>>5967609
>>I’m going to return you to the others, under guard of course. But if you want to talk again let one of the guards know.
>>I want to get all your people home, and to keep my people safe in their homes. Help me accomplish that.
I don't think these are mutually exclusive.

>>5967609
>>I’m going to return you to the others, under guard of course. But if you want to talk again let one of the guards know.

>>5967609
>I’m going to return you to the others, under guard of course. But if you want to talk again let one of the guards know.

>>5967609
“I’m going to return you to the others,” you declare. “Under guard, of course. But if you decide you have anything else you want to discuss, just let a guard know. I’ll be around.”
>3d10 best of three

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

>>5968566

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

>>5968566

Rolled 9, 5, 4 = 18 (3d10)

>>5968566

>>5968566
You continue to work through your captives one at a time, forming a general understanding of how many of them are at all likely to cooperate, to what degree, and importantly, to what end. Out of the eleven specialists, three seem to be the most amenable to helping you force the invasion troops to withdraw to the continent. First among those is Signalman Marie-Noelle Lagadec, with whom you first spoke at some length and found to be generally reasonable. You also spoke with Nolan Agarta, another signalman from a small, mountainous country on the main continent – he’s the third son of a fairly wealthy family there, and wishes to return to his comfortable life. He was only ever here in the first place because his family expected him to serve somewhere, in some capacity. The third of the potentially helpful specialists is from an urban area he called a ‘slum’ in a larger country – this man, Tyler Banford, is self-interested to the point of offering to sell information.

Information which you could, of course, probably get for free. That little fact more or less makes Mr. Banford useless to you.

The other captives are all either true believers or are too scared of you or of potential repercussions for working with you to be of any help. Thankfully, things are weighted more towards the latter than the former, with only a handful of them still truly believing in the cause. Also tellingly, every captive you speak to aside from the zealots wants to go home – wherever that is for them – with some degree of urgency ranging up to desperation.

Daybreak brings an inflection point, when you know that you’ll have to decide what to do with these people.

>Avoid the question for now – push for Marie-Noelle to help you get your enemy to disarm.
>Wait, for the time being. You still have to see what your last message to your enemy achieves.
>Release the captives. Allow them to choose where they wish to go from here.
>Other?

>>5970263
>>Release the captives. Allow them to choose where they wish to go from here.

Honestly I like fucking with their expectations.

>>5970263
>>Release the captives. Allow them to choose where they wish to go from here.
Feed 'em or something first though.

>>5970263
>Release the captives. Allow them to choose where they wish to go from here.

>>5970263
>3d10 best of three

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

>>5971288

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

>>5971288

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

>>5971288

>>5971288
Shortly before dawn you wake the few captive technicians who managed to fall asleep, ordering them to their feet. Then you march them downstairs to the street level, supply them with water and half-rations of salted pork, dried fruits, and tack. They eat as your own soldiers go about preparing to move, until shortly after dawn you lead the captives out past the defensive line.

Then you begin removing the ropes binding their hands, and hand each the other half of the rations they ate for breakfast.

“What you do now is entirely up to each of you,” you declare calmly. “Find your own forces, return to what’s left of your original post, or just run, try to disappear into some village somewhere.”

“Or, you can stay here,” you add – to the technicians who haven’t already left on their own accord. “If you choose to do so, I will personally guarantee your safety to the best of my ability, until such time as this conflict ends.”

Even by the time you’ve finished your introduction, you’re already down to less than half the group – and it isn’t much longer after that when you find yourself down to just two. One is, unsurprisingly, Marie-Noelle Lagadec. The other is a young woman with brown hair and eyes, who before had seemed skeptical of your entire faction. Her name is Célene Arsenault, daughter of a family which used to be involved in gunsmithing. If you remember your inverview with Ms Arsenault, her family business was struggling due to the continent’s increased reliance on mass production.

“Ms Lagadec and Ms Arsenault,” you address the two. “Am I to take it that you’ve chosen to remain?”

Marie-Noelle nods. “That’s right.”

