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>>35877395
Current Date and Time: Midday on September 24th, 1953PC

Your glorious three day blitz ended in an anti-climatic fashion, with ten thousand of your best and most heavily armed soldiers storming Gravecral with little opposition. The Shropham soldiers had refused to surrender initially, so you’d simply scaled the walls and taken the keep the hard way. Despite their best efforts, a couple thousand lightly armed soldiers cannot hold off several times their number of mage-knights. The defenders of Sorruy had, in turn, pulled back along the highway overnight and were rapidly moving towards Devon.

Still, conquering all of Shropham’s border provinces in three days should still make history. Your losses had been minimal, despite the intervention of Shropham’s combat magisters. You weren’t out of the woods yet, however. Shropham still had a veteran army of thirteen thousand lingering in the north-west of Corthshire and the news from Neir wasn’t great.

“Shropham appears to have built up a large stockpile of catalysts, so their magitech factories are still operating at full capacity. A glance over some of the trade reports for the last month shows that they’ve been importing much larger amounts of civilian magitech, so I also suspect they’ve either converted or disabled a lot of their civilian magitech factories,” she explains over the sending device.

“So they can outdo us in terms of production capability and can do so for months despite any embargo,” you say, summing up. “What about manpower? We took out a lot of their soldiers and the Guard have a lot of their tied up.”

>continued

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>>35877404
“They’re recruiting in large amounts. There have been a lot of rumours spread about you among the populace regarding the vampires and foxes. They’ve also kept a lot of the details secret we tried to spread about their relations with Taour. Their spies are good and I have been focusing on maintaining intelligence over incitement to avoid losing our spies. I’m not sure if that’s the best strategy anymore.”

“I’m guessing the strong recruitment response is thanks to fear of the Guard raping and pillaging the city or me feeding them to my army of vampires?” you ask dryly, waving Undine into the room.

“More or less. It’s also driving Devon to try to reconcile with the League. Alyce is currently stonewalling their attempts but I don’t know how long she can refuse to let a group of mages seek protection from the League,” Neir explains, as you hear some muttering from others in the background. “Also, I’m told that if the war becomes prolonged then you should return to Harrowmont. I think Sarah’s a little annoyed with all the civilian and diplomatic matters that have come up in the past few weeks.”

In other words, your administrator was sitting there and relaying her thoughts through Neir.

The situation as a whole needs more thought but the spy problem is an immediate one. Do you have Neir and Karise leave their spies on their current intelligence gathering focus? Or have them try to incite the populace against their rulers? Or perhaps try for sabotage? The latter two are dangerous both to your spies and your ability to know what Shropham is doing. The former is dangerous as it leaves Shropham with more productive capacity than you’d like.

>1. Leave spies to intelligence gathering.
>2. Have your spies begin trying to spread word about the mages true intent and try to limit recruitment in Shropham.
>3. Have your spies attempt to sabotage the magitech foundries of the city. Extremely risky and difficult.
>4. Custom

>>35877417
>3. Have your spies attempt to sabotage the magitech foundries of the city. Extremely risky and difficult.

Highest rewards...

>>35877417
>2. Have your spies begin trying to spread word about the mages true intent and try to limit recruitment in Shropham.

>>35877417
>2.

>>35877417
2.
Also, Devon doesn't have anything but Men at arms and archers. We should consider splitting offa force in order to force their surrender

>>35877417
>2. Have your spies begin trying to spread word about the mages true intent and try to limit recruitment in Shropham.

>>35877417

>1. Leave spies to intelligence gathering.
Maybe have 2 and 3 open to anyone who wants to volunteer. If they want to take the risk, they can possibly reap the rewards, such as a promotion, bonus pay, ect.

>>35877417
>>2. Have your spies begin trying to spread word about the mages true intent and try to limit recruitment in Shropham.
We can reduce the numbers we will have to fight, have more order in the province afterword, and maybe even get a few groups to defect/not answer the call to Shropham. It's worth it as long as we don't lose our spys.

Note:
a quick a dirty way to win over the people could be just leaking the method to cure vampire thralldom.

>>35877614

Wasn't that part of the post blitz plan? Our southern generals were suppose to make a push eating up the southern territories and then cutting off Devon immediately.

Rumors about the vampires don't take too much imagination, but I wonder what the rumors about the foxes are. That we feed babies to them or something? The fluffy tails are made from the stolen hopes and dreams of their kids?

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>>35877715
>2.

“I’ll review the strategic situation with my generals, but for now I want you to turn our spies towards countering Shropham’s propaganda. The less farmers I have to kill for the wrong reasons, the better,” you tell Neir.

“Very well. It will be some time before I know the results but I’ll try to keep you informed,” Neir says before ending the sending.

Turning to Undine afterwards, you grab one of the apples on the table and begin to peel it. “So, any word from Gnome?”

“She’s recovering well enough. As for the spear, she suspects it is of divine creation or at least made with divine assistance,” she says, frowning at the apple.

“That’s a little broad. Angelic, Infernal, Fae?” you ask.

“She said it could be any of them. All of the divine powers had their own measures to use against sorcery but she’s not sure which it could be. Probably not Angelic, was her best guess.”

“Probably not?” you say, incredulous. “That’s useful. If it turns out they’ve been mass producing these weapons, how do we safely deal with them?”

“It’s almost certainly anti-sorcery, rather than anti-magic – there has only been one sorcerous creation that can counter astral power and it’s been lost for centuries. That means that you or the foxes are likely effective against it,” she explains, scowling as you begin cutting up the apple. “Please don’t tell me you intend on feeding me.”

“You liked it last time,” you point out, hiding your surprise.

“That was because Gnome was there. She appreciates being babied,” Undine says, continuing to scowl at the piece of fruit.

You make a peace offering by placing the slices of apple on table in front of her instead. ”What about the combat magisters?”

>continued

>>35877904

Sophram was the reason the Foxes and the Magi League had a falling out in the first place. The whole "curator of monsters" line might suggest they either know something more about the nature of Foxes or are just racist dicks. Either or.

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>>35877967
“You would know their capabilities better than us, given how they made their reputations in the war,” she says. “The advice I would give is to not underestimate them. If they attacked when we were split up then we would be much worse off.”

After a short break, you move on to the strategic picture, gathering your generals in person or by sending. The situation is at a crossroads – Shropham appears to be holding the Guard in place in the north but to take advantage of that would require you to push through the thirteen thousand soldiers from Corthshire and fight the fifteen thousand (plus recruits) in the city itself. You have almost as many soldiers as they do, and more mage-knights, but the terrain and their mage superiority might work against you. There is also Devon to the west, with the eleven thousand from Sorruy reinforcing it shortly.

Aside from blitzing the city, you could also maintain a front over a longer timeframe in hopes of taking the city at its weakest but before the Guard take it.

>discussion

Also, didn't mean to quote somebody with the previous post. I'm a bit out of it this morning, hence the slowness. Need more coffee.

>>35877991

Ideally, we could do with somehow convincing their forces to reinforce the Guard front... maybe have a small elite unit do some blitz raids on their defenders and/or patrols encouraging them to commit more resources to the Guard front thusly reducing the number of soldiers we will have to deal with... If we are extremely lucky, they might send some of the magisters as well...

But I somehow doubt that that would be possible due to our recent '3 cities in 3 days' blitz...

I think we need to take out that 13k soldiers. One way or another, they're in a position to kill our supply lines and create havoc in our new territories. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to attempted to make them defect, that would give us what we need to take the capital immediately. Crazy idea, but using our FR point on it is an option, even if it's a bit crazy.

>Warden general here as political move against sylvian, to prove his method of aggression works
>We promise to give him the ringleader to judge

This sounds like it would be a huge political victory for him, which is bad for us, for alyce, and for sylvian.
At the very least we should discuss it with both of them.

One of the ways out of it that I can see, is giving them directly to sylvian instead. saying that we said we will give them to the league, not him
but i still see it as undermining her position, as he is the one who advocated to invade, and she advocated against. She would have to flip flop to claim credit. It will just look bad.

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>>35878186
That was more or less the point I was trying to make about doing so making his faction stronger in the Guard.

I might do some discussion with Syl and Alyce as people don't seem that certain about what they want to do strategically (and I've been trying to avoid just giving prompts for that sort of thing and killing discussion).

>>35878168
Using a single FR point on a sceptical enemy general wouldn't necessarily get them to defect - or it might convince them but their officers might immediately suspect foul play.

