Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Rothene]

After sometime of not seeing the flaming tank, Ranyin started to consider, maybe it wasn't so scary after all. Namely because he no longer remembered how it looked like. Slowly, the Kigenese mage picked himself up, just in time to listen to the discussion carried out. Based on what few information he could gather, he ruled out this scary sorcerer as someone he would take on...even with the group. Hmmm, when did Bert and Valter leave, wondered Ranyin.

Approaching the two of them, Ranyin asked them, "Hey, didn't notice the two of you leaving. Are you guys alright?"

***

Mireille listened to what Weyland had to say and pondered on the military tactics she had learned in lessons. Basing on a textbook example, the Ursian knight spoke up. "Maybe taking on those wyvern riders might be what Raquel's group should do sir," said Mireille feeling slightly proud about remembering her future charge's name and trying to make use of her observation of what weapons the group fielded, "We have some heavy armoured users, which should enable us to defend the archers and mages in the group while they tear through the wyverns. Facing mages on the other hand, might prove harder as they make the heavy armour mean nothing."

[Phoenix]

Conference Room

"The captured fallen hadn't been moved to a secure location, yet. Steinn is probably seeing to that. The Ursian military is going to be here soon as well and the last thing I need is any devout Wrathites coming across my foreign guests. I'd prefer we handle this ourselves if possible." Weyland replied to Bert. To Mirielle he said "Perhaps, though they currently have the high ground and you would have to get to the roof to face them, or allow them to break into the estate and fight them inside ... a little messy either way."

The scout decided to answer Gytha's question since only he would have known. "I'm pretty sure the woman's with the wyvern riders. The thunder blade wielder is with the mage heavy unit, and the fire blade wielder is in the east with the armors ... outside." he explained.

"Well screw that ... if we have to go outside to fight, that other unit might flank us ... on foot we wouldn't stand a chance." Evan protested.

"They're all still outside, Evan. It doesn't matter who you guys go up against, that unit might show up. Our goal is to take them out, even if we have to go outside and fight there. To be honest, that would probably be better for us. Less collateral damage and fewer places for them to use as cover ... though we'll have the same issue, I suppose." the Scout explained.

"It's just three of'em, roight? We can handle those guys if they show up." Gabbie said putting a hand on her hip. Gabbie wasn't only confident, but a small part of her was hoping they would show up. The chance to bring them down would make her feel a lot better about the casualties from earlier."

[Mercakete]

"Let's fight th' wyvern riders, then!" Gytha speedily suggested before almost bolting away towards the doors. As she began dashing, though, she probably made one step before Norbert caught her, grabbing the back of her belt and digging his heels in as she kept trying to run off. "Na-a-a!! WAIT! WE HAVEN'T DECIDED YET, SEAWATER-FOR-BRAINS!!" Gytha stopped her fruitless dash and gave the dismounted pegasus-rider a glare. "Let go o' me belt," she demanded. "Whatever. Just let other people have a say in things before you go running off," Norbert replied, frusterated. He did let go, though.

"Though we don't have a whole lot of magical defense, attacking the mages might be the safest route for us. They're not known for their physical defense after all," he went on to suggest. "What about Sylvia?" the mariner crossly complained. "Weyland's people can just capture her for you later," Norbert impatiently retorted.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"They're all our enemies, I don't think killing one really takes precedence over another. Wyvern riders usually present similar issues to heavily armored fighters in that they're generally difficult to kill without magic," Veronika chimed in to the strategic discussion.

Connor

"Someone with the power to blow up tanks...try the Visceral maybe? Though that's more to kill large targets, not single humans. Still if it hits we're not going to lose any more tanks, no matter what kind of magic he can do," Connor suggested.

[Phoenix]

Conference Room

"Capture? Oh I'd love to capture one of them. Like I told these guys, I had an ambush waiting in the halls before coming here. What's the point of killing the enemy when you can get information and the like?~" Anna commented.

"Easy for you to say." Evan scoffed. "I say it's just safer to kill them. While you try to capture them, you'll just get flanked by those wyvern riders and killed."

"D'awww, someone scawed of da big bad wyvewn widews?" Gabbie mocked.

"Oh shut up, Dee. You didn't have to watch some of your friends die ..."

Oh yes I did ...

"No, seriously ... if I can, I'll gladly try to take one of their leaders alive. No promises ... but I think I can do it~" Anna assured. "You guys should try to do the same. Any information would be pretty valuable right about now."