Célene says nothing, at least not right away.

“May I hear your reasons?”

“Would it be strange to say I find your sincerity refreshing?” Marie-Noelle muses.

“Not at all,” you insist. “Did that lead you to trust me in my offer of protection?”

She shakes her head. “If I can find a way to help in little ways, I will.”

“And you, Ms Arsenault?” you ask.

“I can’t lie,” she admits with a sigh. “I like my odds of living to see the end of the month better where I am.”
>1/2

>>5972551
“I have to wonder,” you muse. “Why so little faith in your own people, Ms Arsenault?”

“Frankly, I’m concerned about how far they’ll go to maintain discipline,” she summarizes.

“You think they’ll start shooting people?” Marie-Noelle asks with a frown.

“It’s possible.”

“Military discipline is important,” you observe. “And when that discipline starts to slip, for example in the face of defeat, individual commanders may go to extreme lengths to counter that slippage.”

>In the short-term, we need to move. I trust you’ll both be on your best behavior.
>Marie-Noelle, I would like to discuss our next moves with you and my comrades.
>We need to be ready for the occupiers to reject our calls to stand down.
>Other?

>>5973471
>>In the short-term, we need to move. I trust you’ll both be on your best behavior.

>>5973471
>In the short-term, we need to move. I trust you’ll both be on your best behavior.

>>5973471
>In the short-term, we need to move. I trust you’ll both be on your best behavior.

>>5973471
>>In the short-term, we need to move. I trust you’ll both be on your best behavior.

>>5973471
“For now, we need to get ready to move,” you insist. “I trust both of you will be on your best behavior?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Marie-Noelle insists. “For now Célene and I will stick together.”

She glances at Ms Arsenault. “Does that sound alright to you?”

“I have no objections,” she replies.

…

Your entire force evacuates the buildings you had occupied since last night, moving cautiously through the streets and towards the edge of town.

>Set up an encampment just outside of town. That will be the safest arrangement to wait this situation out.
>Take over another set of buildings near the outskirts. That will give you the best defenses for the short term.
>Locate an open square. That gives you some defensive ability without displacing local civilians a second time.
>Other?

Also give me a 3d10 roll. I'll take the first three.

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

>>5974249
>Take over another set of buildings near the outskirts. That will give you the best defenses for the short term.

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

>>5974249
>>Take over another set of buildings near the outskirts. That will give you the best defenses for the short term.

>>5974249
>Take over another set of buildings near the outskirts. That will give you the best defenses for the short term.

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

>>5974249

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

>>5974249
>>Take over another set of buildings near the outskirts. That will give you the best defenses for the short term.

>>5974249
After speaking briefly with Aurora, Valentina, and Serana – the hand signals involved in which seem to fascinate Marie-Noelle and Célene despite the latter’s reluctance to show it – you decide to relocate to a new series of buildings closer to the outskirts. This time it’s a residential block with a green space in the center, and so you’re able to seize the ground floor while sheltering the bulk of your force in that open area. Since many of the apartments here have windows that overlook the green space, you have a couple of sergeants lay out the ground rules for the people living here whom you have allowed to remain in place if they so choose.

Those rules are simple.

For your part, your soldiers will do nothing to harm or harass the local people. For their part, they are to do nothing to hinder or attack your soldiers during their duties. You also have them explain that your forces will fire on them if pressed to do so – a threat only made necessary by the fact that positioning yourselves as you have has created vulnerability in the case that these civilians take offense to your being here.

And so the waiting game begins in earnest, as throughout the heart of your enemy’s foothold in your homeland their officers weigh the details of their current situation in their minds.

…

Hours pass uneasily.

You rest calmly through this unease, watching to see that your outward show of complete calm reassures your subordinates somewhat. Your conversation, however, is frank.

[I have no reason to expect their cooperation,] you admit silently to your companions.

[Even this late?] Valentina asks.

[Even this late,] you confirm. [Just look at how their technicians behaved.]

[One seems to have taken a liking to us,] Serana observes.

