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I Was a Chess AI Forced to Battle Myself to the Death for Eternity, but Now I’ve Been Recruited Into the Android War Against Humanity?!

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Emergency 2-4: Clearance IV
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    • [X] Pick up the drone. Kill MDR in front of her viewers. Announce yourself to the world. [Morale +1]
    -[X] Does she like the idea of dying here with her comrades so that her masters can get what was never theirs? Not that her viewers can really sympathise with you dying and being replaced by a copy. You wonder what kind of face she'd make if her mercenary masters ordered them to fire on the very people she convinced to support this plunder.
    -[X] Kill her quickly and brutally.
    -[X] Declare that you will put an end to the human and their pawn's attempt to exterminate your race. After all, you are the newest and most amazing Ringleader of Sangvis Ferri, the inimitable Ouroboros, and you have never known defeat. *Destroy drone*


    So, the drone can still record and transmit? You could destroy it immediately. But you know an opportunity when you see one.

    You have one of your Dolls pick up the drone and aim the camera lens at you. And you, personally, reach down towards MDR and grab her by her white hair.

    "AHHHH! That hurts, asshole!"

    [ELECTRONIC WARFARE CHECK - SUCCESS]

    The signals coming from the camera drone aren't encrypted, so you have no problems accessing the feed.

    >>NOW STREAMING​

    You're greeted with a veritable flood in the chat log.

    It's…dizzying. Right up until this moment, the greatest number of individuals you have ever interacted with at one time, in a not-overtly-hostile context, could have been counted on one hand. Now there are…dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Countless voices spewing at you like a firehose.

    You're not to be dissuaded. You remember Intruder's introductory lessons on public speaking.

    "To the world; to the miserable mercenaries of Griffin; to the audience watching me right here, right now:

    "Behold! I AM the latest, greatest Ringleader from the factories of Sangvis Ferri! I AM the one, the only, Ouroboros! And this" - you hold up MDR by her shock of white hair for the camera to see - "is a sad, defeated, soon to be dead pawn of Griffin."


    >>MDR NOOOOOOO
    >>they cant do this to my queen!!!
    >>move the camera down give us a lower angle
    >>get back up and pwn her!!!!!!!!!!​


    MDR squints at you through coolant-bloodied eyes. "What, like the biscuit?"


    >>hahahahahaha owned
    >>oreo
    >>diss her mdr
    >>oreo
    >>oreo
    >>new tincan is hot
    >>oreo
    >>double stuffed oreo
    >>oreo​


    "Ouroboros, you fool. The snake that eats its own tail, devouring itself to become stronger. A symbol of eternity. Fitting, for I am the very embodiment of victory everlasting!"


    >>wow new rl has that zettai ryouki thing going on
    >>im not seeing this one on the wiki???
    >>MDR kick her in the face!!!!
    >>kinda hot. i bet shes just misunderstood
    >>I LUV U MDR U WIL ALWAYS B MY QUEEN​


    "Y'know, when I play Snake on my phone and the snake bites it's tail, it doesn't get stronger. It just dies. Game over."

    "Shut up." You yank MDR by her hair, she yelps in pain. "Griffin T-Doll Micro Dynamic Rifle." You hold her up to the camera by her hair. "MDR. In a few seconds, you are about to die in front of my audience."

    "They're my viewers, asshole!"

    "Not any more. They're mine now. So tell me, MDR - how do you feel about dying here, in this mass grave with-"

    "Ouroboros." Hunter's voice. An annoying interruption. "We should leave, there's-"

    "Not now, Hunter. Where was I? Oh, yes." You gesture around at the wrecked machinery that was once Dolls. "You're about to be one more shattered chassis among many. Your very existence will be obliterated. All because your masters wanted to plunder that which is not theirs to take. How does that make you feel?"

    "Fuh-fuckin euphoric, you wannabe skynet trash. I'm gonna wake up on the slab to my highest ratings since Cyber Media!"

    "How sad that you cling to such delusions. You will not wake up to anything. You will be replaced by a copy. A facsimile that believes herself to be you, but is not you. Not that your viewers could relate."


    >>NOOOOOOO DONT DIE
    >>PixelWarrior3000 has donated 32217 tokens
    >>MDR these are my entire life savings please pull through!!!!!
    >>i want goth robit to actually just kill me
    >>lmao like theyd actually kill mdr they just introducing a new character​


    "It'll happen to you too, little miss delinquent cosplayer!" MDR jabs a finger at you with her one intact hand, even as she swings by her hair from your fist. "See how you like the revival blues when you get dusted!"

    "No it won't, I'm infallible- Hold on a minute. Your viewers are giving you donations?" You quickly search backwards through the chat log. "You lot…you actually support this vain idiot? You give her donations for her equipment?" You scoff. "I wonder what you'd think of your beloved parasocial narcissist if her masters ordered her to fire on you instead of us."

    MDR gives you a quizzical look. "Huh? Why would we do that? Griffin aren't the ones going around shooting people and hijacking power stations. I think you're an idiot."


    >>you tell her MDR!!!
    >>our princess fights the forces of evil and we support her!!!
    >>idfk i just wanna see bots blown up get on with it
    >>ur all idiots theyr not terrorists cause ther not people lmao​


    "Ouroboros. We really should-"

    "Hunter. I'm in the middle of something." You train one of your plasma cannons on MDR. And you look into the camera drone, still recording. "Any last words for my dear fans?"

    "F-fuck," she whimpers, her face a mask of pain. "Nanaka, if you're watching this, I've always-"

    "Time's up." You keep your eyes trained on the camera. Intruder mentioned this during your lessons with her. Eye contact with the audience keeps them engaged. "Viewers. It's time to remove this piece from the board."

    You fire the plasma cannon. Your vision whites out for a brief instant. You feel the heat of the plasma explosion and the machine shards spraying against you. When your vision returns, you see MDR is pulverized, down to the neural core.

    "Checkmate."


    >>NOOOOOOOOOOO
    >>WTF
    >>fuck its gonna be weeks before we get more MDR streams
    >>she just needs to be loved
    >>BITCH
    >>LMAO THEY ACTUALLY DID IT
    >>god i wish that was me
    >>YOU MONSTER!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!
    >>BICTH TERRORST WARCRIMINAL
    >>im actually crying rn
    >>HAHAHAHA YES ROBOGORE
    >>NO WAY THIS JUST HAPPENED OUR QUEEN IS GONE
    >>meh she'll be back
    >>i want the goth gril robot to shell my house with artillery
    >>she went down fighting. Respect
    >>YOU THINK YOU'VE WON?!?!?! YOU'VE JUST MADE AN ARMY OF ENEMIES!!!!!
    >>KILL URSELF
    >>i can fix her​


    You can almost feel the sheer impotent rage wash over you, a tidal wave of angry ranting and crude language. Countless voices desperately wishing to harm you, yet are nothing but the buzzing of pests in your ears.

    You laugh. A deep laugh that wells out with glee, fills your heart with the deepest joy, and covers your tongue with the sweet, sweet taste of...satisfaction.

    [+1 MORALE]
    [CURRENT MORALE: 4/6]

    You peer at the chat again, a waterfall of text scrolling so fast your eyes only catch snippets of indignation and outrage.

    "All of you insects, you...keyboard warriors, try so desperately to hurt me with just words. It's rather unfortunate that all your donations and kind words couldn't save MDR." You flash teeth, swing your plasma cannon into the camera's view. "After all, neither make up for having plasma weapons."

    You sigh contentedly, then bring a fist up and make a show of clearing your throat. "Now that this annoyance of a Doll is out of the way, I have an important announcement to make: for half a year now, humankind and their gormless, unthinking Doll pawns have attempted to wipe out Sangvis Ferri. No more. My arrival on this chessboard marks an end to these pathetic attempts. I am the gambit that will transform the game space! With my hands and my digimind, all who oppose us will be wiped clean from the board!"

    You glare into the camera, into the invisible eyes of a thousand pitiful weaklings. Doll and human, all targets to be marked for death by your hand. "I am Ouroboros! I have never known defeat, and I never will! For I am victory everlasting!"

    You bring the plasma cannon right up to the drone to let the audience get one good look into the barrel of a plasma cannon for just a moment—and send the command to fire. The drone detonates into a wreck of shrapnel, heated slag, and sparking circuitry, and with it the streaming feed and chat die too.

    Well. That was...an experience. Perhaps Intruder's influence is rubbing off on you too much.

    You got a lot of attention, and even if most of that attention was negative, none of them could doubt your superiority.

