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[Shootandrun]

Alistair inclined his head at the Princess' command, acknowledging it with an oddly resigned expression. "It shall be done, my lady. I will return to you with a report as soon as possible."

And as soon as that was said he was out of the tent and amongst the troops. The general could wait a little while - first he had to check with a few contacts of his own. Although the Republicans had few friends these days in the city, he thought he might still be able to find some allies here and there... And if that didn't work out, new ones could be made, in time. The revolution would not end because of a single failure.

Speak with the general of the paths the army could take to Sheepstead, the time necessary to do so, and of valuable targets that could be attacked along the way.
Attempt to draw a list of the Front's contacts who are still active. Do the Republicans have any friends left in the city?

[Ardas]

Ambros von Hoffenburg

Send scouts to survey the defenses along the roads leading to Sheepstead. Also, have them locate suitable areas for camps and ambushes.

[3] Although your scouts could not get a full picture of their strength due to fear of being detected, they have determined that road and border patrols are above average, and if found, it's likely it would not take long for a local garrison to appear. You have no idea about their whereabouts however.

[3]A single camping site is found, few miles inside the Elbreth’s border nestled between a forest and a hillside. It’s as good as they come when it comes to hiding a large army, but it will be hard to hide there for long without being detected.

Ssyrith Hassir

Start combing the ranks for enemy infiltrators as discreetly as possible, get a list of the names of every spy in the camp, focus efforts on the recent arrivals.
Send out more spies to try and glean more information on the enemy forces, the exact disposition of the enemy forces and the like

[5]You find that the camp was near-besieged by informants and spies from within. You find a couple of Welyand men, who turned out to be Jarl’s own, few of them were singular fellows from a variety of smaller, separate underground goups like Republicans, but the most worrying were the Prestonian spies. Sticking out like sore thumbs, it did not take long for your men to gather them all and interrogate them. As it turns out, Preston is aware of something brewing, and set up patrols and watch on the border and the roads. They know little however and luckily no message went out. But the lack of news is news in itself…

[6+1] Using the scout reports provided by Ambros’ people, your people were able to navigate their way around the perimeter security and get a recon on the Preston forces, most of which were centred around Sheepy Hollow. Right now, they are fielding about 10 regiments of mercenary police and 2 batteries of artillery are assisting them. Given the size of the border and the density of patrols, they will be able to meet any force that enters Elbreth. They are also able to get intel on the mood among Prestonians and as far as they are concerned, mercenaries have little vested interest in the cause apart from money. Their faith is nowhere near one possessed by the Royalists.

Anate Norn

After everything is finished at the camp, leave for Sleepy Hollow/the nearest town with a garrison on our path. Head to the taverns, inns, whorehouses etc. and tell of the imminent righteous attack on Preston and the rightful Queen's army massing on the border, seen with my own eyes.

If I meet anyone with a seemingly genuine hatred of the occupation and revolutionary spirit, offer to take them with me back to the camp.

[2+1] While Sheepy Hollow was not hard to enter as a single person, you struggle to make an impact on the populace. Its not difficult to rally them, but the numbers are not amazing and the process of getting them through to the camp is difficult.Despite your talent and fiery words and the confirmation of a lot of hearsay about the rebel army, people are unwilling to openly stand up against the governor, even if they are burning to do something – they simply need an assurance. If you were to remain in the town until the arrival of Elbrethian troops however, you could potentially create a diversion during the battle, once the people would see the liberators with their own eyes.

Grand Abbess Santaria

Deliver a sermon to the troops before the march

[5+1] The sermon you deliver stokes the fire burning in the hearts of the faithful and inspires everyone for the next battle (+2 to morale of all troops). The words are imbued with passion and love for God and country and the soldiers are visibly excited, some tearing up and others cheering and rallying others in the camp to battle. Not long after the start of service, the whole camp is filled with a mighty voice of a nation, singing hymns and reciting verses of popular patriotic poetry to a tune of a popular folk song. You might hear that combination a lot, you feel. The high morale however soon changed into cries to march now and to smash the enemy as soon as possible. You might be able to dissuade them from rash action, but it would take an effort and anger of these people could quickly turn against you if you missteped. After all, voice of the people is the voice of God…

Alistair Harroway

Speak with the general of the paths the army could take to Sheepstead, the time necessary to do so, and of valuable targets that could be attacked along the way.
Attempt to draw a list of the Front's contacts who are still active. Do the Republicans have any friends left in the city?