Feel like blitzing the city is a bad idea right now, worked once to try it again would be a bad idea. So I guess cover our supply lines or find a way to secure them for pushes.

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VOTE
>1. Move on Shropham now.
>2. Dig in along your new front and take Devon in the meantime.
>3. Move on the Shropham army in Corthshire.
>4. Custom

>>35878436
1

>>35877991
I think we should take the city ASAP, and cut off the snake's head. Waiting does us no favors here.

Much of their army is tied up with the guard. And if we take their city, we are in a much better position to offer asylum to said army.

>>35878436
>2. Dig in along your new front and take Devon in the meantime.
Slow and steady. While i want to hit shropham, we should give our spys time to spread their propaganda.

>>35878436
>2

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>>35878436
3

>>35878436
>>3. Move on the Shropham army in Corthshire.

>>35878436
How many troops are actually in shropam right now, and how many troops can we muster if we abandon all 3 forts we recently took and mobilize the whole force at the city?
and how many days will such mobilization take?

>>35878436
>2

>>35877991
>The situation is at a crossroads – Shropham appears to be holding the Guard in place in the north but to take advantage of that would require you to push through the thirteen thousand soldiers from Corthshire and fight the fifteen thousand (plus recruits) in the city itself.
I don't quite understand how this works with >>35878436
>1. Move on Shropham now.
>3. Move on the Shropham army in Corthshire.

Is it, or is it not, required to take corthshire before we can take shropham?

Also, just so I am sure here... they have ~30k troops in the north fighting the guard
13k in corthshire, and 15k in the city itself?

>>35878436
not a vote but,
>3. Move on the Shropham army in Corthshire.
didn't we let them pass last episode, and they went north to fight the guard?
Is this a vote to chase them down?

>>35878436
>3. Move on the Shropham army in Corthshire.

>>35878436
>1. Move on Shropham now.

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>>35878627
You more or less hold Corthshire already. The difference between the two options is that one involves taking the city (and both armies) and the other just involves taknig out the army floating around.

>>35878574
>How many troops are actually in shropam right now
15k, as stated earlier.

>how many troops can we muster if we abandon all 3 forts we recently took and mobilize the whole force at the city?
If you abandon supply lines, about 27k. If you leave a token force behind, about 25k.

>and how many days will such mobilization take?
You can probably hit Shropham within a week and a half, barring any sorties or other problems.

>>35878723
>You more or less hold Corthshire already. The difference between the two options is that one involves taking the city (and both armies)
So, you are saying we have to fight both armies anyways. but option 3 is to fight the corshire army first, THEN fight the city army.
while option 1 is to fight both at once, as the corshire army will manage to beat us back to the city?

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>>35878766
3 doesn't involve taknig the city at all at this point in time.

>>35878793
>3 doesn't involve taknig the city at all at this point in time.
why not just skip siege of the city entirely, just encircle it and focus on their magic stuff production factories and food supplies?

>>35878860
anon
>A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit"

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>3.

Shropham’s army in Corthshire is too much of a wildcard, you decide. If you move on the city, they might reinforce it. Or they might move around your forces and disrupt supply lines. If you stay defensive then they might launch an assault on the weakest point of your defensive line or push through into your territory. They need to go.

Unfortunately, actually dealing with them is harder than you’d like. If you were to muster your entire force to engage, they would simply move into the city. Not to mention that in the time you’d have to spend mustering they could already be causing problems. The short term solution is to engage them with the army you initially planned to take them with at Gravecral.

You move swiftly into the plains of the province while your other forces dig in. If they withdraw now, you’ll take the town and prevent them from taking any action elsewhere – not to mention that you’ll take the opportunity to bombard them as they retreat. As it is, their patriotism works against them – these are veteran soldiers who seek to protect their home. They march out from the town they’re near in order to engage you, but they do so in the same way you dealt with the army in Raupe. They’re not going to come to you but are positioned in such a way there’s no real way to get around them.

You look at the Shropham army hurriedly building earthworks on the hillside, making use of your empowered vision to watch them work. You could try to go around them but they’ll likely just retake Gravecral if you do, or push into Termina. Neither is a good option. You can either launch an assault now, with your troops tired from marching but their fortifications still under construction, or rest for the night and attack tomorrow.

>1. Assault them now
>2. Rest for the night and attack at dawn
>3. Go around the army and seize the town. They might respond or they might ignore you and retake Gravecral
>4. Custom

Their troops will be in the next post

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>>35879070
Enemy troops attached. Your troops were in the pic in the previous post.

>>35879070
>2. Rest for the night and attack at dawn

whats our surroundings like? any water nearby?

>>35879070
what kind of fortification

>>35879070
>>2. Rest for the night and attack at dawn

Begin to scout to check if they have troops elsewhere that they are going to flank us with.

>>35879018
>with the intent of conquering
we don't want to conquer it, just keep the army there occupied, you can leave some wounded to limp around and stir up dust - even better if we would be able to use some reaver to simply flood it
>nvm

>>35879070
>4. Custom
Night raid focusing on hit and run tactics. Although they have more archers. Our AA should be able to compensate for that in a night raid.

>>35879180
>reaver
river damn it

>>35879070
>>35879198
This was gonna suggest the same. Quick burn and run

>>35879070
>>35879097
map or at least some info on the surrounding and those fortifications would be appreciated

>>35879180
We DO want to conquer shropam

>just keep the army there occupied, you can leave some wounded to limp around and stir up dust - even better if we would be able to use some river to simply flood it
Ah, I think i see the problem
>>35878766
>>35878793
use "the city" to refer to the city of shropham
not the corthshire city that this 13k force is defending

>>35879070
I would like to use voice boosting to yell some propaganda at them before the fight
I don't expect them to immediately surrender. But they probably would be less inclined to fight to the death if they don't think we are gonna feed them to vampires and that their leaders are saints.

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>>35879198
>>35879212
This seems like the most logical method suggested and fits with previous patterns. I'll start writing it up.

>>35879229
They are encamped on a hillside in a plain. There is no river nearby (or at least, not one close enough to use. I would have mentioned if there was one). They're building earthworks - trenches and small walls, like earthworks naturally are for a military force building them in a short time.

>>35879362
so they are digging down... hmm,

>>35879070
>4. Custom
let's split our forces in say 4 parts
1 would yell at those guys on the hill and pretend that they are attacking then get back
then, after 6h they would be change bu other 1/4 of our forces

after constant stress lasting for a couple of days those enemy soldiers will be severely weakened

>and/or

if those fortifications are facing our way only then split our forces in 3 parts: 1/3 would still face the enemy and other 2 groups would encircle them and attack from behind

>>35879513
>so they are digging down... hmm,

Anon that makes absolutely no sense.

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>>35879513
>4. Night raid

You’ve had some good success before with hit and run attacks at night. Even Finn had taken a leaf out of your book when he was in Farun earlier this year. Against a force this size, you’ll need to use a small force and be careful not to get involved in a pitched battle. You’ll also need to pick your objective, even if that objective is just to do as much damage as possible.

Your flyers quickly pick out the weakest part of their fortifications – a small section on the east side near a very obvious funnel. They’ve clearly spent too much time trying to defend the obvious trap and not enough on the nearby walls – a poor allocation of resources and one you’ll take advantage of. Gnome will make it easy to punch through the weak earthworks and the general lack of troops here means you can punch deep into the camp without much resistance.

You’ve brought Phrace, Rayza and your heavy mage-knights along with the Golden Bears. Toren is clearly spoiling for a fight and his knights are overjoyed at the chance to wreak havoc. You’re just glad that they’re disciplined enough to keep their excitement quiet. The veteran light mage-knights that the Gendarme’s provided you are the last of your heavy hitters. Behind all of this is a solid core of your arcane archers. So long as the combat magisters don’t turn up then this should be simple. Bloody, but simple.

[DC12/18 Opening Charge]

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>35879591
don't fail me now

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>35879591

>>35879625
>>35879631
how do I roll?

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>35879591
Here my friends. Have a sucess.

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>35879591

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>35879591

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>35879591

>>35879640
type
dice+1d20
in the code field

>>35879631
So damn close

>>35879631

gah, so close...

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>35879667

>>35879680
I am just happy it wasn't a 1

>>35879667
worked >>35879691
thanks :)

>>35879704
I may have done a blood sacrifice

>>35879704
Don't worry, those will show up when our friends and waifus are in danger.

