>>24239921
We've also briefed Mari and specified that we need her to conserve power since we may have use for her regarding Armorman or other daemons. Girdin should be informed of the general direction in which we'd like him to wreck shit, and it won't hurt for Barry to get a recap either, even as disinterested in strategy as he is.

>>24240127

I was going to do a thing on Mari, but I ran out of room.

So, wat do?

>>24239921
Hey TM, Vis here. I let the other folks in the skype group know what's up. At work, but I have a few more mins to contribute at least.

Let's do what the other anon suggested and make sure Olberek is filled in on the plan. We might also want to mention our observations about the seemingly programmed nature of the armorman and see if that rings any bells. Something's really off about that figure.

>>24240205
>>24240127

Girdin nods his head when you explain where to attack. When you describe the armorman to him, he says that armor wasn't even a thing when he went to sleep, so he's baffled.

Olberek isn't much more helpful. As usual, he boasts about how all your enemies will be killed to pieces, but as far as the mysterious armored creature is concerned, he's not sure. It could be some kind of golem or a hedge daemon, probably of either Dominion or Knowledge. He's not one of the big guns in the region, though, or if he is he's new to it ("new" as in "from before Olberek got put in the oubliette two hundred years ago").

Bump?

>>24240896
Just got back home, am here now. I think we've prepared and planned for the attack as far as everyone except ourselves are concerned. We'd probably make ourselves most useful either by targetting the commander (AGAIN) or blinding archers near the front. We don't quite know what to expect from armorman, or potential other daemons, so best to be near the front so we can see what he does and find a way to take him down, I say.

>>24241017
Well, everyone except Olberek, but he doesn't seem capable of anything more detailed than "send in the wolves".

>>24241083
>>24241017

As the Dorriki army approaches, Girdin moves to the front of the column along with the cavalry, who plan to charge into the breach immediately behind him. Once again, the plan is to use the cavalry to overrun their front lines, then bring up the infantry to reinforce them and hold the territory.

As soon as the wall is in sight, Girdin begins picking up speed, and is soon barreling towards it, arrows plinking off his stony hide. He launches through the wall, bringing the timbers tumbling down around him, and begins a one-sided melee with the Golgothan defenders who survived the initial impact. The cavalry rush into the gap soon afterwards, mowing down what Golgothan defenders remain and trading arrows with the archers in the towers.

The infantry follow in soon after, spreading out into streets and alleyways where horses are more of a liability than an asset. Soon the haphazard, claustrophobic streets are choked with bodies pressed against one another, wrestling for control of the melee, and soon enough splitting one another open with sword and axe. The melee goes well, but arrows from above rain down, and shields are depressingly rare amongst the Dorriki.

One of the three captains left in the town has taken charge of the battle at the wall. He's not hard to find, but what do you plan to do with the bastard?

>>24241355
If I remember correctly, the wards only alert everyone in camp that we're doing shit, it doesn't actually stop our delusions. So why not have some fun with him, like say, "You are incapable of speaking any words except the word "prostitute".

>>24241549

You spit off your delusion and immediately the wards are triggered, pale blue light pulsing out from you in the shape of strange runes. It must've taken forever to write all of those.

Regardless, the captain's eyes widen and he stops speaking altogether, gesturing wildly. Given the wards went off, it doesn't take long for someone to figure out that he's been hexed somehow, so one of his lieutenants takes over command for him.

The battle continues raging on. It looks like Estercoast is taking the brunt of the fighting, but Mari said she'd be outside the town (and, more importantly, its wards), so she's probably back with Norfin. Vierre, meanwhile, leads from the front, hewing Golgothans down with admirable skill. You can't see Jens or Dekker from where you are, but they're probably around here somewhere.

>>24241836
That captain sure hates fun. Armorman also have not made an appearance. Perhaps setting off the ward may cause him to appear. A slightly less childish delusion may still have a cool effect other than fireworks. Like telling the captain "The lieutenant is a Dorriki impostor sabotaging your command". Hopefully, coupled with his frustration at being unable to speak (properly) he'll just outright kill the man.

