Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 27: War

[scorri]

Seeing Alex stranded, Adena turned back. "Uhm, do you need a horse? Snips is just in the stables over there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you riding him. I may have to bribe him with carrots, but if you need to get somewhere, you can borrow him."

~~~~

Snips suddenly realized that crunchy orange things have been mentioned somewhere. Clearly they were meant for him.

Edited March 19, 2013 by scorri

[Snike]

Alex

"No, I couldn't dare ask you to borrow your horse and slow you down as you go about your business, when I can walk there by foot just as easily, if not at a slower pace," Alex said, trying to remain cheerful. "But thanks for the offer, Adena. Perhaps you might accompany me, if you have business along the way?"

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"Don't let Miranda hear you said such things, Morgan," Conrad teased. It was true, Miranda would be more than happy to hear Morgan defend the crimson weapons this way, if only so she could use the same reasoning to defend herself in an annoying and playful manner.

"No one forges weapons by accident; that's not what I'm saying," Viveka replied impatiently. "I'm saying his actual reasons for making the crimson weapons still aren't clear. He was a weaponsmith who after a long and brutal war with the demons got access to some of the Lord's power. Even if there was no threat of the demons returning to destroy humanity, he would have made the crimson weapons if he could. Judging by the other heroes around here, it's more likely he forged the weapons to test his own abilities or even study the results of blending light and demonic forces together, NOT to save the world. Even if the crimson weapons can kill the Lord, that probably wasn't their intended purpose. I for one doubt these heroes really knew how to think that far ahead. Sure, it doesn't seem important one way or the other so long as they do kill him, but we've made enough reckless assumptions here."

"Hmm," Reese thought about Morgan's conclusion until Conrad's came.

"Like Viveka said, it would be fortunate if Helenos' defeat scared them off, but it would seem more likely that the demons would converge on us instead. In a battle of that scale, we would have been overwhelmed and defeated."

"True. In fact, one of the sheltered nobles pointed out earlier that the fact the demons didn't focus solely on the crimsons when they showed up proves that the attack not only had nothing to do with them, but also that your group's claims of being prime targets for the demons were also false or at least heavily exaggerated. Yesterday's battle is still kicking us in the teeth, honestly," Reese explained with a grimace.

[scorri]

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere. I was just trying to find food but got lost. It's been a couple of years since I was here and I've forgotten where everything is..." She blushed slightly. "Anyways, like I was saying, I don't need to use Snips until I figure out where I'm supposed to be going next, which I'm guessing is going to be wherever this group is heading next. So you can borrow him if you want. It won't inconvenience me at all."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"The demons did not converge on us because they were spread out and we caught them unaware, not because they did not want to kill us," Morgan argued. "It appears we had managed to lose the trail of the demons after leaving Septimus, repeated warps made us difficult to track no doubt. That is also why we must leave this city soon, if we linger too long Shanice and the others will most certainly come back. If we do not stay on the move they may easily overrun us."

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"Instead of simply running around, wouldn't you consider setting a trap for them? You know what their plans are, so why not act on it?" Reese inquired.

"Well Shanice apparently has an army now, so we probably missed our chance to take him out," Viveka muttered at Reese's suggestion.

"You people have to kill the Lord eventually. You can't prepare for a battle of that scale by evading the demons entirely. And besides, the faster you people move, the more difficult it will be for the allied forces to protect you. If you keep warping around like this, you do it alone," Reese said plainly.

"Not even one of our battalions can keep pace with the crimsons?" Conrad asked. This was news to him.

"Over half of Elyisima's known staff users are in service to the noble houses, and you can probably guess just how quickly those with warping staves are being squandered rapidly moving VIPs around. The other half are divided between TISME, the regular army, the royal guard, and unregistered individuals we can't track down in an emergency like this. We might be able to pool together enough staffers for the next phase of this campaign, but ... until this crimson argument is settled once and for all, protecting them is still a tertiary priority for the elyisimians."

"Hmm ..."

"On the bright side, you killed Helenos. She was behind the massacre in Altenau, right, General? Maybe that'll win you people some favor with the Septimians and the duumvirate can put together an escort that can actually keep up with you."

