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...As you ride away from the castle, your mind keeps turning back towards that answer. The fact that you were so torn about it, for one thing. Indecisiveness feels foul on your tongue on an issue this pressing. Is it better to be ruthless and bloodthirsty, condemning everyone who questions your decisions to the wall, or to be soft and kind, beloved but easily taken advantage of? Albeda has been cruel to you before, a viper in your boot, but once upon a time she was not that way. You grew up together, and her cruelties were petty, childish things, never really that serious, were they? You can't take a young girl's threats seriously.

Besides, she voted against assassinating you. Or at least claimed she did. On the other hand that exploding bear statue could have maimed you. “Yes.” You told her, “Barring exceptional circumstances, I will spare her. That depends on how long this rebellion goes on, and how much the swamp loses as a result. There is only so long I can be lenient, even for family.”

Petrine smiled at you, “A good answer.” She says simply, “Pragmatic. Committing to an absolute would be foolish, and yet you only have a certain number of family members. Young rulers, historically, have this terrible tendency to lash out at whoever defies them, power blinding them to how a thirst for blood can drive people away. 'Look at me, grand and glorious. I can reshape the world to my will, and all that defies me will be broken and crushed'. Sometimes they are loved at first, great acts of generosity or valor bringing them support...but when all someone knows is the sensation of being unquestionable, anything that intrudes upon this feels like a mortal wound, and they react accordingly. I should know, I became Lady Gwelm at a young age, and I was such a terror that your grandfather was called to visit the island and take me in hand. Thankfully before I executed anyone who tried to feed me kelp salad.” She winked, “That won't be a problem for you, will it? After all, you had someone keeping you humble, no matter how immature her motives, and when you win it will surely be all the more satisfying for that reversal. All I will add is this, be firm, but be gracious. No ruler is completely good and without flaw. The rest is yours to write, my lord.” With that she bowed.


[Continue]

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Immediately after that, you were interrupted by the fact that Sister Char's burning blood was dripping onto the boardwalk, necessitating you to make a smokemass arch to keep it from inconveniencing anyone passing beneath her and showing you the interesting fact that your wall seems to be impervious to heat of that magnitude. Petrine went inside with the rest of the spectators, and as soon as some of your scouts returned to confirm that Albeda and her dogs had truly departed, the army broke camp and began its march.

Your father impressed on you the importance of supply lines at an early age, and the weaknesses of an army on the march in unfamiliar territory. One nice thing about being in your own land, and the legitimate lord of your domain, is that your scouts know the land intimately and your supply lines don't stretch at all. The downside is that this is a spring war, the nameless hamlets you pass through on your way don't have a lot of food either. Worse, you're traveling southeast, and the village to the south and the village to the east are in enemy hands, denying you resupply. Your wagons of food and drink are thus something of a liability, but an unavoidable one. Another downside is that, in your own lands, there is no question of living off the land, which is a polite euphemism for stealing whatever soldiers need or want from the residents.

Living off the land is a phrase that conjures prosaic images of soldiers filling their helms with blackberries from bushes they pass or practicing their archery by taking a few deer, but in practice it involves a lot more burning crofts and crying peasants. Still, the hamlets you pass through seem surprisingly keen on trying, and you can't blame them. Hostile magi on the doorstep? If you were a rice farmer, you would be overjoyed to see Lord Absol leading an army to deal with the problem too.

Especially if you were a rice farmer who had heard that Dampmeade had been occupied by lupomancers. From what you've heard, the Wolf King, the Ragged Elder, that cannibal beast known as Brother Grey is the sort to maintain control purely through fear, but you can see the propaganda advantage in being a liberator rather than a conquerer. However, things are not working out entirely in your favor.

[Continue]

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One morning, roughly ten miles from the Well and certainly THE morning before you reach it, while you're still abed in your tent, you're awakened by a sudden feeling. Ironically, it's a feeling difficult to describe because of your sorcerous training rather than in spite of it. Non-sorcerers frequently describe detecting magical influence as the hair on the back of their neck standing up, or a shiver down their spine, or the feeling of being watched. They misinterpret this sense of the eerie and try to ascribe some more readily understandable phenomena to it. You have no such excuse. You simply feel the sudden, powerful pulse of energy. As if reality's heart had suddenly beat faster. As if an electric current licked over your soul. Yet neither of those things accurately describes it. It's like trying to tell someone colorblind what yellow looks like. The feeling is potent, yet distant.

[Continue]

And with that, we're gonna need a shitload of dice.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4595872
'ere we go.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4595872

Also, L5R quest is a go. I was able to find the .pdfs I needed, so please look forward to L5R Chanbara Quest as soon as I make a few important decisions, namely about how hard I intend to de-flanderize the setting (I intend to remove everything dumb from it, like the prohibition on eating red meat, or massive "families" all using the same last name) and figure out if I'm even gonna allow Crab because they can be so disruptive.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4595872

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4595872

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4595872

>>4595883
Seeing as the only thing I know about L5R is that one Crab storytime, I'd be a little sad to not see them.

>>4595890

Fair enough, I'd be a little sad to leave them out, so I'll probably include them.

>>4595883

I'm looking forward to it, I don't think I've read an L5R quest from the male perspective.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4595872
Last roll of the night since I need to go to bed soon and I've already rolled four times.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4595872

>>4595912
>>4595919
Wow, I sure hope this counts for something

>>4595909

Were there many from the female perspective?

>>4595921

I checked and it does.

>>4595924

L5R quests are few, but I remember only reading a male-centric one on anonkun, with the rest being female-perspective.

I wouldn't mind, since most L5R quests die young, but I enjoy your writing and know you'll be back to finish the job(ish).

>>4595909
>>4595924
>>4595929
Strange. Is that just a weird stroke if circumstance or does L5R lend itself partially well to female protagonists?

>>4595932

I think girls look cute in kimonos. From what I remember most Exalted quests also were giga-lesbians.

>>4595932

I'm not sure, the setting does lend to the possibility of playing as a medieval warrior-ess.

Tbh, it's mostly personal preference that I prefer male-centric fics.
I think there's still an L5R quest going on (anonkun), some female ronin mc, I think?

>>4595935
>From what I remember most Exalted quests also were giga-lesbians.
I also remember that being the case, but I never read them in full so I couldn't say for sure. Something to go through for research purposes, I suppose.

>>4595938
Hmm, should have figured as much. Would have been interesting if there was some quirk of the setting or rules that subtly pushed female protags.

>>4595943

I think it's because there's not many L5R quests or fics in general, so the disparity is noticed.
Mostly because they all die young.

Oh, and Wong's right a bit, never underestimate the thirstyness of anons when it comes to yuri-shit.
Female Protagonist but a man in every sense of the word except physical.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4595872
Ah dang I'm late to the party
Of course you would post the new thread 6 minutes after I checked.
I don't know if a "Shit ton of dice" was achieved yet...
So have another one!

>>4595950

There is a reason why I insist on male protagonists. I have a longstanding hatred for female characters that are a man in every sense of the word except physical, as you put it, and I also find habitual yurifags distasteful.

Also if I get this prewriting done before I go to bed I'm gonna post the other quest tonight. If I don't, I'll do it tomorrow.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4595872
Might as well put my dice in the bag, even if the rolling's finished.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4595872
DICE DICE DICE, let's set the tone for the new thread.

Also L5R Chanbara Quest is up. I'll run it one day a week, and this quest one day a week, and try to be disciplined about it.

>missed all the rolling action from driving
>why even live?

At least I didn't miss the votes, since there wasn't any yet.

>>4596463

You can still roll.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

rollin

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4596646
How many dice left to go? You can give us a general number.

File: Historical depiction of W(...).png (494 KB, 570x409)

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Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4596646

More dice for the heap then.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4596646

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4596646
DICE FOR THE DICE GOD

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4596646

More....Dice....

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4596646
Dice

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4595872
HE HAS CALLED AND SO WE ROLL

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4596646
Give me dice or give me death!

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4596646

Ask not what the Dice demand, for they shall take their toll as they please.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4596646

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4596646
Continuing the roll train.....

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4596646
Dice dice baby!

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4596646

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4596646
Roll high!

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4596646
Oh shit a call for more DICE

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4596646
Quick, someone put up the Dice-signal!