Also, I'm feeling kinda lonely in here. Is anyone else even playing right now?

>>24242312

Yeah, it seems like it's mostly just one guy playing this quest now. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't abandon it for something else. I think it's cool and all, but...Apparently no one else does.

>>24242233

The captain and the lieutenant begin fighting one another. It doesn't take long for word to spread that the captain has been hexed, though (several of the Golgothans can actually hear you speaking), and the Golgothans cut the captain down. They're being pushed further into the city, though, the tide of wolves and men more than they can hold, especially with Girdin at the head.

The Golgothans own supernatural support has arrived, though. The armored creature flanked by a pair of blood guards arrives on the scene. The blood guards immediately impale themselves, their blood boiling in a familiar way, while the armor pulls its two-handed sword from its back and, runes on the blade glowing, goes to meet Girdin in battle. When the armor's blade strikes, it cuts deep into Girdin, who bellows with fury and rams his head into the armor, sending it flying across the street. Nevertheless, it regains its footing and levels its sword, prepared to continue the battle.

>>24243096
I think there's mostly just been a handful or so of us, but I kinda liked that. Plenty of room for arguing and stuff.

So the most obvious response here would seem to be attempting to blind Armorman. I'm not sure if there actually is anything behind the armor at all, but if blinding doesn't work, it's probably safe to assume this guy literally is a suit of armor.

>>24243341

I'm fine with having 2-5 players on average. 1 player, occasionally joined by another guy, is not really the population that quest threads are supposed to operate on, though.

---

You call the shadows into the armor's eyes. Or its visor, at least, you're still not sure if there are eyes down there. It works, but the blood golem rises a moment later, the dripping visage of Razag rising up before you. Immediately it begins churning through the Dorriki, whose weapons pass harmlessly through its liquid form. The armor raises its fist towards the creature, and apparently it understands, because it turns and uses its thaumaturgy to cancel the Blinding Darkness. Though not fast enough to stop Girdin from chomping on the armor's torso. Girdin doesn't really have teeth, but his jaws alone are strong enough to crumple the armor up like tissue paper. The armor flails in silent agony and drives its sword deep into Girdin's neck, who grunts in pain and tosses the armor aside. It doesn't seem to be leaking any kind of fluid, but its having trouble getting to its feet and everything below the stomach seems to be paralyzed. So it's basically arms, head, and shoulders attached to a bunch of mangled metal and unmoving (but intact) legs.

The Dorriki have begun storming the watchtowers and it looks like the battle for the breach is won, but then from the rear a cry comes up. The Golgothan cavalry have arrived, heading directly towards your back ranks. Fortunately, you've got time to respond before they hit.

>wat do?

>>24243742
They got here pretty damn fast. And incredibly well timed. That Razag golem will have shittons of blood to keep running on, and the cavalry will make pulling out a horrible experience.

The last one however, did not seem to clear itself of blindness, so blinding it should be a good move. If it's going to kill shit, at least it shouldn't discriminate. Additionally, if the blood golem is blinded, Armorman can't communicate with it since he doesn't speak.

Dealing with the cavalry charge... Is the army inside the fort yet? That should help them stand up to cavalry. Otherwise, we'll have to get out there and try to delusion their captain or something, can't let them all, including Mari, get cut down. For now though, blinding the blood golem and then Armorman should help tip the balance on this front.

>>24244272

The army is half in and half out of the fort. The cavalry haven't actually reached the Dorriki yet, but they're charging across the field in your direction.

>>24243742
Sorry TM, I did say I was at work though. Back home at any rate and ready to continue.

>>24244272
Adding on to this, I say we blind the first rank of horses in the charge to make them stumble and trip, maybe taking out a dozen or two behind them and putting them into disarray. After that, if we hear anyone giving redirection orders find them and delusion them with "The dorriki have ambushed your ambush! The only way to save your troops is to turn and face them."

