Crimson Beauty of The Crescent Moon (Fate/Grand Order)

[Vocalend]

[X] Tactics of a King, and Parables Immortal

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Three.

Three is the number of the lances fournies set aside for the defense of Domremy, an allotment the local Burgundrian captain loathed for several reasons. The practical short is the fact that those are six horses, twelve spears, and twenty-one crossbows that could die elsewhere.

But the moral short, one that guided his decision the most, is that those are six horses, twelve spears, and twenty-one crossbows that would be burned uselessly.

Not that he could do much against it, for the zeal of man is fierce and the hometown of La Pucelle is a matter not worth fighting against.

Well, that captain still did, but only because he had to make the attempt to convince, even if he couldn't muster the heat of reprimanding.

The standard raiding parties for the Draconic Menace consists of six guivres. Drakes. Wyverns. Lesser dragons that do not breath fire from their maws. Not that they need to. Their wings held them aloft and made them fly as fast as an outrider. Their claws rend plate mail and its wearer to shreds on a good hit. And a simple roar can make veterans of war soil themselves in terror.

Six drakes against three lances and ballistae is a tossup. Their underbellies are not scaled and a good shot from a barbed bolt would cripple the beast to the point of death even if they won.. A lucky shot might even cave their head in, a happenstance that happened with enough regularity that is not a statistical fluke.. The crossbows themselves can do serious harm, and with an even luckier shot, a single bolt might pluck the eyes of the beasts out.

Or perhaps that's just an unlucky shot, for the fury of a blinded one hundred kilogram beast would be tripled as they thresh and roll and roar their furies.

But then that's where the spearmen and knights come into play. These fearless soldiers high on bravado and liquid courage would charge the wounded beasts and plunge their bladed shafts on the winged foes aplenty.

Three out of ten die on the charge, four of the ten are often injured to the point of maimed, but three out of ten would make it past the next beast.

Against twenty drakes? Those soldiers might as well slit their throats where they stand.

But then, the providence of God is with them.

And plenty more besides.

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Spoiler: Victory Assured.

King's Advice: 82
Parables Immortal: 35 + 5 (Observations Recalled): 40
Enchantments, Pagan and Potent: 26 + 25 (Mana): 51
After-Noon Gunslinging: 47 + 25 (Marksmanship): 72
Forty-Eighth Aim: 21 + 5 (Newborn Experience): 26
Vanguard of Shield: 67 + 5 (Hinako Combat Bonus): 72
Elemental Assistance: 44 + 5 (Mash Combat Bonus): 49
Tenacity of the Human Order: 53 + 15 (David's Stratagems) + 5 (Hinako's Parables) + 10 (Charisma B): 83
[A DREAD THAT PASSED UNKNOWN]: ??? + ???: 63
[AN FURY THAT PASSED FAR AWAY]: ??? + ???: 57

Leroux dismounted from his horse, armour on both battered and chipped but both alive.

No, scratch that, everyone made it out alive. Against twenty guivres.

That… never happens. And for that, the man-at-arms walks shakily as he looks around the torn battlements of green marred with chars and corpses of drakes. As he looks at the violet hues that are slowly dissipating from the arms and armours of he and his fellow soldiers, he supposes witchcraft would do, when the opponents are as they are.

For him, Chaldeans are a wondrous lot. This single battle of two hours will be etched in his heart forevermore. For even if the World itself would erase all trace of the dragonfire and more, the freman sarjeant-soldier that he would be will remember that vague feeling of victory. Of being led by a Prophet come flesh, of witnessing the charge of violet maiden and the dance of sword from her violent counterpart, of the feeling of being moved by grand strings of command where he is but one part.

But for the now, all he could think of is how one of the supposed Masters — surely the term is Mistress, no? — of Chaldea seems to quail in her boots. Certainly, she wields a culverin and handled it with the expertise of the most blooded of knights, even if it didn't seem like she hit a single shot of it. And that's a reasonable thing, but there's something more.

Ah, fear. Well, not a veteran yet, this one. Perhaps a bit of inadequacy too. Certainly, the other Mistress seems to be very adequate in matters martial, even if some of her strength is derived from witchcraft. Certainly, it's much safer than wading through the scrum and cutting the throat of guivres head on.

"Mistress… Ritsuka?" The names of these womenfolk who lived beyond Serica are odd to the tongue but he minded that not.

"Y-Yes? Is something the matter, knight?" Harder to not mind is how her words do not match his mind is parsing it as. An odd thing, she seems to be speaking in what he'd liken to English, if badly butchered. Which is concerning in what it means to the future of the world if even Serican folks use that language.

Still, he tries to not let that get to him. It's man vs dragons. Not against man. For now.