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4596646
Doots for Dice!
Doot doot

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4596646
TACTICAL GENIUS ROLLING

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4596646
Nananananannanana- Diceman!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4596646
Doot doot dooty doot
Just dooten for dice

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4596646

How much dice is enough dice? None. There is never enough dice.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4596646
Dooooooot

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4596646
Huston, we have a problem, that only dice can solve.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4596646
BIG DOOT

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4596806
>>4596814
>>4596646

Dice have been Dooted

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4596646
I think we're hitting like 40 straight rolls of dice rolling.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4596806
>>4596814
>>4596815
>>4596646
Well alright then,
Watch none of these 10's be Dooten used

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4596646
Rick rollin'!

That is enough dice, thank you very much.

>>4597120

>that is enough dice

Who are you, and what have you done with Mr. Wong?

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4597120
aw man, I just got here. Have a spare dice just in case.

>>4597165
perhaps you could use it to determine how fly our hair looks today.

>>4597167
We have the best Helmet hair of any lord on this given day

>>4597284
We sleep with our helmet on? lol

>>4597347
In this economy? Wouldn't you?

>>4595869
Question: should we be worried about the Thorn Wall being damaged by fiery blood?

>>4597354
>Immediately after that, you were interrupted by the fact that Sister Char's burning blood was dripping onto the boardwalk, necessitating you to make a smokemass arch to keep it from inconveniencing anyone passing beneath her and showing you the interesting fact that your wall seems to be impervious to heat of that magnitude

So no.

>>4597360
I thought that was in reference to our smokemass, my mistake.

>>4597363
Np, God only knows how many times I fucked up my reading comprehension.

>>4597347
Pretty sure at this point we just sleep in smoke armour Pajamas under our smokemass blankets ontop of our smokemass bed inside out smokemass tent

>>4597541

If you knew Major Smoke Form you basically could do that. Structure requires everything to be one piece.

>>4597938
All the more reason to put Major Smoke Form close to the top of the exp spending list then.
One man camp site spell!

>>4597957
Eh.

>>4597541
Remember that smokemass is basically rock-level hardness. So trying to make like clothes out of it would be quite uncomfortable to wear.

>>4597973
We already have smokemass clothes
It's our smoke armour spell

>>4597957

I mean, it'll be useful for if we need to make another smokefloor trap like we did for the Chimera. That way, we can use it to form a hatch, and slide bars of smokemass into place afterwards to lock it too. Lots of utility, but we've got a lot to look at picking up right now. Sense stat-up never.

>>4598085
It's also light as a feather, so just keep that in mind when making structures.

>>4598085
Major Smoke Form was already on the list of stuff to buy when we're discussing it.
But yeah, I do want to get Sense up soon if not at least boost Eerie
And it's more like Tactics and Strategy MD Never

>>4598090

I know. You could make a hatch cover like that by leaving loops in the smoke-mass ice-floor sculpture, and feed the smoke-bars through them. Force against the hatch transmits to the bars, which are transmitting it to the smokemass floor. If the floor is wedged in, or weighed down by dudes and stuff, they'd have to put a bunch of effort into smashing through it. Just need to flex that creativity.

>>4598090
It's also the version that has its duration length measured in Years by Width of the roll.
So more semi permanent structures like Bridges over Canyons, dams, battle ramparts for sieging enemy positions, mile high staircases etc...

>>4598099
Ships, as light as a feather, weighed by cargo.

>>4598104
Feather weight sandships skipping across the desert bringing our Battlemages in force to crush our enemies!

>>4597970
glass frogs that lasts for years for Floofy Bard

>>4598111
+1

>>4598111

That way, even if she goes to travel as bards do, she'll have a reason to come back, even after a couple years pass along before she returns to Absol lands.

>>4598157
+2

>>4598111
Goddamn it +1.
If we really want a tactics MD, we could pick up the Battle Prophet spell, which can essentially give us a MD in tactics for an encounter.

After all, spells are bought in 2s

>>4596860
>>4596819
>>4596817
>>4596815
>>4596814
>>4596813

First roll.

>>4596810
>>4596809
>>4596806
>>4596804
>>4596802
>>4596800
>>4596796

Second roll. I figured, why let these go to waste? I hadn't marked them down or counted them up, so they might as well be freshly rolled to me.

You'll want to begin coming up with as much of a cool speech as you can, to make to the troops for that sweet +1 Might bonus.

>>4599005
I got nothing, beyond this....


This is our SWAMP, and no dead men are going to take it from us!

[Insert Shrek meme here]

>>4599005
I would help, but I am at a lost of where to begin and what point to come across, and my brain's a bit fried to help me out much. Any suggestions lads?

>>4599005
I hate to admit it but I'm also drawing a blank as to what to say...
I can't seem to get my brain to switch gears from Weeb Samurai to feudal Lord mode unfortunately.
>___<

>>4599168
>>4599005
>Today we undertake the task of eliminating traitors elements, and I ask you to fight against fellow men and women of the swamp. Know that I would never ask a single one of you to do a task I myself would not do, thus I March along side you and the Son of slaying our own falls upon me. We proceed with this grim task not because we want to or because it will be easy, we March down this path because it is what is needed to bring safety and peace for all of our families and loved ones who tremble across the swamp not knowing when these traitorous elements will appear before them to steal their crops or force them away from their homes. And so I ask that you be brave ane courageous not for me but for everyone whom you have at home that prays for your safe retuen!

Alright I tired, everyone add stuff to make it better!

>>4599204
Bleh typos, but hopefully it's understandable enough.
The life of a filthy phone poster I suppose...

>>4599204
This is Based. Yes.
Could use a little cleaning up of grammar and spelling, but the essence and enthusiasm is there.
Attempting to clean it up a little:

>Today we undertake the task of eliminating traitorous elements, and I ask you to fight against fellow men and women of the swamp. We proceed with this grim task not because we want to or because it will be easy, we march down this path because it is what is needed to bring safety and peace for all of our families and loved ones, all of ours who live across the bogs and fens of our province. These traitors seek to Divide us, to end the long-running reign of my family and end the prosperity of this land. Know that I would never ask a single one of you to do a task I myself would not do, and so I ask that you be brave and courageous not for me but for everyone whom you have at home that prays for your safe return!

>Now forwards, men of Absol! We go to War.

How's this version?

>>4599204
>>4599238
Based. I'm glad to have such wonderful talent here.

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You feel make your way into the camp, drawing your fur-lined cloak tight around yourself. It's a foggy morning, and cold. As if the ghost of winter was lingering in the air, drawn up from the depths of the earth to claw at you with windy fingers. You make a beeline for the nearest cookfire, your stomach rumbling.

Of course Doloranna is the one ladling out food. You aren't surprised at all to see her. You ARE surprised to see her in a modest spring-green dress with a white top, her hair held back by an equally modest bandanna, doling out a mixture of chopped sausage, eggs, and a few different vegetables, most notably carrots. Her ladle is paused in mid-scoop as she peers intently off to the Southeast. “Four.” She says softly.

“Four what?” You echo. You only felt two pulses.

She starts, then smiles at you, “Ahehe, so you didn't notice them all? Well then, it's a good thing I'm here.” She preens proudly, “Four grand uses of magic. The spell is easy, but loud. He must have taught it to all three of his apprentices, mustn't he?” She frowns, still looking off in the direction the pulses came from, “But where did he find the bodies?”

“Four corpses shouldn't be too hard to find.” You note.

“Four hundred.” She corrects you. “If he's doing what I think he is, and we don't know when he started.” She checks the position of the sun, “Mid afternoon, or maybe late afternoon, we'll feel them again if he is.”

“He hasn't been doing this for long, someone would have felt it at this intensity.” You fold your arms, “How many hours, would you estimate?”

She shrugs, “Nine, maybe.”

You swear under your breath. Even at a forced march, he'll get two more castings in before you arrive. Assuming each spell is a success, that means a minimum of twelve hundred husks waiting for you. They're stupider than living soldiers, and much less versatile, but fearless. You notice her eyeing you, surprisingly somber, and raise your eyebrows at her in silent question.

[Continue]

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“Gorol was...is...loved.” She says quietly, “We all liked him. We all respected him. We all thought when Grandmama, you know...we thought he would be the next. Young Grandpapa, or something like that.” She smiles sadly, “Lord Arnveis personally told him he wasn't allowed to go to war, for that reason, and because he wanted someone here who could marshall the dead for you if the need arose. If the Ryds invaded. I can't say it any better was, he was liked. A decent, good person. Now he's going to die for no reason. Is it wrong that I'm sad?” She lowers her head.

