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>>35458331
>contrary to last thread, I’m opening with the war rather than the vampire thing

Current Date and Time: Mid-morning on August 14th, 1953PC

You, your generals and your cabinet were gathered in your war room to discuss the war you were about to start. They had split off into pairs or trios to chat before you’d arrived and were still like that as your new aide conducted the formalities and mentioned any recent news that was of interest.

You still weren’t sure about your new aide. Your old one had shifted to support Lynn at your request and you had needed somebody who understood a little bit about how a royal court should be conducted. It had somehow turned out that a recent conscript was a noble from Torryus and she’d accepted the position eagerly. Too eagerly, almost. Her enthusiasm was a little terrifying in some ways.

Nodding along as she reads out the latest troop numbers, you consider the recent developments. Phillias’ personal guard had joined you once they’d learnt of their Landgrave’s plans. Five hundred veteran soldiers with the latest Seraphi light mage-knight equipment. A devastating pack of glass cannons. Ren’s clan had also provided a few extra foxes as they brought more foxes into the empire – you’d been unable to catch the bastard to talk about bringing over the clans, however.

>continued

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>your latest troop numbers attached

>>35458345
“So, we’re going to rush in and take the capital before they’re all in position, right?” Vad asks once the initial proceedings are complete. He’s looking over the war table and the way the Shropham forces are all still passing into their territory from Ahm.

If only, you think. “The politics of the day makes that impossible. The League is mired in bureaucracy so Alyce can’t easily expel Shropham despite the fact they’re clearly in violation of the League’s charter. If we attack Shropham before they’ve formally left the League, then the League will declare war on us.”

“You sure they won’t just declare war, anyway?” Glynn asks gruffly, looking a little uncomfortable in his governor regalia.

“They would need a good casus belli,” Rayza answers for you, and you let her share her wisdom of the League’s workings. “Fighting us just because we’re attacking some rebel mages isn’t a good enough justification. That’s what got them in their current mess with the RSK, after all. Most of the western mages will oppose any such call without a very good reason. And if our casus belli is as good as I’ve heard, I don’t think they’ll be able to justify intervention. What is our casus belli, anyway?”

You smirk slightly. “We implicate them heavily in the vampire business. Supplying military equipment to Taour during the war, supporting the oppression of the thralls. The biggest one is that we implicate them in the mess at Hiien. Shropham’s allies in the League will be too busy trying to keep them from declaring war on Shropham once we reveal that Shropham was in constant violation of the League’s authority.”

>continued

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>enemy troops attached. NK = noble knight. SbK = spellbreaker. SB = spellblade.

>>35458370
Proceedings move onto considering the enemy’s military position.

“Shropham will likely secede from the League once their troops are in position by the end of the month. The Mage Guard will, despite our casus belli, declare war immediately and be ready to move in two to three weeks. They’ve already identified their attack force but can’t openly muster them without scaring Shropham,” Karise explains, drawing heavily on hers and Neir’s spy network.

“Damned big army,” Arail says. “I think the Mage Guard are a blessing here, Imperator. They might declare war on us afterwards, however.”

“I doubt it. Between Sylvian and our righteous casus belli, the Guard will have difficulty justifying anything more than a few battles with us over territory. They’re still not sure whether we’re an ally or a foe, yet,” you say.

The main issue of the day is what to do at the outset of the war. If you blitz towards Shropham, you risk drawing their entire military into a pitched battle. On the other hand, you can’t delay too long as the Guard might have the forces to seize the city. Getting to Shropham also involves controlling one of the major bridges or fords in Sorruy, Sorsdain and Corthshire. You might be able to take advantage of the weak defences to the west of the city, however.

>Discussion time. Looking for a broad strokes strategy.

I’ll do some posts on the city itself later. I expect this to take a little while as this will decide the overall approach to Shropham. They’re bigger and stronger than you, but you have some tough hero units.

Also, ask any questions you have.

Alright here are my thoughts. There are a few things we need to remember while dealing with this warfront. One the Guard can out run us, out gun us, and bully us with both of those ideas in mind. They want to avoid outright hostilities with us, as do we them presently. But they hold little regard for Leaguers that get in the way. The Guard gaining an extended border with the League so close to Ahm will lead to larger scale conflicts quickly. So while we want the larger prize of Shropham, we can’t underestimate the value of the lower provinces and Devon not only prolong the inevitable war between the League and Guard but for our own interests as well. Because Alyce will be difficult to convince that the hostilities exhibited by her new neighbors are not a product of Sylvian, we want to avoid any situation that puts more rifts between them.
Second, our border is objectively weaker than Shropham. Their three Forts along that border provide a clear staging point for them to attack us, cut us off, and retaliate should it need be. Before we do anything else, we must secure our border and that means taking those three forts and digging in deep.
So with both of those thoughts in mind here’s what I think we should do. Launch a three pronged attack all within 24 hours of one another. With Talon at the head of each of them. Each one will exhibit different strategies we tend to use so the differences between 1 and 3 will be so large they can’t properly prepare, or prepare in a different way than would be effective. Talon’s role in this is to strike fear into them. A man capable of taking three forts within 72 hours, without rest, employing different tactics each time to quickly and efficiently take away their best defense against us. Talon’s a well-known commander, but they need to be reminded of his strength and not to think he’s gone lax upon the throne. This is going to require using all of our Generals and the Foxes to pull off.

>>35458494
First target is Orkney. This one will need to be taken with probably the least amount of force but needs to be the most successful in order to get this ball rolling. Despite Arail’s track record with quick strikes, he is going to be playing a backup role during all of this. He’s been with us since the beginning and no doubt Shropham will have scouted him out and the rough amount of Flyers to expect. With that in mind, their scouts will be tracking him the hardest. So his movements indicate where the largest troop swells should be. While we begin marching on Orkney, he plays interference in the north near Corthshire, feigning mobilization so the focus is to the north and not the larger troop movements heading towards Orkney and Sorsdain the day after. During this the Foxes tap into Shropham’s information lines and begin to feed them misinformation. Varying sizes of troops movements, where they are moving, etc. The quicker we throw them into disarray, the easier it’ll be to take the Forts. For our march we’ll use Fuurin and a mass of our AAs and Mages and bomb the ever living shit out of them. Make it so the AAs are never not firing on their shields and wards, gunline style, so they can’t fire back at us without bringing down their own shields. Sala and Mal will both work well here as well, being able to bombard and disable to mages with larger scale rituals. We take the Fort, garrison it, within 24 hours, and teleport to rendezvous with the inbound for Sorsdain By then Arail will have moved significantly southward, but the information will say he’s inbound to Sorsdain as well.

>>35458516
Sorsdain is going to be a hard nut to crack. We’re going to purposely focus a lot of their troops there, and we’ll be taking them on with a force smaller then what they expected. We’ll need two Generals for this, Parras and Phillias. Their talents with siege warfare combined will allow us to take the Fort and subdue the mages using it within the time we need it them to, Gnome will see a lot of use here as well being able to help construct siege devices quickly and her ability to handle more mages then her sisters. We’ll have to overwhelm them with the HMK and MMK with the few LMK we have being the first in to help clear the walls. The AAs will work as well here, supplemented by our Rangers to make up for the smaller numbers, because we’ll need to counter the mages being able to blow us up by forcing them to keep their shields up at all time as to prevent them from firing back. By this point Arail will have disappeared off the map thanks to our Foxes, and Fuurin will be prepping a movement with a stronger garrison inbound to Orkney to supplement his leaving. We’ll teleport to the army inbound for Corthshire and get ready to finish up.

>>35458534
Corthshire is going to undoubtedly be reinforced heavily being one of the last real stops along to Shropham itself. This is where we break out the big guns, Mystic Foxes and Vad, Knights, Undine and Finn, Lynn and Rayza, and Taira. We’ll take the castle by storm, brute forcing it to hell and back capping off a 3 day campaign with our easiest victory. The fed information will reported only MMK, Flyers, and AAs, and they will likely assume it is Arail out of nowhere again. Our big players will be mixed in and only appear when we arrive. With that we’ll have all but one of the border provinces and we cut off their effective communications with radio silence along the border, then we launch at Sorruy immediately. Arail, Parras, and Fuurin, all of which have had their movements obscured by misinformation, they’ll meet up to combine forces and take a weakly defended Sorruy, and then move along westward towards Devon, quickly eating up the southern border with the League given most of the troops will be focused to the north contending with the insane 3 day conquest of Talon and pissing their pants assuming he’ll move on Shropham immediately. Hopefully this move will mean we landgrab as much as possible as quickly as possible while building safe, heavily defend borders and scaring the hell out of Shropham, thus quelling quick retaliation and stopping the Guard from immediately moving in since we’ll suddenly be holding a 1/3 of area, and poised to attack Shropham before they could.

And last one. Sorry, that was ridiculous.

>>35458401
Dear lord I just got here after renovating my house. Exactly on time.

I say we should let the mage guard and Shropham fight it out. While we use Taira to teleport a decent elite force behind the lines of Sorruy. Then smash though using our units while they are busy.

>>35458558
>>35458534
>>35458516
>>35458494

This plan seems solid, but has a few problems with it. Mainly them
a) believing our ruse
and
b) not getting drawn out into a protracted siege.

Key to victory is going to be the timing of launching this. We wait till folks are moving to engage the league and are too close to pull out and we will be laughing.

the bright side is these conquests are easily justifiable, so if we manage it, we are solid. Talon is going to have to have some way to replenish energy in the meantime.
Can folks transfer power between people?

>>35458656
Another consideration is our moves after this.

The city is not really as important as the land surrounding it. If we hold the feeder provinces that keep the place fed and supplied, no one else can capture and hold it. Make it so that anyone fighting us is going to have to slog it through our armys after a heavy fight already and the proposition becomes very unpalatable. Let alone the logistical nightmare.

>>35458494
Thing with going with Orkney is that the more time we let up the more time we let the guard rush in and no one wants a 3 way battle because it's hard to take advantage of the numbers game when your in a three way fight.

We need to smash into the capital as soon as we can and then hold it well enough the guard won't attack.

>>35458656
Another big problem is there is nothing stopping them from just say taking 5K men and then keeping a good amount of their men back in order to test our movements. They will mostly be focusing on the guard I would think and the guard will attack upwards. So the ideal attack would be downwards and faster then the guard so we can meet up near the top 1/3 minimal.