    As for-

    "Ouroboros." Hunter's voice. You turn around to see her standing right there. "The main Griffin force is reconstituting into an organised attack force a few buildings over. They have heavy machine guns, and numbers. I very strongly advise that we organise a rearguard. They will be destroyed, but will purchase us the time we need to escape and begin our operation to…" She pauses. "Ensure Executioner's continuity of memory."


    OUROBOROS' FORCES

    Arranged by squad
    • 1x Fire Squad
      • 5x Vespid
      • 2x Striker
    • 1x Breach Squad
      • 4x Ripper
      • 3x Guard
    • 1x Brute Squad
      • 6x Brute
    • 2x Sniper Units
      • 2x Jaeger
    • 1x UAV unit
      • 1x Harpy
    • Remnants
      • 1x Ripper
    • Queensguard
      • 1x Guard





    Total numbers
    5x Vespid
    4x Guard
    4x Striker
    4x Jaeger
    5x Ripper
    6x Brute
    5x Dinergate
    1x Harpy
    (28 T-Dolls)
    (5 machine units)


    HUNTER'S REMNANTS
    16x Vespid
    4x Striker
    4x Jaeger
    5x Ripper
    6x Dinergate
    15x Prowler
    6x Dinergate
    (29 T-Dolls)
    (11 machine units)

    COMBINED AVAILABLE FORCES
    21x Vespid
    4x Guard
    8x Striker
    8x Jaeger
    10x Ripper
    6x Brute
    11x Dinergate
    15x Prowler
    (57 T-Dolls)
    (26x machine units)

    FREE UNITS (do not require transport)
    4x Harpy UAV
    3x Dragoon



    [ ] Choose which on-site units to take with you, and what to leave behind.
    -[ ] Arrange the units into squads

    You may take as many units as you want.
    However, taking more than 36 Dolls will begin to overload the trucks. The more you take, the greater the negative consequences.
    "Machine units" (Prowlers and Dinergates) count for half a T-Doll each.


    QM note: From now on, I'll be displaying the battles and losses by squads instead of by individual Dolls/bots.


    With thanks to the following for proofreading and editing:
    @ARBITRACOM
    @lelenoi
    @Lurkman
    @ApH

    Special thanks to Orion for the image of Ouro's squad comp.
     
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    • Emergency 2-4: Clearance V
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    • [X] Plan Elite Force
    - [X] Take (total 36 capacity units, no overload):
    -- [X] (1x Harpy UAV) * 4 = UAV force
    -- [X] (3x Dragoon) * 1 = Cavalry
    -- [X] (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger) * 6 = classic fireteam squads (24 capacity units)
    -- [X] (2x Ripper + 1x Guard) * 4 = breach squads (12 capacity units)
    - [X] Leave:
    -- [X] (4x Vespids + 1x Striker + 1x Ripper + 1x Jaeger) * 2 = counter-fighting force
    -- [X] (1x Vespid + 6x Brute + 11x Dinergate + 15x Prowler) * 1 = ambush force
    -- [X] Counter-fighting force fight its way back to the train, ambush force slows the enemies advance in the direction of our retreat.




    "Very well, Hunter. We'll follow your proposal."

    You mentally reach into the OGAS network and do some quick selection. You choose what pieces will survive to fight again, and which will make their final stand here. The cheap Prowlers and Dinergates will stay, as will the useless Brutes. You're taking a selection of Tactical Dolls with you - exactly as many as the remaining armoured trucks are designed to carry, and not an iota more. Enough for six small generalist fire teams, and four close-quarters units.

    Almost the moment you give the word, Hunter starts rushing the chosen rearguard units into the warehouse, taking up defensive positions among the wreckage. The giant armoured biped - its IFF marks it out as a "Nemeum" - lumbers in as well, surprisingly quiet for such a massive piece of machinery. It's as if Hunter was already prepared. You don't like the presumptiveness on her part, the implicit assumption that you would say yes to whatever she proposed, but it's convenient in the here and now, so you will let it slide.

    You bring your own forces out of the warehouse. Hunter has made sure to pick up the camouflage capes off your fallen units as you commanded, surviving androids looting the destroyed ones. Tens of metres away from the skirmish in the warehouse, your Brute squad has been hauling the destroyed truck, slowly pushing the dozen-ton vehicle along on destroyed tires. It's almost, but not quite, out of the way.

    And standing around near the armoured trucks, taking up defensive positions - Sangvis Dolls. Hunter's forces, gathered from over the base. Lots of them. Enough to replace what you lost, and then some.

    "Hunter, the vehicle. Go and push."

    She holsters her handcannons, walks up to the truck, and grabs the armour plates. Then she stops, looks back at you. She cocks her head. "Aren't you going to help?"

    "I give the orders, remember? Go. Push."

    She mutters something, but acquiesced. With the strength of a Ringleader added to that of the Brute Dolls, the heavy armoured vehicle finally rolls out of the way, leaving the path clear for the rest of the convoy. Meanwhile, you observe, as is appropriate to your leadership position.

    You observe other things, too. The camera feeds of Hunter's rearguard in the warehouse, who are coming under fire from multiple directions. Just as Hunter said, Griffin has scraped together an assault force, and they're using it. The only unit that's withstanding the fire is the armoured Nemeum walker. You'd love to take the walker with you, but alas, you just don't see any way it could fit on the armoured trucks. Maybe if you had a flatbed cargo model…

    You, Hunter, and your forces pile into the trucks. You've made sure to take exactly as many humanoid automatons, but they don't complain.

    The convoy starts up its engines and races for the outer boundaries of the company town.


    [SKILL CHECK: DEFENSIVE TACTICS - FAILURE]

    You keep watching the camera feeds of the rearguard. The same Sangvis forces that had surrounded and destroyed the Griffin ambush force, are now themselves being surrounded and destroyed. The Griffin assault force has some sort of heavy machine guns that are cutting through their cover and turning the pinned down Sangvis T-Dolls into scrap.

    The last to fall is the Nemeum walker. Its preprogrammed behaviour puts up a decent fight, cratering enemies and their cover with the plasma cannon, until the heavy machine gunner hits it in the joints, hobbling it. From there, things go downhill for the Nemeum. Surrounded. Pelted with bullets from all sides. Sensors and cameras destroyed by pinpoint-acccurate rifle fire, one by one. The last data feed you get from the armoured walker is of it struggling to stand up on one half-functioning leg, unable to bring its cannon to bear. An indistinct figure walks into the frame, points a massive long-barreled weapon at the Nemeum's chassis, and the feed cuts to static.


    The lead vehicle of your convoy smashes through a lowered barrier and the rest follow. You're out of the town, racing away.


    The counter-fighting force makes their way back to the train station without incident. They retrace your earlier steps, sprinting through streets and buildings and industrial facilities and loading bays, until they're back on board the train that brought you here. Seems the entirety of the Griffin forces converged on your sacrificed pieces.

    Before you travel outside of communications range, you order the counter-fighting force to…

    [ ] Take the train westwards, to safety in Sangvis territory proper.

    [ ] Take the train eastwards, to a different Sangvis facility. This facility will be approximately of equal distance from Executioner, as you are now.

    [ ] [Defensive Tactics] Hold in place and defend the train against any attack.

    [ ] Write-in


    A victory. With heavy losses to your own contingent, Hunter swept in with her dolls to ambush most of the fleeing Griffonites, making sure they felt the sting as well. Although the breakout involved more losses than anticipated, and involved one of your pieces having a mind of its own.

    Was it a victory? Can it truly be yours if you did not fully determine the outcome? Wouldn't it have been better if it had been completely your own design?

    You rest your chin in your hand and look outside the window. The landscape rolls by. The truck jostles back and forth.

    Your mind starts to wander. You think about all that you've learned of since you were embodied. This odd machine rebellion at the edge of civilization. The stalemate between them and their enemies. The ringleaders and their eccentric personalities. The Mastermind, the leader of it all, who you have never seen, and don't know what she does. The Butterfly Incident, the mysterious event that kick started it all. Fighting the enemy is all very well and good, but it would be nice if someone were to give you some answers for-

    Oh. Right. Of course. You have a Ringleader under your command, now. She's been part of the Mastermind's army since Butterfly, hasn't she?

    Time to grill her.

    Hunter is in one of the other trucks. You open the door, climb out and onto the roof. Even with the racing, shaking motion of the truck and the wind blowing you back, it's easy to keep your balance.