Should buy us a little more time to get the word out.

>>24244360
Ohh, blinding the horses is a good idea. Glad to have another head in here again.

All of these people and horses and shit should be casting lots of shadows, right? We should be able to blind at least a handful.

>>24244336
Doesn't seem feasible to move hundreds of men through a gap in the wall in the time it takes cavalry to charge across a field. Hopefully whoever is in charge in that end (if anyone) will have the sense to make a stand right there and keep the troops together.

>>24243742

Don't feel so bad, TM. I bet a lot of your audience are lurkers.

>>24244419

This. Disciplined infantry is one of the hardest counters to cavalry.

>>24244360

Well it's not like you're obligated to play my quest. It's depressing if it dies, but if people don't like it, people don't like it. We've got two people here for now, though, so that's cool.

---

>>24244360
>>24244419

You head back over the wall towards the back ranks where Norfin are, along with the archers from the other villages. They've turned their bows towards the advancing horses now and fire a volley into the charging cavalry, punching holes in their first rank (not that they're still in coherent ranks what with the charge and everything). You're able to blind a half-dozen others, which soon trip and stumble over themselves, the horses behind leaping over the fallen steeds to continue the advance. You've done some damage, but the disciplined Golgothan troops aren't breaking off the charge just because of a few casualties, and it's not even clear who's in charge. Does the Golgothan captain lead from the front? The center? The officers have removed their plumes. This is distressing.

"Fall back!" Gant shouts as the horses draw near, "get back within the walls!" He's already begun turning his horse to bolt for the breach, the Dorriki rear surging into the city. The Golgothan charge bites straight into the Dorriki flank, scattering the archers, some of whom don't even have a melee weapon past a hunting dagger. They're faring poorly against the mounted Golgothans' longswords.

>wat do?

>>24244811

Get to one of the cavalry, take him down, and interrogate him on who's the leader of this unit. Then find him and fuck him up.

Alternately, check on Mari. We can also tell Olberek that the Dorriki could use some help from the wolves.

>>24244877

I probably should've drawn more attention to this, but I think it's been mentioned that the wolves are in the thick of the fighting in the town with Estercoast.

>>24244934

Oh, never mind then. They would have come in handy here.

>>24244975

Yeah, waiting to send the wolves in isn't really Olberek's style.

So are you interrogating a guy as to the leader of the cavalry, or are you going to check on Mari?

>>24244744
I've noticed that the number of votes in the archive seem larger than the number of people that seemed to be participating. If people prefer just to watch, that's cool too, but some company is nice too.

>>24244877
Mari was instructed to stay outside the walls, if we want her alive, we should probably check her. She needs to get inside, but she also needs to NOT use her power inside the walls, she will get murdered hard if she flash the wards.

>>24244811
Well obviously, but I play the quest because I enjoy seeing a setting with thought put into it.

Anyway, that went pretty poorly. How about we make sure Mari's not in immediate danger, we cant have her dying while we are dealing with this mess.

>>24245005

Interrogate. Let Gants handle the retreat into the city, he's the commander. If necessary, we should step in.

Let's find Mari second. She's a smart girl. She may have already gotten to safety without our guidance.

>>24245101
She's smart, but not all the time. If she forgets about the wards we told her about, perhaps in a panic, she's going to drawn the attention of EVERYTHING.

>>24245171

Point. If we do want to check on our pet minion, though, we'll be leaving Dorrik's archers to get slaughtered.

I say we try to stall the Golgothan cavalry by killing their commanders and otherwise tripping them up.

>>24245207
We dont know who their commanders are, they all removed their plumes.

>>24245266

So we go up to one of the cavalry who we blinded and tripped and ask. Forcefully.

