>>5673343
They have sent soldiers to your northern shores, seizing a foothold on the coasts of Sakia and spreading southwards. For quite some time now they’ve been probing Hazaran’s borders, finding that the mountains and fortified passes really made it impossible to cross with anything less than a full force assault. Which they recently mounted, to disastrous results.

Eventually that led to the conflict that just ended, where you and your faction cut down a unit of awakened soldiers sent across into Hazaran to destroy outposts and assault the fortress at Scaithness en masse. They never made it.

Their leader, Clarice, was once one of you - albeit never one who could be trusted. But she finally broke ranks with the Organization’s faction and betrayed the awakened soldiers, to their deaths and incidentally her own survival.

“So, is that all, do you think?” Aurora asks you.

[And can we trust Clarice?] Serana adds.

You shake your head. “Only for the time being.”

“I doubt we’ve really ‘gained’ Clarice so much as the Organization ‘lost’ her,” Laura offers.

“I agree completely,” you tell her.

“This seems like an opportunity,” Helen insists. “An opportunity to drive the Organization back into the sea.”

>I think you’re right. We have to strike before they can put more awakened soldiers into service.
>I think the key will be to turn Sakia against their invaders - and now IS a good time to do that.
>I think we need to interrogate Clarice properly. She was presumably in the enemy’s confidence.
>Other?

>>5673623
>>I think we need to interrogate Clarice properly. She was presumably in the enemy’s confidence.

Not like turn the screws to her but learn all we can about the enemy and its situation before we do anything. Information is power, and we need to have a rough idea of what the enemy has and can do, before we know what they will do and why.

>>5673623
>>I think the key will be to turn Sakia against their invaders - and now IS a good time to do that.

>>5673623
>I think we need to interrogate Clarice properly. She was presumably in the enemy’s confidence.

>>5673650
>>5673623

>>5673623
>I think we need to interrogate Clarice properly. She was presumably in the enemy’s confidence.

>>5673623
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 6, 10, 2 = 18 (3d10)

>>5674504

Rolled 7, 7, 8 = 22 (3d10)

>>5674504

Rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8 (3d10)

>>5674504

>>5673623
“There’s something we still need to do,” you insist. “We haven’t yet had time to interrogate Clarice properly.”

“Are you certain that’s wise?” Laura asks with a slight frown. “Depending on your definition of ‘interrogation’, it may lose us what little good will we already have with her.”

“If it were that easy to lose it wouldn’t be worth having,” Helen counters. Of course, both have good points.

[She knows more than she’s told,] Serana observes. And there lies the issue - regardless of what anyone here thinks of her personally, or even from a strategic standpoint, Clarice represents a largely untapped resource in terms of what she knows about your enemy and how to defeat them. Any details she offers could be parsed for strategic insight, and even if she avoids answering some of your questions the questions she refuses and how she goes about doing that will tell you more than you knew before you asked.

“I agree,” you return to your initial point. “I intend to be careful about it, so as not to undermine our position, but I cannot leave the information she may be able to offer entirely on the proverbial table.”

…

So that’s the conversation which led to this one - where you, Helen, and your mother all find yourselves sitting across from Clarice, who is flanked on one side by Serana and on the other by Reika.

“Well, you sure know how to make a girl feel welcome,” Clarice muses aloud. “So, are you going to interrogate me now?”

“That’s the point of all this, yes,” you admit. “Though you shouldn’t confuse ‘interrogation’ for ‘torture’. We have no intention of simply beating anything out of you.”

“Though a little light coercion never harmed anybody?” she replies with a smirk. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“That would require us to have a better idea for how to control your reaction,” Sabela points out.

“The only reason we’ve all agreed to a light touch is that we can’t predict how you’ll react,” Helen adds.
>1/2

>>5675257
“We need information,” you continue. “If we’re going to end this conflict we can’t remain on the defensive forever, and if we wish to make our next offensive successful we need to know all we can about our enemy.”

“Alright, well if we’re all going to play nice,” Clarice replies with a cheerful smile, “then I suppose I’m just going to have to play nice too.”

“What would you like to know?”

>I want to know how the enemy’s resources are distributed. Where do we evade, where do we strike, what can we expect?
>Striking and maneuvering are tactical questions. I want to get into the minds of our enemy, to form a better strategic plan.
>We don’t know who runs our enemy’s operations - we can’t remove the head of the serpent if we don’t know where to look.
>Other?

>>5675453
>>Striking and maneuvering are tactical questions. I want to get into the minds of our enemy, to form a better strategic plan.

>>5675453
>>We don’t know who runs our enemy’s operations - we can’t remove the head of the serpent if we don’t know where to look.

>>5675453
>We don’t know who runs our enemy’s operations - we can’t remove the head of the serpent if we don’t know where to look.

>>5675535
As a lead into
>Striking and maneuvering are tactical questions. I want to get into the minds of our enemy, to form a better strategic plan.

>>5675453
>Striking and maneuvering are tactical questions. I want to get into the minds of our enemy, to form a better strategic plan.

>>5675453
>Striking and maneuvering are tactical questions. I want to get into the minds of our enemy, to form a better strategic plan.
>We don’t know who runs our enemy’s operations - we can’t remove the head of the serpent if we don’t know where to look.

>>5675453
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 4, 4, 7 = 15 (3d10)

>>5676260

Rolled 4, 7, 7 = 18 (3d10)

>>5676260

Rolled 8, 6, 7 = 21 (3d10)

>>5676260

>>5676260
“Where to strike and how to maneuver are tactical matters that must be determined by the course of battle,” you decide. “I want to know strategic information - I assume you know a lot about our enemy, including the way they think and approach situations.”

“I want you to share that information, please.”

“Well, these guys are losers,” Clarice answers with a shrug. “They’re losers and they know it, and it bothers them.”

“Their whole campaign here is based on the fact that they already lost one war,” you recall.

Clarice nods. “That’s right. Which presents opportunities, but also weakens their position.”

“How so?”

“They’re not supposed to be here,” Clarice informs you, “and they have a difficult time resupplying - because the world they come from hardly knows of them, they need to keep it that way to continue enjoying the benefits of their secrecy.”

