“Now unless you would like to fume impotently at me some more,” the wizard you sat with said to you, over the sniveling of the one-legged girl he had brought, “I would appreciate it if you told me of any further business you wanted to do with me.” Said wizard was Markus the Riverman, commonly known by his latter title only, sorcerer of questionably power but well known capacity for being an annoying prick. Thankfully, because of a charm placed upon you by a much stronger “soulbinder,” you felt free to mock this one at your leisure.

You were sorely tempted to do so, with the man having just having spent the past minute insulting your fiancée, but you were torn between biting remarks and holding yourself back, due to the quite real possibility of buying him to your side, perhaps even permanently.

He had abilities that could prove quite useful, certainly, but voices just as loud inside as the Riverman’s advocates in your mind argued compellingly as to why the investment would not be worth it.

“Stay around for a bit,” you got up from the table at the bar you two were in, “I have to go check on some things. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Wait-“ the Riverman tried to interrupt, but you were well on your way out the door. As you left, you heard him make an offended noise, but he did not pursue you.

-----

One of the several things the Riverman had brought back when he returned from the mission you gave him was an unexpected boon; stray members of the bandit gang you had been pursuing (and were now waiting in ambush for), the Blood Suns; more specifically, a gang that associated themselves with a larger mercenary organization called the Blood Suns, who were themselves called the Death Heads.

You had made it a point to interrogate these wretches as soon as possible. While you held less than a speck of respect for any Sosaldtian, if these men had been in a situation where they felt it necessary to eat the leg of an innocent girl, they were either in truly dire stakes…or absolutely irredeemable. Along with the usual demands you’d make of a captured enemy as far as information went, you had thought to find out if they were desperate, or monstrous.

You found them huddled in a circle in the slopes where your forces had set up a base of operations; overlooking the mountain roads in the foggy valley, waiting for the Blood Suns to come so they could unleash devastation upon them. A pair of rougher-than-usual riflemen from Bat Company watched over them with leering eyes and fingers ready on the triggers of their submachineguns, daring the captive rogues to make a move.

“Lieutenant,” Captain Honnrieg of Bat Company waved blithely at you; despite him willingly allowing you command of all operations, you knew that he outranked you, and was not about to act as though you were truly his superior. He at least acted casual and not impolite. He gestured back to the ragged bunch, who looked hollowly around all over, while trudging downhill to you. “I don’t actually know what to do with these clowns. They’re in no state to be fighting, mentally or physically. If you wanted to ask them anything…I bet they’d be plenty pliable.”

“Acknowledged,” you said curtly, eyes set on the two dozen and a half or so of glum, defeated brigands sitting in a tight circle, backs to each other, “I’ll be sure to wring them gently.”

You left Honnrieg behind and considered what you would ask them…

>Write in Questions
>Any other actions
Also, you considered what you’d do with them afterwards…

>Demand that they serve you; they owe you, for saving them.
>Turn them in to the Rangers in the town to be processed; they’re not your problem.
>Send them on their way; they can’t be of any harm to you with no weapons or will to fight; they’ll probably just scatter.
>Other?

>https://pastebin.com/UagT0hnh

Past threads pastebin here. I've been on and off working on a general reference pastebin so you won't have to go back through past threads to find out general information, but that's been slow. If there's anything you think your player character should know, or anything you want to ask anybody, go ahead and post that and I'll answer it. I'm not about to tell anybody to just go back and read if they can't remember some things.

Updates and announcements can be found on my twitter @scheissfunker

>>1785624
Not sure what we should do with them.

>>Demand that they serve you; they owe you, for saving them.
Definite no.
>>Turn them in to the Rangers in the town to be processed; they’re not your problem.
Not their problem either, will probably just let them free, its not like they did anything illegal, other then kidnap that girl from West Valsten
>>Send them on their way; they can’t be of any harm to you with no weapons or will to fight; they’ll probably just scatter.
Im more inclined to just let them walk. After we ask them what vehicles the other group had and what on earth would possess them to attack the stone crabs.

>>1785624
Ask them what kind of gear their gang has, how many tanks, or anti tank rifles, ect.

We should keep them detained until after the battle then just let them go, they're just brigands.

>>1785624
>>Write in Questions

>what difficulties did the main Blood Sun group have before they split off?
>What was their condition (ammunition, casualties, etc.)
>what was their plan going forward for escaping the mountains, if any?


>Demand that they serve you; they owe you, for saving them.

We can use them as labor for now, always under guard and performing simple tasks like building fortifications, maintaining equipment, cooking and cleaning, etc. I'm sure they won't mind as long as they're fed and kept alive, and it shouldn't take more than one or two men to guard them. Maybe we can sell or trade them as hostages later on.

>>1787491
That seems fine, I just don't want them anywhere near the fighting when it happens, don't know what they'll do then

>>1787491
Reminder, we lost almost all of our food to giant truck eating crab

>>1787583

I was under the impression we were doing well enough with buying from the locals or hunting or whatever. The issue hasn't come up recently, at any rate.

>>1785624
Questions:
>How long they spent in the mountains
>Why they had separated from the main group
>Numbers and condition of the tanks and troops of the main group
>Status of fuel, spare parts, oil, ammo, food and water supply
>Who is the current commander, how experienced he is, any personal quirks and traits
>Any dissent present

>Then execute them and dump the bodies in the canyon like the cannibalistic scum they are.

Yes, those questions would do. It would be more fair, you decided, to turn them loose, but one could easily reason that these men owed you. You hadn’t exactly sought them, per se, but they didn’t have to know that.

These men were battered ruins of what they once were; you’d be wise to pick your words with some care, if you didn’t care to hurt their psyche further.

“What’s good, cunts?” you spat as you towered over the slumped forms, your thumbs in your pockets and a jeer splitting your face. “Reconsidering the life choices that led you to being half eaten kliefnaz scum?”

A few of them looked wearily up to you, a living masquerade of mixtures of confusion and offense.

“…the fuck’re you..?” one of them creaked, before looking down at the scruffy grey-green mountain grass again.

“…hey.” One of them, with a scraggly shadow of unshaven hairs covering his chin, “You’re the midget chaser blueblood what shot Selgess dead.”

“I’m not a…” you said reflexively, having expected yet more accusations of pedophilia, but you noticed that something different had been slung at you for once. “…never mind. I’ve got some questions for you lot.”

You saw some faint urges for smartass remarks rising from the clutch, but none of them were bold nor energetic enough to let them loose from the confines of their imaginations. They instead just stared, murky eyed with jaws slack. It was…somewhat unnerving, really, the way they peered at you dumbly.

“I suppose that’s accepting enough,” you muttered to yourself, “Right, so first off. Why the hell were you dicking around with the Living Stones?”
They all looked at the one who had recognized your voice, who must have been their leader, of sorts. He coughed, scratched under his chin and groaned, before finally saying something.

“Collectors pay big money for them.” He said with little hesitation, “Enough that we could buy a new tank…a Caelussian Light...for each egg, and we took plenty. More’n ‘nuff to replace what we lost, and we lost a lot, as you well know. Figured we could make it through the mountains fast enough that we wouldn’t get caught in the storm. We were damn wrong. Before you ask, no, we don’t got any, no more. The Riverman made us drop ‘em when he found us.”

“So you know, I was the one who sent the Riverman to find you.” You said, spinning a convenient lie. You had presumed that, even though the Riverman had worked for these people, he would have done it under a different alias. Apparently not.

They didn’t seem very impressed. “Coulda found somebody who wasn’t a huge cock…” one of them said to the ground.

Tragically, you presumed that the market for wizards who were personable was nonexistent. “So why did you break off of your bigger group?” you asked them, “What happened to make you want to do that?”

“Phew,” the leader of the bunch leaned back and shook his head, “That’s too long of a story. First…”

“No,” you attempted to no avail, as the man was already speaking and didn’t hear your pleas for him to summarize it shortly.

“…then we fought this giant crab, big enough to eat one of our tanks whole. Which it did.” He splayed his arms out above him to emphasize, “Then for a week afterwards, we have to keep blowing through big crabs, sometimes a bunch of smaller ones but even the small ones are big enough to bite your foot off or cut you in two just by getting a claw around you. So we had enough. We were at the tail end, and since we hadn’t been getting anywhere following the guys up front, we figured we’d split off. After all, we only had a few with us. Most’ve them were with the rest. Figured we’d escape notice. We did…then we ran out of food. Then it was another couple weeks, and we didn’t find anything to eat on the way. Was just rocks and clouds…”

“Then you decided to eat a young girl’s leg.” You finished for him, contemptuously.

“Fuck you.” The lead man snarled with new energy, his thin eyebrows contorting as his dull eyes flared slightly, “You can blame that on Gartz. Saying this shit, that shit, ‘oh she’ll be on her back the rest’ve her life anyways, she doesn’t need both’ve those legs’…boys. Tell me what I did when I found Gartz and three others of you with a bloody hacksaw and half a leg.”

“Shot Gartz in the face.” One of them said emptily still looking through the earth, “Said if we wanted to eat people we’d eat the one who’s the least like a person.”

“Didn’t keep you from eating some of that girl.” A different Death Head said with spite.

“Was already off of her, shithead. ‘Was I gonna do, try and stick it back on? Fuck you. You all weren’t so keen on taking a bite out of Gartz either, n' none of us wanted to starve to death.”

“Knock it off,” you interrupted them, “I didn’t ask for your life story, but I got the answer I wanted…somewhere in that mess. Next question. What equipment do you have left? Tanks, guns, whatever.”

“Shit, I dunno,” the leader said, still glaring at his comrades, “Maybe twenty tanks or so. All sorts. I was in the footmen, wasn’t my business. We dealt in machine guns and grenades, and armor plates.”

“Armor plates?” you echoed, “What sort?”

“Steel cuirass, Ellowian model,” came the answer from the leader, “Can stop a nine millimeter bullet. Good for close work.” The man knocked on his breast and a stiff sound of resistance rang from underneath his coat.

“No anti-tank rifles? Flamethrowers? Heavy guns or mortars?”

“None.”

“Good.” You nodded to yourself, “Good. How about ammunition. Your numbers, casualties. Food and water, too.”

“We were three fifths when we left Valsten,” the lead said, surprisingly forthcoming with such information. “A bit less than half when we split off. Other bosses figured we still had enough to fight through any jokers who tried to keep us from getting back home. We lost almost a toon and a half of vehicles to things here and there, half of my bunch fighting crabs…so unless anybody else split off from the main group, they’d have two toons gunmen and five toons tanks, reduced. Our bunch ran out of food, but we only had two trucks. The rest’ve the bunch were carrying more.”

Of course, you thought to yourself, that wouldn’t matter much if the “time” that passed by for the others wasn’t as “long.” “How many…”toons,” are in a company?” You asked, wondering.

“…three, maybe two for heavies. Depends.”

Strossvald armor companies were four platoons, you thought to yourself. If only every place followed the same sort of convenient numerical structures…

“How long did you spend in the mountains?” you asked next.

“Don’t know. Maybe a month. Maybe two. It all just started going by, faster than you could figure. When we got far enough out there…” the leader scratched under his neck again, “…the sun stops going up and down. There’s just grey clouds, and it’s always light, just a bit, like the clouds are glowing but there’s no sun.”

“And were you the only ones feeling like you could…deviate from the rest?” you pressed on.

“Course not. But I was the only boss who said my boys could. The other bosses were pretty driven.” The leader said, “they might be scumbags but the boys know who’s in charge…most of the time.”

“Speaking of, who’s in charge of you now?” you asked more, “the biggest boss, as you’d say. Whoever Selgess’s deputy was.”

“Selgess didn’t have no deputy. When the head goes down, everybody has to go back and choose anew.” The boss of the captives shook his head at you, “Shouldn’t have bothered. I wouldn’t give a shit who was the leader if I knew we’d be in this shit. Right now, nobody’s in charge of everybody, but they’re all going to the same place anyways so they’re all just following each other.”

“Somebody among them must be ambitious, or more of a leader?” you tried to prompt, “At least say who’s the most experienced.”

“Everybody’s about the same, leaders might have a year head start. We’re good enough to be in the Blood Suns, at least, that certainly says something.” The brigand leader said with a hint of pride, which you felt was incredibly misplaced.

“Finally,” you said, “What exactly was your plan for getting out of the mountains?”

The leader blinked at you absentmindedly. “Go forward til we got out?”

“Good thing that worked.”

“Fuck you.”

You suddenly heard an uproar behind you. You pointed at the leader with a withering finger; “You stay here and behave.”

“Lieutenant!” you heard Honnrieg roar, “We’ve got a situation here.”

“Say it,” you said, hustling back to him. Honnrieg was kneeling next to another Bat Company man who was carrying an infantry radio slung to his back, the antennae stretched out like a cumbersome fishing rod.

“One contact reported,” Honnrieg said, “Single tank. No accompaniment. Definitely marked like our friends who ought to be coming up. Probably a scout, but they aren’t looking for anything. Just going down the road, really. Has a strange mark on it on top of the other things, a red stripe across the middle of the turret. T-8 model.”

“Will they notice the explosives we planted?” you asked worriedly.

“Come on now. You know we’re better than that.” Honnrieg said dismissively, “The bigger problem is the question of if they’re charging ahead…or going back after going ahead. If they’re doing the latter, then it’s a question of if they’re just seeing where the road goes or if they’re looking for anything else.”

