved that this story spreads – that we demoralize our shared enemy even further, and put them on their back foot.”

“I might be able to understand that,” the mayor tells you sternly. “But the rest of the town might not be able to see it that way.”

“And I’m counting on you to help them understand it,” you assert. “If they won’t understand that, then maybe they’ll understand that if these men go missing, five times as many will turn up next time and they’ll be mad.”

After a few moments, the mayor nods in agreement. “I’ll convince them. But I’ll warn you, boy,” he adds, glancing at the young officer, “the sooner you’re out of our town the easier it will be to keep them convinced, if you follow my meaning.”

“I think I follow,” the officer confirms.

...

You leave together with Jenna, pausing on the far side of the river.

“You think they’ll be okay?” she frowns. Her wounds have already mostly healed, though she seems a little tired out by the whole experience.

>We’ll have to start trusting them at some point – we can’t police their behavior, or be around every day for the rest of their lives.
>We can afford to wait until tomorrow morning, keep an eye on them to make sure they START following the terms I set out.
>We need to find the others. I fear that they may be looking at similar situations, perhaps even worse cases of retaliation.
>Other?

>>5188580
>We need to find the others. I fear that they may be looking at similar situations, perhaps even worse cases of retaliation.

>>5188580
>We need to find the others. I fear that they may be looking at similar situations, perhaps even worse cases of retaliation.

>>5188580
>>We need to find the others. I fear that they may be looking at similar situations, perhaps even worse cases of retaliation.

>>5191331