>[It's a natural emotion, but treason is treason. Remember him as he was.]
>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]

>>4599343

>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]

Nobody gets through a rebellion unscathed, which is why the penalties for treason are so high. It has to be, otherwise people wouldn't be satisfied when it's put down. Doesn't make it hurt less when it's all over though.

>>4599343
>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]
>Can I count on you not to be blinded by that familiarity when the time comes Dolorana?

>>4599343
>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]

>>4599343
>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]

>>4599343
>[It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was]
God I wish we had some of da's more advanced ability to unbind permanent magics.

If we hit the casters, the dead lose coherency, right?

Hey Wong can we get an updated Character sheet posting before we head into the thick of battle so I don't have to scroll looking for the last one posted?
Pretty please!

>>4599353
I don't think we even have one posted in this thread upon a quick scroll, unless I'm blind, and that definitely is a possibility kek.

>>4599353

On it! It doesn't have your additional techniques yet since I apparently didn't have that saved, but I'll do it later.

Jakob Absol, Swamp Lord

Unspent Exp: 6
Total Exp: 30

BODY: 2
COORDINATION: 2
SENSE: 3
Eerie: +1
Empathy: +2
KNOWLEDGE: 4
Counterspell: +3
Language (Vartynen): +MD
Sorcery: +3MD
Strategy: +2
Tactics: +2
COMMAND: 4
Haggle: +1
Inspire: +3
Intimidate: +1
CHARM: 2
Graces: +1
Fascinate: +1

ADVANTAGES:
Lucky 1 (one reroll per session on a roll where NO sets turn up)
Thick Headed 1 (one extra wound box in the head)
Status 3 (Lord of the Absol Swamp, FREE for plot reasons)
Followers 5 (10 Threat 4 Unworthy Opponents, the Last Loyal, FREE for picking Swamp)
Possession ? (Castle Briarfast, FREE for plot reasons)
Possession 3 (Well-Made Plate Armor)
Literate in Vartynen 1 (FREE for plot reasons)
Greater Literacy in Vartynen 2 (FREE for plot reasons)
Wealth 3
Spells (1)
Spells (1)
Spells (3)
Spells (3)
Spells (5)

PROBLEMS:
Hated Enemy (+1 xp whenever the Hated Enemy harms or inconveniences you)

PASSIONS:
Mission: Solidify your hold on the Absol Swamp
Duty: Be a lord your people and ancestors would be proud of
Craving: Find a worthy and powerful wife

ESOTERIC DISCIPLINES:
The General's Visage: Words of Iron

SPELLS:
Aqueous Divination (Sense): Weather Wisdom, Clearwater Oracle
Smoke Sculpting (Knowledge): Minor Smoke Form, Smoke Arrow, Minor Smoke Structure, Smoke Armor
The Night Hunter's Art (Sense): Whiff of the Blood
The Way of the Wood (Knowledge): Blossom Freshness
Wings of Words (Knowledge): Spark, Soar, Words of Lesser Attunement, Minor Lightning Stroke

>>4599365
Thanks Wong!

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“It isn't wrong to mourn a loved one's mistakes. Remember him as he was. Can I count on you not to be blinded by that familiarity when the time comes, Doloranna?” You ask her.

She snorts, grabs a bowl, and fills it near to overflowing with breakfast, “Of course you can.” She smirks, “I'll fight. Don't you tell me to stay behind.” She thrusts the bowl against your chest, pats your hip, and resumes stirring the food.

After breakfast, camp is broken and the march resumes. True to Doloranna's prediction, you feel scattered pulses of magical energy again in the direction your army travels right around the nine hour mark. If the spell takes nine hours, and they have as many bodies as they need, you're facing at least twelve hundred undead, and the necromancers will have a few hours to nap after what can only be described as a marathon casting session. Damn it.

When one describes a province as a swamp, it inevitably conjures up certain images, of shallow water, cattails, rivers as narrow and interlaced as the threads of an old man's beard, banks of soft mud making for poor footing. This does describe parts of your domain, but others are simply damp woodlands, or brackish riversides, or foothills worn by gullies of snowmelt from the mountains above. Or, as here, heathery moors. The waving, purple foliage is knee-deep on a horse, and marked with ancient waystones to alert you to which of the lowlands conceal treacherous pools beneath a surface of grassy peat. North of the deep forest and west of the true plains, these moors describe rolling hills and shady dales, making for a relatively difficult march but not nearly as bad as it could be. However, as time rolls by, as day becomes night and becomes day again, your scouts return with troubling news, which soon enough you confirm in person.

The Well can barely be seen aboveground, it's simply a stony wall about the height of the average man circumventing a hole in the ground hundreds of feet across. Too far to simply cover with a casting of Minor Smoke Structure and consider the problem solved. Gates in this wall guard access to the stairways leading down into the Well itself and the passages dug out from it into the earth. However, the real problem is the river between you and the Well, swollen with snowmelt and burbling merrily in a southwesternly line, cutting off your line of march at a near perpendicular angle.

[Continue]

Rolled 3, 8, 9, 9, 5, 1, 7, 4, 10 = 56 (9d10)

>>4599398
>9,9,10
Oh boy, here we go again

>>4599399
Only the 9s count, but that's still a high set.

>>4599402
10 counts if the user has a MD

>>4599399
If they've got a MD we're in for a world of hurt. Big OOF.
Brainstorming for attacking the well? Seems like they've stolen a march on us by raising dead before we got to cut their dead men supply.

>>4599403
Actually, there might be a decent chance of that happening.

>>4599404
Well since we can't just plug it with smokemass, there was an anon who had thought we could divert a near by river and flood it in past threads.
And with the streams being swollen with fresh snow melt from the mountains it sounding like a potentially good idea.

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You call together your officers, get your soldiers neatly arrayed, and address them personally. “Today we undertake the task of eliminating traitorous elements, and I ask you to fight against fellow men and women of the swamp. For this, I am truly sorry. We proceed with this grim task not because we want to, or because it will be easy, we march down this path because it is what is needed to bring safety and peace for all of our families and loved ones, all of ours who live across the bogs and fens of our province.” The sorrowful nobility of your voice swells louder, “These traitors seek to divide us! To end the long line of Absol and scatter the prosperity of this land to the greedy fingers of whichever sorcerer can frighten the most locals into obeying him! Know that I would never ask a single one of you to do a task I myself would shirk, and so I ask for your valor. Not for myself, but for everyone at home who prays for your swift victory and safe return!” You heft your thurible overhead like a sword, “Now forward, men of Absol! We go to war! This is OUR swamp, and no dead men are going to take it from us! Return them to the earth!”

Cheers erupt all over, billhooks raised to the sky.

>[Ford the river here, with a few braziers and your spellcasting talents it doesn't matter what condition the water is in]
>[Send your Stormtongues away from the main army to scout for a better place to cross]
>[Other, specify]

>>4599404

Divert the river into the Well? We could do well with using smokemass to dam it temporarily.

>>4599411

>[Ford the river here, with a few braziers and your spellcasting talents it doesn't matter what condition the water is in]

It'll last long enough, and it's a relatively short spell to cast. We should keep the Stormtongues around, to watch the outskirts for any hidden furries around the edges.

>>4599409
>>4599413
Tbis being said, if I were a master Necromancer in a full river that the opposing army needs to deal with is EXACTLY where I would hide and ambush of undead....

>>4599411
>[Ford the river here, with a few braziers and your spellcasting talents it doesn't matter what condition the water is in]

>>4599411
Fording the river is definitely when we are most vulnerable. If they can hit us when our army is split partially on one side and the other, or have a way to suddenly collapse our fording structure, we could have a problem.
However, we do have an advantage, with Stormtongue Fliers we can redeploy at will a portion of our forces.
>[The undead must be somewhere, sent Stormtongues scouting for clusters of bodies, living or dead on this side of the river. Also, start preparing braziers for fording this site of the river.]

>>4599411
>[Ford the river here, with a few braziers and your spellcasting talents it doesn't matter what condition the water is in]

>>4599417
Either create a wall of smokemass or smoke pikes spread into the soil.

>>4599426
Yes this, better cautious than caught vulnerable and unprepared!

>>4599426
Aye, sounds like a plan!