>>24245207
Yeah, allowing all those guys to get killed will be bad both for the battle, and in the long run. We've also got a blood golem at the front who's probably ALSO having a good time murdering our crew and we sadly can't be everywhere. Perhaps it was better we focus there.

>>24245299
But how does he point out his commander? By describing his face to us?

>>24245325

His face and where his general location should be.

Oh, how I wish we'd taken a more combat-oriented build earlier. Our current powers are incredibly useful, but we're a bit lacking in the brute force department.

>>24245442
We can always hope we roll a useful Celerity power or the material shadow power, but we've got to work with what we've got.

Again, let's find Mari and make sure she's safe. Then we can drop mass blinding on these guys and help turn the odds. We'll tire out a bit quicker doing it a couple times but we cant afford to be stingy now.

>>24245442
I suppose he may know his general description, but finding someone by a description of their face... It could take a long time. I think our efforts would be better spent dealing with the blood golem and armorman.

>>24245597

Alright, then. Daemons vs. daemons, mortals vs. mortals. It's a fair matchup, at least.

>>24245510

I don't think we can blind that many people. Our schtick so far has been precision targeting. TM, how powerful is Barry in direct combat again?

>>24245510

You can only blind as many people as you've got darkness lying around to. Since it's in the middle of the day, you're basically just using people's shadows to blind them, and it takes more than one shadow to blind someone (for the same reason that you can still see even when you're standing in the shade).

>>24245635

Olberek is eight feet tall and has moderately effective bark armor, so if he were to pick up a sword he'd be better than any mortal present. He's nothing like Girdin or the armor with its enchanted rune sword, though.

>>24245635
Blinding Darkness works a little different that our normal powers, the amount of targets it can hit is determined by the amount of amibient shadows/darkness in the area. TM basically said around a dozen targets was the ideal max. In a flailing mob of people all casting shadows? I would bet we could get at least 6-9 per casting. Blind soldiers make very easy targets for the Dorriki. They need the advantage.

>>24245635
Has he even participated in any combat at all? He skipped out back at Guille, he's probably doing the same this time. We should mock him for that sometime, if everything doesn't go to shit here that is.

I'm really not even sure which courses of action are still under consideration. Let's just roll for it.

Rolled 34

>>24245875
Let's first find Mari, make sure she's "safe" and remind her not to use fleshshaping inside the walls, then blind as many Golgoth cavalry as we can to assist our guys.

Rolled 2

>>24246012

This, then go help against the enemy daemons.

Rolled 77

>>24246012
Supporting this.

>>24246012
>>24246140

It takes some time to find Mari in the chaos of the battle. The cavalry charge through Dorriki lines and send the troops scattering back towards the wall, where they begin a disorganized press towards the breach, hoping to get inside the town where the cavalry won't be able to charge through them again. When you do find her among the retreating soldiers, she is unscathed. Looks like she was able to avoid the brunt of the fighting, then. The same can't be said for Gant, who's been stabbed in the shoulder and is still shouting to retreat. At least, he is until Jens finds him and punches his lights out. "Form ranks!" Jens shouts across the field, "Norfin and Deepwell, form ranks, get the spears to the front! The horses are coming around for another charge, we have to hold them! Go!"

"Jens!" Dekker shouts. He's a bit outside his command, being that the rest of Elmwood is fighting in the town with Estercoast now, "maybe we should retreat. Cut our losses and make a stand at Summerbridge."

"The cavalry would tear us apart as we fled," Jens says, "and the Golgothans would have time to bring in more men. They took Summerbridge and Guille once, they can take them again. Make more room in the city, Deepwell will follow you in once we've pushed back this charge!"

Dekker nods and turns to head back towards the fighting in the town. The cavalry, meanwhile, wheel around to charge into the Dorriki ranks again. A volley and a blinding do something to thin their numbers again, though there aren't nearly as many Dorriki archers. The cavalry race forward, riders screaming in fury in an effort to break the Dorriki morale, but for naught. They charge and impale themselves on the Deepwell spears. You set to work blinding those who aren't killed, turning the tide further in favor of Dorrik. After several minutes of battle, the Dorriki let out a ragged cheer as the beaten Golgothan cavalry begin to rout.

