h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Sara nodded.* "Nuge...you might be right there. We do still have a bit of surprise on our side."

Blake also nodded. "It's best if we take every opportunity with this to our advantage."

[Ecg Unagi]: "Urrghh... Um, what just happened?"

*He uses cloth strips to cover the wound on his arm*

"Grr... I almost had them. Had I lit those golems they may have been tinder by now."

*Looks left, then right*

Ecg, glad you´re awake, but we didnt stand a chance. They teleported us out of the battlefield. I´m guessing they didn´t know we were along for the ride, though. We just hit the fringes of the spell, so that would account for the bumpy ride. What happened to your arm?

[Ecg]: *raises his eyebrows and then thinks a bit for a moment*
"An orc with a knife. Apparently this time they were smart enough to figure into running out of arrows. I'll be alright. So, This is... a field outside of somewhere near Yurick then I take it? Blake, that would at least explain why the color of the sky is off. It's not like anything I've ever much seen anyplace else before."

*Shudders a bit involuntarily*

Meanwhile, at the very edge of Paroda road Ecg's father, his troop of demonic underlings and the few stragglers (some of which have put together a piecemeal& ad-hoc militia) look around.

[Kraken III]: "Greyscales, a survey if you will."
This demon is slate colored and has not a cape but two long wings that are folded and which it has draped.

"Yes Master Kraken."

*It is his fourth strongest demon and has somewhat of a better grasp over language than the three that are its betters.* All that being said, it stands about half as tall as an average human.

[Kraken III]: "That's very odd. The entire smells of both groups... both their signatures what's more... completely vanish."

[peasant 1]: *carrying pitchfork and a shield made from a barrel lid*
"Looks like there were signs of a struggle."

[Kraken II]: "That's true. Look over there... is that, my son's cart?"
(A little more somber) :"Search the grounds for salvageable weapons and such. We won't put their fighting to waste. At least there can be a tactical advantage taken, and that way their loss will not have been in vain."

*He signals to Greyscales and has the demonic underling carry a message back to Imardin.*

[Greyscales]: "I take back to Guild Lords."
[Kraken II]: "Not just any of them, but probably Lord Wolsey."
[Greyscales]: "Eh??"

[Kraken II]: "the one who smells like a wolf and the outdoors, not the one who smells of 'night'."

*There isn't any sign that Greyascales has understood.*

[Kraken II]: "That's alright, nevermind. You get the general direction of where I want you to take it," (under his breath) : "that's more than I can say of this lot."

*Gesturing*

"Now hop to. Get moving" *Greyscales begins flight back to the Magician's Guild building.*

"As for the rest of you, take what you'll find useful. Particularly any sort of armor or any weapons that are intact. Not much hope, but I have to whip you sorry bunch into shape if there's any hope toward helping to tip the scales. Do you understand my meaning?"

*They set to work*

Blake shook his head. "Past that. I can tell you now, my brother isn't here...thank god. Don't need to deal with him."

[Ecg Unagi]: "Past Yurick? Are we up in the frosthills then? Everything looks a tad diseased."

*His nose wrinkles as he takes a clump of dirt and dead grass up and crushes it in his fist trying to take things in a bit.*

*Sarah sighed as she looked around the place.* "Well anyone eles have a feeling we should get moving soon?"

[Ecg Unagi]: "It's a bit spooky, isn't it? Heh, reminds me a tiny bit of back home."

*Sarah turned to look at Ecg.* "It is spooky. The thing that gets me is how unnerving it is here."

Blake looked into, not at, into the city, as if searching for something. "Yes...he's not here....I can't feel his elemental aura here...We best get moving to keep this advantage. Nuge, any ideas?"

Actually, we are slightly further along the road than Yuric... But we have a problem. They can reverse the spell and get back to the Poroda road without too much difficulty. They could amass the entire force of their power and storm Imardin. Our citadel would be lain to waste...

As I say, a surgical strike may be able to hold them off, but we have a dilemma.

If you´re worried about your brother being about, Blake, then we have to do something about him. That being said, we have to think about what to do relatively quickly.

It´ll not be long before they send a scout team back to the battlefield. They´ll see we´re not there, and return with their full force. They´ll head towards Imardin, and probably decimate the Guild Halls.

That´s the best case scenario. Worst case scenario is that they take the Guild hall whole, enslave the people of Imardin, and learn all that our magicians know about magic. Coupled with their own knowlege, they´ll be unstoppable.

I believe we should attack Yuric, and, if nothing else, slow their eventual attack down. There are other risks *nods towards Blake, making reference to his brother*, but all being considered, we need to prevent Imardin falling into enemy hands, especially since we are the city´s only chance of surviving a full-on assault.

we must attack yurick
it sounds like we have no choice
we cannot afford to loose the city
we cannot afford to loose the guild
although i expect that there Lordships back at the guild will have activated the magical defences, the libery at least will be secure.

but for the sake of those who will come after us
loosing is not an option

Nuge....
I'm making you second in command of this operation
if you need to you can take your own group of men
or stick with the main party,
your a good tactition so your too handy to loose out there
make sure you keep your own head and not just those of your men safe,

I'm going to put you incharge of the main group during the strike while i see if i can take on some of the leaders or at least weaken them but feel free to assist once the outpost is holdable

apart from surprise, is there any other advantage we have over them?

*Swells slightly with the pride of responsibility briefly, then carries on*

Right... We have a fair few advantages, msome of them stemming from, as you say, surprise.

Advantage number one... *thinks briefly, then resumes* They don´t know we´re anywhere near here. Even according to the party that attacked us, there´s no way we could be here within the next week, so the resistance will likely be minimal. If we can get in, we can do damage.

Advantage number two, stemming from number one... Precision isn´t our goal. We have to go in, blow up a few armories, take out a few key positions, and get out before they work out what´s going on. We can send a message back, and the guildhall can get sufficient defences organised.

Advantage number three, stemming from advantage number two... this is their front line against Imardin. If we take Yuric, we have a stronghold in the midst of their territory. The enemy have done the hard work in establishing a teleport trail. We can follow it now with relative ease, and get back to the forest near Imardin. That´ll cut down future travel time by a significant margin if maintained correctly...

But I digress. Advantage number three: Because this is their front line, the majority of their forces will be amassed here, so they´ll be over-confident.

Advantage number four... There are a lot of us, and if we split up and try and cause as much havoc as possible in small groups, we can finish them off relatively easily, as opposed to being crushed as we charge in with our comparatively weak strength.

Advantage number five, which, again stems from all of the previous reasons; There are a lot of ways in. Yuric is huge. There are sewers, smaller gates, weak points in the wall, gaps in fences...

It isn´t all as opposing as the front of it is. We can all split into four- and five-man (and woman) teams, and split up to cause serious harm. If one group is captured, the other groups will release them when the city is taken.

If we are all captured... well, at least we tried. Any thoughts or comments?

*Sarah nodded as she listened.* "Well I have one thing to say. It sounds like a good plan...but do we have enough people who ar seasoned at this to pull it off?"

[Ecg Unagi]: *The whole time this is being said Ecg is has been trying to wipe orc guts off his axeblade but he's been listening.*

(To Nuge) : "I don't know Yurick itself but I've reason to believe there's a waterway as well. Don't they use canals? What if we stemmed the flow of water?"

(To Althea) : "Ma'am,it would only be a matter of setting rocks and some earth magic. Blake has twice the strength and competency I do at least. ...which isn't saying much, but... I think it wouldn't be too hard to impede their supply routes that are over water. What is your plan for the aquatic side of things and don't they have a river?"

I garbled the names again, I meant Alicia. Mix up the consonants once in awhile. Sorry.