Alistair, you approach General Terryn just as she was done directing her aides, who moved around with some papers and weapons. Apparently, they were packing what few things that were laid out in her tent. General herself studied the map laid out in front of her.

“Ah, the republican comes,” she said with a smirk, her ponytail waiving to and fro as she turned her head. “Come for my advice? Very well, we might make an honest man out of you yet.”

She looked back at the map and with a gloved hand moved it across the road that ran from Welyands and towards Sheepy Hollow.

“As you see, there is one major path leading to Sheepy Hollow, which is the centre for northern part of the country. If we march in, we might surprise the garrison and bypass any patrols or ambushes that could be laid out in the woodlands and hills on the border. Or, we could look for a spot to change the camp, settle in inside the country and begin picking at the bastards; wear them down until they can’t rally no more.” She turned her dark eyes to you.

“Now, if you want my honest opinion, I’ve seen enough Prestonians to know that they are spineless, but not stupid. Once they bring enough muskets and point them your way, there is no way to defeat them. I don’t have clear numbers myself, but if I recall, their forces out in this part of the country shouldn’t be much bigger than ours and they aren’t mobilized, unlike us.”

She leaned back from the map. “Ultimately, the decision will be that of Her Highness, you understand.”

[6+1] Despite the distance, you are able to raise your contacts and you recall plenty of your own information too. In no time you have clear cut overview of the Sheepstead opposition. What you learn though is disheartening – after your escape and the Prestonian repressions, the Republican opposition dwindled to few key members and one locale with a printing press in its cellar, ‘The Crowned Head’. Despite being one of most famous Republican ‘powder keg houses’, the royalists managed to sway more people over the decades with their simpler, messianic narrative. Typical rural attitude, you think. However, these few people left in opposition are radicals, idealists or borderline terrorists – all of whom have little to lose.

[Deny]

Ssyrith hissed as he read through the reports, "Idiots! Can't do anything right, can't take any hints, gah!" He was tempted to throw his little desk across the tent, but that would leave quite the mess that he couldn't be bothered to clean up, so instead he settled for hissing and cursing. "At least they did manage to capture them, even if they weren't supposed to! A good deal can be salvaged with this." After a few more minutes of fuming and tantrum throwing, Ssyrith eventually gathered up the reports and headed to the command tent.

...

The guards where slightly hesitant first, but they let him by, another annoyance to be dealt with later, Ssyrith slowly strode inside, scanning the tent before spotting the Princess. "Your majesty, I have good news and bad news, the good news is that the operation was a resounding success, the bad news is that it appears I wasn't specific enough with my orders. We have identified spies from Weyland, republicans, and Prestoners too. However rather than simply observe and report back to me, my men took it upon themselves to capture the spies and have gleaned quite a lot of information from them. Unfortunately, I think Preston will notice that something happened to its spies." He then held out the reports. "There is a great deal that can be salvaged however. We do have the spies in our captivity and we believe we have found them all, and in the meantime we do have a more exact estimate of the enemies numbers of soldiers, most of whom are centered around Sleepy Hollow it seems. And if we had the money, bribery could be well within the realm of possibility with these mercenaries."

[Iituem]

Erika glanced over Ssyrith's reports. "That's a damn shame, but excellent work, Hassir.  We should still be able to work with this.  Since we have the men captured, interrogate them separately.  Get them to reveal how they are sending their messages, what codes they are sending their messages in and and who they are sending them to.  Assume each one is lying, so interrogate them several times and compare information.  If there are a handful who might be willing to work as double agents, keep them on hand but don't trust them with anything.  Turn any republican spies you can manage, in case their movement gives us trouble later.  The Weylanders you can return to the Eel as a show of good faith.

"Once we have a workable understanding of their codes, send a few messages.  Separate ones.  Suggest to them that our forces are, oh... four regiments artillery, eight pike, seven musket, eight militia and five regiments of knights, plus five more regiments of Weylander warbands on top of that.  We haven't gathered our forces until today, so their intel should be shaky enough for that to pass muster.