>So if we threaten their secrecy we can gain an advantage?
>So if we strike at their supply lines, we can win?
>Their nature as an organization determines how they fight…
>Other?

>>5676943
>So if we threaten their secrecy we can gain an advantage?

>>5676943
>>So if we threaten their secrecy we can gain an advantage?

>>5676943
>Their nature as an organization determines how they fight…
Threatening their secrecy also threatens our secrecy, and I'm not sure at all that whoever won the war on the Continent will be amenable to our little island.

>>5676943
>>So if we threaten their secrecy we can gain an advantage?

>>5676943
“What would happen if they lost the benefit of their secrecy,” you muse. “Or at least, if we could make a credible threat along those lines?”

There’s a pause as your sisters mull over this question.

“What would happen to us?” Helen asks with a slight frown.

“Point taken,” you acknowledge. “It doesn’t seem so far that we would be viewed as something to be destroyed, but we also can’t say how our existence would be perceived on the mainland.”

[Particularly among the dragon-kind,] Serana observes.

“That could be the place for diplomacy,” Laura suggests, “though it’s far from my place to push for it.”

“I agree,” Valentina shrugs. “I believe in miss Noel’s ability… and in everyone else who supports her.”

You nod once to acknowledge her show of support.

“There’s one problem though,” Aurora muses.

“How?” Justina adds.

“Right,” Aurora confirms. “How would we get there? If we don’t have an answer to that question we can’t even make a real threat about it.”

>We have a ship. This makes completion of that project all the more pressing.
>We have a ship, but the Organization has better ships. Which we could ‘procure’.
>The Organization must have ways of communicating with the mainland.
>Other?

>>5677572
>>We have a ship. This makes completion of that project all the more pressing.

>>5677572
>The Organization must have ways of communicating with the mainland.
Do they have ocean floor telegraph cables?

>>5677572
>We have a ship, but the Organization has better ships. Which we could ‘procure’.

>>5677572
>>The Organization must have ways of communicating with the mainland.

>>5677572
“The Organization must have some means of communicating with the mainland,” you frown, thinking deeply on the matter. “It defies belief that for all the effort and sophistication they’ve shown, simply sailing back and forth is the best they could come up with.”

“Fair point,” Helen admits, before glancing at Clarice. “Care to clarify?”

“Oh, they get messages more regularly than you’d expect if they were just sailing around the world,” Clarice replies with a shrug, “even with those fancy steam ships they’ve got.”

[Then how?] Serana signs.

“How?” you translate quickly.

Clarice, who had glanced at Serana, looks back to you. “That I can’t tell you, cause they weren’t dumb enough to ever let me know. They’re real paranoid about some little details like that.”

“So they wanted to keep their means of communication secret,” Aurora summarizes. “That certainly screams ‘vulnerability’, doesn’t it?”

“I agree,” Helen nods.

“Do we believe them, though?” Zoe muses.

“You think it could be a facade?” Laura guesses.

Zoe nods. “It may seem foolish, but foolishness can be an occupational hazard of being human.”

“Assuming this isn’t some fancy, multilevel ruse,” Valentina insists, “how do we approach the situation?”

>Simple. We assault the heart of their operations and destroy anything we find there that seems fit to that purpose.
>We need answers. And to get answers, we need to do deep reconnaissance. This one is going to be dangerous.
>We feint. Create a situation that warrants communication with the mainland and look for any discernible signs.
>Other?

>>5678131
>We need answers. And to get answers, we need to do deep reconnaissance. This one is going to be dangerous.

>>5678131
>We feint. Create a situation that warrants communication with the mainland and look for any discernible signs.
Sounds like Midway's fake message about a failed desalination plant, confirming the Japanese code of AF. Perhaps start spreading misinformation?

>>5678205
I'm concerned that we wouldn't even know what to look for. How do you detect signs of a radio usage when you don't know what a radio is?

>>5678131
>We need answers. And to get answers, we need to do deep reconnaissance. This one is going to be dangerous.

>>5678131
>>We need answers. And to get answers, we need to do deep reconnaissance. This one is going to be dangerous.

>>5678209
How would you know it was radio and not undersea cables, or other methods?

I guess the thing would be is to assert that tank crewman, are (not) using signal flags and that commanders aren't using runners to exchange orders.

maybe some evidence that they were proactive during low / poor visibility or otherwise reacted quickly while under pressure, which would preclude an infantry phone, runner or signal flags.

and that any Navy personnel that we recovered don't have any other ideas, as signaling lights or otherwise would be obvious, I don't remember if we recovered any of the wreckage(s) intact but could provide clues especially if we had a better idea of roughly where the outside was at in terms of technology, obviously they have access to rubber, internal combustion engines (and welding or rivets), so should have some industrial capacity, considering that it is unlikely that we would be up against entirely cutting edge forces especially if they were attempting to avoid attention as military equipment is quite expensive.

>>5678131
You sigh, recognizing that the only path forward that leads anywhere good is, of course, the hardest one to follow. “We need information. And to get information, we need to search for it.”

“You mean to reconnoiter,” Helen summarizes.

You nod. “And I know that it will not be an easy task.”

[Any presentation of a threat will ruin it,] Serana guesses your mind.

“Precisely.”

“How do you mean to do this, then?” Laura enquires. “There must be some way to execute a thorough search without presenting a threat - the only trouble is, our eyes and swords give us away as a threat pretty quickly.”

>We rely on the local population to shelter us. High risk to be sure, but with some caution it’s the simplest solution.
>We bypass their territory altogether. They think they have control of the seas - meaning they may not be watching them.
>We need to establish a foothold in Sakia. Noventus can help us examine likely strong points to seize in a counteroffensive.
>Other?

>>5678790
>>We bypass their territory altogether. They think they have control of the seas - meaning they may not be watching them.

>>5678790
>We bypass their territory altogether. They think they have control of the seas - meaning they may not be watching them.

>>5678251
Yes, interrogating the sailors makes sense.

>>5678790
>We bypass their territory altogether. They think they have control of the seas - meaning they may not be watching them.

>>5678790
“We could bypass their territory altogether,” you muse, turning your mind to thoughts of the sea. “The Organization clearly thinks themselves masters of the open ocean. They know we have nothing with which to challenge them.”

[You think they may be lax?]

