Commander Quest, ho!

Investigate.

"Yes, in general but not always."
Go and see what the commotion is.

rolled 31 = 31

Aw snap, looks like the elves are getting uppity. Now that I think about it, it might have actually been a bad idea to raze the wall, sure it gave us a great surprise, but now our entire front is exposed............

Quickly see what the commotion is, if this elf is as good as he is made out to be, he did what I would have done. Attack when we are off guard right after our first battle when:

A) A portion of our force multipliers are down
B) We are no longer in as a defensible position with our tactics
C) He has completely fresh troops because they were waiting in the forest most likely at the ready to attack if something went wrong as a retaliatory action

Then again, I could be getting ahead of myself, it could just be a regular commotion. Head out, tell Rufus to stick close.

Elementalism to check and see if I am right.

>>14232900
"Indeed, and I have done so before. Your next lesson will be on my campaign in the south, my unbroken string of victories against Lord Stant and a force that outnumbered me five times over. Without preparation and proper planning a force my size would have been defeated just as the two maniples that he destroyed before I faced him. That is all for now, rest well, there seems to be something going on outside that I must attend to."

>>14232950
That is just too paranoid. He can't possibly have gotten here so fast from the forest.

More likely just a normal problem running the maniple, or perhaps something else.

>>14232900

And the Rock said, layeth the smacketh down on their candy asses. Show them the pimp hand of Trentz. Show them who's boss.

You nod, mostly satisfied with what the lad took from your lesson "In most situations, yes. Though if the Commander is a fool, or has insufficient intelligence no amount of preparation will spare him of defeat. Your next lesson, provided there is not another battle between then and now, will cover the opening months of my previous campaign. For now, there seems to be something that i must attend to in the camp."

Rufus nods, grateful and eager "I, when will my tactical training begin?" he asks.

You chuckle as you head from the tent "When you are ready my young friend, when you are ready." Outside, the scene is... perplexing. Most of the maniple is gathered at the edge of the town, where you destroyed the palisade in the last battle. Outside the town, a veritable stream of gray-green behemoths are fleeing south, though no force is discernibly driving them. Families cling together, the larger, younger males clutching crudely crafted bone and stone clubs, axes and spears. their forms like poor, discolored, hornless imitations of Blackbird, his grim determination replaced with the wide-eyed terror of refugees. The women and children ride or drive bone and driftwood sleds, pulled by Tundra Wolf teams, lone boaroxen, or Bastard Mamoths. From harness to sled all of it is painfully temporary in its construction, many of them shaking apart on the nearly snow-less ground before your eyes.

An Orc clan? Here?
Can we identify anything about them, see if they are the same ones we met in our first campaign? Or are they a different clan?

rolled 61 = 61

>>14233130
Ride out, see who they are, of course, bring one of our lovely ladies, preferably Laelith, she needs some face time (ba-dum-tss).

Also I assume fire would be scary against snowy barbarians.

>>14233130
Well gee, that's not ominous at all. Get together a small honor guard, Sansa, and Blackbird then ride out to try and talk with them. Let's see if we can get some intel.

These must be the orcs from the tundra. The Empire trades with them on occasion, but we also have forts along our mountain border with them, so we don't trust them too much.

Something seems to be driving them out. Cult? Find someone in charge and investigate. Bring Blackbird.

>>14233160
While I agree Laelith really needs some face time soon, diplomacy isn't really... her area. There are several ideas that have been kicking around for Laelith time, though. I imagine we're going to be having a talk with all our ladies involving marriage, kids, and things like that sometime before the next campaign considering the rapid foundations we are laying for the future back in the capital and rise in rank/prestige. There's the gifts we've been planning for our ladies, I think Laelith's was that 'magical?' garter belt set from Uurlanth. There's the big talk about how she feels about her life now after being freed from Khalless and what she plans to do. Finally, there's the family plot thread, we should probably secretly send a few letters to them to see if we can reunite them. So Laelith has plenty of possible face-time encounters, don't worry.

I want to help them. They are citizens of the Empire and it is our duty to aid them as much as possible while still fulfilling our mission. Plus, Nyetini will approve.

>They are citizens of the Empire and it is our duty to aid them
No they're not. They are not Imperial citizens.

>The forts are there for a different reason, if only Justinian knew his history better...

You set off to find Blackbird, who is planning the scouting mission you set him and Tomas too, oblivious to the world outside his tent. "Commander, how can we help you?" Tomas asks, after saluting with the massive old clan orc.

You sigh "I need to steal Blackbird away from your planning for a short while." beckoning the orc to follow you.

A few minutes later the orc, Sansa, Laelith and yourself are riding out amongst the fleeing clan, searching for its chief. You think you find him, being the only male with vestigial horns, and not looking totally terrifies. "Flee, flee the morning mists!" he warns, trying to push past Spite.

>>14233344
Oh. Well then... perhaps we can direct them to the clan we supported during Khalless's rebellion and MAKE them imperial citizens while helping them at the same time. Added benefit of laying even more groundwork for us in the future. And it makes the goddess happy.

So much justasplanned.jpg if we can pull it off.

>>14233351
"Morning mists? What is the trouble?"

Study history at the military academy? Pfft. The classes on tactics, strategy, and physical training was much more fun. Besides, there was boozing and wenching to be done! Those wenches weren't going to wench themselves you know.

>>14233351
Ride alongside the chieftain and demand an answer from him concerning the morning mists.

>>14233351
Let's see if we can calm him down. "Hold friend! We would know what the morning mists are, and why you flee them. If possible we would know where you travel and aid you, but we must know more about the north first."

>>14233400
>Those wenches weren't going to wench themselves you know.
Thus far this skill is one of the most valuable ones we have learned in the academy, it seems. It netted us 4 extremely useful retinue members/commanders after all.

Well, Kyria was assigned to us. I agree on the rest.

Plus, the dice gods give us a bonus when recruiting merc units with female captains.

>>14233449
Don't forget 2 merc captains at very low prices.

You spur spite to keep in the orcs path "Hold friend, what is it you fear in the mists, to where do you flee?"

The orc slows to stop, realizing that you will not allow him to pass without answering your questions "In the morning, with the thick mists, angry ones come for us, come for all. We flee south, friend dragonslayer, away from the bad lands despoiled by anger, peaceful warm and easy. Will you stand and fight the terrors that walk with the sea-spray and mist? Will the dragon again shield the Clans? Will you stand against the mist?" he answers and asks, hopeful, almost

>>14233505
"It is my duty to protect these lands, and blood shed calls for justice. What attacked you?"

>>14233505
I want to say yes, but what if this has nothing to do with our mission? Ask him if these are the ones who have been destroying the lands of the Empire of the Dragonslayers.

You know what, this probably is the Uurlanthi troops being aided by elementalists. Say we will aid them and send them to the location of the Sullen Mountain clan that we already supported. Tell them to use our name to introduce themselves and exist in peace with the other clan. Hopefully we just got a huge boost to our loyal orcs population, boosted imperial population, saved a clan of orcs from death, and got godfavor.

