>>5708023
“Ma’am,” he replies curtly. “As you know the battery took a hammering.”

The battery is actually two low towers made of stone that mark the end points of the sea wall, which stretches across the mouth of what would normally be a wide south-facing harbor. Each of those towers only ever housed three guns, and they weren’t designed to withstand the sort of impacts they suffered. It would have been better had steel or even iron been available to clad the stone faces, but you hardly had the time.

That being said…

“Have you landed the guns I asked to be removed from the larger captured ship?” you press.

The man nods. “They’re being positioned now.”

“Have the crews load only the rounds with blue tips,” you instruct, “and aim lower, for the hull. For the smaller gun, have the crew load only rounds with red tips and aim higher. Were any of our own coastal guns salvageable?”

“Four.”

“Then land those in cover behind the sea wall,” you decide, “and tell their crews only to load explosive rounds.”

The way you have things organized is rather straightforward when you know the trick. The blue-tipped rounds are the ones designed to penetrate armor, and all the guns firing them will be aiming at the same side of a ship approaching through the harbor entrance but from different angles. Hits below the water line on that side will cause flooding, each compounding the problem, and since they will all be on the same side successive hits will cause an enemy ship to develop and unmanageable list to starboard. The additional benefit is that a ship listing too far over towards that side will be unable to elevate her guns enough to shoot at your own positions effectively.

In the mean time, explosive shells will be hitting what appear to be the more lightly-armored parts of your enemy’s warships, wreaking havoc among the command officers and hopefully starting fires above the water line. The more effective this effort is, the less effective a targeted warship will be.

>Your strategy should be to wait. Your enemy will come to you and you’ll be ready.
>They won’t make the same mistake again, and will likely find a staging area nearby.
>Leave military matters to the military, focus on gathering information from the prisoners.
>Other?

>>5708025
>>Leave military matters to the military, focus on gathering information from the prisoners.

>>5708025
>>Leave military matters to the military, focus on gathering information from the prisoners.

I don't see or feel a need to micromanage.

>>5708025
>Leave military matters to the military, focus on gathering information from the prisoners.

>>5708025
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6 (3d10)

>>5708374

Rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>5708374

Rolled 8, 9, 10 = 27 (3d10)

>>5708374

>>5708374
You feel no particular need to further insert yourself into the details of your harbor defense strategy - the broad outline is aligned to your vision of a robust and comprehensive plan, and so the role of your subordinates is to make the queen’s vision into a reality.

Instead you seek out the small warehouse where survivors of the battle, still wet after having been plucked shivering from the murky waters of the harbor, in order to advance your understanding of the wider situation. Your appearance, crowned as you are in steel and precious gems and carrying so large a sword, leaves no doubt in any mind who has entered the room. So you choose not to introduce yourself, at least not in any formal sense.

“I’ve come here for context,” you declare. “I expect that by the time I’m finished here, at least one of you will have offered me what I came here for.”

The response to your declaration is mutinous scowling, muttering, and glares.

“Make no mistake,” you glare right back. “Neither I nor any who serve at my side will raise a hand to any of you. But we have other ways of getting what we want.”

…

The first thing you do is perhaps the cruelest thing you can think of to do to a bunch of men who are still chilled from the sea - you have coffee brought to you, along with a small glass of rum. “A friend of mine introduced me to this, what feels like a long time ago.”

You finish most of the cup. “The organization you serve was responsible for her death.”

Then you pour the liquid into the dusty floor. “Along with many others whose only goal was to protect people from the monsters they never know that same organization created.”

>Continue with little temptations. Get someone to give up the information you want willingly.
>Keep driving home how much of a grudge you have here. Make it clear where you stand.
>Explain that you don’t have to do anything to them. You just have to choose not to protect them.
>Other?

>>5709753
>Keep driving home how much of a grudge you have here. Make it clear where you stand.

>>5709753
>>Continue with little temptations. Get someone to give up the information you want willingly.

>>5709753
>Continue with little temptations. Get someone to give up the information you want willingly.

>>5709753
>3d10 best of three

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

>>5710101

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

>>5710101

Rolled 10, 2, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>5710101

Oh hey! Yuri quest returns.

>>5710101
Little nuisances and temptations, those are the method you pursue now. Hard beds, uncomfortable pillows, bland food, that sort of thing - all with the presentation of an easy alternative. Comfortable beds for their guards, good food that smells delicious even for your diminished appetite, lovely feather pillows. Even just cleaner toilet facilities.

… it’s a disaster.

Not only do they not seem to care, they actually seem to end up retrenched instead. Not a single one of them ends up wanting to tell you what you want to know.

>Give up. You’ll find the information you need by searching and reconnoitering.
>Change tactics. Hand one of them over to a professional at this sort of thing.
>Just go on the offensive. There HAS to be a way to strike first in this situation.
>Other?

>>5710992
>>Give up. You’ll find the information you need by searching and reconnoitering.
>>5710559
Only vaguely yuri, rather platonic, really. The closest we got was Noel using Serana's lap as a pillow.several threads back.

>>5710992
>Change tactics. Hand one of them over to a professional at this sort of thing.

>>5710992
>Change tactics. Hand one of them over to a professional at this sort of thing.

>>5710992
>Change tactics. Hand one of them over to a professional at this sort of thing.

>>5710992
>3d10 best of four

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

>>5711543

>>5711548
fugg :DDD

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

>>5711543

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

>>5711543

Rolled 7, 9, 8 = 24 (3d10)

>>5711543

>>5711543
Perhaps you should have simply handed this matter off to a professional to start with?

“Well, I tried,” you muse, shortly before leaving the prisoners. “I guess I should have let a professional deal with such matters, rather than try to do something that I know my personal code prevents me from doing.”

“Wait, what?” the nearest soldier asks you aloud. “What did you say?”

“I’m not allowed, by principle shared among my kind, to engage in certain behavior,” you explain with a shrug. “I could tear off your arm and bludgeon you with it until you told me anything I wanted to know or bled to death, whichever happened first. I could break every bone in your body one at a time, starting with your fingers and toes, using my bare hands. I could twist your arm, figuratively and literally at once, until it splintered like a green branch. But I, like all my remaining sisters, choose not to do such things.”

“Oh… okay”

“Thankfully as queen I have people to do that for me,” you conclude, knocking at the door to the makeshift prison.

In steps a Hazari man - in reality, a dentist and barber with a shop in town - along with Serana who has volunteered for this role. You point at the one who spoke up to you. “That one. The loudmouth.”