You put a finger on your forehead and thought. “Just one tank?”

“Affirmative.”

>We can’t risk them finding anything out. Shoot it down, push the wreck off the cliff.
>Keep an eye on them. If they get out and try and look around town, grab them.
>Let them go. They won’t see anything, and it’ll be suspicious if they don’t return, in case they are scouts and not deserters.
>We don’t look like enemies if we aren’t armed. Have some people go meet them.
>Other?

I’m keeping voting open for what you want to do with the prisoners, just in case people have changes of heart or more want to share their input or vote.

Also you can always have some more questions on reserve whenever interrogations or conversations pop up.

>>1787965
>Ask the prisoners what the red stripe on the turret means

>>1787965
I'm worried that if we open up on the tank, the noise will blow our ambush. Or that they have a radio onboard.

Quickly ask the prisoners the significance of the stripe. I'm also all for leaving them in the middle of the road, if that is where they are now. That way the tank will be forced to stop or end up running them down. And if it stops itll be an easier Target.

Actually just approach the tank. To bad we don't have a civilian vehicle handy. We should get one just for moments like this. If we approach with Hilda we could play the part of a couple heading to the resort. That way if they stop we can ask them what's up, and if they don't, well we could have sheparded the prisoners to block the road to go back to the my above plan of using them as a roadblock.

Carry at grenades or even regular grenades Incase we need to throw em quick down the hatch.

“A moment,” you said, turning and going back to the prisoners.

“You,” you addressed the former leader of the band, “Tell me something else. Do you remember any tanks, with a red stripe on the turret?”

“Oh.” The man said, “That’s Squeak. He’s a pathfinder. The Red Stripe’s how you tell everybody back home that you’re part of something bigger; that you aren’t some easy pickings, and if anybody thinks you are, the rest of the group’s going to come and teach you a lesson.”

“Squeak’s a strange name.”

“Squeak’s a strange person.”

“What do your pathfinders do?” you asked next.

“Whatever they want. They’re supposed to come back and report anything they saw, if the way is clear, things like that. Squeak’s a lazy ass so she…er, I mean he, would probably just see if the fog’s over, or something like that.”

“Hm.”

>Voting’s still open, just figured this was small enough to write on.

>>1787982
Right now, you’re up in the slopes behind the fighting positions, not on the road. If you want to obstruct them you can move, though. It’s not too far of a walk, or run.

As for AntiTank Grenades, Strossvald doesn’t really have those, so neither do you. The closest thing would be bundled grenades, or improvised demolition charges that aren’t incredibly convenient. Normal grenades will have to do for your plan.

>>1787982
>To bad we don't have a civilian vehicle handy. We should get one just for moments like this.
Don't we have an officer car? Does that count?

>>1787992
>Keep an eye on them. If they get out and try and look around town, grab them.
If Squeak doesn't return the rest might just not go this way, afraid of being eaten by whatever mystical shit got Squeak

>>1787996
And we don't want this, so let's try to not make them suspicious.

>>1787965
Other?

Let's go out and meet squeak with Hilda, doing that couple plan, just to see what's up. Make sure to bring our weed that makes women folk loopy. That "she-uh, he"

Also I don't think just shooting or capturing would be a good thing, if the scout never comes back they'll probably just think more crabs are down this way and move somewhere else.

>>1788338
>that "she uh he" thing

Got me suspicous*

>>1788338
So how do you propose we recruit her? Seduce her with Blackleaf? Really?

>>1787965
>>Keep an eye on them. If they get out and try and look around town, grab them

If they're going to be lazy and drive up and back without spotting our positions it's best to let them return. If they get out we should grab them, in case a local mentions that they drove straight through an ambush. Their disappearance might make the main body suspicious but I don't think they have any alternative paths to go down, and I doubt they'll immediately suspect an ambush. A mechanical breakdown or crab encounter would be more likely, in which case I'm sure the rest of the column would still proceed.

>>1788338

She still has a crew in that tank, you know, which would probably be quite less susceptible to Blackleaf or whatever else we might try on her.

>>1788500
>>1788653
I'm not saying that's what we go in trying to do, I'm just saying having it won't hurt.

>>1788752

Since they don't even seem to be properly scouting I think we're best off letting them go ahead and turn around without even opening up their hatches. I don't think we have enough to gain to take the risk of forcing them to stop and get out and risk them getting suspicious or seeing something when they might just drive right by.

>>1787965
>Let them go. They won’t see anything, and it’ll be suspicious if they don’t return, in case they are scouts and not deserters.
>But keep an eye on them.

If Squeak goes far enough that she can see the ambush we'll have to deal with her. If we fire on her the rest will hear.

There's a risk that if play the pretend couple Squeak will just try to rob the 'honeymooners' she's a bandit, not a army scout.

Maybe we could bribe her to give them the all clear in exchange for gold and free passage? Bribe the prisoners to talk to her and convince her that the town is clear?

If they agree then for them:
>>Send them on their way; they can’t be of any harm to you with no weapons or will to fight; they’ll probably just scatter.

>>1789263
Shit adding onto this, ask the prisoners:

How loyal is Squeak to her group?

What was the formation of the convoy? Heavies in front? Might change but it'd be good for a reference.

They've been in the group for a year right? What are the defenses of their base in Sosaldt? ((Doesn't have to be QM answered now, I just wanted to mention that we asked them before whatever happens next ))

How many of their troops have this Ellowian Cuirass?

Offer them their freedom if they help convince Squeak should we need it, we already know they dont care about the Death Heads.

>inb4 we all become convinced Squeak is a girl when it's really just a drag queen or something

>>1789412
>It's going to be a trap

Alright I'm back. Update soon.

...I'm not actually sure how I want to go ahead with this since there's varying plans and relatively even support as to how to do whatever, even if there is a consensus on what to do. So maybe the additional information and writing will help that.

You had a few more questions for your unwilling guests.

“How loyal is this Squawk person?”

“Squeak,” the lead man corrected, “And…I don’t know, pretty loyal, I guess? Nobody who can’t be trusted’d be allowed to be pathfinder, but nobody wants to volunteer for it either. So that’s about how it is.”

“What was the formation of your convoy? As far as where the heavy tanks are, and such.” You had explosives set both at the fore and end of the ambush point, but if the vehicles that rolled over them were the heavier ones, that was so much the better.

“There’s no real order. Things don’t work in this like they did in the army, the tank people are all over the place with the equipment.”

“And how many of you have that armor?” You stepped up closer and flicked his chest. It was definitely steel; most reports you had heard complained of the weight and discomfort of such pieces, but you’d never worn such a piece yourself; your ancestors certainly had, having been heavy cavalrymen.

“Just the footmen, and even then, not all of them. We have to buy them ourselves, you know.”

This wasn’t just the case with mercenaries and bandits, to be true; although few militaries as far as you knew had made body armor a standard, there was a small market of various armors (of varying quality, too) for those interested in their personal preservation. Any troops were allowed to purchase them, but the Archduchy nor any of the Lords’ levies were required to provide protection beyond the standard helmet.

You left them to their devices again; thought they were being cooperative, they were still Sosaldtian sellswords; they weren’t deserving of your respect…yet.

You went back to Honnrieg to make sure of a few things.

“Captain,” you asked, “Have you been in the road, to see how visible the positions are from down there?”

“Of course I have. We dug them good, Lieutenant. Don’t have to worry about those, so long as our heads are down. The tanks on the other hand…” Captain Honnrieg weighed imaginary weights in his hands, “The hard soil turns to stone at a certain depth, so we couldn’t get the tank positions in deep enough to hide them the same way. I’ve been keeping them out of the positions until we have word of the main formation coming. Unless this scout starts walking up the sides of the slopes, the fog should keep us hidden enough.”

That information was a welcome boost of confidence, and you saw Honnrieg smirk approvingly as you let out a sigh of relief. Even if the chances of being discovered on the slope were rather low, if this Squeak person went into the town and started asking questions, or even hearing gossip (Your bunch had been, naturally, the talk of town), it could spell doom for your operation.

“I want that tank, and whoever comes out of it, tailed.” You told the Captain, “If they start probing too much or find out something we wouldn’t want them knowing, I want them grabbed. We’d have to take the risk of the main force getting suspicious at that point. Better for them to suspect than to know for certain.”

“An unlucky breakdown.” Honnrieg suggested.

“Indeed.” You nodded back, “I have a few ideas, too, to try. If we play our cards right, we could come out of this even better than I could anticipate…”

“Do share.” Honnrieg said, waving a few soldiers over and muttering something to them, pointing in the direction of the town. He looked back to you after his men had looked to one another before saluting and leaving.

“I was thinking of influencing the commander of this scout vehicle,” you said, “One way would be with coin. The other would be with a drug. You know about Blackflower, right?”

“I know that it’s a controlled substance.”

“It is?”

“In Altoss.”

“Well.” You squirmed a bit on the inside. You certainly hadn’t heard of Blackflower being a controlled substance; as far as you knew, the raw plant didn’t have the power needed for its infamous effects on its own, anyways. “I have some of it, and I’ve come by information that the person in charge of scouting is a woman.”

Honnrieg held back a snort. “Moxie’s appreciated in the east, but I think you might be a bit full of yourself to think you can sweep a complete stranger off her feet, even with some chemical help.”

“She’s part of a band of wild guns for hire,” you reasoned, “She undoubtedly has some sort of psychological problem. I’ve had decent, if undesired, luck with head cases.”

The Captain sighed and put the side of his hand up to his forehead, leaning back and looking skyward. “So is your other plan standing in the road with flowers and proposing marriage?”

“Sort of.” You said, “If the flowers are those prisoners we have. They’ll know each other, so maybe we can convince our new ‘friends’ to try and fool their former allies.”

“That one’s dangerous too,” Honnrieg said, pacing to the side and looking at the reverse of the slope between you and the positions overlooking the road, “They’ve seen what we have, and we don’t want any of them slipping information. Your plan to score a wild eastern mistress might be better.”

“I had a contingency,” you added, “For if I’m wrong about this scout being a woman. We don’t look altogether suspicious in our current dress, so I was thinking of posing as a traveler…with his paramour.”

“You really do tease that poor girl too much.”

“Just to see what they’re up to, maybe just talk to this person,” you sidestepped Honnrieg’s comment, “They’ll be the most recent news we have of these people, after all. If we’re really lucky, maybe the rest of them have fallen into the canyon or died.”

>Deal with this new threat:

>Try and engineer a scheme with the captured Death Heads to fool the scout into being even more off guard; potentially into a more exploitable situation.
>Stop this Squeak person halfway and try and blow smoke up their…nose. That would be sure to make at least them more pliable.
>Avoid direct interference, just go up with Hilda and ask innocent questions
>Don’t do anything to the scout at all; just have your men tail them just in case, and let them go back if nothing happens
>Other?

>>1791748
>Avoid direct interference, just go up with Hilda and ask innocent questions

Let's just go up and see what we're dealing with, we don't even know if it's a women or what yet. If there's no problem let them go, if they saunter into town we might have no option but to grab them.

>>1791748
>>Don’t do anything to the scout at all; just have your men tail them just in case, and let them go back if nothing happens

>>1791748
>Don’t do anything to the scout at all; just have your men tail them just in case, and let them go back if nothing happens
The other plans are too unreliable.

>>1791748
>Don’t do anything to the scout at all; just have your men tail them just in case, and let them go back if nothing happens

Honnreig sounds pretty confident about our hiding, and in the event that she goes to the town we'll have to hit her hard and fast, those people will blab about us.

One last question for the prisoners: how likely is she to have a radio in her tank?

Honnrieg’s confidence in his own positions, and the relative risk of your ideas, on second thought, meant that it was probably better to keep things safe and simple. You said as such.

“Have me informed if anything develops,” you told Honnrieg, “I’m going to go and check on a few more things.”

As much as you would have liked to interrogate the prisoners in depth about their base and whatever fortifications it had, there was a strong possibility that you wouldn’t have time for that. They wouldn’t be likely to go anywhere; you had kept your armored car and a mechanic in reserve positions, where they could keep any of the captives from getting funny ideas.

For now, though, you could ask them a certain, pertinent question.

“You all,” you said as you came up again. A few audibly grumbled some things that vaguely concerned how you came back and forth. “Does your pathfinder have a radio?”

While Wireless Radios were standard in Strossvald’s armor forces, it hadn’t been that way for very long; until a couple of years ago, they were optional for any levied armor forces. From what you knew of other armies, more than a few places still didn’t have standard radios, or even lacked them for armor altogether, whether for reasons of cost or a belief that they weren’t needed.

The ever cooperative leader made a funny face at you. “Of…course the pathfinder’s got a radio. If anybody’s got to have one, it’s them. Long range wireless isn’t cheap and they break all the damn time, but you got to have them. Not that they’ve worked good around here. Go around a bend and suddenly everything's fuzzy.”

Oh, right. Wireless sets had trouble with altitude obstructions. In your defense, Strossvald had relatively gentle vertical variance.

“So you’re getting ready to shoot the rest of us dead, right?” the leader asked, in much more blasé than you expected.

“You aren’t on the list of people who need to know what we’re doing here.” You replied firmly.

“Sure buddy.” The leader snickered, “You’re sticking around here and asking questions about pathfinders because you really love us and want to join up, right after blowing away two of our toons and killing our boss. But listen, if you do that, and you take anybody else captive, I have a request. Let us go, because if you keep us both in the same place one side’ll get suspicious of the other, and when that happens you may as well just shoot us.”