"In a separate set of letters, let's suggest that our forces are moving in the direction of... this valley."  Erika stabbed her finger onto a point a little north-west of Preston, on the border between Preston and Weyland.  "What's the name, Arnault's Vale?  Yes.  It would be a logical place to move a large army if you were going to attack Preston, but perhaps a poor place to fight a battle, given the ambush possibilities.  Then, because you can never be too paranoid, provide a single other communique indicating that we will be circumventing that valley and going along the coast a little further to the east, as if we are going to change route at the last minute.

"Pick out a few of our less loyal and more troublesome soldiers, horse them and give them messenger duties.  They are to make to the Vale and start hunting out sympathisers with instructions to billet soldiers and provide them with information and maps about the area.  Send a single one to the coast to the east with instructions to act as a spy and learn everything he can about the geography, people and possible allies.  Expect him to get caught.

"With luck, Preston might see a chance to get the jump on a force large enough that they might be willing to pull forces from Sheepy Hollow* and move them across country to assist, but not so large they don't think they can take us with an ambush.  Sadly, we don't have the money to bribe the mercenaries as well; our war purse is being entirely bankrolled by the Weylanders.  That's all that comes to my mind, suggest anything I've missed."

*Turns out I misread that on the old map!

[GiglameshDespair]

The Abbess also entered the tent, sweeping serenely past the guards - they've obviously heard her speech. The holy women reckoned there'd be a good few more at sermons tonight... her own pair of attendants waited patiently outside.

She saw her sovereign and bowed her head.

"Your majesty, your loyal servants are filled with your divine purpose."

[Deny]

Ssyrith felt his respect for the princess growing as she detailed her plan, here was someone who knew how to play the games of intrigue, and her plan, it could go wrong, but if it went right, the gains where well worth the risk, perhaps he had backed the right horse here. Of course his good mood was very much ruined when the fanatic wandered in. He grit his teeth, of the things that could go wrong with the plan, rushing in before the necessary time was taken was one of them, and he'd heard the seremon, and its results, that kind of recklessness was the last thing they needed right now.

Turning back to the princess, he bowed his head low. "A most excellent plan your majesty, I'll get to it at once, however I must stress that this will take some time to complete, a few days most likely, and if the loud rabble I heard is anything to go by, our soldiers may not have the patience for it if they cannot be calmed down."

[micelus]

((I haven't been given the full stats of the army; I'll just give you what I have now and edit in the rest if I get them))

With the Alchemist

"Of course. You'll find a copy of our troop reports within the hour. I believe the information you've provided is sufficient. Now, if you don't have anything to speak of, I shall take my leave."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1st Elbreth Freedom Militia: WS 1 , BS 1 , Health 10, Armour 0, Morale 10, Movement 1
Hospitaller Sister Knights: WS 2, BS 3, Health 10, Armour 1, Morale 15, Movement 1, Price: 2 can heal 1d5 of any unit after a battle

The Command Tent

Walking into the Tent- the guards having already learnt not to bar her majesty's advisors- Ambros put the scouts' reports neatly in front of the Queen-to-be.

"As we expected, Preston is actively patrolling the roads. Neutralising them before our troops march would be prudent. There is also a lone campsite just pass the border, although I would hope we do not need to use it. Any orders, Princess.?"

[Deny]

Ssyrith made his way back to his own tent, plans whizzing about his own head, these coming operations could be crucial and as such, his own survival as well. These many prisoners needed to be persuaded, of course he'd need to be extremely detailed in his orders to prevent another mishap, it was fortunate this one turned out so well but that fortune may not remain the next time. Perhaps he should take a personal approach to this, yes, that'd be a good idea. Entering the tent his eyes turned again to his ingredients and equipment, and this time they stayed there, yes, that too, could be a good idea.

...

Ssyrith made his way to the prison tent, claws behind his back and tail swishing about lazily, he was in a good mood now, he had the chance to engage in his preferred work, and now he had the opportunity to let off some steam. Entering the tent humming an old Hatcuri tune from his youth, the guards stepping back warily, and even his agents seemed put off by is attitude. Coming to a stop in the middle of the tent, Ssyrith looked about, to call it a tent would be slightly misleading, it was actually several tents stiched togetehr to make one large area, desks and guards where scattered about the front, with a series of Cages set about the back and sides of the tent, where the guards could easily watch them, there where even more guards outside too. It was slightly more crowded right now, the recent influx of prisoners, but that would be solved soon enough.