A guard opens the cell door and Serana grabs the man by the shoulder, forcibly marching him out into the room before knocking his legs out from under him, forcing him into a chair a different guard has brought.

The dentist sets a satchel on a small wooden table, unfurling it to reveal a dizzying array of wicked-looking metal tools and blades - actual dentist’s tools, surgeon’s tools, a small jeweler’s saw, sculptor’s tools, and so forth.

“Do you have any underlying health conditions?” the dentist asks flatly, selecting something that looks like a small painter’s palette knife.

“... what?” the visibly nervous prisoner asks.

“Well, if you don’t even understand the question the answer is probably no,” the dentist improvises. “Teeth are quite fascinating, don’t you agree? The only part of the skeleton that’s supposed to be outside of your skin. The hardest element in your body, but at the same time packed chock full of nerve endings. I hear that removing a healthy molar without proper anesthetics can be… excruciating.”

“And we have so many of them…”

... good thing you called in an expert for advice. His plan is going smoothly so far.
>1/2

>>5711623
There’s something much more ‘real’ when you can see the instruments of torture - that’s what you were told by an expert. It also helps when you can use the subject’s own imagination to create and build a sense of tense anticipation.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” you sigh, feigning weariness. “I was hoping to avoid this bit of unpleasantness, but I suppose I should observe directly?”

“That won’t be necessary, ma’am,” the dentist insists. “This is most likely going to be much more ‘unpleasant’ than you probably anticipate, and I wouldn’t wish for you to feel any personal guilt over this matter.”

“Very well,” you agree. “Let me know if he says anything useful?”

“Of course, ma’am.”

…

You get the call just a few minutes later, after some further posturing by the dentist. As it turns out the captured sailor was strapped into a chair while the dentist sharpened some of his tools and talked about teeth some more, which made the man feel a little more cooperative.

“So I hear we’re feeling a little more talkative?” you muse.

The sailor gulps, then nods.

>All I need to know is the number of ships your faction has in the area, and their configurations.
>I want to know your side’s new battle plans, and how they changed in the last few days.
>Everything you know. Tell me everything you know. And remember, I’ll know if you lie to me.
>Other?

>>5712633
>>I want to know your side’s new battle plans, and how they changed in the last few days.

>>5712633
>All I need to know is the number of ships your faction has in the area, and their configurations.

>>5712633
>Other?
What is his rank or rate? If he is a Stoker, he will probably not know anything about battle plans, but would definitely know about coaling frequency. A Yeoman or Officer might know something more about battle plans. Signalman would know about code books. And as a bit of trivia, Torpedomen, not Signalmen, were in charge of Wireless Telegraphy when they first appeared on British warships, given that they were responsible for all electrical equipment on board.

>>5712633
skip this
>>5712638

In with >>5713046

>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 4, 1 = 14 (3d10)

>>5713529
>>5713529

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

>>5713529

Rolled 5, 9, 5 = 19 (3d10)

>>5713529

>>5713529
“Tell me, then,” you begin, seating yourself across the table from him. “You don’t seem like an officer, so what is your rating?”

“... I’m a specialist,” he tells you.

“Clarify, if you please.”

“I’m an electrician,” he replies. “Specifically, I serve as a signalman.”

“Signalman?” you repeat. “The systems your people use aboard warships are somewhat unfamiliar to us. Could you explain in a little more detail how you would communicate with other warships, or across long distances?”

“For short ranges, ship to ship, we use semaphore, typically using a signal lamp,” he explains.

“Those are the lights with the shutters,” you guess.

“When we have to, we use flags too,” he adds. “For longer distances, we use radio-telegraphic communications.”

“What is a ‘radio-telegraph’, exactly?” you press. “Is it that device we identified on the bridge of the larger ship, the one we stole?”

“Yes,” the man nods. “If you mean the cruiser, I think the device you have in mind is probably its radiotelegraph transmitter.”

“How does it work?” you demand. “And what is its operating range?”

“It’s… complicated,” the man begins, “but the short explanation is that it uses a current jumping across a spark gap and a couple of resonant circuits to produce pulsed waves of electromagnetic energy.”

The dentist glances at you. “We are all speaking the same language here, correct? Did you understand that?”

“Think of a bell,” you try your hand at translating. “A bell rings because it’s resonant. I think what he’s talking about is an electrical device that produces something similar - just at a higher frequency, and presumably more powerful. Am I somewhere in the right neighborhood?”
>1/2

>>5714451
“Well, sort of,” the sailor admits. “I mean, for clearly having no understanding at all of the technical aspects of what I’m talking about you seem to have a fairly good grasp of the general idea.”

“How far does this device ‘transmit’, then?” you press. “Can you communicate with the continent?”

He shakes his head. “No. It only reaches as far as the listening-post on the island you call Lavinia. From there it can be transmitted by an undersea cable.”

A cable that runs all the way to the mainland? No wonder the Organization kept you under such tight control while you were on Lavinia.

>Then that cable is your target. There has to be a way to destroy it.
>Then the listening post is your target. You need to get to Lavinia.
>You can probably use this ‘radiotelegraph’ to help defend yourselves.
>Other?

>>5714468
>Then that cable is your target. There has to be a way to destroy it.
How long can an Awakened Being stay without air?

>>5714468
>Then that cable is your target. There has to be a way to destroy it.

>>5714468
>>Then that cable is your target. There has to be a way to destroy it.

>>5714468
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 7, 5, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>5715106

Rolled 7, 8, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>5715106

Rolled 6, 1, 9 = 16 (3d10)

>>5715106

>>5715106
“That cable, wherever it is, certainly seems to paint a pretty target,” you decide.

The only real question is admittedly a fairly basic one – the question of ‘how’.

You’re certain that at least one of the awakened beings or warriors on your side should be able to attack the cable underwater, maybe to a depth of a few hundred feet even in the case of someone like your mother. But in order to do that you first have to know where the cable actually is – and finding it on the land presents the problem of communicating that information to the attacker if they’re already out in the water. Not an unsolvable problem by any means, but one that could be as easily solved by attacking the cable at its terminal on the island itself.

That would have the additional benefit of destroying the land-based infrastructure, though it’s uncertain how quickly your enemy could replace the destroyed cable and whether destroying the accompanying infrastructure on land would add any meaningful amount to the repair or replacement time. It would be difficult, but you could also possibly launch a two-pronged attack – this would both increase the likelihood of one or the other attack succeeding, as well as maximizing the damage in the event that both succeed.

So with all that in mind, you decide to ask your mother for her thoughts.