[Snike]

Alex

"Once again, I thank you for your kind offer, but it's probably better if I go by foot, as I'll probably be there for a while," Alex said, her smile wavering. "Besides, it gives me more time to... contemplate things."

[scorri]

"Well fine then. I'll walk with you so you aren't alone."

[Script]

Things

"Let's be off then," Luc said when everyone was all saddled up. He regretted having to leave General Alex behind, but Thunder did not allow others. He'd have to send someone back once they arrived.

Then they arrived at wherever they were going with General Mendozza waiting. "Took you long enough," He growled at them.

Roofs

"Ugh, they're splitting up." Blue-One said.

"Do we care?" Blue-Two asked.

"No." Blue-Three answered.

"Whatever, I'll watch the straggler," Blue-Four told them.

Blue-Four remained behind to guard Alex from nowhere she could see, while the others followed Luc and co and wondered about the intelligence of running on fire-damaged roofs.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"We did set a trap for them before, when we needed to recover the weapons, but the demonic forces have grown too large for us to risk such a maneuver. There were at least several hundred demons attacking Ilyphina yesterday and that was likely only a fraction of what they will be able to muster soon. The best course of action is for your nation and all the others to commit their forces offensively as a distraction- keep the demons as blind to our movements as possible. Many of your people will die, but if you do nothing all your people will die," Morgan said gravely.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"'Preaching to the converted', Morgan. We're intent on resisting the demons with violence with or without the crimsons; there's no other choice," Reese replied. "A lot of people won't like the crimson brigade moving around in secret, though. If something happens to you people, we might not learn about it until it's too late."

"Our allies don't have to be completely in the dark," Conrad corrected. "We can keep in contact through the spirit dolls. While it's true, reinforcements most likely won't be available, you'll at least be up to date on our progress."

"I suppose, though that's not going to stop the demons from tracking you like they normally do is it? I'd expect them to bring a larger force too. I hope you have a plan for that other than simply 'staying on the move'."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"We need to end this war as quickly as possible. Attrition favors the demons, they reproduce faster and have no need for supplies and rest. Every battle weakens us significantly while barely affecting them. Once the Lord of Azure Flame is destroyed, the rest of the demons should become a relatively the minor threat. I must admit, I do not know the precise location of the Lord's tomb, it is in the Haltonian desert somewhere but that is hardly specific enough," Morgan said, frowning.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"That presents another set of problems," Reese realized. "I seriously doubt a group like yours can survive in the desert without help ... and more importantly, without the exact location, you'll be wandering the desert for weeks. In that time, there's no reason to believe the demons won't figure out where you're headed, and if they head you people off in the desert, you're finished ..."

"It's true, they'll figure out we intend to reach the Lord's tomb and try to stop us, but it's not a battle in the desert that concerns me, it's reaching the tomb only to find the demons have all consolidated their forces there," Conrad added. "No amount of preparation will see us through that battle."

"Send someone ahead of us maybe?" Jasmine suggested, having stopped covering her ears at some point. "Like a scout team to try and find the tomb and report back. Then we can just head straight for it instead of searching and giving the demons time to attack."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"Which is why we need a location, provisions, and all the human armies to create a large enough distraction far enough away that the demons cannot ignore it," Morgan laid out. "If the demons take the bait, they will not have time to return to their master before he is undone."

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"How would that even work? The demons don't have any bases--tomb excluded--supply lines, or known areas of interest that we can threaten. There's nothing we could 'attack' other than the army itself to draw attention away from you people, and it's foolish to expect to find absolutely no resistance save the Lord himself at the tomb," Reese replied.

"We'll have to handle any demons we encounter at the tomb, but even that may prove too difficult if we're particularly unlucky," said Conrad.

"So take Percival with and use him as a human shield for the entire group. That solves that problem," Reese joked before becoming serious again. "If you want the demons 'distracted', you'd better come up with a viable target we can hit, otherwise we've no choice but to attack the army head on and hope that's good enough."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"There is another possibility I was considering," Morgan said with a heavy sigh. "If one wielder were to separate from our group for a time, their presence may draw the demons to them instead of us, forcing the demons into a conflict with our armies. The wielder would then be warped to our location when the time to fight the Lord arrived. 'Tis a very risky plan however and relies upon the demons going for the 'straggler' rather than the bulk of the weapons- though that is behavior they exhibited before," she said, putting a hand on her chin.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"I actually agree with that idea," Conrad said. "Not that I don't have concerns, but the crimson weapons themselves are the only things we could ever hope to lure the demons with. As you said, they have no bases save for the tomb, supply lines, or locations of interest that our armies could attack. That just leaves the crimson weapons."