>>35879704
Agreed.

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>Lower target met

The timing could have been better, you think, as chunks of hardened earth fly through the night sky. The camp is spring to life as the warnings from the guards spread quickly. The initial volley from your archers had been a second too late and the wall guards had been able to give the attack away. The silver lining was that they didn’t know precisely where you were and the noise of the shouting was drowning out the sound of Gnome obliterating a large section of the earthworks.

You don’t wait for the dust to settle before clearing the breach, earth and stone crunching beneath your plated boots. The Shropham soldiers are quick to react, with dozens of them already spilling forth from their tents in various states of armament to try to stop you.

‘Try’ being the key word. Phrace spills forth alongside you, a mass of his heavily armoured brethren beside him as a wall of magically enhanced steel that swarms over the entrance. You make bloody work of the nearby resistance as you push in far enough to bring all of your knights and archers inside in short order. It takes longer than you’d like, but you’ve brought a lot more men this time. You can’t hope to make a dent in an army of this size with anything less.

>continued

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>>35879891
Illon reports troops massing at the various campfires, preparing to move on your force once they work out where you are. You’re surprised they don’t already know – all it takes is one knight to fire off a sending. Or perhaps they do but are waiting for your move. You’re in the hot seat right now, with a wall of iron and death behind you. You can strike down any one part of their camp if you move quickly.

>1. The mages. This army has a large core of mages who could be trouble so you’ll head for their sections of the encampment. You’ll need to split up to take down as many as possible.
>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.
>3. Supply destruction. Without food, the army will find themselves having to surrender much sooner than planned or will have to break their defensive position.
>4. General destruction. Try to do as much damage to the army as possible before retreating.
>5. Custom

>>35879918
>1. The mages. This army has a large core of mages who could be trouble so you’ll head for their sections of the encampment. You’ll need to split up to take down as many as possible.

>>35879918
>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.

Charge right thru keeping ranks and wipe out their officers, an unorganized army will splinter and be demoralized.

>>35879918
5
choose one side of the encampment, so they won't be able to flank you from both sides, and smash it, at the seam time keep some of your heavier troops on your flank facing the rest of the enemy, so in case of surprising attack they will be able to buy you some time to regroup
also mb order the archers to fire at will at the enemy not being engaged at the moment

>>35879918
>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.

Take off the head, go for the defection route.

>>35879918
>>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.

>>35879918
>3. Supply destruction. Without food, the army will find themselves having to surrender much sooner than planned or will have to break their defensive position.

>>35879918
>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.

>>35879918
>1. The mages. This army has a large core of mages who could be trouble so you’ll head for their sections of the encampment. You’ll need to split up to take down as many as possible.

maybe send a squad or two to;
>3. Supply destruction. Without food, the army will find themselves having to surrender much sooner than planned or will have to break their defensive position.

>>35879987
their supply lines are intact, they will get more food.

>>35879918
Is Tiara in range of the officers? BIG explosion while we burn the supplies

>>35879918
most importantly, let the enemy some escape route open - never force your foe into fighting for their lives if you can avoid it, at least people will usually choose running instead of dying, and that will make enemy formation weaker

>>35879918
>>2. The officers. In contrast to the mages, the officers have grouped up in one section of the camp. You might be able to chop off the head of the army with one swift blow, though it does involve pushing right into the centre of the camp.

>>35879918
>2 Geek the mages

>>35880061
WAIT I MEANT 1. 1!
>1 GEEK THE MAGES

>>35880032
>let
leave some escape routes open
>at least people
at least some people

>>35880082
just delete the previous post and then make a new, proper vote. (linking the QM's post)

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>>35880030
She doesn't have clear line of sight. She'd have to be blowing up a lot of stuff to even begin to get at them.

>>35880027
Not really. You've got a stack of LMKs and FMKs. You can easily prevent them from resupplying.

>>35880032
surrender is an alternative to running away
if they run away, we are obligated to bombard them as they retreat, lest they reinforce the capital's defenders
if they have no escape route they will surrender instead of retreating. Meaning we don't have to kill them as they retreat

>>35880099
Let's let Tiara off the leash let her blow up all the things

>>35880099
>She doesn't have clear line of sight. She'd have to be blowing up a lot of stuff to even begin to get at them.
but, they specifically walked outside the city into an open field so that no civilians would be hurt during the fight.
there is nothing to damage here except for the enemy, the enemy's supples, and the enemy's fortifications.
... and our own troops

>>35880099
>>35880157
this applies to sala too, who is also anti army

>>35880119
there is no such thing as the troopers personal right to individual surrender

>>35880126
Nah, all things considered I'd rather they not have good intel on her capabilities when we start the Shropham assault.

>>35880188
>there is no such thing as the troopers personal right to individual surrender
1. troops have been surrendering to us since the first thread
2. what does this have to do with the post you are replying to?

>>35880189
taira went all out against the super fortified tower in that fort where we were ambushed by 5 CMs remember. and 4 of them escaped.

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So I'm eating lunch right now. I'll do a quick vote on the level of general destruction you want to let Sala and Taira do.

VOTE
>1. Let Sala and Taira just start generally destroying everything near them. This will cause heavy casualties among the enemy without much regard for possible surrender.
>2. Have Sala and Taira let loose on your main objective but not otherwise. Guarantees you'll take out the officers once you get close but minimises damage otherwise.
>3. Have Sala and Taira hold back in general. This may make you appear a little less monstrous in general. It may also keep Taira from getting bored with being the one responsible for everything.
>4. Custom

>>35880242
>3. Long term option.

>>35880242
>>1. Let Sala and Taira just start generally destroying everything near them. This will cause heavy casualties among the enemy without much regard for possible surrender.

Kill maim burn!

>>35880214
let's say that two groups of angry people are fighting each other, but some ppl from group A suddenly decide that they are bored and want to go home
turning around and running away is simpler than hoping that after the battle guys from group B will let them surrender, besides they want to go now

>>35880242
>3. Have Sala and Taira hold back in general. This may make you appear a little less monstrous in general. It may also keep Taira from getting bored with being the one responsible for everything.

>>35880242
>3

>>35880126
>Tiara
What is it with this quest and names?

>>35880269
1. Its not AFTER the fight, its DURING and INSTEAD of the fight.
2. If they run away to home, they are gonna get sniped in the back as they run. with arrows and fireballs. because they are still an enemy and can reinforce a major nearby target. And failure to reinforce said target would actually be desertion, punishable by death.
3. You just repeated the original argument without any regards to anything actually stated by the post you are supposedly replying to.

>>35880242
3

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>35880242
Can't decide.

>>35880242
>2. Have Sala and Taira let loose on your main objective but not otherwise. Guarantees you'll take out the officers once you get close but minimises damage otherwise.

>>35880352
i was talking about desertion, even if the unit as a whole decides to fight back, there will statistically always be people willing to fuck this shit and run away, and yes they can be killed off easily but the fact that buy deserting they are making their unit weaker is they key here

>>35880242
>>1. Let Sala and Taira just start generally destroying everything near them. This will cause heavy casualties among the enemy without much regard for possible surrender.


Kill em all.

>>35880242
1

>>35880242
>>3. Have Sala and Taira hold back in general. This may make you appear a little less monstrous in general. It may also keep Taira from getting bored with being the one responsible for everything.

>>35880242
>3. Have Sala and Taira hold back in general. This may make you appear a little less monstrous in general. It may also keep Taira from getting bored with being the one responsible for everything.

>>35880242
I am curious. would 3 be more of a challange for talon? he really needs the practice

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>2 & 3

The officers are your prime target. You’ll probably snap up some of their best magisters at the same time, knowing the way Shropham works. You just hope to hell that Hallim and his friends aren’t lying in wait. For that, you’ll want to keep Taira in reserve. As well as wanting to keep her from getting too bored.

“Taira, Sala, keep your heads down and stick to more discriminate combat rather than all out destruction,” you tell them as Phrace and Rayza lead the HMKs as a ball of death into the centre of the camp. “Use your power to defend yourself and stop the combat magisters should they appear but otherwise hold back.”

“Oh, so it’s like fighting with one arm tied behind our backs? This could be fun,” Taira says with a grin. “Fighting can be really boring normally.”

Sala pouts a bit when told she can’t go all out but joins the LMKs on the flanks nonetheless. You rejoin with your core of foxes and noble knights in the centre, jogging alongside Vad and Toren as you try to keep up with breakneck pace that your heavies are setting.