“… I think you have matters pretty well thought through, dear,” she tells you after listening to your thoughts on the matter. “The one thing I would add is that there’s one more possibility you did not consider.”

“Please tell.”

“Thank you,” she nods. “The possibility you did not consider is that I could swim there, unaccompanied, locate the undersea cable myself by spotting the shore facility from the water, cut it, and withdraw without being detected.”

“I’m not sure I like that idea,” you admit. “I wouldn’t like it if it were anyone else, so even though I think you’re not talking tough and that you can actually do what you’re talking about, I wouldn’t ask you to… for multiple reasons.”

“You don’t want your whole faction to rely on the raw power of the awakened beings,” Sabela guesses.

You nod. “Right.”

“Then I should sit this one out?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

>I like the idea of focusing on the shore facility and destroying it. Less guesswork involved.
>If we take our time we should be able to destroy both in one coordinated assault.
>I think we should focus on taking down the cable covertly. It would require replacement.
>Other?

>>5716817
>>If we take our time we should be able to destroy both in one coordinated assault.

>>5716817
>If we take our time we should be able to destroy both in one coordinated assault.
Logically the ground facility has to be near the radio antenna.

>>5716817
>If we take our time we should be able to destroy both in one coordinated assault.

>>5716817
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 6, 8, 4 = 18 (3d10)

>>5717007

Rolled 3, 9, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>5717007

Rolled 1, 7, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>5717007

>>5717007
“I think the secret is going to be taking our time to coordinate,” you decide. “Work out a method of communicating the key details between the two teams at a distance, then launch the strikes simultaneously to greater effect.”

“That’s sensible,” Sabela agrees. “Even if one fails, the attack on the shore should maximize my chance of destroying this cable.”

“You seem set on doing this yourself,” you observe.

“Where do you think you get that from?” Sabela answers.

Fair point.

…

The general plan begins to take shape, based on something you were told by the electrician you ‘interviewed’. Instead of hand signals, you translate the letters of the monastic sign language your entire faction has committed to memory into a series of whole-body gestures that can be more easily seen at a distance.

>Head back to Scaitness to coordinate the attack.
>You want to know more of enemy naval movements before leaving the south coast.
>Bring reinforcements here. Once the south coast is secure you can sail to Lavinia.
>Other?

>>5717385
>>You want to know more of enemy naval movements before leaving the south coast.

>>5717385
>Head back to Scaitness to coordinate the attack.

>>5717385
>Head back to Scaitness to coordinate the attack.

>>5717385
>3d10 best of 3

Rolled 5, 3, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>5718008

Rolled 3, 10, 5 = 18 (3d10)

>>5718008

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

>>5718008
Rolling an 18

>>5718008
The best plan here, you think, is to head back to Scaithness - not just to coordinate, but to rehearse. You have a deep, cold loch conveniently located where you can have Sabela get herself accustomed to working under those conditions. Less salt of course, but close enough.

…

“That’s a solid plan,” Helen eventually agrees. “I assume the time schedule is rather short?”

“We should do this as soon as possible,” you insist. “Strike while the iron is hot, and while the enemy is distracted by the theft of their ships.”

Helen nods curtly. “Okay. The land team should be more experienced warriors who can learn the modified sign language - unfortunately I think Serana should be kept in reserve due to her constraint.”

“I agree,” you admit. “This ‘semaphore’ the mainlanders mentioned likely uses both arms for a reason - because both arms are necessary to make the signs visible over longer distances and in more adverse weather conditions.”

…

Outside the keep, you meet with one of the soldiers garrisoned in the Scaithness district who has welded a solid cannonball onto the end of a length of chain - which you hurl off a short pier and out into the loch. This is going to be the difficult part, practicing communication with Sabela while she’s out in the water. First you have her swim out to what you reckon would be a reasonable distance, then swim back.

“From that angle, in the dark?” your mother muses. “There would be no way for me to see that chain. And I assume that the target will be even more carefully obscured.”

“Could you see my gestures clearly?”

“Clearly.”

“Then let’s try it again, and I’ll guide you to it,” you suggest.

“Can do.”

…

The efforts yield pretty clear results - you manage to work out a protocol to quickly and efficiently transmit directions to your mother when she’s swimming well out in the water. You also manage to teach Sabela and three warriors the new hand signals - Valentina, Zoe, and Nessa.
>1/2

>>5718983
When you reach the port on the north coast from which you intend to launch your attack on Lavinia, it’s as a group of six travelers - yourself, your mother, Solaris as a backup for your mother, Nessa, Valentina, and Zoe. You have reason to suspect that the target will be very well defended, perhaps even by more of those awakened soldiers you engaged just about ten days ago.

Which leaves one fairly basic question - how do you get to Lavinia?

>There’s still a functional port on the south side of the island - hire someone to take you there.
>Hire someone to take you at night and land you outside the port, further north.
>Hire someone to take you partway, then swim as far around the north of the island as you can.
>Other?

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

>>5719126
>>Hire someone to take you at night and land you outside the port, further north.

>>5719126
>>Hire someone to take you partway, then swim as far around the north of the island as you can.

>>5719126
>>Hire someone to take you partway, then swim as far around the north of the island as you can.

>>5719126
>Hire someone to take you at night and land you outside the port, further north.

>>5719126
>Hire someone to take you partway, then swim as far around the north of the island as you can.

>>5719188
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 1, 5 = 15 (3d10)

>>5719364

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

>>5719364

Rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>5719364

>>5719364
It’s not an easy task to find someone foolish enough to take you around the ‘wrong’ side of Lavinia, but your father always suggested that every man has at least a little bit of larceny in them, and it’s usually the case that a big enough sum of money will bring that out. In your case, you manage to find a smuggler willing to take you around the west end of Lavinia - in the dead of night, presuming that you’ll slip off the boat while it’s moving and swim the rest of the way, which was your plan anyway.

…

The water is dark and calm, and would probably be bitterly cold for anyone else. But you feel none of that, only a smooth coolness that envelops you as you swim under the light of the moon and the stars. No words are necessary, and in fact breaking silence is something you wish to avoid doing for the duration.

You eventually come ashore in the small hours of the morning, getting out of the light of the rising sun to avoid the risk of exposure that comes with that.

[We’ll proceed by land,] you flash a series of hand signs.

>We should split up to cover more ground. Return here by noon.
>We should move up the coast together, slowly, covering our tracks the whole way.
>We should head uphill, observe from a higher vantage point.
>Other?