>>14233505
Difficult to say. It could be the Uurlanthi SpecOps force and their elementalists, or it could be the Cult up to their old tricks.

We could try to help them but if it's not the Uurlanthi behind this, then we may have to choose between the two objectives.

We can't promise to defeat this "morning mist", but we can investigate it to see if it's our Uurlanthi foe or not.

Ask him to show us where his settlement was on our map. Where exactly did these attacks occur?

Argh. Haven't finished reading the stuff in the archives yet.

>>14233569
The morning, presumably. A favored tactic of our foe. It's likely, in my mind, that he is driving non-imperial refugees into our lands to consume even more food and make a bad situation even worse.

Sending them to 'our' orc clan seems to be the best bet. Out of the fighting, they will be safe, empire gets more citizens, and they will hopefully be loyal to us for saving their clan. Racial memory and all. Already said it, but just restating it.

>sea-spray and mist
>sea-spray
>sea
Like... A sea you are only supposed to cross once?

"This is our land, if you continue south of us, you will have my maniple between you and your attackers. Now, who is attacking you?" you ask, trying to discern the uurlanthi force striking from the norths makeup.

The orc visible relaxes before replying "I do not know. They came with the mist, a banner of seaweed, a blue glowing thing on it. They took us as prisoners, sewed the tundra with salt. From the coast they chased us, never tired, always there with the mist when we took our early food." he replies. Unnerved, you direct the chieftain to the Sullen mountain clan, and he hapilly sets about re-directing his terrified clan. As the last of the orcs wheels west past the town, Blackbird moves toward a straggler, a slight young orc, flowers in her hair, she half dances, half runs trying to catch up with the fleeing clan. He looks back at you, the question obvious in his eyes.

>>14233677
God damn it, Blackbird. No, you can't rape her.

"Talk with her and the chieftan of the clan. I do not mind if you take her to wife, but know that she should be willing and do so of her own volition."

I mean, honestly, who's Justinian to preach against making a harem? Pot, kettle, black?

Oh boy. Blackbird wants his pay.

"Oh if the chief and the girl agrees to it."

Yeah, I'm thinking the Undead is attacking from the north. That or evil fish-men. We need to take care of the elves fast.

>>14233709
Why WOULDN'T she? Stick with the doomed clan of betas? Or come bear the son of the James Bond of Orcs?

I think the answer here is obvious.

...
...
...
Oh for... Blackbird, right before you need to be going out on a scouting mission to get us info on a threat we need to crush quickly, just after we hear word of a possible incursion by unknown forces is not the time to be courting/ubducting and raping.
*Sigh*
Still, we aren't exactly someone who can complain about womanizing, so meh.

Also, anyone else getting really, really worried about this involving undead?

>>14233677
"Oh, Blackbird, we are of a feather. If you have your heart set to it, go ask."

OH SHIT IT'S THE KVALDIR!

>>14233752
Not really. I'm more worried about it involving something other than Uurlanthi forces, though. However, if it's something we can direct AT the Uurlanthi forces...

You chuckle, and motion towards the women with you "So long as you treat her as well as your firstwife, I have no real grounds to deny you." The orc nods, thanking you and heads off towards the little beauty of an orc.

Later that night Blackbirds makeshift clan is gathered around the big orc and his newest wife, a very familiar ceremony taking place at the center of the circle. You smile, chuckling despite how frayed the whole encounter left your nerves.

>so, anything you want to take care of before tomorrow?

>>14233802
Well, so long as it doesn't involve something that gets stronger with fighting (undead, Orks, facehuggers, all that), that's probably not a bad idea.

>>14233815
Give the Scout we hired one of those cloaks and Deaseu another. Send them out and tell them they must not be seen, but they need to find out what this morning mist thing is. Tell them to be careful, there may be magic involved which is why we are giving them these arcana to conceal them.

Do we have time to meditate for elementalism or no? If not, I suppose we just head to our tent and enjoy the night. I doubt anyone will hear over Blackbird anyway.

>>14233815

Those cloaks the enemy had with their infiltrators. Do we have anyone examining them?

If not, we need to examine them tonight. Are they arcana? Some other trick? Do they make you invisible? Do they make you harder to detect?

>>14233815
I don't suppose we know of anything in-character that would fit the descriptions the orc gave us? If not, we should probably ask Laelith, she would be the most likely to know out of our command staff.

>>14233866
Failing that, we could also ask one of the gods.

"Just checking in to make sure it isn't the walking dead!"

>>14233884
Well, yes, I thought that might not be a bad idea, but I'm not sure it's really in-character, or that Trentz would be jumping to "Ohgodundead" as we (the people who have played through so many, many games involving undead enemies) do.

>>14233851
>>14233866
These two sound good. Hell, could even combine asking Laelith into the first one. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

Regardless, we seriously need to know what the fuck is going on here. If it's our foe we have to act to stop it. If it's not we need to figure out what the fuck is going on and try to use it against our foe if possible.

You look over the two cloaks you found, clearly arcane, and very specific in their use is how Laelith described them. they will be enough to almost perfectly blend one average sized being with the intended terrain. Very rare arcana, due to their specificity, though most certainly not without their uses. Blackbird and Tomas both seem very happy with the additions to their tools for the coming mission when you give them the cloaks.

You wander the camp, searching for Laelith, you find her in your tent, quietly going through training sequences with her sickle, and an unlit stand in for her torch. The world around her seemingly non-existent, as she dances through her drill. Gone is the gentle, scholarly beauty you have come to know over the past months, the hard, prepared elf, in the same brilliant orange robes you first encountered her in is what resides in your tent, her body tense and ready for battle.

>>14233981
Especially if that person is a woman.

>>14233930
Stand back and wait for her to finish/admire the view. Never walk up on someone swinging around a sharp object. When she is done ask her what's up, and what she thinks of the information she just heard. That's likely the impetus of what we are witnessing here.

If it's the other wife... hmmm. Well. Shit just got annoying.

>>14233930

Any chance we can get another crack at a prisoner? I'd like to know if the enemy force holds any Dengarian prisoners, what fingers are most vital to the 77 strikes, if an elf can fire a bow with no thumbs, and how an elf would feel about having other various bits removed from their being.

>>14233930
Initiate the stealth hug!

>>14233930
"Gods, Laelith, you just keep coming up with new ways to be appallingly sexy. You have a minute to chat?"

>>14233988
Especially if that woman is a fire mage.

>>14233998
That's ridiculous. We already did the interrogatin' and failed. Just doing it again and again isn't going to suddenly make it work. We don't have the proper tools, setting, or staff for long term interrogation.

>>14234026
I told you guys, we shoulda used a tub of water and a bucket!

>>14234026

We failed because we asked a defiant elf with good moral questions.

I'm asking if we can take fucking pieces of them until we get answers.

What kind of a commander takes defiance from a prisoner?

>>14234013
Heh, that's true. Sexy librarian scholar not enough? Sexy burninator elementalist! Still not enough? Sexy warrior!

But yeah, ask her what's up and give her a hug. This is something new and I'd like to know exactly what is going on.