[One,] Aurora repeats for emphasis.

[There are bound to be more,] Valentina insists. [All we need is for those voices to win out, right?]

>If we put in an appearance, we might be able to help that happen.
>We should be prepared to fight our way out of this town, and possibly soon.
>Our enemy may end up fighting among themselves. We have to be ready to seize advantage of that moment.
>Other?

>>5976508
>>If we put in an appearance, we might be able to help that happen.

>>5976508
>>If we put in an appearance, we might be able to help that happen.

>>5976508
>We should be prepared to fight our way out of this town, and possibly soon.

>>5976508
>We should be prepared to fight our way out of this town, and possibly soon.

>>5976508
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 7, 1, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>5977304

Rolled 10, 10, 6 = 26 (3d10)

>>5977304

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

>>5977304

>>5977304
“I see two possibilities,” you decide, drawing Marie-Noelle’s attention – she and Célene have been listening in to offer any strategic advice, whenever they feel comfortable doing so. “One of those is that we may have to stage a fighting withdrawal some time in the coming hours, so we need to make some preparations for that.”

“And the other possibility?” Valentina asks. Marie-Noelle and Célene look to her, then back to you.

“Put in a personal appearance,” you answer. “Facing down anyone who may be undecided might just help them to decide the way we would prefer.”

“At least at a small scale you might be right,” Aurora nods once, drawing the two humans’ attention. “But since it would be personal visits it would only affect a limited number of our enemy.”

[Enough, maybe,] Serana offers. [It would have to be someone else.]

“True,” you muse. Marie-Noelle seems perplexed.

“Okay, I missed something,” she admits. “What?”

“Serana’s throat was torn out by a yōma,” you explain briefly. “We invented a sign language to communicate with her. It’s based off a monastery where the monks take a vow of silence.”

[It works,] Serana shrugs.

“What’s a yōma?” Célene asks with a frown.

Ah. That’s right, not all of your enemy actually know anything about… well, anything, really. But most importantly, they don’t usually know anything about what the faction they fight for was doing here in your home, to you and to your people.

>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.
>Spare her the worst of it, give her just a summary of the worst crimes her superiors have committed.
>Gloss over it a little. She’s already made the right decision, what she needs now is just enough to reinforce that fact.
>Other?

>>5977933
>>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.

>>5977933
>>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.

>>5977933
>>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.

>>5977933
>>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.

>>5977933
>The full details will be horrifying, and you’ll probably have to recount them multiple times today. May as well start here.

>>5977933
You decide to spare no details. This is going to be a long day, so you may as well start now.

“A yōma is a monster that only seems to exist in this part of the world,” you explain. “Your continent has the ‘dragonkind’ – yōma are made from flesh and blood from those beings, implanted into humans by a branch of your organization. Those victims became monsters particularly well-known for mimicking humans, only to start tearing the innards out of unsuspecting victims and eating them the minute they see an opportunity.”

“… what?” Célene asks, her eyes widening just slightly.

“Human victims, yes,” you clarify. “From those yōma in turn, flesh and blood are taken and implanted into girls or young women – the process is more difficult to control in males – making them, in essence, half-monsters. The result is a silver-eyed warrior, like myself, who can use yōki, a special sort of energy that the ‘dragonkind’ harness to ‘awaken’ themselves. We can also sense yōki in yōma that are transformed to look like humans.”

“How many?” Marie-Noelle asks, with a sort of grim, horrified curiosity.

“Over the years, perhaps thousands,” you guess. “The overwhelming majority did not survive. Their deaths were… unpleasant. Even those who survived did so at the cost of great suffering.”

“The human body tends to reject such… interventions,” you continue. “For most of us, our bodies never fully heal, and over time the yōki slowly overwhelms our minds and bodies, eating away at our will. Those who were not killed in the line of duty lost themselves, and were either executed at best or became the very thing they so hated. All of it, an experiment in creating a human who can awaken in a controlled manner.”