You said nothing to that, and left them once more.

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If you absolutely had to, you didn’t really mind letting them go; once this whole section had been dealt with, really, it wouldn’t matter what you did with the rest. Anybody left simply wouldn’t have the equipment to challenge you in your bid on their home base. If that wasn’t the case, it may have been safer and more convenient to just shoot them, but that was rather…cold. It wasn’t as if the average individual in their group had done anything particularly illegal, aside from the kidnapping; mercenaries were paid professionals, after all, and it wasn’t as if you caught them raiding in the Archduke’s lands.

You certainly couldn’t trust them to fight for you, though. Perhaps it was best to get rid of them, but maybe in a way that provided some benefit? A decision for later.

Half an hour passed, and all of your forces, having been informed of the development, shared a tense silence; prepared for the battle which they had been waiting for over half a week. Your m/32 and Von Walen’s were on standby to charge up the middle; Krause and Von Igel loitered in their m/28s on the reverse slope of the west side of the ambush point, while Von Metzeler and Von Neubaum waited in a similar position to the east in an m/32 and the captured T-15; when the scout began its return trip, all would move into their prepared positions. Hilda would be somewhere to the northeast, in a position she would choose, ready to shoot at leaders.

You then received some good news.

“They didn’t stick around long,” a breathless runner you recognized as one of the medics told you, “Some boyish looking…I think it was a woman, didn’t get close enough to tell, and…the other was definitely a man, didn’t dress like it though. Never seen make up on a face like that.” The medic shuddered, “Anyways they just got out and looked, then started going right back…are we going for it?”

You nodded to him. “Yes. Get in position; next thing we’ll see of them, we’ll be beating them into small enough bits that we can fit them all in sausage casings.”

As the medic went to his position, you looked over the map another time...This one had some mild improvements to details, but still wasn't altogether precise. It would have to do.

>Make any final preparations?
>Other actions, or specifications?

The map, again, is a general guide; the elevation marks are just there for a general idea, and could be anything from five to ten to twenty elevations because of the imprecision of guessing the terrain and certainly not because the QM doesn’t want to make a more precise map and would rather go with general impression.

I’ll be out for a few hours past this, so there should be some time to do…whatever, I guess, if you want to discuss it.

>>1792631
>Tell the tank crews to direct their fire along the road, not across it, to catch the enemy in enfilade.

>>1792631
We should make sure Jorgen gets back to our tank and Emma out of the way.

There's probably a use for Markus the Riverman but I can't think of anything. We should let him know that if he wants more bars to stick around for work in the near future.

When do we want to use the demo charges? When they are retreating? Advancing after the first salvo? Backup explosion if things get hairy?

>>1793031
Demo charges in things like that are used to blow up the foremost and rearmost vehicles in the column to trap it on the road.

Sorry, this arrangement's had me away from the computer longer than I thought. I should be back sort of soon though, and will tentatively put the update at about an hour or so from now.

Almost ready. Might be ten minutes or five.

>>1793997
>ten minutes

Yeah I'm bad at estimating the time needed.

Anyways.

-----

You couldn’t help but fret over details that weren’t your concern, as you nervously waited for the time of battle. You confirmed that the detonators were working, the connections were right, the weapons were in good order…

Von Walen noticed you interrogating his crew and finally broke you out of your trance.

“Fuck’s sake Lieutenant, let my crew be!” he said testily.

Then, after a wait that felt far longer than it really was, you heard tell of the forward scouts reporting the Blood Suns column approaching, in what looked like their full strength. Your loader, Jorgen, let himself in the side turret hatch right when the radio crackled to life, relayed over the mountaintop from the infantry positions.

“Game faces, boys,” Honnrieg said over the wireless, “Tin men, as soon as the charges get touched off, you’d best get to your positions. We can put down a hellstorm but if all our fire isn’t on them within a minute or two they’ll start getting some confidence.”

The engines of your tanks were off, but plenty ready to be brought to life; all you waited for was for a signal from the infantry just before they touched off the demolition charges.

The tantalizing echo from over the mountain of clattering engines and treads scraped at the inside of your skull, like the call of a dreadful fey creature of folk tales promising riches for a firstborn. Contact reports were acknowledged, but not thought about too much; the scent of the anticipation of battle filled your nostrils right now, and your mind prepared itself to see death. Five heavies, three self-propelled guns, ten light tanks, eight trucks, a pair of towed guns…the details filed themselves into the spaces of your brain, but were not minded-now was not their time.

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Soon enough, though, the Captain gave the call.

“We’re up, canned sprouts! Get over here!”

With a sharp bark, you ordered your driver into action, who kicked the m/32’s engine into readiness, the tank sputtering and coughing into a steady growl, then a pair of sharp roars, like a furious lion ready to leap forth into the fray. A pair of explosions shook the ground, a report of one heavy, one light, disabled and destroyed respectively.

The fight had begun.

>Charge into battle, as quickly as you can!
>No need to rush; you’re the furthest from the rest, but the closer tanks can keep it together until you’re through.
>Other?

>>1794112
Forgot to mention, the first option implies pushing the machine to its limits, going quickly over rough ground and relatively steep but still traversable slopes.

>>1794112
>>No need to rush; you’re the furthest from the rest, but the closer tanks can keep it together until you’re through.
Dont want to disable the tank by throwing the engine over rough terrain.
HOWEVER if Malachi is our driver then
>Charge into battle, as quickly as you can!

Also, focus on those SPG's if I remember correctly the guns on the heavies and lights cant elevate enough to effectively fire on us, while the spg's are more then capableof doing so. And likely more then enough to disrupt our infantry with their HE shells.

Im pretty sure they were priority targers anyways in our initial plan

>>1794164
>>1794193

Supporting, we might even get the jump on anyone heading towards that slope that isn't anticipating two heavy tanks that way.

Slight mistake I didn't catch, no, you aren't nearly half a klick from the ambush point. That would be silly. More like 100-150 meters at the maximum. To stay out of visibility from the road.

That might still be too far but eh.

>>1794193
Also supporting; tanks and heavy weapons to focus on spgs (probably easier to penetrate compared to the heavies, riflemen and our hull machine guns to engage the trucks and towed gun crews.

>>1794193
Supporting

Rolled 4, 3, 2, 5, 3, 2 = 19 (6d6)

>Rolling d6 for anti-tank weaponry hits; mixture of surprise and pre ranging and relative easy visibility means hits on anything but a 1: 2-6 is varying inflicting damage from damaged up to disabled or destroyed.

>Damage rolling is based on the ability of a weapon to destroy a vehicle: A roll that is 2 below the needed roll to destroy a vehicle damages it, a roll that is 1 below the destruction threshold disables the vehicle. A vehicle that is damaged a certain number of times becomes disabled; twice for light vehicles, three for heavier ones. SPGs are light, here.

>A vehicle that becomes disabled must roll a d6 and roll above a base rate of 4 to not abandon the vehicle. Some crews are more stubborn and are more likely to hold fast. Some, for example, the vehicles with the “Officer Elan” trait (yours and Von Metzelers) will not be abandoned if disabled unless it is otherwise decided.

>Order of shots is AT Rifle-AT Rifle-m28 Von Igel-m28 Krause-m32 Von Metzeler-t15 Von Neubaum. Yours and Von Walen’s rolls, being a team, will be separate, or noted as last in the future. Tanks/guns have differing damage chance against different targets. A chart for damage is below-

AT Rifle: 5+ to destroy Light+SPG, 5+ to damage Heavy-unable to destroy T15 model with 13mm
M/28: 4+ to destroy Light+SPG, 6+ to destroy Heavy
m/32: 2+ to destroy Light+SPG, 4+ to destroy Heavy
T-15: 2+ to destroy Light+SPG, 5+ to damage Heavy-also unable to destroy Heavy due to HE only munitions

Yes I know yet another new mechanic, new way of trying things out. Can’t help myself. Might illustrate it later.

-----

“Malachi, step on it,” you said over the intercom, “Get us over there as fast as you possibly can. I don’t care what you have to do.” You then switched to the platoon network, “Von Walen, I’ll be speeding up. Don’t follow my example, catch up at your own pace.”

You heard an acknowledgement from your masked driver, who shifted the transmission over dexterously as you chugged up the slope. The m/32 squealed in protest as your driver did his best to push it upwards. The slope you were on wasn’t as steep as many of the others, but the finicky tank still did not like going up at the speed you were trying…

>need three rolls of one d100 at most, best of three, DC 50
>Also need one roll of d20, taking first, for soft target engagement

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>1794444

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>1794492
I don't want to wait around for people, y'know.

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>1794501
Ah shit, high is bad

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>1794501

Rolled 12 (1d20)

Wait, high is bad right? If yes. Fuck!

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>1794513

>>1794523
High is bad, but this was best of 3, so the roll was made.

As much as I sympathize with not wanting to wait for others I'd like to request to everybody to wait a little bit between making new rolls on the same check. Five to ten minutes, and if nobody else is around, then you can make the rest, but I'd like to give multiple people a chance to roll the bones if possible.

Mostly because sometimes one person's luck is absolute crap and if more than one person rolls crap the blame is shared.

Anyways getting update ready.

Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d3)

Came up with this on the fly too. Can you tell?

Rolling for the two Flamethrower bonus casualties. Will allow this to be done in the future by y'all.

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>A note: dashed lines means moves that are not made yet but are in the process of being made, while a solid line indicates a completed move, if listed.

You could hear the withering fusillade even as the tank struggled, but heaved itself up, the mountainside. Von Walen, who you feared might have been led to be aggressively inspired to follow your haste, thankfully still trailed behind at a safe pace.

The hit reports came in, and they were promising. Two damaged, one disabled, three destroyed, on top of the one damaged and one destroyed in the initial explosive touch off. All SPGs save for one had been annihilated.

You were coming close to your prearranged position; soon, you would be able to join the others in destroying this menace.

“Heads up, boss,” your radioman, Hans, announced over the intercom, “Stache says you’ve got tanks and infantry going up the gap, right to where we’re heading.”

>Acknowledged. Slow down and wait for Von Walen.
>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>Other?
Also-
>Switch to cinematic combat a la past battles for this engagement? (Updates will be slower)
>I’m good

>>1794657
>>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>I’m good

>>1794657
>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>Switch to cinematic combat a la past battles for this engagement? (Updates will be slower)

>>1794657
>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>Switch to cinematic combat a la past battles for this engagement? (Updates will be slower)

>>1794657
>>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>I’m good For the sake of speeding things along though, dont count this if it remains a tie

Is the armored car crewed? It has a lmg on it, we might need the additional firepower farthur behind us incase we get swarmed.

>>1794657
>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
Or at least hold them off. Hopefully a heavy tank will be enough to scatter the cowardly and give pause to the rest.

Whichever story mode you prefer, but I like cinematic for us and status reports for others.

>>1794657
>>We can take them. Forward, to victory!
>>Switch to cinematic combat a la past battles for this engagement? (Updates will be slower)

>>1794776
It's only got a single mechanic in it, who doesn't know how to actually operate the vehicle in a combat situation. It's a reserve of sorts at best.

As for time concerns, really, only the first should take all that long, to set everything in place.

Honestly I'm tempted to say that the time difference won't ultimately be that much, depending on how much I feel I can cut corners. Most of the extra time is in posing the models and not the actual drawing.

Almost done, just have to write the text.

Then shit will have to be shot.

Just a thought, the territorial lords in Strossvald are required to provide equipment for their armies, however, we were shipped over to the Blummlands alongside a bunch of other fresh from the academy nobles.

Does that mean everyone is trained at the capital and parceled out randomly to the territorial lords to make it harder for rebellions or is training just centralized for nobles? I know our situation made sense for us to serve under Von Blumm, but for Von Metzeler wasnt he originally from the central Strossvald area? Wouldnt he then be more inclined to serve with the ArchDukes army?

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“We can take them,” You proclaimed confidently. “Move us up. Stein, be ready to fire, you too Hans. They’ll be close enough that we’ll be butting heads. We’ll have to fire everything if we want to be finished before Von Walen gets here. Clear?”

“Aye, commander.” Stein and Hans both said.

You could hear the further sounds of battle, but you were focused on your current fight; you’d listen to the report in a moment. Closer, you heard the tanks coming up; presumably having outpaced their accompanying infantry.

One T-15 and two T-8s graced you with their presence as they came over small rises. They had their guns pointed in preparation, but your appearance appeared to surprise them; you had the first shot.

>Pick targets for your two weapons; the 13mm Hull gun and the 47mm main gun, as well as where on the target you want to shoot.
>Any additional actions?

>>1795034
The Armor Academy is at the capital, so any officers will be trained there most of the time, as will most enlisted armor personnel after basic training. Infantry will usually keep to their local regions.

Something that is relatively common for lords with little manufacturing capability is to buy equipment from the capital- central is where most of the manufacturing sector is- but they can also request manpower for a fee if for whatever reason they do not want to draw from their own populace, although the situations that call for this don't pop up often.

The Archduke can also "assign" troops to territorial lords-this happens much more often than the lords requesting troops, particularly if the lord in question has done something suspicious, or more frequently, is judged to be in need of a gentle push to remind them whom they need to please.