>>14234053
Torture generally doesn't work very well, especially on people trained to resist torture like elite soldiers. We asked a lot of the elves afterward as well, none of them were forthcoming. Stop being butthurt. Yeah, I wish we had gotten something out of them. No, pressing them for more is not going to work. If the commander was smart he would have moved by now any way just in case anyone did turn coat.

>>14233997
>If it's the other wife... hmmm. Well. Shit just got annoying.
Awwww shit...

On the bright side, she supposedly hates Uurlanth, so if it is her, possibility of directing unknown forces at Uurlanthi opponents just went up by quite a lot of %.

You wait for Laelith to finish her drill, patiently watching her taut features flex and contort in the most beautifully lethal dance you have ever seen. Eventualy, she strikes the torch and blade together, the spark quickly exploding into a blinding flash. As your vision returns, she is sauntering towards you, leaving you all but speechless. "The agents of Karythria are merciless and dangerous. It may be simple raiders, but..." the elf trails off, falling into your arms, the sheen of sweat on her skin soaking into your shirt. Fear finally playing across her eyes, the unspoken worry hanging in the air, made blatant by her reversion to her old robes.

>>14234124
Aww. Hold her and tell her it will be alright. Sit down and see if she has any idea beyond a general guess to what we will face, and if not just comfort are reassure her.

We're all together here and she has friends and loved ones that will support her, no matter the cruelty of the enemy. Things like that. Ask her why she's wearing her old robes again. As appealing as they are to the eyes, would she like us to buy her a new wardrobe?

>>14234124
"but you don't believe that they're simple raiders do you?"

>>14234182
This, pretty much.

Also, we might want to mention to her that if the third wife is leading these guys, we might be able to get our enemies to fight one another. It might be amusing to see if the elementalist is immune to elf-arrow-to-the-eye.

>>14234124
"There is no need to worry my love. Whatever the morrow brings we will face together. I and others care for you a great deal, and together we'll be able to stand against them no matter who they are or how cruel they seem. No matter what you have known in the past, here you are safe and loved, and there is no need for you to return to your past if you do not wish to. Those robes do accentuate you very well, but I would never ask you to don them again... nor would anyone here. That is behind you now, and we should work towards the future instead of fearing a spectre left behind."

>>14234288
"Now let's get you out of those old robes..."

>>14234304
I admit, I lol'd.

You return the embrace as fiercely as she gives "But you do not beleive these to be simple raiders, do you love?".

You can feel the elfs head shaking "If they were they would not have come through the tundra, slaying and enslaving all in their path." you can feel her shake a little as you guide her to your cot. "I, we took everything from her, she wants vengeance, if it truly is her."

You ease the elf on to the cot as the shaking turns into a notable tremble "We will let her have no such thing. Whatever divine tricks and beasts she brings at us, we will send her back to the sea, or east to vent her wrath on our foes. For now, rest my love tomorrow will be upon us soon."

-----CQ-----

The next morning is marked by a warhorn crying through he thick, salty mist that hangs in the air, even in your tent it hangs thick and wet. Outside the camp is quickly waking, preparing and forming up for combat. Sansa and Wulf screaming orders to speed the process along. The captain of the house Morlan detachment is swiftly walking up to you, though your aid and protege look like they want you to take over for them, as neither is fully prepared for battle yet.

>>14234350
Taking over shouting orders is vitally important. Wave over the captain to chat with us while we get work done without impeding our work.

>>14234350

Can we stonesense at all or is the confusion in camp overwhelming it?

Can our air units fly up and out of the fog? (Morlan is the unit of griffons, correct?)

>>14234350
Wait what? We knew that the orcs were being chased by the raiding force, and we made no preparations or warned the rest of the command staff?

Fuck, fine. We can still work with this.
Box formation, any attacked unit is to attempt to hold the enemy in position so that volley fire can be concentrated on them. No chasing after them; we'll get slaughtered in the mist.
All Water elementalists, begin attempting to counteract the mist via counter-elementalism.
Laelith and Wulf, try to get a dry, heated wind to blow the mist away.
All elementalists to be issued amplification items.

>>14234350
Okay, first see if our elementalist cadre can do anything about this mist. If not, see if Lena or Laelith can burn it away. Magic can do anything right? Maybe Lena can just make all of it poof away.

Form everyone up and see if our two scouts have returned with information yet. Laelith will be our advisor in this battle, I think. She knows what tactics the other wife favors. Let's give her time to ready herself for battle then ask her what she thinks the foe will attempt to do. What were her favored elemental tricks in battle, how good a commander was she, and most importantly does she subscribe to modern warfare like we do.

Then array the men for battle and see if we can get ANY intel from our flying troops. That's one thing we can be fairly sure she doesn't have in abundance, so we need to make as much use of them as possible.

>command staff knew, but its always chaotic when you have to go from sleep to battle ready

You motion the scouts over "What did you see?" you ask as they approach.

The scout waits until he is standing next to you, though for once he is not standing on the same side as Laelith, whos brillinat orange robe contrasts starkly with the thick fog "They are a league, perhaps two away from this town. We would not have seen them were it not for their beasts we would not have seen them, though, I think they wanted us to see them."

You tilt your head "Beasts?"

The man sounds rather shaken "Things of legend, a Keranc, and two great Crustata. It looked as if they had some captured folk held before the beasts. A few hundred fighters only, but some of them..."

You have to scrape your memory to recall the beasts he mentioned, the former being massive, ill-tempered crab-like creatures, known in legends to walk onto the shore and consume multiple grown mammoths once fully grown. Crustata being long, shelled beasts, growing to nearly the length of the longhouses built in the northwestern reaches of the Empire. Along their massive forms many viciously muscular, barbed tentacles grow, which they use to snap up food that would normally evade the lumbering creatures.

We're going to need our elementalists to concentrate on the big stuff while picking off everything else with our war machines.

Like the last time, though, we should give the slaves the chance to run.

It's time for a good ol' fashioned Fish Fry.

>>14234548
Gigantic crab and lovecraftian lobsters? That sucks hard. Aim for the joints of their armor, and hope that they need saltwater to survive. If they do, then Wulf is gonna romp.

>>14234548
Call Lena.

Tell her what she's going to have to kill. She has until they get here to figure out how.

>>14234548
Prepare the siege engines; their priority then will be to take out the living tanks. We can't allow these beasts to enter melee range.
Also, ask Laelith about common behaviors about these beasts; maybe we can pull a Scipio on this Wife's Hannibal tactic, and cause the beasts to get funneled into kill-zones.

Also, ask the valk and griffon captains if they can fly up and above the fog cover. If they're in the sky, at least they won't get caught on the ground.

Check Lena; were the Life elementalists able to heal her to the point where she can operate? Same with Bellatrix.

>>14234548
... I wonder how far Kyria has gotten with the production of that steam rune...
After-battle seafood buffet celebration, anyone?

>>14234548
Oh fun. Air superiority is a go, but seems we have crustacean tanks to deal with. Best I can come up with is... hell, I don't know. Try to trap some of the crab's legs in a pit and lock it in place?