"Hmm." Amon tried to form some kind of opinion about the unit choices, as well, but was coming up short at first. "Well I wouldn't be too worried about the mages ... but that's just me. The armored unit has me worried, though. They'll probably try to get rid of our mages pretty quickly. The wyvern riders I'm not sure about. We could fight them if everyone agrees, but if they've got larger numbers, it's probably going to be rough ... like Veronika said, they're pretty tough. We have a couple of our own, though, so maybe that will help ...? I'm just not sure ..."

Combat Options

"The Visceral, eh? Not a bad choice. He's been dodging cannon fire, though, so we'll have to make sure he's caught at a bad moment ... beyond that I've no doubt a direct hit will put an end to his little rampage." Weyland replied to Connor, seeming a bit less peeved than before. "There's on minor issue, however. The Visceral's in storage, along with some of the other recently unveiled weapons--I'll have to retrieve it. A simple enough task ... at least until the building is breached ..."

[Rothene]

Hearing about mages fielded by the enemy and bert suddenly running off to Gytha, appearently not hearing him, Ranyin asked aloud, "Those mages our enemy has, was the type of magic they wield identified?"

[Snowy_One]

Robin's opinion of Bert suddenly took a sharp increase, possibly to the point of considering forgiving him for his earlier outburst as she laughed slightly under her breath as he reeled in Gytha. "I vote we handle the armors and mages." she said. "Taking the wyverns out does not do us much good as only a few of us can escape through the air. Plus... I would really rather not fight a wyvern flier if possible." she said, explaining her position.

[Acacia Sgt]

<Mages, armors, wyverns.> John thought. <Doesn't sound good either way. If only I had Gil, then perhaps those wyverns... and I certainly would not want to fight those mages.> He shook his head.

Wait, are we going to choose who we fight? Sophia thought.

[Mercakete]

Remembering Ranyin's question -- he'd been distracted by Gytha's simplistic, carefree way of deciding things -- he answered the little mage, "A bunch of us went o the stables to retrieve our mounts and equipment. ... How did you miss that?"

[Phoenix]

Conference Room

"Uhhh I saw one of ours get blasted by a lightning bolt ... though that might have been the thunder blade guy ... not necessarily one of the mages." one of Evan's men replied to Ranyin.

"Whatever we pick, let's pick fast. They're gonna get through those runes sooner or later ..." Gabbie said tapping her foot a few times.

Amon could feel a sense of urgency too but hadn't really made up his mind. The best he could do was offer his opinion again, but with a more solid stance this time around. "Mages, or wyvern riders. I think we should go with one of those." We go with mages and we probably have an easier time on offense with it being a little tougher on defense, and if that thunder blade person is like Silvia, then capturing him might be worth something. We go with the wyvern riders, it's tougher on offense but MAYBE easier on defense and we might be able to capture Silvia.

"Professor?" Raquel chimed in. "What are you going to do about that other man outside? I heard about the Visceral but ... he's got a piece of the emblem if what Shadrak said is true. I'm not sure, but ... maybe we should try to capture him, too."

"Do you think that's possible?"

"Well ... if you can't capture him, then I guess you would have to kill him, but if we get his piece of the emblem ... I think that would be a major blow to these people, don't you?"

"I'll admit ... it's quite tempting ... especially after what they've done here."

Even if we kill him ... getting another piece gives us more leverage to use against them and I might be able to use that to get my father back ... maybe.

[Mercakete]

"Let's fight th' wyverns!" Gytha cheered. "I'd be fine with that, but would everyone else?" Norbert asked, "It's not like everyone has a pegasus or a wyvern. Still, we need to make up our minds."

[ReformBlade]

Rainbow and the Samster

Crawling out from under the carpet Listening and watching teh situation unfold, both dealt with it quite differently. Aneda took most of it in stride, a little surprised things were going down as fast as they were but still managing to keep her composure all the same. "If it's a decision to be made, I must say the wyverns are the most tempting. I'll go with the majority, but I say if we have to go after only one target, Wyvern's would be the... well, easiest to deal with I suppose."

"Yeah... easy you say..."

"Yeah, that is what I said kid, easy." A mocking grin to the kid, "Learning to be a parrot? Gotta say, you're doing a bang up job. On the side, what brings you here?"

"Eh... um... obligation I suppose..." It was true, at least the feeling obligated part was. His slight trembling gave away what he really wanted to do at that moment though.

"Hey... Look, just calm down, OK? It's perfectly normal to be afraid but I'm sure you'll be looked after. If no one else will, then I guess I will, does that work?" As much as she wanted to strangle the kid silly for being such a wuss, she exercised her diplomacy glands instead.

"Tha'll work, miss...?" his voice cracked in the most adorable way, but he was very thankful all the same, almost ashamed at how thankful he was.