Interesting, interesting. Begin rolling dice!

>>4599416

Swapping this vote to this suggestion

>>4599426

Get the Stormtongues to gather intel, while we're preparing for the crossing.

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>>4599427
I like the thought of these kinds of spikewalls to slow down the dead when they try to climb it. Or, pillars of smokemass with razor-thin fishing lines of smokemass between each of them, undead probably can't see too well, and could get ripped to shreds on them as they try to rush our men. Can't go wrong with a good smokewall to stand on, tho.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4599441
It begins.

And I just realized I don't remember which stats you boosted. Was it just Sovereignty, or did Influence get bumped as well?

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4599441

Ask and ye shall receive.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4599441
Yes sir Bossman

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4599441
>>4599449
I believe it was both but that could just be wishful misremembering

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4599441
DESU I don't actually remember. Gimme a sec to check the archives

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4599441

More dice!

>>4599449


Pretty sure we boosted Sovereignty. Influence was potentially an option, but one we were looking at in the next month, since it required Territory, and that was already depleted by raising Sovereignty.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4599441
Let the slice and dice commence!

Rolled 5, 4, 9, 6, 4, 6 = 34 (6d10)

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4599441
Better start DOOTING for dice again

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4599444
I'm all for this plan as well!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4599441
Doot doot dice coming through

>Captcha wants tractors again
Wrong quest country Bot

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4599459
A pair of 4s and 6s. What a lucky bastard.

>>4599459

Oof, even with one dice too many rolled. No more dice for a while.

The archives say we voted for both Improve culture AND Policing action. I think that was both, then?

>>4599468
Oh boy.

>>4599469
I think that's just Sovereignty then.

>>4599468
No more dice from You or from us?

>>4599473
Probably us. Well, we can still work to turn this around with personal action. Commander helms on, gentlemen.
Goddamn I wish we had I Say Only Endure from General's Visage right about now.

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Your plans to send out scouts and build spike walls and similar all centered around one simple premise, that after spending twenty seven hours in intense spellcasting the necromancers would be exhausted and there would be time to get your forces in order. There isn't. Just as the first smokemass bridge goes up, the water churns and boils, and from it the dead march. Rank upon rank of them. Some have proper pikes, some just have sharpened, fire-hardened stakes, but they lower them to face you and they walk forward without stopping, stabbing everything in your way. Your troops are out of position, and although you fight valiantly and both sides take losses, you are driven back by the relentless fury of the undead. Worse, Gorol springs another trap on you. As your Stormtongues wheel overhead to spray lightning amongst the ranks of the husks, men stand up from behind the wall that guards the lip of the Well, climbing onto scaffolding built into well-placed platforms and drawing their bows. Arrows pour skyward like rain gone mad and flying backwards, dropping more than one winged mage into the river. Those who survive the fall do not survive the undead. As much as it galls you, there is no other choice than to retreat for today, to establish a defensible camp farther away from the enemy, and plot your next move.

Although you take no permanent hits to your stats, you are at -1 Might, -1 Treasure with nothing to show for it thus far.

That night finds you seething in your tent, facing your first defeat.

>[What do?]

>>4599469

Yeah, pretty sure that's the Sovereignty option. Rise in Stature is the Influence one. We could probably go for that if we win at the Well. Whipping a wunderkind Shadowbinder should get us some bonuses to the roll if it goes good here.

>>4599485
Try again tomorrow. Or we could send a special strike force (us plus friends) to sneak on the other side, try from there.

>>4599485
Called it On hiding the dead in water... Unfortunately.
Now to think,
A protracted conflict is not in our best interests as every 9 or so hours they can bolster their ranks using our own dead against us.
We need a strategy that gets us either through, or around these undead and bonus points if we can take out their archers.
But how to do it
Welp time to bust out the siege engines and try to demolish their archers positions.
But as for their undead phalanx I'm coming up a tad blank at the Moment.

>>4599485

They've got a very defensible position here, with the dead to tarpit our men and the living to take out our mage. If we use some of our Smoke Sculptors to Shovel The Clouds to cut off their ranged support's vision, we might be able to focus down the undead with our own ranged support. I doubt we'd be able to send infiltrators in with the dead hiding in the river, but we could probably whip up some siege machinery to fling bolts and boulders into their defenses to crack it up some.

>>4599485
>We were overconfident, and foolish, and shouldn't have rushed into attacking. We KNEW they had finished their preparations, and decided to attack anyway, straight into it. And now our men pay for it. The obvious counter to fliers, archers.
Alright, clearly we need a different approach. I'm more than a little worried about a follow-up attack to attempt to crush us, honestly. What's the weak point of a horde of undead? The individual casters. Clearly we need to back off a bit and strike from a different approach.

>>4599502
>>4599499

Honestly I'd prepare for an assault in the night while we are at it.
The dead don't need sleep or daylight tp be efficient killers

>>4599499
I mean, artillery solves a lot of problems. Do our shadowbinders know any weaknesses of said mass corpse raise? Like, does it strain the caster more to direct many of them? Do they degrade over time?

>>4599505
Range limitation on giving orders? Could we try and bait out a portion of the undead, then either slip behind or crush the baited out portion and their caster? Like a sort of feigned retreat, or choosing to pull back and leave several pickets to keep an eye out on the well?

I'm gonna leave it here. Raw volume of words matters less than letting you guys participate and come up with clever strategems.

>>4599505
They degrade over years. I'm in favor of a small strike force to move across the river in the dead of night, then storm the Well to take out their archers during a 'second crossing attempt'.

>>4599505
I'm still heart broken We can't make Trebuchets.
But giant smokemass Ballistas firing flaming trees is always valid at destroying stuff and the undead generally don't notice they're on fire till they start falling apart.

>>4599505
>>4599509

These I will look up. I know that Doloranna can inform you firsthand of the fact that Moldering Army's husks last for Width years. Also that the undead are about as smart as dogs, which is why pikemen are a good way to use them, they can walk forward with a pointy stick without stopping without much more thought going into it than that. The archers, though? They're alive, and that is worrisome because you don't know where they came from and there are enough of them to make a difference.

>>4599511
A shame. Would like be to take another crack at it tonight. Night Wong.

>>4599509
The casters must have line of sight for the zombies to follow orders. A small strike force to take out the 'leadership'.

>>4599523
It's also my duty to point out that we only have one more chance at this attack, otherwise we have to retreat. We simply don't have the Treasure to sustain this momentum.

We could get our wolfboys together for an Unconventional attack.

>>4599511
Alright, night Wong.
Night is when the Shadowbinders see best, I think. Them and their spells are best in total darkness, so trying to ford at night would be not ideal. Not to mention, a lot of our mages run off of smoke, which is very visible with fires to generate it. I forget, but I think their Undead might also see in the dark.
>>4599516
Shit I thought those Archers were undead, also. Well, this got a bit more difficult.
I'm thinking pulling something out of Alexander's playbook. We leave a small decoy force on one side of the river, armed with orders to distract and prepare smoke siege weapons, and attempt to appear more numerous than they actually are. Meanwhile, we ford elsewhere and attempt to approach unseen, launching the attack with cover of Shovel the Clouds from our decoy force, fixing their attention there as we attempt to get on top of the archers, or smoke scythes to cut down grouped up undead swathes.

We can alternate between Shovel clouds, then sweeping it away for a bombardment of lightning, then returning it to strike.

Of course, this falls apart if they 1- See it coming, 2- get enough undead out of the river to strike, or 3- exhaust us and get us stuck on the far side of the river.

I'm open to suggestions for improvements....

>>4599529
I derped and meant basically alternating between covering enemy positions with smoke, clearing it for lining up targets on command, then covering again. Should be faster to line up targets if our men are expecting it, rather than total surprise, at least for the first few volleys. We could attempt to skirmish like this, hitting hard with some cover, then clearing and sniping, then covering again and retreating for a bit.
Would be less committed than fording the river, more akin to a siege than a straight up battle. Just trying to whittle their important ranged assets down over a series of skirmishes.

>>4599529
Dead are slow, so if we get them to mass the hoarde out of position, then we get past the first hurdle.

We could just commit to a hidden strike ourselves, if we wish to. Once we get in close, behind their undead? Archers would be quick work for our personal guard, and the wolves excel at unconventional attacks.

We also need to make either a MD or more dice in general for Stratagy and Tactics. Bump them up on the list.