So I was thinking about this the other day. Our army is not strong enough to stand head to head with other armies. But we do have almost guaranteed air superiority with our AAs and FMKs. So how can we beat a superior force in the field? Simple: logistics.

An army marches on its stomach. In order to hold all the baggage, armies set up camps. We can use our advantage in aerial mobility to burn the enemy camps to the ground, thereby eliminating the enemy army as a viable fighting force with the minimum of bloodshed.

Not to mention the many times in history that armies have routed because they thought that the enemy MIGHT be attacking their camp.

>>35458494
>>35458516
>>35458534
Fort shields don't have to be pulsed to fire, they only block attacks from the outside not from the inside.
makeshift shield walls made by mages on the move are the ones that need to be pulsed to allow them to fire out.
that being said, with enough bombardment we can overwhelm their shields.

also, if we are really controlling their communications to that point, why wouldn't we use all our hero units on each of the 3 battles?

>>35458824
We have terribad luck with ambush plans
every time.

>>35458791
Our boarder comes first frankly, all other land is a bonus after that. Start conservatively then strike at opportunity. We arn't going to win in a straight up fight, so forcing the foe into seigeing us is to our advantage

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>>35458656
>Talon is going to have to have some way to replenish energy in the meantime
Talon can recover all of his magical energy with eight hours of rest.

>>35458494
The main problem with three attacks close together is that it'll take a day or two's march to close on the forts. Also, you'll need to split your troops well.

>>35458516
The Orkney plan seems fine, except I don't know how many troops you'll dedicate to it.

>>35458534
The issue with Sorsdain is that they might just abandon the castle and retreat to the town on the ford. Trying to cross a huge ford with defenders dug in on one side in the midst of a large town could go south very quickly.

>>35458558
Gravecral in Corthshire is a horrible place to besiege. Their veteran army of 15k is likely encamped behind it, too. There's nothing to stop them from letting you smash against the walls before immediately counterattacking with a huge force.

>>35458824
They'll be dug in pretty heavily around forts and towns so this will be trickier than just bombing their camps.

>>35458890
>They'll be dug in pretty heavily around forts and towns so this will be trickier than just bombing their camps.
This one is more of a plan in case hostilities with a larger power *cough*mageguard*cough*

>>35458848
>People forget the nat 20 ambushes we did so much early on.

>Start conservatively then strike at opportunity.

That just lets them gather men when they decide to attack. If feel perhaps a build up of defense then a sudden strike the instant the guard attacks would work more in our favor. We need to rapidly smash what we can of them while their distracted and keep on the move. Other wise we risk getting caught in one spot while they press all their forces they can against us.

I think the critical part is getting the mage guard and shropam to clash violently before we do anything ourselves.
If we hit them too hard they will focus entirely on us.
let their fight with the guard go badly so they are already desperate, then do some shock and awe invasion to really drive home how fucked they are and scare them into surrendering to us for lighter treatment than under the guard.
We WILL need to have some forces on the border with the guard ready to blitz them in case they play hardball with us. or defend against them should it come to that.

another option is to let the guard shropam war go to its natural conclusion and then invade the same hour they win and blitz their capital.

>>35458977
Another advantage not to over look is Tairas 500 men teleport. We could easily say teleport Salamander+Talon+Gnome+Undine+most of our elite HMK units right on top of a foe in the middle of a battle. That's a Tactic we shouldn't over look on the battle field level.

>>35458977
Our army is not going to be able to run rings around them. Unless we someone pull off some cool transport trick, everyone is running at the same speed and us heading into their territory with them already dug in is not going to work out. It will only take a small force to keep us busy long enough for the main to catch up.

Wait until they engage the guard, that's when we can strike. Take the forts, HOLD THEM against the backlash, then push forward more. They are going to be pressured, they do not have the luxury of building up forces against us in this instance, so its not a major concern. Frankly, we are not the major problem for them.

>>35458980
That would create a war there and one of our key advantages is the speed of movements due to knowing exactly when the guard and them get into it.

>>35458980
alternatively, let shropam repel the mage guard and then attack a weakened shropam.

Also, if the mage guard does start winning and is about to move on their capital we can scare a surrender to us and then teleport hero units to their capital and get them to repaint their armor with our emblem.

or at least scare some towers to surrendering to us so we teleport talon into the city and run a small civil war to quickly subdue their leadership.

>>35459072
whast?

>>35459052
Yeah I'm not saying that is a bad plan. I'm saying whatever we do we can't let up the pressure we have to be constantly keeping them down. Otherwise we risk them attacking the areas our hero units aren't.

>>35459124
Which brings an interesting option. We could easily force open a siege by teleporting the heroes and HMKs in to secure the gatehouse.

I want to point this out but the fox guy who runs the five fox clans literally has no one else to turn to he cant go to the mage guard they throw the foxs out he cant go to RSK they will kill them and magi league dosent want them next time we get into talk over fealty we use the fact that we are his only friend and he is spitting in our face

>>35459198
Just let the tensions cool.

>>35459124
Mean the entire attack after the mage guard wins idea. Because I can't see a mage heavy army winning against a 50K stack of magic killing experts.

>>35459124
>or at least scare some towers to surrendering to us so we teleport talon into the city and run a small civil war to quickly subdue their leadership.

That's a decent idea. We could if we really wanted to teleport Taira and Talon somewhere for a good massacre. The hard part is getting out.

>>35459198
Best not too really. They are both slightly pissed at each other right now and we don't really know what other friends he may have.

Right now we mostly just need to work on getting the foxes with us. Once that happens it's far easier to point Ren in a direction because any threat to us is now a threat to his foxes.

I think ultimately the idea is to inflict casualties while taking as few as possible ourselves.
Hit them where they are weak, be mobile

we don't need to hold territory, we need to be mobile, strong and deadly. with that in mind, if we bait them to overreach and over extend we win.

scaring them is actually bad for us early on, if we get them to split some of their force off to invade us and then trap and kill them we now have a much easier time taking the fortress.

also, our line with them is already fairly well protected.

we also can make heavy use of assassination thanks to many teleporting mage killers.

>>35459232
our army isn't mage heavy. the mage guard would have taken heavy casualties at the time and their army will be dangerously extended into shropam. leaving their core territories as weak and vulnerable as they ever were.

>The hard part is getting out
win

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Okay, so just about everybody wants to wait for the MG and Shropham to begin duking it out.

I've seen a few major plans.

>Blitz attack
Seize the four frontier territories in Shropham over the course of 72 hours. It's possible, if risky as you'll be going up against more than 40k of enemy troops with just 27k.

>Hold off until the Guard are about to seize Shropham and then blitz the capital
The Guard's main objective is the capital and the mages. If you let them take out the biggest forces of Shropham then you might be able to seize the city from a weakened force. The city would be heavily damaged and the Guard wouldn't be very impressed, giving them more reason to attack you after the war.

>Seize one frontier territory and hold it and your front
This would let you apply most of your force to one front at a time. You're more open to counterattacks than the blitz strategy but less vulnerable to a weakest link problem.

>Any other battle plans?

>>35459198
Man, Ren really put some noses out of joint, didn't he? That one really did come out of nowhere for me.

We could always infiltrate and compromise places that we know will slow us down. It might help quicken pitched battles and protracted sieges.

>>35459198
>Spitting in our face
>Talon, I want you to fealty
>Ren, once you prove yourself, i got backstabbed too often
>Talon, NAU!
>Ren, one you prove yourself!

that really isn't spitting in our faces. He gave us everything we wanted, we sohuld have said
>No problem, I intended to prove myself anyways.

>>35459303
I'm not even sure if they would take that many causalities to be honest. They got a 50K stack rushing in.

I mean it's possible they might be weakened or they might do really well and curbstomp everything. I don't think we can really predict how well they both will do there. It would work great or it might end up with them refueling their lines and men and now we have a dug in mage guard.

>>35459318
The blitz looks like it could work, with smart deployment of the FMKs(I'd suggest Sorsdain) and good use of teleportation. In particular, to teleport into Gravecral to seize a gatehouse and blitz the army inside, taking intact defensive positions while continuing the siege from inside its walls,

>>35459318
i was just thinking why the hell did he come to us when we are an emerging power and his attitude pisses me off to know end no one fucks with me in negotiations for life
we would technically out smart him by a mile to the point he would have to admit defeat something they probably dosent happen

>>35459318
Take frontier and hold it.
then try to intimidate shropam to surrender the capital to us before the mage guard takes them
if they refuse, negotiate with individual towers to defect to us and then infiltrate the city with elite force to lead them in taking out the obstinate towers.

>>35459448
Jesus Christ, anon. Does Ren annoy you so much you forget how to write?

>>35459414
Pretty much. I honestly got the feeling it was mostly Talon wanting a grip on another powerful person which made Ren defensive since he has been screwed so much. Which annoyed Talon and lead to them bitching at each other.

I say just give it time for them to get along. In the end Ren just wants a safe home for the foxes and Talon just wants more foxes to fight his wars. So they should both work it off at some point. The key thing is not to be the one starting fights because that will just drive a wedge into their relationship. As much as picking a fight with Talon would when you want something from him.

>>35459416
>I'm not even sure if they would take that many causalities to be honest. They got a 50K stack rushing in.
which will hit heavy stacks too, shropam has 15k in one of the forts guarding the border with us, they could recall them to the capital to defend against that stack

>>35459492
YES very much

>>35459448
Please for the love of god use a minimum amount of punctuation. Take 5 seconds to just make your posts readable.

>>35459516
too bad.
i love the guy and want him as a bro

>>35459318

Could we use our spys to 'leak' information which will encourage them to deploy their forces away from our main point of assault...
ideally if we can increase the number of troops they commit to the Guard borders...

>>35459448
Eh, It was pretty standard negotiations really. Not everyone trusts you at first meeting so you got to win them over to your side. He didn't do anything I would rate particularly bad in it and he did prove pretty good at hiding his attentions.

>>35459318
I'd go for Blitz but bypass the forts with the main force, leave smaller forces behind to besiege them and keep them in the forts, have the main force seize Shropham. If we pull it off as the Guard start pushing into Shropham's territory maybe it'll deal a good blow to the morale of Shropham's remaining forces.

>>35459537
He does seem like he'd have your back if you had his.

>>35459537
This
>>35459508
Why take the risk that the mage killers wont beat the mages?

>>35459516
please remember that the majority of the leadership of foxes are total shitheads. i wish we had 5 rens around to deal with those fuckers.