“I certainly wouldn’t expect it,” Laura observes. “I think it could work.”

“I would imagine that a second opinion would be in order?” Helen offers.

You nod. “I don’t disagree. Fortunately, we do have a few experts in Hazaran’s official employ that could offer us some further information and perspective.”
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 4, 8, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>5679736

Rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14 (3d10)

>>5679736

Rolled 8, 6, 5 = 19 (3d10)

>>5679736

>>5679736
It takes two days for agents of the crown to track down the sailors and technicians, but in the evening of the second day you meet with them in Scaithness. You realize immediately that they’re on edge, concerned about why you may have summoned them here on such short notice, and so you address that concern immediately.

“We’re going to raid the Organization’s foothold in Sakia,” you declare. “And we need your help to pull it off efficiently.”

The bravest of them, a technician who once served on the ship that ran aground around the beginning of the conflict, speaks first. “What makes you believe we can help you?”

“Our problem likely has a technological solution,” you insist. “We need a way to infiltrate undetected by sea.”

“Oh, that’s easy then,” the technician shrugs. “Have you got any anthracite?”

“Anthrawhatnow?” Aurora frowns.

“You may know it as hard coal?”

“Cuilan has several deposits with that problem,” you inform him. Then you notice Aurora staring at you in surprise. “I get biweekly output reports.”

[Why a problem?] Serana asks you curiously.

“Because it doesn’t really ignite,” you tell her.

“That’s not true at all,” the technician tells you. “It just has a higher ignition temperature than normal coal, what we’d call ‘bituminous’ coal.”

“Oaky, so let’s say we can get it hot enough,” Aurora presses. “Why’s it an advantage?”

“Because it’s much purer than regular coal,” the technician explains. “When coal burns, it puts out a lot of smoke and soot because of the impurities. So when you burn anthracite coal…”

“No smoke,” you summarize. “In a low-profile ship with a sealed topside and a steam engine driving two screws…”

“On a dark night it’s almost as hard to see as a submersible,” the technician assures you. “Bring me a steam engine and I’ll show you how to get the ignition chamber hot enough.”
>1/2

>>5680335
Bring him a steam engine, he says… therein lies a problem. The only shipbuilding yard owned by Hazaran is all the way round on the south side of the island, meaning that to get there and then to get from there to the harbor on the north coast in Sakia will add probably around two weeks. That assumes, of course, that the ship you end up fitting the engine into is even seaworthy enough to make the journey under its own power.

>Head for the west end. Hire out a yard closer to your target and fit the engine into a small ship.
>A large pinnace, maybe fifty-foot, could be outfitted in Hazaran and carried closer to the target.
>You mentioned a ‘submersible’. What is that, and would it be of any benefit to us in this case?
>Other?

>>5680455
>>A large pinnace, maybe fifty-foot, could be outfitted in Hazaran and carried closer to the target.
>>You mentioned a ‘submersible’. What is that, and would it be of any benefit to us in this case?
Couldn't hurt to at least inquire about the submersible.

File: Nordenfelt-I-profile.jpg (72 KB, 940x434)

72 KB JPG

>>5680455
>>5680464
+1
Maybe a semi-submersible, like a narco-submarine?

>>5680455
>A large pinnace, maybe fifty-foot, could be outfitted in Hazaran and carried closer to the target.

>>5680455
>>A large pinnace, maybe fifty-foot, could be outfitted in Hazaran and carried closer to the target.

>>5680455
“I don’t think it’s necessary,” you muse with a frown, “but what would be involved in building one of these ‘submersibles’? I’d assume it’s a ship capable of traveling underwater?”

“Well, there’s a few things involved,” the man replies thoughtfully. “You’re right of course, it’s a ship that can submerge. There’s two ways it can work - a diving ship where you’d have to plug the exhaust somehow and wouldn’t be able to move underwater, and a true submersible which can move underwater.”

“How would it move if you’d have to plug the exhaust?” Aurora asks.

The man bites lightly at the inside of his lip for a moment, thinking carefully. “Compressed air or battery power.”

“We can’t do that,” you declare bluntly.

He shakes his head. “Nope. Didn’t think so.”

“What about a ‘diving ship’ as you called it?” Laura presses.

“That would simply dive out of the way if the skipper thought she might’ve been spotted,” he answers. “The hard part would be waterproofing all the moving parts.”

“As opposed to a surface ship with a low profile,” you nod. “Where you only have to worry about the screw shaft.”

“Right.”

“Then we could outfit a large pinnace to the south,” you decide, “and have a larger sailing ship carry it closer to target.”

[That way it doesn’t have to be able to sail in the open water.]

“Exactly.”

“What?” the man asks, having missed part of the conversation.

“Means it just has to float and move,” you summarize.

“Ah, got it,” he nods. “Yeah, I think you can aim higher than that - but having a mothership would ease the construction requirements a lot.”
>1/2

>>5681231
“Good,” you nod. “I’ll have a suitable engine moved to the port, and a list of likely hulls written up. You and any technicians, craftsmen, or workers you need will leave as soon as possible.”

>And when we get there, you’ll teach me how to operate it.
>We’ll also need to put together a small crew of volunteers.
>What else? We should have a backup plan and a distraction ready.
>Other?

>>5681261
>We’ll also need to put together a small crew of volunteers.

>>5681261
>What else? We should have a backup plan and a distraction ready.

>>5681261
>>We’ll also need to put together a small crew of volunteers.
>>What else? We should have a backup plan and a distraction ready.
I don't think these are exclusive.

>>5681261
>And when we get there, you’ll teach me how to operate it.

>>5681261
“Then we’ll need a crew of volunteers,” you decide, “along with alternates, and a plan to create a distraction. It would also be good practice to have a backup plan.”

“Best to have a backup plan that can take advantage of the same distraction,” Zoe suggests.

“So plan the backup first then decide on the distraction?” Laura summarizes.

Zoe nods. “That would be my suggestion.”

“I’m open to ideas of course,” you declare, “but my first idea would be to strike at the fuel they would use for their steam-powered ships.”

“Isolate them here,” Helen muses, nodding along. “That plan has some merit, not all of it apparent.”

“How do you mean?” Valentina asks curiously.

