The Defense against the Xelmian Invasion, results:
The Middle Front:
-[X] Assassinate Groups of Soldiers (60% Chance, Cost: 3 Wealth, +0 Leofarinia, -6 Xelma, Little Loot)
--[X] (1) Sniper Agents
(Increased chances to 80%)
1d100 => 69
To say that the Xelmian army stationed at the middle front had a bad month is putting it mildly. In truth, they have a VERY bad month, probably all thanks to you and your Foundation. First, the Xelmians soldiers are being used as live target practice by your newly minted snipers as your snipers constantly ambush and kill off whole patrols and isolated groups of soldiers. From the reports, the soldiers just stood there in shock and confusion about what happened as the snipers picked them off like popped apples, making the task of killing them from a distance that much easier.
While the number of casualties is probably not enough to reduce their size by any meaningful amounts, the morale damage is far more pronounced and visiable, for obvious reasons. From what you have read, nowadays, the Xelmian soldiers are very reluctant to go on patrol duty when they were not complaining before, will only go in very large groups, and they have developed a great fear of loud thunder-like noises and concealing forests. In fact, you think they re-developed their fear of thunder noises during a storm. The lack of morale has done wonders in reducing the enemy army's effectiveness…
Success: Snipers managed to take out whole patrols of soldiers at a frequent pace, inflicting casualties and damaging the rest of the enemy army's morale by a significant amount.
(Strength Change: +0 Leofarinia, -10 Xelma)
Loot Roll:
1d100 => 82
While you did not expect any significant amount of loot from the snipers, that pile of jewelery the snipers have made from what they can gather from the dead Xelmians is a welcome sight…
(Wealth: +5)
-[X] Steal Logistics Animals (60% Chance, Cost: 3 Wealth, +5 Leofarinia, -10 Xelma, Moderate Loot)
--[X] (1) Veteran Agents
Increased chances to 70%
1d100 => 48
Adding to the problems of the Xelmians is the frequent theft of their various beasts of burden and other important animals. The action wasn't as easy as sniping patrolling soldiers, but your agents managed to steal away many horses, oxen, cows, and other animals important to the operations and logistics. The fact that there were much fewer guards moving about than before due to the sniping ambushes just made this task easier. The Xelmians must be a miserable mess by now, having to move large equipment by manual labor by hand and not even having the benefit of fresh milk as a reward.
You almost feel sorry for them.
Almost...
Success: A significant amount of logistics animals were stolen from the Xelmian army and transferred over to the Leofarinian army by your agents.
(Strength Change: +6 Leofarinia, -12 Xelma)
Loot Roll:
1d100 => 25
The Leofarinian army has seized most of the stolen animals for the war effort, so you really didn't get too much reward for your trouble. You however, did get horses to use for labor or fighting, so there is a reward at the very least…
(General-Purpose Horses gained!)
(New Actions Unlocked)
-[x] Destroy Invasion Siege Equipment (70% Chance, Cost: 5 Wealth, +0 Leofarinia, -15 Xelma, No Loot)
--[X] (1) Basic Agents
1d100 => 70
The situation with their siege equipment only highlights the completely disastrous present state of the Xelmian army's middle front. Apparently, the siege equipment sent to the middle front was said to be made out of a new kind of wood that is advertised as lighter, stronger, more waterproof and fireproof than the traditional oak and other hardwoods that was used in the past. However, it turns out that if any kind of alcohol chemical was applied to these woods, then their flammability will vastly increase.
How it was discovered? It seems that one of the agents... "persuaded" one of your researchers into developing something that will help out in their mission to sabotage the siege weapons. He responded with instructions on creating the Molotov Cocktail. The agents thanked the researcher by applying this "new" weapon against the siege weapons. The huge fires produced by the siege equipment lit up the night with a nice shade of orange while the pleasant smell of burnt wood can be smelled from your office. From you observations, you can safely estimate that over a third of the enemy siege equipment has been destroyed.
Success: Your agents managed to seriously damage or destroy a significant number of siege engines and equipment through various means, especially fire.
(Strength Change: +0 Leofarinia, -15 Xelma)
-[x] Bribe Xelmian forces to desert/defect (70% Chance, Cost: 10 Wealth, +8 Leofarinia, -8 Xelma, Moderate Loot)
--[X] (1) Red Knives Bunny-Assassins
Increased chances to 85%
1d100 => 83
And to top it all off, many of their forces are now deserting the Xelmian army. Thanks to the efforts of the Red Knives and the impact recent events have on morale, many of foreign mercenary groups and companies are now outright deserting and abandoning the Xelmian army and are taking their belongings with them. Many of them are leaving to greener pastures elsewhere in the world. A large portion of them decided to settle within Leofarinia's borders and signed up to fight against their former Xelmian masters. Possibly questionable loyalties aside, any additional forces for Leofarinia will only improve your chances of victory and survival.