>continued

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>>35880744
A magical fusillade thunders down the incline suddenly and you barely catch Phrace barking out orders before it strikes, cutting off your sight and hearing with its fury. As the magic in your helmet quickly brings you back to par, you note the way the heavy mage-knights balled up, shields interlocked to withstand the assault. Between the experience from continuous fighting against Farun and advice from the RSK knights on how to best use the HMK suits, Phrace and his elite knights have become a genuinely terrifying unit of shock troops. The slight shimmer fading in the air in front of them reminds you of the power that Rayza is lending them as well. You might actually have a force here capable of standing up against spellblades.

The mages behind the wooden barriers at the top of the incline begin incanting once more, not giving you any time to interrupt them. A mass of mage-knights stands between you and them, hoping to delay any charge you might make and give the mages time to do damage while you’re fighting.

You don’t really need to waste too much time with them, however.

[DC11 Fox Barrage]

[DC12 Knight Charge]

Roll 2d20 each, please.

Rolled 3, 13 = 16 (2d20)

>>35880787

Rolled 4, 2 = 6 (2d20)

>>35880787

Rolled 16, 5 = 21 (2d20)

>>35880787

>>35880801
>>35880806
>>35880809
That was close.

Rolled 5, 7 = 12 (2d20)

>>35880787

Rolled 1, 18 = 19 (2d20)

>>35880787

>>35880787

Rolled 6, 11 = 17 (2d20)

>>35880787
Laws of the wild

>>35880849

Too late! Thank gods...

>>35880849

I'm guessing this would have resulted in a rare phenomenon known as Spontaneous Fluffy Combustion.

>>35880787
Gotta question: next time we do one of these can we have Taira be flying on the griffon? She'd probably find flying on a beast that's been extinct for hundreds of years while raining death an destruction down upon her foes to be interesting and fun.

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>Fox Barrage: Target met; 3, 4, 16

You snap out your orders, preparing to bring out the big guns. Illon has let you know that a lot of the camp is converging on the officer cadre, aware that you’re targeting them. The officer themselves don’t appear to be moving, probably aware that you’ll just push straight on and catch them anyway. They seem to be banking on being able to stall you long enough for the rest of their army to flank yours. You won’t give them the time.

Phrace and your heavy mage-knights peel off to the sides as the light mage-knights push forward along the flanks. That leaves you and several hundred noble knights to show the Shropham mage-knights the true value of chivalry. You thunder forward, the earth being shredded by several hundred pairs of plated boots charging uphill at a truly inhuman pace. Axes, maces, swords and polearms are readied for the charge, hungry for the blood of their master’s enemies. You glance over the helmets of the mage-knights, gleaming from the torchlight around them, and see the mages finishing their ritual. If they finish it, you’ll be in a world of hurt.

Then the world behind you seems to shift, like a great black-hole opening up in the world behind you. You grit your teeth and focus yourself, shutting the sensation out. You’d spent some time around the foxes during their training to make sure that you wouldn’t have any problems when they start drawing in magical energy en masse. If you were any judge, the foxes would be cutting this awfully close.

>continued

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>>35881294
The mages raise their hands towards you, preparing to unleash the great balls of magical lightning they used earlier. Then there’s a sensation of the world seeming to snap back to normal and all you can see are clouds of red mist at the top of the hill. Prismatic balls of energy suddenly light up the mist, creating a bizarre rainbow effect and drawing the attention of the Shropham knights. The magical energy summoned dissipates along with the lives of the mages, as do the barriers of magical energy placed in front of them.

>Knight Charge: Target met; 13, 2, 5

Then it’s all too late for the Shropham knights as you slam into them with bloody fervour. Your sword hums with power as it cleaves through magical plate, felling the enemies foolish enough to stand in our path. Lynn and the Order of the Griffin make similarly short work of the other knights and you hardly slow, taking another step and preparing a back-handed swing for the next line of knights.

There’s a brief moment when it seems that the Shropham knights are wavering, their mage support demolished and a mass of elite knights destroying them. Then they steel themselves and they press forward into the destruction. You bog down against the mage-knights, losing precious seconds as you find yourself having to block their attacks instead of just running them down. Every second you waste here is another metre that the Shropham reinforcements can cover. You can hardly waste them.

>continued

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>>35881317
Luckily you don’t need to worry about that, as your light mage-knights stream in from behind the enemy, their magical blades scything through steel and bone as easily as a farmer does his grain. The bloody brawl is over in moments and your rolling ball reforms, letting Phrace and the heavies take the lead once more.

You burst into the clearing near the officer tents in short order, finding the same set-up with knights and mages protecting them. The difference is clearly in the quality of mage and their positioning – a few dozen of them have massed in a tower, using protective spells and offensive spells in conjunction. Together with the mage-knights are a number of heavily armoured noble knights, likely the officers in charge of the army. Leading from the front is a good strategy with the right equipment but incredibly foolish against yourself.

You…

>1. Crash through them like you did before. Foxes on the mages, knights on their knights.
>2. Head for the mages with yourself and retinue, leaving your knights and foxes to deal with the knights.
>3. Have your foxes and retinue eliminate the officers without any fuss and pull back, objective completed.
>4. Custom

>>35881346
>1 but unleash Sala and Taira

>>35881346
3

>>35881346
>3. Have your foxes and retinue eliminate the officers without any fuss and pull back, objective completed.

>>35881346
>>3. Have your foxes and retinue eliminate the officers without any fuss and pull back, objective completed.

>>35881346
>>2. Head for the mages with yourself and retinue, leaving your knights and foxes to deal with the knights.

>>35881346
>>3. Have your foxes and retinue eliminate the officers without any fuss and pull back, objective completed.
Could an astral arrow destroy that tower?

>>35881346
>3. Have your foxes and retinue eliminate the officers without any fuss and pull back, objective completed.

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>>35881462
If it got through their magical defenses, yes.

Rolled 17, 20 = 37 (2d20)

>>35881346
>1. Crash through them like you did before. Foxes on the mages, knights on their knights.

>>35881462
>>35881479
I like that one

>>35881498
Best roll of the night...

>>35881498
... God damn it it's always the rolls that don't count

>>35881120
That would actually be a pretty good idea.

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>3. Plus astral arrow

You’re almost done here. Your main objective of the raid is standing in front of you. There’s a tower full of enemy mages in easy reach. And you’ve got a whole lot of firepower to take out both at once.

The mages unleash a unusual magical assault as you mass in the clearing, a large number of black spikes, glittering with magic, flying towards your troops. Your retinue and foxes hurriedly raise magical defences but quite a few get through, punching some holes in your knights as the extra power of the physical assault gets through the hastily erected barriers. You’ve had quite enough tonight.

Snapping an order at Vad, you then draw your bow and focus your power in the arrow. The mages realise what is happening immediately and you can feel the swirling power of their defensive magic around the tower as they activate their ritual circles. Your knights clear a path, giving the foxes a clear shot while the enemy knights stand fast.

[DC18 Astral Arrow]

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>35881648

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>35881648

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>35881648

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>35881648

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>>35881671
Good roll mate.

>>35881700
Anon you're drunk go home.
>>35881671
>>35881708
I felt it. Either 20 or 18 but I felt it when I rolled. Yess I have restored my honor.

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>>35881671

Successful Astral Arrows are the best.

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>>35881671
I forget, when's the last time you guys actually failed a roll? When's the last time you guys actually critfailed? It feels like forever. This Shropham assault feels like the march of the successful rolls (not that it's a bad thing, just a very different thing).

>>35881740
We kept failing astral arrow rolls before.

>>35881740
VS Halim. He kicked our asses remember?

>>35881740

We flubbed the Farun assault fucking hard, that was the last critfail

>>35881750
And this is the first time we've done it with asteral Projection 2. I expect its explosion will be the largest yet.

>>35881740
Thats pretty bad when even you are confused by the feeling of success. haha

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>35881740

Didn't we fail some rolls last threads?

Don't worry, I'll be sure to critfail for next roll.

>>35881700
>>35881498
>>35880849

So far tonight, we rolled 3 crits total... all of which didn't count

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>>35881805
It's more that I set the DCs to the level they are knowing that there are going to be several rolls and binomial probability will make it hard to succeed at all of them. This means rolling lots of successes in a row is really powerful, as my results expect there to be some failures littered about. I know well enough now to start adjusting DCs due to a run of good luck but it's an odd phenomenon when the one failure in the last few threads was arguably the least important roll you could fail.