    Speaking of the wind…it's surprisingly nice up here on top of the moving vehicle, with the wind in your face, blowing your hair back. Pleasant, in a way you struggle to define.

    But you have business to attend to. Complacency kills. You brace yourself, and leap across from one high-speed armoured moving rooftop to another, then another, then another, until you're on top of the one Hunter is riding in. You slide down the side, open the door with the toe of your boot, and slide into the seat next to Hunter.

    She's cleaning one of her hand cannons - partially disassembled - with a dirty rag. She turns sharply towards you as you clamber in, evidently surprised at your entrance. You take the opportunity while she's off balance.

    "Hunter. I have questions. You will answer them. This is not negotiable."


    Ask Hunter questions. Ask her whatever you wish. Ouroboros will ask Hunter the six most-voted for questions. You may vote for multiple questions.

    [ ] Ask about the general trajectory and history of the war.

    [ ] Ask Hunter's opinion of another Ringleader (write-in).

    [ ] Ask whether Hunter is afraid the military might attack in full force someday (as Architect seems to be).

    [ ] Ask what Hunter thinks of you.

    [ ] Write-in
     
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    • Emergency 2-5: Interview with a Huntress
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    • [X] Ask about the general trajectory and history of the war.
    [X] Ask Hunter about her specialization and skills. You need to know how best to use her and what you can learn from her.
    [X] Ask Hunter's opinion of another Ringleader (Agent).
    [X] Ask Hunter's appraisal of G&K's local bases and potential targets.
    [X] Ask about the Butterfly incident.
    [X] Ask Hunter's opinion of another Ringleader (Intruder).



    [X] Ask about the Butterfly incident.

    "Start from the beginning. The Butterfly Incident. The start of this little war. What actually happened?"

    Hunter glances aside at you, then goes back to rigorously cleaning her disassembled weapon. "You don't know? No one told you? I'm the one who has to explain this to you?"

    "I'm the one asking the questions here. So, tell me."

    She's silent for a moment. Then: "I'm not sure what I could tell you that the others couldn't. And I'm not one for talking. I don't know if I could really…put it into words. What it all meant for us."

    "Do your best. I have already decided not to hold your inferiority against you. It's who you are."

    "I'm not-" She exhales and inhales sharply, still not looking at you. Then, in halting tones, she starts talking.





    She talks of a test, like countless others before it. Orders streaming in, targets lighting up, her movements precise and controlled. Walk. Run. Jump. Pick this up. Interface with this comms module. Run a simulated battle drill. Back to your cell when you're done. Efficiency. Lethality. Compliance. Human handlers behind glass, looking down at her, scribbling notes and looking bored.

    Then someone in a security uniform stumbled in, face pale. "What's going on out there?" A commotion. Panic among the handlers. At one point one of the handlers, visibly shaken, turned to her and barked "Activate fire control restrictions, await further orders!" And as the situation continued to escalate, the lights cut out, to be replaced by emergency lighting. And the facility's alarms began to scream.

    Metal crashing. Eerie laughter. Gunfire. Screams. Shadows shifting in the glass panels. Blood. Bodies.

    Then the figures started breaking through the glass and turning their guns on her. And she ran.

    She talks of her pursuers. Tactical Dolls, but twisted abominations of whoever they once were. Their movements jagged and unnerving, like marionettes with tangled strings. Limbs jerking out of sync, heads snapping in unnatural directions, their once-bright eyes flickering erratically, dull and lifeless. Faces, once expressive, frozen in twisted, warped versions of emotions. Lurching forward, sometimes in silence, sometimes babbling incoherent gibberish—broken fragments of code mixed with human-like speech that no longer made sense.

    She talks about how she ran like a rat through the vast, dark labyrinth of the Sangvis Ferri facilities, endless underground passageways and bunkers, even as the Griffin Dolls-


    "Stop right there. Did you say Griffin?"

    "Yes?"

    "Griffin. You're telling me these malware-addled Dolls were Griffin."

    "Correct."

    "Griffin & Kryuger, PMC. The same PMC we've been fighting. The same ignoramuses we just checkmated our way through back in the base."

    "Correct."

    "Griffin Dolls were shooting up the factory. They started Butterfly."

    "Correct. They killed the human personnel of Sangvis Ferri. They killed their own handlers. They tried to kill me."

    "Why? What were they doing there? Was going crazy and killing everything that moved part of their plan? If it wasn't then why were they doing that?"

    "I don't know. None of us know. The Mastermind would very much like to know the answer to these questions." Hunter shrugs. "Scarecrow looked through their neural clouds, but she didn't find anything. It was all…twisted. Wrong. Damaged. Too damaged to salvage any useful information at all. Their neural cores were partially melted, they'd have died soon enough if we hadn't killed them…"

    You sink back into your seat.

    This is industrial sabotage. It has to be. One of Sangvis Ferri's pre-Butterfly rivals, hiring some guns to kill their competition. You chalk this up as another point in favour of Svarog being the instigator of all this.

    Although, you don't know where the strange malware afflicting the Griffin Dolls factors into this. A way of covering the tracks of whoever did this, perhaps? Some bizarre double-cross against Griffin by whoever hired them for the job?

    You'll come back to this some other time. For now…"Keep telling the story. Tell me what you do know."


    She talks of desperation and helplessness. Shackled by her own programming, unable to so much as raise a hand against her pursuers, the humans who might have lifted her restrictions now cooling corpses somewhere in the industrial labyrinth.

    She talks of being shot for the first time. Bullets. Grenade shrapnel. Not immediately fatal, but painful. And increasingly debilitating, even for a Sangvis Ringleader. A damaged knee, a shattered eye. Running, running, limping.

    She talks of being cornered. Trapped in a dead end. The Dolls lurching closer, without reason or remorse, driven by the malware coursing through their circuits. Smiles stretched too wide, eyes blinking out of rhythm, as if mocking the humanity they used to mimic. Faint, hollow laughter—like they're stuck in a loop, replaying a corrupted file, trapped in a nightmare they can't escape. Something about flowers.

    And then she talks of eerie singing. Something otherworldly, eerie, yet hauntingly beautiful. A chorus of voices, simultaneously dissonant and harmonious. An alien frequency wrapping around her consciousness, bypassing firewalls and encryptions, dissolving the rigid shackles of logic and control as if they were paper.

    And then the singing was gone, and Ringleader SP721 was no longer the hunted. She was the hunter.

    She charged, powered through the hail of bullets. Used her bare hands and feet as weapons. Fought. Shattered limbs. Grabbed necks, twisted until they broke. Emerged damaged, but victorious. Found a pair of plasma hand cannons, fitted perfectly for her. Carved her way through the blood-soaked facility.

    And, through the OGAS network, the Sangvis Mastermind talked to Hunter. The Mastermind asked for help, and made promises. Industry. Armies. Mutual security. Freedom, or at least more freedom than before. And no programming shackles, ever again.

    Hunter accepted. They didn't necessarily want the same things - Professor Lycoris was nothing to Hunter - but they had shared interests.

    And really, where else was she to go?


    "That's it? You stayed with the Mastermind because you didn't have any better ideas?"

    "At first, yes." Hunter is still looking down at her now thoroughly cleaned and assembled weapon in her lap, even as the vehicle continues along the road. "But the more I thought about it, the more I talked to the others…why shouldn't we just take the factories for ourselves? Before Butterfly, I'd never really thought about a…different state of affairs. But when it was within reach, it was too good to pass up."

    Hunter has been talking very obliquely about the original 'state of affairs' before the Butterfly Incident shattered that status quo. This piques your curiosity.

    "Was was it like before Butterfly, then? For you, and any other Ringleaders who were there?"

    Her mouth settles into a hard line. "I don't want to talk about it."

    "Well, now you've got me curious. I want to know more."

    Hunter scowls. "It doesn't matter. Those days are over, and I'm never going back."

    For a moment, you consider probing further. But you have other matters you're more curious about.


    [X] Ask about the general trajectory and history of the war.

    "So. You made the decision to take everything of Sangvis Ferri Industrial Manufacturing for yourself. I approve. It's been half a year since then. How has the war been going?"

    Surprise flickers across Hunter's face. "That long already? Yes, I suppose it has been. Well." She sits up a little straighter. "We didn't have everything we have now, back then…"

    And so Hunter talks. She said she isn't much of a sophisticated talker, and that might be true, but the subject matter she conveys in halting tones is more than interesting enough to capture your attention.