>>5720081
>>We should split up to cover more ground. Return here by noon.

>>5720081
>We should move up the coast together, slowly, covering our tracks the whole way.

>>5720081
>We should move up the coast together, slowly, covering our tracks the whole way.

>>5720081
>We should split up to cover more ground. Return here by noon.

>>5720081
>>>We should split up to cover more ground. Return here by noon.

>>5720081
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 7, 1, 8 = 16 (3d10)

>>5720964

Rolled 6, 5, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>5720964

Rolled 9, 2, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>5720964

Rolled 3, 7, 4 = 14 (3d10)

>>5720964

>>5720964
[We should separate for the time,] you decide, flitting through your hand signs, [to cover as much ground as possible, and to get multiple views if possible. We will return here at noon.]

…

The land is familiar, to a degree. It rolls and folds over itself beneath a canopy of green crowned in standing boulders atop the highest ridges and hills, which has patches of open space here and there filled mostly with low green grasses and wildflowers. It would be lovely, were it not for the constant threat of being spotted by roving patrols of soldiers loyal to the Organization and its mainland backers.

It’s more of a challenge not to leave any traces in the first place as you make your way through a long valley, cut by a deep river, but it’s also far faster than taking the time to obscure them the whole way. With water and rock and high, wide branches, you can avoid leaving any footprints - you just have to be careful not to break a branch, or follow too straight of a path. Either of these, but particularly both in combination, could give you away to a skilled tracker. You’re not sure if your enemy has any of those, but better safe now than sorry later.

…

After a single not particularly close call with a group of guards on foot you find yourself on a hillside, overlooking a large seaside facility. You count one larger warship like the one you stole and three smaller vessels like the one defeated shortly thereafter, with several more that look to be of a similar construction but less well-armed even than the smaller style of warship.

Then there are larger ships, six in total, which are much wider with less sharply-angled prows. These appear to be of a much slower design and carry only weapons designed to protect them from being boarded. Clearly, the intent is that they should carry cargo or passengers rather than confront enemy targets directly.

You also look at the structures that have been raised around the harbor, with an eye now for the sorts of things your enemy needs to support their military efforts. There are barracks in neat rows, and there are warehouses for storage of weapons, ammunition, and other supplies. You see three massive fuel storage tanks under heavy guard. There are workshops and repair lots, and mobile artillery standing in rows - though not nearly so many as you might have imagined.

Unfortunately, while your angle is good for viewing the whole base you cannot say with any certainty where the enemy’s communications line comes ashore. There are a few candidate locations, however there are no clearly visible features which would determine an order of likelihood between them.
>1/2

>>5722661
[I was not able to identify the target,] you admit when you reunite with your fellows. [Was anyone more successful?]

After a moment, Solaris raises her hand. [Possibly. I would like to confirm it.]

Zoe nods. [I believe I also noted something worth sharing. Was it the second building south of the central barracks cluster?]

[Yes,] Solaris confirms. [What caught your eye?]

[It seems to have a secondary building,] Zoe explains. [I believe it could supply power, though I cannot confirm that theory.]

[There were a fair few mechanics, it seemed,] Solaris adds. [But again, it could simply be a workshop.]

>Then we need to get closer, perhaps under cover of darkness, and confirm.
>That seems like enough to go on. Mother, will you be able to locate the cable tonight?
>Is there anything more concrete, or other possible locations worthy of attention?
>Other?

>>5723405
>Then we need to get closer, perhaps under cover of darkness, and confirm.

>>5723405
>Is there anything more concrete, or other possible locations worthy of attention?

>>5723405
>>Then we need to get closer, perhaps under cover of darkness, and confirm.

>>5723405
>Is there anything more concrete, or other possible locations worthy of attention?

>>5723405
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 6, 9 = 24 (3d10)

>>5724161

Rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11 (3d10)

>>5724161

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

>>5724161

>>5724161
[Do we have anything more concrete to go on?] you put the question to the group.

The silence is both literal and proverbial, before eventually your mother answers. [It seems no one else noted anything of interest, which should tell us something.]

[You believe that the lack of evidence could itself be evidence?] you muse. [Normally I would hate that.]

[It may not be inaccurate,] Zoe agrees.

[If we have no other ideas,] Valentina frowns. [Then should we not strike?]

[And if we are incorrect, we expand a search from there?] you guess.

[It is a strategy at very least,] Nessa observes.

>Alright, we’ll launch the attack at midnight. If we’re wrong we’ll keep searching.
>I would prefer to gather more specific information, perhaps by getting closer, before committing.
>Other?

>>5724362
>I would prefer to gather more specific information, perhaps by getting closer, before committing.
The cable should go across the shore, so we can search around the water's edge.

>>5724362
>>Alright, we’ll launch the attack at midnight. If we’re wrong we’ll keep searching.

>>5724386
This

>>5724362
[We should use the cover of night,] you decide. [Search more carefully along the shore. The cable should be visible at that point.]

[Shall we work by elimination?] Sabela asks, already planning in her mind. [Or shall we start with areas we suspect?]

You consider the problem for a moment before offering a solution. [If we went straight to our suspected target and it’s wrong, we have no idea where to go next.]

[You mean to exclude areas while working our way closer?] Valentina guesses your mind.

You nod. [The areas at the periphery are too vulnerable, and too far from anything else. We can start by excluding those.]

[Anywhere a ship is moored should be surrounded by things related to ships,] Nessa continues. [That rules those areas out.]

[We should start drawing a map,] Solaris suggests.
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 7, 2, 10 = 19 (3d10)

>>5725086

Rolled 8, 9, 4 = 21 (3d10)

>>5725086

Rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>5725086

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

>>5725086

>>5725086
The map turns out to be a great idea, because when you really settle in and compare your own observations with those of your companions you’re able to clearly exclude somewhere between a third and half of the water front.

[We start here,] you decide. [Then progress to the southwest.]

>I suggest we take the most direct route, despite having to pass more buildings.
>I say we go around the edge of the base, avoiding contact with enemy patrols.
>Swimming may leave us fewer options if it goes wrong, but it’s also very sneaky.
>Other?

>>5726083
>>Swimming may leave us fewer options if it goes wrong, but it’s also very sneaky.
Beach episode

>>5726083
>I say we go around the edge of the base, avoiding contact with enemy patrols.

>>5726083
>Swimming may leave us fewer options if it goes wrong, but it’s also very sneaky.