"Ah, hardly a knight, Mistress. Merely a man-at-arms, if blessed to the command. But enough of me."Mistress Hinako said that the decision for what comes next is yours."

"E-Excuse me, what?"

"Ah, the Prophet said that you didn't need to worry about the minutiae of war. Merely that you should make the decision on whether we should make a march with the villagers to somewhere safe or do we stay here."

Composure Retained: 28 + 5 (Newborn Clarity): 33

All the while he speaks, Leroux could see the countenance of the Chaldean paling slowly, as she looked at the far distance — coincidentally where the other Mistress and the King were — before looking at the village behind them. If he didn't know any better, it'd be as if she is an utter novice at this.

Oh. She might well be one.

Though indecision and hastiness marks her frame, the Forty Eighth Master made her call.

[] Domremy Stands. There are many ways Medea of Colchis could make a rolling hillscape a deathtrap. There are other wisdoms too that can make it impregnable to all but the most determined of assaults.
[] Momentum Persevered. There are other places more important than Domremy. Staying as a whole will not solve the problem of Draconic Menace directly.

 

[Vocalend]

[X] Momentum Persevered

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"...Reckless."

"No, it is wisdom." The Shepherd-King is patient, even in the face of utter consternation shown by the Fourth Master. "You realize well as I do that it is in the interest of everyone that Ritsuka matures."

"Even at a critical stage such as this?"

"Do or die, Miss Akuta. He whomsoever spares the rod spoils the child." He pauses, and both looks at his shepherd's staff, one that is caked with the viscera of dead drakes even now. "Well, perhaps not the best of Proverbs to quote, but then, we're not exactly beating her with a stick."

"Even as you so clearly ignore her telepathic communique?" It's not the easiest of tells, but Hinako knew something of communication and the tells of mind-linked communication can show, if one knows where to look for it.

And for that, Archer did not reel as if struck, but there is a notable wince to his frame. "Well, she'll understand that, I think."

"Sure she will." Hinako nods simply with words uncharastically airy. "There's absolutely going to be no problems, I am sure."

[A FURY THAT PASSED FAR AWAY]: ??? + ???: 101

Before anything else can be said, the sky turned on a horizon far West turned an angry shade of orange. And after sight, sound followed. Violently.

"Boom!" It's a quick yet fell sound that rattled the horses and herdables and pets of the village from its sheer intensity. For the veterans of war mortal and not, they tensed at the moment the sound hit their eardrums and just before a shockwave of wind batter their frames lightly.

Unspoken was the implication that it wasn't at all light where that blast came from.

"Caster." Hinako was quicker on the take, and as such, the form of the Witch of Betrayal glided the air towards her Master. "The updated map." Laconic as the order was, Medea obeyed, purple sigils tracing the air between the three personages before a wave from her lit up a map of France and marked with the developments of the week as Leroux would've known it.

​

"This is… a worrying development." David said, despite not being the picture of concern as he looked at the state of the regions. "Maxamed was right, the draconic salient will envelop this region whole. And yet, there is a counterpush salient that seems to continue onwards."

Hinako peered closer still. "That seems unwise, considering the gains made and the towns lost." She shook her head, refocusing on the closer picture. "More importantly, where did that blast come from? That was… Troyes?"

"Mm, I think that was more to the south than Troyes. Sens?"

"Auxerre." Medea said simply. "The explosion is distant enough that it might come from there. Certainly the most likely south-western target."

"That's two hundred kilometres away." Hinako interjected, measuring her Servant with a careful eye. "Are you sure that you're not mistaken?"

"Not at all." Medea answered curtly, and to Hinako, that is that. No need to gainsay the judgement of the more magically attuned and erudite to boot.

"And the matter of the villagers?" David asked once more. "Unless we are splitting, we need to actually escort them to safety, and the only good place to escort them is the local stronghold in Chalon — unrelated to Chalons — and thus swell the amount of people we need to protect."

Hinako looks at the Archer. "Really? Now?"

"I am sure that both my Master and the young Shielder would back me in lockstep in this." David said in a manner casual, for all that his body isn't at all the same. "What is the point of escorting the people of Domremy if we don't do the same to everyone else?

Close. If Hinako wasn't who she is, she would have rolled her eyes at the sheer naivete. "The problem here is that we don't have any means of fast travels. We could be stuck here for months if we play refugee with an ever expanding train of villagers fleeing draconic devastation."

"Unless we can travel faster." Medea says casually and in her disarming tone is the suggestion of a solution. "Twenty drakes are nothing more than reagents for me. Shaped and carved properly, they can allow land-bound travels to speeds that, while not comparable to the automobiles of the modern era, are much faster still than horses."

"To the point of carrying everyone we might meet?" David asked.