Your (original) unit was actually near entirely of Central stock, but had been sent over for either the former or latter reason, though you're rather certain it was a request and not the Archduke throwing his weight around.

If I'm contradicting myself I apologize, it's been a bit since I wrote that part. I'm pretty sure I made it so that it wasn't really that much trouble for Richter to be in that position though.

>>1795087
To specify a bit more what I said central Strossvald is where most of the military manufacturing is. Lords who own their own weapons and equipment production aren't unheard of- Von Blum being one such- but most need at least a few things that come straight from the Archduke's own enterprises.

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>>1795087
Ah fuck, I don't know. The one on far right seems closest so why not go for that. I put red where I want to aim. This could easily be the place where the tank is most heavily armored, by all means somebody please correct me on this.

>>1795087
Primary Gun - The Lower Glacis of the rightmost tank as its cresting is completely flat to us right? Might be our fastest and best bet at disabling that thing before it puts the hurt on us.

Hull Gun - The left most T-8. If I remember the 13mm can perforate its hull quite well, especially at this range, so just spray the fuckers.

At work so I cant really draw a spot where specifically I want to target but the T-15, somewhere in the middle of the lower glacis where it has a chance of hitting the driver and going into the turret crew. Or create enough shrapnel to get a crew kill on it.
The T-8, generally vital area where the 13mm can perforate and spall all over the crew.

Okay, I thought that maybe Strossvald had like a Roman Empire system where troops would be cycled around the nation so that they would be more inclined to fight for the country and not their local lord, and that nobles would also be a part of this system to make rebellions more difficult.

>>1795150
Seconded; shoot it while it's creating the hill; the lower belly armour should be one of the weakest part of the tank. If our 13mm can penetrate either of the T8s then also shoot the one closer to us

>>1795150
I forgot about the different guns.

So I meant the Primary guns hitting rightmost tank and I guess the hull gun can do what >>1795175
wants, that seems good.

Rolled 6, 3, 3, 1, 5, 2 = 20 (6d6)

Aight, roll for deviation.

First come first serve 2d2, for direction.

Average of up to three 2d100 rolls.

Deviation is halved due to short range, final roll needs to be less than 80 to not deviate in a direction.

In case you feel like it after or during, roll a d20 and 2d3 as well for the soft target combat.

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d2)

>>1795200

Rolled 92, 38 = 130 (2d100)

>>1795200

Rolled 6, 78 = 84 (2d100)

>>1795200

Rolled 63, 60 = 123 (2d100)

>>1795200

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Rolled 30, 100 = 130 (2d100)

“Fire!”

With a crack of the main cannon, a hole appeared in the flat lower facing of the T-15’s armor. Despite the thickness of its plate, apparently, at this angle and this short distance, it offered little protection against the 4.7 cm cannon. You looked over in time to see Hans stitch a trail of bullet holes up the adjacent T-8.

Immediately after your hits, both the T-15 you had struck and the unmolested T-8 fired back.

Rolled 3, 3 = 6 (2d3)

>>1795200

Rolled 8 (1d10)

The T-8’s shot flew true, but its shell bounced harmlessly off of your panzer’s frontal arc with a CLANG that reverberated through the tank with a dim chime. The T-15 failed to strike at all; it had reversed immediately upon being struck, throwing its shot off and causing it to miss entirely.

Both the enemy tanks quickly followed their leader backwards; Hans’s furious firing had apparently slaughtered the commander of the other, as it had begun to reverse just after the T-15. Seeing its allies flee, the second T-8 had vanished, reversing, not keen on receiving the same treatment.

>Pursue them!
>Wait for Von Walen, then continue pressing forward.
>Wait here for any further intrusions; with you and Von Walen here, you ought to have a defensible enough position until you get further intelligence on anything else coming your way.
>Other?

Also I need a d20 for soft casualties in the big battle.
My roll is for what target callsign…“Waifu for Laifu” has found. 5+ for somebody important; 10 for 2 at once.

>>1795359
Sorry missed that part of the post asking for d20

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>1795359
Here you go

>>1795359
Forgot my adjustment.

Make that 2d10 so I can allocate more properly.

>>1795368
Don't worry about it.

Also if I'm not quick enough on the draw I'll just...I dunno, divide it arbitrarily.

Rolled 13, 11 = 24 (2d20)

>>1795359
Fuck mobileposting

>>1795372
Yeah I was too slow.

>>1795374
Ok that's a goodish ratio to go with.

>>1795359
>>Other?

Reverse and approach the hill from a new angle further to the left, and have von Walen crest from an angle further to the right. Try to time it so you both go over at the same time.

Rolled 2, 1 = 3 (2d3)

>>1795200
Incase you still want it

>>1795386
2nd
>>1795359

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Rolled 5, 3, 4, 4, 2 = 18 (5d6)

Rolling for return fire.

...what, you didn't think they wouldn't shoot back at least once, did you?

Although this last turn really wrecked them so it wouldn't be surprising if it was the only time.

>>1795427
Well, ouch.

Bat Company just took 8 hits, 5 on one section and 3 on the other.

I'mma need 8 d6 rolls for cover. 4+ is a save, but less than that means you've got some wounded.

>>1795427
Just to confirm we won't have to destroy all of the vehicles for them to surrender right? Another volley from us and I think their morale should break. Plus they're Merv's/gangers, so they're in my opinion less likely to fight to the death for some great cause.

>>1795446
They're already fleeing in parts; the tanks with yellow arrows have been abandoned and their crews are fleeing.

The 7 Platoon has broken and is in flight.

Rolled 5, 1, 1, 1, 5, 4, 6, 1 = 24 (8d6)

>>1795440


>>1795427
People should know when their beaten.

>>1795446
And to answer more precisely, yeah, they won't take much more of this, not at the rate this went.

>>1795453
Lmao all those 1's

>>1795456
Poor bloody infantry, huh?

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Rolled 6, 6, 3, 3 = 18 (4d6)

You elected to let the enemies before you go…for now.

“Von Walen,” you said over the platoon net, “I want you to peel to the right more, and I’ll go left. We’ll form a pincer on anybody left. Wait for my signal before you crest, we’ll do it both at the same time.”

“Copy that.” Came the reply from your officer.

After you instructed your driver what to do, and between corrections, you got updates from the rest of your men.
Bat Company’s first section had all but annihilated the enemy’s rear, but had been bloodied in the process; three casualties were reported. The second section still fought their enemy, but had only taken one casualty.

Von Neubaum dryly reported that one of the turned out enemy tank commanders’ heads had mysteriously exploded; this didn’t keep the formation from firing though; one strangely spitting fire down the road past its destroyed comrades, while the others had opened fire on Von Metzeler.

Von Metzeler reported damage to his tank; a strike to the turret had fouled the optics and damaged the hydraulic recoil mechanism badly.

Other than that, there was good news all around as the enemy force was rapidly evaporating.

>rolling to test the will of the remaining combatants; keep in mind that they don’t necessarily know just how many of them just ate it. If they roll below a 4, they're throwing down their shit and surrendering, above, and they're attempting to fight or flee.

>>1795480
Well darn. The damage to Metzeler's tank doesn't seem like we can repair it the field but other than that this ambush was quite effective.

When you and Von Walen had reached your spots, you transmitted the signal and shot over the top…

And found your targets out of their vehicles with their hands in the air. Behind them, a band of infantry had also thrown down their weapons.

Well, that wasn’t very climactic for you.

When you asked if there were similar results elsewhere, you were unpleasantly informed that two of the armor formations were still, indeed, putting up a fight. One being the unimpressive pair of light tanks, but the other being the most devastating group of three heavies.

“They are attempting to take their chances with going into the valet and driving on the scant bit of ground available,” Von Metzeler said, “Shall we finish them or allow them to reconsider their doom?”

>Finish them; they cannot be allowed to flee
>Allow them a chance to surrender; maybe they won't fire any further and cause more damage if you stop.
>Other?

>>1795494
>Finish them; they cannot be allowed to flee

Try firing another salvo at them; if they don't cease after that, then they're fair game.

>>1795494
>>Allow them a chance to surrender; maybe they won't fire any further and cause more damage if you stop.

Even if they don't surrender I don't think they pose much of a threat to us anymore, and I don't think we stand much to lose in the case of some of them getting away. We were planning on releasing the other prisoners anyway. May as well give them the chance to surrender; since they have no idea who we are they might be relieved to find that we aren't necessarily hell-bent on murdering them to the last man.

>Finish them; they cannot be allowed to flee

Can we do an open broadcast?

>"Death Heads, surrender now and I promise you'll live and allow your wounded friends a chance to live if you only surrender now. Lay down your weapons and exit your vehicles. Collect your wounded and bring them along the road to receive medical attention."

We can't hold prisoners, and theese men are beaten. We also might want to think about what we will do to that group that's seen and known us. Word might filter back and put Maddy in danger. Actually have our radioman announce the message Incase someone else recognizes our voice from our public challenge to Selgess.

>>1795531
>>1795510

Or if we want to look at it from a more cynical/amoral perspective, every Death Head we kill in this ambush before they surrender is one less person that might somehow report back to their base. Dead men tell no tales after all though we shouldn't kill them in cold blood.

>>1795538
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against killing everyone to the man here, I just don't see Richter as a butcher and I don't see him being one just yet. Maybe later if this journey breaks him.

But right now I think he'd at least give them a chance to surrender.

>>1795538
>one less person that might somehow report back to their base

That means we would have to execute all of the prisoners we captured earlier, as well as the combatants who already surrendered right in front of us just now. Unless you have a way to prevent all those people from reporting back to their base as well, there's no point in worrying about these remaining combatants surviving to tell their tale.

>>1795553
>>1795545
Do note in my original post I'm suggesting just to fire another round and see if them break after that. Whether what we choose to do with the prisoners we can all decide later; however for now if they're returning fire while trying to flee let's make sure that they're either disabled or cease their fire before dictating terms. To be honest I'm more concerned about a tank escaping rather than the crew after we disarm them; chasing after a vehicle would be a pain in the ass.

Rolled 96, 20, 34 = 150 (3d100)

don't mind me

I don't think Richter is at the point he'd commit such an act as killing surrendering troops.

I don't even think we really have to worry about them reporting to Blood Suns main base all that much, they'd be on foot we're pretty mototized l. I'm sure we could beat them there.

Also, I don't think our subordinates would entertain such an idea, anyhow.

You were thinking about what to do when you suddenly heard Von Neubaum whistle over the radio.

“What?” he asked when you demanded to know why he was whistling into the radio, “Oh, nothing. One of them tried to ride the edge of the smooth ground just near the mountain road and ended up tumbling into the canyon. The rest of them don’t seem so confident about that plan of action anymore.”

>Voting still open

>>1795577
Can we try aiming at their tracks instead?They're wavering now;if they see that they have no chance to escape they may finally throw down their arms.Even our 13mms should be able to do some damage.

>>1795573
They could always phone them up from the town after we leave. Or get a car to the next town if theres no phone out here.

>>1795494
>Allow them a chance to surrender; maybe they won't fire any further and cause more damage if you stop.
Maybe we'll save some ammo.

>>1795494
Open broadcast first and if they don't start IMMEDIATELY bailing out of their tank then:
>Finish them; they cannot be allowed to flee

Any that escape with their tanks may not be a threat to us but might exact revenge against the town and we cannot let that happen.

I'll start for today in about an hour.

“Hans,” you address your radio operator, “Go on open transmission and tell them to surrender and leave their tanks.”

“Wouldn’t you want to do that, boss?”

“They probably know my voice.”

“Alright,” Hans cleared his throat, “I’ll do my best, but they might not be listening…”

“There goes another one,” Von Neubaum said drily, “It looks like the big heavy hulks are well suited to those steep inclines.”

You couldn’t help but slump on the edge of the cupola and sigh. You had somewhat hoped to take some loot, and the Death Heads were busily throwing it and themselves into the depths. It would have been funny if it wasn’t also annoying.

“Boss,” Hans said over the intercom, “All I got was somebody asking who the hell we were.”

“Go back to Platoon transmission.” You said unenergetically, “Tell Von Metzeler and Von Neubaum to resume firing. The Blood Suns’ll figure it out eventually.”

When your eastern tanks had unleashed a final barrage, they reported the crews in their entirety abandoning their vehicles and running down the mountain. Not capturing them was a pain, but they at least had left behind their vehicles.
After a few minutes of silence, interrupted every so often by a shot taken by a Bat Company man who’d seen something, you called for a ceasefire and an analysis of the situation.

The four Bat Company wounded were a mixed bag; in the west, two were seriously wounded, having been shot in the torso, and were being tended to by the medics (while quite hurt it was concluded that they weren't in danger of dying "too quickly" in the medics' words), while the remaining had merely caught shrapnel and, although incapacitated, would likely recover quickly within a couple of days. The one who had been wounded in the east had taken a shot through the left upper arm; while the bleeding had been controlled and the wound bandaged, the man would be incapable of fighting in battle until the shattered bone had mended; something you probably couldn’t count on happening in the time of your mission. You didn’t know where Hilda was, but you presumed she’d show up at a convenient time.

The prisoners were quickly rounded up, and besides unmet demands to know just who you were and what you thought you were doing, they put up no resistance.

While the scene of the ambush was a smoking, oily, bloody burning mess, there was potentially salvage to be had. The smaller tanks could be moved relatively easily by your own equipment, and the heavies could likely be pushed aside with some effort from your own T-15.