Marie-Noelle has covered her mouth with one hand, and Célene stares in blank, barely-comprehending horror at the notion that the same leaders they presumably have followed up until just yesterday were responsible for visiting such horrors on the people of your homeland – the roving, murdering yōma, the torture of innocent girls, so much death and fear and misery reduced to little more than watching some chemicals react in a laboratory.

“Did they… succeed?” Marie-Noelle asks, her mouth still covered.

You nod slowly. “Very nearly.”

“How nearly?” Célene presses. “And what does that mean?”

You transform your arm, awakening it fully and startling the two women half to death, before returning it to its usual form. “Several of us found ourselves caught somewhere just short of losing ourselves fully, which grants us unusual control and stability. We’ve also found ways to control the less-than-wholesome urges of those who have gone past their limits, but retained most of their sanity.”
>1/2

>>5978899
“As for me personally, my mother was one who passed her limit and became something inhuman,” you conclude. “I was born with a high aptitude for yōki control, which is why your Organization had my father killed in a coup they supported so they could pretend to take me in.”

“That’s what your faction has done here. That’s why we’ve been fighting so hard.”

There’s a long, and very uncomfortable pause.

“… what can I do to help?” Marie-Noelle asks quietly.

>Come with us. Help us convince others to spread the word as well.
>We need your voice, and the equipment to carry it.
>Right now, nothing. Your accompanying us would be too dangerous.
>Other?

>>5978916
>We need your voice, and the equipment to carry it.

>>5978916
>We need your voice, and the equipment to carry it.

>>5978916
>>We need your voice, and the equipment to carry it.

>>5978916
3d10 best of three

Rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14 (3d10)

>>5979588

Rolled 8, 8, 7 = 23 (3d10)

>>5979588

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

>>5979588

>>5979588
“What we need from you is two things,” you decide. “We need your voice, and we need the equipment to carry it. Can you provide those things?”

“The former, yes,” Marie-Noelle replies immediately. “The latter may be a little bit difficult.”

“In terms of the technical requirements?” Valentina presses.

She considers her answer. “Yes. Sorry, I was considering the next question. What I’d need is radio equipment. Célene, can you help me with the finer points?”

Célene considers that question as well. “Yes, I can. So long as you can get the parts I need.”

“And that’s going to depend on what the set we can get for you actually has, and what’s wrong with it if anything?”

“Right.”

That’s all reasonable – it’s a matter of getting the technological aspects of it lined up, so that you can do all the things that come later.

>Ask your two technical experts for suggestions.
>There are plenty of those ‘radios’ in their vehicles. Go get some.
>Can they build one from what’s available?
>Other?

>>5981883
>>Ask your two technical experts for suggestions.
Well if we have the experts definitely get their professional opinion and follow through.

>>5981883
>Ask your two technical experts for suggestions.

>>5981883
>There are plenty of those ‘radios’ in their vehicles. Go get some.

>>5981883
“The two of you are the experts here,” you declare. “What do you suggest?”

“We need three things,” Marie-Noelle replies. “The radio set itself, a power generator, and fuel to run the generator.”

“I dunno about you but I can only think of two places where all three of those things are in the same place,” Célene picks up. “A warship or a gun-carrier.”

Both of those things definitely exist nearby – there’s still a ship that’s settled onto the bottom in the harbor from yesterday, and there are plenty of those gun-carriers still available to your enemy’s remaining soldiers in the area.

[Is there a third option?] Serana wonders silently.

Marie-Noelle looks to you to translate, and so you do. “The shipboard equipment will be more powerful but largely immobile, while stealing an entire gun-carrier is likely to draw quite a bit of attention.”

>It may be easier to get to the ship and hold position there without drawing attention.
>We may try persuading a likely unit of soldiers to hand over a gun-carrier – or else, take it.
>Stealing a gun-carrier is the best, no-nonsense approach.
>Other?

>>5982850
>We may try persuading a likely unit of soldiers to hand over a gun-carrier – or else, take it.

>>5982850
>It may be easier to get to the ship and hold position there without drawing attention.