Ideally we would just kill whatever is controlling those beasts and let them rampage. You know, there's nothing to defend here anymore really... let's fall back and try to get accurate info before attacking head on.

I wonder if we could panic the beasts or kill the handlers.

I suggest Jayne being sent up with the valks and then when the handlers are pinpointed having them swoop down and her stopping the hearts of the ones controlling the beasts. It's not like crabs or giant lobsters will have any experience at all against flying things. That of course depends on us clearing the mists.

I wonder if our deadeyes could sneak into cover and feather the controllers instead.

Guys, guys, what have video games taught us about GIANT ENEMY CRABS?

When he gets in range, flip that bitch with earth elementalism and rape his shitter.

Just thought of something! This mist means that dew has collected on those huge shells of the crustaceans. Chitin is nonconductive, but water is VERY conductive. Have Wulf hit them with lightning bolts and the discharge will conduct along the high-resistance shells and through the water into whatever soft fleshy parts the beasts have, like eyes, nose, mouth, anything that's not covered in exoskeleton will get a HUGE blast of lightning.

That might be enough to panic the beasts.

You motion to Laelith to get the elementalists together "What about them?" you press.

The man shakes his head "Lacerta but, deformed, different, wrong. No more than ten of them, but they seem to be the ones handling the beasts, and defending the leader." The man produces a poorly sketched drawing "Their banner, it had this mark glowing on it, brilliant blues. Clearly visible from the height we were flying at, the rest of the force is brigands and raiders, no more than 500 men all told, sabers, cloth, some tridents and spears, though they all seemed to have that mark on them somewhere when I put my lens to them, those I could see at least."

You nod, realizing that the man knows no more "Thank you, go prepare to observe the battle, take Rufus up with you." the man salutes and walks off, nervous.

Shortly after he leaves, Laelith arrives, Lena limping behind her, along with the other elementalists in your maniple. Wulf jogs up to the group as quickly as he can, a sour worried look on his face, directed solely at Lena; though her response quickly wipes Wulfs away.

Expanding on my earlier steam rune comment, if it is finished, or at least reasonably workable, we could dig a nice cave with ele, put the rune in the bottom, and then, as the enemy cross it, put a slight crack in the rock we cover the hole with with our earth elementalism. Cue shenanigans. Hell, if we combine a really, really big usage of that with running away from the town, they come into town to check it's really clear and we didn't just run, we set off trap, boom, problems enemy?

>Loeser. lassman
I... don't think I want to know what you are saying, Captcha.

>>14234719
Restating this in case you didn't see it Pax. At the very least it will blind the beasts and cripple their joints.

>>14234719
Alright, the plan has merit. Let's ask Wulf to see if the weather conditions are right so that he can do it at long-range, or if he'll need to get in closer to do a lightning attack.

>>14234731
*Didn't just hide. Fuuuuuuu... Need to think not tired head urgh...

>>14234739
If they are as big as Pax says it just helps us out and we can hit from loooooong range.

I'm somewhat worried about the deformed lacerta. Elementalists, probably. Let's see if we can kill them from long range with Lena and Archers. At the very least we will tire them out before they can start hurting us.

I think this would be the prefect time to try a running battle rather than a stand-up fight. We've been wanting to do it for a while but always had something to protect. We don't anymore... this town is abandoned and the countryside is already ravaged. Let's conduct a tactical retreat with the bulk of our forces while we fuck up those huge targets with our special units. If they stop following we then advance on them again, not letting them get away.

Those things are big. That means they will tire easily. They are also water creatures on land well away from it. That means they will tire VERY quickly.

Just to clarify guys, water is not conductive, it is the minerals and other things in it that make it a good conductor, eg:Salt. So with salty watering in the air, increased conductivity.... oh yeah go get em wulf!

>>14234722

Inform them of all the primary targets, and that our air elementalists capable of lightning should especially target the big fuckers, as our enemy will be covered in dew from the mists thus vulnerable.

Justinian try to pin and suppress the monsters with earth spikes, fissures, and earthquakes. Wulf try to fry the monsters with lightning. Lena try to punch some new air holes into the Monsters.

Laelith and Collin deal with the third wife.

Detachments from the Celtron Guard should guard any elementalists not attached to units already.

Rest of our troops form up and deal with the raiders.

>>14234781
Plus, they will probably have problems with temperature regulation, so if we can find a way to disrupt their weather control stuff, then draw them into a running fight, they could just collapse/die of heatstroke.

>>14234802
Uh no. Water is conductive due to both its molecular structure and chemical makeup. Sure, some things make it more conductive. But by itself it's a conductor also.

>>14234781
We could load everyone up into the auto-wagons for our retreat.
Since we want the enemy to know where we are and to follow us, there's no issue with the sound.

>>14234807
>Laelith and Collin deal with the third wife.
No. Her and her elementalist cadre are the most dangerous part of that force. I am not in any way going to agree to sending Laelith and Collin alone to deal with that. I want a full unit moving in on that, with us, Lealith, and Collin all there with it.

>>14234829
Good! Load up our forces so we can outpace them with ease. Use our mobility here to the utmost.

Why are you guys talking about retreat? Fuck that noise, we can beat this shit.

>>14234818
Conductivity of a substance is defined as 'the ability or power to conduct or transmit heat, electricity, or sound'. Its units are Siemens per meter [S/m] in SI and millimhos per centimeter [mmho/cm] in U.S. customary units. Its symbol is k or s.

Electrical conductivity (EC)
An electrical current results from the motion of electrically charged particles in response to forces that act on them from an applied electric field. Within most solid materials a current arise from the flow of electrons, which is called electronic conduction. In all conductors, semiconductors, and many insulated materials only electronic conduction exists, and the electrical conductivity is strongly dependant on the number of electrons available to participate to the conduction process. Most metals are extremely good conductors of electricity, because of the large number of free electrons that can be excited in an empty and available energy state.
In water and ionic materials or fluids a net motion of charged ions can occur. This phenomenon produce an electric current and is called ionic conduction.
Electrical conductivity is defined as the ratio between the current density (J) and the electric field intensity (e) and it is the opposite of the resistivity (r, [W*m]):

s = J/e = 1/r

Silver has the highest conductivity of any metals: 63 x 106 S/m.

Water conductivity

Pure water is not a good conductor of electricity. Ordinary distilled water in equilibrium with carbon dioxide of the air has a conductivity of about 10 x 10-6 W-1*m-1 (20 dS/m). Because the electrical current is transported by the ions in solution, the conductivity increases as the concentration of ions increases.
Thus conductivity increases as water dissolved ionic species.

Typical conductivity of waters:
Ultra pure water 5.5 · 10-6 S/m
Drinking water 0.005 – 0.05 S/m
Sea water 5 S/m

>>14234807
>Laelith and Collin deal with the third wife.
Absolutely not.
We only move on her and her guards with a full unit, and only after she's been softed up by archer fire and artillery.

You nod in approval as your small cadre assembles "Lena, I trust you are fit for battle, and havent fled the medicae tent like a fool?"