“The idea would be to push the Organization into weakening its position with the local Sakians,” Helen rephrases. “Is that about what you were thinking, Noel?”

“Something along those lines,” you confirm.

>3d10, best of four

Rolled 3, 6, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>5682837

Rolled 10, 7, 5 = 22 (3d10)

>>5682837

Rolled 9, 9, 8 = 26 (3d10)

>>5682837

Rolled 4, 4, 7 = 15 (3d10)

>>5682837

>>5682837
“The best distraction I can think of is to present a threat to their fuel storage,” you eventually decide.

“May we hear your reasoning?” Helen presses.

You nod. “In order to prevent a single attack or act of sabotage from crippling their operations they will have separated their fuel storage into several defended locations. So if we present a threat that cannot be narrowed to any one such location…”

“They’ll have to increase their defense of all of them,” Aurora completes the thought. “Interesting!”

“Not only will it require the most significant manpower to respond to,” you continue, “it will focus the enemy’s attention on the land, increasing the likelihood that they’ll discount the possibility of a strike from the sea.”

[And if they fail to respond correctly,] Serana adds, [all we need do is follow through. It is a good target anyway.]

You nod in agreement. “It’s a high-quality target. The same reason they’re likely to defend it is what makes it worth attacking in the unlikely event that they give us a real opportunity to do so.”

“Any objections?”

There aren’t any.

>Then I will head to the port with a team of volunteers to lead that effort. Helen, please lead the landside efforts.
>Teams will have to convince the enemy to sell the feint - I can take some time to help coordinate that.
>Helen, I would like you to coordinate your efforts with regular Hazari forces. I will do the same on my end.
>Other?

>>5683556
>Then I will head to the port with a team of volunteers to lead that effort. Helen, please lead the landside efforts.

>>5683556
>>Then I will head to the port with a team of volunteers to lead that effort. Helen, please lead the landside efforts.

>>5683556
>Then I will head to the port with a team of volunteers to lead that effort. Helen, please lead the landside efforts.

>>5683556
>Teams will have to convince the enemy to sell the feint - I can take some time to help coordinate that.

>>5683556
>>Then I will head to the port with a team of volunteers to lead that effort. Helen, please lead the landside efforts.

File: Map-June_2020.jpg (135 KB, 1375x707)

135 KB JPG

>>5683556
“I will take a team to the south coast,” you decide, “and form a crew of volunteers on-site. Helen, please lead the landside efforts - scouting, target identification, and preparations. Agreed?”

Helen nods. “Agreed.”

…

Your team is thoughtfully selected for maximum effectiveness. Alexa was an obvious inclusion - in a smaller team, it’s critical that you be able to detect any awakened soldiers as quickly as possible, ideally before even making the landing. Then you chose to bring two more members of your group whom you judge to be the most suited to a dangerous mission that requires both stealth and careful sabotage of enemy assets. To meet these demands you choose to rely on Solaris for her combination of discipline and brute strength, and Valentina for her precision-based yōki manipulation techniques.

When you arrive at the shipyards your first move is to order the engine moved from storage to a workshop where several of your captured and surrendered technicians from the continent will work under Valentina’s direct observation. Then you task the master builder with selecting a hull that meets your needs in terms of its draught, gunwale height, and the amount of buoyancy required to float about six to eight people and a steam engine with fuel.

The third requirement will be a sailing ship that is heading for either the west coast of Petraea or the Sakian coast, maybe even close to where the town of Arbrau once stood before its population was wiped out by an awakened being.
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 2, 7, 2 = 11 (3d10)

>>5684680

Rolled 3, 3, 8 = 14 (3d10)

>>5684680

Rolled 7, 4, 1 = 12 (3d10)

>>5684680

>>5684680
It takes some time for those details to start to line up. The modifications to the steam engine revolve around a forced air intake that brings air into something resembling the bellows in a forge, which should increase the temperature in the firing chamber. That should allow you to burn a supply of hard coal, which should reduce your visibility.

The master builder settles on a thirty-two foot pinnace, which can be braced with thin strips of iron along the keel so that the hull can support the extra weight of the engine. Over top of this he mounts ribs of shaped oak to which he can affix treated canvas to seal it against the waves. Sailors loyal to the cause volunteer to study the construction of the boat and the modification of its engine.

As for a ship that can take you close enough that your modified pinnace can complete the route with the amount of hard coal you have available, that is where things become somewhat more difficult. Many of the ships that will serve the west end in the next few days and weeks are too small to afford to carry a large pinnace with a significant amount of added mass, and the two captains that do have ships capable of the feat are resistant to the idea.

>Purchase a smaller ship outright. It can be sunk closer to the target, releasing the landing boat.
>Solve the problem with one of the larger ships with money, paying for the cargo and hazards.
>This is a matter of regional security. Requisition what you need, by force if it comes to that.
>Other?

>>5685592
>>Solve the problem with one of the larger ships with money, paying for the cargo and hazards.

>>5685592
>Solve the problem with one of the larger ships with money, paying for the cargo and hazards.

>>5685592
>>Solve the problem with one of the larger ships with money, paying for the cargo and hazards.

>>5685592
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 6, 2, 3 = 11 (3d10)

>>5685804

Rolled 8, 9, 6 = 23 (3d10)

>>5685804

Rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>5685804

>>5685592
You write off one of the two captains, whose main complaint is the threat involved to him and his crew - not just of being intercepted by the enemy’s naval forces, but of potential retribution should you fail in your task. The other one is your focus, because his opposition is purely financial. That means he can be bought.

“I can make you this offer,” you propose. “Hazari soldiers will hold one of your ship’s boats here until your return. We will pay you five times the usual rate for passage, and you will be allowed to deliver your cargo after seeing us off.”

“And how close are you paying us to get?” the captain asks.

“As close as possible,” you reply. “But realistically, it should be within twenty miles.”

“That the range of this boat of yours?”

You nod. “With a little breathing room.”

“Then that can’t be helped,” the man sighs. “Alright, you got a deal.”

“We sail tomorrow,” you insist curtly.

…

Under cover of darkness your cohort mounts the modified pinnace in place of one of the host ship’s boats, and she slips her moorings before sunrise. She makes good speed through the first day, slowing during the second so as to arrive at the stretch of coast where the border with Sakia lies as the sun begins to dip again below the horizon.