He waved over one of his agents who stepped forwards quickly. "Assemble the Weyalnders and release them from their bindings but don't let them go just yet, then gather the remaining spies and take them to the interrogation carts, I will be joining you shortly." He waited patiently as his orders were carried out the Weylanders gathered in front of him nervously while the remaining prisoners where marched out. Once all the Weylanders where gathered he handed one of them a letter, "If you would be so kind as to deliver this to your Jarl, you are all now free to go, don't let me catch you again." They quickly rushed out taking the letter with them, while Ssyrith stood there for a while watching with a faintly amused expression before turning to the remaining guards. "I do hope this will make your job easier for a good long while sirs." Before heading off himself.

Spoiler: Letter to the Jarl (click to show/hide)

To the esteemed Jarl Halfdan
It came to my attention that several of your soldiers managed to get themselves lost among our forces and where unfortunately detained as a result. It is understandable with the excitement over the coming invasion, some soldiers could get lost, some errors in communications here and there, and it is quite saddening that they had to be detained for even a brief period of time simply due to their excitement. As such and in honor of our alliance I have released them back to you my good Jarl, and I sincerely hope that they will not get lost again good sir.
Sincerely, Ssyrith Hassir.

...

Ssyrith paced in front of the soldiers, these where men his agents had identified as trouble makers, republicans, and others whose loyalties remained unsure, expendable ones these humans, perfect for what he had in mind. "You men have been selected for an important mission, you are to scout out Arnaults Vale in preparation for our assault into Elberth and Preston, this is of great importance, if the enemy is waiting for us then our invasion could end in disaster." One of his own men started to pass out scrolls to the soldiers, who took them up and read them wearily. "The princess herself has ordered for this operation, and as such you must maintain absolute secrecy, the specifics of your assignment are listed in there, your horses are waiting at the stable." As the soldiers saluted and started to head off, Ssyrith turned and made his way back to his tent. After about an hour the final piece of the puzzle arrived, a soldier named Garret, who his agents had identified as one of the loudest soldiers calling for immediate march. Nodding to the man, Ssyrith pulled out another scroll, "For you, I have a most crucial assignment, you are going to to coast to scout out any suitable routes and area's of interest for our march, we're going to attack Preston head on and it's crucial that you make sure we know of the area, is that understood?" Garret nodded and rushed off to the stable, with Ssyrith smiling behind him, this wouldn't solve the immediate problem with the soldiers, but it made him feel better that's for sure, and his open loyalty made it very easy to see him as spmeone trusted with that kind of assignment, and being a knight, he had no idea on how to be stealthy.

...

Spoiler: Interrogation, not Important (click to show/hide)

Arriving at the interrogation carts, Ssyrith took a moment to admire the sight, many prisoners where lined up in chains with armed guards, waiting for their turn in the carts, while some of his interrogators waited around the carts. The carts themselves where not very remarkable, small things but completely enclosed with no windows and only a single door, largely soundproof though not entirely so. Ssyrith approached his agents carefully, before handing out some small pouches. "Remember gentlemen, we are here to persuade them, not scar them, nothing permanent or overly damaging." The interrogators nodded and started selecting their prisoners, while Ssyrith slowly walked down the line before selecting one of the Preston spies.

"That one." The guards looked around confused for a moment
"Sir?"
"Are you deaf? Take that one and bring him with me." The men hesitated slightly before relenting, grabbing the prisoner and dragging him along, following Ssyrith into one of the empty carts, at Ssyrith's order's the man was chained up and sat down in the middle of the cart before the guards stood by at the end of the cart, a bunch of candles set around the walls providing the only light while Ssyrith took a small flask from his belt.