>>4599544
I think we did opt to leave our Wolves out of this, because we didn't want packmates fighting packmates.

So the biggest deal would be getting the enemy to commit, then covering their anti-air, while letting us retreat in good order against the undead.
Or getting their undead out of position, then smashing them completely with AOE spells or artillery while taking minimal damage.
Either way, blowing smoke around to control both the archer's line of fire, and the enemy caster's ability to command their undead out of harm's way could be decisive.

>>4599552
The question is, are these packmates? They have no pack among the Shadowbinders I believe.

Could we bind the undead together with our smoke, make it harder for them to move and maneuver?

Plus, there's only 4 Shadowbinders among them, and exhausted at that. We may succeed at a personal night raid, with only our MC and a couple of allies, unless that is considered a company action rather than a personal one.

>>4599565
So
>Jacob (his body guards) and the waifu squad infiltrate behind enemy lines while Cailm waits with all the broboys and act as Bait
What is this SwampsEleven?

>>4599565
We’re kinda shit wandering in ourselves for personal combat. We’re a flying brick, whose offense would be limited to either Stroke (loud, flashy, attention-grabbing) or smoke arrow(needs smoke and is thus obvious). Much as I’d like to roll in, it might be better off deploying some of our own shadowbinders for such an action....Doloranna, got anyone else you know who’s sneaky?

Only reason I’d hesitate to deploy them would be personal connection, and might have second thoughts about slitting former friends throats while they sleep.
The Pack might have more success, yes, if we set them on a night attack to cause mayhem. Even if we don’t have that many of them, and few of them being very experienced.

>>4599511
Wong, how does combat work between Companies? Like, does it involve Company Stats or are we just rolling a character's strategy and tactics?

>>4599574
Kek

>>4599576
I'm more for involving our MC in this, as it may be the only way we can turn this battle in our favor. I don't think there's any other way we can affect our battle stats in a positive way, whatever they be.

>>4599581

It uses Company stats. Might+Treasure to attack, Might+Territory to defend. However you can roll Knowledge+Tactics against the enemy commander, with the winner receiving +1 Might. In this case, Brother Gloam did that successfully.

>>4599641
Could we construct (presumably out of smoke) covered raised platform's for our Smoke-o-Mancers to cast that sycthing smoke spell they used from our castles ramparts to cut into the enemy formation?
We need to minimize our melee units time fighting the zombies and aoe magic is a good resource we should have access to with our Battlemages.
And making sure the raised platform's are covered should reduce their risk of arrow fire.
I'm also interested in discussing with Doloranna what Shadowbinder magics her and her fellow shadows could lay bas traps we should be weary of (aside from the obvious zombies in the river one....)
And of possible have a similar discussion with whichever rep from Grand Craig is here, presumably Nuncle Arad, butbless about traps and what we can do to minimize his fellow flappers exposure to the archers while maintaining some usability and not just have them hang back. If not we can always scouts investigate secondary and tertiary routes to begin manoeuvres for a rout.
Wish we brought some canons with chain shot, that would cut into their formation pretty well...

>>4599696
I guess what I'm thinking of is something akin to a smokemass siege tower but instead of being filled window like openings for archers to shoot out of at castle ramparts, it would have a long slot like opening for the smokemass flying blade angled downward to come blasting out of into the enemy formation.

>>4599701
Should work as long the Zombie Shadowbinders don't have a catapult to lob heavy objects at the light and presumably top heavy smokemass towers.

>>4599703
If itnis true that the Zombies need active commanding to do anything other than simple actions like change and stop like the one anon waa saying.
Then our best bet may be to get those scouts to find us two paths to fors the river, one north, one south and have 2 smaller more elite teams hammer them for either side while our main forces function as a distraction until they our elite teams begin hammering their sides to split the caster/commanders focus onto 3 fronts limiting the effectiveness of the zombies.
Why does my brain suddenly wants to start working hours after everyone goes to bed?

>>4599708
And for the record if we are splitting the party than I am of the opinion that Jacob is better suited to remaining at the main camp and using his SmokeForm magics to. Make siege weapons and the like even if they arw only acting as bait to deceive our foe or lulling them into believing that we are going to try and just ram through their phalanx head first with just brute strength.

>>4599708
And while my brain juice is circulating.
Can I say that if I was using undead in a swampy overgrown area having them all be in a single trap location seems foolish when if the can be pregiven some level of basic command like wait here indefinitely until something comes along then charge it relentlessly.
I'd litter tjw entire area with small packs of hidden gorilla fighters that would lay in wait and then charge whatever or whatever comes across their area.
The fact we didn't get jumped by small groups of zombies worries me that we already marched past a group in wait that os going pincer us from behind if we try and dig in....
Probably just shadowruns beginning again haha...

>>4599715
Also since smokemass is incredibly light would it be possible to make a sort of unit sized anti arrow shield that could cover our units and be held up by a relatively small number of units to. Cover their fellow squad members?

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>>4599720
A quick mock up
If the former info on zombie commands is true then I suggest using Chevron formations for our forces to maximize the number of fronts they need to give commands to.
Black chevrons our our forces biting into the red square enemy formation.
Blue is the river.
It was super fast and basic but should help visualize what I'm thinking.

>>4599723
Left and right would be our elite forces proceeding with the rout.
And then our main force driving the no their front lines to cut up enemy forces amd their ability to communicate orders to their forces.
This does lead into who do we trust to lead each of the pinser teams?
Cailm I'm assuming for one but what about the other? Floofy bard surely not
Hannah may be a ferocious warrior but she has admitted she isn't much of a leader.
Doloranna is already on probation and I don't think has leadership experience.
Nuncle Arad Perhaps?

>>4599725
I'm just realizing we have no real generals and Cailm is essentially our second and n command. And we don't really know ant of our military officers or what experience they have. Damn Dad really took the majority of his advisors and military leaders with him to the beyond didn't he...

>>4599711
Going back to Jacob staying at the main Camp for a second.
If what Gloam thinks of our military knowledge is based on the garbage Albeda has been spreading, having Jacob remain at the Main base and be as showy as possible to play into that makes the rouse all the more believable for the enemy forces.

>>4599723
>>4599725
More updated map to represent my thinking.
Orange semi circle representing my understanding of the Wells fortifications where the archers are.
Black square smudges being our siege towers and the black circles representing other siege weapons such as Ballista, catapults and the like. I'm assuming since this won't be a surprise attack once the enemies see our rout formations approaching from the sides they will have time for their Smoke-o-Mancers to create siege equipment for those forces as well. If not then prepared before they enter visible range of the enemy.
Probably should add a secondary black Chevron formation behind the main forces siege line in case my shadow runs from earlier are right about having Mached past a hidden force of zombies set up for a rear assault on a dug in force.

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>>4599736
Aaaand I forgot the map image.
So rear Chevron added

>>4599737
Honestly this is where two squads of magically reinforced with smoke armour Heavy Calvary to act as a spear tip formation for our side Chevrons would have been amazing.

>>4599738
I apologize for making 15 posts just talking to myself. And don't expect military strats from me everytime, this is just a case of my brain having an autism moment and not letting me sleep at 2am....

>>4599745
Also I realize there is nothing stoping us from also having our birb mages in the siege towers to spit lightning, other than not wanting to have all our ranged units in potential death traps if the Zombie masters have catapults or some other method of knocking the towers over.

We should dig some giant pit traps for the masses of undead to fall into after we bait them with our troops and then we crush then enmasse with smokemass.

>>4599485
Hey Wong, can our stormtongue troops be able to control the weather? The skellies would be taken by the stronger tide and the strong winds would stop the arrows from reaching us

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Alright, so here's revised plan number 2 for baiting out the zombies, and cutting them down.
Orange curve to north is the Well's wall and the enemy archer positions- The big black smoke cloud is carried with us from a ways away, then moved into position over the river and the Well when the undead become committed, so the enemies can't give them different directions.
Black little Xs are spikey Hedgehog-like field fortifications we can pre-build, then throw into position to disrupt advancing undead lines, and funnel them into path of least resistance, when it's time to scythe them down in AOEs from the 3 major Brazier positions marked to the south.
From there, we have Sculptors lined up there alternating casting Scythe at the grouped up undead, all while our other AOE casters assist in whittling down the horde however they can, at the choked up positions.