Several more hours slip past, before the captain calls you to the wheelhouse.

“We’re getting close now,” he insists, tapping his finger to a chart. “You saw this tower on the coast, yeah?”

“I did,” you agree.

“We’ll be inside twenty miles in a half hour,” he tells you. “We’ve been lucky so far to avoid being intercepted.”

>Then you had best hope our luck holds. Get us closer and there's a bonus if we survive.
>Pull into the first likely-looking harbor. We’ll re-examine and determine if it’s safe to sail closer.
>Then we’ll be going the rest of the way on our own.
>Other?

>>5686604
What is the sea state? If the waters are calm, just inside 20 miles is reasonable. If they are choppy, or there is fog or a new moon, then we need to get closer.

>>5686604
>Then you had best hope our luck holds. Get us closer and there's a bonus if we survive.

>>5686604
>Pull into the first likely-looking harbor. We’ll re-examine and determine if it’s safe to sail closer.

>>5686722
The sea surface is slightly choppy, no more than one foot peaks offshore, the moon phase is a waning crescent, weather conditions are partly cloudy. Winds are a light breeze from the northeast.

>>5686604
>>Then you had best hope our luck holds. Get us closer and there's a bonus if we survive.

>>5686604
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 1, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>5687471

Rolled 7, 7, 9 = 23 (3d10)

>>5687471

Rolled 9, 7, 2 = 18 (3d10)

>>5687471

>>5685592
“Then you’d best hope that luck holds,” you decide. “Because I want us to get closer.”

“May I hear your reasoning?” the captain presses.

You nod, understanding his position. “There’s a bonus in it.”

“All the same,” he insists.

“In our planning, we could not account precisely for tide phase or dominant currents,” you tell him. It’s not untrue of course, but then again the reason you want to get as close as possible is because being as close as possible benefits your cause. “I want to be certain that the fuel we could source will be adequate.”

“Very well then,” the captain replies. “We’ll take you in closer… but we’ll also take the extra money you offered.”

…

According to the charts you’re just eleven miles out when the captain refuses to go any further, for any amount of money from the Hazari coffers. And so he wishes you continued good fortune, before having his crew lower your hunting party and your volunteers into the water with your modified steam pinnace.

The engine begins turning the two small screws, which begins to push the boat forward at what eventually becomes a steady rate. The ship that carried you this far slides into the distance until it disappears in the dark, leaving your boat swaying seemingly by itself on the sea. The going is slow, but the tide and the current seem to neither be helping nor hindering your progress. It shouldn’t be long until you come upon the enemy’s foothold on the northern coastline of Sakia.

>Order the crew to sail straight for the harbor, and cut the engine at the last second to drift in.
>Make a landing outside the harbor at speed. You doubt this boat will be a viable escape route.
>Land quietly, slowly, out of sight. Then have your volunteer crew sail back along the coast as far as they can.
>Other?

>>5688236
>Other
Land outside the harbor, have the pinnace wait as long as they can without being seen, if we get in and out and can still take the pinnace out, yay, if not, we'll cross that bridge if/when we get there.

>>5688236
>Land quietly, slowly, out of sight. Then have your volunteer crew sail back along the coast as far as they can.

>>5688236
Supporting >>5688302

>>5688236
>>Land quietly, slowly, out of sight. Then have your volunteer crew sail back along the coast as far as they can.

>>5688236
>Land quietly, slowly, out of sight. Then have your volunteer crew sail back along the coast as far as they can.

>>5688236
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11 (3d10)

>>5688833

Rolled 2, 8, 5 = 15 (3d10)

>>5688833

>>5688833
Needs one more

Rolled 7, 6, 10 = 23 (3d10)

>>5688905
:P

Rolled 4, 10, 8 = 22 (3d10)

>>5688833
“I don’t want this boat spotted,” you declare. “It was too loud to start the engine, so it has to continue running. Drift us into the shallows well outside the port, we’ll wade, and then I want you to run the opposite direction as far as you can get. Escape Sakia by any means you can find, am I clear?”

…

There’s a calm stretch along the coast about a mile outside of the harbor - you think there’s likely a sandbar or a reef off the shore that takes some of the momentum out of incoming waves. Here your volunteer crew can sail into water just three feet deep, which your chosen hunting party trudges through dutifully. The bottom is sandy, and the stillness of the water makes it reasonably easy to move up onto the beach where the four of you can tuck into the shadows around some large rocks and shrubs.

“So what is the plan?” Valentina asks you quietly.

>Alexa takes the lead. The most important task is clearing the area of any awakened soldiers.
>We need to find a good observation point. Locate any targets of interest we could attack.
>We need more intelligence. Getting in close could give us the information we need.
>Other?

>>5689557
>>We need to find a good observation point. Locate any targets of interest we could attack.

>>5689557
>We need to find a good observation point. Locate any targets of interest we could attack.

>>5689557
>>We need to find a good observation point. Locate any targets of interest we could attack.

>>5689644
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 9, 5, 10 = 24 (3d10)

>>5689742

Rolled 5, 4, 6 = 15 (3d10)

>>5689742

Rolled 3, 3, 4 = 10 (3d10)

>>5689742

>>5688833
“We need to find an observation point,” you decide.

“What about that building?” Alexa asks, suggesting… a church-tower. Hm.

“Maybe,” you muse. “The enemy may have taken that church as a base of operations.”

“Possible,” Valentina agrees. “It certainly sounds like something they might do to prove the point that they’re in charge.”

…

You discuss the matter quietly for a few more minutes on the outskirts of town until you settle on the church as being the best option anyway - except that you can get to a lower roof from some nearby buildings and climb further from there. In this case you need to do it yourself, since having multiple people scrambling up the side of a very prominent building would increase the likelihood of being caught.

From the tower you can see three points of interest: a warehouse by the docks, which seems likely. There’s also a ship in harbor, slim and well-armed with its guns all along the midline, maybe four hundred and fifty feet in length. Either of those two locations seem like they could have something to do with the enemy’s ability to communicate with the outside world, either in terms of housing equipment or serving as a receiving end in some fashion. Then there’s what seems to be their main command center, in the large building that used to be the town hall. If there’s any place where it makes sense to have some means of communication, that would be it.