"Just... call me whatever. Aneda's the name." Shaking his hand whether he liked it or not, she brought herself back to the conversation. "Where was I? Oh right, interjecting a minor opinion in the grand scheme of things. Wyverns, that's what I say, just tell me where I should be... I guess."

[roymbrog]

As various people expressed their opinions, Synthia tried to keep track of which groups they suggested. “I count four votes for fighting the wyverns, three for mages, and two for armors,” she said, crossing her arms. She didn’t want to fight the flying lizards, but it seemed she was in the minority on this one...

[GoD]

In order this is what happened to Chelsea:

1. She finished her dinner and received an alert from one of the employees, that there would be a special meeting at the conference room. So she went to the conference room.

2. At the conference room, Weyland showed a shiny new wagon. And told the group that the possibility of a mole in the group. Chelsea managed to hide her shock at the news, and began to worry if the group suspected her as the mole. It made sense, since the troubador was rarely seen with anyone.

3. The estate was under attack. The group split up in order to find their weapons and mounts. Chelsea went with the group that collected the mounts. She successfully got Nenesha back and began to treck back to the conference room..., and saw what appeared to be a tank get obliterated by a man using some weird magic.

4. Now the party was maing desicions on what group to go for.

"Um.... I don't mind going after the wyverns, but I prefer the armors."- Chelsea expressed her opinions.

[Acacia Sgt]

''If it were up to me, I'd say we go after the wyverns.'' John finally said. <It seems they're the only ones that don't have mages or some magic weapon user. Might as well play it safe.> He thought.

[Snike]

Blake winced at the options. There was either firepower, defence, or mobility to deal with. It was clear from the makeup of this group that any one of those teams would be painful, so it was essentially choose your poison.

"I'd say we go for the mages," he piped up. "Sure, they can destroy most of our forces, but the whole intent of this is to counterattack, right? The element of surprise would drastically cut our losses, since for all their might, magic users can't generally take a hit."

[Phoenix]

Conference Room

"Seems were's leaning toward those wyvern riders. Can you tell us anything else about them, specifically?" Weyland asked the scout with his arms crossed.

"Blonde woman leading them, more wyvern riders than any other kind of unit, and they took out a quarter of the guards on the roof before we got an alert off. ... lllook, I think you people are going about this in the wrong way. I said that one group had more wyvern riders, another had more mages, and another one had more armored units. They're acting like the enemy military, so I'm sure all three groups have several types of weapons. If you people are scared of mages, I don't think you can handle any of the enemy units." The scout explained in an irritated tone.

"They might not be the Neviskotian military, but they're certainly pulling a passable charade. If you'll be fighting the wyvern rider heavy unit, know this, they're trying to get in through the roof; you'll have to either wait for them to breach the building and then fight them inside, or head up to the roof to face them there. With the other two groups, you need to head outside and keep them out." Weyland explained.

[Mercakete]

"Hey! We've defeated mages before! It's not that we're scared of them, we're just trying to figure out which enemy group will be best for us to fight!" Norbert irritatedly defended to the scout.

[Snike]

"Then wouldn't it be easier to kill the squishy units so we take less overall damage in return?" Blake asked, emotionless. He did not really want to start a brawl there, but if they were going to win, they needed to fight smartly. "Besides, if we go after the wyverns most of their force can just fly around us."

[Snowy_One]

"I am with Bert on this one. We can handle the mages. The only problem with them is that people who wear heavy armor will have trouble defending against them, but it is better than a wyvern picking one of us up and dropping them off the roof." said Robin, shocked at the first seven words she had just spoken.

[Rothene]

After some thought, Mireille felt this sudden fascination in the mages. Her desire to observe as much mages in action as possible prompted her to say, "Hmmm, the swordsmaster here has a point. Mages are very vulnerable to physical attacks. If we managed to ambush them, we would have the upperhand by striking down as many of them as possible swiftly. Hence I change my belief that we should attack the mages instead of wyverns, since most of the group lack the proper tools to deal with aerial opponents."

Edited November 5, 2011 by Rothene

[Acacia Sgt]

<Hm, the mages?> John thought. <Well, guess I'll just have to bear with it then if we do.>

Do they really need to argue on who to fight? Sophia wondered. I doubt the enemy will wait for us...

[Mercakete]

With a frusterated groan, Norbert rolled his eyes, then, in an agitated tone, decided, "Fine! This group can't make up their own minds! Raquel, choose one based on what you think we're most capable of! We don't have time to argue about this and I know everyone will listen to your choice!" Gytha looked over to Raquel expectantly and Norbert's gaze remained fixed on the group's leader. If the group would listen to anyone, it was her.

[Phoenix]

Decisions

"M-me?!" Raquel looked around at the party. Taking a step back with her shoulders up and her hands together, quietly muttered "I'm not sure I can make the right choice ..."