>>35459557
>Why take the risk that the mage killers wont beat the mages?
if the mage killers fail to beat the mages, then we are now fighting significantlt weaker mages
mage guard attacking shropam and FAILING is the best thing that can happen for us
it will leave both sides severely weakened.

>>35459547
No.

If you don't take the forts in our rear our supplys will be cut, we will be surrounded and we will die like a bitch.

Not to mention the stupidity in stretching our forces thin vs an opponent who severely outnumbers us on our front.

>>35459542
all im saying is if negotiations do break down we have a fuck you i win card in our hand that we could use to get what we want, granted it will piss people off but we our an emperor not a fucking therapist

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>>35459541
If successful.

>>35459547
They've got some pretty big forces in those forts. They could simply sortie and smash a small besieging force to bits. Then your supply lines are cut off by a big angry army or three.

>>35459318
Alright, vote time. This determines the opening thrusts of the war. I'll do a content post about the city and MG afterwards before some more discussion.

>1. Blitz plan

Seize the four frontier territories in Shropham over the course of 72 hours. It's possible, if risky as you'll be going up against more than 40k of enemy troops with just 27k.

>2. Hold off until the Guard are about to seize Shropham and then blitz the capital
The Guard's main objective is the capital and the mages. If you let them take out the biggest forces of Shropham then you might be able to seize the city from a weakened force. The city would be heavily damaged and the Guard wouldn't be very impressed, giving them more reason to attack you after the war.

>3. Seize one frontier territory and hold it and your existing front
This would let you apply most of your force to one front at a time. You're more open to counterattacks than the blitz strategy but less vulnerable to a weakest link problem.

>4. Custom

>>35459541
A pretty big issue there is they probably already know the fox spies are leaks already and so might not trust any info that seems to come from there.

>>35459537
I honestly just want him to get involved enough with the empire so we can point him in a direction and let him work his magic while we can focus on other things.

>>35459634
>>1. Blitz plan

>>35459318
another idea, go for their feeder provinces, don't burn them, just capture them
they will be forced to divert troops after us which allows us to then abandon the feeder provinces and take the under defended forts.

>>35459589
>taking the minor chance that specialists fail at their specialty

Why dont we make a plan that doesnt involve other factions doing poorly.

>>35459634
>1

>>35459634
3

>>35459634
>1. Blitz plan

>>35459629
Now that much is true. The problem is that he is the leader of the foxes so we don't want them to break down at all. Which is why I advise against being too forceful right now.

>>35459610
It may actually work. If we could get a good lay of the land we could split our forces into small units that rush around and attack resources like farming towns and the like before rushing off then returning back. To the main force. Thing there is why need to be faster.

>>35459664
have you followed the conversation?
>>>Anon: You assume the mage guard wins! shropam will crush them and that will be terrible!
>>Me: No it wont, it would be the best thing that can happen for us (although unlikely)
>You: Why dont we make a plan that doesnt involve other factions doing poorly.

>>35459634
>1. Blitz plan

Even if we don't take the city, if we hold all the supply provinces, the guard wont be able to hold the city. It works in our favour

>>35459634
3

>>35459629
what we want is to purge the stupid that permeates fox leadership currently. which means ren is our most valuable ally in that regard.
our goal is not to break ren
our goal is to get foxes loyal to talon.

>>35459634
1

>>35459634
>1

>>35459634
I honestly like the Blitz plan but a pretty big issue is our hero units are pretty needed to make sure things go off without much of a hitch.

If we split them up too much we lose a lot of the overwhelming straight up strength. We should also prepare for one or two of them failing in which case we would need a fast retreat plan.

>mfw insane Talon is back

Fantastic time to burn everything.

>>35459634
3 + info warfare

we have very strong spying presence now. can we try to leverage it for acquiring defectors, killing key hostile figures, as well as sowing panic to leverage towards sub factions surrendering to us so we don't have to fight them all at once?
The more of it we capture intact, the better.

>>35459819
Not to mention how helpful the destruction of even a single bridge can be. That can delay an army for hours.

>>35459800
yea, the problem with the "blitz" plan is that we are going to be horibly outnumbered at each turn just to make a point. instead of taking the fortresses one by one with our full force.

>>35459844
now that is an excellent point.

>>35459756
no but breaking Ren might be a shock no one has seen so it would make Talon look better then Ren.

>>35459819
This

>>35459895
so?
breaking anyone strong would do that, but we conquer not destroy.
ren is a super valuable asset when dealing with the rot of the fox leadership.

>>35459725
If shropam wins with only 1/4 casualties or less they will still outnumber us massively there is nothing stopping them from just focusing all their left over men on us.

The same for the mage guard. That plan mostly only works if we know for sure the fighting will drag them down low enough.

We may want to blitz then do a slow advance.

>>35459756
Hell techncily we don't even need them loyal to Talon. We just need them connected to the empire enough that they view it as their home and thus are loyal to Talon because the empire revolves around him.

Ren honestly makes a wonderful ally because he isn't incompetent like most of them in that.

>>35459890
>Excellent point
That's the only way I can see the Blitz strategy working. We have to keep their forces from being able to gather together or respond to us in a timely fashion.

>>35459634
Do the blitz asap, or at least take the first two and deal with gravecral seperately

Hey, did you guys know that sylph specializes in both mass army healing AND mass army teleportation?

the problem is, it turns out that our source was unsealed because it was uneconomical to unearth it, the source related to her is sealed.
this means talon cannot bind her as his personal familiar, I really wanted that :"(
so, unless we can figure out a way for talon to bind her we should get her for mal. we could do a sneak visit by hero units to her pop (we know where it is). worse case she says no, best case we have a huge advantage in mobility and healing.

>>35459956
>If shropam wins with only 1/4 casualties or less they will still outnumber us massively
which is better than any plan where we attack shropam at full strength.
also, the guard is a bigger thread than shropam

>>35459958
This. Have FMK's and spies constantly on the look out for scouts and messengers. Limit response to our invasion and we accomplish alot.

>>35459931
you keep thinking that i would just disregard Ren and his skills i admit i dont like the guy but he dose have a good skill set which i respect

but i have no issue forcing his hand

>>35460043
It would be in our best interest to avoid it. Forcing his hand does not make him a loyal subject.

>>35460043
you are talking about BREAKING him.

And forcing his hand to do WHAT exactly? you are speaking in platitudes and not even sensible ones.

We want him as a trusted ally who helps us bring the other foxes into line and break the shitty leadership.

>>35460023
>which is better than any plan where we attack shropam at full strength.
If we work fast enough we wont have to deal with Shropam at full strength. We already agreed to wait for the Guard to declare war on Shropam. This means they have to dedicate many men to guard boarders and fortresses away from us, lessening the forces for us to contend with.

>also, the guard is a bigger threat than shropam
Yes but
“I doubt it. Between Sylvian and our righteous casus belli, the Guard will have difficulty justifying anything more than a few battles with us over territory. They’re still not sure whether we’re an ally or a foe, yet,” you say.

>>35460023
True. The thing there is that if we attack while the guard does at first they will be fighting a two front war. If we don't then whoever wins only needs to think about one front.

It's a plan that has merits I say. But it has some flaws to watch for.

>>35460043
I honestly get the feeling he isn't someone we want to really spite though. We'll get more though cooperation then not. If it bursts all out and we lose all our options we could try and force his hand but until then I say we just work on getting him entwined with the empire so much he does so willingly.

>>35460080
to swear fidelity to talon
beside all i see are people close enough to stab us in the back or dose that one guy who tried to kill us in Vitra we barely mad him step down

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>1.

“Somehow I’m not surprised you choose the most difficult option,” Gnome says dryly.

“I’ve been to Riverfort before,” Fuurin says. “With a strong artillery force I could easily crack it open. The fort’s wards aren’t that strong and their army isn’t that big. It might not be as quick as you like, however.”

“I’m worried about Sorsdain, Imperator,” Parras says. “If they just surrender Leyton Castle and retreat to Gorlsford then we’ll be in a pinch. With our heavy forces assaulting Gravecral to the east we might not be able to break a protracted stalemate across that ford.”

“He has a point,” Fuurin says, his black fox ears twitching as he looks at the glowing figures atop the table. “The ford is big and shallow, but it’s also highly defensible. You’d need a crack force of knights to cross it and hold it.”

“Gravecral will hold even more graves if the assault goes poorly, too,” Glynn says. “Be prepared for a bloody battle, Imperator. Our spymasters tell us that their professional army is encamped there and they’ve been fighting against the Seraphs for years.”

You keep your face bland as your generals discuss the plan. The main theme is that it’s absurdly risky, particularly as you’ll be outnumber nearly two-to-one in each theatre. Gravecral in particular worries them.

Still, you press on with the plan. Next is the city itself.

>continued

>>35460266
I would take the risk of the occasional felix for the tairas and gnomes and undines and sarahs and vads and mals and so on.

>>35460266
Dude, please take the time to spell and punctuate.
It's also not a big deal. His fealty will come with time. Forcing his hand will only cause him to bend his knee while preparing to strike.
If, on the other hand, we make it in his people's best interest to be here, we should get along just fine.

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>>35460329
“Shropham is the oldest magical city. It was the magical capital long before Ahm and only lost that title in the last century,” Gnome explains. “The seven mage towers ruling it are incredibly prideful. They’ve almost certainly had a bone in their throat when dealing with the League and they’re unlikely to give in easily. The city is a veritable floating fortress with that upper platform. I know because I helped design it. The Mage Guard, if they reach the city first, will likely destroy large amounts of the city as they fight their way to the platform.”

Karise nods. “The Guard don’t think much of Shropham, particularly the Wardens leading the assault. They’ll gladly burn it to the ground given the chance. The mages will let them before sacrificing their autonomy.”

“Any chance we can just assassinate the grand magisters causing us trouble and replace them with smarter ones?” Maloric asks, scowling at the table.

“Not easily,” Neir says. “Even if we could easily kill the mages at the top, which we can’t, finding replacements isn’t easy either. Shropham has become the platform for mages that reject the archmage’s views on magic and mages.”

>city info in next post

>>35460329
how the fuck did this stupidity win over taking the forts without splitting up?

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Shropham is basically two cities in one. It has a lower city (pic related) which is mostly like a normal city – a huge sprawl with a central keep that is about nine square miles in size and makes a rough circle in size. It contains approximately 400,000 people.