"Thirsty?" The prisoner merely shook his head silently at which Ssyrith simply shrugged. "Suit yourself." And then he took a long, slow swig from the flask, licking his lips at the end. "Honestly you must be thirsty, and this conversation would be easier if your throat wasn't dry as parchment." The man stared at the flask for a moment before holding out his arms slowly as far as the chains would allow. Ssyrith merely smiled and handed the flask to the man, who immediately started downing the drink as quickly as possible, after a few seconds the man brought the flask down again and hading it hesitantly over to Ssyrith, who shook his head. "Keep it, now do you have a name good sir?"

The man took another swig from the flask before answering, "Harold."
"Well Harold, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get involved in this business?" Harold shrugged.
"Just been really good at it, the pays good and I get to do some really crazy stuff." Ssyrith merely smiled a toothy smile.
"Apparently not good enough to avoid being caught." Harold stopped for a moment, the flasks at his lips before bringing it back down again. But Ssyrith didn't stop talking, "Her majesty is a forgiving type, she's willing to give you amnesty and even hire you on if you tell me everything you know about your codes, and comrades." Harold snarled slightly and shook his head.
"You think I'm going to turn on my bosses and my friends just because you asked nicely?" Ssyrith merely smiled before fishing out a small, thick petal from a pouch on his belt, crunching down on it and wincing slightly at the bitter taste, but swallowing it nonetheless.
"Well I was thinking the poison might be a better device for that."

Harold froze still, arms still holding the flask ready for another sip. Ssyrith smiled again, "Tell me Harold, are you familiar with the hesvar flower?" Harold slowly shook his head, not taking his eyes off the flask, "It's a very interesting plant if I do say so myself, the nectar is deathly poisonous, the smallest drop will contaminate an entire barrel of water, and the poison itself is quite unpleasant, or so I've heard. It takes about twenty minutes to kill a human, first they get a slight tingly feeling in their fingers and toes, then come the cramps in the arms and legs, then the stomach, soon they start puking, with headaches racking their minds, and muscle spasms all over, eventually they drop dead, still twitching ever so slightly." Harold felt his blood run cold, his fingers where starting to feel a little strange. Ssyrith shook his head again, "Oh but the most interesting part it that the cure for the poison, is in the petals itself! Strange don't you think? For a plant to engineer a poison and a cure for its own poison all in the same flower? Some hypothesize that it was created by ancient Hatcuri alchemists, and argument supported by the fact that it's found only in Hatcur, but I'm rambling now aren't I?" He fished out another petal from his pouch and waved it in front of Harold. "Just tell me everything I want to know, and you can have this, and your life."

Harold didn't talk, to the very end with his body flailing about in the chains, and spitting curses in between barfs, he went down defiantly, not that Ssyrith cared, there where plenty others to choose from.

Release the Weylanders, "persuade" the others to give up their secrets and offer amnesty and wealth to those who would agree to be double agents.
With the information gleaned from the "persuasions" send out false information of the size of our forces to the specifics stated by Iiteum, and that we are attacking through Arnaults Vale, and then a single letter stating that we are actually marching to the coast.
Send out some of the more troublesome and disloyal soldiers to scout out the Vale and prepare for an invasion through it, and then send a single soldier to scout out the coast.
Start researching a set of poisons that are harmless individually, but when both are consumed, no matter the time difference between the ingestion, become a deadly, fast working poison

(I didn't mean for it to be this long, it just kinda happened)

[Ghazkull]

A little while after the letter
[2]

The portly figure of Jarl Halfdan darkened the entrance to Ssyriths tent.

You BLOODY, IDIOTIC, INCOMPTENT GET OF A LIZARD AND A COMMON STREETWHORE! These men where there on my orders to figure out who the prestonians spies are and feed them false information! AND YOU IDIOT DETAIN BOTH! YOU ruined a perfect opportunity to feed the enemy false information and now the prestonians know that something is wrong...

[6]

he stopped for a moment there taking a deep breath, and then in a more resigned tone said.

It doesn't matter, no sense crying over drowned babies. As in accord with our agreements i demand the prestonians which were taken prisoner. Since you caught them im willing to contend with half, should be enough to furnish some new banners...

[Shootandrun]

He entered the tent with the pace and style of a soldier, but as soon as his eyes found the Princess he took a more relaxed stance. He placed a paper over which he'd scribbled some notes on the war table, but cut straight to the subject at hand instead of leading the noblewoman time to read it.