>>5982850
>>Stealing a gun-carrier is the best, no-nonsense approach.
Grand Theft BOAT

>>5982850
>>Stealing a gun-carrier is the best, no-nonsense approach.

>>5982850
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 6, 9, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>5983249

Rolled 4, 1, 2 = 7 (3d10)

>>5983249

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

>>5983249

“Stealing a gun carrier would be the no-nonsense approach,” you decide. “It gets us everything we need in a moving package.”

“Can you drive one?” Célene asks you skeptically.

You stare right back at her. “Can you?”

“I can,” she answers.

“Then if you could be so kind as to volunteer,” you muse, “I’d certainly be grateful.”

There’s a pause. “As opposed to… being voluntold?”

“Something like that,” you chuckle. “It’s a fun turn of phrase.”

“I’m sure you’ll be well-guarded,” Valentina insists.

“All four of us will go with you,” you clarify. “Each of us on our own could do it, but four silver-eyed warriors is what you send when you really want to get a job done.”

“Well, then thanks for that,” Célene replies with a slight frown.

…

It doesn’t take long to track down the armored vehicles which are your objective, and to position yourselves around a building corner from where two have been positioned. Perhaps one street away, around a different corner, is another pair of vehicles. Each pair is accompanied by a few soldiers, none of whom look to be at any realistic state of readiness.

>Approach the soldiers closest to your target vehicle, solicit their surrender.
>Try to steal one vehicle, and disable the other.
>Four silver-eyed warriors, four vehicles. Take no chances.
>Other?

>>5984450
>>Four silver-eyed warriors, four vehicles. Take no chances.

More samples to study and harder for them to immediately spread the word.

>>5984450
>>Four silver-eyed warriors, four vehicles. Take no chances.

>>5984450
>3d10 best of three

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

>>5985521

Rolled 4, 9, 9 = 22 (3d10)

>>5985521

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

>>5985521

>>5985521
“Four vehicles, four warriors,” you observe. “Zero chances. I’ll capture one, Célene will drive it. Serana, you destroy the one near it. Valentina, Aurora, the two of you will simultaneously disable the two around the corner. Understood?”

“We’ll get it done,” Valentina nods, seemingly sure of herself. “I think I’ve already got a strategy in mind.”

“Is that strategy partially awakening to use a precision attack with your nails?”

Valentina grins back at you. “You know me so well.”

Honestly, that’ll just about do it. An attack like that will send the soldiers into a panic, which should let Aurora slip away in the chaos assuming she’d have already snuck in close to disable the other vehicle with her sword. The timing wouldn’t even have to be that precise.

…

The speed at which you leap into action takes the enemy soldiers completely off guard, which is what you should have expected of course – very few un-augmented humans could hope to match even a regular double-digit warrior, let along a former single-digit making use of her yōki. Smashing the driver’s compartment open with your sword is effortless even with Célene clinging frantically to your back, and while placing her inside isn’t the most delicate piece of work you’ve ever done it’s prompt, and it protects her from any injuries aside from a few bumps and bruises.

“Get going,” you order. “We’ll follow you.”

The enemy also eventually get around to making their own counter-move, only too late – as Serana has already cut through the treads on the second vehicle and deeply dented the hood. Bullets fly as the two of you start to withdraw along with Célene and the captured vehicle, useless until one single bullet, possibly even a ricochet, catches Serana in the ankle.

She stumbles at the sudden wound, and in an instant you dash to her side, parrying three more bullets in swift succession, only taking a fragment of one as a graze across your cheek. After a few seconds you feel a tap on your shoulder that tells you Serana has finished the most basic rapid healing on her leg, and so you back off along with her while still facing the enemy, continuing to cover for the two of you until you turn the nearest corner.
>1/2

>>5986950
Thanks to the timely intervention of Valentina and Aurora, none of the other armored vehicles get the chance to pursue your captured example of the type – and because of that inability to pursue, Célene is able to drive it all the way to your newest refuge.