She tries to draw herself up a little larger, trying to ape the at attention stances of her career soldier couterparts, the wince is brief, but noticeable "Im ready to do my duty, commander." she replies, not quite weakly, but not with her usual fire either. Wulf glares at her again, she raises an eyebrow, but he doesnt relent his gaze this time.

"This will be a running fight, and it will fall to us to slay the beasts the enemy has brought with them. Once that is done the rest of the maniple will be able to deal with the rabble that makes up the rest of this force." you begin, though you do not get far.

"Beasts, what sort of beasts?" Wulf asks, curious more than anything.

"Are these uurlanthi fighters, or some other force?" one of the other elementalists asks.

>>14234818

Pure water contains no ions which makes it an excellent insulator..... It is only because it is such a good solvent that it almost always has something in it that improves conductivity.

>>14234864
What the hell. Surely you are not going to suggest that this entire cloud is made of /molecular water/ are you? I laugh in your face.

>>14234878
>Beasts
"A Keranc and two Crustata. Fearsome though they may be in close-combat, at the ranges I expect to fight them at, nothing but big, lumbering targets very far downrange."

>Is the enemy Uurlanthi
"No, they aren't part of the Uurlanthi force.
"Instead, it's some old enemies of ours, from when we fought Khalless. Lightly armed, lightly armored, and we'll turn them into pincushions before they get into melee range."

>>14234900

We're /tg/, insufferable ocd nerds we can't help it. Your statement was incorrect so our brains wouldn't let it stand unqualified.

>>14234878
"It's a rebel force that desires to strike at the Empire, the same one we encountered on our first deployment. They have been raiding and salting the lands behind them, so we can not afford to let them survive. Our mission was not to destroy the Uurlanthi raiders, after all, but to protect the land. Once we destroy these we will continue with our previous fight, but this is of utmost importance."

Fill them in on the beasts. Tell Wulf what we want him to do.

>>14234900
I am suggesting no such thing, the argument was that water was a good conductor due to it's molecular makeup, regardless of impurities. Now, this conversation is straying from the original topic of the thread, and I would end the dispute with a "bygones be bygones" and also a "whatever dude."

>>14234900
Indeed, if these are sea creatures, it's more likely that it's a salt water mist. (note to self: make sure to clean the fuck out of our metal equipment afterwards.)

>>14234941
I wasn't implying that "elemental water" was a good conductor, but rather that water was. Due to its molecular structure, as I said. Which easily bonds with just about anything. And as a mist will bond like crazy with all kinds of shit around it before condensing on the shells.

You just went aspie and felt the need to correct something that didn't need correcting.

>guys, I realize that someone might be wrong on the internet here, but can we stay on topic a bit better please? some seconds/alternate responses would be nice, heh

Let's give a short speech consisting of "Alright men, when we win, we will eat like kings!" before the fight.

>>14234837

A hundred dwarves cannot efficiently attack a single enemy elementalist. Although I guess her bodyguards might be elementalists as well.

Pax, how many of the deformed Lacerta were guarding their leader? Did the griffon riders get a count?

>>14234927
>>14234942
Seconding these, then. Really, it's a pretty focused plan we have. Explain it and set it in motion. Deploy our archers to turn the advancing people into pincushions, along with our ballistae that are mounted on the wagons.

Hell, I suggest we have the Valks use the tactic they tried to use against us at Skywatch. Have them go get huge rocks from the surrounding terrain and drop them on the enemy forces from on high. They won't even need to get into bowshot, just drop them in the general direction of the enemy targets and the size of our foes will do the rest.

>>14235022
If the valk captain believes his valks can handle it, might as well do it. They don't come down too close, though; the enemy might have an earth elementalist who could do to us, what we did to the valks back at Skywatch.

Pax said 10 bodyguards in IRC, so:

Celtron Guards detachments for our elementalists.

Laelith, Collin, rest of the Celtron Guards, and one Legionnaire unit bum rush the enemy leader and bodyguards when the opportunity presents itself.

Rest of our elementalists deal with the giant walking seafood and their riders. Deadeyes try to snipe the riders.

Rest of our troops deal with the raiders as quickly as possible, and then deal with the seafood without getting themselves killed.

>>14235022

Carrying rocks will slow our valks and bring them into bow range. Which may also be in range for any tricks they might have.

Alright, 2 Yes and 1 No for the Valk Rock Drop plan. Any other seconds going either way?

Let's drop some rocks and get some grub!

>>14235057
I think Justinian should go into the battle with the leader as well. That's just how we roll. Fighting side by side with our waifu and bro.

This is of course quite a long way off, we have to down the beasts first.

>>14235079
I'll have to agree with generic here, the plan seems risky, and wih too little payout. Maybe have them get the rocks, then drop them if the elementalist attacks fail to bring the beasts down, but we're going to need those valks against the Uurlanthi raiders, and if trying to pull this rock drop plan forces them to get in range....

You smirk "A Keranc and two Crustata. Intimidating and strong, but after we deal with them they should prove delicious. As to the enemy force, it is not Uurlanthi, rather the leftovers from our first campaign, devoted to a god and bent on revenge."

"So, what is our plan then?" Sansa asks, sauntering up to the small group along with the rest of your command staff, resting one arm on your shoulder, and proving to be the only one in the maniple unphased by Laeliths reversion to her old garb aside from you as she rests her other around the elfs shoulder. Cornelius standing as far from her as he can.

"The arcanists will do their best to deal with the beasts, along with Captain Corrinths riders. Captain Tyshop, your men will guard the elementalists as small detachments, though the bulk will go with Laelith and Collin to deal with the leader of this force." you inform the group confidently.

"And the rest of us?" Gaius asks, still sounding somewhat unsure.

>also, where will you be leading from?"

Okay! Instead of heavy rocks there has been an alternate plan suggested.

Get all the lamp oil from the town we are in. All of it. And lots of clay pots and jugs. Have the valks take that up and when flying out of range light it and drop it on the foes.

>>14235109
let's lead from the front, by that I mean let's go with Laelith and Collin

>>14235109
We go with Laelith, Collin, and the forces to attack the leader. We need to be there, it's where the battle will be won or lost.

"The rest of you will ride up as close and as fast as possible in the wagons and deploy into formation rapidly, then charge the rabble. Once the beasts are dead, of course."

Let's have Sansa command that part.

"Finian, your men are to hold back until either the three seafood dinners drop or prove too burly to drop. If we can drop them before they hit our line, charge forward into the raiders. Otherwise, tactical retreat until they're gone. I won't be throwing away men on brainless monsters."

>>14235136
>>14235152
I agree with these. Going with that unit will also mean we use our trait that makes the unit unbreakable so anything they pull out at us will not effect as badly.

I think we should also bring several of the better elementalists with us too. I don't like the idea of only having two elementalists with the party assaulting what could be ten of them. Let's bring the top 5.

Lamp oil was my idea, so I'm seconding it. :)

Gaius's troops should assist the group attacking the leader. Both the Celtron Guards and the Legionnaires have big shields, which will hopefully offer some defense against the ice/water magic of the enemy.