Above the lower city is an enormous stone platform, one square mile in size and a perfect circle of 0.56sq mi in radius. It sits 60m above the ground and is supported by eleven enormous support columns. The ten outer columns run the circumference of the platform and are equidistant from adjacent columns. Each outer column is 100m in diameter and houses more than 1000 people around a central reinforced support. The central column is 200m in diameter and is surrounded by a fortress wall and guarded by the central keep but houses no people.

The outer columns each contain one cargo lift that goes to the very top and is controlled from a warehouse from the platform. These lifts can be disabled by the platform in the case of attack, forcing an attack to ascend the twenty-plus storeys of the winding column. The central column contains a central lift into the palace above that works the same way but it also contains three chains of lifts. These chains of lifts each ascend five storeys before requiring their occupants to move to a separate lift to ascend another five – they must do this three times to reach the platform. These chained lifts cannot be disabled or activated remotely and are there to prevent an attacker from easily cutting off access between the platform and the lower city.

>continued

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>>35460403
The platform above (pic related) houses 40,000 people in wealthy apartments, noble estates and mage towers. The central palace is an enormous structure that is surrounded by a fortress wall and is heavily fortified itself. Atop it lay one of the seven great mage towers of the city and the three chained lifts of the column exit into the grounds around the palace. The six other great mage towers of the city have their own fortresses spread around the city. The city’s magitech foundry is contained within the palace.

The outer rim of the platform has no walls but there is a barrier to prevent projectiles from entering. This area is home to the other five mage towers of the city, as well as the large noble estates (prime view, after all). The central mage towers are home to the markets of the city and wealthy apartments and smaller residences separate them.

The platform was constructed in the Great War with the God-Knights and partially designed by Gnome.

>I'm going to quickly do a proposed troop split for the blitz plan and then post it for feedback.

>>35460337
>>35460353
im not saying to just open with that bit of info, all im saying is if the talks brake down again then we have a card to play.

what bugs the hell out of me right know is that everyone thinks they can keep every one in the would happy, but sooner or later some gonna be pissed be cause we took some thing from them

What this strategy needs in order to work is momentum. We cannot stop moving. We must crush them, and by doing so their morale. Every attempt must be made to slow, demoralize, and attrit they enemy before our armies clash. They must believe that defeat is inevitable.

The sheer insanity of this plan.

I'm actually super excited. It's utilizing a lot of our resources.

>>35460516
there is NOTHING to talk about

He literally said that if we prove ourselves he will give us his fealty.
All we have to do is not backstab him and not harm his race.

>>35460525
Shock and awe?

>>35460563
Of course.

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>>35458534
>>35458558
Alright, so I'm donig the troop splits but the initial plan's ideas for troop splits still bothers me. I'm guessing it was devised before I added the info on Shropham's troops but it seems to think that Sorsdain is tougher than Gravecral. Or maybe it's just leaning on the hero units a lot?

Either way, I'm going to deviate a bit from the original plan because I'm not sure it was built for Gravecral having 15k veteran soldiers.

>>35460551
and my strategy wouldn't back-stab him or harm his race it just points out a flaw in his thinking.

>>35460578

Sure as shit wasn't. I wrote it last week. Adjust as necessary.

>>35460516
>What bugs the hell out of me right now is that everyone thinks they can keep every one in the world happy. But sooner or later someone is going be pissed because cause we took some thing from them.
I fixed your spelling and added minor punctuation. If you took longer to think about this than you do for your posts you would see what we mean. There is no reason to make enemies out of Ren. We could make him a trusted friend and ally. Friends are more likely to give up something important to someone they trust.

>>35460578
Personally I say we need to split some of them up but we need one mass to take the biggest threat then rapidly start working on the other to hold down and advance. A three way split though is a hilariously bad idea.

>>35460329
>“I’m worried about Sorsdain, Imperator,” Parras says. “If they just surrender Leyton Castle and retreat to Gorlsford then we’ll be in a pinch. With our heavy forces assaulting Gravecral to the east we might not be able to break a protracted stalemate across that ford.”
we should sneak through surroy and take gorisford from the back. instead of attacking leyton castle from the south as they expect.

That could be our first "shot" of the war too.

our second would be to take orkney

at that point, if we are lucky, corshire will sortie against us. if not, then it is the 3rd step of the blitz.

>>35460658
We also need a plan of retreat in case shit goes very badly.

>>35460594
"breaking him" is harming him.
and it is also completely and utterly pointless and unnecessary.
you are just rushing to have him say the words "i fealty" asap which is completely and utterly fucking pointless. the words mean nothing. the actual loyalty does

>>35460677
Aha!
Let's infiltrate Undine ahead of our forces to prevent a river crossing. I'd imagine she could mess with the river to do such a thing.

>>35460713
and if we time it right they will take heavy losses from said "prevention"

mmm... actually a forked attackl from 2 fronts on that fort will work as well. have undine and a small force (she can't be alone she will die) take them from the back.

i really really wish we had undine at full power. the only justification for not doing it was meta reason. it would have taken like 2 weeks to do it. but people were worried about how many threads it would take.

>>35460705
Ren prefers guile and subterfuge not war so its likely that he wouldn't be the pissed like everyone says; we would beat him at the game he plays best who the fuck cant be impressed by that.
If that hurts his feeling then he has no right being a leader.

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>>35460430
>>35460578
So you guys have way more troops than I thought you did. The extra noble knights and LMKs gave a bit more oomph than I expected.

Attached are the troop splits.

Orkney: 7500 Shropham; 8100 TYE

Sorsdain: 11000 Shropham; 9800 TYE

Corthshire: 15000 Shropham; 10500 TYE

Feel free to propose different troop splits or general deployments. You can see the Shropham forces up at >>35458401

Also, I'm going to largely assume that you'll have most or all of your hero units with each attack if you're teleporting about.

>>35460778
> the only justification for not doing it was meta reason. it would have taken like 2 weeks to do it.
Please stop saying this. I explained last time it came up (2 threads ago) that it would take longer and you'd be opposed by other forces.

>>35460778
>the only justification for not doing it was meta reason.

Not really, we got an explanation about how difficult it would be in reality based upon locations, enemies, political reasons, etc. There were more reasons then meta.

>>35460827
Honestly I get the idea that a good way to get Ren is to go invite him to a party with Talon.

>>35460836

Holy shit, that's almost even. We could manage this insanity, especially with all of the interference running.

>>35460836
>Please stop saying this. I explained last time it came up (2 threads ago) that it would take longer and you'd be opposed by other forces.
said opposition by other forces is why you can't handwave it as "and then talon did this during timeskip" and require actual threads to go through it.
not why we aren't willing to do it (the only reason anyone gave for being opposed to it is that they don't want to spend the threads on it).

>>35460868
maybe the only interaction we had with the guy i believe was at the negotiations were the most i got from him was he is a shrewd man and leader.

>>35460836
I want ALL hero units on each attack. No leaving someone behind to reseach this time
we NEED the power.

also, with taira's teleport capacity, couldn't she actually port all the hero units AND all our HMK units from each attack? since we stagger them 1 day apart?

>>35460987

The HMK aren't gods amongst men. Our Hero Units can recoup, the HMKs will be mush by the end.

>>35460836
The biggest problem I see Is the high amount of mages in Corthshire could give us a really freaking bad day.

We should prepare for one invasion to fail and what army they should leave to join up with in that case. Whatever we do we can't lose too many men here. However each one we win gives us a fort to hide behind.

Don't mind me, I'm just going to be throwing out an idea here.

Eventually we might wish to expand our personal guard into a larger unit. Say 500 men. This would be our Guard regiment, where we promote people to based on merit. Along with it, various benefits. This can cause competition to be in the unit to be tough, but also increase morale of our units. An opportunity to advance is often looked favorably upon by soldiers.

>>35460987
She can only teleport once a day like most foxes unless the numbers are really low.

We have over 700 HMKs. Do the math.

>>35461073

I think that's the purpose of the Order of the Griffon, seeing as Lynn is heading up both.

>>35461078
>We have over 700 HMKs
we do? holy shit I thought we have way less than that.

>>35461073
I honestly don't like that idea too much. The idea for the personal guard is to go a different route then the others.

Expensive magic items of much higher quality. As well as the most highest quality of skill level. We could mix and match though by creating say 25 guards like that and then mixing it up with 100-200 Men.

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I've done a tiny bit of fiddling with the final unit numbers to account for Corthshire being tougher than Sorsdain. Nothing too big.

Are there any final matters to deal with in regards to the war with Shropham? Otherwise I'll do a content post to close things off, a quick conversation scene with Alyce and then the action will start.

>>35461266
nothing more to say

>>35461266
go ahead

>>35461107
We start production a while back so the numbers are going upwards. Also most of them are elites mechanics wise so even stronger then vets.

>>35461103
Order of the Griffon is less a guard and more a easy way to bribe powerful knights. I feel personally we should have them focus on only knightly things and make the guards an entire new thing that isn't beholden to anything other then us.

So if your in the guard you forswear all ties to all other organizations other then Talon personally.

>>35461266
I wish to have some infiltrated forces fucking with roads and bridges we don't wish to cross soon. Also, Undine cutting off the escape over the river.

Just wanting to make sure that's on the table.

>>35461383
Honestly Undine is probably going to give them a really bad day. Aspirational has already said Undine right now is absurdly good around a large body of water.

>>35461266

I take it we aren't going to do the vampire thing then?

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>>35461383
>Also, Undine cutting off the escape over the river.
By teleporting into the ford town ahead of schedule? Or something else?

>>35461538
Not unless people want to do a vampire/Felix scene before the action starts. I'll leave that up to you guys while I have lunch.

>>35461383
probably best to have our spies focus on people rather than bridges

as for the undine thing. not just undine alone. but yea that would be good.

>>35461572
>Not unless people want to do a vampire/Felix scene before the action starts

I mean it's potentially a new Hero unit. I'd be game.

>>35461572
Teleporting into the area with a small bodyguard, yeah.

>>35461572
How heavily protected is gorisford? can we sneak by leyton castle and take it first?

>>35461572

Undine and enough people to keep her safe.

I wouldn't mind a vampire/Felix scene if it means Felix will be useful in the coming battles.

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SCENE VOTE
>1. Do vampire/Felix scene now.
>2. Ignore the vampire issue until after Shropham.

>>35461659
A couple thousand troops currently. You can't sneak an army past the castle without them noticing, though.