This is very large, and very obvious, bringing a massive smoke cloud with us as we march, and as the smoke of our pre-lit braziers are carried with us.

If we have people actually capable of whipping up smoke Siege weapons on-demand (Like the Engineering skill needed for it), it could work even better. But I don't know if we do, so that's why I'm going with just simple Hedgehog spikes that can be dragged and stabbed into position, and Smoke Scythe for the AOE, which we know we definitely have access to.

>>4599832
I like this idea. Though I got to ask, cant we just electricute all the skelly in the river or are they immune to that?

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>>4599832
Some of the thoughts for portable hedgehog-like spike walls. Would need to have more spikes, and razor-sharp hooked ends over the spikes, so that they can't be climbed over without being sliced to ribbons, and so they can be swiftly and effectively stabbed/hooked into the ground

I swear we need a fast way of getting smoke braziers into positions. That thought of an awesome lizard mount that carries our smoke brazier everywhere isn't a bad idea.

>>4599836
I'd imagine trying to electrify a massive river is probably a difficult time. Lots of energy needed, I'd imagine.

Anyone else got good ideas for what the other parts of our forces could be doing?

>>4599842
Im just throwing this out. Why dont we burn the swamp and use the smoke in our advantage?

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>>4599842
Some more IRL field fortifications, that are what I'm imagining, kinda.

>>4599852
We could certainly try to start a wildfire, somehow, but we ARE on our land, and whatever we burn we're probably going to need to march through, which is a serious disadvantage.

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I think someone was mentioning earlier shields to be carried by our troops into position?
Something like a bunch of these, to bring mobile cover to the field and lessen the effectiveness of the archers?

Or just have a hit squad of stormtongues waiting overhead, out of range of archers, ready to zip in and juggle a mage to death with chain-casted Updrafts whenever one of them is spotted and marked by something.
"They're the one person NOT shuffling forwards in a sea of bodies. Calim, hit that man with an arrow. The rest of you, I don't want to see that grid sector anymore."

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>>4599884
Or if people prefer IRL versions of things that can just be hand-carried and not pushed.

>>4599777
Giant pit, with a smoke mass covering. We retreat over it, they follow, we dispel smoke, and you got your trap. Bonus points for smoke spikes at the bottom of the pit.

>>4599827
If the zombies are in the water, just freeze them in it. Since this is Winter's death, they won't notice the temperature chance too much and it'll be easier for us to move the temperature down to below zero.

>>4600026
Only issue I see with that is questioning how we manage to dig a pit/trench close enough to the enemy lines that they'd get dropped into it on the retreat. It's why I'm advocating these more portable things that can be swiftly carried and placed into position.

Maybe if we set like a squad of our own undead to digging while we fought the battle at the front, then on the retreat fell back over the, as you mentioned, trench, and then crushed them in it.

>>4600027
We've got some limited weather control- not straight ice therapy. That also does take like 8 hours to start casting, but I do like that idea. Ice the river over, so we can march over it? Might be reaching a little, freezing a river completely takes a while. At least potentially get some of them stuck at the bottom of the water, if they're marshalling the dead down there. What is it, late fall right now?

>>4599832
Stormtounges have a spell that creates fog. That may help screen our forces.

The problem isn't the dealing with the dead, the problem is how do we deal with the living. I'm telling you, a strike force with a smokemage to create stairs at the Wall will bring chaos to pur living enemies, and force them to stay and fight us in melee, or retreat further into the Well, lose the ability to commands their zombies, and are potentially forced into a reversed siege, and I imagine their supply situation will be comprised as well.

>>4600040
Yes, and if we tell the Stormtongues to freeze that area right now, it may be ready come morning.

>>4600046
Well, the first obstacle is crossing the river. We can do this with an obvious distraction force that makes it appear more numerous than it actually is, blowing smoke and trying to alternate obscuring the archers and focusing them on the force immediately with them, then when the dead march out of the river, have the majority of our forces cross elsewhere under cover of fog, then march on the ongoing battle?

Forgot that there was a Fog spell, also.

>>4600054
Ye, that sounds good. Portable spike barriers to help tear the zombies up, maybe have the Stormtongues in smoke armor and have them flying around the back of the Well, making them split their attention and try to take some of their living unawares, then a strike force to get on their Walls proper.

>>4600054
One good thing about our defeat, is that it may have given him a false sense of security/confidence, and we may use it to our advantage.

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>>4600046
Something like this?
Braziers with Sculptors focus their attention on the camp, with portable defenses and cloud of smoke, with objective to distract and block the other vision of the archers with smoke.

A flanking force, meanwhile, crosses earlier further upstream under cover of fog, seeking a point where they can cross undetected. The weather aims to be foggy to restrict the enemies sightline so they don't see the flanking force coming, but at the signal from the distraction force- Long Short Long on a horn's blast to signal the undead are committed, the flanking force sweeps south, carrying a few premade smoke assault ramps or ladders to climb the wall (It's only like as tall as a man), as the distraction force disengages and pulls back, attempting to cut down the undead in droves in the choke points, while cutting the casters off from issuing new orders to pull the undead back with more Shovel the Clouds casts.

Priority should be given to nailing the Mages, then Archers, then anything living.
For us, personally, we should be with the distraction force. Need to stop there from falling into a rout, along with judging when to time things, and we'll need every smoke sculptor we can manage to make defenses.

>>4600081
Yes, but I think we should be on the strike force, for two reasons. One, to help establish a beachhead on the wall, as we can easily fly above it and clear the area as the ramps and ladders are set up. Two, we can help the flanking force achieve it's goals to win the day, as this will probably be our last attack of this month, and I want to try and make this endeavor as much of a success as possible.

Plus, this will make it seem like we tried something, affected the battle in a tangible way, instead of get our shit kicked in one post.

>>4600252
I'm on the other foot, because I think we can survey and direct the battle best from the static defensive position, and coordinate those forces as best we can. We could try to go for best of both worlds, and fight from the defenses, then on the signal fly across the water and try to bring aid our attacking force, leaving another person to coordinate the withdrawal from the undead.
If we're keeping the archers suppressed with sight-blocking smoke or fog, it's unlikely to get our double-armored brick self shot down easily.

Our place is coordinating forces to make them better, with a little bit of dueling potential with our single-target spells. We don't have the army-killing spells like Char, or the "Hundred-strong raise dead cast", but we do have personal durability, and flexibility with our smoke spells and fly. Although, hell, if we could get some sort of signaling or swift messaging spell, we could survey battles from on-high and make tactical decisions on the fly. Something for the future, perhaps?

>>4600252
And, uh, yea, I'm also a little down about getting our shit kicked in in 1 post. Was kinda trying to set up a "Gather more information" vote with my send scouts and prepare for crossing plan, rather than just rushing in, but bleh. Another reason why I'm trying so hard right now to set up another plan. That, and it's a Saturday and I've got nothing to do today.

>>4600287
Other than Shoveling the Clouds to make identifiable shapes in smoke, I don't think there's an equivalent signal or messaging spell, at least with our current magical schools at our disposal.

>>4600292
So, mandatory 5 minute wait before voting, just so we're all on the same page? Otherwise we may just quick vote the impulsive option again just because we lack other responsible alternatives.

>>4600303
Hopefully we learn a bit from this experience, just as Jakob does.

Sorry for not knowing a lot about how the spells work but, Couldnt we make like, movable walls, or maybe some spiked wagons with our smoke since we cant make too complex structures? That might let some of the soldiers push forwards easier without getting overwhelmed if the try to get across the river again, and can protect them from the arrows.

>>4600582
Welcome to the thread! Whatever we make, we need to have knowledge of the workings (I.E. we will have a knowledge, engineering roll to make catapults), and stuff made of smokemass is very light. So yes, we could make portable covers on wheels to defend against arrow fire. Still runs into problems with the undead marching up and pushing them over, as they are super light, but for blocking arrows would be a useful.

>>4600407
I certainly hope so. Only what, God and Wong knows.

>>4599641
Wong, quick question. Does Blossom Freshness make you smell like the flower used up for the spell?

>>4600867
God has no power here... For this is Wong's special realm!