As it stands, there’s very little way to determine which is the most likely target.

>Continue scouting the area, see if you can narrow down your targets before you’re detected.
>Launch an attack on the town hall. At worst, that should give you further indications.
>Return to your group and deliberate. You don’t want your own offensive bias to rule the day.
>Other?

>>5690353
>>Return to your group and deliberate. You don’t want your own offensive bias to rule the day.

>>5690353
>>Continue scouting the area, see if you can narrow down your targets before you’re detected.

>>5690353
>Continue scouting the area, see if you can narrow down your targets before you’re detected.

>>5690353
“We need to gather more information,” you tell your hunting party after returning from the church-tower. “There are three likely targets - a warehouse by the waterfront, that ship lying at anchor, and the town hall where the enemy has established its headquarters.”

“How do you think we should approach that?” Valentina asks.

Alexa seems to have a thought. “Perhaps there are two paths,” she suggests. “To do it in order of likelihood, or in order of convenience.”

“Do we have an order of likelihood?” Solaris asks quietly.

That’s a question you need to take a moment to answer, rather than simply insisting that the answer is no. “It’s difficult to narrow down.”

“Tenpence for your thoughts?” she presses.

“The largest space to make use of is the warehouse,” you reason. “The most convenient and advanced power supply would be on the ship. The town hall has the benefit of proximity to the higher officers.”

“So all three have merit,” Valentina summarizes.

You nod. “Thus the quandary.”

“Take a moment to consider what evidence could prove to your mind which is our target,” Solaris suggests.

“I guess that requires us to assume what sort of technology the enemy will be using,” Alexa reasons.
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 5, 1, 8 = 14 (3d10)

>>5691260

Rolled 8, 6, 6 = 20 (3d10)

>>5691260

Rolled 3, 10, 4 = 17 (3d10)

>>5691260

Rolled 7, 1, 8 = 16 (3d10)

>>5691260

>>5691260
“Two things could be true,” you decide. “It could have a physical link to the mainland somehow, or it could not.”

“So we should look for anything like a cable?” Solaris asks, nodding thoughtfully. “Okay then, shall we start with the warehouse?”

…

There are no cables running into or out of the warehouse, nor are there any in the town hall. But there are some strange devices on top of the bridge of the ship lying at anchor, and atop the mast in front of its funnel. While some of the devices are clearly searchlights, powered by electricity generated by its steam turbines, some of the others are unfamiliar to you.

“That could be it,” you point out the array of metallic wires. “It’s my best guess, and there’s no indication of any devices in either of the other two locations.”

“So how do we approach it?” Valentina wonders aloud.

>The dark is on our side. We can swim over and board her quietly, looking for further evidence.
>I think we need to disable this ship - no turbines means no power, means no communications.
>I like that warship. I wonder how small of a crew it would need to leave harbor?
>Other?

>>5691934
>>I like that warship. I wonder how small of a crew it would need to leave harbor?
Fortes Fortuna Juvat

>>5691934
>I like that warship. I wonder how small of a crew it would need to leave harbor?

>>5691934
>I like that warship. I wonder how small of a crew it would need to leave harbor?

>>5691934
>3d10, best three of four

Rolled 9, 5, 1 = 15 (3d10)

>>5692731
r<spoiler>w</spoiler>ololo

>>5692734
...goddamnit, that's what I get when I try to meme.

Rolled 1, 9, 1 = 11 (3d10)

>>5692731

Rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6 (3d10)

>>5692731

Rolled 8, 7, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>5692731

>>5692731
“... I wonder what the minimum crew requirement for that ship would be,” you muse.

…

Those are the words that launch what certainly seems in hindsight to have been one of the more hare-brained schemes of your long career. With literally no more than a general concept in your mind, you manage to convince your team to try your collective hand at stealing an enemy warship out of harbor. So the four of you silently steal out to the waterfront and slip into the cold dark, where you already have one advantage over the regular person in that you’re almost completely insensate to cold.

Then, climbing up the anchor chain on the ship’s port side, you find yourself on the deck. A few sentries are quickly knocked unconscious and loaded into lifeboats. The bridge officers are just as easily assaulted, since the four of you can coordinate your moment of entry and which targets you focus on such that they basically drop to the deck at the same time.

You even manage to secure the engine room in much the same way. It’s shortly after that point, when you return to the bridge while Valentina goes to the deck, that things start to go wrong. No sooner than Valentina cuts the anchor chains and you throw the ship into reverse, an alarm goes up aboard the ship.

“Damn,” you mutter, before leaning towards a voice tube labeled ‘Engine Room’. “We must have missed some secondary command center!”

>Sabotage the ship to keep it sailing in reverse, then abandon ship.
>This can still be fixed. Alexa stays in the engine room, Solaris and Valentina deal with the remaining crew.
>Take this moment to search for any long-range communications equipment, then decide what to do next.
>Other?

>>5694227
>>This can still be fixed. Alexa stays in the engine room, Solaris and Valentina deal with the remaining crew.
I'M ON A BOAT

>>5694227
>This can still be fixed. Alexa stays in the engine room, Solaris and Valentina deal with the remaining crew.

>>5694227
>>This can still be fixed. Alexa stays in the engine room, Solaris and Valentina deal with the remaining crew.

I'm not giving this boat up without a fight.

>>5694227
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 8, 4, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>5695060

Rolled 10, 5, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>5695060

Rolled 10, 10, 2 = 22 (3d10)

>>5695060

>>5695060
“Alexa, stay where you are,” you order. “Keep the fires lit and be ready to drive off any intruders. Solaris, Valentina, I want you to root out any remaining crew… I want them off my ship.”

Over the next several minutes there’s a running battle aboard the ship, which sees you maintain control despite the self-evident disapproval of her crew. A few officers try to take the bridge from you, which goes about as well as you would have expected, and it doesn’t take Solaris and Valentina long to find the rest. More importantly, the first officer who tried to take the bridge went straight for a set of dials and indicators with the clear intent of communicating with someone else off the ship. You don’t let him send that message of course, but you do make a note with some satisfaction that there IS in fact some sort of wireless communications device aboard the ship.