>>5726083
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 6, 6, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5726703

Rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>5726703

Rolled 2, 8, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>5726703

>>5726703
Still need one more

Rolled 7, 2, 10 = 19 (3d10)

>>5726703

>>5726703
[Swimming may leave us only one option if we’re spotted,] you reason, [or if we are in danger of being spotted, but I think it is also the option that is least likely to end in us being spotted.]

[Agreed,] Sabela nods curtly. [I reached the same conclusion.]

…

Having heard no arguments against your plan, you find yourselves swimming out in the open waters of the shallow sea, on a dark night where the moon is hidden behind a raft of clouds. Your landing point is actually within the harbor, where a wooden pier juts out into the water from a long stretch of planks and beams that runs along the harbor edge, hanging off a compacted and stone-faced wall that drops some twelve feet straight to the sandy bottom.

But having slipped into the harbor unnoticed, the pier gives you an easy point to climb up into the base to sneak around and examine the most suspicious buildings more closely.

By carefully observing the movements of soldiers and workers within the base, and by getting closer to the building that Zoe identified you can confirm that it does in fact have an adjacent power generator. A cable runs out and away from it into the water, carefully hidden – or else protected from ordinary accidents and exposure – by running it under the ground and out from beneath the wooden walkway hanging out over the water.

[This is it,] Sabela declares.


Zoe, who has been looking around with obvious suspicion at the situation, adds her thoughts. [We could take care of this now.]

>Withdraw into the harbor. Sabela can take out the cable and you can all leave the area together.
>Stick to the plan. Withdraw completely, then give Sabela cover so she can attack the cable.
>This calls for some ambition. Sabela can wait to move while you select some targets of opportunity.
>Other?

>>5727743
I'm not sure what the difference is between the first two options.

>>5727743
>>Withdraw into the harbor. Sabela can take out the cable and you can all leave the area together.

>>5727749
Option 1: Sabela hits the cable while you're leaving the area and you all leave together afterwards.

Option 2: 'Ground team' goes ashore and attacks the building as previously planned. Sabela and Solaris head to deeper waters and attack the cable at the same time as the ground team attacks the building.

Option 3: Like option 2, but the ground team causes more of a ruckus by attacking multiple targets.

>5727743
>>Withdraw into the harbor. Sabela can take out the cable and you can all leave the area together.
It would be really nice if Sabela could sever a significant length of the cable to complicate repairs.

>>5727743
>>Withdraw into the harbor. Sabela can take out the cable and you can all leave the area together.

>>5727743
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 2, 6, 7 = 15 (3d10)

>>5728275

Rolled 9, 4, 10 = 23 (3d10)

>>5728275

Rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>5728275

Rolled 5, 6, 5 = 16 (3d10)

>>5728275

>>5728275
[We need to withdraw,] you decide. [Use the extra time to ensure repairs are impossible.]

[How so?] Nessa asks you curiously. [I assume you have a plan?]

You nod. [Cut the cable in segments and drop them in deeper water.]

[That way they have to replace it,] Solaris nods in agreement, [rather than reconnecting it.]

[I like it,] Sabela admits. [Solaris, let’s dive. Noel, please stay up here with the others and keep watch.]

…

The series of dives is one success after the next. First, Solaris and your mother locate the cable at a depth which they report is one hundred feet below the surface – already a depth that only lifelong divers like pearl hunters can really function at for any reasonable amount of time. Moving a little further out you find that the cable sits at a depth around two hundred and fifty feet. When your mother comes up her eyes and nose are bleeding slightly, and she has to take a moment to force them to heal.

[I’d like to see any human diver work at that depth,] she muses.

Two more dives is what it takes to separate the cable at two points, then bring the segment in the middle up to the surface. From there all six of you help to drag the cable further out into the water before releasing it – at a depth at very least three hundred feet, well away from the site where it was severed.

“Swim underwater!” you declare aloud this time, pointing in the direction you want everyone to swim. “Five minutes in that direction!”

…

After swimming below the surface for exactly five minutes, you resurface – not all at once, but a few seconds apart, out of sight of the harbor. That’s where you go ashore, quickly slinking into the cover of the trees nearest the rocky shore.

[We’ll remain silent,] you decide, switching back to hand signs. [We move fast and quiet, use cover wherever we can.]

[How do we escape?] Valentina signs to you.

>We wait until nightfall, then swim the distance from Lavina to the mainland.
>We’ll stow away onto a ship. Disappear as best we can and get to the mainland.
>We’ll need to arrange passage with a friendly crew, assuming we can find one.
>Other?

>>5728972
>>We wait until nightfall, then swim the distance from Lavina to the mainland.

>>5728972
>We wait until nightfall, then swim the distance from Lavina to the mainland.

>>5728972
>We’ll stow away onto a ship. Disappear as best we can and get to the mainland.

>>5728972
>We wait until nightfall, then swim the distance from Lavina to the mainland.

>>5728972
>We wait until nightfall, then swim the distance from Lavina to the mainland.

>>5728972
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 7, 5, 10 = 22 (3d10)

>>5729473

Rolled 10, 2, 5 = 17 (3d10)

>>5729473

Rolled 1, 10, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>5729473

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

>>5729473

>>5729555
Oh dear.

>>5729555
Rur roh. Though, I don't think OP actually does critfails.

>>5728972
Your goal is to time things so that you can swim across the channel under cover of darkness, and you also need to get to the correct area of the coast without being detected. That second requirement has two parts – you need to avoid being spotted by any number of patrols which will be covering land between here and there, and you also need to reach your destination quickly enough so that your enemy doesn’t have an opportunity to cut you off under the assumption that you’re going to try to escape through the port town.

Swiftly, silently, without any verbal coordination, you and your cohort put as much terrain behind you as possible. Once more you do this by leaping from one hard surface to another, seeking to minimize any sort of trail you may be leaving while maintaining as fast a pace as possible.

…

[We’re here early,] your mother observes.

It’s around noon when you reach and cross the wall surrounding the port town, evidently ahead of your enemy.

[We’ll have to find a place to hide,] Valentina glances at you. [Am I right?]

You nod.

[Then where?] Solaris wonders.

>As close to the harbor as possible. We want to be gone at the first possible instance.
>Near here. We shouldn’t let ANYONE see us in the daylight hours if we can avoid it.
>We may have some supporters here, or a safehouse. Zoe, do you know anything?
>Other?

>>5730179
>>Near here. We shouldn’t let ANYONE see us in the daylight hours if we can avoid it.
>>We may have some supporters here, or a safehouse. Zoe, do you know anything?
can't hurt to ask, at least.

