Sebalacus paced. He had been doing a lot of that the past 2 years. Normally, he maintained the calm and discipline of being a spy master. His craft had been honed from his youth. Now, all was threatened, his Empress, was in danger and he had to rescue her. He had raised her and she was one of a few who had every made their way into his heart. For fifteen years she had been thought lost. and the dangers of getting her and her children away from the V'raal were almost insurmountable. An isolated island, a totally foreign culture and superior warriors everywhere. How can one penetrate this society, spy and take back what was once his in 2-3 years? The question continued to haunt him. With the help of King Villard and the Opheir answers had been found, it remained to be seen if their solutions were good enough. "How the hell does one develop 'Grace' and imitate the V'raal's "Dance" in 2 years, damn it" He had done it as well as he could. Magic and intensive training had done their best, but spies had been discovered but they knew little and were supposedly spelled well beyond the power of the V'raal to penetrate. The V'raal did not know the timing and hopefully who was coming and why. Most of all, Sebalacus did not know what had been done to the mind of his Empress, or that of her children growing up in that strange cultture. The units were prepared to an inch of their live. If they did not go soon they might lose some of their edge. Simulations had been made of some of the palace areas so the combined units could learn how to work together. All was ready, only the timing of the assault remained the question. And one last decision remained, should Sebalacus defy the order of his new King and go on the mission himself or should he obey and wait. A glittering coin resting right over his half-cocked thumb, Sebalacus wrestles w/ the idea over and over again. And as a wry smile crosses his face, he tosses the coin in the air. Joel Burcancy Actions Actions 1-4 Rescue the Empress & Children (2nd of 3 yrs.) This will consist of a series of related actions. A- THE SEARCH FOR INFORMATION First continued tracking of the V'raal spy ring, and infiltration. Additional consideration will be given to taking out certain pieces of the spy ring so that Burcancy double agents nad counter-spys might advance both before and after the rescue attempt. The previous successes should assist. The greatest draw-back is that the V'raal it is incredibly difficult to imitate the grace w/ which they move, and their fighting is Legendary. Secondly, they live on an isolated island, there are only rumors about some of their background and skills. Much information needs to be obtained quickly. We have found some information through a disgruntled pretender to the throne but this source is very limited. Luckily, the Brotherhood is the most powerful collection of mages outside of Mir and can assist in the spying, tracking and transportation efforts. Although, the V'raal might have come out of the Dreaming, and their reputation quite fearsome, their magical talents are far below that of those who practice in Burcancy. Disquises will be created, skills such as dexterity can be temporarily enhanced, and Sebelacus can train some of the agents who will attempt to infiltrate the V'raal stronghold to imitate the inhabitants to the best of their ability. If they do try and imitate a V'raal for short periods of time, they might pull it off if not then they will only try for the humans that live on the island. First goal is geography, bring back maps of the area and the palace. Find where the Empress and children are located. Find out the iteniary of these people and the calendar of the court. Note the guards, and the other lords, who is most dangerous. Finally, what is the location and size of the V'raal fleet, their graneries, and library. All will be considered for secondary targets. B-PREPARING FOR THE ASSAULT The mages are to prepare as many bracelets of binding as possible to capture the Dark Elves who are mages or deemed most dangerous. These bracelets will bind magical abilities and will limit the skills of even those who know the Dance w/ effects similar to slow, weakness, etc. The Weather Mages, the Burcancy combat mages will intensify their training in working alongside regular troops. And although their combat and magic skills are quite formidable, additional training will be implemented to assist them in fighting against the elven warriors. The Brotherhood is to take the knowledge they have gained over these many years in creating the Weather Mages and learning control over the weather to create a huge storm complex over Arelcar. If it can be timed, a hurricane or typhoon will be released alongside the rescue attempt. The fury of the storm will hopefully create some problems for the elves and the storm's powers should help feed and fuel the Weather Mages. The storm will be built extremely slowly to make it look natural. C-THE STRIKE The attack will consist of 3 main groups. Each group will consist of Weather Mages, regular mages and fighters. One group will go after the separate palace of the Empress, w/ some small contingents in addition of regular mages and troops to provide confusion and backup. The other 2 groups will go to the main palace. Each group will carry have several soldiers carrying caltrops to seed important corridors and some brooms. It is hard to move gracefully w/ a caltrops on the ground around you or in your feet, and the brooms will should help allow the troops to move the caltrops out of the way as need be. Each set of troops is also supplied w/ crossbows, and well-trained in them. They are trained in volley fire, hoping to take out at least some V'raal w/ the crossbows. All mages are first to laydown barrier spells and then offensive spells can be used as required. All groups practice working in narrow corridors, and laying down crossing fields of fire. The first group will go directly for the Empress and the children. If the family members are separate, go after them one at a time, back-up can be called if need be. And if any of them need to be left behind then so be it. Hopefully, removing some of the elements of the V'raal plot will be enough to break it up. It has been 15 years since the kidnapping, there has been plenty of time to indoctrinate the Empress and/or the children. Assume they are hostile and have either magic training or weapons training in the Dance, capture them to the best of your ability. Use the bracelets to bind if necessary. Assure them they maybe released later but now they must come along. If they can not be captured then let them go, they are to be left alive. The 2nd group will go directly after the High Lord, if he can be taken out hopefully communications and the coordination will suffer. Some of the other lords and mages should be considered secondary targets by this team. Also, if all other goals are met, and other teams do not need back-up, since there is not an extensive library, if this group is not needed elsewhere it can try and go after one of the children themselves or split into small groups to cause disruption and destruction. The 3rd group is a large reserve contingent, they are to cause as much destruction & defilement w/in the Palace as possible but they are to avoid major firefights unless called by one of the 1st two groups. The last group will also open a portal into the Palace through which the Burcancy will send an invasion army. 10 smaller groups of regular mages and fighters will strike after the first teams hit at the harbor, shipyards, graneries & the library. Since most of the targets are smaller then originally thought, some of these groups can assist at either of the palaces as necessary. All precautions are taken here also, caltrops, crossbows, magical barriers first, crossing lines of fire. If available a Weather Mage might attend a few of these groups so they can call down part of the storm, but most of the combat mages will be assigned to the palace. These groups are to pop in and ready to get out if they met any strong resistance. The harbor, shipyards, graneries are to be destroyed to the best of their ability. The library will be looted, and if enough is removed or strong resistance encountered then it is to be fired, burnt to the ground. These sites can be attacked again later w/ more forces if the rest of the plan is going smoothly. Enough damage, destruction and defilement to their sense of grace an beauty might send many of the Dark Elves back into the Dreaming. Also, some of those that are captured might be oath-bound to serve the Burcancy. And if victory is total the whole island might become a new territory of the Burcancy. If all fails, the Burcancy might be haunted by the V'raal for a thousand years and exterminated. Plusses Quadruple Action Bonuses from previous successes tracking spies 3 year action, depending on information timetable could go much earlier Brotherhood magic skill Weather Mages Training from Sebelacus, spy master Intense training of all troops Storm cover Multiple strikes Large invasion force King Villard's influence King Villard will personally join 1st assault group strike teams well trained Possible Minuses Some spies are difficult to blend in some spies might have been discovered High Lord has a foreshadowing of something happening during such a storm Legendary Fighting skill of the entire populace of Arelcar luckily many are split up Empress and children split up --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