>>35461755
I may have missed a couple weeks. What's this Vampire/Felix issue?

>>35461755
>1

Vampires mean Vamp HMK. Always need more troops.

>>35461755
>1

>>35461755
>1. Do vampire/Felix scene now.

>>35461799
Adria and felix are talking and he is considering turning into a daywalker.
we can do a scene where we either forbid adria from turning him, convince him not to, or convince him to go through with it.

some people want to convince him to go through with it. I am honestly not sure myself.

>>35461745
>Not unless people want to do a vampire/Felix scene before the action starts. I'll leave that up to you guys while I have lunch.

Yeah. Personally with that I say Talon should just say it's all up to Felix.

I mean people may say he could become powerful with hard work. But by the same token he could be even more powerful though hard work + Becoming a vampire.

I kind of think Talon would think it none of his business if Felix goes for it or not. Because either way he proves somewhat useful in his empire.

>>35461805
this has nothing to do with vamp HMK

>>35461856
I see...
I'd have to vote towars convincing him away. He has dangerous ambition, and must be kept at a lower place, hopefully until he is reeducated into liking Talon.

>>35461891

Ren hating anon, is that you?

>>35461755
2

>>35461871
>But by the same token he could be even more powerful though hard work + Becoming a vampire.
he would also become sterile, require blood of people (we still haven't found a blood substitute and have no reason to think we will), lose access to his current magic (replacing it with vampire magic), psychological reprecussions of him having to resort to such a path, political reprecussions, and the fact he will probably no longer be suitable for starting his own knightly order like he meant to (on the other hand, he could start a daywalker vampire knightly order).
oh, and the question of whether we trust him with such power.

>>35461891

So you want to take away his grasp at power after promising him to make history falling a mad God(Astral Adept)?

How's that make sense? If anything allowing Felix to gain power and catch up to Talon will help him see Talon's ambition as not purely selfish and evil. But one wrought with consequence and measured decisions, teaching Felix to handle power assures he stays in line as opposed to him seeking it and becoming mad himself.

>>35461944
>we still haven't found a blood substitute and have no reason to think we will
let me rephrase
have no guarantee that our research idea will bear fruit.

>>35461924
I have too good spelling and punctuation to be him.

First tunnel bro and now Ten hating anon. Can't wait to see what is next.

>>35461944

I think Felix's ideals from the Order he masqueraded as will help see him through the whole Vampire thing. In fact his goal of purging evil would be made all the more righteous by turning something people view as inherently evil, into a force for good.

>>35461755
>2. Ignore the vampire issue until after Shropham.

I don't think he should do it. Personally, I think we should just make him a commander or something get glory by leading troops and be done with his character in favor the more interesting ones we will be seeing.

>>35462031
Fucking autocorrect the should be "Ren" instead of Ten.

>>35462031

Genocide Anon was pretty great as well.

>>35462039
Or that will massively backfire and hell be irreconcilable to his new nature... Eh, overpowered fallen paladin route could be amusing too.

>>35461755
1. Vamp/Felix scene

We need the hero unit fellahs, thats what's up

>>35461755
>>1. Do vampire/Felix scene now.
Fuck yeah vampires.

>>35462098

Or that. Either way it gives spotlight to a race within our Empire and help lax the feelings towards Vampires. Seeing a Vampire that high up among our routine would likely do wonders for the populace's nervousness.

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I know this isn't exactly an empire management session, but I wanted to bring up something I found in the Crystal Bridges art museum since the last thread.

Terraced apartments! Now I'm not suggesting we go with this exact style of course, the hexagonal honeycomb structure and smooth gray material make it look far too futuristic. But I really like the idea of how they're arranged and merging over the terraces and streets.

Maybe something for ArchitectAnon and Aspirational to consider.

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>>35462168
And a side view so you can see how it creates a kind of tunnel.
If I'm remembering which scale models were which, they actually built this somewhere in South America.

>>35462162
are you being sarcastic?
also, how is "lower ranking personal guard" better than "personal familiar of the emperor"

>>35462198

That would be more of Aspirational's side of thing, flavor wise at least. I wouldn't be able to really represent that, as much as I like it, on the map. That said, imagine the nightmare it would be attempting to navigate through that.

>>35462198
>>35462168
Cool shit anon. Don't know if we really need to plan something so menial but maybe bring it up next time we do harrowmont construction.

>>35462214

No? I'm not discounting the latter either. Both are good. I'm not sure what you're getting at.

>>35462162
Or it'll make it easier for enemies of the state to play of the populace' pretty justified fear of vampires to undermine our rule.

>>35462240
>That said, imagine the nightmare it would be attempting to navigate through that.
For an invading army? Yeah. I imagine locals would learn it fairly quickly though.

>>35462278
>justified fear

>no more thralls
>soon to be no more need for blood/feeding

They'll have no more to fear then the common man or fox they live besides. It's definitely a right step in the direction of reintegration, which is happening, whether people like it or not.

>>35461944
>he would also become sterile

Wouldn't matter to us or most likely to him.

>require blood of people

That is the biggest weakness. Still we should know that it is in theory possible by this point and it isn't like it would be difficult for Felix of all people to get blood willingly.

> lose access to his current magic (replacing it with vampire magic)

His own magic is weaker then vampire magic. He uses instinctive magic and given his philosophy it's likely he will develop odd powers which may help.

>political reprecussions

We'll just claim if someone brings it up that he was willing to do so to help the empire in it's growth and is utterly under us.

>fact he will probably no longer be suitable for starting his own knightly order like he meant to

He could always start a mixed vampireXhuman knightly order. He cares more about his friends dying.

It has some flaws but I can't really see Talon telling him he shouldn't or anything.

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>1.

Aladria gives you an odd look when you ask her about Felix. “You mean you didn’t want me to turn Felix?”

“I’m not sure,” you say, frowning. “It’s more accurate to say that I hadn’t seriously considered it.”

Your familiar shrugs. “It could be good for him. He’s terribly conflicted. He wants the world to be black and white and thinks that more power would let him achieve that.”

“Wait, you think he wants to actively want the world to be Good versus Evil?” you ask, surprised.

“I think he wants something to justify to himself that he’s on the side of good and he’s fighting evil. Right now he thinks you’re evil and that he’s evil for following you. On the other hand he seems to think that might makes right, so you and he are powerful enough then everything will be fine.”

“That sounds nonsensical,” you say.

Aladria laughs. “It’s rather normal among those that become knights out of a sense of justice. Moral relativism is difficult for them to deal with so they typically incorporate some weird way of measuring morality. Most just pick a few ideals out of the air and stick to them. Felix chose power. If I turn him, he’ll gain power… eventually.”

“Eventually?” you ask.

“Fledgeling daywalkers aren’t that useful. He’ll be out of action for a few months before he can even begin to use magic again,” she explains. “He’ll lose his current magic and have to learn the new disciplines. Given six months or so, he’ll be as good as his old self. Given a year and some practice, he’ll be a new man.”

“A new vampire,” you say, frowning.

You move on from your overly pragmatic familiar to talk with Felix. You find the knight exercising in one of the spare rooms. He catches your expression and scowls.

“This is about your newest familiar, I take it?” he asks you, as if reading your mind. “She’s been badgering me for the past few months. Is she trying to thrall me?”

>continued

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>>35462429
“No,” you say slowly. “She wants to turn you.”

Felix blinks at that, his scowl turning into a pensive look. “Hmm. That explains her questioning better. I thought she was trying to enthral me because she thought me disloyal. Becoming a vampire seems like a big step. An irrevocable one, really.”

“You can just say no.”

“Ah, but I’m not sure I want to. To be a vampire is to become powerful. To be powerful gives me actual freedom to decide how and what I will do – right now it doesn’t matter what I decide. I cannot oppose you, for I am too weak. Nor can I try to help you, for I am too weak. If I take evil into my soul, I will either become pure evil and no longer be so conflicted or I will overcome it and be able to clearly choose my own path.”

“So you want to be turned?” you ask, surprised.

He shrugs. “I want to become powerful. My understanding of your expeditionary plan into the mountains is that it will achieve the same thing but over a longer period of time.”

You frown. That’s not quite true. Felix will become quite strong but he’ll struggle to keep up with you if he does so the old-fashioned way. Even Finn, as talented as he is, keeps up with you by virtue of being very special.

Your decision is to…

>1. Have Aladria turn Felix. He won’t be available for the Shropham campaign but will be considerably more powerful within a year.
>2. Have Shropham turn Felix after the Shropham campaign. This may result in him missing another campaign, however.
>3. Do not turn Felix.
>4. Custom

>>35462313
I'm pretty sure that soon is about 2 years or so. Though yeah honestly with Thralls gone and harsh laws against thralling without justified cause things should work.

The key thing is to put them somewhere they can get social adjustment while at the same time not risk damage. We don't really need them to be liked so much as not hated.

>>35462488
>1. Have Aladria turn Felix. He won’t be available for the Shropham campaign but will be considerably more powerful within a year.

We finally Felix scene.

>>35462313
You're right, sorry let me rephrase: "the populace' historically justified fear of vampires"

Also, as last I remember the foxes we're really integrated into our population yet as they'd preferred to set up their own villages.

Look, to be clear, I'm not saying we don't vamp Felix, I think that probably limits his potential but I'm fine with capping the crazy guy's max growth. I'm just saying the social reasons you've been citing really don't make sense to me in the context of improving perceived and true equality and stability. But this is dictatorial empire, if Talon York wants to empower one of his people no one else (well, besides the person in question) should be able to challenge that decision. Question it's sanity, sure, but not overrule it.

>>35462488
4. Let Felix decide, but me has to tell us now so we can pick what to do with him
It's his life, his call. if he decides to turn, have him turn now and miss shropham

>>35462488
Can we just talk to aladria for a little bit? We know she's powerful, but who turned her, if she's not an original or something? How powerful is she? Hero unit? What are her strengths, basically?

As far as Felix, ask him whether he wants to contribute to the current campaign or to the next one

>>35462488
1

>>35462488
>4. Let Felix decide, but caution him that if he decides to go for it, that he won't ever be able to turn back.

>>35462488
>3. Do not turn Felix.

>>35462488
>>1. Have Aladria turn Felix. He won’t be available for the Shropham campaign but will be considerably more powerful within a year.