>>35881740

We failed a bunch of things the last few threads, but we've been hitting the mark lately on the lower thresholds. We haven't landed an arrow or done any of the cool high-dc astral stuff in ages.

That said I don't remember the last critfail.

>>35881740
when was the last time we crit succeeded in something?

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>>35881954
> I know well enough now to start adjusting DCs due to a run of good luck
That should be 'not to start adjusting'. One typo can change the meaning of a sentence a lot.

>>35881972
Flashback I think. Those didn't really feel like crit successes though.

>>35881954
>I know well enough now to start adjusting DCs due to a run of good luck
did you mean to say
NOT to start adjusting DCs?

>>35882001
It was a crit success against a astral being with lower then starting Talons stats. So it does make sense the effects would be capped out. Kind of like making a crit sucess on a foe that is level 60 while you're level 20.

>>35882099
Oh, I'm not saying they were wrong they just weren't the usual "roll a 20, awesome ensues."

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>Target met

You focus your power and loose your arrow as fast as possible, aware that your concentration might get shaken by the foxes preparing their attack right next to you. The tower is big enough so it’s not like you can miss it that easily.

As the blast of light arcs towards the tower there’s a moment, so short as to be nearly imperceptible even to your senses, where the arrow seems to exist in two places at once as it encounters the mage’s barrier. It is as though the arrow has split, with one half on the far side of the barrier and the other on your side. Then the moment passes and the tower erupts in a blast of magical energy, the barrier having been penetrated by your power.

Screams erupt from the Shropham knights nearby and you begin issuing the retreat orders. Crumpled masses of armour lay in a heap where the enemy officers had been. The enemy’s head having been cut off, your duty is done. You don’t give them time to counterattack or let their reinforcements arrive, simply pulling back out the way you came. You’ll see in the morning just how willing these soldiers are to fight after your show of force.

The answer is ‘not very’, you think come morning. The problem is that they still fear you and the things you might do. Just like at Gravecral, they have no will to fight but no will to surrender, either. You’ll have to force their hand somehow. You…

>1. Begin bombarding them from afar until they surrender or sortie.
>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.
>3. Launch an all-out assault.
>4. Custom

>>35882132
Yeah I know. Just putting context just in case someone missed that thread or something.

>>35881981
You almost gave me a heart attack there.

>>35881954
I was only kidding. That is hard call to make deciding DC's as well as balance in this quest. I do think the dual dc is a great idea though.

>>35882140
>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.

>>35882140
>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.
Mention we have no desire to slaughter them and just want to end this as fast as possible.

>>35882140
>>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.

>>35882140
>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.

Fuck yeah Astral Arrows making life easy.

>>35882140
>>1. Begin bombarding them from afar until they surrender or sortie.

>>35882140
>4. Custom
Propaganda. Voice magically projected + glowing on top of a hill.
Their leaders are bad because reasons. they are supporting the wrong side. you are here to save them from the guard. you did right by the people of taour, etc etc.
Tell them your mages are prepared to receive any questions they have too

Maybe combined with a show of force as your heavy hitters annihilate a nearby empty field to show them you have been holding back out of mercy

>>35882226
>Tell them your mages are prepared to receive any questions they have too
by that i mean sending.

>>35882140
>>1. Begin bombarding them from afar until they surrender or sortie.
>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.

Just do both. Bomb the shit out of them and give them an Ultimatum to surrender or face the full attack.

>>35882140
>>2. Give them an ultimatum to surrender by nightfall or you will attack.
Can we point out that like half of our military is either Darlesian or Taorian at this point? And that they'd probably revolt if a quarter of the bullshit they'd heard about us unleashing ravenous vampires is true?

>>35882264
I honestly doubt they would at this point. But in the end no matter what we say most people are going to believe the rumors.

Got to remember most people don't want to be conquered. The vampire propaganda just adds to that to make it really hard to convince them we won't use them for blood orgies.

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>2.

You make yourself as clear as possible to the Shropham soldiers that you’ll accept their surrender if they do so before nightfall. After that, all bets are off. You’re not sure what you can do about the rumours of you being some sort of monster-loving conqueror, given merely telling them that they’re false won’t have much of an effect.

It becomes clear towards the afternoon that they’re up to something. Your scouts aren’t sure what they’re doing, beyond packing up their supplies. You get your own troops ready, and have your scouts fan out.

Then they do something that is either incredibly stupid or daring. They just start marching towards the city of Shropham. Not even retreating, just marching. They might be waving a white flag for surrender but it’s clear somebody thinks you’re stupid enough to let them regroup with the soldiers in the city itself. You can catch them in short order but you’re not really sure what to do after that. You’re not really sure what they’ll do once you catch them.

>The Shropham army is trying to retreat while feigning surrender. What do you do?

>>35882482
Just murder them all already. Get the crosses ready.

>>35882482
Hey, what's that thing that Taira can do? We should have her do that thing she can do. Then, reiterate our demands. Loudly, and with great enthusiasm.

>>35882482

Kill Them All

>>35882482
Have Tiara show off. Level the road in front of them in the biggest, flashiest explosion she can manage. Then inform them that the time limit is now 5 minutes. Bonus points if we can catch up to them at a river crossing.

>>35882482
>Booming voice: If you wish to surrender, you are marching the wrong way. Feigning surrender in such a manner just cut down your time for surrender from nightfall, to right now.
>You will lay down your arms now, or you will die.
>Feel free to surrender at any point.
Then charge them with your full force.

>>35882482
Break them. The have denied the ultimatum that was given. Besides breaking their army so close to their allies should help to break moral in the city.

>>35882582
big, showy explosion would be nice. yes.

>>35882482

Try to intimidate them into surrendering with explosions, but frankly the primary objective is keeping them from linking up with other soldiers. If they want to be retarded, we really should just wipe them off the face of the planet

>>35882482
Have Gnome Sala and Undine destroy the paths to Shropham.

Killing them is what they want. If we destroy their army now they will all become martyrs.

We have to put a foot down, but not in a way that is blow them all to high hell.

I really think we could use a "standard speech" for shropam soldiers

>>35882352
Pretty ironic considering their leaders are the ones who supported the taourian vampire regime

>Soldiers of shropam
>I am Talon York.
>As we speak 50 thousand magekiller from the mage guard are coming to make an example of your home city. They are out for blood.
>Your leaders have failed you, they have abetted the vicious and cruel regime of taour that treated people like cattle, keeping them in literal pens as a food source and using them as human sacrifices in magic rituals to save money compared to buying catalysts.
>They supported them with mageplate, they allowed their leaders to escape into your territory to flee my justice.
>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 so called 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 live to return to your families. And be part of something great
>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 outside.
>If I was the monster your leaders were making me out to be, I wouldn't have any qualms about just slaying you all.
>You are also hopelessly outmatched, if you force my hand, I will kill you.

>>35882482
I just want to turn to Taira where ever she is and just go "Target practice."

>>35882673
orders like "take them all alive" will be catastrophic to our own army's well being. We have a duty to the lives of our soldiers

it is POSSIBLE that they might be trying to trick their own soldiers into fighting to the last? in a "we tried to surrender and he attacked us anyways, clearly he is a madman. fight or die!"?

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VOTE
>1. Try to intimidate them into surrendering by demonstrating the power of your retinue.
>2. Full attack.
>3. Have Taira and your other flashy retinue members hit them with a full blast of magic to try to get them to surrender.
>4. Custom

I'm going to assume from these responses that if they don't surrender (e.g. if they just start fleeing in panick towards the city) that you'll just try to kill/capture them all.

>>35882673
They'll also join up with them if we don't. I think we wasted a lot of time already so I would just say crush them until they do surrender or rout.

>>35882673

Better than letting them retreat to fight another day or letting them kill more of our soldiers than necessary.

Surrender was the preferable option, but if they won't surrender, they have to be 6 feet under.

>>35882731
>1. Try to intimidate them into surrendering by demonstrating the power of your retinue.

>>35882731
>1. Try to intimidate them into surrendering by demonstrating the power of your retinue.

>>35882731
>>3. Have Taira and your other flashy retinue members hit them with a full blast of magic to try to get them to surrender.

>>35882731
We already gave them surrender offer.
Now its time to show we mean buisness.

