Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 2276662" data-attributes="member: 15043">Short update tonight... revealing Felonca's plans, and a little about Nayu's future motivations...Hehe... he most definitely has no ranks in knowledge nature... the final session proved that <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.  And yeah, Felonca’s player loved blasting her uncle for his narrow-mindedness.  She was surprisingly quick to forgive him... leading by example, I think. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Felonca’s Plan...The next night, Nayu sat in his own tent, his eyes closed as his body tried to sleep, but his mind endlessly wandered through the events of the past two days.  The sounds of crickets chirping in the depths of the night didn’t help; his overactive mind really needed silence to calm into sleep.  As long as the crickets and other noises continued, his mind had excuses to stay awake, and rattle through the events of the previous few days.First a battle, then a promotion... and we’re only a few days from Liaoxiang, where I can get access to those war spells that Yu and Ren spoke of...  He gave a tired smile at the thought, his mind darkly imagining how different the battle would have been if he had been able to create fiery explosions eighty feet across... if he had been truly capable of withering people’s limbs, or truly capable of seizing control of their minds.  The last thought made him chuckle.Things would’ve been so much easier... I could have just told those three generals to drop off their horses and bow to me!  He felt a slight twitch in the magic of his body at the thought, a twitch that made him smile.If we go to Liaoxiang... that is what I will do.  I will learn mind control... Nayu thought.  I don’t care if its shadow magic, if its necromancy...  it is something that would be very useful......imagine the deals I could get from merchants......but what about my ancestry? another part of his mind interrupted his commercial thoughts.  The Son of Heaven shouldn’t rely on mere magic  to persuade others to follow his will......though it would be quite handy...  A humorous image of Prince Hu crowing before him clad only in peacock feathers made him laugh out loud, so loud that he didn’t hear the hurried run of feet outside his tent, or some rip his tent flap open.“NAYU!” Felonca shouted, breaking his reverie and making him jump several inches into the air.  He spun around, and saw that her blue feline eyes were wide with barely contained excitement.“What?  You scared the spirits from me!” the sorcerer complained.“I need you to follow!  I have a plan!” she replied, almost bouncy with excitement.“Well,” he slowly clambered up from his sleeping roll, “I should hope you have a plan, considering you are now second in command of this entire gaggle of men armed with sharp steel objects,” he said wryly.  He started to grab his slightly better peasant clothes, before Felonca grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.“Hurry!  Its big enough to wake up Uncle Dian!”“I’m sure he’ll be in a good mood,” Nayu said sourly.  I know I’m not!“I know you are now Shao Wa-Feng, but dammit, this had better be important,” a tired and worn Wa-Feng Dian grumbled, rubbing his eyes.  No terrifying black armor covered his large frame, only a large white shift.  “It is, Uncle!” Felonca replied excitedly.  “I’ve been thinking about the information that Hu Lian gave to us yesterday, and especially about the emplacements of the cattle and the horses within the prisoner camp!”Dian’s response was to cross his arms, his bare feet tapping the tent ground impatiently.  Felonca ignored the warning sign, and blustered onward, pulling out her sketch of the camp and the surrounding area.“We’ll split the army into five groups, and launch a night attack,” Felonca said eagerly, as her uncle sleepily nodded.  “Group One will consist of several spellcasters and some guards.  They’ll sit here, across the river from the camp, and lob some spells into the camp to cause chaos.  A few minutes later,” her hand slid further along the creek, “a second group... the rest of the spellcasters, will fire some explosive spells behind the camp oxen, here.”Despite the late hour and his sour mood, Nayu chuckled.  The Langya soldiers will have cattle running amok while they sleep...“Simultaneously, I’ll have Zhong Wei Ojin,” Felonca smiled slightly at her protegee’s new rank, “sneak in with a few of his people to the horse stables, freeing the mounts so the enemy can’t flee.  Right after them, the main force, led by you, will attack behind the oxen chaos, driving deep into the camp...”“...using the oxen as cover?” Dian’s voice changed.  He wasn’t nearly as tired, his eyes were now focused on the sketch, his brow furrowed in thought.  “That is quite brilliant, my dear, but that would require a great deal of timing between the forces, especially the spellcasters firing into the oxen pens and the main force charging into the oxen pens.  Also,” his hand slid towards the right, towards another labelled section of camp, “it doesn’t deal with freeing the prisoners...”“I’m sure the resident strategist has that handled,” Nayu smiled, the plan coming together in his mind.  If I ever do sit on the Jade Throne... I need Felonca nearby... she’s sharp, and I could pick her brain for ideas.  Besides... I wouldn’t want her commanding things against me...“I do,” she jumped in, still to excited to really notice his statement.  “First, Nayu said that the spellcasters can communicate through their minds, which will be how we would coordinate things.  Second, you’ve forgotten the fifth force, uncle!” Her hand flashed over towards the right of the camp, beyond the sections noted for holding the prisoners.  “A final force, made up of myself, Nayu, Yari Ai, Meiji, Liu, a spellcaster of Nayu’s choosing, and with your permission, Zhong Wei Li Chou, will close with this wall after your assault has begun.  Not only will the oxen sow confusion within the Langya camp, they’ll also draw attention away from us.  In the chaos, we sneak into the prison area, and free the prisoners, giving them what arms we can find and get them back the direction we came from!”The younger Wa-Feng looked up at her uncle, eyes expectant and filled with pride at her work.  For his own part, Nayu looked at the sketch, and gave a grunt of admiration.  I really really need to find a way to keep her by my side when I ascend to the Jade Throne!Wa-Feng Dian, however, continued to stare at the map, columns and movements evidently dancing in his mind as his military mind worked over the details of the plan.  After a few moments, he looked up at Felonca, and gave a slight smile.“Your father would be proud... may I say that I am glad you are on my side!”  The slight smile became a full grin.  “This plan is rather complicated, but I do think it would work.  My only concerns would be the coordination, and also making sure you have enough people for your end of the work.  Are you sure what... seven people would be enough to...”“Seven would be more than enough, uncle.  This is where my training during my days of dishonor, as you called them, come in.”  She gave a slightly smug smile at the reference.  “This portion is supposed to be secret, up till the point that either we have the prisoners armed, or that we’ve snuck all of them out of the camp.  Bringing more people with us will only draw attention to our movements... it would not be a good tradeoff.”Dian sighed."Very well.  I..." he stopped suddenly.  For a few seconds, there was silence, before his voice softly cut through the air.  "I trust you, Felonca.  And I trust you with my brother's life..." Another sigh, and Dian ran a hand through his hair, "Though you know this!  I...um... well..." his voice trailed off into silence, as he looked at the sketch.“I think I’ll bring in Zhen Ren as my backup,” Nayu thought aloud.  Yu Enlai will be needed with the communications aspect of things... and Zhen Ren, despite his pretensions, seems to be the best at simply blowing things up.  Though, Nayu gave a slight laugh, I’ll have to inform him there will be no fine robes and gilt scarves on this mission...  He then frowned, a question coming to his mind.“Um... Felonca... other than this is a quite...um... brilliant plan, why all the excitement?”“Because if this works,” she said softly, the smile on her lips growing softer and fainter, “I’ll see my papa in a few days.”At those words, Nayu gave a sad smile in reply.  At least one of us will see a father in the future, ancestors willing!  He closed his eyes in thought, and in the darkness of his mind, a familiar face came back, and smiled.  The reverie lasted only a few moments, and when Nayu opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Dian still looking pensive, staring past his niece, as if he was looking for a way to be proud of his own child...</blockquote>

Verification