>>4600618
Cool, I was just thinking with those, and some soldiers to brace them, they would at least be enough to prevent our guys from getting swarmed on approach, which seems like one of the big hurdles of this fight.
On the other hand, if I knew more about the area,like if there was a good source of lumber or rocks, i'd say maybe we should try to get some guys to go further up the river and build a temporary dam, that way itd be much eaier to both hit as many corpses as possible, and cross the river, since theres no way they have enough of them to cover the whole length, or even if they did, theyd have to spread them too thin to prevent us from crossing...

>>4600292

It's understandable, but Gorol won the tactics roll handily, and there was the misconception that there would be time after arriving at the Well to do something clever, which he anticipated and tried to avert with a surprise attack.

>>4601330

To add to this, if you'd won the roll for the actual battle, you would have had time to send scouts out first, realize the trap, and take advantage of it.

>>4601347
Live by the dice.
Die while getting horrible fucked in the butt by the dice.
This is how we choose to live our lives after all.

>>4601410

Look at it this way. A problem that happened in Mecha Space Pirate Quest was that Roarke just flat-out never lost and eventually was so ahead of the power curve that meaningfully threatening him would have taken the kind of battle almost impossible to run as a quest. Getting an early loss in for Jakob reminds everyone not to be too cocky and that in the future to make plans before entering enemy territory.

>>4601626
Defeats make the hard-fought victory all the more sweeter.

>>4601626
Plz don't misunderstand me, I have no issue with Jacob losing in a fair contest of dice rolls.
This is the life we as dice addicts have chosen to live!
And it's not like Jacob just suddenly died from a single bad roll Yet (knock on wood)

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Throwing some information in here, a lot of wire obstacles are designed to divert opposition. These can be from low-wire entanglements (causes running forces to trip or slow down to avoid tripping), obstacles like knife rests to get wrapped up in vehicles to foul axls and cut lines, and fences (apron, catwire, etc) to force them to take other routes by being sturdy as hell. These all work really well when it comes to get stand-off in ranged conflicts. Knife rests are light as hell, designed to crumple and entangle. Hedgehogs operate in the same way. Both of these types are generally ineffective against infantry, due to infanteers being able to just maneuver around them.

Most obstacle plans to divert infantry are wire fences (hard to cut, long continuous sections are hard to go around, and can't easily climb over due to snagging from the wire), pit traps to break up a charge, and explosives. Setting up abatees, fences and the like to disrupt a charge will work, so long as they are far enough ahead that they can't reach you with spears and pikes over them. Stationing heavy shields to absorb arrow fire, and billmen at the gaps to hew them down will help. Sending plumes of smoke to cover the advance will help, and we can probably send smoke arrows and the like to fire back too.

Overall, I think using an Unconventional Attack with raiders to try and disrupt their cover while we set up a kill zone might be called for. Whether it's by torching the platforms that their using to shoot from, or striking from a hidden position when we march again, if they disrupt the archers, it'll give our Stormtongues room to maneuver and blast apart the undead formations while the billmen take them down piecemeal.

>>4602394
Damn Anon, that's some heavy thinking! Thank you.

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>>4602437

No worries, obstacles are an important part of mobility and counter-mobility warfare. This stuff is way more useful in the defensive, but considering that it can get done up by casters instead of sweaty combat engineers that are filled with bitterness and spite, it still helps on the the offensive. Set them up to cover a flank from counter-charges and raiding, while leaving room to maneuver where you have to. Being able to just pound stakes and smokemass concertina or razor wire around them makes it substantially easier than doing it by hand. They can still get blown apart, but the Well doesn't seem to have any artillery or casters that specialize in explosions RIP Char that can burst them apart or smash them to flinders. Just need to make sure that they can't use them on the defense if we get repelled.

>pic related is an abatis set-up

You use these by hacking down trees, and laying the leafy end toward the foe. Provides cover that you can shoot through, and it's annoying to climb over. Putting a trench for them to fall into and redoubt behind that for cover helps prevent you from getting shot. Downsides are that you need trees, and they can be set ablaze compared to earthworks or metal obstacles. Good for quick static defenses though.

>>4602463
This is some interesting things. I definitely like the wire setup. What we need to do is essentially just pull our ultralight fortifications to make:
1. Cover from the archers, safe positions to return fire from
2. Channels to direct the uncoordinated undead, while delaying them.

The final problem we need to solve, is getting enough force across the river, that can overwhelm the close-in defenders.
Because the whole issue that nailed us last time, was being forced to stop and figure out a crossing location.
This is why I'm in favor of attempting to distract with a weaker force, while the larger force crosses the river elsewhere ahead of time. We could even try something like using most of our fastest troops for the distraction force, so they can swiftly redeploy to close on the enemy during the proper assault, as whoever left behind makes a swift withdrawal.

An alternate plan would be use a weaker force to try and disrupt them across the river early, while we just try to dig in and fortify hard, preparing to withstand the undead while they are distracted with raiders in their face, and just try and start some sort of artillery or skirmishing from the fixed defenses. Still ends up with us stuck on the non-Well side of the river, and in a battle of attrition vs corpse-raisers, which is why I'm favoring the previous plan.

If someone can summarize this excellent tactical planning up into a single post or series of posts, I'll say it's worth a MD considering Gorol does not have the resources to counter instant siege weapons. The use of smokemass mobile covers in particular is a stroke of genius as they're perfectly suited for it.

>>4602506
>Fastest troops
Some combination of smoke mage and Stromtongues, then?

Alternatively, the Stormtongues could attampt a fake flank, keeping the archers occupied and away from the gate wall while we assault it, and splitting our enemies attention on two fronts (the main distraction force and the flank distraction force).

>>4603087
I'll leave this to the others to simplify.

>>4603087
Alright, attempt at the assault plan
Check weather forecast for tomorrow- if it’s possible to shift the weather to fog tomorrow, and we have spare casters on hand who can cast it, do so. (This is to provide less chances of being spotted for flanking force)

The next morning, smoke sculptors prepare mobile fortifications, both things (like the wire emplacements mentioned above) that can be placed down to slow/divert incoming forces, and mobile arrow shields that can be brought to the field to seek cover behind. In addition, prepare a few spare mobile braziers that can be brought with us for a lot of smoke.

These will be for building the siege weapons on-site, so we don’t need to carry those with us, along with a large central source of smoke for the AOE scythe spells that we are going to need to clear out those undead blocks.

Scouts obviously keep an eye out on the Well overnight, attempting to see if he’s preparing any additional forces in ambush positions, or if the archers are moving out places. We Will not be caught out again. If we hear back from these scouts, plans may change.

We make a short speech to bolster the spirits of our men, promising that we will do better. (Words of Iron usage)

A flanking force should be prepared with enough stormtongues to be able to sneak around under a cloak of fog, with some smokemass assault ramps and ladders to be able to get on top of and breach the wall of the well. Their job will be to cross unseen ahead of time, at a different point further upstream or downstream.

1/2

>>4603087
The half of the army not in the flanking force arrives across the well, and digs in as fast as possible with the pre-built fortifications, place the braziers down, and prepare for the undead assault. If we are instantly swarmed, the fortifications divert them to choke points, where they are cut down.
If they are not instantly swarmed, prepare siege weapons on-site, and begin bombarding the wall.

Whenever the undead do attempt an assault, Shovel the Clouds a ton of smoke over the wall’s position to block sight lines from the archers and casters, then call in the flanking force while their sight lines are blocked. The forces at the fortifications either hold against the undead, or retreat in good order, depending on how they are weathering the assault, while we take whatever fliers we have across the river to aid the main flanking attack on the wall.

Biggest priorities are communication- have sound signals for calling the flankers in, clearing the smoke/adding more smoke, or specific force retreat/engage. Sound is preferable, because it’s not obstructed by smoke (obviously)

Does that cover about everything?

If anyone wants to make changes or additions, now is kinda the time.

2/2

>>4603180
>>4603182
Ye, it looks good man. It'll do our father proud.

>>4603180
>>4603182
looks about right

>>4603180
>>4603182

Utterly based.

Begin rolling dice, for the purposes of your speech.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4607550

First for Inspiration!

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4607550

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4607550

There's a fever in his bones, and the only prescription is More Dice.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4607550
Don't make me return to Gambler's Anonymous, Wong! They're going to take my dice away from me again!

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4607550

A few more dice, to stave off the shakes.

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4607550
Dice for the Dice Gods!
Sets for the Set Throne!

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4607550

Let the dice fall where they may.

>>4607555
>>4607580

A set of 2x4 is something, hope we can get something more though.