I say we should tell him It's his choice in the end but he does want to become stronger then he is so this is a good chance for him to do so. If he is willing we won't stop him from going for it.

>>35462488
>4. Let Felix decide, but caution him that if he decides to go for it, that he won't ever be able to turn back.
Remind him as a vampire he must especially be careful of his actions. We want to set a standard where vampires are at least tolerated.

>>35462488
custom
1. it is up to him.
2. we should discuss the "take evil into himself" thing. I am honestly concerned about his mental stability.
3. he could aim at a more structured study of magic, becoming a spellblade.
4. power is not just personal killing ability. beings much more powerful than talon are taking pause before him or outright cowering because he has the might of authority within a nation. We put him in our personal guard to prove to him our character. once we do we planned to either get him back to command position or to help finance him building his knightly order.

>>35462530

Fair point, you're right, I'll concede that to you. Good civilized talk.

>>35462488
I vote we tell him the options:
Option 1 stay human
Option 2 because a vampire
Option 3 asteral mystery box. Maybe we'll make our own god knights or whatever have you eventually. Plus, if he hasn't figured out our astral power considering aall the foxes, he'll learn soon enough

>>35462488

"I am not going to encourage or forbid you from becoming a Vampire. Though keep in mind that most of the people still harbour resentment towards Vampires. This is a very important decision for you, all I ask is that you inform me of your decision prior to acting upon it.

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>>35462558
Aladria's a hero unit. She was sired by Dalrec, the vamp you killed pre-quest. She'll probably get shown off a bit in the action scenes.

>>35462488
>1

We (2) vampires now

>>35462488
>3. I really don't want Felix deserting us then raising legions of thrawls against us in some mad gambit to smite the evil he sees in Talon.

>>35462741
Is she caster or tank or both? Blood or shadow, basically

>>35462488
I think its worth mentioning that
1. we cured thralldom
2. we have come up with the magical principles for removing vampire blood dependency. he can always wait until that research bears fruit to make his decision. because at that point vampirism is not longer "evil"

of course, that depends on it being necessarily evil in the first place. after all you can have willing people give blood and aldaria followers are non thralls who follow her out of personal loyalty.

>>35462758

>apply thrall cure
>no army

>>35462530
It honestly probably wouldn't limit him any.

>>35462558
We really should have a social scene one day where the archmage and Aladria with Talon talk. Aladria already has proven to be pretty snarky so this could get funny.

>>35462800
I'm seeing her calling in merce to kill off the infection, and merce just sighing and going back to trying to seduce undine

Hey aspie, what do we know about demon summoning? that dwarf way back when was a nobody who either summoned one or found one underground somewhere, is that common, or do they just like fucking with dorfs?

>>35462784
I doubt its some sprinkle from the sky and everyone is cured shit, they'd have to be captured.

Why are you guys wanting to power up a guy thats already betrayed and was going to kill us for? Not to mention he even says he could turn evil. It'd be different if this guy has always been faithful and someone we could trust but, thats not the case.

>>35462784
How is the cure administered? Mass spell or individually? It makes a serious difference.

>>35462905
Because us, and everyone we care about, is basically ten times as strong as him

>>35462905

I just like the character, his moral dilemmas are interesting. Also his casual queries about being enthralled amused me.

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>4. Let Felix decide

“I think you had best make a decision about becoming a vampire yourself, Felix,” you say. “Just remember that it is a step you cannot take back. And do tell me before you decide.”

“I see. I shall give it some thought then, Imperator,” he answers.

It’s a fortnight later when Aladria lets you know his decision.

“He couldn’t have told me himself?” you ask her.

“I think it embarrasses him to be admitting that he needs help,” she says, shrugging. “You’re a big manly man so you should know well enough what he’s feeling. Imagine going up to Maloric and asking him for permission to become strong.”

You scowl at the thought of that, imagining your friend’s smug grin and superior look. “I don’t think my relationship with Felix is of that degree.”

Laughing out loud at the face you make, Aladria says, “Perhaps not but it’s a similar feeling he’d have when thinking of asking the same of you. He respects you and your power. Perhaps he wishes to maintain some illusion that he’s going to stand by you on his own two feet?”

In any case, your former general is turned rather soon and Aladria tells you that he’ll need a few months to acclimate. It’s probably a good thing she has her own manor house where he can stay, rather than the keep. At least she doesn’t need to stay with him the whole time.

>Archmage chat next

>>35462758
>Thralling a army
>Not getting noticed nigh instantly.
>Implying it's even that easy to thrall an army considering even Taour couldn't get too many.

Okay, new unit idea-flying Arcane Archer. The biggest weakness of FMK is that they have to get close enough to get speared. With our massive air superiority, we can have headhunters with bows and flying enchantments and possibly camo fly up and shoot officers and opposing hero units. Feedback?

>>35462935
So? There will be better people both in strength and character.

>>35463004
Christ almighty.

Although we really need to focus on beefing up our HMK force first.

>>35463004
Already discussed in previous threads, FMK isn't a stable enough platform for AAs.
Though the extra mobility might be handy for getting into a better position.

>>35462758
>Thralling an army
>After talon has shared the cure for thralldom with the entire world.

>>35462979
So, the decision to accept outside help in gaining strength affected Felix' self-image enough to mess with his potential vampiric power set, or I'm reading too much into your word choices?

>>35463022

That's an incredibly negative way to look at it. Felix is one of the few characters that we see with any degree of regularity that isn't outright with Talon. He's interested, his potential scenes have a lot more depth and avenues to achieve. Besides:

>"Ah, but I’m not sure I want to. To be a vampire is to become powerful. To be powerful gives me actual freedom to decide how and what I will do – right now it doesn’t matter what I decide. I cannot oppose you, for I am too weak. Nor can I try to help you, for I am too weak. If I take evil into my soul, I will either become pure evil and no longer be so conflicted or I will overcome it and be able to clearly choose my own path.”

That is a man of conviction. He's willing to take on a curse and tame it or die trying. That's a strong character both morally and physically.

>>35463004
I already expressed desire for EVERY unit in our army to have an AA bow because of how ridiculously cheap the bows are.
also because it gives them something to do.

that being said, i think FMK would be the one exception since their AoE spells are more damaging and because if they were using bows, its best they do it from within our lines where our mages shield them rather than high up unprotected pretending to be skeet.

>>35463004

We'd likely be better served beefing up their magical gauntlets, perhaps make them more boom-y or give them a larger selection like a rotation ring to choose from.

>>35462905
Yeah. Honestly the biggest problem with doing so is it's pretty easy to crush them.

It's also kind of hard to thrall so many people at the same time without notice. I mean we are bringing in foxes by the fox load.

>>35463188
>I mean we are bringing in foxes by the fox load.

Just imagined a dump truck of unloading a pile of foxes on Harrowmont's front door step and Talon adopting them all. It's adorable.

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>Archmage chat

Alyce’s voice crackles over the sending device. “My sources tell me that Shropham will be formally seceding from the League tomorrow morning. You are in position, right?”

“I am but I’m not going to act right away,” you say, gazing out at the fields below. You’re in western Forfdain, stationed with Fuurin’s troops near a farming village. “If the Guard are willing to soften up Shropham then I’ll let them.”

You can almost hear the scowl across the device. “Be careful when you play with fire, Talon. If the Wardens crush the mages too quickly then you might find yourself out of position.”

“I’m not leaving myself that open,” you say. “I just don’t want Shropham redirecting their northern army towards me.”

“Hmm,” Alyce says and there’s a long period of silence. “In any case, try not to let the city burn to the ground. Or burn it to the ground yourself. You won’t make any friends with mages by destroying one of the oldest bastions of magic in the world, even if they do have a poor reputation.”

Ah, and there it was. You’d forgotten that a large part of your alliance was to protect the mages by taking control of them instead of the Guard. If you let the city be destroyed by the Guard just to make your life easier then you might not have the happiest ally.

“And remember, the Guard aren’t necessarily hunting for territory,” she says. “The Wardens want a victory over the mages for political reasons. Everything you’ve been telling me about Sylvian, should I believe it, suggests that the old anti-magic stance is becoming vogue once more. The more you crush this push by them yourself, the weaker they’ll be politically in the Guard.”

>Any questions for Alyce on the situation?

>>35462726
there is no reason we can't turn a vampire into an astral adept.

... also, i just realized we can now make felix into a familiar. (lets not though)

>>35463229
I should not like this nearly as much as I do.
>>35463287
Ask her if there are any ways to try and take the mage keeps with minimal loss of their lives. In other words, finding those more amenable to annexation.

>>35463004
Personally I want to go for something more ground based then a new flying unit. Something like a dreadnaught knight Similar to the anti-magic knights the guard uses.

>>35463287
Is there any possibility of mage league territory being invaded?

What will be your response to the rebels?

Is falwick likely to attack?

>>35463154
The biggest problem is that they still need to be in range of anyone with a spear. Too much risk

>>35463143
If we get some peacetime rest, I support this move, even if everyone is still green archers, it doesn't matter when our arrows blot out the sun

>>35463049
Can you point me to the thread? I must have missed it

>>35463395
I've got a few more ideas about that that I'll bring up post-thread

>>35463287

Asking her about the political situation to the west with Albanon. You mentioned once some of their troops were within Shropham, in a messy political situation. What's the stance on that? Can it be used to advantage? rectified? Is she planning something?

>>35463395
We do need some ground based guys that can hold a line REALLY well.

>>35463432
>The biggest problem is that they still need to be in range of anyone with a spear. Too much risk

Then we make the range bigger? FMKs are like fly by artillery bombers, your risk is negated by you speeding through and laying waste.

>>35463287

And thus begins The Three Day Conquest. Will history right it as a bold stroke of genius by the so called Griffon of the East? Or one of folly by an over zealous egomaniac?

>>35463450
Thats what the HMK's are for. Although I would be nice to add some health regen to them or something for even more staying power.

>>35463469
But there's so few, they're so expensive, and this reduces their vulnerability-similar firepower, same speed, better able to utilize their superior air coverage and vision

>>35463395

I'd support a Dreadnaught MK. Possibly make it our mage and AA killer unit, enough defense to stomp up to them like a mobile siege unit and start taking names.

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>>35463435
Oh shit. I forgot to mention that.

Basically, Albanon and Shropham are working together but only Shropham is seceding. Albanon has placed a lot of their troops under the command of Shropham, however. Alyce plans on expelling Albanon from the League but it will take time and she's hoping to time it such that you will have already taken Shropham and can then seize the weakened Albanon before the Guard can.

