Blackbog Keep

[Laharl]

Teodor looks like he's just swallowed something sour. "Not really. It's incredibly convenient for cavalry, yes, but not for getting people out unseen, even by night. Everything sticks out against the horizon from a long way off."

[TheDude51]

How much of those forces are we trying to extract? Just the cavalry, or everything?

[Mr_Praetorian]

"At the moment, we can only assume that the cavalry units will defect alongside of Lenneth. Of course, then again, we do have someone who specializes in infiltration." Derovarr said, smiling as he turned to look at Teodor.

[Laharl]

"Adding to the mission parameters, are we? What exactly did you have in mind?"

[Mr_Praetorian]

"There are always conversation going on in the background. I'd like to know for certain if the cavalry are the only ones who are willing to fight to preserve Struseler's vision. I'm suggesting that you do a little eaves-dropping."

[Laharl]

"I suppose I could do that, though it's very risky, and frankly, given the touchiness of the subject, I wouldn't expect to hear much in casual conversation about it."

[Zanaikin]

if you plan on going so, I propose to make this simple (less time consumption, unless you object)

give me a list of your preparations, planned activities (if you're searching, how you plan to move through the camp [imagine typical medieval style army field encampment], how you're collecting information, etc), items and spells used
and then give me take 10 checks for hide, move silently, spot, listen, and any other skills as appropriate

[Laharl]

Teodor pauses for a few seconds before continuing his response. "In short, I must strongly advise against this course of action. The odds of my running across a suitable conversation that accurately reflects the opinions of the troops as a whole are miniscule compared to the odds of discovery, which would likely blow the whole plan."

[Mr_Praetorian]

"Hmm, if we only could provide the soldiers with some sort of catalyst for discussion." Derovarr responded.

[Laharl]

"Do you have anything in mind that might work?" Teodor shrugs.

[Mr_Praetorian]

"Not really. Political propaganda isn't my specialty."

[Laharl]

"Anything we come up with would need to be incredibly discreet as well, since anything overt would tip our hand. We also don't really have time for the propaganda to disseminate among the troops. I see no way of effectively querying loyalties at a distance, nor do we really have the time to examine every troop, either here or there."

[Mr_Praetorian]

"Well, though it pain's me greatly to abandon more soldiers, it would seem we have no choice to limit ourselves to the cavalry banner." Derovarr replied, rather disheartened.

[Zanaikin]

Well, now that you've decided that...

Day passes...

April 26th

[Zanaikin]

Over the course of the night on April 25th, Teodor (mainly) and Kovis tried to start the operation for bringing Lenneth and her forces to Blackbog. However, the operation failed badly when one of the guards Teodor tried to kill manage to give off a warning, and a chain series of events led to the entire camp beginning to wake up. Teodor however managed to evacuate about a brief skirmish.

Kovis tells you all in the morning of 26th that Lenneth sends over her side's account of what happened. Apparently the priests believe they were attacked by a Norinth infiltrator, who managed to gain access to the lockdown suppressor, suppress the lockdown covering the camp, and killed over twenty guards. The healers were convinced it was a Norinth shadow-guard due to the simultaneous and equally strong hits, all originating from the exactly same angle, which is the mark of a shadow-pounce attack. Whomever it was, they were eventually discovered by patrolling units but managed to escape. They also seems to have tried to imitate a church official, which caused the camp's inquisitors to begin an investigation over the army's lower and medium levels. As far as the officers could tell, nothing was stolen or sabotaged, and no high ranking officers were assassinated, which makes them believe the operation was a failure. The camp's watch is also being increased due to this event should they try again.

Lenneth thinks this definitely lowers the chances of success on another extraction operation in the immediate future. Unless she manages to find a reason to take the cavalry forces out and away from the other units. She also wish to tell you not to perform an operation like that again. Despite negative views against the Church we are still the Guard, and we do not kill other Misalinians unless we must. Twenty dead in the span of probably a mere few minutes was definitely not a 'necessity'.

Kovis stares at Teodor and says: "I wasn't quite aware that by 'getting rid of the guards' you meant killing all of them, across an entire camp!"