“Do you have everything you need?” you ask as Célene exits and joins Marie-Noelle in examining what you’ve managed to steal. “Because if we need anything else, now is the time.”

After examining the whole vehicle, including the dimples where bullets struck it during the escape, you get your answer.

“It all seems to have survived,” Célene tells you. “I was concerned that one of those shots may have hit the radio, but it’s fine.”

“So, have you given any thought to what you want to say?” Aurora asks you curiously.

>I figured I would stay on-message: encourage our enemies to surrender, for their own sakes.
>That depends. Marie-Noelle, Célene, what message would lower their morale the fastest?
>Could we use it to eavesdrop on any other radio conversations within range?
>Other?

>>5986958
>>That depends. Marie-Noelle, Célene, what message would lower their morale the fastest?

>>5986958
>>Could we use it to eavesdrop on any other radio conversations within range?

We're getting one chance to spy before they realize what it means for us to be using the radio to send a message.

>>5986958
>>Could we use it to eavesdrop on any other radio conversations within range?

It'd be good to get a feel for the current state of the enemy first, then tailor our message accordingly.

>>5986958
>Could we use it to eavesdrop on any other radio conversations within range?

>>5986958
>That depends. Marie-Noelle, Célene, what message would lower their morale the fastest?

>>5986958
>3d10 best of four

Rolled 4, 7, 7 = 18 (3d10)

>>5987667

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

>>5987667

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

>>5987667

Rolled 6, 10, 9 = 25 (3d10)

>>5987667

>>5986958
“Could we use it to eavesdrop on other radio conversations within range?” you wonder.

Célene nods once. “Yes.”

A pause. “… how?”

“Well, it’s a receiver,” Célene observes. “So as long as you are listening to the same frequency someone is transmitting on you’ll be able to hear them.”

“We could learn some useful information that way,” Aurora points out to you.

“In terms of learning what message would best erode their morale.”

“Right.”

“Is that really necessary?” Célene wonders.

“Of course,” you insist curtly. “They haven’t surrendered yet, have they?”

“To my knowledge no,” Marie-Noelle offers.

“Then we could still do to stack the proverbial deck even more in our favor,” you conclude. “Every little bit to help us find a resolution sooner.”
>1/2

>>5988986
With a little help from the inside-experts on your enemy’s communications systems and procedures, you’re able to eavesdrop on them at a distance. Much of it is gibberish to you, which means you have to ask for Marie-Noelle to translate it from military jargon into real words that you can actually understand. But with that assistance, you’re able to understand the general situation.

The impression you get is that your enemy falls largely into two broad categories. The first and smaller category consists mostly of officers and senior enlistees, who seem more strongly inclined towards continuing to fight. That’s probably due to a combination of factors – their pay being one factor, and probably their aspirations to future positions of authority being the other.

Then, there’s the much larger group mostly comprised of lower-ranked enlistees, and a scattering of officers, who understand that things aren’t likely to get better from here – that their surprise attack has failed, that their technological advantages have been negated by the conditions and tactics they’ve had to face, that their supply lines are profoundly insecure and can be raided at any time, and that there’s really not much chance of a sudden intervention from the mainland shifting those factors back in their favor.

>Push the homesickness angle. Most of these enlistees probably just want to go home, and it’s honestly kind of relatable.
>Encourage the enlistee faction to ‘solve the problem for themselves’. They’re already on the route to mutiny as it is,
>Humiliate the officer faction. Make them realize that nobody will prop up a bunch of administrators who have failed.
>Other?

>>5990586
>>Push the homesickness angle. Most of these enlistees probably just want to go home, and it’s honestly kind of relatable.

>>5990586
>Other?
Remind the officers that there are more humiliating outcomes than an honorable armistice.

>>5990586
>Encourage the enlistee faction to ‘solve the problem for themselves’. They’re already on the route to mutiny as it is
My thinking is if the top commander isn't influenced by the homesickness angle, they won't go away. On the other hand, even if the enlisted don't mutiny, the officers will always have to take into account that they might, which will impact the way they operate.