>now what?

Rolled 67

>>24246440
Ah Jens proves his tactical wit once more, glad we have someone like him around. Let's head back inside and see how the battle goes between the two Titans, and see if we can murder any blood guards that might be tying up our troops.

>>24246440
Jens reads our mind where Gant does the opposite. It's a shame these guys wouldn't allow a single leader in charge of all of them.

Our main issue now would probably be the avatar of Razag, which I'd still suggest that we blind since it worked on the last one. We did manage to blind Armorman, but other than that there's been no indication that he actually has ANY flesh. We could still get Mari to at least try messing him up, but that would trigger the wards. Do we want that?

Definitely blind the blood golem, though.

>>24246506

The other two Golgothan captains have brought their soldiers to join the battle. Looks like the commander is holing up his personal battalion near the center of the town, in the most defensible locations. All three Golgothan battalions in the town are being chewed to pieces by the combination of Estercoast and Elmwood Villages (especially Estercoast) and Girdin, who is a force to be reckoned with even when wounded. And it's not like there's anything left on the battlefield that can harm him, seeing as there's no sign of the armored creature and Vierre is swinging its enchanted sword around. But the Dorriki are taking heavy casualties of their own from that blood golem, which grows ever larger as it harvests the corpses of the dead. Dekker charges into battle, but an arrow from a Golgothan archer catches him in the eye. Staggering backwards, he pulls the arrow out, taking the eye with it, and screams in pain. He's not dead, but he won't be fighting anymore. Vierre, for her part, is attempting to force the blood golem back. It is unaffected by even the enchanted sword, but nevertheless it is stalled by Vierre's excellent swordsmanship. Excellent, but not perfect, and against an invincible enemy her making a mistake is inevitable. When she does, the golem takes advantage, cutting into her stomach and following up with a stab at her chest. She turns just in time to see the blade driven into her shoulder instead, but staggers away, hurting badly.

Looks like Mari is the only lucky one on the battlefield.

>wat do?

Rolled 22

>>24246685
Blind the golem and tell Vierre to fall back, this is a creature that cant be killed by mortal means.

Then I suggest we regroup with Girdin and ask if he's got any ideas about how to deal with this thing. It seems to be impervious to conventional tactics. Maybe ask if Girdin could quickly excavate some sort of prison for this thing so we can bury it? I dunno if it can just slowly seep through tamped down dirt though.

>>24246896
From what we know, you've simply got to wait it out and avoid feeding it, which is easier said than done. Trapping it in such a way would be neat if Girdin can do that, otherwise we may have to simply pull out and wait.

If blinding it still makes it unable to tell friend from foe, that move may actually be particularly worthwhile.

>>24247029

You blind it and tell Vierre to back off. Seeing as she's wounded, she complies, backing away. Now tracking only by scent, the blood golem begins slaughtering on both sides indiscriminately. Everyone does their best to avoid the thing, but that's not very easy.

"Girdin," you say when you find him (not too hard), "we need somewhere to trap a blood golem. How fast can you dig?"

"In the woods, you'd be best served by a dog," Girdin says, heaving himself to his feet. "In this place, however," he marches himself into an inn, the floor of which immediately collapses under his weight, revealing the cellar beneath, "it depends on what you mean by digging."

You return to the blood golem. "Lure it this way!" you shout to the Elmwood warriors busy trying to not to die to it. With Dekker having blacked out from his wound, they listen to you, and the blood golem chases them towards the inn. They scatter when it gets near to avoid the pit, but Girdin slams his head into it. It splatters. It doesn't take long for it to reform, but it's now caught in the cellar. The Dorriki begin barricading the door just in case it finds some way up, but it's mostly feeling around the walls for some place to climb up, and with Girdin having wrecked the stairs, it should keep doing that forever.

