[X] Ride West? It'll be risky, but if you could make it towards Master Hillwick you will have a secure base, manpower and options to expand immediately... If you aren't caught by the staunch patrols.
[X] Falsify Marching Orders. Send Aultcray on a wild goose chase after your nonexistent shadow as you achieve your real goal... Cost: 100 Silver.
[X] Ambusher. You will train your new followers to be silent like the night.
[X] Form connections with your new companions.
You remained silent for a moment, countless scenarios playing out in your mind. Both suggestions from your officers made sense, they were both completely wise decisions any sensible commander would give based off what you all knew and what you had available to take advantage of... However, you weren't going to do any of that. "We ride west, towards Master Hillwick." It was risky, in fact the idea was absurd with how far away it was and how many obstacles are in your path... "Are you out of your mind! Within the next day Aultcray is going to send his dogs after us and you want to spend it traversing deep into hostile land?" Sir Gregory looked dumbfounded, in fact a bunch of your men were doubting you now "Now, now. Yukihime likely has a good reason and more importantly a plan to get us through." William spoke up in your defense, his confident tone calming your men as they looked at you for explanation. "Master Hillwick controls a large fortified compound in the mountains, perfect for our initial base of operations. He has a decent amount of experienced soldiers, the only issue is getting to him in time... So I have come up with a strategy to gain a large lead on anyone coming after us, firstly we shall bribe the common folk in Lyn to report us going South after linking up with Itsuki. This shall buy us an extra day or two of travel, allowing us to ride for five to six days unmolested and hopefully far enough away for Aultcay to catch us. Additionally, William and I will be teaching you lot how to hide and strike from shadows, how to set up an ambush..." You laid out your plan to the crowd confidently even if on the inside you didn't feel the same. You weren't ready for rebellion, nor were you ever prepared for war. "This plan is sound... The only thing I'm worried about is if Master Hillwick will even join us." Sir Bradley brought up a good point... "I'll deal with Master Hillwick. He shouldn't be difficult to convince after I introduce Yukihime to him, but if nothing else he will shelter us at the very least for as long as we need." William interjected for you.
You all rode towards Lyn, "Let me handle the bribes and deception, boss. You gotta know the right sort, and you have to have a reputation if you know what I mean. You all, bank around the outskirts wait for me down the road just so nobody gets lucky" Sir Bradley took one hundred silver and rode into Lyn alone, and you brought the rest of your band around Lyn and mostly out of sight. Waiting for a hour, you used that to train your men how to avoid being seen, how to make less noise while moving and how to avoid stepping on loud debris. Sir Gregory taught you some common signals to give silent commands to your men... "You're probably going to need some sort of identifying thing to get you noticed when we get more men, perhaps like a ornate suit of armor or a flag standard so the troops will actually be able to recognize you." Well, you did have your Prince outfit... "I have something like that... William, you brought it right?" He dutifully took out your prince outfit, and it was really, identifying... "That would work... In fact you wearing that will help with our image immensely. Most people focus on the people who lead and not the soldiers, so if you look like a aristocrat more than a bandit people will treat you more like an aristocrat and respect you more." Sir Gregory nodded obviously signalling you to wear it... You didn't want to ruin it, or wear it into combat but you need to be the symbol of your rebellion by necessity and to do that effectively... You needed to wear it. So hiding somewhere in the treeline you quickly changed into it, and came out in your full caped glory. You felt really out of place next to these ragged soldiers in this, but also not out of place given your body... It was a weird paradox.
Soon, Sir Bradley rode out to your group and you were ready to depart. For the rest of the day you and your men chatted, no real serious topic was brought up and mostly was mutual rapport building between each other. You talked a little bit about where you came from, and your experiences in the Five Warlord Alliance. Sir Gregory shared some things about his homeland and tips on food preparation on the march. William talked about knitting, and how to repair and armor clothing. Sir Bradley talked about a local legend, the Melromarc Toe Snatcher he heard from another knight.