>>5730179
>Near here. We shouldn’t let ANYONE see us in the daylight hours if we can avoid it.

>>5730179
>>5730186
+1

>>5730179
>>>Near here. We shouldn’t let ANYONE see us in the daylight hours if we can avoid it.

>>5730179
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 5, 7, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>5730765

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

>>5730765

Rolled 6, 2, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>5730765

>>5730765
[Zoe, is there anywhere near here to lay low?] you ask.

Zoe shakes her head. [I did maintain contacts on Lavinia, for a while.]

[No longer?]

She shakes her head again. [They were all driven off or killed.]

[I see. Perhaps I should have guessed.]

[So where do we go?] Nessa asks with a frown.

[A basement or cellar makes sense,] your mother offers. [Or somewhere normal people cannot see.]

[Unfortunately the church-towers are tall here,] Zoe considers the alternatives Sabela raised. [Otherwise rooftops would be a good option.]

[Then a cellar it is,] you decide.

…

Hiding like a rat doesn’t suit you, you decide. But you at very least manage to situate your entire team in what you understand to be a storage cellar quickly enough that your enemy doesn’t have a chance to find you first - in the basement of a public house, not especially close to the harbor front but convenient to your purposes nonetheless. Instead of hiding in one of the empty barrels, you and your team manage to brace yourselves up against the floorboards in each of the three cases before sundown when someone comes down into the cellar to bring up drinks or dried foods of various descriptions.

It takes hours - which feel like days - for night to fall. But when it does, you slip out into the streets and make your way down to the water.

>Start swimming. Avoid being seen. Keep it simple.
>If you’re careful you can hitch a ride on the hull of a passing ship.
>Swim underwater for as far as you can.
>Other?

>>5731544
>>Start swimming. Avoid being seen. Keep it simple.

>>5731544
>Swim underwater for as far as you can.

>>5731544
>Start swimming. Avoid being seen. Keep it simple.

>>5731544
>3d10 best of four

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

>>5732302

Rolled 3, 4, 9 = 16 (3d10)

>>5732302

Rolled 1, 4, 7 = 12 (3d10)

>>5732302

Rolled 10, 10, 7 = 27 (3d10)

>>5732302

>>5731544
You decide that there’s one inescapable fact in this situation – that the further you get and the faster you get there, the better. Of course there’s the basic notion that being further away from the people chasing you is better, which is kind of the whole premise behind running away in the first place. But you also have an understanding that the ocean is a very big place, and a ship isn’t in every possible corner of it at any given time. When they leave harbor captains take their ships in all different directions depending on the tides, the winds, and their intended destinations. But all of them have to do that through the entrance to the harbor, meaning that the highest chance of your group being accidentally found out is right at the start of your swim.

It turns out to be a bit tense just trying to make it from the last row of buildings – mostly storehouses and repair shops – to the water itself. Each of you lowers yourself into the harbor, slipping in with neither a ripple nor a sound. Once the last of you does so, the worst part of this entire misadventure begins.

…

By sunrise you’ve made good progress, having slipped out of the harbor undetected in the dark. At one point you were forced to dive to avoid being spotted by a small fishing boat that was leaving the harbor at a time that wasn’t exactly ideal for your purposes, but after that not a single thing goes wrong so far as you can tell.

At least, not until you start seeing fins breaking the surface.

“Oh great,” you hear Valentina grumble to your right. “We have company.”

“Are they sharks or dolphins?” Zoe asks to your left. “Or can anyone tell from this angle?”

>Let me dive down for a moment and see.
>Sabela, Solaris. Would you mind taking care of this?
>Let’s ignore it until it becomes a problem… but maybe also swim faster.
>Other?

>>5733118
>>Let’s ignore it until it becomes a problem… but maybe also swim faster.

afaik no dolphins have dorsal fins.

>>5733173
All dolphins have dorsal fins, but the shape is different. The chief difference is tail shape.

>>5733118
>Sabela, Solaris. Would you mind taking care of this?

>>5733118
>>Let’s ignore it until it becomes a problem… but maybe also swim faster.

Sharks or dolphins, either way we definitely don't want to be in the area.

>>5733118
“Let’s just swim faster,” you decide aloud. “Hope they avoid us like other animals tend to.”

“I can agree with that,” Solaris replies immediately, picking up the pace a little.

“What, you don’t like the water?” Sabela taunts.

“I don’t like how other things in the water can see us when we can’t see them,” Solaris insists.

“Not unreasonable,” Nessa assures her.

“That being said, they do seem less timid than I would prefer,” Zoe concludes. “I agree with miss Noel… we should not linger.”
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 4, 5, 8 = 17 (3d10)

>>5733923

Rolled 10, 5, 2 = 17 (3d10)

>>5733923

Rolled 4, 7, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>5733923

>>5733923
By the time you reach the opposite shore the sun has gone down already. Your burned and peeling faces and shoulders visibly heal under the moonlight, courtesy of the old bastards and your surgical enhancements, as you rest on the shore for a while. But eventually you have to move on, taking cover in the shrubs and low trees just inland.

There are lights nearby - sure sign of a settlement. You head towards them.

…

“One room please,” you insist curtly at the entrance desk of an inn you found in the nearby seaside town. There are hushed voices, muttering about your swords and your eyes, but as it turns out your money spends just as well when you put it on the desk despite being a bit brined from your long swim. “Some spare blankets too, if you please.”

“And food,” Sabela adds. “Supper for three.”

You eat almost as much as your mother, some roasted chicken and potatoes in a fragrant, herby sauce, along with pickled vegetables and a glass of dark red wine. Then, wrapped in a warm, dry blanket while your sodden clothes hang to drip-dry overnight, you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

…

It’s still dark when you awaken to soft singing.

Sabela glances at you in the dark, and the singing stops. “Go back to sleep, Noel,” she insists quietly, placing her hand on your forehead. “And rest well.”

You slip back off into sleep to the faint sounds of the songs of your homeland.

…

“Did you sleep well?” Valentina asks the next morning.

You nod. “I did. You?”

“Surprisingly so,” she admits. “I wasn’t sure I’d be comfortable, but there was just something… soothing.”

>First thing we need to do - figure out where we came ashore, and whether we’ve been pursued.
>We need to return to Scaithness and plan our next move. Take advantage of the situation.
>We rarely get this far away from Hazaran. Let’s take it slow, see what the situation here is like.
>Other?

>>5734933
>First thing we need to do - figure out where we came ashore, and whether we’ve been pursued.

>>5734933
>First thing we need to do - figure out where we came ashore, and whether we’ve been pursued.