The question of whether it was worth it for the time, or if there even was that much you wanted, was pertinent.

>Choose salvage procedure:

>Take everything you can; any intact vehicles, damaged ones that can be towed, and whatever can be stripped out or off of what can’t be moved.
>Leave any vehicles be; only take things that can be carried out.
>You don’t want to waste time or risk being ambushed while looting; scuttle all of the abandoned enemy vehicles, and leave once you’ve destroyed them all.
>Search for specific items/ take any other actions? (Write in)

>>1796496
Just take whatever we can strip off (spare parts, fuel,ammo etc.); maybe if one of the trucks is still intact we can use it to replace the one we lost. The rest of the vehicles we can "donate" to the East Valsteners.

To make things easier to digest since I'm back from an errand, here's a list of things that you can see from your position; a general overview, and not an in depth loot chart.

First glance spoils list:

X2 disabled T-8
X1 disabled T-8 SPG
X1 disabled T-15
X1 damaged T-15
X1 T-15
X3 T-8
X6 Utility Truck, 2.5 Ton
X2 Utility Truck, Damaged
X2 Towed Guns, unknown caliber, but appear to be Medium

Destroyed Vehicles (that didn’t careen down the cliff):
X2 T-8 SPG
X5 T-8


Also, there’s plenty of bodies and wounded with equipment to be stripped off of them.

Captured enemies include 16 Footmen and 7 crewmen. There are also an unknown quantity of wounded enemies in the former engagement zone; from the look of it, about half to three fifths are incapacitated but not dead (No word on how many are mortally wounded). The rest are assumed to have fled or been killed.

>>1796496
>>1796652

>take any vehicles that are still operational or easily repaired
>take anything that can be carried and toss it in the utility trucks- guns, ammunition, food, medical supplies, fuel cans, spare parts, etc.
>keep the towed guns assuming they have ammunition with them
>allow the prisoners to provide medical attention to their wounded, our medics can help once they're done with our own

>>1796652
>>1796713
How much excess manpower do we have to man any spare vehicles? No point taking all of them if we don't have the crews.

>>1796713
Second

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>>1796496
Mostly supporting
>>1796713
But I think we should only take them as far as the town and sell them/give them away while taking particular vehicles we want. It already took a few extra infantryman just to crew the spare T-15 we had looted long before this.

Unless we can recruit people on the way I doubt we'll be able to use anymore vehicles effectively. Definitely replace the lost truck or two though, scavenge for portable lootables.

Maaaaybe we can do some kind of trickery with extra vehicles/booby traps or sell them in Sosaldt but I'd rather just keep them from the Death Heads one way or another.

Definitely let them tend to their wounded under heavy guard.

Check on Hilda when she comes in to see how shaken up she is. If she's okay, get her to keep an eye out for rogue combatants.

Is Squeak and their makeup friend among the prisoners?
We also need to figure out what to do with them all. Give them a truck/food and tell them to go back up the mountain? Of course after we lie to them and say we're staying here awhile.

>>1796719

I was thinking we could just use them as replacement vehicles for in case any of our main ones get knocked out or disabled beyond what we can repair, like von Metzeler's may be. In the mean time we can just tow them or have a single person drive each one.

>>1796719
Right now you can't even really man all the equipment you currently have without taking out of what is supposed to be infantry.

A possible idea would be to take the equipment and, since no conflict can be reasonably expected, sell them or trade them.

>>1796774
>>1796781
OK, so how about we sell most of the vehicles to the East Valsteners, and keep a few as spares? The trucks and towed guns would be useful for giving Bat Company extra firepower with trying to convert them into tankees, for example.

>>1796802

We can sell the damaged and disabled ones, which leaves us four intact reserve vehicles. Should be enough. Though hopefully we can fix von Metzler's tank with whatever spares and scrap we captured so we won't have to use one of those reserves now.

>>1796840
I was thinking we try to salvage the parts from the vehicles to try fixing the least damaged ones. So we take 1-2 of the T15s, the T8 SPG if we can repair it using parts from the T8 light tank, some of the 2.5 tons and the guns. The rest we sell.

>>1796859

If we can fix them that sounds good.

You instructed your men to gather the survivors and prisoners, and allow the former enemy combatants to give one another medical aid; and told the Captain that you wanted your medics to help as well, when they were done with your own wounded.

The Captain seemed hesitant to relay the latter, but did so anyways. He was much more approving when you added the caveat of them doing it under heavy guard.

You thought that the Captain’s idea to hold them up with the flamethrowers may have been a bit much, but he was the expert, evidently.

The scene of any slaughter was hardly a pleasant thing to look at, but you were stunned by how it wasn’t the sight that disturbed you; it was like any photograph or account that had been related in training.

It was the smell of burnt human flesh that bothered you the most.

Something that also bothered you was how complacent the Sosaldtians seemed to be with handling their own dead. They didn’t display a complete lack of emotion, but none of them were running high, weeping, or anything you expected. They merely shared a similar look of grim acceptance, as if this was something they had seen before, and had always been prepared for; if not necessarily in the way that this had happened.

You took Jorgen and Malachi, your relative heavyweights, with you to examine the possible salvage more closely. You certainly didn’t need any of it, but with all the dangerous threats to your mission for now handily dispossessed of any way of harming you, you figured it couldn’t hurt.

You looked over a truck whose engine steamed and hissed, the engine and cab riddled with holes from machine gun fire. It wasn’t a model you recognized; it was probably some conversion of a civilian model of cargo truck from somewhere east. The engine was still running, albeit unevenly; nobody had gotten the chance to turn the vehicle off.

You looked in the back and noted that, besides some garbage, there was nothing inside. A personnel carrier, presumably.

You looked in the rest and found that most of the trucks were similarly lacking in anything interesting inside, save for one that had a small pile of rough looking round stones, all roughly the size of a fist.

Presumably these were stolen eggs. There must have been more; though this was a large amount of eggs, it wasn’t nearly enough that you would think that the entire crustacean population of the mountain pass would have to mobilize in response.

You clicked your tongue as you noticed large pieces of a shell; collateral damage, but where you expected to find naught but the usual messy contents of a broken egg, you instead found something surprising.

Almost a centimeter smaller than the stony eggs, there was a round object with some shell still stuck on it, that softly glowed with many colors, like a luminescent cut opal. It was quite familiar looking, in a way.

You fished the Radiant Pearl from your pocket and held it up next to the egg, comparing them. The egg was noticeably duller, but was still remarkably similar.

Something to consider, perhaps. A greedy idea was forming in some deep part of your mind, one that the rest of your head dismissed as an unintelligent idea.

“Luut,” you heard Jorgen cutting New Nauk to pieces outside of the truck, “Wuut ded you fend?”

“Just rocks.” You said, climbing out the back, “We’re moving on.”

The trucks that were dragging guns behind them turned out to be the real prizes. They were stuffed not only with what were presumably shells and equipment for the guns, but what was recognizable as boxes of ammunition and ration tins, the latter identifiable not by the lettering, but by the box of ones that had been opened and not finished. You couldn’t read the lettering, after all- they were written in Cael; a language that only the eastmost inhabitants of Twaryi read and spoke. They most likely came from there; it would be absurd for these to have come all the way from Caelus, which was still across the eastern sea even if a Great Gale did not obstruct travel to and from it.

The guns themselves were a model you recognized as 8cm infantry guns; an old sort that Strossvald used to use, but that had been discarded in favor of the smaller and lighter 7.5cm infantry support guns. The 8cms were simply built too bulkily in exchange for not enough firepower; a clumsily designed weapon that had been sold off in its entirety back in 1930, last seeing service in the last war with Valsten.

“Yeeo tek jib tuumi commant.”

“Waat heh sed.”

If there was anything worse than hearing New Nauk out of someone who barely knew it, it was hearing it spoken at the same time as somebody who couldn’t pronounce a bit of it. You got the message that your crew weren’t interested in the little histories of pieces of equipment.

The trucks that carried the good stuff were definitely overloaded; when you examined the next one, you noticed that both it, and the last one, were sagging visibly under the weight of their cargo. With no need to keep space for passengers, you figured you could have the loading done more intelligently.

For the tanks, you brought the mechanics along, after the perimeter had been secured more thoroughly. Each time you came upon a disabled tank you thought you’d like to make functional again, they grimaced, crawled all over it, and told you things you didn’t want to hear.

“You must be fooling with me,” the one with a moustaches so bushy you couldn’t see his mouth, so him talking looked like he was just wriggling his moustache, “Caelussian pieces of crap. Smitty, Smitty!” he called to his counterpart, “How in the hell do you get into the big thing’s engine?”

“Out the bottom, looks like,” Smitty said, looking underneath the T-15 with an electric torch.

“Mess to that then.”

“What do you mean, mess to that?” you asked.

“Whatever engineer designed this didn’t think it was important for just anybody to be able to get at the inner works. You’d need a special facility designed just for this thing to drop the engine out of the bottom.”

“So I’m hearing that you’re a genius and you can fix it without doing that.” You made a valiant attempt, but the older mechanic only scoffed.

“If I were that good I’d not be in the army.” He tapped his partner on the back, “Come on Smitty, let’s look at whatever the next horrible Caelus Shit the commander wants us to pull a miracle out of our arses with.”

Ultimately the mechanics didn’t paint a rosy picture of what they could fix.

“We can cannibalize the ones there and there,” the thick stache said, pointing to tanks in the column that were less charcoal than they appeared to be, “and we’d have the parts to repair the little one with the big gun, and one of the little ones. The other one needs a complete engine replacement, and we can’t do that out here. We don’t got a wrecker to lift engines out with.”

“What about the T…the big ones?” you pointed out the two heavies the mechanic had neglected to mention.

“The one in back’s had the access hatch smashed through the engine near out the damn top of the thing,” the mechanic flicked the corner of his moustache, “That’s what we call a bunker, now. The other one, you shot a hole right through it, but it’s still drivable as long as you like dirt and rocks flying in through the hole.”

“Also if you like those bits of person sprayed all around its ceilings.” The mechanic called Smitty added.

“I think you’re better off pulling these bum ones behind if you want them,” the older mechanic said, “If you wanted us to fix them here, and I’m not saying we definitely can, we’d need a day or two. If we had that long we might be able to figure out some more with what to do with all this…scrap.”

>If you think we should tow them, we tow them. I’ve had enough of this dreary dump, I don’t want to stay here any longer.
>You’ve got until the afternoon. Fix these things.
>We can stay. We’re not in any hurry.
>Other?

Other inputs will come after; this sort of things needs to be broken up into several decisions after all.

>>1797136
By other inputs I mean, naturally, the other write in options from the last thing about what to do.

>>1797136
>>1797134

Sorry, do you mind posting the list of things we can take if we cannibalize everything in list format like >>1796652 for clarity.Thanks man!

>>1797180
The ones being stripped for parts are ones that are marked as "destroyed;" they're just not so destroyed, upon closer inspection, that they can't have useful bits taken from them.

Unless you're planning on dragging killed armor, there shouldn't be any change.

>>1797136

So if we take the three tanks the mechanic is pointing out as salvageable we would be taking seven tanks overall, including the four that aren't listed as damaged or disabled?

>>1797219
If you chose to take them all, yes.

Depends if you think it's worth it since one of the things that seems to have not made it out of the valley is a fueler vehicle.

You have one, of course, so it wouldn't be that much of a problem.

>>1797136
>>1797243

>>If you think we should tow them, we tow them. I’ve had enough of this dreary dump, I don’t want to stay here any longer.

Let's take all seven then. The rest can be towed into town and sold to any willing locals, or dumped otherwise.

>>1797271
As long as there's enough fuel sure I'll be supporting, Are we also taking all 6 trucks?

>>1797281

I'm not sure if we need all that carrying capacity, since most of them were empty to begin with. If we do and the damaged ones can be fixed easily enough then sure, but otherwise I think we're fine with the 6 undamaged ones. We can fill them with all our loot and stock up on extra food from the town before we leave.

>>1797296

Whoops misread the numbers, but yeah we should take them all.

>>1797299
Ok then, we can sell the other 2 damaged ones in the town; they should be more relevant for the civilians.

“If you think we should tow them, then that’s what we’ll do.” You decided, “I’ve had enough of this dreary dump, I don’t want to stay here any longer.”
“I rather liked it…” the mechanic called Smitty mumbled.

-----

While tanks made rather clumsy road clearance tools, since most of the obstructing vehicles were light gear, it was a simple task to use the T-15 (You wouldn’t use your m/32s as bulldozers; they were deserving of more dignity) to push each wreck that blocked the way to the side. You had each small tank pushed over the edge; let the valley do the work for you, you figured. The echo of each vehicle tumbling down and crashing over rocks was the music of that morning after the opening score that was the battle. The townspeople must have been quite confused.

While the road was being cleared, you were having other people redistribute the loads of the trucks, when you realized you hadn’t linked back up with Hilda yet. She had been isolated from the others; had she been shot? You had to go look for her.

It was something you probably could have had somebody else do, in hindsight, but you felt a sort of responsibility for getting her involved in any case. Besides, your subordinates were handling their duties well.

You had had her positioned to the north and east side, on the same level as the band you had ambushed. It wasn’t like her to flee, you thought; there would have been a reason for her not to appear after the fighting was done.

You had your answer sooner rather than later, as you caught Hilda walking up the road in your direction.