>2. Full attack.

>>35882731
>I'm going to assume from these responses that if they don't surrender (e.g. if they just start fleeing in panick towards the city) that you'll just try to kill/capture them all.
that is correct, yes.

>>35882731
>1. Try to intimidate them into surrendering by demonstrating the power of your retinue.

captcha: prisoners uaradat

>>35882731
1

>>35877417
what is the literacy race in various nations?
is leaflet propaganda viable? or do our agents have to walk into bars and start chatting up people?

>>35882731
>>3. Have Taira and your other flashy retinue members hit them with a full blast of magic to try to get them to surrender.

>>35882731
>>2. Full attack.

>>35882731
>1. Try to intimidate them into surrendering by demonstrating the power of your retinue.

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>1.

“Taira, would you head over with the sisters and give them a show of power?” you ask the nine-tailed fox while eying the retreating soldiers with a scowl. “If they don’t understand the demonstration, then feel free to get rid of them all. I don’t want them reaching Shropham and making our job harder.”

“Okies,” she says before trotting off to gather the elementals.

While you wait for them to work their magic, you begin the march towards the retreating soldiers while trying to use sendings to get them to surrender. They appear to be ignoring you, though you’ll see how long that lasts.

Within a few minutes you can feel the surging power in front of the Shropham soldiers. There’s an earth-shattering boom combined with the visuals of tonnes of dirt flying up into the sky, along with a great mass of steam and fire. It should be pretty obvious what you can do to them. And, for one brief instant, it seems they understand.

Then they start running. Sprinting, really. Screams, shouts and the general thunder of thousands of soldiers fleeing in panick fill the air and you snap off orders to chase them down.

“No quarter,” you order your aide to inform the rest of your officers.

As you’d ordered, the flashy display on the ground was quickly spread amongst the fleeing soldiers. Fire surges through their ranks alongside rushes of water down the slopes they’re fleeing along. Chasms of dirt open up along their paths and even those that miss those are crushed by invisible blasts of force that cover the landscape.

Yet they still flee, scattering in every direction. Your troops split out after them, focusing on the enemy’s knights and those fleeing directly towards Shropham.

[DC12/19 Run Them Down]

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>35882999
...dammit.

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>35882999

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>35882999
welp

>>35883015

And the curse begins anew. We only roll 18s and 1s.

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>>35882999
>“No quarter,” you order your aide to inform the rest of your officers.

>>35883015
so, fucking, close!

>>35883312
Twist the knife why don't ya.

>>35882999
>>35883399
>>35883312
Post writeins to lower the DC/bump us up the one we need, you fools

>>35883451
I have been posting writins, but people have ignored them, not even replying with a "no", just flat out ignoring them.

>>35883451
Use LMK to heard the retreating enemies.

>>35882999
>“No quarter,” you order your aide to inform the rest of your officers.
That means no prisoners will be taken alive, no surrenders accepted, if someone is injured, slit their throat, if someone drops their weapon, stab him to death.

I thought were we killing OR capturing them alive, and not letting anyone escape

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>Lower target met

This siege turning into a bloody mess hadn’t been in your battle plan but it was a better alternative to letting Shropham receive thousands of reinforcements. You weren’t able to catch all of them, with so many thousands of soldiers fleeing at once. You’re confident you caught most of the mage-knights, however. It’s doubtful too many of them will be in a hurry to fight you again.

Regrouping along your frontier fortresses, you receive an update from Alyce.

“You don’t have to worry about Devon rejoining the League – not enough of the towers were keen to rescind the restriction on tower rejoining within six months of leaving the League. On the other hand, I would appreciate if you’d do something to stop the Guard from razing Shropham itself,” the archmage tells you, sounding a little annoyed.

“I do have to set up a strong front first, you know,” you say.

“And it sounds like you’ve done it handily. What I’m worried is that you’ll then dig in – the Guard have enough forces to be in Shropham within a fortnight,” she says. “Especially now that they know there are no reserve forces to stop them. If the city is going to become a warzone, I’d prefer it to be a warzone under the command of somebody who intends on keeping the city, instead of salting the earth.”

“I was under the impression that the Guard could be held back longer,” you say, frowning at the differences in Alyce’s intelligence and your own.

“Irlin has called in more Wardens and even some foxes,” Alyce says. “I’m not sure what triggered it – maybe the news of your rapid advance. He sent the call for aid out yesterday and my spies picked it up. With more anti-sorcery measures he’ll be able to punch through their fortifications much faster. Really, most of the delay is in his reinforcements arriving.”

>continued

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>>35883556
You click your tongue. If the Guard were calling in foxes then things could get very awkward if you found yourself in conflict with them. Those were almost certainly going to be Pride foxes… or maybe Ren’s clan, given how often they helped the Guard. Fox fighting fox could be disastrous if it happened.

“What about Albanon?” you ask, changing the topic.

There’s a slight rustle of clothing on the other side, though you’re not sure what it is. You can also hear Merce’s voice in the background. “No dice, I’m afraid,” she says, before her voice goes distant and she says something to Merce.

You have a feeling you might want to end this sending soon. “The other towers don’t want to cut them free despite their obvious betrayal?”

“Some of the western towers are worried that by cutting them off they’ll be setting a precedent that can be used against them. On the plus side, it keeps the League together for longer. On the negative side, it’s not fixing any of the problems that are causing the League to separate. We’ll just have to wait,” she says. You note the use of ‘we’ there, which you take as a good sign.

You end the sending after a short farewell, aware that Merce was clearly trying to distract Alyce in a way you weren’t sure you wanted to hear.

You’ve got a short time before your strategy meeting, long enough to use a sending to talk to somebody else.

>1. Speak with Sylvian about the Guard and what Irlin is up to.
>2. Speak with Sarah about what’s happening on the home front.
>3. Speak with Tsucchi about the fox issue with the Guard.
>4. Custom

>>35883585
>2. Speak with Sarah about what’s happening on the home front.

>>35883585
>3. Speak with Tsucchi about the fox issue with the Guard.

>>35883585
>1. Speak with Sylvian about the Guard and what Irlin is up to.

>>35883585
>Fox fighting fox could be disastrous if it happened.
I thought the agreement was that they would stay out of it. with both sides.
if we had been nicer to ren, and more strongly pursued it, we might have managed to migrate all the foxes prior to this. We really dropped the ball on that one

>>35883489
To be fair the last large one you posted was rather late.

>>35883585
>2. Speak with Sarah about what’s happening on the home front.

>>35883654
>we might have managed to migrate all the foxes prior to this.

Migrate 5 clans worth of Foxes in under 6 months? Oh yeah that sounds entirely possible.

>>35883699
>Migrate 5 clans worth of Foxes in under 6 months? Oh yeah that sounds entirely possible.
Its been closer to 18 months since we met with ren. (although I have suggested it in pretty much every thread since)
And yes, it is completely doable to migrate 5 whole clans in under 6 months

>>35883585
>1. Speak with Sylvian about the Guard and what Irlin is up to.

Can't do much about the foxes and Sarah is competent enough to keep the home front fine for now. But getting an idea of what they plan is something we need.

>>35883699
The fox clans aren't very big, anon.

>>35883548
Faking surrender is a warcrime subject to immediate execution.

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>>35883654
>I thought the agreement was that they would stay out of it. with both sides.
That's if you were warring with the Guard. Right now, any conflict between the two of you would be incidental, diplomatically speaking.

>>35883737
It's been 18 months since quest start. And the issue is just as much political (it would require convincing the foxes to relocate their entire race without knowing that much about you - not even Ren was that reckless) as it was moving tens of thousands of foxes through potentially hostile territory.

>>35883585
>1. Speak with Sylvian about the Guard and what Irlin is up to.

>>35883585
>3. We are seriously going to need advice on how to handle Ren if we end up killing his foxes.

I think we can trust Sarah to have her shit together, but we can always ask Tsucchi how she's holding up.

>>35883737
Current Date and Time: Midday on September 24th, 1953PC

In thread XLIII it was date
Mid-morning on November 16th, 1952PC

Its been 10 months since we met with Ren.

>>35883815
>>35883864
alright, thank you.

>>35883815
>it would require convincing the foxes to relocate their entire race without knowing that much about you
That was actually my point.
This wasn't an issue of "they didn't have time to move"
Rather it was an issue of "we didn't convince them to move". hence why I said we could have done better in convincing them to move.