Deadeyes try to snipe the riders on the big beasts.

All other troops deal with the raiders first. Ranged fire until they get into melee range. Then slaughter the poorly armed and armored raiders. Hopefully after that the beasts are partially incapacitated, or at least tired, and vulnerable to getting swarmed by our troops.

>>14235152
>The rest of you will ride up as close and as fast as possible in the wagons and deploy into formation rapidly
Justinian Trentz: Bringing mechanized warfare into the Roman era!

Argh! Who suggested using our cheapie mercs for the most vital part of the battle? NO NO NO!

Use one of our best units. This is a mission critical one. We don't want the entire unit hacked to bits around us!

>>14235154
What? No. Those are our squishy scouts. They are ranged troops. Did you forget about our first battle? They stay behind the meat-shields and shoot.

We have plenty of melee troops left to deal with the raiders: One Legionnaire unit, one Warlords unit, plus three more merc units that are all melee troops. It's overkill. I expect them to kill the raiders in a few rounds.

>>14235215
I thought those were our good ones? If they aren't we should def change out to something better.

>>14235215
Fine. Gaius's unit and the more experienced of the two elven merc units. Better?

>>14235215

Seconding

>>14235225
DERP. I'm having a hard time keeping all of our units straight.

>>14235240
I don't think we should use our Legionnaires in this, we should use our mercs instead. But the good mercs rather than the cheap ones.

Okay. Okay. How about this:

Against the enemy leader and her bodyguard unit, we deploy:
Gaius's Legionnaires
Sunspears (experienced/expensive elven mercs)
Justinian
Laelith
Collin

Against the walking seafood, we deploy:
Rest of our arcanists (bring the beasts down)
Celtron Guard (as bodyguards for the arcanists)
Deadeyes (snipe the riders)

Against the raiders, we deploy:
The rest of our troops, who will try to destroy the raiders as quickly as possible, and them swarm the seafood buffet. Hopefully the beasts are at least wounded by then. Otherwise we'll take pretty heavy casualties.

What the fuck?

The plan was to get on our auto-wagons and lead the enemy on a chase, firing at them from the backs of our wagons when possible, and deploying, firing, then getting back on the wagons to fall back further to repeat the process.

Why are people thinking about charging into the fucking mist we can't see through?!

>>14235289
Agreed, but let's shift 10 of our elementalists to the assault force with us. I think those ten she has are probably also elementalists, so we want a way to counter them if possible.

>>14235262
I'm fine with swapping out Gaius's unit for the other elven merc unit. Although the troops swarming the beasties will take losses as well.

>>14235294
Then we remembered we had valks that could drop rocks or flaming bottles of piss.

>>14235294
That is the plan. this charge is for when we have the beasts down already. A sort of "after they are dead, this is what we do."

>>14235304
>Although the troops swarming the beasties will take losses as well.
We aren't supposed to ever fight those in combat. They are supposed to be dead before we ever engage.

>>14235294
We mostly agreed with you, but then somebody yelled "Fuck that. We are Justinian Trentz. We can take'em!" And then everybody jumped on that bandwagon. :)

The two plans are not completely incompatible. We can still run and shoot. But eventually we would need to stop and actually kill them to finish the battle.

>>14235327
What? No. Nobody said that.

No.

I have been going along with this the whole time because I assumed this was our plan for the charge AFTER the beasts are dead. I do not support attacking before then.

>>14235310
Those valks will still have to get into elementalist range, even if they only skirt Anti-Air arrow range.
We have no idea what elementalists they have beyond one buffed-up Water elementalist.

>>14235313
Then you should have clarified and included that one very vital point.

>>14235336
>>14234856

Yep.

>>14235345
Right.

Okay, to clarify Pax, we do NOT CHARGE until we drop the beasts first. All of this deployment planning is for AFTER they are down. Until then we use our superior mobility to stay way the fuck away from them.

Okay. Okay. :p

Phase I: Running Battle
>>14235294
Until the beasties are dead, or until we lose our wheels somehow.

Phase II: Mop Up
>>14235289

>>14235357
I meant nobody in the chat said that plan was smart, my bad. Lots of idiots say all kinds of things here, it's 4chan.

Lena hurls shit at the beasts too but we are EMPHATIC that she not strain herself, as she is wounded. She is no good if she injures herself. Wulf will be fighting the beasts too, so let's say we will let her fight until Wulf tells her to stop.

Lena stays with the siege engine crew. Primarily, I would prefer to save her for softening up the enemy commander and her bodyguard/elementalist detail, but just in case those beasts are capable of bursts of speed, Lena is there to take them out.

>>14235441
Here.
>>14235449
Is fine by me too.

"Once the beasts are down the rest of the maniple will deploy via autowagon and crush the rabble. We will only stop to fight once the beasts have been dealt with." you inform the man confidently.

The captain of the skywings speaks up "What will my-"

"Boulders and the lamp oil the townsfolk left behind. You should be safe as they have very little to no ranged weaponry." you cut the captain off, suddenly very hungry.

-----CQ-----

A few hours later the mist is only thickening as the enemy force draws nearer. Outside the city your maniple awaits, mounted in autowagons, making bawdy japes about seafood as they wait. Eventually, the force is in range, though the weather still prevents you from getting a good count on their troops. The two Crustata are forward, the marauders seemingly evenly dispersed between the beasts. Behind them the banner can be seen, its sigil to Karythria glowing incredibly bright, the mists seemingly flowing out from the three dots on it. Finally, the beasts enter your range.

>>14235502
See if we can have Lena pop that banner with a bolt from the safety of the wagons. Otherwise, begin tactical fallback and harassment!

"What, you thought I would fight you? HAH HAH HAH!"

>>14235514
>Reveal that we have a mage
No, that's our ace in the hole!
A charged up mage-shot is like a plasma cannon! I want that attack, aimed at the enemy command group, to be a complete surprise when it occurs.

>>14235502
All siege crews, concentrate fire on the Keranc.
All other ranged units, begin cutting down the raiders.
At the end of the volley, fall back several and set up again.

>>14235514
On the contrary Mr. Trentz, my game is changing, I have been away from the cards for a while now...

You signal for the plan to begin, and your autowagons clank and roar to life as your cavalry begins to puch them onwards. Gouts and spheres of fire hiss through the thick mist, casting the gloomy field in strange shadows, especially combined with Wulfs forking arcing lances of lightning. The two Crustata scream and flail their tentacles in pain as their thinner shells are peppered and pierced by missiles, both mundane and elemental. The half-organized mobs of marauders near them press inwards, away from the frightened, impotently raging beasts. The Keranac fares better however, only the luckiest of siege weapon shots are able to glance its thick chitin. Above, you spot the flash of your mercenary flyers signal rings, they are in place and ready to strike at your order.

>>14235625
Have Lena shoot at the banner and try to destroy it. If it doesn't work then oh well, have her stop. But most of all don't expose her to enemy retaliation.

Signal the airborne units that we are GO for dropping shit on them. They're probably still just standing there waiting for us to attack, little knowing that we have no plans to do any such thing.