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She wore her coat on only one arm, letting the rest of it dangle from her. She was covered in small, bloody nicks, and an ugly gash split the right side of her face, painting one side of her red.

You quickened your pace to meet with her. “Are you alright?” you asked.

“I got blown up,” was all she said, in her typical monotone. “I’ve had worse.”

“Now is not the time for that,” you scolded, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Something blew up near me,” she said, as though she hadn’t heard you, “I got knocked out. I woke up a minute ago. I looked at myself, but I didn’t see anything too bad. Felt something bad on my face…but it’s not like I can get any uglier anyways.”

>…you’d be surprised.
>Nobody’s looking at your face, anyways. Let’s get you back with everybody else.
>You ought to sit here and rest. I’ll send somebody after you.
>Well, if you’re feeling fine, I’ll leave you to it. Just checking to make sure you didn’t die.
>Other

>>1797378
>>Nobody’s looking at your face, anyways. Let’s get you back with everybody else.

Let's get a medic to check on her.

>>1797136
>Radiant Pearl

Oh fuck yes. Gotta show that to Maddy. Someday.

>Loot?
What other anons have said works for me, we'll take a better stock of which ones we want when we dump our shit, I mean sell our prizes to the locals.

One thing I had forgotten was we're gonna need some trucks to move the hostages. I dunno how many trucks we need for 200+ people though.

>Other inputs will come after; this sort of things needs to be broken up into several decisions after all.

Such is the price for VICTORY. Praise Strossvald Jesus we actually pulled this shit off lads.

>>1797378
Oh shit not Callsign Waifu!
>Let’s get you back with everybody else.
>Other
>That was one helluva shot you made on an enemy commander, I'm glad the Death Heads aren't nearly a good a shot as you are.

>>1797381
>>1797389
Supporting

“Nobody’s looking at your face anyways,” you tried to smile at the bloody mess in front of you, “Let’s get you back with everybody else.”

Hilda looked ever so slightly upset. “What do you mean, nobody’s looking at my face anyways.”

“That was a hell of a shot you made on that officer,” you congratulated Hilda, sidestepping her question, “I’m glad the Death Heads aren’t nearly as good a shot as you are.”

“What did you mean.” Hilda said again.

Uh oh.

>Forget about it. It’s not supposed to mean anything.
>Dear, you’re covered in scars and you stare at everybody like you’re going to stab them. It’s just fact.
>I’m sorry, I’m too busy admiring your social nature and your stunning self-confidence to remember what I just said. Really distracting.
>What do you think I meant?
>Other?

>You stare at everybody like you’re going to stab them. People are scared to look you in the eyes .

>>1797441
Seconding, all of the above options sound pretty bad anyway. :P

I would like to weigh in on the topic of loot as well:

Why do we need seven tanks we don't have crews for? They'll just be guzzling fuel and spare parts.
I see three ways to utilize them:
1. Sell them to the Valsteners
2. Recruit some locals for the crews
3. Organize quick tanker courses for the Bat Company men
We definitely need to take the SPG along though, because we're going to face fortifications.

Also an anon above is right, we'll need to transport the hostages somehow, so let's take all the trucks that still work.

>>1797456

The extra tanks are reserves. Out here we have no replacement or resupply so if one of our tanks is destroyed or damaged beyond what we can repair we're permanently out a tank and have a useless crew. This way we'll never have to worry about that. As you said we can also train some of the bat company men to use the tanks for situations where infantry are just not useful. The consumption of fuel and spare parts can also be limited because half of the reserve tanks can tow the other half.

>>1797596
Towing a tank with another one doesn't magically let you use half the fuel. You're still moving the same mass.

>>1797638
Also it'll strain the engine by making it move twice the mass it was designed to.

>>1797596
>>1797638
>>1797654
Would also like to point out it's not that easy to train the infantry to be tankers. Even in real life it takes a few months.

>>1797409
>Other?
People aren't starring at your face because you can get pretty intense.
When they look at you, they feel inadequate because you're strong, tough and they feel like you are challenging them.

You should try smiling sometimes, it's not like it would hurt you.

>>1797882
I guess this, it's better than "bitch you ugly"

Fuckin' hell, Richter. I thought I couldn't talk to women.

>>1797882
Supporting

>>1797882
>>1798206
I'll third that motion.

Alright I'm back now

I'll get started again in...an hour, maybe a bit sooner.

You looked all about uncertainly. “Well,” you started as Hilda stared at you, “It’s the way you look at people. You usually look…intense. With that sort of look, most who look back think you’re daring them to come at you. You’re strong and tough, so when most people meet your eyes, they feel that they can’t measure up.”

Hilda was inscrutable at the best of times, but you could tell from the short sigh she responded with that she thought you were blowing smoke up her ass.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to smile sometimes.” You offered innocently.

“Hmph.” Hilda walked past you, chewing on her lower lip, “I guess it wouldn’t.” As you turned about and started walking in pace with her, towards the rest of your group, she added, “Say something that would make me smile, then.”

“Ah,” you said, before thinking on that.

Hilda was insistent. “You know something that would. Don’t you.”

You must have not said anything for longer than was tolerable, since she made a hurt, dissatisfied sound before not saying anything the rest of the way.

Hilda left you behind once you arrived at the primary mass of people, and you noticed that more trouble had arrived in the form of the Riverman, who was exchanging strong words with some of your men.

“These are important artifacts,” you heard him insist to a person you recognized as Bat Company’s second squad leader, “I’m not trying to steal anything, these eggs must be returned!”

“You’re not returning nothing til the commander gets back,” the NCO said heatedly, “You can wait.” He noticed you returning, and added, “There he is now, actually. Get out of my face.”

The Riverman looked over and slid in front of you. “I see you’ve concluded your bloody business.”

“I have,” you said, “So you want those eggs back?”

“It is not a matter of just my wants. Returning those will pacify the creatures. Surely you found the stolen items when you were searching your spoils, did you not?”

>Of course, they’re right over here…(Hand over them all)
>Now hold on, I didn’t agree to find these things for you. I looked and didn’t find anything, you’d be better off looking for the vehicles they lost. (Blatant Lie)
>I did, but one looked like it broke. Can I keep that one, just because I’m so considerate of the crabs? (Negotiate)
>Other?

>>1799063
Return all the eggs except the Radiant Pearl-like things.

>>1799063
>I did, but one looked like it broke. (Negotiate)
>Other?
>I'm keeping it as payment as per my contract with the Crab Empire by Her Crustiness, may her pincers find peace.

I seriously doubt we could keep these things hidden for long considering the magic juju the pearls seem to radiate. And then he'd constantly try and thwart us to take them back if we did try to hide them.

>>1799090
>>1799098

Seconding

>>1799098
3rd-ing

“I did find them,” you said with no small measured of self-assurance, “but one looked like it broke. I’m keeping that one as payment per my contract with the Crab Empire by Her Crustiness, may her pincers find peace.”

The Riverman didn’t look amused. “Spare me your attempts at comedy, and show me.”

When you did, the Riverman made absolutely no attempt to hide his otherworldly abilities; all of the eggs he spied simply rolled towards him and hopped over the edge of the truck and slowly descended to form a neat pile on the ground, much to the amazement of the NCO who accompanied you.

“And this,” the Riverman palmed the egg that appeared to be broken, “Is not broken. The outermost section has merely been destroyed. However…” he held it out to you, “I suppose your efforts must be redeemed in some way, if only to pacify your natural tendencies towards greed.”

“Whatever, Sea-Roach,” you said, snatching the luminescent globe away from him, “So how are you going to return these things?”

“I will let them lay in the mountains,” the Riverman said, picking the topmost egg off of the pile, “The Living Stones will find them eventually. They are under no danger of being predated upon in this stage. Even the outermost layer is as hard and rugged as stone.” With a snapping of his hand, the pile of eggs lined up behind the Soulbinder in a neat file; the NCO with you walked off, clearly unable to tolerate more of this magic show. “Now unless there was anything else, I will be departing after this errand.” The Riverman said, “I seem to have the fortune of meeting you when I least expect it, so I will expect it to happen in the future, even if I do not want to.”

>There was just one thing. I’ll give you five pfennings to stay away.
>I don’t know what to do with you, but I get the feeling I’ll want you around at some point. Is there some way I can contact you easily?
>Come straight back after returning those eggs. I’ll pay to keep you around, even.
>I have something specific in mind. (Write in)
>Other actions or considerations?

>>1799373
>I don’t know what to do with you, but I get the feeling I’ll want you around at some point. Is there some way I can contact you easily?
>I have something specific in mind. (Write in)
We're going to be heading towards the Death Heads base in Sosaldt, I want to meet there if you are still interested in payment.

>>1799373
>>There was just one thing. I’ll give you five pfennings to stay away.

>>1799473
Supporting
Feel like something will go amiss with the rescue mission. We're gonna need that insurance

>>1799473
Supporting

“I don’t know what I’d do with you, honestly,” you told the Riverman’s back, “but I get the feeling I’ll want you around at some point, as strange as that might sound. We’re heading to the Death Heads’ base in Sosaldt. If you’re interested in more money, be there when we arrive.”

“Todesfelsen, you mean.” The Riverman replied to you, “I will try to make time for it.”

With that he walked into the fog, a trail of stone-looking eggs rolling behind him.

“After we get done here,” you heard the NCO say to one of his fellows behind you, “Before we leave, I’m going to whatever bar they have here and getting blasted.”

-----

While you didn’t really have any way to drag every single piece of junk that you had created out of the roads, you were still hauling quite a few things. The idea of replacements for losses was the most useful one, but there was also the natural allure of profit; something that you felt nobody could blame you for taking advantage of. It was either that or destroy the equipment.

The less distance you had to drag anything, though, the better. While all of your tanks were plenty capable of towing equipment of a similar size to them, you’d rather not abuse their engines by towing long hauls. A tank wasn’t a trailer, after all, so the more you could sell sooner, the better.

You went to the Ranger commander in the town first; you knew that East Valsten purchased arms from Sosaldt at times; certainly they wouldn’t turn down your business?

The Ranger Commander turned down your business as soon as you brought it up.

“I neither have the funds nor the authority to buy any of your…tanks,” he said, taking off his cap and putting it on the table of the office he led you to after meeting with him, “How much would you sell them for, anyways? Even a small tank is quite expensive. These tanks are of little use to us Rangers, as well. We walk the mountains, and the only things that can walk with us are mules.”

One part of what he said gave you pause for thought. You had no idea how much a T-8 or a T-15 was worth, honestly. You could make a guess, but you were completely lacking in any experience in tank selling. A new m/28 was worth almost twenty one thousand strossmarks, you knew; an m/32 nearly ten thousand more, but prices even then varied based off of who made them.

There were likely experts you could consult in the black markets of Sosaldt’s arms trade, at least.

“Listen,” the Ranger officer said, “I am not interested in buying any of your new acquisitions, but I can tell you where an eager market is.”

“Do tell, then.” You said, your interest piqued.

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“About a half day’s travel to the south and east,” the Ranger officer searched for something in his desk, and retrieved a map; a general one, not one with particular details of roads and geographical features. “There is a city called Fort Fallowe…yes, it was once a fort, from the time of the Kaiser, but what used to be the fort became the center for a city state. It pays taxes to East Valsten, but does not answer to it. It’s the gateway to Sosaldt, of sorts. Goods of all sorts flow in and out of it. If you want to trade something like you have…that’s the place.”

“Eh,” you noticed something you didn’t like, “That’s quite a diversion for us.”

“You were going to Sosaldt, right?” the Ranger asked.

“I don’t know how you possibly could have figured that out.”

“Then you’re going through Fort Fallowe or you’re not going anywhere,” the Ranger said, neatly folding the map, “For one, the government is not fond of anybody taking war materiel out of the country without proper documentation and the right words from the right people. No pre-approvement, either. A direct line has to be established, and an inspection carried out in lieu of that.”

You grimaced. You had false papers, provided as part of your grand disguise, but you doubted that they would withstand rigorous inspection, let alone from somebody from the greater Blood Suns organization itself.

“The other reason,” the Ranger continued, “Is because of the war. As a precaution, the borders with Sosaldt are closed and any traffic is redirected, since formations might have to be drawn away for another conflict, weakening the border guard. The only place where this isn’t upheld is Fort Fallowe, because it is a self-governing state within our territory.”

“Fantastic,” you muttered, “I appreciate your advice, though.”

When you arrived back at your forces, you took out one of your maps and studied it. From what it looked like, Fort Fallowe was quite a ways south, and through the hostile lands of Sosaldt, the extra distance you would have to go to get to your final destination would likely be practically twice what it looked taking into consideration the possible dangers and obstructions.

You had no doubts that you could break through border guards, if absolutely necessary, but that would be far from ideal.

This would all be simpler if you could cross into Strossvald, but if what the IO had said was true, you and your band were now deserters. Even if you repainted your vehicles to look like the proper nationality, as soon as your identities were discovered, you would doubtless be arrested, and with your mission incomplete, unlikely to be aided by your Intelligence Office masters.

Even worse, crossing into Strossvald this close to Sosaldt meant facing the wrath of the eastern border guards; the sort of people from which the 3rd Holtenberg’s Bat Company was picked. If you were to do something as foolhardy as try and fight your way through, you would practically be committing very embarrassing suicide.