You even have time after ejecting the captured sailors aboard a lifeboat to haul in the converted steam-powered pinnace and her volunteer crew when you catch her up outside the harbor.

“So, what do we do next?” Solaris asks curiously when she joins you on the bridge.

>We take this all the way home, put it to use.
>We stop when we can to take the technology we can put to use.
>I have no idea. None whatsoever.
>Other?

>>5695825
>We take this all the way home, put it to use.

>>5695825
Do we know how to navigate? If so,
>We take this all the way home, put it to use.
If not
>We stop when we can to take the technology we can put to use.

>>5695825
>>We take this all the way home, put it to use.

>>5695825
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 4, 1, 5 = 10 (3d10)

>>5696313

Rolled 8, 7, 8 = 23 (3d10)

>>5696313

Rolled 5, 10, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>5696313

>>5696313
“We’ve made a purchase,” you decide, “so now we need to take it home.”

…

You call some of the trained men to the bridge to discuss the problem of making that intention into a reality - how do you average a high enough speed to avoid being caught, while also avoiding a situation where you’ve run out of fuel? That’s the question you put to them.

“Well, we need to know how much fuel we have,” one man insists, to broad agreement.

“Do we need to know what speed we can maintain?” Solaris asks curiously.

“That’s not quite a useful question,” another man answers.

“Well, perhaps,” the first man counters. “The speed we maintain will be a function of how much fuel we burn and how hot we get the boilers, which most certainly is relevant.”

“How do we even measure any of this?” you ask.

“The boilers should have gauges on them,” the second man tells you. “That should give us a clear idea of the effects of the stoking.”

“And the markings on the gauges will tell us where within the designer’s intentions our efforts have landed us,” a third man clarifies. “There should be an area filled in red… in that area the pressure is too high.”

“How else the gauges are marked, I can’t say until I’ve seen them,” the first man admits.

You nod to Solaris. “Take them.”

…

The fires having been adequately stoked, the ship picks up speed and leaves a frothy wake behind it, belching a little trail of smoke from its funnels. Unlike the craft you came here on, this ship is apparently powered by an awkward mix of regular (albeit high-quality) coal and refined oil. There’s enough of each to get you all the way home, and even well into the next day you see no sign of pursuit.
>1/2

>>5697163
“Are we certain they aren’t pursuing us?” Valentina asks, still somewhat incredulous.

“I’m not convinced of that at all,” you admit.

>Position this stolen ship to defend the entrance to the harbor.
>Get crews to work disarming the ship and moving the guns to defensive positions.
>Trust the strength of your coastal batteries, get to work dissecting this communications equipment.
>Other?

>>5697165
>Trust the strength of your coastal batteries, get to work dissecting this communications equipment.

>>5697165
>>Trust the strength of your coastal batteries, get to work dissecting this communications equipment.

File: Tirpitz_camouflaged.jpg (324 KB, 740x520)

324 KB JPG

>>5697165
>Trust the strength of your coastal batteries, get to work dissecting this communications equipment.
>Other?
Camouflage the ship

>>5697165
>Trust the strength of your coastal batteries, get to work dissecting this communications equipment.
I'm worried about that officer who went for the radio during the fight. Who did he want to contact? Summoning help from the mainland was pointless. Is there another radio on the island somewhere?
Let's hope he just wanted to destroy the equipment, though that would be pointless too.

>>5697265
This is also a good idea.

>>5697165
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 2, 5, 7 = 14 (3d10)

>>5697892

Rolled 6, 9, 4 = 19 (3d10)

>>5697892

Rolled 4, 4, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>5697892

>>5697892
You’re not entirely sure how long it would take to do a ‘proper’ job of camouflaging the stolen ship - you’re not even really sure if you have enough usable paint. But you can do a little work to improve the situation.

There’s no real need to hide the deck, since nobody will be likely to view the deck from a high enough angle for it to give the ship away. That leaves two broad possibilities: the first is to paint the ship in a way that prevents someone using viewing lenses from getting an accurate range estimation. This won’t hide the ship at all, nor will it prevent an attacker who has sailed all the way into harbor from firing directly at the ship at close range.

The second possibility, and the one which you immediately direct your people to prepare, is to blend the ship’s profile into its surroundings and physically protect it as best as you can. In this case, that means sailing her out of the ‘harbor’ proper, but keeping her within the larger bay that the harbor is set back into. There’s an out of the way corner with some forested land that runs fairly close to the water, and this is where you decide to anchor your stolen warship. It has some cover there, and by moving tree branches onto the deck and superstructure you can make it visibly blend into the background to a certain degree - viewing distance will have to help you there. A little bit of correctly-matched paint around the upper hull even makes it blend into the shore and the tree-trunks a little better.

All that goes straight to hell when the first enemy ship penetrates the defenses at the mouth of the bay. She’s smaller, less than half the overall length, with only two guns. She takes very slight damage from the coastal batteries, armed with older cannons, while putting several rounds into the stone casemates that do a disproportionate amount of damage.

>There are more modern guns along the coastline as well. Rely on those.
>You could probably awaken your arm and hit them with a bomb or something.
>The ship you stole has bigger guns. It’d only take one or two good hits.
>Other?

>>5698715
>You could probably awaken your arm and hit them with a bomb or something.
New sport for Claymore -- shot put.

>>5698715
>You could probably awaken your arm and hit them with a bomb or something.

>>5698715
>>You could probably awaken your arm and hit them with a bomb or something.
This sounds like fun.

>>5698715
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 4, 6, 1 = 11 (3d10)

>>5700245

Rolled 4, 4, 1 = 9 (3d10)

>>5700245

Rolled 3, 3, 4 = 10 (3d10)

>>5700245

Oof.

>>5700245
You select a one-pound cannonball, hefting it curiously before awakening your arm and hurling it through the air towards the ship. It sort of wobbles in the air a bit, and doesn’t exactly follow a perfect course through the air before it splashes behind the ship and just a little short. In exchange the ship fires back - its rounds explode along the shoreline, killing and wounding a few men running back and forth either carrying messages, shovels, or buckets of water. Some equipment is also damaged, including a horsecart that was waiting to be loaded with powder.