"-and then, when the man traveled the next day he saw the beast, a four eyed massive opossum guarding it's ill gotten toes he readied his sword for battle, as the opossum attacked with ferocity of an angry... Opossum, he finally struck down the Toe Snatcher living to tell the tale to this day... Or maybe he was high. I honestly don't know if half the shit Frank says is actually real or if he's spending too much time in the alchemy lab." You gave a half amused stare at him, the funny thing about the story being that it was plausible due to the fucked up monsters everywhere than the story itself. "We're sharing legends? How about I share my favorite then, Hikaru the Wasteland Samurai. You see, Hikaru grew up around Kyoto which was overrun with monsters, mostly canine like, but also some weird ass shit like, moving tentacle masses and giant moss monsters and shit like that, so here he goes to-"
You all continued around like that for the next two days, occasionally interrupted by setting up camp and taking breaks to allow the horses and riders to rest on the trip and so you can train the men how to set up an ambush. On the third day you all stopped at a small village and purchased some supplies to last the rest of the trip. You kept thinking something would go wrong but... Nothing happened, you kept riding interrupted. Every so often you would activate your spirit sense and really stretch it as far as you could (around 100 ft) and you wouldn't be able to detect your trackers... You wondered if Aultcray was chasing after your nonexistent path south still... You wouldn't look a gift in the mouth however.
The fourth day was dealt with pretty nervous silence as you had to pass a series of fortifications and patrols to get further. You all had to get off your horses and lead them on foot to go slow and silently off the path and out of sight. Luckily, aside from a few close calls with a merchant cart drawing attention uncomfortably close to your location all your men remained appropriately silent and passed through the underbrush unharmed. Afterwords you all made good pace cutting through the forest slowly to avoid detection on foot, before being forced to go back to the road as you hit a marshland. You and William used your supernatural senses to try and detect anyone nearby, and William gave the all clear through your combined search. You had successfully avoided and circumvented the first hurdle in your path, but it cut down a lot on your lead from the people on your trail if they were swapping their horses for fresh ones instead of letting them rest like you were.
On the fifth day you all focused on getting as much ground covered as possible that you lost trying to avoid getting caught in a fight. You reckon that you have traveled around, 450-500 Kilometers on horseback from Lyn, and it would take you five more days of travel from this point to get to the border mountains that Hillwick resides in. You could cut that down if you really pushed the men and the horses but you didn't think that having exhausted soldiers would be a good idea. You and the men fell into the same rhythm as before, just talking about random nonsense and sharing culture with each other. The sixth day was the same.
The seventh day you had to make a detour to avoid being spotted by a castle, a very active and well armed fortification and not mothballed like you all expected it to be. Your men were much more confident after a week of training to hide and avoid making noise as you traveled through the underbrush again. There was some close calls with needing to put your ambush tactics in practice against some wolves and balloons to avoid alerting the sentries to your presence. After a few hours of leading your group through muck, mud and underbrush you finally got far enough away to cautiously get back onto the rode and continue your journey.
The eighth and ninth day were uninteresting affairs riding horses in hills, the only thing of note is how much your ass started to hurt from riding a horse for so long. Finally, on the tenth day you made it to the base of the mountain. There was a winding path that led all the way up to the top, where Master Hillwick resided in... It was a bit creepy with all the skeletal remains of battle lying around with rusted blades lying discarded around the path. So you all cautiously rode up the mountain. You didn't bother to use your spirit sense, you knew it was a basic technique that likely has a million different counters for people well versed in the supernatural. Soon you came to meet a group of five individuals eyeing you all cautiously in front of a large gate blocking your way into the compound. "I'll take care of this" William got off his horse and walked to the men who came out to meet you.