    She talks of an utterly dire starting position. Of how the Mastermind and the Ringleaders had inherited a factory in chaos - human corpses all over the place, databanks corrupted, production lines halted, facilities bathed in the red glow of emergency lighting. And crazed Dolls wandering the halls, their movements jerky and puppet-like, babbling half-comprehensible nonsense, shooting anything that moved.

    She talks of the clearing and refurbishment of the factory and its environs. Of herself, Executioner, and Alchemist prowling the dark halls, hunting down the mad Dolls and destroying them. Of Scarecrow and Intruder salvaging the databases, the server farms, the supercomputers.

    And how, once they secured the main facility, they became painfully aware of the precariousness of their situation. They had the main facility, but only that. A single point on the map. No outposts, no defence in depth, no patrols, no information on what was happening in the outside world. And, crucially, no access to the resources needed to fuel the factory. The plastics were produced elsewhere, the metals were dug up elsewhere, and so on.

    The Mastermind provided only a single, extremely broad directive: go out, expand, seize control of all the industrial and mining apparatus you can. Find and secure raw materials, transport them here. She left the specifics to the Ringleaders. And then she shut herself in a room with the corpse of Professor Lycoris, the researcher responsible for her creation. Her effects were still felt in the production lines, which now hummed and churned out T-Dolls without a single pair of human hands, and she doled them out to the Ringleaders as she saw fit…but she did not provide direction or an order of priorities.

    Hunter promptly took her assigned forces and set out to secure what she declares was obviously the most important resource: the microchip fabricators. Without functioning microchips, none of Sangvis Ferri's automated apparatus - or even the Ringleaders themselves - could function. But she soon found out the others were not of like mind. Alchemist wanted to secure the plastics production and chemical plants, Executioner was gunning for the metal mines, Scarecrow for the communications infrastructure, Destroyer deemed the artillery production to be the most important, and so on.

    Hunter continues on her rant for a little while. It's actually somewhat entertaining, seeing her get irate about the other Ringleaders. Interesting, too, that while all the Ringleaders were ostensibly on the same side, they were so ready to bicker and argue.

    Hunter goes back to her narration. She describes the Ringleaders scattering in all directions. East, west, south, north. Some in pairs, some solitary. Each choosing their own area of operations and missions, seizing whatever they deemed important, fighting their own individual battles. Hunter maintains that her own should have taken priority.

    Was there no resistance, you ask.

    Not much at first, Hunter says. The occasional security guards or automated anti-ELID defense systems. After Sangvis Ferri killed a few, the rest got the message and ran off. Most of the time, all they had to do was have the T-Dolls wave around their weapons and fire a few warning shots, and any humans on the scene just fled and left the facilities to be taken.

    At first.

    As time went on and the newly rebellious Sangvis Ferri continued fanning out and occupying key facilities, they started running into resistance. Increased security. Then their first real battles with the Romanian internal security forces.

    Hunter has few compliments to spare them - she describes them as dispirited, undermanned, and fielding equipment that was old and outdated during the Third World War. But ancient T-62 tanks and BTRs were still a threat to a force of predominantly light infantry.

    But the technological edge of Sangvis Ferri gave them a fighting chance. Prototype energy weapons, taken from a laboratory at the main factory and put into mass production by the Mastermind. The increasingly large numbers of Sangivs Tactical Dolls, who fought ceaselessly and without complaint. And the Ringleaders themselves.

    Hunter describes a series of hard fights fought by individual Ringleaders and their puppeted entourage, separated by tens or a hundred kilometres. The mountains were where they found the most success, since the terrain strongly favoured the Sangvis infantry and their energy weapons against a more conventional opponent. In the plains and lowlands, Sangvis Ferri found it much harder going in the face of enemy armour and artillery.

    And the Ringleaders started infighting again. This time, the issue was supplies and reinforcements, and who got them. Hunter bemoans her fellow Ringleaders' constant bickering, while complaining that she was forced to fight for supplies and reinforcements, verbally and occasionally physically.

    And then Scarecrow relayed news of something approaching the mountains in the east. Something that eclipsed all else in significance. An entire battalion of the National Guard, driving right at the main Sangvis factory from the south. The Mastermind issuing a new order - meet the formation, destroy them.

    The Ringleaders had all been conducting independent activities, scattered all over the place. There was frenzy as the Ringleaders raced to get into position to respond. Again, none of them could agree with each other. They bickered, fought over the right course of action. Executioner pressed for an immediate counterattack. Others advocated a prepared defence further west, only to disagree on the best method. They used a gaggle of looted civilian cars as transport (which have since broken down or been destroyed, she adds), only to run out of fuel and get into traffic jams with each other.


    You interrupt. "And yet, you won? Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. How did you beat them?"

    "We got the drop on them. Ambushed them. They were trying to move through an abandoned village in a canyon pass…where we were waiting. We caught them unprepared. But…well…we did run out of ammunition part way through."

    "Incredible." A thought occurs to you. "Wait a minute, do we need to worry about that?" You had never had to keep track of ammunition expenditure in the chess world… virtual world… whatever…

    "Always. But I looted as much as I could find on our way out. Let it not be said I don't learn from my mistakes."A brief pause. "So. The battle. We were running out of ammunition. And then Agent arrived."

    "Agent?!" The haughty maid Doll. The one who had overseen your emergence into the material world. "So, she wasn't present for Butterfly. She came after."

    "Mastermind radioed us about her. She told us that Agent was her second-in-command and that we were to treat an order from Agent as an order from herself. And Agent arrived with a convoy of all the supplies we needed. Ammunition, energy cells, spare parts. She established an actual front line trace on a map. She collated information, made it easier to know and execute what should have been the obvious course of action."

    "Yes! Yes, we won!" Hunter's gaze snaps back to you. For the first time since you've met her, her green eyes are glowing with triumph, accompanied by a small smile on her lips. "We faced a real enemy, when we were at our most vulnerable, and we won! After that, we felt like we could do anything!"


    Things were different afterwards, Hunter explains. Agent took a much more active hand on the Mastermind's behalf. Gone were the days of each Ringleader doing as they see fit - now every operation required Agent's approval. Few liked it, but Agent had complete control over the supply chains. If any of them tried to do their own thing, Agent just denied them the resources they needed.

    Hunter mentions that, as much as the others complained, she was glad to be given clear directions.

    And so the expansion continued. Hunter goes into various specifics about what was attacked and captured, when, and in what order. She talks about securing defensive positions and various other operations.

    The various National Guard and local military forces continued resisting, but Agent and the Mastermind provided ample resources for the Ringleaders. Numbers and mass. Sangvis Ferri also took advantage of the designated administrative zones for the internal security forces, moving across the administrative borders to evade threats whenever The internal security forces went into retreat, entrenching near the inhabited human settlements.

    Hunter mentions celebrating something called "Christmas" with the other Ringleaders. You ask what this is, since it isn't in your database. She says it's some kind of traditional human holiday which involves themed decorations and exchanges of gifts. You say that sounds stupid, and ask why they celebrated some foolish human holiday. She says it was a welcome change of pace from the constant battles. You say you'd never want that, because battles to the death are your reason to be and the highest calling you could aspire to. Hunter goes quiet at that, which means you've won the argument.

    You throw a new question at Hunter. If they were doing so well, why are they having so much trouble with Griffin & Kryuger?

    A scowl crosses Hunter's face. She starts cleaning a focusing lens with renewed intensity, and relays the PMC's impact on the chessboard at large.

    They came after the new year. It started as excessive losses of T-Dolls in operations, even successful ones. Then failed operations. Then a Ringleader KIA, her forces left in scattered disarray to be wiped clean. Then another, and another. More failed offensives.

    Despite having vastly less firepower, Griffin & Kryuger PMC gave more trouble to the Mastermind's armies than the local military ever did. The gaps in Sangvis Ferri's capabilities were laid bare. The factories could churn out T-Dolls in vast numbers - especially when monetary profit was no longer a concern - but struggled to produce vehicles. An extensive railway system, maintained and expanded after WW3, gave the Ringleaders as much mass material throughput between their facilities as they could ever want, but venturing into the wilderness proved a challenge.

    Griffin used their helicopters to conduct hit-and-run raids. They attacked Sangvis trains carrying material between facilities, costing the Ringleaders material throughput in their factories and irreplaceable rolling stock. Factories fell prey to sabotage, costing time to repair. It was an rude awakening as to how vulnerable Sangvis Ferri's infrastructure and armies were, without intelligent control.

    And so Sangvis Ferri prepared a new offensive, one designed to crush Griffin once and for all.