>>14235625
Other players want to just shoot the banner/divine artifact; I want to incinerate it and the command group around it.

Have at least 2 medicae life elementalists go to Lena and begin stabilizing and supporting her. She is to very carefully, fully charge up an arcane blast (like that one that disintegrated sections of a town) and very carefully take aim at the command group and the banner.
The banner is the primary target, the command group is the secondary. She's to try to get as many within her blast zone as she can, without sacrificing accuracy; this needs to hit on the first shot.

>>14235673
I'll support this. I would prefer her throwing a few small regular bolts at the banner first though. No point in using a full blast on the banner if it can be taken down with just some bolts.

But yes, full charged blast on the enemy command group is a big thumbs up.

>>14235673
Let's rock this bitch.

rolled 5 = 5

Earth spikes underneath the Crustata.

Elementalism roll.

>>14235698
DAMN son! That thing has to be hurting.

>>14235698
Let's hit the Keranac with those instead. It's tougher and I think our regular shit will take down the Crustacea.

>>14235712
Totally agreed. It's nastier.

>>14235712
Well it is less damaged so... yeah sure. I'd like to take them all down if possible but Wulf and our doods seem to be taking care of the crabs.

I don't know if our earth spikes will work against the crab thing, if our siege engine shots are barely "glancing" its armor.

Let Lena take care of Keranac with her giant white bean weapon.

rolled 9 = 9

Elementalism rollol!

>>14235728
No. Lena is already busy doing other things, and she's injured to boot. We can't use her too much this battle. We hit the Keranac instead.

>>14235698
>>14235733

A 5 and a 9? It's dead.

You fire off your signal ring into the air. Seconds later your valkerie riders swoop down on the field, Boulders and puts of oil smash into the massive crawling crustaceans, smashing viciously into the beasts as they slowly trundle after your maniple. Lightning forks into the rightmost beast, lighting it up in a brilliant pulsating blue-yellow for a few seconds, the great beasts scream of agony and terror filling the sky around you. The second one you dispatch, ripping a long chain of earthen spikes into its soft underbelly, its scream echoing those of its sibling. You attempt to push the spikes to the Keranac, though they seem to falter as they approach the beast, some other force blunting your spikes.

You signal for Lena to destroy the banner as the rabble rush ahead of the corpses, icons marked deep in their skin glowing brightly, wordless cries of wrath and strange verse going before them. The beam is truly massive, and the high mages aim true. As the beam of white hot light is about to impact the driftwood and seaweed banner it dies. In the gray sky a great emblem of Karythria flashes, casting a blue light on the girl. The glow on the banner is considerably darker, but it, and the mist remain. Onward the fanatics rush, devine wrath and favor speeding their feet, forcing your cavalry to increase your speed. "LOOK HOW THEY RUSH TO THEIR DOOM!!" you hear Gaius below from one of the flank wagons. Shortly after that the thunder of his battalion smashing their spears against their shields all but drowns out the battle-cries of the rushing raiders.

rolled 79 = 79

>>14235769
Charging us? How cute.

Prepare the wagons to move out when they've run most of the distance across. Let them tire themselves out and eat our archer's and crossbowmen's bolts.

Fissures across their path, just for the hell of it too.

>>14235769
>a great emblem of Karythria flashes, casting a blue light on the girl
I was afraid of that.
It's a divine artifact, some kind of heavy-duty protection was expected.
Now, the anti-magic field around the Keranac is a nasty surprise.

Continue outpacing the enemy, I want to go at least another league or two before stopping.

Have our ranged troops redirect their fire on the raiders. Regular arrows and bolts won't work on the Keranac.

Have all of our arcanists focus fire on the banner, I guess.

rolled 81 = 81

>>14235785
Here, let me try to improve your roll a little.

>>14235769
Oh well. Continue to pepper them while outpacing with our autowagons. Shit is so cash.

I wonder if we can have our engineers whip up a magonel mounted on an autowagon of its own...

rolled 18 = 18

>>14235797
This. Also, making a command roll out of it.

>>14235803
This would be good if we didn't already auto-succeed on command rolls when not actually killing things personally in combat.

Somebody in IRC mentioned possible vision manipulation with the mists. So... nobody gets out of the wagons until the Keranac AND the banner are dead.

Pax, can we get a confirmation on Lena's condition?
2 medicae life elementalists are supposed to be with her to stabilize her life-signs and keep her charged shots from affecting her healing.

Check on Lena. If the elementalist supporting her took ALL the brunt of the strain we should use our cadre of life elementalists as 'ammunition' for Lena and have her keep firing those off until the banner, command group, and crab are all dead.

This means that she does not take the strain, though. I do not want to slow her healing in any way, we will need her against Uurlanth.

Yes, get update on Lena's status. See if she can fire another shot without hurting herself.

Onward your autowagons press, a nearly constant salvo of arrows and bolts flying from the rear of them and into the onrushing cultists. Still the siege weaponry and elementalists pour fire into the massive crab, large chips and flakes of shell flying free as the barrage continues. Lena hurls a second and third beam of energy into the banner, its tall driftwood pole placing it well above the field of battle. Another great blue flash, followed by a drastic drop in the mists and fog pouring from the banner is reduced, allowing you a better view of the approaching fanatics. You look over to Lena, grim determination on her face, both arms mirroring each other, white hot energy gathering at her fingertips. She now has a second blue light shining off to her right, and below the one directly on her as she prepares the salvo that will most likely shatter the banner.

rolled 92 = 92

Now! Rolling for elementalism on that fucking command group!

rolled 83 = 83

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-botch

Evil goddess of cruelty drawing her own god sign on top of Lena.

This is some bad juju. Hopefully she drops the banner before the goddess drops, err, her.

rolled 50 = 50

COME ON!!!

>>14235890
You know, I think that's the first time I've seen /tg/dice give a perfectly even roll.

rolled 67 = 67

>>14235860
Wait! Get Lena to fire at something else! Have all the elementalists and archers converge on the banner holder!

>>14235860
>Second blue light
I have a bad feeling about those lights.
If Lena fires that third salvo, I think it's going to complete whatever defense mechanism is around that banner.

It's important to take down the banner, but I don't want to lose Lena in the process.

Have Lena switch targets to the center group of fanatics, and re-target all other ranged assets (siege, bolt, and arrow) onto the banner.

>>14235940
Finally someone else saw it!

>>14235940
How about we just have Lena stop firing.

>>14235959
Never mind, forgot about her being charged already. Have her shoot it into the air.

>>14235959
As said in the IRC channel, she's already charged the shot up, and she can't just let the energy dissipate at that point. She has to fire at something.

>>14235983
And waste it?!

No way, just don't shoot the banner

>>14235940
I really, really don't think an arrow is going to hurt some goddamn god-banner.

But yeah, like I said earlier, have all arcanists concentrate fire on that banner. Lena can hold off if that is the consensus.

>>14235995
Lena is the only arcanist we have.
All others are elementalists. Wulf and Justinian are the only two that have the range to attack the banner or command group.