>>4607584

Or just keep rolling 4s, I guess.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4607550
Come on dice baby, papa wants a huge ancient Well!

>>4607585
Nice set, mate!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4607550

Pretty sure this will be enough for Command+Inspire, but better be on the safe side regardless. At least the threshold to trigger Words of Iron is 2 right now, so the 3x4 set should work alright.

>>4607598

If we get another good one, it'll be pretty dope.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4607550
Dice dice dice

>>4607601
A set of 3x4 is still dope, my man!

>>4607612
Imagine if Speaches duration was measured by width and quality by height

>>4607613
>roll a 8x1
>everybody is bored to death by our 8 hour long speech

>>4607618
I think that's grounds for being assassinated....

>>4607619
>roll charm/fascinate
>assassin rolls to gobble
>no sets
>assassin gets too enthralled in our speech to finish the mission

>>4607634
I mean, it's rolling Command+Inspire, so the Assassin would be more swept up in the wave of patriotism than really enthralled with our words. Although an assassin failing to roll any sets during a speech seems like it would end with a Teddy Roosevelt situation- You get hit, but finish the speech.
Or you get something like Andrew Jackson, where someone tried to shoot him, but the pistol misfired, and Jackson beat the stuffing out of the guy with his cane.

>>4607618

Quite the opposite, width affects speed and competence. Despite being less than high rhetoric, you make a single pithy statement that encapsulates the mood needed to kill your enemies perfectly, mic drop, and walk away.

I need one more dice roll.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4607766

Pls 4

>>4607684
This is me, now just phoneposting
So the biggest question right now is Where did the archers come from?
I’ve been reading the archives a bit, and what seems to make the most sense is either Ryd playing both sides, or Albeda’s made an alliance with Ralf. There just aren’t enough other major players on the political field, and Ledo is Based, so he’s out. I doubt the King would send support to either of us in the swamp, assuming he’s got a grudge.

I doubt that pirates or rebels from an internal struggle elsewhere have the interest or reach to come here, so that rules out most of them.
Of the two, I’m betting Swaltz is trying to screw us over, because he could marry Albeda and take 2 provinces with her in charge. Ryd couldn’t marry his daughter off to Albeda. Ralf is also hungry for allies, reportedly.

>>4607823
Ralf is also to the south, near the enemy's Area of Control. I wouldn't put it past him to try and secure allies wherever or however he can, and it doesn't hurt to be buddies with those sitting on your borders. You'd think he'd have bigger problems to worry about though, given the cult, the king's ire, and all the rest.

>>4607832
Well, the kings ire is a common thread with Albeda.

>>4607835
Also, Albeda even knows that the nobles hate him, on account of Char telling her about it through her tale.
More so, Ryd doesn’t have the time to order mercenaries in to support Albeda, if he wanted at all to attempt negotiating a marriage match with his daughter and us in good faith. (I think, at least, that the timing doesn’t work out)

>>4607764
>Lord Jakob stands with his back to his men, trying desperately to come up with the words to which he can inspire his men despite their bitter defeat.
>He has been staring intently at the well for the past hour or so, almost as if he was trying to demolish it through sheer willpower along.
>Finally, he turns to address his men.
>He slowly raises one hand towards the well, points one finger, and shouts "Fuck those guys!"
>It was the greatest speech anyone has ever heard.

>>4607823
Isn't the Swaltz currently dealing with being bled dry of men by the kingdom? I don't really think they have the troops to support a rebellion.

>>4607851
Unless the undead were meant to help him with his problems after this.

>>4607823

A truly excellent question that actually has a very simple answer.

Rolled 10, 6 = 16 (2d10)

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4607881

>>4607823

I mean, it could also be over-thinking things too. They could also just be mercs hired on, or peasant levies from Dampmeade sent here on pain of zombification or being eaten by furries. Not always the complicated answer. Good to keep in mind though.

>>4607886
>Get off work
>Shitton of stuff written
>Power on my street is down, dog panicking

Should just be a few hours but I swear the QM curse is real.

Luckily I save everything, so we can get going as soon as it's back up.

>>4608368
My man! No small curse will knock you down!

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You seethe for all of five, maybe ten minutes, ignoring everyone and everything. Then, you instruct your bodyguards to gather your officers and sorcerers. You relay your plan, a plan partially formed before Gorol's surprise attack, in terse words. There is little grand wordplay to the speech you make to them, merely an assessment of the resources at your disposal and how they can be used to make victory certain, which heartens them. Soon, the barking of orders and the sound of trees being hacked down to fill the braziers fills the night, as smokemass fortifications are erected around your camp.

The fact that there is no night attack is significant. A more cocky Shadowbinder would surely have used the cover of darkness to try to breach or scale the glass-smooth walls of smoke, but despite the numbers at his disposal Gorol's forces aren't infinite. In fact, you would wager he was throwing all of them at you at once. There are only so many bodies four Shadowbinders can turn into husks in the course of a few days, and while waiting so long to start reanimating them assuredly helped keep the Well secret...had it not been for Grandmama immediately reporting his defection and your own questions about the ruins, leading her to remember the Well, you would have had a much harder time ferreting him out and he could have spent years harassing you with small parties of monstrosities and deftly avoiding a decisive battle. For a man in his position, avoiding a setpiece battle, a confrontation of armies rather than an asymmetrical conflict, it is simply common sense.

This might be one of the Pentacle's greatest failings. Gorol's talent for making war is hindered by the moves already made by his fellows, which he might very well have voted against. If there had been no assassination attempt to harden you and make you look like a conquering hero in the eyes of your people, it would have been easy and eastern reaches of the Absol Swamp into an uncontrollable morass, with raiding parties of the undead and lupomancers making the roads unsafe and the people discontented. You would have been viewed in the eyes of your peers and subordinates alike as a weak lord, a child unable to defend his land, and Albeda's claim would have gained more weight.

[Continue]

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Moreover, there are the egos of the mages involved. Brother Grey is unlikely to defer to a mage as young as Brother Gloam, while Brother Gloam as a civilized Shadowbinder of Briarfast is unlikely to want to subordinate himself to such a straightforward savage. The outsider, Sister Char, was given the Night Hunters subordinate to the one teacher not currently in the province, who might not be as trustworthy to Brother Grey (especially given their defection) and essentially left on her own with no other oversight and support. In a way, if Albeda was older and more hypocritical, willing to establish herself as first among equals rather than one of five (and a junior member used to claim legitimacy rather than someone who can be deferred to and induce senior archmagi to work together, as you do with Grandmama and Nuncle Arad) she would be considerably more of a threat.

Her mistake is your gain. The five fingers of the Pentacle can be broken by the gauntleted fist of Jakob Absol when extended separately. Your Night Hunters report to you every few minutes, the occasional low howl revealing the use of their magics. You don't have many who are battle-ready, but most of them can call wolves, and the attuned ones can all turn into them. As you hunker down before a brazier, working harder at the center of your knot of fellow Smoke Sculptors, it barely registers on you that you are by far the youngest of them. White and grey blur in your hands as you spin them into shape, weaving the first of the great siege mantlets you have envisioned.

Then, you run water over your elbow, to and use the most basic of divinatory magics at your disposal to get the morning's weather. Light rain. It would be easy enough for a Stormtongue to turn it into fog, and you give the orders to the seniormost of Arad's apprentices attached to this force. A foggy morning, and moving within that fog will be a mobile unit of, primarily, axemen and swordsmen. Mostly local citizen-soldiers. Some of them are landowners and would, in other provinces, be considered knights, . If Brother Gloam wants to command the dead of this region, he will be reminded that you command the living.

These men know the river, and...given feather-light smokemass grapnel-ladders and fliers to scout ahead and clear the way for them...they will cross downstream and approach the wall of the Well from the rear, and scale it.

[Continue]

Hmmm, before I post this...

>[Identify your position in the formation via your heraldry]
>[Remain anonymous to enemy view by hiding behind a mantlet that looks just like everyone else's.]

>>4608540
>>[Identify your position in the formation via your heraldry]
Both the correct and dumb option.

Also I read Mantel as Manlet in the other option, thanks brain.

>>4608540
>[Identify your position in the formation via your heraldry]

It'll keep the enemy focused on us, and distracted from our flank. Plus, it will help hearten our living, and terrify theirs.

Though I wouldn't mind the advantages of anonymity if we choose it.