>>35463432
>Is there any possibility of mage league territory being invaded?
None.

>What will be your response to the rebels?
"I can bluster at them," she says dryly. "The point of this alliance is that I can't do much about them directly. Instead I'll work on excising Albanon for assisting the rebels with their military."

>Is falwick likely to attack?
"You'd know more about the political situation in the RSK than I would. It's gotten rather strange, lately. Darvui has declared independence; Farlou has been abandoned and the northern RSK provinces are massing armies in the strangest of places. I suspect another civil war is brewing in the south."

>>35463362
>Ask her if there are any ways to try and take the mage keeps with minimal loss of their lives. In other words, finding those more amenable to annexation.
"I doubt the core mage towers will entertain yielding to you. If they're willing to face off against the Mage Guard as is then they're already consigned to their own construction. Or perhaps just so delusional as to believe in their own godhood."

>>35463287
"I sorta feel sorry for Shroopam, They're declaring independence tomorrow, and then I'll inform the world of every naughty thing they've done with Taour in the past 20 years. I trust you are well positioned to exploit that?"

>>35463589
Falwick was a trained hound, to quote talon, but now he's bitten the hand that feeds him. I'd reccomend secretly putting a fair bit more cover in running distance of the southern border

>>35463589
>Basically, Albanon and Shropham are working together but only Shropham is seceding. Albanon has placed a lot of their troops under the command of Shropham, however. Alyce plans on expelling Albanon from the League but it will take time and she's hoping to time it such that you will have already taken Shropham and can then seize the weakened Albanon before the Guard can.
Oh, any chance we could use all the terrible things that Shropham did with the vampires to reduce the morale of the Albanon troops?

>>35463668
Considering we aren't fully genociding them, and are now using Felix for a test subject to see if we can trust them, I'd really rather not

>>35463574
I honestly think the dreadnaughts would be too slow for mage killing duty compared to masses of AA fire.

On the other hand they would help massively vs the Lords due to not being chopped in half seconds into a fight with a god knight.

>>35463703
Eh, we're already declaring it to the world though. I mean, everyone knows the vampires did terrible shit, they don't know that Shropham aided and abbetted them.

OK, there's a lull. In terms of constructs and patterns, there's a lot of potential. Sieges are problematic because, although you can mildly enchant siege engines, walls will usually be incredibly strong and also much taller than anything in reality. However, I'm pretty sure that everyone ever has roads to do romans proud.

Basically, take a big, long wagon, fill it with lead, and then enchant it to propel itself, constantly accelerating. Place it two kilometers back along a straight road, and let it go. Even if its slow to accelerate, if its going fast enough, it should put a meaty dent in most enchanted gates. And also basically blow through half a city if they aren't enchanted. Feedback? Aspir, please tell me if its impossible because reasons

>>35464025
Pattern wise I kind of want when we get better understanding to build a anti-mage one. Build around sonic screams to shatter ear drums and bones and powerful magic resistant wards.

Make them look like normal humans that can hide in plain sight. Watch the paranoia rise.

>>35464087

I can't wait for the inevitable shitstorm over "are patterns people?"

Much fun to be had.

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>Orkney assault start

It’s been almost three weeks since Shropham seceded and the Mage Guard assault force crossed into Shropham’s territory three days ago. Rafnorshire had been abandoned to their assault in favour of Sirrashire and Corthshire by the rebels and the Guard simply marched through it into Sirrashire. The highways, engineering wonders that made trade and travel within the League the envy of the RSK and elsewhere, greatly aided their advance even as it funnelled them into Shropham’s waiting army. You doubted that Witch-hunter General Irlin, one of the highest ranking Wardens in the Guard, cared much. More dead mages was good for him and killing their supporters was probably almost as good.

With Shropham’s forces stuck in place in order to oppose the fifty thousand ruthless mage killers charging in from the north, you gave the order to enact your daring assault. As you marched westward to Orkney Riverfort, you enjoyed the pleasant early Spring weather. You suspected this would be your last chance to do so for some time. With Orkney being the least protected you were actively trying to convince them that you were launching a heavy assault against it yourself. Your reputation was such that people knew to fear you, especially given how poorly your recent campaign against Farun went without you.

“That’s the Riverfort,” Fuurin points out from your vantage point a scant kilometre away from the fortress.

>continued

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>>35464141
The castle straddled the Sorruy river running through the province. It was quite large, with a keep citing off-centre on the other side of the river, guarding a draw-bridge across the river. Two other bascule bridges were on either side of the fort and the walls themselves could be used to cross to the other side. A tall tower rose up from the keep and you suspect their best battle-mages would be using that as a vantage point to fire on your troops. The province’s garrison had retreated to within the fort on your approach and all seven and a half thousand of them were waiting for you assault to begin tomorrow. Your men were exhausted after a day of marching and you knew better than to attack until they were rested.

“Those walls are all that’s keeping us out,” Fuurin explained. “They’re spelled to stop passage so we can’t just mount them. Instead we’ll need to breach the walls. We’re the first to assault so I’ve passed on the siege equipment. Instead I’ve had the mages and Gnome construct wooden shield to protect against their archers. They’re makeshift walls so the barriers are one-way, like theirs. We hit them with enough arrows and mages until their barrier breaks and they flee the walls. Then you and Arail do the wetwork.”

It’s a sound plan. The enemy lacks much in the way of mage-knights, with a mere five hundred MMKs. Once you take away their defences the fort should fall in short order. It’ll mostly be the job of you and some of your companions to keep the enemy mages off your back.

Hero units:
Talon
Lynn
Gnome
Undine
Aladria
Maloric
Finn
Salamander
Taira

>Strategy thoughts?

Enemy troops at >>35458401
Your troops at >>35460836

>>35464110
The correct answer is to build them with no humanity to start with.

There really is no reason you would want your orc to be humanlike instead of being "Target this town. Kill every non-civilian target."

>>35464161
Tairia, Talon, and other ranged hero units take out the mages. Then the AA's sit out of range of their archers and pound them until they break or sally

>>35464161
Ask mal for some combat summons. Give him an hour to make the best he's got. In the meantime, talk to undine to see what she can do with a big fat river behind her

>>35464161
Could Talon + Vet AAs snipe the mages in the tower? With Maloric countering their spells and our battlemages forming a shield against the archers.

>>35464191

Oh so create mindless slaves? Sounds great.

>>35464290
Machinery, anon. Like a toaster. With swords.

>>35464161
Agreeing on summons and also undine. The river is her first opportunity to show off her water control

>>35464161
My first thought would be getting Taira to take a pot shot right on the lower top of the tower. All the force she can muster should be enough to put a sizable dent at least.

>>35464161
We will follow Fuurin's plan. Meanwhile, us Hero Units and Rangers will do our best to take out the enemy mages from here.
Battlemages do their best to protect our troops from both enemy archers, if they are in range, and their mages. Once the breach is caused, we will force the breach with our Heavy MAAs, to be followed by FMKs for exploiting our advance. Regular MAAs fill out the ranks.

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>>35464236
Because they're pretty high up, your AAs max range and their archers max range are around the same.

>Tairia, Talon, and other ranged hero units take out the mages.
Taira is the only hero unit capable of punching through the wall's barrier without breaking it first. Plus, the mages aren't exactly maknig themselves easy to identify apart from the tall tower on the keep.

>>35464254
Undine needs to be close to the river to do anything. She'll be able to do some nasty things once she's inside the fort. If she went upstream she might be able to flood their bridges, forcing them to move around the walls, but wouldn't be able to do more powerful water effects without spending a day preparing a ritual.

>>35464258
The wall's barrier extends high enough to protect the tower so only Taira could snipe the tower without first breaking the wall.

>With Maloric countering their spells and our battlemages forming a shield against the archers.
Mal's not good enough to single-handedly counter all their mages. You've got some shields that work better than the standard ones but your mages could prepare extras if necessary.

>>35464290
That's the thing if they are mindless then they by nature can't care. Anymore then a rock could care about not being able to do arithmetic and it it's their natural state designed at creation then it's not taking any free will away.

At least anymore then designing a normal computer when you can design a AI.

>>35463668
>>35463703
we should stop using "the vampires" in conversations and PR

we should find a better name specifically for that regime.
We already judged all the human abetters and aiders in taour (the nobles) and we link shropam to the blood magic

our PR is than that it wasn't "the vampires" (better not use taour either since that is not nice to the citizens... for now i will call them taour)

>News interview
>The thing to understand is that vampirism doesn't require human misery. our blood bank system shows that vampires can purchase blood from willing donors, and we are currently researching an artificial alternative.
>The reason taour treated humans like cattle is simply because it was cheaper and more profitable to do so for the people in charge.
>And it wasn't just vampires doing it either. some of their mages used human sacrifices to fuel their spells instead of catalysts, again, because it is much cheaper.
>And then you had the nobles and merchants, fully human, who also joined in on this trade of slavery and murder for profit.
>Ultimately it was nobles, merchants, vampires, and human mages all working together to treat people like cattle because it made them richer. Because it was easier to deal in such misery than it was to be an honest merchant who enriches people's lives or an honest tradesman who produces a good.
>Those corrupt vampires, human mages, nobles and merchants have received their just rewards, they were tried and executed for their crimes

>>35464391
Have taira clear the battlements. We no longer care about fairness, we want things done now. Unleash the heavy artillery

Remember we don't want to damage the Castle much beyond easy repairs. The assaults are meant to give us solid locations to dig into and secure the border while providing launching points for other assaults.

>>35464025
>>35464391
Hey aspire, feedback on this? Is it possible to do an acceleration effect?

>>35464501
We do have Gnome though. So easy repairs are a sizable amount.

>>35464477
This may actully kind of lead to a problem in a way. If we steamroll with Taira too much she might get bored.

>>35464560
She can have fun with the mage guard. Remember, they're designed to fight threats like her.

>>35464560

What a nice problem to have. I'm sure they'll have some surprises waiting for us down the line.

Did we ever use the cassus belli in termina of them being too weak to protect their people, citing the fact talon personally stopped a fae incursion within their borders before they went to war?

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>>35464510
Self-propelled wagons and the like are the domain of magitech for the most part. The enchantment is rather complicated. Steering also has to be done by a person. Finally, speed's a problem, particularly for a wagon full of lead. The engines can get them to about 5-10mph, depending on how much you stress it. A wagon full of lead is probably 5mph.