>>14235995
Have Lena redirect her attack at the giant crab thing. Our elementalists attacked it without getting some goddamn god sign drawn on them.

Justinian and Wulf redirect their attacks on the banner.

Archers keep killing the raiders.

"CHANGE TARGETS!!!!" You below to Lena as she thrusts her right hand forward. The beam connects with the banner for a brief second before she moves her hand to the right, lancing through the sky. The banner explodes in a shower of fire wood and shimmering dust. The thickness of the mists inverts, and you can see the command group and Keranak almost clearly, the ruse dropped, the beast is almost unharmed. You realize that it was not the usual red and tan of a crab, but a faded blue, withan underbelly the shade of seaweed, etched in white are strange symbols, and many sigils of Karythria. From what you can tell, though the mist and fog pouring from the beasts mouth and eyes obscures it somewhat, none of it was added by the folk surrounding it. No sooner than you drink this all in do than a third brilliant blue flash is seen near Lena, completing the sigil, the girls body forming the cross. The orbs shoot out and slam into Wulf, causing the boy to wail inhumanly with pain, and nearly fall from the wagon. Lena cries out in dismay and lunges to catch him, though her injured leg and arm cannot hold the wait, and it falls to Jayne to save both the incoherently sobbing girl and your passed our protege. Still the enemy fanatics press onward, the fog restored once again, no closer to catching you, though their fanatic cries and vigor have yet to wain.

>>14236046
Sigh. Damn. Hope he isn't dead, though I suppose Justinian could console her afterward. Bow chicka bow wow.

But no, seriously, that crab is bad news. Redirect all ranged fire on the rabble, we will deal with the crab some other way.... ideas?

rolled 33 = 33

If this roll is not below 50, I will not roll for the rest of the night.

Elementalism on the crab.

>>14236098
Might as well give it another try. Let's be more indirect this time... see if we can rip open a fissure just as it puts a foot down and have its size work against it, snapping it off.

If it doesn't work this time let's start in on the command group.

>>14236098
We don't have to STAB it, we just have to flip the fucking thing.

rolled 6 = 6

All elementalists, siege weapons continue to attack the Keranc.

Archers continue to attack the raiders. See if the Deadeyes can pick off the riders on the crab.

Fissures underneath the Keranc. Elementalism roll.

>>14236111
Good point. All we really need is one spike to push it over onto its back.

>>14236046
Get Wulf to the medicae; if Jayne caught him and Lena, then she'll stabilize him without our need to order it.

I don't think we need to change the plan much. We still stay ahead of the enemy as our siege engines and Justinian attack the Kerenak.
All other ranged into the center infantry formation and the crustata's.
Elementalist teams for support; earth elementalist team to boost Justinian's elementalism.
Water to attempt to make the water come up and turn the ground to mud in front of the enemy and slow them down.
Not sure about Wind or Fire.

rolled 22 = 22

Elementalism HOOOOOOO!

Can Lena fire again? I know she's _real sad_ and all, but we're running out of things to throw at the Keranc.

>>14236243
Ideally she would suck it up, but I doubt that's realistic.

Angry and worried you again force your will on the earth, ripping a net of fissures in front of the massive blessed beast. As your maniple continues to pour missile fire into the cultists as they rush forwards, Jayne pulls the couple back onto the wagon "He's alive" she announces. A wave of relief hits you, which is compounded as the great crab catches its foot in one of your fissures. It tries to lumber forwards, ripping the foot clean off, roaring in pain and rage, its next foot catches another fissure, and again the Keranac tears it off trying to press forwards, though the cultists before it are already pulling forward, and the mists thinning around it even more.

>>14236254
Do de de do do.... keep on going. There's not really a lot to say here, Pax. We just keep busting away at it until it drops unless something weird happens.

rolled 2 = 2

Bingo. It's vulnerable to fissures.

More fissures underneath the Keranc. On the same side of its already injured legs. Elementalism roll.

rolled 92 = 92

MORE FISSURES

TEAR THE EARTH ASUNDER

OR IN JUSTINIANS CASE, ASSUNDER

>>14236254
Shift heavy repeater fire from the Keranc to the right enemy infantry wing; until we can punch through some of the blessed armoring with the mangonel and our earth elementalism, we should try to thin out the rest of the enemy forces.

Also, are we getting support from our earth elementalist team?

>>14236308
The dice gods care not for your puns.

>>14236280
I don't know how to say this, but can I have your dice babies?

You signal for all ranged fire to focus solely on the still charging fanatics, while you redouble your efforts against the Keranac, the beasts next few steps sending long cracks down its shell, breaking its sigils and runes. It still bleeds red, you note as fire, stone and ice lance into the cultists, ripping their mobs to bloody tatters as the fog and mists dissipate even further, no longer thick enough to keep the area around the massive beast shrouded. Another signal fires from your valkerie riders, they are back with more stones to drop, and again await your orders.

rolled 94 = 94

>>14236360
Signal them to toss the stones onto the command group. The crab is going down already. I want to see if that command posse is strong enough to deflect huge ass rocks and lots of burning oil.

Try a couple test spikes at the crab to see if we can hit it now, if not keep going with the fissures. Elemental roll.

rolled 37 = 37

>>14236388
I hang my head in shame. Trying for repentance to see if we can botch it.

rolled 11 = 11

All elementalists and siege weapons attack the Keranc. Its runes are down!

Deadeyes, Rangers, and Scouts continue to attack the raiders.

Even MORE fissures underneath the Keranc. Elementalism roll.

rolled 74 = 74

>>14236360
Have the valks drops their payload onto the Keranc. If the sigils have been compromised and its defenses weakened, this attack will get through and we can redirect the artillery fire as needed next turn.

Elementalism Roll to create more fissures under the crab and trap it.

>>14236388
>>14236400
>>14236403
Alright, botch time I think. Agree?

rolled 95 = 95

rolling for our botch

>>14236408
Yes, botch it.

rolled 67 = 67

Statistically, my rolls can only improve!

Botch, please.

You signal for everything you have to fire into the downed Keranac. Boulders, fire, bolts and spikes all lance into the massive beast. Its shell cracks and splinters, cracks and shatters. Gore and flesh are sent flying, crab soup perhaps. The beast dead, your men begin to ready for the next phase of the battle, and you look over to see Jayne removing her hands almost guiltily from a rather angry, determined looking Lena, who is moving to the front of the wagon, where Laelith is already waiting to charge, and you are moving to, your worry shifting to how the attack will go without one of your key elementalists with the group, to what Lena is planning. As the Wagon slows, you raise your fist to the sky, ready to signal the charge.

>blargh, I'm not gonna be able to stay up for this
>someone archive please
>I'll be back tuesday at 9pm server time
>If you have and cq/setting questions just email me at paxcomquest@yahoo.com

>>14236479
Aw hell no, there's no way in hell we lack the time to order Lena to stay put. We can even shout it as we're running by. "Stay here, that's an order."

>>14236479
First order we give is to Lena, and that is that she stay WITH THE DAMN ARTILLERY!