"So what were your concerns, General?" Reese inquired, raising an eyebrow. If Conrad had any concerns whatsoever, that had him wondering why he sounded so on board with the idea.

"My main concern is that the demons haven't behaved consistently enough for us to execute this plan with any kind of certainty. A good example would be the group's early encounters with them. They've successfully stolen crimson weapons from us, but have followed up with further attempts that saw them lose the weapons they had taken during previous fights. Things would be more in our favor if they truly believed that all nine weapons are necessary to defeat the Lord, but their actions don't point to this."

"They are trying to get all of the weapons, though, aren't they?"

"Yes, but if they believed as we do, that all nine are necessary to secure their destruction, then they only need to sever one of us and be done with this farce. So either they are using some very asinine tactics, or they have another purpose for trying to gather all of the weapons as they have," Conrad explained. "So my concerns in a nutshell are that the demons will either split up to try and secure all the weapons at relatively the same time, or prioritize the larger group. The latter is a possibility if the lone crimson wielder we leave behind is too well protected ..."

"I see. But you're okay with this plan?"

"As a whole ... so long as the wielder we leave behind isn't Reika ..."

(I wonder if there isn't something else we can add to this plan to ensure it works ...) Viveka mused.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"The only alternative I see is waiting until the demons attack another location and then striking while their forces are divided, but by then the demons' numbers will have increased significantly, so that will not work I fear. The lone Crimson will have to be someone who is cooperative and reliable and Reika is neither of these things- we will have to decide that later. I do not know how to motivate the demons strongly outside of the Crimsons, though easy prey tends to attract them," she noted aloud.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

(Hmm ...)

"How do you know so much about how the demons build and replenish their armies?" Reese asked Morgan.

"It might not matter what their numbers are if ..." Viveka was getting at something but then trailed off back into her thoughts as she tried to piece it together and test the scenarios in her head. "Maybe we'll only have to do this ... twice."

"Viveka?" And now she had Conrad curious.

"The demons are going to come after the crimsons no matter what, so our plan should involve that, because it's something we can count on. You know how Morgan mentioned warping the wielder back to the group just before going after the Lord? What if we modified that plan just a little bit? If we could find a way to establish two warping points over a large distance, one in the Haltonian desert, and the other somewhere with a lot of allies, we can not only trick the demons into charging into a kill zone, but we can also minimize the resistance we encounter in the desert by tricking them into thinking we've retreated. Basically we'd get a move on at some point and try to find out where the tomb is. Once we know or once the demons come for us, we'll warp the entire group to that kill zone and wait for the demons again while making our final preparations. Once they catch up, we'll warp right back to the desert and leave them for the army to cut down while we finish this. That way no one who came the first time can follow us back to the desert this time. As long as there's a way to warp that far twice, and we don't lose any crimsons during either warp, it should work."

"Interesting, but I do worry about the viability of a warp covering such a great distance," Conrad replied.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"Flemeth instructed me on the nature and habits of demons since I was a child. While she can be...difficult to deal with, she possesses a great deal of knowledge and has little reason to lie in this instance," Morgan responded to Reese before mulling over Viveka's plan.

"It is difficult to get the power required to warp a group of our size in an expedient manner- warping our group is problematic enough even under relatively non-stressful conditions. Still, it is a possibility," Morgan conceded.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"Well, let's at least look into it," Viveka suggested just before changing her mind on one detail and adding, "On second thought, you do whatever you want. I'll look into it myself and let you all know what I find."

"You don't have to shoulder everything yourself, especially with time against us," Conrad noted.

"I won't. I'm just going to see if there aren't some more efficient methods we can use for this plan. If I find something viable, I'll let you know. That way you can focus on anything else that needs the attention right now. The king for example. I'm not saying others can't do some research as well, but I'd prefer not to get paired up with anyone from the group for this."