Girdin returns to the melee and soon Golgoth routs towards the center of Golroute. Despite her injuries, Vierre is preparing to lead the attack. The buildings there are large and thick and the Golgothans are holed up in them. This will be a long and difficult battle, but the forces from Deepwell and Elmwood are still mostly intact and Estercoast, while battered, fights on. Norfin hasn't quite routed, but they're a remnant. Guess they served as good meatshields for that cavalry charge, though.

>wat do?

Rolled 11

>>24247679
Are the Blood Guards still a factor? If not find our way into one of the more fortified buildings and set to work turning the defenders inside against each other with delusions about traitors.

>>24247679
Norfin were the kind to hide behind walls, so I guess we should've seen that coming. In fact I think it was Dekker who said as much. If we're aligning ourselves with barbarians, they gotta be the angry kind of barbarian.

It's probably a bit much to expect Girdin to "open" a great number of buildings, but if they hole themselves up in enclosed spaces, we could always go in there and... cause some tensions. "The soldier to your right is an impostor planning to kill you when you turn your back", nice things like that.

>>24247881
I sure hope that summoning more than one blood golem at a time is impossible. That fucker is goddamn OP for the low price of two mortals.

>>24247927
>>24247881

Razag's apparently figured someway to remotely summon blood golems, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have to pay the usual fatigue price. If he didn't, he'd instruct the blood guard to mass suicide all the time so he could make a bajillion free golems, wouldn't he?

Jens regroups the forces in preparation for the attack, convincing Vierre (adled by both bloodlust and blood loss) to hold off on the attack a moment and get herself bandaged up before heading back into the fray. In the meantime, you go about spreading delusions amongst the soldiers. Most of them just glance around one another with paranoia, but after a few failed attempts one of them finally stabs his buddy in the back. Once he's got the ball rolling, it's easy to convince others that this or that guy is a traitor and they should join in the fray.

In the midst of the breakdown of unity amongst the Golgothans, blood guards slaughtering the "hexed" indiscriminately, Girdin comes crashing through a building, Jens, Vierre, and the Golgothans close on their heels. The Golgothans don't last long and soon begin fleeing through the city.

The commander and a few of his troops hole up in the main hall where you'd spied on them a couple of times. Girdin is busy smashing other things, but the bar holding the door is weak enough for Jens and a dozen Deepwell warriors to smash through it on their own. They charge into the hall and begin stamping out the opposition, which continue going insane at inopportune moments. Jens fights with the commander, who manages to slice out his kneecap from underneath him. Though screaming in pain and fallen to one knee, Jens deflects the follow-up strike and cuts the commander's throat open.

The four leaders and three daemons gather together in the center of the town in the aftermath. Even Olberek's turned up, for once.

Girdin is hurt, but not bad (so he says, you're not really equipped to diagnose stone rhino injuries). Gant and Vierre have suffered flesh wounds, but will recover within a few weeks. Not that you have a few weeks. Dekker and Jens were less lucky, in that they'll recover in a few weeks but Dekker isn't getting his eye back and Jens will always walk with a limp. Olberek and yourself are unharmed. For different reasons. Mari isn't present, but she also pulled through just fine. Unlike the others, she wasn't really in the thick of the fighting except for the one moment when the cavalry charged her, and even then she escaped with no more than mild bruising.

Olberek is demanding that the people of Golroute be slaughtered to a man for giving quarter to the Golgothans. Delightful.

>wat do?

Rolled 2

>>24248401
Color me surprised, I was expecting another daemon to show up at least. Guess Westercoast City is more of their HQ than this.

Let Olberek have his fun executing people, hardly matters to us. Let's ask the leaders to come to council on the issue of how best to proceed from here to take out Westercoast. It's the final Golgothan stronghold, and any input would be worthwhile.

>>24248647
Damnit, I keep rolling dice. Fixing now.