Solaris does the responsible thing and puts the poor beast that had been pulling it out of its misery, but at very least there was no powder in the cart.

“That should have worked,” you grumble, this time searching for a shell with a pointed end to it. This you throw in much the same way - as it leaves your hand it rotates in the air, and because of that, much like with a rifle, the shell very nearly hits its target.

More shots from the ship land on the docks in a spray of splinters… and then the ship seemingly notices your stolen warship.

>Make this next shot count - set the fuse and throw it at the bridge to disable fire control.
>Try to aim for where the screws and the rudder should be, disable its steering mechanisms.
>The deck may be thinner - if you could drop a round from a high angle, that may help.
>Other?

>>5700917
>The deck may be thinner - if you could drop a round from a high angle, that may help.

>>5700917
>>Make this next shot count - set the fuse and throw it at the bridge to disable fire control.

>>5700917
>Try to aim for where the screws and the rudder should be, disable its steering mechanisms.

>>5700917
>>Make this next shot count - set the fuse and throw it at the bridge to disable fire control.

>>5700997
>>5701328
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 1, 7, 7 = 15 (3d10)

>>5701537

>>5701539
Sigh.

Rolled 9, 1, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>5701537

>>5701557
Sigh

Rolled 1, 7, 6 = 14 (3d10)

>>5701537

>>5701537
This time you set the fuse on an explosive shell, and throw it the same way. This one spins along its long axis, keeping its course more nearly true. You still manage to miss the bridge, although this time the shell passes cleanly through the ship’s single smokestack without exploding.

“Ah,” you muse with a frown, looking over the remaining shells. “That one must have had a hardened cap.”

“Hardened?” Valentina repeats quizzically. “Oh yeah… those things only really work if it hits something that offers a little resistance, right?”

“I guess the higher parts are considered expendable,” you reckon.

In the mean time, your stolen ship has started to return fire thanks to the skeleton crew of volunteers you left aboard her. Two shots are near misses, but the third shot hits one of the smaller ship’s forward gun emplacement and blows it apart. Wounded, the smaller ship begins to turn so that it can withdraw while presenting its aft gun towards the stolen ship. It fires twice as it retreats, while taking another near miss that covers her deck in seawater.

>Aim for her screws. Disable her while she’s still in harbor.
>Let her go. For now she’s doing what you wanted her to do.
>One of the other ships in harbor may be able to cut her off.
>Other?

>>5701660
>>Aim for her screws. Disable her while she’s still in harbor.

>>5701660
>>Aim for her screws. Disable her while she’s still in harbor.

>>5701660
>Aim for her screws. Disable her while she’s still in harbor.

>>5701660
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 10, 6, 7 = 23 (3d10)

>>5702673

Rolled 6, 7, 5 = 18 (3d10)

>>5702673

Rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11 (3d10)

>>5702673

>>5702673
You still have a target - and at the moment, it’s a target that will soon be presenting its stern to you. This means that you won’t have a better shot than the shot you’ll have in a few seconds. And so you set the fuse on an explosive shell this time, and throw it using the same technique to put a spin on it. And this time, it flies true.

There’s an explosion just under the stern of the retreating ship that raises a fountain of more than just water - you can see pieces of debris mixed into the column, and your ears pick up a sound like a machine that’s just off-balance straining against itself, before it grinds to a halt. The churned-up wake that usually follows a ship driven by bladed screws like these mainlander ships are is no longer visible.

It continues to turn a slow circle, until its stern gun emplacement can no longer fire on your stolen ship, which in the mean time lands two more hits and starts a fire.

Not long after this, the crew runs up a white flag that you gather is also a sign of surrender on the mainland.

>Move to extinguish the fire - it wouldn’t be bad to have a second ship.
>The ship may not be salvageable - run her aground and salvage the guns.
>No sense risking your own. Rescue the sailors and let the thing sink.
>Other?

>>5703099
>>Move to extinguish the fire - it wouldn’t be bad to have a second ship.

>>5703099
>Move to extinguish the fire - it wouldn’t be bad to have a second ship.

>>5703099
>>Move to extinguish the fire - it wouldn’t be bad to have a second ship.

Rolled 7, 7, 9 = 23 (3d10)

Bossman wants 3d10 bo3

Rolled 7, 7, 8 = 22 (3d10)

Rolled 10, 2, 10 = 22 (3d10)

>>5704071

>>5703099
You grab the nearest man, and are essentially lucky to find that he is an assistant to the harbor master.

“I need you to signal a nearby ship to help put out that fire,” you demand. “This harbor has a firefighting capability, yes?”

“We have two fireboats,” he replies, almost dumbfounded that he’s being ordered around directly by the queen of Hazaran - but importantly, still possessing his wits enough to answer.

“Get a signal to them,” you press. “Hurry!”

…

With a series of signals using the shirt off his own back as a flag, the assistant harbor master manages to catch the attention of one of the two ships in question - essentially a small, rigged fishing boat armed with a manual water pump. The small crew cuts against the wind to position themselves near the enemy ship, and while the second boat begins taking on men from the water the first begins pumping seawater onto the flames.

…

The fire guts much of the upper decks of the smaller invading ship, but thanks to the quick intervention much of the machinery and the remaining gun all survive.

>Interrogate the crew as best you can.
>Have the gun removed and use the ship’s hull to help block access to the harbor.
>Position the two ships to be able to shoot into the harbor mouth.
>Other?

>>5705425
>Interrogate the crew as best you can.
Figure out what their orders were, its a start to seeing how hard we kicked the hornet's nest. and potentially if any codebooks / assorted intel survived.

>>5705425
>Have the gun removed and use the ship’s hull to help block access to the harbor.
>Interrogate the crew as best you can.

>>5705425
>Interrogate the crew as best you can.
>Have the gun removed and use the ship’s hull to help block access to the harbor.

>>5705433
>>5705722
>>5705425
In with these two.

>>5705425
“Gather the crew,” you order your Hazari subordinates. “Strip any remaining guns from that ship and position her near the harbor entrance. I want this whole area protected from anything else that may come.”

“So,” Valentina muses. “Interrogations?”

You nod. “I want to know how big of a hornets’ nest we’ve just kicked.”
>to be continued

>>5708023
New thread here