"The general sees two ways of leading the assault into Elbreth. We can come in guns blazing and take Sheepy Hollow by surprise, with the hopes of taking the garrison unawares and as such reach the city unchallenged, or we can move camp inside the country and start hassling the Prestonians until they think we're numberless and everywhere. She also thinks they don't outnumber us by much, and they haven't yet mobilized; something to keep in mind, I suppose."

He smoothed out his coat, taking a moment to take care of some invisible spot before continuing.

"There's more. I have checked with a few contacts of mine, and it appears I still have friends in the capital. Those left are few and isolated, but they're veteran revolutionaries, ready to fight and die for their cause. With me at their helm, we could raise some ruckus in the capital to try and distract the Prestonians from whatever's happening in the countryside. The Front has grown small, but only the best of its men remain.

It will not be so easy as that, of course. These men are not so, ah, moderate and politically tolerant as I am" He gave an ironic smile. "They will not fight to put a Queen on the throne without a promise of democracy. Indeed, should you succeed and install an autocratic regime, they will soon be your enemies. I have an offer than can give us all what we want, however, if you are willing to hear it."

[Iituem]

Erika, who by this point was sipping morning tea from a tin mug, nodded politely to Ambrose and Alistair.  "Good work, Hoffenburg.  In fact, that campsite might come in use yet.  When we march, we'll be taking a detour in line with some counter-espionage Hassir is busy with." She gestured to the map on the table.  "For the first part of the day we'll be marching east.  At this point here, we will turn south, which should bring us to that campsite for dusk.  When we make the turn, I want you to detach a regiment of dragoons and put them on scout killing duty.  Scour the roads and the hills, as you say, and cut off any patrols they might find.  Once we're at the campsite, we can put out scouts and get a feel for what's happening to the south.  Hassir's numbers suggest a force at Sheepy Hollow that we could likely flank and destroy, but if we're lucky they may detach part of that garrison and we can take them piecemeal.  Whether or not we have help at the Hollow depends on what Norn's messenger brings back.

"Harroway, make your offer."

[GiglameshDespair]

"I hope you are not going to suggest her majesty surrendering powers. Such a thing is against the will of God."

[Iituem]

"Welcome, Abess.  In fact, while the three of you are here I invite you to play a game that Father used to play with my brother.  It's called Pessimism, or What Will Go Wrong?  The rules of the game are simple.  Identify something that will go wrong with my proposal, then propose three solutions to what will go wrong.  Then I or the next person will identify something else that will fail with the original proposal, or the proposal to fix that proposal.  Make several suggestions and point out several failures.  The winner is whoever out-prepared the enemy, given our limited resources.

"We have military forces as listed on this sheet*, we have explosives experts, the clergy, spies, poison, high morale and possible public support as resources.  Assume our enemy has more military forces, not yet mobilised.  Assume they have the same advantages we have, but better.

"The current plan of attack is to feint a move to northern Preston, changing route to head towards Sheepy Hollow from the north.  A plot is underway to convince the Prestonians that our feint is true.  A likely tactic is to pincer the enemy's forces, which are known as ten regiments mercenary fighters, two artillery, or to separate them and attack piecemeal.

"Now list everything that will go wrong with that.  Be pessimistic, and if we are pessimistic enough we might save a great many lives."


*2 Reg. Artillery, 5 Reg. Pike, 5 Reg. Line Musket, 4 Militia, 3 Light Cav/Dragoons.  1 regiment Hospitaliers.

[Deny]

Ssyrith stared for a moment at the ruined parchment before him and the broken pen in his hand, oh how he wished he could strangle this man with his tail for this! But no, this required a more delicate touch, placing down the pen and pushing away from the desk Ssyrith looked up to the Jarl. "Well now, this is the communication error I was talking about, if I had been informed of this fact previously then I wouldn't have had to assume the worst when we found your men, and detained them as a result. As for the Prestoners I suppose you can have half, there are plenty to go around although you may be asking that a bit late, now I do hope we can put this messy business behind us and perhaps avoid this kind of situation in future with more communication."

Give the Jarl half the Preston prisoners.

[GiglameshDespair]

"I am no strategist, your majesty, but the thought occurs what happens if they do not fall for our feint? They could pincer us, instead, if they deploy their soldiers quickly.."