>>35883654
Nah, The foxes can fight if they choose too. It's more they can't create a united front to attack.

>>35883737
I don't think they would go for it too quickly. That's 40,000+ very fragile beings.

>>35883585
>1. Speak with Sylvian about the Guard and what Irlin is up to.

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>1.

Getting in contact with Sylvian is surprisingly straightforward. You find out why rather quickly.

“It took you long enough to contact me. After your meeting with Irlin’s dog I expected you to ask for advice,” she says, an obvious undercurrent of anger in her voice.

“I didn’t exactly need advice,” you say, trying not to sound petulant or defensive. You know what’s coming and you’re not going to let yourself be cowed.

“Oh? Not even before putting Irlin in a win-win situation? You’d be amazed how little time the dear ‘Warden General’ wasted before informing as many of his allies within the Guard’s leadership of his close ties to Imperator Talon York,” Sylvian says, her disdain for the ‘warden general title’ oozing from her voice.

“I gave him a sop. A token gesture to keep him out of my way,” you say.

“It’s still a big political gain for him. The Imperator who just swept away Shropham’s southern defensive line, who banished the vampiric menace that has troubled the Mage Guard for decades, that vanquished a rogue revenant during Farun’s time of need – that same Imperator was willing to lend assistance to the Warden General and the Mage Guard out of the goodness of his heart and his desire for close ties.” Sylvian’s voice would probably be melting the sending device if it had any substance, so acidic it was.

“You’re very upset at this,” you say mildly.

“Because I don’t know whether you were being stupid or disingenuous,” she says. “Which was it?”

You hesitate, not sure how to explain this. Or even if you should.

>How do you want to try to explain your offer to Irlin?

>>35884100

"Oops."

>>35884100
"Not the best option I'll admit. On the other hand trying to procted the worst actors of Shroopham would weaken the moderates almost as much. If I'm seen as protecting mages who meddle with infernal or Fae energies how will your bretheran will listen to anything you have to say about me.

>>35884100
I can think of two ways to go about this
1. I didn't specify whom in the guard I would work with. Planning to go around him and straight to Syl when it came time to "pay up"
although this can backfire with alyce
2. Won't his face look red when I don't deliver.

>>35884100
I'd say we should say we should let him spread the rumors all he wants. The moment we turn against him he is going to look like a fool for it. Especially considering it won't be long until his faction and Talon risks getting into a fight.

There is also no real need to not be polite to him. The more he thinks we are on his side the more he won't prepare for when he is killed.

>>35884181
nobody is talking about protecting them, but about saying we will hand them over to him to put on public trial instead of doing it ourselves.

>>35884100
>It took you long enough to contact me. After your meeting with Irlin’s dog I expected you to ask for advice
why didn't she contact us? she is allowed to.

>>35884100
What do people think about giving no one or people extremely unimportant when it comes time to pay up? He ends up looking like a fool for spouting of to his allies that he is our friend, we gain trust from Sylvian. This also gets us some points within Shropham after.

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VOTE
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will. Or maybe that you'll hand them over to Sylvian.
>2. "Oops."
>3. You're just leading him on to give you more time to prepare. Plus, you won't look like you're protecting the worst mages in Shropham.
>4. Custom

>>35884325
>2

>>35884325
>1

>>35884325
>3

>>35884202
another way to do this without seeming to be the kind who reneges on his word, is to invite him to a semi open summit with a variety of major nobles to discuss the handling of the mage towers and alleged prisoners. then have a public disagreement with him on how to handle them ending up with telling him to get the hell out of our lands, and take his army with him. Ball is then in his court on whether to attack us in shropham or leave with his tail between his legs.
That way it would seem like we were initially friendly and fully intended to work with the guard, but once we got down to brass tacks relations soured.

then again, so far its just his word (or rather, that of his 3 men) that we are cooperating.

>>35884325
>2. "Oops."

Honor dictates that I vote for my option

>>35884325
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will. Or maybe that you'll hand them over to Sylvian.

>>35884325
aren't the first halves of 1 and 3 basically the same, despite the different wordings?
that is
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will.
>3. You're just leading him on to give you more time to prepare.

>>35884325
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will. Or maybe that you'll hand them over to Sylvian.

>>35884415
I'm in agreement with a bunch of your stuff, but can you drop the name?

>>35884325
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will. Or maybe that you'll hand them over to Sylvian.
this sound like you are referring to >>35884195
those were meant to be two mutually exclusive options where we only suggest one OR the other. not combine both

>>35884325
>>2. "Oops."
We are handing over the ringleaders to the mage guard. But we could say to strengthen relations we would like to present the mages to Sylvian together with our friend.

>>35884325
>1

>>35884436
that was for another quest where the QM asked people to take a name.
forgot it was there.

>>35884325
>2. "Oops."

>>35884415
Not really? Option 1 implies that we intend to betray our word, option 3 states that we made a deal to buy more time because (at the time we made the deal) we thought we'd need it.

>>35884325
>>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will. Or maybe that you'll hand them over to Sylvian.

>>35884325
>>3. You're just leading him on to give you more time to prepare. Plus, you won't look like you're protecting the worst mages in Shropham.

>>35884459
>another quest where the QM asked people to take a name.

Good Lord.

>>35884467
Oh, so option 3 means we WILL honor our deal?
well in that case hell no. Putting my vote down to
>1. You don't intend on honouring the agreement to the extent he believes you will.

>>35884459
>QM asked people to take a name
Pls no

>>35884325
>3. You're just leading him on to give you more time to prepare. Plus, you won't look like you're protecting the worst mages in Shropham.

>>35884132
>>35884398
I laughed. You're a good person anon.

>>35884132
I wish I didn't miss that thread, since I accurately predicted this earlier this thread. If I was there then, I would have pointed it out.

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>1

“There’s nothing but his word that I’ll be doing what he thinks I’ll be doing. I might even hand over those mages to you,” you say, trying to sooth the dragon’s temper.

She huffs, the sending device whining a bit from the noise. “I’m not sure you fully understand what you’re saying there. This isn’t about whether or not the world will believe you or whether it’s enforceable in a court or some tribunal. It’s about the opinion of the Guard’s leadership. Do you think they’re going to believe you or Irlin? Or more specifically, do you think they’re going to believe that you lied to Inquisitor Morrn or that Morrn lied to them?”

You frown at that. “I take it Morrn is trustworthy in their eyes?”

“Morrn is so puritanical he borders on the insane. He’d suffered a stroke trying to lie to the Inquisitor Lords and Witch-Hunter Generals he serves,” she says. “You’ll be doing a lot of damage to your reputation if you betray your word.”

“Then I’ll hand the mages over to you. I promised I’d hand them over to the Mage Guard, not Irlin or any particular commander,” you say.

There’s a long pause from Sylvian. “Are you sure? If you are then you’ll at least be able to stem the lost respect. Irlin will be furious with you, so if you planned on placating him then this won’t help you. You would do well not to anger the Guard’s leadership too early – we’re a military state, Talon. We can afford to send fifty thousand soldiers off on an expedition like this. We have a lot more military than you can muster for some time and I can’t guarantee their loyalty to myself.”

You think on that for a bit before moving on – mostly because you have the feeling that the helldragon was getting impatient while you thought. “What clan are the foxes reinforcing Irlin from?”

“Pride,” she says dismissively. “They’re the only clan that the Wardens are willing to deal with.”

>Any particular questions for Sylvian?

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>>35884735
>He’d suffered a stroke trying to lie to the Inquisitor Lords and Witch-Hunter Generals he serves,” she says.
That should be 'He'd suffer a stroke'. He hasn't actually had a stroke from trying to lie.

>>35884735
>“Pride,” she says dismissively. “They’re the only clan that the Wardens are willing to deal with.”

How do we stop this? How can we hurt fluffy tails? That's a price too high to pay.

>>35884735
Ask her how shes doing.

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>>35884817
Take the city before the Guard can, obviously.

>>35884735
I've got nothing

>>35884735
so, what about the idea of >>35884375
Actually, did we actually PROMISE? I thought we just said we planned on doing so.

>>35884375
I think this is a terrible terrible idea

>>35884845

It's settled then. Doesn't matter if we lose half the army in the process. They are just humans anyway.

>>35884735
Now we REALLY should talk to alyce about this...

>>35884735
Which mage guard leaders should we deal with, and which ones should we explicitly avoid?