"Except for me, but it's not really a pairing; I'm just an extra set of eyes and ears and limbs," Jasmine chimed in. "We'll both be looking into it since ... well that's what I do really. When the Captain starts looking for information or testing ideas, I'm right there with her."

"If that is how you want to handle this ..." Conrad conceded.

Meanwhile ... "I don't suppose you can get a hold of this Flemeth person on short notice?" Reese asked.

[Ether]

"Well, there's no use discussing it here... we've done what we came for, let's head on back." Damian noted, as he turned from the scorched alleyway.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"We will need a plan before moving out and we cannot spend too much time pondering, so your "findings" cannot take too long," she said to Viveka before turning to Reese. "No, Flemeth and I are not in contact and her aid would be questionable even if I could find her- she appears when she wishes and gives irritatingly cryptic answers when confronted with simple questions. I do not know exactly what she has planned in regards to the demons or anything else," she responded, frowning. Is she waiting for me to become more powerful before she takes control? If so it appears I am playing right into her hands...but I cannot ignore the demons to deal with her.

[Phoenix]

Alley

"Oh alright," the mage conceded. "There has to be some way I can get in touch with this demon, though. There's so much we could learn here."

Stephanie sighed heavily at that, imagining not only disappointment in store for the mage in either scenario, but also a lot of time wasted on his part as well.

Main Hall

"That's exactly why I'd prefer to look into it on my own. With others around we'll just end up stepping on each other's toes and wasting valuable time," Viveka remarked under her breath before setting out with Jasmine in tow.

"Are all powerful mages this unreliable? I'm still waiting for Zaftra's dark druid to show his ulterior motives in all this and make things even more complicated but I know they're coming," Reese replied to Morgan.

"So then," Jasmine began her inquiry now that they were out of earshot of the others. "What is our first course of action, Captain? Are we heading to a library first or something else?"

"Something else. We have to learn everything we can quickly so our first stop is an expert, not a library," Viveka answered in her rare neutral tone. That combined with what she said had Jasmine even more curious than normal.

"You don't know any magic experts besides Morgan and the other mages in the group," Jasmine declared confidently. In her mind, there was no way Viveka would even consider talking to Ixion about the matter, and she herself wasn't going to even risk bringing the man up due to their rocky past. "So who else would you even ... are we going to TISME?"

"No, first we're going to find Ixion and-" "Ixion?! Seriously?" Jasmine interrupted in surprise. "Don't give me that look. We're in a hurry. I can put my hatred for that bastard behind me long enough to find out if this plan will work for us. If it saves lives and keeps us from having to fight a long and nasty ground war then there isn't much I won't do in this situation," Viveka explained.

"No complaints from me, Captain. Let's ... let's do this," Jasmine decided.

[Mercakete]

After some assurance, Beau managed to convince Raemond to follow along as the three continued down the hall. He also gave the monk some advice as they walked, though it was stern enough to be taken as a command. "Remain calm. If you're not relaxed, she may suspect you really were attempting an escape and that will not only hurt your efforts to gain her trust, but harm my own standings with her as well."

He hadn't replied aloud at the time, though he certainly had some thoughts for that. He's always looking out for himself... I wonder if he actually cares what happens to me. Raemond thought back to when Morgan had threatened him the previous day. He didn't say a word. He was just looking on... Captain Edgedraper spoke in my defense then, though. Surely Morgan won't try to kill me while we're still in the palace even if she decides I should die. I can't imagine she'd be that dim-witted. I am fairly certain the Captain would stand up for me if she attempted anything once fewer eyes were watching, though. The duke, however... I have to wonder. Have I volunteered to be his chess piece? As these thoughts flowed through Raemond's mind, the party of three came across those at the end of the hall. The monk was snapped out of his thoughts by Beau's voice.

"Ah, Crimson Leader Morgan, General Conrad and Grand Marshall Triton," the young duke greeted with all the smug, casual air of a noble in a good mood, "good morning. I trust you all slept well after last night's trouble."

Though Beau's last sentence was a statement, it was asked like a question. Raemond remained silent as he stood by the thirteen-year-old. He'd noticed attendants tended to go unnoticed and was half hoping that, though it had been remaining true thus far, would keep its effect. He didn't like dealing with Morgan.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Mercakete