As for native Xelmian forces, as many within your ranks predicted, none of them deserted at all. You guess that the rumors and legends about Xelmian determination and zealotry is true to an extent. How much longer that remains true is yet to be seen...
Success: The Red Knives managed to bribe and persuade several foreign mercenary bands and companies to abandon the Xelmian army, with a good portion of them joined up with the Leofainia.
(Strength Change: +10 Leofarinia, -10 Xelma)
Loot Roll:
1d100 => 96
It also seems that a significant portion of the deserting mercenary groups ended up joining your Foundation's armed forces. From what you have heard, they all have figured you out as the summoned hero and they decided to enter service into your forces, with dreams of gold and glory in mind. A quick trip through Georgia's training program was enough to fix any loyalty issues these newly joined mercenaries might have.
Most of the new groups are nothing extraordinary. The group that was extraordinary is a bit… odd to say the least. The Bunnies, clad in blood-red armor and carrying swords nearly as large as their bodies, hailed from a warren within the Stormy Sands Desert region to Leofarinia's south. The eccentric group called themselves the Blood Dancers and they claim to be called to your side by a vision given to the leader of their warren who is also a the head-priestess of their "religion". You really can't understand their explanation of the vision other than that the warren is convinced that the end of the world as we all know it was coming and that you and your Foundation are keys to surviving the coming trials, somehow. They joined with the Xelmians only as a vehicle to get themselves closer to you to join you and, now that they are here, they swear loyalty to you and your Foundation forever...
You really don't believe this doomsday speak or this vision, but as long as they are loyal, don't cause trouble, and can use those swords well, then Blood Dancers are more than welcome within your Foundation...
The Blood Dancers also brought with them a gift to you: a somewhat large copper animated statue of a creature that has a body of a lion and a head of an eagle. It looks like a griffon without wings, but the Dancers called it a faux-griffon because it looks like a griffon, but it really can't be called one because of the lack of wings. Regardless, their claims that it is just as good as a fighter as a pack animal was verified when they set it lose on a bear they brought in from somewhere as a demonstration. You really do not want to be on the deadly end of those claws and that beak…
With these new groups, you are confident that your chances of victory have increased, but whatever if you will be victorious, or alive, at the end of this is still in question...
Gained the following combat personnel/assets:
7 groups of Basic Foundation Spearmen
7 groups of Basic Foundation Swordsmen
7 groups of Basic Foundation Archers
1 group of Veteran Blood Dancers Bunny-Berserkers
-Victoria, the leader of the group.
1 Copper Faux-Griffon Statue
The Southern Front
-[X] Steal Logistics Animals (60% Chance, Cost: 3 Wealth, +5 Leofarinia, -10 Xelma, Moderate Loot)
--[X] (1) Basic Agents
1d100 => 36
You can tell that the sabotage mission in the south didn't go so well, judging by the fact that only one agent from the group sent made it back home instead of more. And this agent was the messenger to tell you what happened...
The first part of the mission was successful. The agents managed to sneak into the Xelmian main camps and flee the area with a large amount of animals before the Xelmians noticed at the time. Unfortunately, the agents bit off more than they can chew as the amount of animals they mean to steal and retreat back into Leofarinian territory was too large to be controllable or maneuverable with a group their size.
The Xelmians managed to catch up to the group and surround them by the week's end. Knowing that it was impossible to have the entire group to successfully escape, even if they all abandon the animals right there, they came up with a plan. They selected the messenger agent to escape from the blockade to tell you of the failed mission. The rest of the group prepared to carry out plan B as a distraction and cover for her escape.
Plan B was to butcher and release as many animals as possible to prevent their recapture. They also prepared poison pills to ingest. They intend to commit suicide and avoid disgraceful capture at the hands of the Xelmians, least they will betray your involvement.
The messenger did not know how much damage the rest of the group managed to do before dying, but the other spies and informants that their efforts have inflicted a noticeable delay in the Xelmian's advancement, although it is definitely much less than if the operation was successful. They also confirmed the deaths of the messenger's group, as their rotting corpses were found impaled on spikes around the Xelmian's camp...
The messenger volunteered to continue her service to you, but since she is alone, you had her join one of the other agent groups until a new group can be recruited, to which she will join as its new leader. Hopefully this experience will help her not to repeat this tragic mistake again...
Failure: Your agents failed to successfully escape with the stolen animals, resorting to killing or releasing as many animals as possible when they were found out. All but the messaging agent committed suicide to prevent discovery of your Foundation's involvement in the raid. Damage to the enemy's strength is less than anticipated.
(Units lost: 1 Basic Agents group)
(Strength Change: +0 Leofarinia, -5 Xelma)
As you finished the reports, you noticed it was quite late into the night. You filed the reports away and crawled into bed. However, sleep did not come easily as your mind is still aflamed, thinking about the potential fallout of these actions…
=====
That should be everything. The intelligence/disaster turn will be written up shortly.