What time period would it take for the Guard to break Shropham's defences?

>>35884845
Can we contact Ren and tell him to send a message to these dickheads? Once we finish with the draggin, of course.

>>35884885
>Which mage guard leaders should we deal with, and which ones should we explicitly avoid?
excellent question.

>>35884901
>"Why do you seem so willing to work with me. You know little about what I want. Even more you know im working with someone you dont like."
didn't we have this discussion before?

>>35884878
Agreed.

>>35884885
>Can we contact Ren and tell him to send a message to these dickheads? Once we finish with the draggin, of course.
What message? I mean, I guess we probably need to appoint the Lord General positions postwar. I'm personally inclined to give one of the spots to the head of the Pride clan if he wants.
And then assign him a highly competent staff that he starts listening to instead of the morons currently advising him.

>>35884949
Several times. Basically it boiled down to her admitting that her way of doing things (setting up the MageGuard) wasn't a viable solution so she's willing to gamble upon us if we continue to prove ourself and our path to her. As for Alyce, she's also admitted her own fault in the disagreement between the two and herself bears no ill will towards Alyce. Hell, I'm betting her failure to get what she wanted out of Alyce is a big part of why she's trying (in her own way) to be supportive with us rather than aggressive.

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>>35884858
You basically promised them. Reneging in any way will still result in reputation loss for the reasons Syl just stated. Hell, if you do it on a technicality they might just call you a devil and be done with it.

>>35884878
Alyce doesn't particularly care what you do with the mage leaders of Shropham, beyond that they deserve a painful fate. Given her thoughts of Sylvian, which faction is empowered doesn't bother her much either.

>>35884885
>Which mage guard leaders should we deal with, and which ones should we explicitly avoid?
"Well, I wouldn't strictly advise avoiding any except those that despise magic in all forms. I doubt they'd have anything to do with you, anyway, given they believe you to be a powerful mage."

>What time period would it take for the Guard to break Shropham's defences?
"A few weeks, by my guess. I'm not an expert on such mundane sieges, however. I tend to deploy more overwhelming force or be dealing with more dangerous threats."

>Can we contact Ren and tell him to send a message to these dickheads?
You're better off dealing with the Pride clan directly. It's also safe to say Ren will probably be raising this, or Tsucchi would anyway.

>>35885069
>"Well, I wouldn't strictly advise avoiding any except those that despise magic in all forms. I doubt they'd have anything to do with you, anyway, given they believe you to be a powerful mage."
and what are the NAMES of those

>>35885069
Who or what are the most dangerous individuals being deployed by the Witch-Hunter General

>>35885113
>and what are the NAMES of those
Placeholders 1, 2 and 3. There are a grand total of 4 named characters in the mage guard. Hell, we don't even know the names of the people running Shroopham and Devon.

>>35885069
Well, we won't avoid any, but who are the more reasonable leaders?

Would the anti-magic squad be able to pretty much walk through magical bombardment, magically reinforced walls or disable any mageplate they meet?

Any news from the Ember front?

What's the civilian view of Talon in the MG?

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>>35885137
The Wardens and foxes, clearly. They're powerful fighters and have effective anti-sorcery attacks.

>>35885113
Whatever they will be when I assign names to the hierarchy. I hate creating names so they'll come when they're important.

>>35885203
>Would the anti-magic squad be able to pretty much walk through magical bombardment
The what?

>Any news from the Ember front?
Not really. It's just an effectively uninhabitable area.

>What's the civilian view of Talon in the MG?

That you're a warmongering mage lord, probably. Sylvian's not exactly the most in-touch with the common folk.

>>35885264
>Whatever they will be when I assign names to the hierarchy. I hate creating names so they'll come when they're important.
Eh, just use a random name generator.

My main question is if there is a moderate faction of the Wardens, or are they all conservative hardliners. I thought they were more SEALs at this point than a separate organization, so it seems a bit odd that they form such a solid political faction.

>>35885264
Don't they have an magic-proof bunch with like, 300 guys? I'm on phone, so can't check docs

And with ember, is he restrained by his two fellow lords or what's going on there? I figure the dragon is the best person to ask

>>35885345
I think you're talking about the wardens? They're tough, but not that tough. Hammer them with foxes, then HMK.

>>35884735
>There’s a long pause from Sylvian. “Are you sure? If you are then you’ll at least be able to stem the lost respect. Irlin will be furious with you, so if you planned on placating him then this won’t help you. You would do well not to anger the Guard’s leadership too early – we’re a military state, Talon. We can afford to send fifty thousand soldiers off on an expedition like this. We have a lot more military than you can muster for some time and I can’t guarantee their loyalty to myself.”

This just sounds like it would be hilarious. Oh, to see his face when he hears. Also, if he does attack us over it, it gives us cause to go in and pacify the guard. Which, we kinda intended to do after shropham anyways. (it was just a question of when)

the big elephant in the room is his 50k troop force here.
We would ideally want the pride foxes to stay out of it. And then hit them hard. But even assuming low losses, we would still be outnumbered 2:1. It would rely on taking low casualties, capturing most of shropham's defenses intact, maybe even turning some of the shropham soldiers to our cause (oooh! maybe some of the combat magisters?). If we take heavy losses when taking shropham, we would be up shit creek with no paddle

>>35885264
I think we are ready to move on

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>>35885324
The wardens aren't a single political faction, but they do tend towards the anti-magic side. They dislike the idea of magocracies and mages in positions of power in general. Historically, they've pushed for knights and (magic-using) royalty to rule over people who identify as mages. Sylvian's faction is more about preventing troublesome magical research and the like than preventing mages from holding power.

>Moving right along

You finish the conversation in short order, though not before Sylvian bitingly reminds you to sometimes seek advice from your elders. You get the feeling she’s hurt that you made an important decision about your relations with the Guard without consulting her. You weren’t even aware she expected you to.

The strategy meeting is a little more crowded than you’re used to, particularly with the sending devices keeping you in touch with your generals. You relay your latest intel to your commanders and sum up the situation.

Which is frustrating, to say the least. You don’t have the force to fight the Mage Guard head-on. Irlin brought in siege-breaker reinforcements rather than let his troops be ground down, meaning that not only do you have a time limit of two weeks on taking the capital to please Alyce but you’ll need to be extra wary of any conflict with the Guard before they retreat. At least you don’t need to worry about taking Devon – they can’t rejoin the League for more than five months and will easily surrender once Shropham is captured.

>continued

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>>35885496
The city itself is the problem. Even if you decide to take it before the next two weeks are over, the set-up of the city makes that incredibly difficult. There’s likely to be twenty thousand soldiers defending it, plus the mages and combat magisters. If your counter-propaganda is successful, you at least won’t need to worry about the citizens trying to attack you as well.

The platform over the city is the real issue, ultimately. Even if you can get a small force up there, you’ll then need to seize one of the cargo lifts for faster transport of the rest of your army and defend it against a counter-attack.

First, though, you need to decide when you’re going to take the city. As Gnome and Undine remind you, this is just as much about keeping your alliance with Alyce intact as it is about preserving the city. The alliance is very much one between leaders currently and enacting what she would believe to be a betrayal could do irreparable damage.

>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.
>2. Move on Shropham after softening it up with your spies. You will likely engage with the Guard as you take the city.
>3. Let the Guard soften up Shropham. This is very risky, as you would not only have to engage with the Guard but they might effectively conquer the city before you do.
>4. Custom

>>35885069
>anyway, given they believe you to be a powerful mage."

Now that is interesting. Considering she didn't say that talon is a powerful mage.

>>35885512
>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.

>>35885512
>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.

>>35885512
>1.

Now, how likely is gnome to be in fighting shape for this one?

>>35885512
>>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.

Audacity, audacity, always audacity!

>>35885514
We haven't exactly been subtle with our power
everyone believes us to be a powerful mage

>>35885512
>>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.

>>35885512
>>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.

>>35885512
Would 1 at least let the spies work on the citizens with 2 being the spies working on their soldiers?

>>35885512
>1. Move on Shropham immediately. With some luck, you’ll be able to seize the city before the Guard arrives. This will make Alyce the happiest but will mean you’ll be facing the stiffest resistance.
we painted ourselves into a bit of a corner with all our diplomatic obligations

on the plus side. delicious XP

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>>35885568
She's already in fighting shape?

>>35885587
1 means there's a lower chance of them having succeeded. On the flip side, they're in less danger.