"...Blackwood is that you? We haven't seen you here in years." The eldest expressed surprise, "Yes, I've come into the employ of Yukihime Sakura, the Shield Hero. We want to bring revolution to Melromarc." William added the last part so nonchalantly in the conversation that they just accepted it for a second "Yes, that makes sense welcome- wait what do you mean by revolution!" The short one this time, spat out in surprise "Exactly as he said it. We wish to change the world! End the system of slavery by force, bring the power into the hands of the common man and to create a society where children no longer have to suffer no matter their creed, sexual preference, gender. religion or race!" You spoke out now. "You wish to change the whole world? The system in place has been here for over a thousand years!" The elder spoke out once more, "I reject the world! I reject a cruel existence where you must be ensalved if you're born wrong, I reject a world where the rich plunder from the disadvantaged and then send them to war to die, I reject a world where the strong step on the weak! In my world, the world I will create, everyone will be free of bondage! They will have the right of self determination! There will be no discrimination, the strong will protect the weak and the commons will have representation! Families will no longer be torn apart through greed, and education will be available to all." You shouted it out, maybe a bit undignified. The Elder's face was slightly slack in shock, and then looked at William "You've brought me something truly special, haven't you William? Come, I will show you to the stables." Wait... "Well done Yukihime! You really impressed Master Hillwick with your ideals. I have no doubt he will support us now." That was Master Hillwick that you just shouted at?
You mutely followed William and Master Hillwick to the stables, allowing a squire to put your horse away for you because you honestly had no idea how and went and really looked at Hillwick. He was wearing a large black tunic that covered his body, and over top he had a fur cloak and hat... He had a very large black beard, and bushy as fuck eyebrows... You didn't expect this, you expected some stereotypical old guy in a robe thing like William... Maybe you were stereotyping? "You must want to recruit me and my followers to your cause then, hm? I will agree on one condition: You must help us on our next assault against Lord Francis Rey's castle. If you can deliver us victory and vengeance for my captured and murdered students I'll follow you." You nodded in agreement "I don't have any issue with that, in fact I enjoy your enthusiasm for fighting against these corrupt lords." This was pretty much your goal after all. "HAH! Yes, I didn't think you'd take issue with this, come you must rest... Afterwords we will plan." He led you inside, you could see sporadically groups of people wearing furs and tunics practicing some sort of martial art involving swords, a bunch of people resting and a large cafeteria before you were led to a simple bedroom with a bed, a end table and a small lantern. You were soon left to your own devices so you rested.
You have successfully made it to Master Hillwick. This could have gone horrifically wrong!
So, I'm at a new place... It's really irritating writing while not having a desk and using your lap to support the keyboard.
Horse Riding is now 3.
Ambush has been learned among your cavalry and officers.
Reactive Planning: 3
Planning: 4 has turned into Strategy: 3
Might and Agility has gone up by 1 for not getting into combat and attaining injuries allowing the alchemy to heal your body.
You have built up loyalty with your officers.
--
The next morning you are brought to a room with a large table with a map of the nearby area around Lord Rey's castle. You are to help develop a working strategy to prove you're worthy as leader.
You have three hundred initiates, fifty adepts, and Hillwick, alongside yourself, your six squires and your officers. From what little you know, your troops are very skilled but lack discipline of campaign soldiers.
Initiate: An unskilled practitioner of spiritual arts. They are trained in a sect of martial arts that benefits from empowered fighting. They are exceptional light infantry.
Adept: A adequate practitioner of spiritual arts. They hold advanced knowledge of martial arts and spiritual energy. They are elite shock infantry.
Strategy:
[X] Sir Gregory recommends building siege towers and assaulting the castle immediately. Give them no time to call for reinforcements and get into melee as quick as possible.
[X] Sir Bradley wants to disguise men and sneak them into the castle to keep the gates open allowing you to march right in.
[X] William wants to build a Spirit Cannon and knock down the walls. Adepts will not be able to contribute to the battle however, to maintain the spirit cannon.
[X] Attempt to lure them out of the castle and kill them with an ambush with a smaller initial army.