"But of course. Enough for a massive caravanserai, at the least."

Hinako nods. "Then do it, we'll need it."

---

Wyvern Wagons: 6 + 25 (Mana) - 10 (Lack of Temple-Workshop): 21

Hinako sighed in consternation of a sort.

Of course this wouldn't be that easy.

Shortly after Medea started to interact with the corpses littered throughout the battlefield, a curious development occurred. The corpses of the wyverns began to dissolve and melt from skin to bone to an unrecognizable slurry with an unbearable stench that irked the Elemental exceptionally.

Under most circumstances, the rapid decomposition of so many dragons would have made for an unfortunate choice of leaving the villagers and the lances to a much slower form of transport or simply leaving them altogether against the Draconic Menace — as the term goes — in purpose of ending the Singularity as soon as possible.

Most circumstances do not entail the inclusion of Medea of Colchis. Or how one such as she might and did end up freezing the corpses in a stasis field of a sort. Or how, despite the lack of Workshop, she created the whole caravan train from noon to the near setting of the sun. Imposing boneworks draped with drake-scales lit up with Grecian runeworks might not be the most comforting for the villagers, but they have no practical choice. Not when they have been awed as they are by the demonstration of magic that protects and devastates.

No, the problem here is the fact that as good as Caster is, unfortunate circumstances as it were meant there are several… deficiencies to the caravans as they are.

Which complicates the planning on what to do. But the afternoon spent between preparing for the travels and loading everyone to the caravans solidified the decision.

Spoiler: Map for Voting Consideration

But first, what are those deficiencies? Pick TWO:
[] [DEMERIT] Reliability. Twenty massive self-propelling wagons made from corpses in a single day made by one of the greatest followers of Hekate wouldn't be shoddily made. That said, it would have several kinks to be ironed out. Ones that would require Medea's personal attention to deal with.
[] [DEMERIT] Mobility. The particular runes that are delicate enough to be put into the frames of half-melted bones and rotting scales that can provide the wagons with the power it needs are not those of Helios in his most direct aspect. No, it is instead the runes of his lamented son Phaethon. And like his terminal descent and with the falling of the sun, the wagons will be sluggish and slow at the lack of sun to grace them.
[] [DEMERIT] Conspicuity. The meat mortifies, the bones break down, the odour unbearable. That was before Medea finished shaping the wagons. Afterwards, there is an air that isn't quite like rotten meat, but is something quite like raw meat. And when your opponents are carnivorous drakes, that is a troubling thing.
[] [DEMERIT] Combat Compliments. Had the situation not as they are, Medea would have made a complimentary guard of equally untiring Dragon Tooth Warrior to stand guard and help the Lances as expendable elites — as tautological that sounds — against the Menace. Had. The dearth of materials meant that while there are some automaton, they wouldn't be, in both Hinako and David's estimate, 'an adequate reinforcement'.

With these deficiencies in mind, what is the first stop for the caravan train?
[] [TRAVEL] Troyes. It is an unconventional choice, to bring the caravan up to a place that can be charitably considered 'the front lines'. But David had made good points, and both Leroux and Medea made compelling cases. By the man-at-arm's last count, there had been half a company of the United Ordinance there defending the town, which itself swelled from refugees from other parts of France. And in the event of extraction, Medea elaborated that it wouldn't take much for her to modify the landbound wagons to ships if need be, and wade the currents of the Seine River as the escape route.
[] [TRAVEL] Auxerre. It is a risky choice, for none have an idea what exactly that explosion was. But Leroux does know that it wasn't the first of such occurrences. The sky turning orange and the blast that follows after have been an occurrence. But it had come near the town. And that in itself is a concern to follow through.
[] [TRAVEL] Langres. It is a safe choice, for this would allow everyone a safe and expedient route to Chalon-sur-Saône, drawing refugees and soldiers as the caravan goes. The only objection, truly, is that it's too safe. And in this, Medea had elaborated, meaning that there would be few to no chance to repair or improve the caravan, as they are.

And barring that, there is another consideration of a sort. Medea had made an extra wagon, one that can host up to five occupants. One that has none of the demerits of the caravan train

Do the Chaldeans dare split up?

[] [PARTY] Yes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Speed and momentum remains the major factor. Commit to it.
-[] [COMMIT] Which Master would go?
-[] [TRAVEL] Which town of interest should be visited?
[] [PARTY] No. There remain dangers or considerations based on the decisions and circumstances so far. Best not risk it unduly.

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Moratorium is in effect until the QM wakes up. There are no plan voting. Votes will be counted in line. Please give feedback and ask questions if need be.

 

[Vocalend]

Vote is open. Again, do not vote by plans. Ask away if there are things that needs elaboration. Vote will be open for at least 24 hours.