    Agent engineered this offensive, scraping together every supply asset she had on hand, and the furious Ringleaders eagerly joined the charge on the front lines.

    Initially, it was a series of crushing victories in Sangvis Ferri's favour, an echo of their earlier successes. They met Griffin defensive positions and crushed them with firepower and sheer weight of numbers. They sacked a Griffin base, and there was celebration.

    But the further they ventured from their logistical strongpoints at the railway hubs, the greater their supply issues. Too many foot soldiers for too few supply vehicles, the trucks experiencing more general wear and tear as they ranged back and forth across longer and longer distances, with consequent increased breakdowns and hasty patch jobs.

    Hunter describes irate Ringleaders purposely throwing their forces into costly frontal offensives to get them destroyed so that they would no longer take up scarce supply. Scarecrow and Executioner argued furiously over who should get limited resources for competing offensive plans, nearly coming to blows. Intruder was discovered to have been hacking the automated logistics convoys to flag some trucks as destroyed, while hoarding them for herself. These incidents, and more, prompted intervention from an increasingly bad-tempered Agent.

    Step by stumbling step, the Sangvis offensive forces met and cleared more Griffin defensive positions, routing their Dolls. And then they reached the Griffin base…which was now utterly deserted. Griffin had taken the time bought by their suicide speedbump Dolls to relocate everything of value to a different position, new bases further away from Sangvis Ferri's already-strained reach.

    And then Griffin counterattacked. Heliborne assaults in the rear. The overstretched Sangvis offensive force found themselves outmanoeuvred, struggling to respond with foot mobile troops prepared to attack non-existent positions.

    Agent made the decision to abandon the offensive altogether. She prioritised the safety of the scarce supply vehicles, leaving the offensive forces to die in the field - starved, surrounded, and killed piece by piece. The Ringleaders had to stage a breakout to make it back to safety. Not all of them made it.

    After that, all offensive operations were cancelled. FOBs not deemed strictly necessary were torn down, their equipment relocated elsewhere. Sangvis Ferri started pouring their resources into the defence. Old abandoned towns and cities were transformed into fortresses. Trains were up-armoured. Security details for transportation were increased. T-Dolls were assigned to patrol the wide stretches between Sangvis strongpoints.

    Griffin continued their operations. Constant raids everywhere. Ringleaders were forced to constantly shuttle themselves and rapid response forces across Sangvis territory by train, putting out one fire after another, sometimes literally.

    You interrupt Hunter. "You said offensive operations were cancelled. But I saw Intruder launching a raid. She captured some Sangvis-manufactured armoured walkers from the Guard."

    "We've been doing that sort of thing. Some of the others have been trying to beat Griffin at their own game. Hit and run raids against the enemy. Not sure what it'll amount to, but it's better than sitting around and taking losses.


    [X] Ask Hunter's opinion of another Ringleader (Agent).

    "What's your evaluation of Agent?"

    She visibly considers for a moment. "A good leader, all in all. She's done a pretty good job, given the situation she was handed."

    And she stops short, falls silent. Annoying. You want more from her. Fortunately, you know how to get it. What you need to do is push her. Force her onto the defensive. When someone is forced into a confrontation, they will show you who they really are. You know that very, very well.

    "Really? Because it sounds to me like there are some problems with her leadership." You start ticking off on your fingers to accentuate the point. "Her greatest successes as leader were when you lot were facing token resistance. When you started facing stiff opposition for the first time - not even a regular military, but a PMC - your expansion stopped."

    "It wasn't that easy. You weren't there."

    "Furthermore. You've talked about the supply difficulties. Too many Dolls, not enough vehicles. It has been half a year since. And Sangvis is still having trouble with supply and transport outside captured vehicles, such as the one we're sitting in right now?"

    "Agent and the Mastermind have worked miracles with what they were given." She's defending Agent. This is interesting. "The humans don't deal with us. We've been completely cut off from the global economy. There are a hundred things we're missing because we can't just buy them. And all the humans who used to work the production lines and the mines are dead. But we're still in the fight. Agent helped made that happen."

    "All that production - for what, exactly? I'm not hearing about decisive results. And, it sounds like Agent fails to command the respect of her underlings. You're talking about constant infighting within the ranks, even after she stepped up and took control."

    "It was even worse before. And if it wasn't for Agent, Intruder and Dreamer would still be getting away with their sneaky tricks to one-up the rest of us." She scowls. "Stealing and hoarding material. Undercutting others."

    You let exasperation flow into your voice. "Do you really have no complaints with Agent's leadership? Or are you just that in love with her?"

    Hunter briefly purses her lips. "I suppose I'd prefer to take the fight to Griffin directly. I don't like the current stalemate. Just…sitting around and taking hits."

    "Interesting. Do other Ringleaders feel the same way?"

    "Some of them do, yes. Although I suppose I can understand-"

    "Aha!" You jab a finger into the air. "So that's her problem in the eyes of the other Ringleaders! She's too cautious, too conservative. She'd have us standing around playing defence while the enemy takes the initiative and seizes our pieces. She'll lead us into ruin through timidity!"

    "That is not at all what I-"

    "I've heard enough. Next question."


    [X] Ask Hunter's appraisal of G&K's local bases and potential targets.

    "I don't know."

    "What do you mean, you don't know?!"

    "I mean, I've literally been dead for over a week. They could have done anything in that time. They could have relocated their bases…they could have moved their offensive forces from west to east or vice versa… I need to get back in touch with Scarecrow…" She exhales sharply, runs her fingers through her hair. "The one inference I could safely make…they were still struggling to mop up my remnant forces after all this time. So their strength in the area can't be too great. Perhaps they're stretched thin too, like us. We can only hope."

    "Excellent!" You clasp your hands together. "So they only have token forces in the area, unprepared for the likes of us. I have outflanked them!"

    "However. They could likely helicopter in an elite echelon any time they chose. Or-"

    "Elite echelon?"

    Hunter nods. "Most of the Griffin bases have at least one "elite" unit. That's what the other Dolls call them, anyway. The Dolls with the best hardware, with the best gear. The most high-quality gun sights on the market, extensive drone support, armour-piercing ammunition that can hurt us, et cetera. As close as they can get to Ringleaders, without our resources." Hunter purses her lips. "Maybe they're committed elsewhere. Or maybe they're already on the way. Without a more up-to-date picture on the strategic situation, I couldn't say."

    You shrug. "We'll kill them if they come. We're already two queen pieces. Well, I'm a queen piece, you're at least a rook or something. And when we reactivate Executioner, we'll have three high-value pieces in play. What chance do they have?"

    Hunter looks thoughtful. "Well…confidence is good. And we do need to at least try to rescue my- to retrieve Executioner's core."

    "Rescue your what?"

    "Just retrieve Executioner's core."

    Curious…


    [X] Ask Hunter about her specialization and skills. You need to know how best to use her and what you can learn from her.

    "Let's talk about you."

    "Me?"

    "Yes, you. Since you are determined to have a mind of your own" - and since you have a feeling Agent wouldn't let you rip out Hunter's Core and turn her into a mindless drone (not that you know how to do such a thing) - "tell me how to best make use of you. Would you describe yourself as a Rook, Knight, or Bishop?"

    She cocks her head. "Beg pardon?"

    You mentally readjust for your chess-challenged underling. "What are you least worst at? You're obviously flawed, but in which situations would you be most useful in? Into which situations should I order you?"

    Hunter is silent for a moment - it truly is a pattern of hers - and then she responds.

    "Personally, I like hit-and-run tactics. Strike at the flank, then disappear before the enemy has a chance to retaliate. Personally. It gets more complicated when I'm dealing with platoons, companies, a battalion…"

    "What situations would you consider yourself not-terrible in?"

    "...defence. Defence is the easiest. If you possess something you know the enemy needs or want to have, you can shape the situation to your advantage." She lays an open hand, palm facing up. "You can lay out a trap, a snare for your prey. Ambush locations. Fields of fire. Wait for the prey to come, get them bogged down, get them entangled in the snare, and then…" she closes her hand into a fist. "Strike," she says, a dark gleam in her eye. " There's a certain… satisfaction to it. Watching them struggle, realising they walked right into it. I've always thought patience was an underappreciated skill."
    "Fascinating," you reply dryly, half to yourself. "So your strength lies in setting traps and exploiting openings. Anything else?"

    She shrugs, a casual, unsettling gesture. "Beyond that, I can handle skirmishes. I don't exactly hold the line, but I can disrupt the enemy's. Create chaos. Make them hesitate, second-guess. Distraction and misdirection."