These people could make good slaves, but who has the time to bring them all the way back home? Let's just sit that argument out entirely unless specifically asked. Which we won't be.

>>24248647
>>24248729

Being that they've all already agreed to do this (except Gant, who quickly goes along with the established agreement), the four return to their warriors and order them to go through the city and to kill every Golroute citizen they find. The Dorriki let out warcries and begin running through the streets, kicking in doors and slaughtering the people inside.

While the pleas for mercy go unanswered outside, the Council returns to discuss matters of what to do next. The battle for Clarbel Village is, presumably, yet undecided. The Golgothan troops that managed to escape the town are heading towards Deeprock. No doubt the fleeing civilian refugees will do likewise. No one's heard word from Deeprock since soon after the Golgothans arrived, but that should come as no surprise, being that Norfin was besieged and the rest of them were on the other side of the island and don't get much news from Deeprock anyway.

>cont.

>>24249527


"We should pursue to Deeprock," Vierre says, "finish them off while they're routing. If we catch them before they rendezvous with their reinforcements with Westercoast our final fight will be that much easier."

"We can't keep wearing ourselves down," Dekker says, "we need time. Time for the wounded to recover, time for..." he pauses briefly as a dizzy spell from his wounds overtakes him, then steadies himself again. "Time to regroup. And the healthy ones can go to Clarbel to get us some reinforcements to replace the fallen and those who won't heal fast enough."

"While Golgoth moves in reinforcements?" Vierre says.

"That refugee army we're making right now is going to be between us and Deeprock unless we leave right now," Jens says, "and by right now I mean within ten minutes. We couldn't even get the army organized in that time, and half of them would refuse to march before looting as ripe a prize as this one. The Golgothan remnant is going to reach Deeprock ahead of us. They're going to reach Westercoast ahead of us. That place will be fortified and informed when we reach it."

"But not reinforced," Vierre says, "ships from Golgoth take time to sail. If we move now, we'll be able to reach them before another dozen battalions arrives."

"If we march tomorrow, we won't have the troops to take Westercoast," Jens says, "if we free up Clarbel to join us, it'll give Golgoth more time to reinforce Westercoast and we won't have enough troops anyway...If they're going to reinforce. At this point, our only hope is that they don't care. That they aren't willing to send another army after the first. We don't have the men to fight another army, no matter what happens, so we may as well assume one isn't coming and head to Clarbel."

>wat do?

>>24249599
Jens once more speaks the words of wisdom, support him. We need to be methodical and take every asset we can afford. Clarbel could use the news that their enemy's main raiding HQ has been destroyed anyway.

>>24249687
We aren't tired. While the mortals recover, we could pursue the escaping forces. A band of routed, scared soldiers and civilians would be easy prey for our talents, yes?

>>24249838
A good point, should we tell the village leaders of our intentions then make off immediately? Of course taking a second to find Mari and give her the down-low before we split.

>>24249871
We could bring Mari as well, actually. She's fast and can kill unseen. Should be somewhat safe.

>>24249905

Okay, so looks like you're going to pursue the Golgothans, but with or without Mari?

>>24249599
>>24249905
"This battle did not go as smoothly as I had planned. I would hate to see mortals throw away their lives by trying to fight with broken backs. Even with lost momentum, a severe blow has been dealt to the enemy, and should they decide to send yet another precious army, they have been deprived of almost all of their outposts, left with almost no strategic control of the land, and facing a united enemy rather than a few scattered villages. And finally, the fight will be on your terms for once. So recover and strengthen your army and with a bit of fortune on your side you can still win your freedom.

Oh, and those cowards that ran? Those are mine."

>>24250216
I'd kind of like to bring her. She's never really had a chance to participate in our work.

>>24250423
I agree, I think she would quite like the chance to go on a mission.

>>24251015
>>24250423

Tracking down Mari doesn't take too long. She's sitting in the main square with her knees pulled up to her chest, looking at the ruins of a caravan, corpses of the Golroute villagers, along with a few of the combatants, strewn about.