The scout rolled his eyes. "Lady, they are all armed and dangerous. There isn't really a right choice. Just pick your poison so we can mount a counteroffensive while there's still time."

"Are you sure none of the groups are stronger than the others?"

"The wyvern riders might have the most units if that counts for anything. The roof was pretty crowded. That's actually where I got hurt."

... and people tend to be leaning toward the mage heavy unit ... Raquel noted. "If we go after the mages, who'll be attacking the wyvern riders?"

"That would be me~" Anna raised her hand.

"W-wait, but you've got the fewest men. Nine isn't enough, is it?" Raquel asked.

"We can still beat them back, if we hurry. If we have to, we can wait for them to breach the building and then catch them in the halls. The last thing anyone wants to face in a hallway is a hail of arrows, so that's what we'll give them. The goal here is to force a retreat. We really don't have the strength to wipe them out without a long drawn out battle and the military will probably have shown up by then." she explained.

"So, what? That leaves my guys with the unit made up entirely out of armored guys?" Evan asked, sounding a bit annoyed all of a sudden.

"How many times do I have to tell you people?! They're not all-" "Is it settled, then?" Weyland interrupted the scout.

"I ... guess. Is that alright with you all? ... if we fight the mages--I mean the unit with a lot mages ..." Raquel corrected herself.

"Foine by me." Gabbie shrugged.

Amon gave a simple nod.

"Hey, one more thing. Like I said before, they're all dangerous. They're all well armed. They're acting like the enemy's military does so they're probably well balanced; keep that in mind and watch out for their leader. Now you people might want to start thinking about your own approach to this." the scout explained.

Combat Formation

Weyland then stepped forward to address everyone. "This is a new battle in front of you, so we're starting fresh. You've also got three new members to properly integrate. Keeping that in mind, we should get started. We'll be using general military formations, teams of two or three, and so on."

Weyland has turned all party members into solo units!

Amon 15/15

---

Gytha 21/21

---

Synthia 12/12

---

Veronika 15/15

---

John 21/21

---

Shadrak 15/15

---

Domovoi 15/15

---

Aneda 15/15

---

Ranyin 15/15

---

Bert 15/15

---

Valter 12/12

---

Zel 18/18

---

Gabbie 18/18

---

Nadya 18/18

---

Chelsea 12/12

---

Robin 12/12

---

Saken 12/12

---

Sammy ?/? (need another complete update)

---

Blake 12/12

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Mireille 15/15

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Tipheret 24/24

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Sophia 12/12

INACTIVE UNITS LIST

------------------------------------------------------

Nanahm 18/18

After Battle Preparations

Amon 15/15

Gytha 21/21

Synthia 12/12

---

John 21/21

Chelsea 12/12

Bert 15/15

---

Shadrak 15/15

Gabbie 18/18

Robin 12/12

---

Ranyin 15/15

Veronika 15/15

Sammy 15/15

---

Valter 12/12

Nadya 18/18

Mireille 18/18

---

Zel 18/18

Blake 12/12

Nanahm 15/15

---

Domovoi 15/15

Saken 12/12

---

Aneda 15/15

Tipheret 24/24

Sophia 12/12

With a little help from Weyland and the Scout, Raquel managed to pick some new formations for the various party members. Deep down, she wasn't too fond of the decisions. She couldn't have been, really. No matter how well they were picked, if anything went wrong, she expected to take the blame for it. The thought of success was far from her mind, even without the mysterious man being factored in. "I uh ... hope this will work." she said, referring to the new formation. She kept her head down.

"All of you finish anything you have to do. This is an offensive, so you'll be attacking the enemy, not the other way around. Remember, though, you don't have to chase them; if they pull out, let them. You only need to keep them at bay until help arrives, or until they leave. That's not to say you shouldn't defeat as many of them as possible ... only that you shouldn't pursue beyond the estate grounds. Do you understand?" Weyland instructed.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Heharr, sure am glad we weren't split up," Gytha mentioned to her teammates, "Sure are a lot who were, though. Sorry I can't run Silvia through for ye, though, Amon. Maybe some other time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Looks like we'll be on seperate teams now," Norbert muttered to Valter and Ranyin. He'd wanted a word in with them before heading off to his new teammates. After all, it would feel strange looking after two different people now expecially what with the friendships he'd made with the short, Kigenese mage and the level-headed, horse-riding archer. "That's fine, I guess. We're still on the same side. Heck, we're still in the same over-all group. Just don't get yourselves killed, alright? Merz, that'd be depressing..." In all honestly, he was worried for the other two. Not that he'd admit it to their faces.