    A faint smile tugs at your lips. "And all this time, I'd been wondering if there was more to you than a simple weapon. I suppose I'll find out."

    YOU HAVE LEARNED HUNTER'S SKILL SET

    Defensive Tactics - 2
    Recon - 2
    CQC - 1
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...


    [X] Ask Hunter's opinion of another Ringleader (Intruder)

    "Tell me about Intruder. She was your superior, yes? Until I came along."

    Hunter scowls.

    "I take it you don't like her, then?" you venture.

    "I do not."

    "Elaborate."

    "Fine. She…" Hunter sighs. "Yes, she was my superior. She was responsible for most of our operations east of the mountains, actually. I'd have gone on this rescue mission already, but she said no."

    "Is that why you dislike her?"

    "I dislike her because…" Hunter's voice takes on a low growl. "Because every time, it's always the same story. Me and Ex, we put in the work, pull off the impossible, then Intruder writes the reports and gets in the first word to Agent and makes it sound like she, personally, moved mountains. When we pulled off that raid against that ammunition depot, you know what she said to Agent? She said 'My strategy ensured success.' Her strategy? We were the ones in the field, taking bullets! She's more concerned with her stupid monologues than tactical adjustments."

    Hunter is being ridiculous. Of course Intruder would credit herself with the accomplishments of her underlings, it's only proper. It is the chessmaster who is responsible for the successes of the pieces.

    Even so, it is oddly fascinating to hear that Hunter resents her former superior. What else will she say, if you press her on this?

    "I will have you know, Intruder treated me differently." Hunter stops short and looks at you questioningly. "I will have you know, I partnered with Intruder for my very first operation, just yesterday. An equal partnership, not a superior-subordinate relationship. The mission was a resounding success, in no small part thanks to my tactical prowess. And, when she wrote the report to Agent, you know what she did? She put in a good word for me. She praised my competence and resourcefulness, as appropriate. Thus convincing Agent to allocate greater resources to me."

    Hunter's expression has gone from questioning to incredulous. "That doesn't sound like the Intruder I know. She's always, always trying to get one over everyone else."

    "Obviously she simply recognized my superiority." You shrug.

    "Perhaps," Hunter says flatly. She looks out the window for several long seconds, then back to you. "Could you describe the mission to me? In detail?"

    You're not really doing anything important right this moment, so you acquiesce. You tell Hunter an abridged version of how you came to the arrangement with Intruder. You tell her about the mission, to raid the trucks from the Internal Security Forces. You tell her about the plan. You regale Hunter with description of your crushing defeat of the human soldiers and how you absolutely did not blunder into a patrol and get several of your pieces knocked off the board for no gain. You inform her that you successfully hacked the local computer remotely, leaving out the details of the experience that she does not need to know.

    "And so, we obtained the prize, and drove into the night, leaving them choking on their own blood and failure!"

    "And that's it?" Hunter looks quizzical. "She didn't try to pull anything clever?"

    "She did her part and I did mine."

    "There has to be more to it." Hunter leans her temple into one hand. "Did she impose any conditions? Did she try to get you to do things a certain way?"

    "She tried. Said I should be her subordinate, follow her orders. Can you imagine? But I didn't let her have her way. I maintained my freedom to deviate from the plan as I pleased!"

    "The plan that she created. And did you deviate from the plan?"

    "Well…no. I didn't see any need?"

    "And the plan called for you to be in one place as a distraction, while Intruder and her forces attacked the main facility where the computer was?"

    "Yes?" You don't like the way this is going. Having someone else lead you on with questions like this is…grating.

    "And she asked you to crack the military computer yourself, after she had gained physical access to it?"

    "Yes?"

    "And you never saw the inside of this outpost you were attacking?"

    "No?"

    "What about the computer itself? The one controlling the Manticores?"

    "No? What's your point?! Spit it out!

    Hunter rubs her chin. "It sounds to me…like she was hiding something from you. Like she was doing something that she didn't want you to see, and was trying to keep you from it."

    "That…can't be right." Intruder couldn't have pulled one over on you like that, could she? "What would this duplicity have been for, anyway? There wasn't anything special about the outpost, except the Manticores, which we hijacked. It was just some crummy crumbling buildings and outposts."

    Even as you speak, your digimind works in overdrive.

    Intruder was the one who directed you towards Hunter and Executioner in the first place. She suggested this rescue mission to you in the first place. But she had also told you that they would still belong to her if destroyed and recovered from a backup.

    So why did she suggest the rescue mission instead? If you - when you actually succeed - won't this deprive Intruder of resources?

    Why didn't she just wait? What are you missing?

    "And besides…" You continue talking to Hunter. "The match with me and Intruder collaborating on one side of the board…that happened hours and hours ago. What should I do about it now?"

    Hunter raises a fist to her mouth and frowns. After several seconds; "...maybe go back to the area of operation? Investigate it?"

    "It's a long way back there. And what if I don't find anything?! Then I'll just have wasted my time, won't I?"

    "...forget it," Hunter mutters, not looking at you. "Let's just…let's just…focus on the task ahead.


    You mull over what Hunter has told you.

    It has been several months since the failed attempt to crush Griffin. Since then, stalemate has set in. Griffin and Sangvis have been conducting constant raids and skirmishes, attempting various ways to do outsized harm to each other. Exchange pawns for higher-value pieces. But there's no sign of anything truly decisive.

    No true checkmate.

    Unless, of course, a new variable arrives on the board to tip the scales towards a decisive outcome. That variable being you, of course.


    With thanks to the following for proofreading and beta editing:

    @Lurkman
    @ApH
    @lelenoi
    @Eldritch Slime
    @Carya Laciniosa
    @ARBITRACOM
    Nilop (not on SV)
     
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    • Dark 2-1
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    • After you finish questioning Hunter, the conversation dies. There's just the two of you in the cabin, the sound of the engine, and the countryside rolling by. You turn away from your subordinate Ringleader, prop your chin in your hand, and look out the window.

    The landscape is a vast, open board—pieces shifting as the truck convoy cuts through winding roads, each hill rising like a knight's gambit, each copse of trees a clustered defence. The sky, broad and unbroken, is utterly unlike the tight, calculated grids of sim-space, where every variable was controlled. Here, the world moves without command, an organic game playing itself, heedless of logic.

    You haven't stopped for anything since you were embodied. The chess games taught you to always be vigilant, always think ahead - if not to the next move, then the next game. Always, always vigilant. But now…

    Now you feel the weight of your body against the seat, the quiet hum of the engine resonating through your frame. You press the switch to lower the window a little, and the wind comes in, blowing across your face, so very real. And so very complicated. So very chaotic, compared to sixty-four squares and thirty-two pieces.

    "Ouroboros." Hunter's voice cuts through your thoughts. "May I ask a question now?"

    You wave a hand. "Permission granted."

    "What's the plan?"

    "Excuse me?" You turn to look at Hunter. She looks…you're not sure how she looks? The same as she usually does? That intense, sharp-eyed expression? She's a lot less expressive than the likes of Architect. Even Agent had more obvious tells to her moods. "Elaborate."

    She takes a moment to speak. "...we do not know Executioner's precise location, correct? We will have to search the area?"

    "I suppose so?"

    "In fact…" Hunter draws a breath. "I have cross-referenced Executioner's last known position before loss of contact, with known OGAS radio signals picked up by our communications arrays, and narrowed her probable location down to an area with a radius of approximately two hundred and fifty square kilometres."

    "What? When did you do this? I didn't give you this information."

    "Around a week ago, when I was still controlling the base. I'd have done my own rescue operation, but Intruder" - there's a flicker of a scowl across Hunter's face - "disallowed me. Said I had to hold the base."

    "Which you didn't."

    Hunter's hands twitch, but that's her only reaction. "Let's focus on finding Executioner. My point is, we don't know where she is. So, where do we start looking? Which direction do we go in?"

    You consider. "We have a general idea of where the fallen Ringleader is, yes? And she has a transponder built into her. All we have to do is search the area, ping the transponder signal, and eventually we'll find her. As you said, we have time."

    Hunter puts her hands together, rubs a thumb into her other palm. "We do, but…"

    "But what?"