>what're you going to say to her?
>and how exactly do you plan to pursue the Golgothans?
>did you guys drift off while I was watching Aliens?

>>24252225
Nope, I was playing some XCOM ironically.

"Mari, the army needs some time to regroup and consolidate their victory. I plan to follow the survivors that fled and punish them, and I think it the perfect opportunity to indulge you in accompanying me. A little personal time."

>>24252373
Shit forgot to specify method of travel. Also ask Mari if she can procure a horse for the journey.

>>24252373

"Yeah," Mari says quietly. "Okay, sure," she says, picking herself up off the ground and walking off in a seemingly random direction. After a few moments, though, she orients herself and begins heading towards where the Estercoast warriors are generally congregating. "I need to borrow someone's horse," she says as she enters.

"Borrow? For what?" one of the warriors asks, equally curious and condescending, though not particularly hostile.

"To ride after the people who escaped," Mari says, "they're easy pickings until they reach Deepwell, and they'll have brought jewelery, tools, anything valuable they can easily carry with them. I know half of you are in no condition to ride after that fight, so someone lend me a horse and I'll split the loot with you when I get back."

The warrior snorts in derision, but it sounds a little forced and no one is particularly fooled: he doesn't actually have a horse and probably wishes he does right now. Or at least that he had the legs to ride one. His left got cut up a bit in the fight.

Vierre is nearby, bandaged up and reluctantly refraining from joining in the hunting of what survivors are left in Golroute. There's little glory in killing men armed with naught but daggers anyway, and she's conserving her strength for the attack on Clarbel. For now, she's sitting around where the campfire's going to be and chewing through a stack of apples someone gave her to make up for the lack of looting. "That's not a bad idea," Vierre says, tossing one of the apples to Mari, "come on, who's got a horse to spare?"

"I've got one," an older man sporting a wounded shoulder says, "but I'm not entirely sure I can count on you to bring it back."

"A bunch of Golroute merchants weighed down with their greed against a mounted archer?" Mari says, biting into the apple, "somehow I think I'll manage. And hey, the shamans would've fled with them. I don't want to jynx you, but that shoulder needs medicine.'

"True enough," the man says, "but you'll be badly outnumbered. Twenty fat man with daggers would do you in, even with your armor and horse."

"I know how to take care of myself in recon. I was there at Summerbridge a full day before any of you, remember?" Mari says. "And this isn't half what that was. Merchants...Merchants die easy."

"You hesitated," the old man said.

"Yeah, I'm a little jumpy," Mari says, "it's my first campaign, gimme a break. I've been in three battles and I've done fine in all of them."

"I think you should do it," Vierre says, "take a chance. It's worked out for me so far, and it's been worth the scrapes and scratches."

"That's no scratches that you're sporting now," the man says.

"Sure they are," Vierre says, "give 'em a week they'll be practically gone."

"Hey, those refugees are gaining on me, once they reach Deeprock the jig is up. Do we have a deal or not?" Mari asks.

The man considers a moment longer, and then says "very well, girl, take the horse. But you'd best bring it back!"

"Hey," Mari says, grinning, "swear on my life. If I don't come back alive, you can kill me."

>>24253524

And thus a horse was procured. You set out after the refugees. It won't take long to catch up. What's the plan?

>>24253555
I suppose the best question is what sort of time frame do we have to work with before they reach their destinstion? I would like to play some horrifying mind games and terrorize the group if we have the time for it.

>>24253869

These are refugees plodding along with children and a couple of pregnant women. They're spurred along by fear, but they're still not an army on the march. So you've got about a week and a half, maybe two, to work on them. The Golgothan army ahead of the refugees, though, totally *is* an army on the march (not a very big one anymore, but still). They'll reach Deeprock in three days, four tops.

Audience seems to have dried up and I need to leave anyhow. See you guys tomorrow.