>It’s the only legitimate way through and you have goods to sell. To Fort Fallowe you go.
>You have plenty of gold burning a hole in your pocket; there’s nobody you won’t be able to bribe into compliance, so stay the course.
>You have plenty of tanks, and you have no time to delay. It’s best to try and break through the border, counting on your mass and surprise to avoid harm to either you or any East Valsteners.
>Other?

>>1799914
>Option 1
We can always resort to bribery though.... maybe throw in a couple of excess tanks as "donations" to help the war effort.

>>1799914
>You have plenty of gold burning a hole in your pocket; there’s nobody you won’t be able to bribe into compliance, so stay the course.

We've already dallied enough and while more money is good the odds of getting stopped somewhere or tipping off a spy in the Fort that works for the Blood Suns is too great. There's bound to be someone down there that will recognize the tanks and wonder who we are. If it's a gateway to Sosaldt for us, it's a gateway for all mercs as well.

We have to remember that the longer we take to get to the hostages the more likely something will happen to them and the harder it is for Strossvald to explain away not fighting West Valsten.

>Other?
Take the trucks, food/ammo/spare parts and maybe the one other T-15 (if my memory is right) with us, scrap the rest.

>>1799957
Switching to this instead

>>1799957
Supporting

>>1799957
Support.

But see if we can trade away the hulks here for food.

Also we're just letting the Death Heads walk right? We can't detain and the rangers won't want them. I wouldn't mind bringing the group we captured earlier down, thanking them for their help in front of the others and driving off after telling them to do with the survivors as they wish.

>>1799914
>>It’s the only legitimate way through and you have goods to sell. To Fort Fallowe you go.

>>1799957
This but take the SPG and field guns, not T-15

>>1800651
Seconded

Tragically, you would have to take a trip to this Fort Fallowe place some other time. The distance you had to cover was too great for the time you were willing to keep Maddalyn in the clutches of a band of brigands. Purposefully delaying her rescue any further, when there were no threats coming for you to deal with, was simply…unseemly.

Also there was other hostages.

You weren’t particularly sure what to do with your newly gained loot, either. Though you certainly had plenty, since you weren’t planning on taking it in mass to sell any longer, the best thing to do with most of it would be to leave it here. The Ranger had refused to buy any of it, though, and you doubted the townspeople had the willingness or means to buy it either. If you were them, in fact, you’d simply pick at whatever was left behind.

If you were particularly spiteful you could threaten to destroy anything left behind instead of letting them have it, but would they care that much? From how quickly the Ranger had dismissed your attempts to sell him your things, the loss would may as like not even be noticed.

There was also the trouble of the prisoners you had taken. You hardly wanted to care for them or try and contain them, considering how substantial their numbers were relative to your own; perhaps a few wouldn’t be a problem, but taking all of them seemed quite unnecessary.

At the very least, the very necessary new cargo of freshly purchased beers, you had been informed, had been retrieved.

>Final preparations for leaving town:
I’m just doing this final wrap up to make sure everybody’s on the same page. I won’t be starting proper for a few hours yet, so I figured I may as well put this up for a while.
>Prisoners:

>Release them all; their equipment and weapons will be disposed of, the most harm they could offer is hurtful words.
>Take a few select prisoners; they might be useful later.
>Release them, but set them against each other; the earlier group against the latter. The more time they spend fighting each other, the less they’ll spend possibly trying to pursue you.
>Other?

Vehicles and Loot: (Available Ammunition, heavy weapons such as machine guns, food, and fuel is assumed to be taken by default)

>Take all intact and undamaged vehicles. (Six trucks, two towed guns, three T-8s and one T-15)
>Tow the disabled T-8 SPG and take a T-8 to cannibalize for parts to repair the former later, as well as the trucks and guns.
>Only take the trucks, guns, and intact T-15
>Write in other mix?

While I think the loot option’s already had a lot of votes specifying a certain option, I want to be sure. As is, I think the third option is what received the most support, but again, just want to be sure in case other voices feel differently or if there’s any change in heart.

>>1801507
>Take a few select prisoners; they might be useful later.

I didn't notice the SPG was disabled. T-8 are those tanks you need a pit to replace the engine, right? Then
>Only take the trucks, guns, and intact T-15
We aren't guaranteed to come upon proper repair facilities.

What are we going to do with the one-legged girl, anons? I propose to pay the Riverman to deliver her back to her grandpa.

>>1801525
No, the T-15's the one whose engine you have to drop out under it.

The T-8s just have an easy access hatch right up top, and their engines aren't as big either. A T-15 after all is a relatively heavy support tank, while a T-8's a two person steel box with a gun stuck up top.


>one legged girl

I actually forgot to mention that. yeah, you should probably decide what to do with her too, if you want.

>>1801530
Then I change my vote to
>Tow the disabled T-8 SPG and take a T-8 to cannibalize for parts to repair the former later, as well as the trucks and guns.

Proper artillery support is very nice.
Why can't we repair the SPG right here though?

>>1801533
You can, if you want to. It'd be a few more hours of waiting for the mechanics to find out exactly what's broken and rip the right things out of the others to replace the bits. It's just slower.

>>1801542
We can't repair it while towing anyway, can we? Why is it slower?

>>1801547
>We can't repair it while towing anyway, can we?

That would be extremely unsafe and not an ideal work environment.

If you fix it here, you don't have to drag any other vehicles to get parts from later. If you want to do it on the way, you take a second vehicle and take care of it while you're stopped somewhere.

>>1801556
That's why I proposed to fix it here.

Status on wounded?

Are they stable enough to move? If not we should stick around until they are, maybe even get them to town. Gives us time to repair the vehicles we take.

If they are stable, I'd rather not stick around. From what I understand a group of Death Heads didn't surrender but routed. They might come back and hit us while we're in the open.

>>1801559
>Are they stable enough to move?

They are.

> From what I understand a group of Death Heads didn't surrender but routed.

This is indeed the case.

None of their vehicles or heavy gear made it out, though.

>>1801566
Even without vehicles, were walking around in full view, a Noble and officer.probably walks with a certain bearing. We stick out.

>>1801507
Leave the prisoners tied up, but in a way one can until themselves after sometime to help the others. Also if the guys who ran come back they can untie the others. Make sure their wounded won't bleed out, but that's all. don't really want to execute any of them after they've surrendered.

Tbh I don't really want to take any broken tanks. The Trucks yes. We can buy tanks in Sosaldt in better condition, or hire more "loyal" mercs. I say take what we can salvage in 15 minutes while we tie up the guys and go.

Pick up the first group of.prisoners and drop them off at some point down the road. Keep em in separate trucks if possible.

>>1801507
>Take a few select prisoners; they might be useful later.

We want the officers or the veterans specifically for their knowledge of the enemy hierarchy or base fortifications.

For the rest of the enemy:
>Release them, but set them against each other; the earlier group against the latter. The more time they spend fighting each other, the less they’ll spend possibly trying to pursue you.

>Tow the disabled T-8 SPG and take a T-8 to cannibalize for parts to repair the former later, as well as the trucks and guns.

That shouldn't cause too much trouble to tow and I forgot the T-15 would be a major repair to fix so we can replace it with a maybe useable SPG.

>one legged girl
Ask the Rangers/Mayor to take care of her and send her back when the fog clears from the mountains. Mention who caused her injury and how.

And finally scrap what we leave behind. I see no reason to give it to the Rangers, who knows they might even sell them back to the prisoners.

>>1801530
>one legged girl

Tempted to bring her along to start up that Von Tracht Home for Damaged and Disabled Girls

We can teach her to cook for us

For the one legged girl, perhaps we should see if she can stay with somebody in this town.

Towing around cripples battle to battle doesn't seem very responsible.

>>1801592
Rangers won't be able to send the girl back. She's from West Valsten, there's a war in the way.

Cant we just leave the girl at the bar owner's place? He seems like a decent chap.

>>1801640
Looking after a disabled girl with serious PTSD can quickly become annoying. It risks her being thrown out.

>>1801671
Or monetized

>>1801671
Might as well take her along with us then

>>1801704
Riverman can probably transport her home without any problems.

>>1801707
Im not sure if the Riverman has access to magical teleportation. That will probably take him a couple of days, if not weeks. Do we have the luxury of time to delay our mission on the fort and remove a helpful asset?

>>1801716
We won't be at the fort for a couple of days at the least. And Riverman certanly can teleport, he does it every fricking time we see him, the showoff.

>>1801721
Might as well wait for the dimwit to return and provide him the other half of his payment to return the girl with instructions to meet us at the fort.
This scrapping operation is going to take a while.

I would think it would be the job of the Rangers to take care of lost/wounded people in the mountains.

>>1801734
This. There is really no reason to take her with us.

>>1801734
>>1801744
It's not the job of Rangers to care for mentally imbalanced people for an indefinite amount of time. Her family is on the other side of the frontline.

>>1801753
Sure, they aren't responsible for her, per se. But I'm sure they won't just kick her into the rode and let her starve, I'm absolutely sure we could find somebody who'd be willing to look after her until she get's semi-well again.

>>1801765
>Accepting one more mouth to feed in the middle of a war
>It's a child from the enemy side
There a people like that, but how long will we have to look?

>>1801768
Well if we don't find somebody we'll take her with us, it's not that big of a deal.

>>1801768
>>1801783
I'd like to note that your conversation with the barkeeper earlier revealed that the people here might have western sympathies.

This place is where the Riverman comes from, after all.

I'll be starting again in an hour and fifteen minutes.

>>1801827
>barkeeper earlier revealed that the people here might have western sympathies

I was thinking the barkeep would take her. He was eager enough to feed her and such.

>>1801827
Jeez I'm bad at this

Okay now I'm back, update soon

You had the prisoners combed through for leaders and veterans, but found a disappointing shortage of any that stood out in particular; when pressed, any prisoners simply claimed ignorance with different levels of desperation; a lot of them had run away, they would claim; all they knew is that this person or that person was dead.

In the end, the only person who you knew was once a leader among them was the one of the group you’d had fished out by the Riverman.

He would have to do, whoever he was.

Once that man had been bound like a hog and tossed in the back of a truck with three particularly burly standouts from Bat Company, you had everybody else’s hands and ankles tied and brought into a large pile.

As for what to take, after having the undamaged trucks, the towed guns, and any valuable resources stripped from what was being left behind taken away, you had an undamaged, tiny T-8 rigged up to help a disabled SPG Variant limp along; at the first opportunity, you would use one to fix the other, so you had decided the T-8 could take some abuse.

When Von Walen pointed out that one of the T-15s was actually perfectly intact, you grew exasperated and relented to taking that thing too. If you didn’t end up wanting it, you would just siphon the remaining fuel and leave it somewhere on the road, anyways. After second thoughts, you had the SPG hooked to be towed by the heavier vehicle, instead.

Once everything was ready to move, you had any remaining ammunition that you didn’t want to take tossed into the canyon, weapons crushed under treads and similarly disposed of, and the vehicles stripped of any remaining gasoline and safely stored in your own vehicles. You had decided to just leave those be for any East Valsteners who wanted to take them, since you couldn’t sell them anyways, but sufficiently disabled so any of the brigands who freed themselves would find themselves unable to retake their things or use them in some misguided act of vengeance against the town ahead.

After everything was taken care of and you were all prepared for the march, you stood before the prisoners, while flanked by two of your officers, and announced their freedom…once they had helped each other out of their bonds.

“As a parting gift,” you shouted out, “One group of you sold the rest of you out. Which one it was…I’ll let you figure it out. Tah tah.”

Not as much furious muttering followed you out as you would have liked, but the seeds of discontent were sown in enough people to matter.

With that, though, there was only one thing left to take care of.

The young lady who had been picked out of the lost Death Heads remained where you had left her in the bar, hugging one of her knees, letting the other shorter leg lay uncomforted like it was somebody else’s. The barkeeper, sat across from her, hands in his lap and eyes closed. On your way in, you had noticed that the sign had been turned to “closed;” with you having bought the rest of his stock, you supposed he had decided to take an early holiday.

Without opening his eyes, the elderly bartender asked, “You here to pick her up?”

The small girl seemed dead to the world; she hadn’t turned around to look at you when you came in, and you hadn’t tried to be quiet at all.

“No,” you said, “We’re actually going to dangerous places. I was hoping I could possibly…leave her here with you?”

“I wouldn’t mind.” The old man said, “The only thing she was saying was that she wanted to go home, so I told her that she’d go back as soon as possible. I’ll have my useless grandson take her as soon as he drags himself back in here. ‘d be the first good thing he did in his life.”

“Well,” you said, starting to turn back, “That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“If you came to take her back I’d not have let you anyways.” The old man grumbled, “Racket you made up the road put her into hysterics. I’d bet you’re set to do more of that, aren’t you?”

“That we are.” You said as you turned and left, “Absolutely.”

-----

A new energy invigorated your troops as you lines up to finally leave this place. “Finally, progress!” was the name of this renewal of life and will. All the irritability of before, having spent so much time for what appeared more and more to be naught, had vanished with the battle. Even the heavily wounded, when you checked on them, were in a jollier mood- though that may have been because of the morphine.

On them, when you spoke with the captain concerning them, he advised that, while the medics stated that they would not die, they were in no state to fight, and certainly weren’t on a path to recovery. He requested that you stop by a hospital or someplace where reparative surgery could be taken, thus at least setting the two badly wounded on track to healing well.