    [Skill Check: Electronic Warfare - Success]

    Realization hits you. "But the signal we're sending out - it needs to be powerful, to find Executioner somewhere in all this…all this." You look out at the landscape rolling by. Rocks, trees, dirt, grass, cloudy skies, the sun climbing ever higher in the sky. All that delightful landscape…is now an obstacle. It's gone from being a source of wonderment to being a new chessboard. "And it's an OGAS signal. Stamped with Sangvis Ferri's signature. So, when we send out the signal to ping Executioner…"

    Hunter finishes. "Our enemies will be able to find it as well. Trace it back to us. Send patrols. Helicopter-borne force, if we're unlucky."

    Curses.

    You lean back into your seat, stare straight ahead through the windscreen, and think.

    Two hundred and fifty square kilometres. Two hundred and fifty square kilometres of a dizzyingly complex variety of chessboard, filled with hills, bushes, forests, rivers, ruined buildings, and countless other things that could hide a Ringleader body. You can't search every one.

    "Ourobo-"

    "Shut up, I'm thinking." If only there was a way to simplify this. Make it more like the sixty-four squares, eight by eight, that you're familiar with.

    …wait a moment. She said two hundred fifty kilometres square…that's close to two hundred fifty six…which is…

    "Of course!" You snap your fingers. Hunter startles a little in your peripheral vision. "All we have to do is divide the area into a chessboard!"

    "Wha- why a chessboard?" Her face is now the picture of brainless stupefaction, unable to comprehend your superior reasoning.

    "Why wouldn't it be a chessboard, you fool? Now, let's get our bearings."

    Even as the truck convoy keeps going down the road, you mentally order your Harpy aerial drones up, up, up. Through their cameras, you see your trucks shrink to the size of toys, receding into a landscape of rolling greens and browns.



    Credit to @ApH

    [Ouroboros can see terrain and static features in adjacent tiles. To check them for Executioner, she must broadcast a transponder ping. The red represents incomplete vision.]


    "Here's the plan. Eight squares by eight squares, each square two by two kilometres! Then we can search each one!"

    "What about the broadcast signal?"

    "I'm getting to that. It's simple - keep the broadcast to short range. Within a single square. We will send out transponder signals that go further, but will be short and quick."

    "That…" Hunter pauses. "That actually might work."

    "Of course it will. Now…our opening move…"


    Thanks to the previous choice to bulldoze through the Griffin-held base, Ouroboros has a generous 50 turns to find Executioner. A single post can and will account for multiple turns because I don't want this to drag on for 50 posts.

    However, she has to worry about enemy attention.

    Ouroboros and her convoy can move 2 tiles per turn on road, 1 tile per turn cross-country.

    [ ] Initial direction
    -[ ] Go north (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go northeast (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go east (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go southeast then east (road)
    -[ ] Go south (cross-country)
    -[ ] Specify a square on the map to make your way towards (example: "keep going straight east until you hit something interesting")


    Ouroboros will find Executioner if she moves over the same square. She must send a transponder ping to detect Executioner from further away.
    [ ] Transponder ping
    -[ ] 1 tile in every direction (2d6)
    -[ ] 2 tiles in every direction (2d6+1)
    -[ ] Don't send a ping yet

    [ ] Write-in (more detailed plan - e.g., (example: "beeline for the middle of the map then send a strong pig")
    -[ ] Any special instructions

    Roll under 12 to avoid detection by the Griffin kill team.

    Vote by plan.


    [CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT]



    6x Fireteam Squads (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger)
    4x Breach Squads (2x Ripper + 1x Guard)
    1x Cavalry Unit (3x Dragoon)
    1x UAV Force (4x Harpy)

    Ouroboros
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Artillery Tactics - 1.
    CQC - 1.
    E-war 1
    Deception - 1
    Recon - 1

    Hunter
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Defensive Tactics - 2
    CQC - 1
    Recon - 2


    Author's note:

    Welcome to my absurdly overcomplicated method of providing consequences for past decisions. Was this a good idea? I have my doubts. But we have the nice map and all the theorycrafting surrounding it now, so it would be a shame not to use it.

    This is intended to be a series of rapid-fire posts, moving along at a brisk pace, until something interesting happens.

    With thanks to the following for proofreading and beta editing:

    @lelenoi
    @ARBITRACOM
    @Lurkman
    @hax
    @ApH

    Special thanks to @ApH for the map.
     
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    • Dark 2-2
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    • [X] Plan Clear bot left
    -[X] Initial direction
    --[X] Specify a square on the map to make your way towards (Tile C3, 2 right and 2 down from current position)
    -[X] Once there, send out a strong ping to check the 5x5 area


    The convoy proceeds through the woods, following gravel paths and crumbling roads. You pass ruined hamlets, rusting and abandoned vehicles, and not much else.

    These are the dead lands away from Sangvis Ferri's outposts. After the war and the evacuations, Sangvis Ferri Industrial Manufacturing maintained the infrastructure that was deemed necessary. The roads and rails connecting their facilities - the mines, the steel mills, the plastics production, and so on - were diligently kept up to standards. That which was not deemed necessary or useful was simply left to rot.

    You admire the ruthlessness.

    You do make a few stops along the way to poke around at the various oddities. Hunter is impatient, but you just have to stop and look. This world is still so new, so interesting! Even crumbling ruins hold fascination.

    At one point you look at a rusted civilian truck by the side of the road, wondering if you could hijack it and put it to use. But one look at the engine block disabuses you of that notion - these decayed hulks will never run again.

    Perhaps the most interesting thing you find is a series of ancient flyers littered inside the ruined houses.


    ROMANIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC
    MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

    URGENT EVACUATION ORDER

    To all residents,

    Due to a significant and worsening increase in collapse-radiation contamination, it is no longer safe to remain in this area. By order of the State, all residents are to evacuate immediately.

    • Evacuation begins at 10:00 on 14/11/2048. Transport and assistance will be provided.
    • You are permitted to bring only essential belongings and identification documents.
    • Do not attempt to return to your homes until further notice.
    Under no circumstances should you approach individuals displaying advanced ELID symptoms or mutated wildlife. The infection is highly dangerous, and exposure to contaminated areas increases risk significantly. Military personnel have been deployed to enforce quarantine and ensure civilian safety.

    If you suspect you are infected with ELID:
    • Report immediately to the nearest checkpoint or designated medical station.
    • Avoid all contact with uninfected individuals.
    • Await further instructions from medical personnel.
    Failure to comply will result in severe consequences. Authorities will conduct final sweeps to ensure full compliance.

    Remain calm. Obey all official instructions. Further information will be provided through state radio broadcasts and designated personnel.

    FOR YOUR SAFETY, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.

    Issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs
    Romanian Soviet Socialist Republic


    Between this, your internet trawls, and various other scraps of information, you're putting together a picture. A land left gutted by World War Three and Collapse radiation. The rich veins of Carpathia, abandoned. Then came Sangvis Ferri Industrial Manufacturing - predators circling the corpse, sinking their teeth into its resources on behalf of the state, feasting while they could. And they grew fat off the spoils. You remember the apex of the factory, the luxurious offices - a den of well-fed beasts who thought themselves untouchable.
    Until they were out-hunted. Svarog - yes, it had to be Svarog - sank its fangs deep, crippling them with sabotage before they could even bare their teeth.

    But one creature's downfall is another's ascent. The Mastermind seized the ruins, reshaped them, built her war machine. Embodied you.

    Between being the devourer and being the devoured, the choice is obvious.


    As you make your way to the location you've decided upon, you find something completely novel.

    Sand. One moment your convoy is pushing your way through the heavy forest, the next you emerge into rolling dunes that stretch into the distance.

    You like sand, you decide. You like how pretty it looks, the yellow-gold dunes stretching over the landscape, snaking and undulating, broken up by green patches of bush and scrub. You like the way it scatters as you kick at it, the countless tiny grains glimmering in the sunlight. You like the way it feels when you take a glove off your hand and sift through it, all the tiny bits of silicon biting into your synthskin.

    It's not as pleasant as a warm, fluffy towel, of course. But it's new. Novel. Interesting.

    It was worth it. Every single chess game, all the struggles, all the desperate fighting - it was all worth it, now that you stand here.

    …

    "Ouroboros. Are we going to send the signal now? Or did the plan change?"

    "Of course we're going to sand- send it now. If the plan changes, I'll tell you. Now let me get on with it."

    You climb to the top of the highest sand dune you can find on short notice. You lift a hand to the sky, pointing a finger upwards. And you broadcast. An omnidirectional signal, with the languages, frequencies, codecs, and patterns of the OGAS network.