>>5734933
>>First thing we need to do - figure out where we came ashore, and whether we’ve been pursued.

>>5734933
>>We rarely get this far away from Hazaran. Let’s take it slow, see what the situation here is like.

>>5734933
“Well, we should figure out where we’ve ended up and if we’ve been pursued,” you declare. “Who knows where the currents might have taken us?”

…

As it happens, the currents actually took you a fairly good distance to the east of where you wanted to be - this is a small island off the Eaglecrest peninsula, which protrudes northward from just about the middle of the Aquitanian coast. Coming here on purpose may not have been an ideal plan, but because of that fact it seems that the Organization hasn’t tried to pursue you here.

That means there are a few strategies that make some amount of sense from here, which are laid out in front of your group for discussion.

You find yourself favoring

>Trying to lay low here on the island for some time, until the Organization’s efforts to find you die down.
>Heading over to the mainland and trying to disappear into the mountains, making your way home that way.
>Negotiating passage aboard a ship heading to the east, away from Lavinia and eventually towards Hazaran’s south coast.
>Other?

>>5735771
>>Heading over to the mainland and trying to disappear into the mountains, making your way home that way.

>>5735771
>>Heading over to the mainland and trying to disappear into the mountains, making your way home that way.

>>5735771
>Heading over to the mainland and trying to disappear into the mountains, making your way home that way.

>>5735771
>Heading over to the mainland and trying to disappear into the mountains, making your way home that way.

>>5735773
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 1, 9, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>5736454

Rolled 3, 5, 9 = 17 (3d10)

>>5736454

Rolled 10, 9, 7 = 26 (3d10)

>>5736454

Rolled 7, 9, 1 = 17 (3d10)

>>5736454

>>5736454
You elect to make one more crossing to reach the mainland late that night, before disappearing into the hills and woods. The party is careful to cover what few tracks you all leave as you go, so that the chances of anyone being able to follow you are slim. Eventually you wind your way up into the mountains, trekking through the high passes and narrow alpine valleys at a remarkable and unbroken pace.

After three days and nights without rest you find yourselves overlooking the town of Scaithness, its loch, and the all-too-familiar castle on the shores.

…

“No response?” you repeat the news after hearing it from Laura.

She nods, confirming it. “Nothing. No signs of any disruption in their operations whatsoever.”

“Though, I think it bears mention the state of their ‘operations’ was already diminished,” Helen points out.

[Fewer chances to contact the enemy,] Serana reasons, [so less evidence of anything overall.]

>Then should we go north and investigate? Poke around until we get a response?
>I don’t care so long as we’re hindering them and they’re not attacking us. This is fine.
>It may be a good opportunity to try and advance any more unusual ideas people may have.
>Other?

>>5737465
>It may be a good opportunity to try and advance any more unusual ideas people may have.

>>5737465
>>It may be a good opportunity to try and advance any more unusual ideas people may have.

>>5737465
>3d10 best of three
Also, I'd like to invite write-in suggestions.

Rolled 7, 8, 1 = 16 (3d10)

>>5739127
I'm too stupid for writeins.

Rolled 10, 6, 8 = 24 (3d10)

>>5739127
I thought it was a surprise box vote

Rolled 5, 5, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>5739127

>>5739127
“So, I think we have an opportunity,” you decide aloud. “It’s… been a long time, right? That we’ve been at this?”

Serana nods. [Yes.]

“There’s this thing in literature called the through line,” you continue to lay your thoughts out as best you can. “Where even if things change, in the plot or in terms of the dramatis personae, there are some elements that stay the same - like a key characterization, or the development of a major background event, or in dramatic themes.”

“You’re having trouble connecting this situation to everything that’s come before it,” Aurora summarizes.

“With all the insane back-and-forth between the sides, it feels like I’m in danger of losing the plot,” you admit. “So I’m simply going to ask if anyone has any more ‘unconventional’ ideas for how to use this window of opportunity, opened by having disrupted our enemy’s communication with the mainland.”

“Where does the conversion of that long-range exploratory ship stand?” Helen asks.

“There’s a report on my desk,” you tell Valentina, who’s sitting on the edge of it. “Do you mind?”

After rummaging for it for a moment, she finds the document in question and looks it over. “This says it should be ready within one week.”

“So crewing decisions,” you decide. “Helen, thoughts?”

“I know you’d expressed some desire to go yourself,” Helen replies. “I’d ask that you reconsider sending any half-blooded warriors at all.”

“What’s your reasoning?”

“We have no idea if that strategy will work,” Helen answers. “You know that, and you know that there’s a significant risk involved that anyone who goes may not return. That’s why you were ready to volunteer yourself, because you had no desire to send any one of us on a mission like that without exposing yourself to the same danger.”

You nod curtly. “You’re right.”
>1/2

>>5740466
“I can’t allow you to do that,” she insists. “Zoe, Aurora, Laura, Serana, and I reached that conclusion together. You’ll find that we’re of one mind on this matter.”

“Is this correct?” you ask calmly.

Serana nods. [Yes.]

“Definitely,” Laura agrees.

“Where our views differ is in who to send,” Zoe continues. “We have agreed that each half-blooded warrior or awakened being we send may increase the chances of success, but even in the event of success will lower our faction’s battle potential by a vastly greater amount than simply sending an all-human crew.”

“Granted,” you nod in agreement. “I take it there are disagreements beyond this?”

Zoe confirms it by not correcting you on the spot - as is her way. “As I am somewhat neutral beyond my disapproval of sending more than one warrior, I will lay out the options for your consideration. If individuals still have a disagreement having heard your thoughts on the subject we can have that conversation afterward.”

>A crew entirely comprised of local Hazari volunteer sailors, as small as can be reasonable.
>There are sailors from the mainland here. This is a chance for them to go home on their own.
>A mixed crew with one warrior overseeing them would be the least likely to encounter problems.
>Other?

>>5740481
>There are sailors from the mainland here. This is a chance for them to go home on their own.

>>5740481
>>There are sailors from the mainland here. This is a chance for them to go home on their own.

>>5740481
>>A mixed crew with one warrior overseeing them would be the least likely to encounter problems.

>>5740481
>A mixed crew with one warrior overseeing them would be the least likely to encounter problems.

>>5740481
>>A mixed crew with one warrior overseeing them would be the least likely to encounter problems.

>>5740481
“The sailors deserve a chance to go home,” you decide. “But we should also ensure that Hazaran is represented in some sense. And… at least one of us should go.”