>>35464510
TAIRA VOTE
>1. Have Taira wipe the floor with them.
>2. Have Taira take out the tower.
>3. Both 1 and 2
>4. Have Taira hold back a bit.
>5. Custom

>>35464669
>3. Both 1 and 2

>>35464669
>>3. Both 1 and 2

Murder time fun time!

>>35464669
>3. Focus on taking out the tower and then do some wiping
We don't have time for any nonsense

>>35464669
custom

have taira act defensively to counteract their attacks and protect our troops.

>>35464669
>>1. Have Taira wipe the floor with them.
I would prefer less damage to infrastructure.

>>35464669
>>2. Have Taira take out the tower.
We need to blood our troops.

>>35464669
>2. Have Taira take out the tower.

>>35464669
>4. Have Taira hold back a bit.

>>35464669
>3. Both 1 and 2

Let's lower the DC a little bit, shall we? I have a love-hate relationship with the dice in this quest, but it's mostly hate.

>>35464669
You know in a way if we where to stick something like a drill on the end of that we could really fuck up some walls. Focus a bunch of enchantments on the tip of it then have it slam into a wall at 5-10 MPH straight.

>2. Have Taira take out the tower.

I'd personally Just focus her on taking out the tower full the big issue.

>>35464669
I think we should get in contact in them and try to intimidate them to surrender. if need be blowing up the walls from afar while talking to their commander to demonstrate our ability.

>>35464796
we already have a heavily enchanted ram spike that gnome used to annihilate a wall in one hit

also, drills aren't magic, they require motive force to turn them. which means we require an equivalent to the internal combustion engine. which we do not have.

Combat comes. It has been so long. Be sure to have sacrificed your small infants to the dicegods before rolling.

>>35464814
Rather than talking to their command, we can do a glowing talon speech using magic to enhance our voice so all of them can hear us.

>>35464669
>2

>>35464880
>Soldiers of shropam
>I am talon york. As we speak 50 thousand magekillers from the mage guard are coming to level your home and kill your families.
>Your leaders have failed you, they have abetted the vicious and cruel regime of the taour that treated people like cattle, keeping them in pens as a food source and using them as sacrifices in magic rituals to save money compared to buying catalysts. They have abandoned the magi league because even the most permissive magocracy would not allow them to engage their cruel and inhumane research
>They are so drunk on their power that they think they would crush both the guard and me. Despite being horrible outnumbered and outmatched.
>Soldiers, do not die for profit of your leaders. There is a better way.
>I created the york empire because I thought I could do better, because I was sick of having brothers in arms die for the cruel, vicious, and murderous ambitions of an out of touch elite.
>Defect now and join my army. Or lay down your arms and surrender, and you shall be allowed to return to your families.
>I am not going to burn your home to the ground, I am saving it from the madmen within and without, the insane wizards at the top of your city and the so called mage guard.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>35464879

This roll will foreshadow the quality of rolls today

>>35465100
do dubs cancel the roll?

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>35465100
not that bad actuallh

>>35465100
>not a 1

I'll take it!

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>>35464814
They don't respond to any sendings.

>3.

“Taira, would you mind taking out the keep’s tower once we close,” you ask her as your force marches on the walls. “Then just clear the battlements en-masse.”

Taira tilts her head to the side before nodding. “It’s not like it’s very hard. We’ll need to be in firing range before I can take out the tower, though.”

“That’s fine. I don’t want their mages giving me any nasty surprises,” you say. Karise had let you know that Shropham had done little in the way of military movements but she lacked spies in most of the forts. Instead she was relying on her spies within Shropham itself or those in the wilderness and villages.

You hold off on firing on the enemy once you’re in range and they do the same. Maybe they’re waiting for some signal from you that the battle is going to begin? You decide to let Taira speak for you.

Taira’s tails shift rapidly behind her as she gives a lazy grin. You can feel a huge amount of power being quickly channelled and then it’s released in an instant – faster than you could possibly compete with. The tower seems to ripple, the stones shifting from the impact and you see a strange aura of light cascade down the tower in several layers. Strange…

“Oh, I guess it’s heavily enchanted,” Taira says as she effortlessly hits the tower again. A few stones go flying off but the tower stays standing. You see some movement amongst the Shropham soldiers on the battlements but can’t make out what it is. Your flyers are keeping a close eye on them and will give you a sending once they’ve verified it, if it’s trouble.

Giving a grumble as the tower resist her assault, Taira swipes her hand angrily as her tails weave a different pattern. The force you feel from her is different, like a sharpened blade about to be launched across the battlefield. You feel like you’re standing in front of a ballista.

>continued

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>>35465205
Stone and tile go flying across the fortress as an invisible gigantic force smashes the top of the tower to bits. You can feel the gigantic distortion in reality from here, a surefire sign that a very large amount of magical energy was just unleashed. That should have given the enemy a good show. You didn’t see any bodies or blood, however.

You receive a sending and blink. “Taira, clear the battlements!”

“I’m doing it, I’m doing it,” she says, annoyed at being rushed. “Weird how there was nobody in that tower though. It felt like there should have been.”

“Archers, ready and fire!” Fuurin calls out, having received the same sending.

The soldiers atop the battlements are hurriedly moving off them, according to your flyers. You can see it yourself now. Somebody in that fort caught onto what just happened and panicked. If you can fell those barriers you can easily rush in and butcher them but if they get a chance to dig in within the fortress itself you’ll miss your chance.

Screams fly up from the walls as Taira obliterates a one hundred metre long stretch of defenders. It looks as though every soldier you can see along the battlements just tripped at once and they in turn bring down several more defenders. A volley of enchanted arrows fills the air along with numerous magical blasts and you try to sniff out what the enemy mages are up to. You don’t like the fact that the tower was empty or that they immediately fled the battlements.

[DC?? Perception]

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>35465233
I'm guessing they already abandoned this area.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>35465233

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>35465233

WAT

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>35465233
We be blind!

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>35465233

>>35465205
>They don't respond to any sendings.
what about >>35464880
where we use booming voice to their army at large?

>>35465248
>>35465252
>>35465255

These are not terrible rolls! I remain confused! Magic is bullshit!

They're trying to deny us the castle. It's rigged to fall to pieces in some sort of ritual.

IT"S AN ILLUSION

>>35465325
or they want to bait us into entering it and then have it explode/collapse on top of us to decimate our forces
or they are summoning something nasty
or they want to kill talon himself with a focused blast.

>>35465355
hey, that is an interesting idea.
the tower wasn't resisting her attacks, it took a few of them for them to adjust their illusion for believability

>>35465355
No kidding. Thus the lack of bodies/resistance.

>>35465355
The castle is just a dream.

>>35465289
Well compared to the 4th roll they are.

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>Target met?

When you reach out with your senses you can feel a force blocking you. You mention it to Taira.

“That’s just all the enchantments hanging over the area,” she says. “There’s probably a bunch of anti-scrying enchantments built into the walls and keep. Just apply a bit of pressure or go around.”

You do as she says, trying to push past the wall. It doesn’t take long to break through and you can feel the general magic pervading the fortress. There’s also quite a few mages hanging around the river. You can also feel the mage-knights on the other side of the river, guarding each bridge. When you push through the second ant-scrying barrier on the keep you feel some more mage-knights, or their armour really, inside the keep. You can’t feel life force, however.

“That’s because you’re trying to detect magic, not souls,” Aladria says, tilting her head slightly and causing her long black hair to roll from one side to the other. “There’s about seven thousand people there, give or take. A few hundred are dying or incapacitated on top of the walls but they all seem to have run inside. They’re mostly scared, I think. Or pumped full of adrenaline. It’s much the same and just as delicious. Hmm, I can’t sense the mages you can. Odd.”

You bite your lip. Something isn’t right but you’re missing your chance to fight them before they can dig in properly.

>Response?

>>35465442
Send in a scouting squad of FMKs to ascertain the situation in the fort, as well as another two to the river. Take Undine with them.

>>35465442
intimidate them to surrender by boosting your voice and giving speech >>35465062

otherwise focus on taking out the mages near the river first

... i bet their plan is to pretend to fold before us and then throw antimagic at talon.

>>35465523
they would be killed by enemy mages. if we go there we should hit it in force

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>>35465523
>>35465562
Sorry, the mages are hanging around the river inside the fortress. The fort is literally on top of the river, after all.

>>35465523

Sounds incredibly dangerous and risky, if they get caught that is a unit incapable of defense. Can't risk prime assets like that.

>>35464847
We just need a magi tech effect that releases something like Air behind it in enough quantity to start motion.

>>35465584
They.. they aren't going to flood us with the river are they?

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>>35465626
How would they do that? You're four hundred metres away from them and the river and you're heading slightly downhill.

>>35465626
probably are
maybe they have a bunch of water elementals hiding INSIDE the river (lesser ones who are made out of living water instead of humanoid)

>>35465677
they let us enter the fort first.

alternatively, they might be planning to use it to escape

>>35465710
Probably. I suggest getting Undine down to the river to "dissuade" them if they attempt it.

We don't have time to be dicking around with this. Blow up the gate around and sort them out.

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VOTE
>1. Take advantage of their disarray and charge in.
>2. Same as 1 but send Undine downriver to keep an eye on what's happening with the water. She's not under threat with the walls having been abandoned.
>3. Stay put and try to work out what the enemy is doing. Plus send Undine downriver as in 2.
>4. Custom

>>35465827
>>2. Same as 1 but send Undine downriver to keep an eye on what's happening with the water. She's not under threat with the walls having been abandoned.
I highly suggest a scout force before we commit, but okay.

>>35465827
>2
Guys something bad is happening i hope we don't get fucked

>>35465827
>>2. Same as 1 but send Undine downriver to keep an eye on what's happening with the water. She's not under threat with the walls having been abandoned.

>>35465827
>2. Same as 1 but send Undine downriver to keep an eye on what's happening with the water. She's not under threat with the walls having been abandoned.

>>35465827
>2. Same as 1 but send Undine downriver to keep an eye on what's happening with the water. She's not under threat with the walls having been abandoned.

>>35465827
the wall wards interfere with the sensory abilities of us and our elites.
if breach the walls and instead of charging in fully secure the breach while our eleites analyze what they are doing (now at closer range and not being blocked by wall wards) then we could figure it out as well as being close enough to charge if needed and far enough to escape if needed.