>There was a city on the way you could stay at for the night; and probably get somebody to fix your wounded before you left in the morning.
>They would last. Sosaldt had more than a few back-alley doctors, you wagered, so you could have them made up there.
>It wouldn’t be right to force them to endure for your plans, and they wouldn’t be able to fight for a long time anyways even after being operated upon. Request for somebody to take them to the closest hospital; they’d find their way back home at some point.
>Other?

>>1802333
Shot in the dark, but is this town large enough to have a country doctor or clinic that could at least aid - if not fully recover - our wounded?

Otherwise, do we know anything about the town further along?

>>1802371
Interested in this too.

>>1802371
>Shot in the dark, but is this town large enough to have a country doctor or clinic that could at least aid - if not fully recover - our wounded?

You know from being around there that there's a clinic with a doctor in it.

However, this is more for general well-being and not for major surgery. What they'd do when given cases like your is basically do what your medics have already done, then have the patients taken to a larger hospital where they have the proper equipment to do more.

>Otherwise, do we know anything about the town further along?
Only that it's a middlingly large city. There's a few like it all along the land close to Strossvald, according to maps. You don't know much else about them, having not really asked anybody. It's reasonable to assume due to their size alone that they have proper hospitals, though.

>>1802371
>>1802398
Same. If there is, then I think stopping by would be good.

>>1802333
>>1802416

Ok then

>There was a city on the way you could stay at for the night; and probably get somebody to fix your wounded before you left in the morning.

Let's try to be discreet.

>>1802418
Well, as discreet as a column of "mercenaries" with tanks can be.

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32 KB JPG

>>1802418
If the clinic can't do any more for our men, I'll second this.

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>>1802430

You decided on making a quick stop at a hospital at a city on the way; a small one, called Gildrbloem, but certainly large enough to have the proper medical facilities. The wounded would last plenty long enough to make it there. With the increased amount of transports, you even had the luxury of being able to have a space where they could lie down for the trip instead of sitting up on the benches along the sides of the truck beds.

You made your final checks, and finally made your way out of the mountains. For the first time in days, you saw the sun as you left the mists that covered the mountains, and the scent of the golden autumn filled your nostrils as you looked about the roads ahead. This section of East Valsten was rural, and in every direction was rolling hills precipitating from the mountains, that slowly became shallower with the distance. Ancient, tall trees with deep red leaves, shorter bushes with glossy, dark green evergreen leaves, and yellow-red scrub with the coloring of ripe peaches marked the land in clutches, broken up by still-green young annuals and grasses, with there never being quite larger flora enough to call a forest, but the meadows being broken apart enough to not be called plains, either; a variety that made it impossible to tire of just looking around and admiring nature.

Something the rest of the column couldn’t do easily without eating your dust, but you felt deserving to reap the benefits of leadership for this time.

The roads had a way of making time go by more quickly. You had invited your crews to open up the hatches and look around for themselves at the lovely outdoors, and shared hours of small talk about plants, outdoor activities, and most of all, holidays.

“These s alreddy a hullideh te me,” Jorgen pushed out, “Nah Naytillens welking ever the birder an dahring us to shuut tham.”

“I’ve heard the western border’s like this though, isn’t it?” Stein asked, the intercoms thankfully allowing you to speak even over the noise of the m/32 chewing up the road and chuttering along, “War’s never touched these lands, though. There’s something about a place that’s been at peace for a long time, I think, that makes it…pure.”

“You can understand him?” Hans said jokingly, “Boss, how about you find an Emrean, so we’ll all have to know four tongues just to function?”

“If you listen to somebody long enough, you know what they’re saying even if you don’t know all the words,” Stein said in the most sagely manner a lanky blonde lummox could muster.

“Yah ut to larn the noublar longuege,” Jorgen retorted, presumably referring to Old Nauk over New Nauk, “Ets the laungeige thet was tolked when all wauz good.”

“If Nauk Imperial was so good, why’d they fall apart?” Hans said back, “We’re living in the best times right now, old man. Radio, movie theaters, dirty magazines, did the Old Nauks have any of those?”

Stein sighed, and Hans scolded him, “Don’t act like you don’t appreciate all of that, my fair haired friend. Have you ever been to a beach?”

“Of course not,” Stein said, “Unless you mean a riverside.”

“No, no, I mean, neither have I…” Hans said, “Has anybody here?”

Nobody had, as could be expected of five men from a landlocked country. Even Jorgen and Malachi were from the north, even further from any seas.

“Well, see,” Hans said, “A river is all green and brown, and if there’s a factory nearby, it’s even worse. The only good thing about them is the fish you get from them and the bridges you pay tolls over them. Even the biggest ones, too, you can see straight over to the other side, an end.”

Malachi burbled something half intelligible about rivers.

“Whatever you said, Mal,” Hans said patiently, “I either agree or disagree, since I know you said something about rivers, at least. Anyways, a beach is a riverside except instead of mud, it’s beautiful, warm sand, the sea breeze makes it so it’s never too hot, the water’s not full of shit, it’s all just great.”

“It certainly sounds nice when you put it that way,” you said, “I have the feeling that you’re-“

“I haven’t gotten to the best part, boss,” Hans said, “The absolute best part. A magnificent invention, whose patron is the beach, swimming, and the ever generous Sun.”

“Oh, dear…” Stein sighed.

“See, women like to go get sunburned on the beach,” Hans said, “All the south ones do, I mean. I’ve seen travelers too, they like turning their skin to gold. But you don’t tan unless you’re skin’s showing. You get where I’m going with this?”

“We get that your mind never leaves certain places,” Stein said critically.

“It’s the most important place to be, Stein. Anyways, history’s gone on, and we’ve become less prudish, steadily, slowly, then some crazy old man puts out the smallest swimsuit ever because it’s “more efficient” or some other bollocks, and it actually worked! It’s the fashion craze of the south, and if I could, I’d scrape Valsten away and make the Glennz the seaside, so our beautiful ladies of Strossvald bare their skin for the world to see; mankind’s greatest achievement, the scheme to make women wear lingerie in public, the atom.”

“…like the smallest form of matter?” you asked.

“Boss, the hell are you talking about? The Atom Suit, barely covering only the minimal amount of flesh, allowing any woman’s beauty to reach the nearest to its full potential as it can get.”

Malachi babbled some more, and Stein said,
“Mal says that up in the mountains, all you have to do to see girls completely naked is hide around the springs long enough, and there’s no “dumb suits” in the way.”

“Psh,” Hans dismissed this as if it was some plebiscite utterance in an academy of the most prestigious science, “Surely you know that nudity is the realm of animals. The skimpy swimsuit shows so much, and hides so little, and in doing so remains a product of civilization instead of the indulgence of a beast.”

You had the feeling that Hans had quoted that from somewhere, but you simply rolled your eyes and said nothing. Your journey, after all, was going nowhere near any beaches, and far away from any “Atom Suits.”

The skies were darkening and the sun was retreating behind the mountains to the west that you had left earlier, and the lovely landscapes were peeling away into increasingly dense villages and towns, who inhabitants gawked and pointed at you as you went past. You and your crew waved to excited young boys who marveled at the military engineering your people crewed. It didn’t concern them, apparently, that you were heading in the wrong direction to fight in any wars that concerned them.

You came to the outskirts of Gildrbloem, just where the yellow brick buildings were growing close together enough for the meadows to begin to vanish and be replaced by parks and open lots. As could be expected, an inn for travelers was near, and while your rowdy appearance shocked the owners at first, you quickly made sure they understood that you were good, paying customers, and that the heavy military equipment parked outside was not meant to be a threatening gesture. It saved quite a bit of money to not even pay for rooms; merely to sleep in the space outside and be fed in the morning. It was something you wanted as much as the troops would have wanted; the Twaryian rations, although edible, were not flavored for western palates, nor were they fresh enough to taste like anything other than salted shoes at best.

Perhaps you could have said otherwise, but it didn’t feel right to try and intimidate an old grandmotherly lady into letting you stay for free, regardless of the criminal role you had the opportunity to play.

Captain Honnrieg went with one of the trucks deeper into the city, in search of a hospital, leaving you and the rest of the others to loiter about in the dim light of lamps being lit by weary lamplighters, who arrived in pairs on foot with the long instruments of their trade.

No longer restricted to your tank, you were tempted to wander about and see what anybody else was up to. The excitement earlier that day, admittedly, made you want to lie down and fade away, but there was still the faintest bit of light in the day.

>You’re feeling up to about one of these, maybe two, depending on how much of an idea of what you want to do you have.

>Go bother the mechanics, who were currently working on switching parts between the two variants of T-8; perhaps you could learn something new about your acquisitions.
>You had seen Von Metzeler piteously trying to fulfill the duty you had given him; and not making progress. Maybe you could spy on him and Hilda without being noticed.
>You have a prisoner tied up and unceremoniously wriggling in the back of a truck. Maybe they’d like some conversation?
>Other actions?

>>1802705
>>You had seen Von Metzeler piteously trying to fulfill the duty you had given him; and not making progress. Maybe you could spy on him and Hilda without being noticed.

This.

>You have a prisoner tied up and unceremoniously wriggling in the back of a truck. Maybe they’d like some conversation?

And this. Maybe we can ask them about the base we're heading too. Don't turn it into an interrogation, offer them some food or something and lead into it.

>>1802750
Seconding this, the mechanics will do just fine without us butting in.

>>1802705
Tell metzeler to take Hilda to the hospital.

Also if we can, leave a bar to the guys who were leaving behind.

Then talk to the prisoner

>>1802750
Supporting

>>1802750
Seconded

You decided to check on your experiment to try and get Hilda out of your hair; it would have only been an evening, at most, for your second in command and the lady shootist to get to know one another, but first impressions were everything.

“Go away.” You crept up just in time to hear Hilda say. “I’m getting sick of saying that there’s nothing interesting about me.”

“And I am growing tired of insisting my certainty that that is not the case,” Von Metzeler was clearly annoyed already, and on his way to becoming even more so.

“If that’s so, then tell me why you’re so certain.” Hilda was keeping her back to your Lieutenant, her arms crossed, and Von Metzeler was steadily running circles about her trying to speak with her face to face. “I’m not going to become more interesting just because you want me to be.”

“The amount of effort you put into avoiding saying anything is telling enough,” Von Metzeler made another round, and Hilda stepped ahead of him and began to leave. “At least look at me when I’m talking to you,” Von Metzeler began to grow ever more frustrated, “That habit of yours is more vexing than you know.”

“I’m so interesting, yet the only thing you can say for certain is that I’m vexing,” Hilda said matter of factly.

Oh, Judge Above, it was like watching a pair of brick walls trying to move one another.

“Another man at least made crude comments about my body,” Hilda added, “Yet somehow you can see into my head enough to think there’s something worth hearing about. I don’t need any pity from strangers.”

“Would you have preferred I act less gentlemanly?” Von Metzeler demanded to her back, “I have been nothing but respectful, yet you treat me as if I am some drunk hoodlum amorously clinging to the leg of the first thing in a dress he spies. I refuse to be treated as such!”

Hilda put her chin up and closed her eyes, “If I am so rude and uncaring, then maybe I am not worth any more of your precious time.”

“I think not, either!” Von Metzeler threw up his hands and stormed off.

You went around, avoiding Hilda and the gloomy circle she had begun to walk in, and chased after Von Metzeler.

“Lieutenant,” you addressed him quietly, and Von Metzeler began to rant his frustration.

“I apologize, Von Tracht, but I refuse to waste any more of my time upon that woman,” the officer hissed, “She insults my manners by refusing to look at me, and she insults my intelligence by refusing to say even the slightest thing about herself. She is not nearly beauteous enough that I will throw myself upon her sword when even I am of higher station than she is, nor does she seem to be desiring of any companionship, let alone mine.”

You sighed and ran your hand down your face and over your nose. “Look,” you said, trying to rally your meager force for another charge into the breach…an unintentionally crude metaphor, you thought to yourself, “I want to send Hilda to the hospital, to treat her wounds. She received sutures…those medics are somewhat overqualified, it seems, but what else should I expect of Bat Company…and I was thinking of sending you along with her. For some bonding.”

“I refuse to partake in any ‘bonding.’” Von Metzeler declared with a stiff upper lip, “I will take her there if you order me to, but I refuse to debase myself further trying to drag words from her that are not slights.”

>I do order you to. You can have a nice evening, or a miserable evening. Your choice.
>For goodness’ sakes, I’ll find somebody else to do it. I appreciate you trying at least.
>Hold on, I’ll have a word with her about this. Trust me, she’s not trying to be that rude.
>Other?

>>1803110
>>Hold on, I’ll have a word with her about this. Trust me, she’s not trying to be that rude.

I kind of want to see how her face is holding up, it looked pretty bad last time we saw it. Let's take her to the hospital ourselves, have a little chat.

>>1803110
I’ll find somebody else to do it. I appreciate you trying at least.
>Hold on, I’ll have a word with her about this. Trust me, she’s not trying to be that rude.
DESU, I don't really want to force two people to be together if they don't want to. Just because we want Hilda off us shouldn't mean we dump the problem to others.

>>1803110
>>For goodness’ sakes, I’ll find somebody else to do it. I appreciate you trying at least.

We've pretty clearly hit a dead end here. Maybe Hilda's turning down Metzeler will at least make her feel less desperate and cool her desires for us.