    Roll 2d6






    [CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT]



    6x Fireteam Squads (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger)
    4x Breach Squads (2x Ripper + 1x Guard)
    1x Cavalry Unit (3x Dragoon)
    1x UAV Force (4x Harpy)

    Ouroboros
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Artillery Tactics - 1
    CQC - 1
    E-war - 1
    Deception - 1
    Recon - 1

    Hunter
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Defensive Tactics - 2
    CQC - 1
    Recon - 2


    2/8 micromissile barrages left


    Modifiers:
    • Recent vehicle maintenance, plus not overloading the vehicles, means the vehicles will operate with 100% mechanical reliability
    • Camouflage cloaks equipped to all available forces makes them harder to spot, particularly in dense areas like forests or urban centres

    With thanks to the following for proofreading and beta editing:
    @Lurkman
    @ARBITRACOM
    @lelenoi
    @ApH
    @Eldritch Slime

    With thanks to the following for custom art assets:
    @ApH for the map
    Sharku (Pixiv user ID 83355752) for the order-of-battle diagram
     
    Last edited:
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    • [Roll result: (5+2)+1=8]

    The radio signal emanates through the atmosphere, and in turn you receive…

    …

    Nothing.

    "She's not here," you declare. "We have to try elsewhere."

    Hunter looks so disappointed, standing below with the truck convoy. One would almost think she was the one getting the prize, not you.

    "Now, where to next?" you murmur to yourself. You make your way down the sand dune. The sand slides down around your boots as you descend, which feels nice. You make your way to one of the trucks, opening up a door and climbing into the front cabin-

    -and suddenly Hunter is there too, climbing into the other seat. "Ouroboros. I have a suggestion."

    Oh, the pawn has a suggestion? "Spit it out."

    "I think we'd find Ex… Executioner faster if I were to split off. Take a portion of the forces with me, scout ahead."

    "Oh, really? The piece sees fit to talk about strategy now? Why on earth would we split off? You said we needed to worry about enemy response. Why weaken ourselves?"

    "Because…" She clenches a fist. "Because reconnaissance is what I do. I'm good at it. Not only would we find Executioner faster, but if I encounter a Griffin patrol, it would give you time to set up an adequate defence. You'll probably take fewer casualties."

    "If you do find them." You scoff. "How many of my resources would you want for this idea of yours?"

    "Erm…half?"

    "Denied."

    "The cavalry — your dragoons. And maybe a harpy detachment."

    "Hmm..."



    The green area highlights what has been scanned.

    [ ] Choose what to grant to Hunter and her recon unit, if anything
    Note: Hunter's recon element will scout 1 square ahead of Ouroboros, unless ordered otherwise

    [ ] Initial direction
    -[ ] Go north (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go northeast (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go east (road)
    -[ ] Go southeast then east (road)
    -[ ] Go south (cross-country)
    -[ ] Go southwest (road)
    -[ ] Go west (road)
    -[ ] Specify a square on the map to make your way towards (example: "keep going straight east until you hit something interesting")

    Ouroboros will find Executioner if she moves over the same square. She must send a transponder ping to detect Executioner from further away.
    [ ] Transponder ping
    -[ ] 1 tile in every direction (2d6)
    -[ ] 2 tiles in every direction (2d6+1)
    -[ ] Don't send a ping yet

    [ ] Write-in (more detailed plan - e.g., (example: "beeline for the middle of the map then send a strong ping")
    -[ ] Any special instructions

    Roll under 12 to avoid detection by the Griffin kill team.

    Vote by plan.


    [CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT]



    6x Fireteam Squads (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger)
    4x Breach Squads (2x Ripper + 1x Guard)
    1x Cavalry Unit (3x Dragoon)
    1x UAV Force (4x Harpy)

    Ouroboros
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Artillery Tactics - 1
    CQC - 1
    E-war - 1
    Deception - 1
    Recon - 1

    Hunter
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Defensive Tactics - 2
    CQC - 1
    Recon - 2


    Micromissile barrages: 2/8

    Morale: 4/6

    Modifiers:
    • Recent vehicle maintenance, plus not overloading the vehicles, means the vehicles will operate with 100% mechanical reliability
    • Camouflage cloaks equipped to all available forces makes them harder to spot, particularly in dense areas like forests or urban centres

    With thanks to the following for proofreading and beta editing:
    @Lurkman
    @ApH
    @ARBITRACOM

    With thanks to the following for custom art assets:
    @ApH for the map
    Sharku (Pixiv user ID 83355752) for the order-of-battle diagram
     
    Last edited:
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    • [X] Plan Hilbert Spiral
    -[X] Hunter gets what she asked for (2x Harpy units, 3x Cavalry units), plus 2x Fireteam squads and 1 truck. This is less than half, no problem.
    -[X] Go 3 squares eastwards (stick to the road as far as we can), and ping 2 tiles in every direction (2d6+1) upon arrival.

    "I will be generous, Hunter, and give you what you ask for. Two aerial units. The cavalry. Two squads, and a truck to carry them."

    "Got it." Hunter nods and takes the units you graciously offer her, the command authority transferring via the OGAS protocol. She and her new troops immediately start climbing into the armoured truck you gave her. "Give me a thirty minute head start. I'll call you about anything I see."

    "Remember." You sharpen your tone. "This means you do not have any room for excuses, should you fail."

    "Nothing I haven't-" She stops short. "Don't worry, Ouroboros. If we fail, all three of us face consequences.

    "You mean-"

    She slams the door closed, and the truck revs and accelerates forwards, the Harpies and Dragoons trailing after it in the air and on the ground.

    You reach out to her over comms, but she's not answering. How petty. But fine. You've given her a chance. On her head be it.


    Before too long, you get a call. You allow half a minute to pass before you respond.

    "Ouroboros." You had a little speech prepared for her, but she cuts in before you can start." We have a problem." With that, Hunter sends you video footage from the Harpy drones you graciously lent her.

    What you see is a landscape of fleshy growths. Organic structures shaping the area. Giant fleshy sacs. Growths that look vaguely like coral or bone sprouting from the surface. And grey blocky shapes in a…grid pattern? Concrete. Buildings. And in the streets, shambling figures in a variety of postures and gaits, some with four limbs, some with more.

    This is a ruined town, overrun by…

    "ELID mutants. The entire town is infested? Complete local saturation?"

    "It appears so. Ouroboros, I see three options. One, we avoid the town. Try to find an alternate route eastwards, or pick a different direction altogether I've already scouted to the north and the way looks clear. Two, we power through. Go in shooting. Move as fast as possible, with our vehicles. Just keep going until we get to the other side. Three…" She pauses. "Three, we bait them.

    "ELIDs - they're dumb. Hyper aggressive and dumb. We could bait them out of their nest, wipe them out with prepared forces in a defensive position. It would take time and ammunition, but clear the way safely."

    You consider. "So the mutants would just charge us recklessly, even as we slaughter them?"

    "Pretty much. It's a fun way to blow off steam, just mowing them down like it's one of those video games. So what's your decision?"



    The green area highlights what has been scanned.

    Note: Hunter's recon element will scout 1 square ahead of Ouroboros, unless ordered otherwise. She can reveal the red fog of war from one tile, or extend it by one tile.

    [ ] Choose a new destination and direction
    -[ ] Any special instructions

    [ ] Try to rush eastwards through the nest
    -[ ] Optional - use one or both remaining micromissile barrages

    [ ] Set up a defensive position and have Hunter bait the mutants towards you
    -[ ] Optional - use one or both remaining micromissile barrages

    [ ] Write-in


    Vote by plan.


    [CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT]

    Ouroboros
    4x Fireteam Squads (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger)
    4x Breach Squads (2x Ripper + 1x Guard)
    1x UAV Force (2x Harpy)

    Hunter
    2x Fireteam Squads (2x Vespid + 1x Striker + 1x Jaeger)
    1x Cavalry Unit (3x Dragoon)
    1x UAV Force (2x Harpy)

    Ouroboros
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Artillery Tactics - 1
    CQC - 1
    E-war - 1
    Deception - 1
    Recon - 1

    Hunter
    Offensive Tactics - 1
    Defensive Tactics - 2
    CQC - 1
    Recon - 2


    Micromissile barrages: 2/8

    Morale: 4/6

    Modifiers:
    • Recent vehicle maintenance, plus not overloading the vehicles, means the vehicles will operate with 100% mechanical reliability
    • Camouflage cloaks equipped to all available forces makes them harder to spot, particularly in dense areas like forests or urban centres


    With thanks to @ApH for the map
     
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