“You mean one of our warriors?” Helen asks. “Do you have a specific reason?”

“Because everything we are started there,” you explain. “These ‘dragon’-things that can awaken are from the mainland.”

“Do you think it’s wise to let them know we exist?” Helen asks with a frown.

Zoe closes her eyes. “We have no way of knowing.”

“What, like whether they’ll be mad or not?” Valentina asks.

Zoe nods. “It is possible that they would see our existence as violating the terms of whatever agreements may exist on the mainland which keep the peace, or they could welcome us as being like their own.”

[Or anything in-between,] Serana observes.

“So we keep it a secret?” Aurora muses.

“Which may be seen as lying, or cowardice,” Valentina realizes. “Or anything else for that matter, since we’ve never actually met one of these things.”

“No way of knowing,” Zoe repeats.

>Then we’ll have to trust whoever we send to make our case on behalf of our half-blooded sisters, if necessary.
>It does make a certain amount of sense to gather information with the first voyage. The Hazari crew should include spies.
>Other?

>>5742016
>It does make a certain amount of sense to gather information with the first voyage. The Hazari crew should include spies.

>>5742016
>It does make a certain amount of sense to gather information with the first voyage. The Hazari crew should include spies.

>>5742016
>>It does make a certain amount of sense to gather information with the first voyage. The Hazari crew should include spies.

>>5742016
>>It does make a certain amount of sense to gather information with the first voyage. The Hazari crew should include spies.

>>5742016
“That’s why I think at least some of the Hazari crew should be trained in information-gathering,” you decide. “Enough sailors for a return trip, assuming the foreign sailors wish to stay in their homeland, but also specialized spies.”

“That seems sensible,” Helen agrees. “That having been said, who would be your choice to represent our kind among the crew?”

…

“Are you sure about this, Sabrina?”

Sabrina, one of the warriors who has been with your faction since the beginning but with whom you have never been particularly close, nods once. “I am.”

“I’m gonna miss you,” Lucia, perhaps the one warrior among your number who Sabrina considers a friend, admits. “But I have to ask…”

“... why?”

Lucia nods.

“Because this is what I can do,” Sabrina insists flatly. “As a defensive type who never developed a specialized technique, I meet the requirement of being able to survive in the event that something goes wrong without risk of sacrificing significant combat power.”

After a moment, you sigh. “Then I wish you luck, Sabrina. As a defender, be certain to come back.”

>3d10 best of three

Rolled 8, 2, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>5742908

Rolled 5, 1, 10 = 16 (3d10)

>>5742908

Rolled 5, 5, 7 = 17 (3d10)

>>5742908

>>5742908
Preparations go by quickly - you are among the warriors who travel south with Sabrina so that you can see her off properly. She may never have been a person you ever got along with, which is something you can say is equally true for most of the rest of her comrades. But she’s one of you, a sister worthy of your respect.

“I wish we could help her,” Lucia mutters, as you and the small group with you watch the ship carrying your comrade into an uncertain future.

“None of us know what’s coming our way,” Valentina muses. “For all we know she may be safer than you’re about to be.”

“Still,” Lucia sighs, “it stings a little, feeling so impotent.”

“Who says?” you ask with a frown, glancing at her over your shoulder. “I bet we can do something to help.”

“What did you have in mind?” Zara asks you, a nervous energy manifesting itself in her manner.

>I was thinking we have a warship of theirs. Let’s send it back to them as a distraction.
>One of the captured sailors mentioned using a ‘radio’ to disrupt other communications.
>Sounds like a good time to hit them hard on the land, give them something to worry about.
>Other?

>>5743802
>Sounds like a good time to hit them hard on the land, give them something to worry about.

>>5743802
>One of the captured sailors mentioned using a ‘radio’ to disrupt other communications.
Or maybe broadcast propaganda? Transmit false military messages?

>>5743802
>>One of the captured sailors mentioned using a ‘radio’ to disrupt other communications.

>>5743802
>One of the captured sailors mentioned using a ‘radio’ to disrupt other communications.

>>5743802
>>One of the captured sailors mentioned using a ‘radio’ to disrupt other communications.

>>5743802
>3d10 best of four

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

>>5744562

Rolled 4, 5, 4 = 13 (3d10)

>>5744562

Rolled 2, 5, 10 = 17 (3d10)

>>5744562

Rolled 4, 8, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>5744562

>>5744562
“We have an option,” you realize aloud. “The ship we captured from our enemy’s invasion fleet has a communications device – they transmit and receive sound waves. One of the sailors mentioned that because the devices on both ends have to match settings, there are only so many ‘channels’ over which the enemy can communicate.”

[So what you’re saying,] Serana realizes, signing her thoughts across to you, [is that within a certain distance, we could force them to hear us?]

“Which would make it harder for them to give and receive orders,” you nod, confirming your idea to your comrades present. “Specifically, we could switch transmission settings quickly through a cycle, sending out nothing but, for example, engine noise.”

“So if someone spots them, they won’t be able to record it,” Lucia realizes. “I get it. Even if we can’t escort them the whole way, we could try to muddy the waters enough in just the right place to help them along.”

“And the further they get from here,” you add, “the more ocean the enemy will have to search to locate them. That’s the same principle we used to evade the enemy at Lavinia not long ago.”

“So then let’s do it!” Lucia insists.

“There’s only one problem,” you sigh wearily. “It’d be a one-way trip for the warship. It seems like ships of this type have a limited amount of fuel, of a sort we don’t produce enough of in Hazaran to fill her bunkers right now. They also don’t have sails as backups.”

[So we will be sacrificing this ship for this purpose.]

You nod. “Right. And if we remove the communications equipment, we won’t be able to power it when we get closer to the enemy. It’s tied into the ship’s own power systems.”

>So we’ll have to let her serve her purpose, then scuttle her. Keep her out of enemy hands.
>That having been said, we could include stealing fuel for a return trip as part of the plan.
>We’ll strip her of any other useful equipment, then point her out to sea before swimming to shore.
>Other?

>>5746238
>That having been said, we could include stealing fuel for a return trip as part of the plan.

>>5746238
>>That having been said, we could include stealing fuel for a return trip as part of the plan.

I'm not giving this ship up without a fight.

>>5746238
>That having been said, we could include stealing fuel for a return trip as part of the plan.
Or maybe black market trade? Maybe the merchant community already has contacts. If the enemy military is really corrupt, some supply officers may be willing to sell fuel.

>>5746238
>>That having been said, we could include stealing fuel for a return trip as part of the plan.