Mei you find what you seek (Jaela thread)

[Anastasia]

"Heh," Adrian chuckles, and in a quieter voice, "What are you here for?"

[Corwin]

"Aside from taunting your prisoner with a terrible fate? Just wanted to catch you and Gisfal for a brief chat, if you've got the time."

[Anastasia]

Adrian nods, "Elena, would you inform Sage Vul'lath of the details? Thanks." He turns and starts to walk, "Well, let's get to it. I was only seeing to a minor prisoner out of boredom, anyway."

[Corwin]

"Lead us, Elena," Jaela requests, walking at Adrian's side. "I think this will dispel your boredom pretty quick."

[Anastasia]

Gisfal's gathered and the three sit in the war room. Adrian kicks back in his chair, "Alright, so what's the plan?"

[Corwin]

"Remember that attack on Lixer's base we didn't go through?" Jaela opens with, once greetings are done with. "We should go for it. To keep a long story short, the fey malady is coming from Willah torturing Lief back on Lifasa, and if we're to succeed at putting a stop to that we want a good diversion. That it'd give us a chance to punch in Lixer's face is merely another benefit."

Jaela shrugs. "We'll get into the planning soon enough. What I actually wanted to talk to you two about is the command structure. Do you think we could do with a reshuffling? Promote a few officers, extend responsibilities? I've been thinking that maybe if we gave Baleruk a sizeable force and told him to treat it as his own, he might well keep them safe and use the troops effectively. I'd like to hear your thoughts."

[Anastasia]

"I've been working on basic operational plans there," Gisfal says, "The lack of information about Lethe and the fact that what little we find is a struggle to remember hurts our efforts considerably. Mind Blank isn't sufficient to stop it, though a spiritual meditation and beseeching Tempus has held it at bay - as well as rigorous notetaking copied and repeated every day, as written records fade as well."

"Oh yeah, you told me about that," Adrian snaps his fingers, "I'd completely forgotten. Damn." Tapping his fingers on the side of his chair, "We free Lief, no question there. As for command, why Baleruk? He's powerful but he's an egotistical dragon."

[Corwin]

"He's a physical god who has it within his power to greatly increase the effectiveness of his troops. He's also incredibly arrogant, often dangerously so. I'm hoping to use the former to curb the latter a bit, and raise our overall power. In my opinion, command does a good job of teaching us about ourselves and helps us shore up our shortcomings."

[Anastasia]

"As long as you don't make him a general," Gisfal says, "He's too erratic to be a commander on that level."

Adrian hums, "I can live with it. Baleruk aside a moment, who else do you have in mind?"

[Corwin]

"Not a general, no," Jaela responds, shaking her head. "And this is less about ranks as it is about responsibility. I want to give more of our people the chance to shine, and see how they handle it. How about the Master and Misalea? They're already leading people during training, both physical and philosophical aspects. The respect is there, as is the chain of command. We might well make it official and let them act that way in battle."

Mentally going through their officer core, Jaela continues with, "he Jarl, Crystal and Drena fit as well. Give Kascha her own command, over support troops or healers, one that keeps her out of direct combat but tests her ability to coordinate and see the bigger picture. See, as politely as possible, whether Queen Ilsenine would be interested in directing a similar force."

As another idea appears, she voices it rather than dwell on it too long. "Finally, give our more recent recruits a chance to shine while leading a squad. Cresiel, Moonlight-- you know the names as well as I do. Their ability is not in doubt, but we'll see how they mesh with our own troops in a command role. My only regret is not finding something for Mei due to her circumstances. Unless you can think of something there?"

[Anastasia]

Adrian speaks first, "The Master and Misalea make sense and already do that unofficially. The Jarl, Crystal and Drena do as well. Crystal's responsibilities as a General of Aurora's Fey Court also encourage that. Kascha, though?" Adrian rubs his chin, "She's so nice and she's even been acting motherly lately. I know she's powerful, but I don't think her temperament is right to lead troops on that level."

"She'll rise to the occasion," Gisfal says, "I have no doubt about that. None. If pressed, she can be a source of constant healing as long as she can go."

This gets Adrian to shrug, "Agreed with Cresiel. He's a solar, they lead as naturally as I breathe. Moonlight? She strikes me as more of a follower than a leader."

[Corwin]

"Lathander chose her to lead his troops," Jaela points out. Rather that suggest this is definite proof of intent, however, she adds, "We need to see for ourselves. Not how she can lead her own people, but how she could lead a squad of Aurora regulars. A skilled commander would rise to the challenge, and we'll know." She pauses. "As for Queen Ilsenine and Kascha, I don't like one aspect of how our armies ended up being structured. We have dedicated combat mages, dedicated strikers to harry the enemy and provide backup and so on. But what about explicit support roles? Why not consolidate intelligence gathering under a single umbrella? Communications? Diplomacy? Healing?" Jaela thinks back to how, during their battle on Astral, she kept on looking for the fastest-looking soldier she could spare to run messages to Ithea, and how their collaboration broke apart once they were forced to proceed independently. Not to mention the uneven communication with Aurora itself. "We handle it ad hoc or with integrated personnel, but it doesn't strike me as efficient."

[Anastasia]

"We could improve there," Gisfal seconds, "What do you have in mind?"

[Corwin]

"We experiment. There are very talented individuals in the Crusade who are not best suited for the front lines for one reason or another. We should instead have them fill in this need." She nods at Gisfal. "As you suggested, we see how Kascha handles being put in charge of healing. Give her a free hand to design her team and doctrine. We'll place powerful healers with every army as a stopgap, until we're sure we've found the right balance that's working for us. Next, Candy. Task her with poaching the fastest runners and a team of teleporters, preferably sneaky. With her propensity for gathering information and innate knowledge of where it would do the most damage, she could disseminate it across our battlefields more efficiently than any of us, plus have the discretion of holding on things that would affect the flow of battle negatively. She's also no stranger to telepathy, and if we provide the mages to bind a few of her staff telepathically, we could have fast coordination during those times the devils are too lazy to blank out the entire battlefield. Tie that in with a staff of Morniel's, and integrate his agents with every force, and we'd be ready for any sudden encounter even if Dana's on hand. Talk to Ilsenine to see which role she would like to fulfill. Given what I've seen on our mutual outing, I think she's interested in taking a more direct role. And Moore showed me just how effective bards and their sort are, so put Mei and Ebony under him and use that as a core for another support group. Have them brainstorm about how to raise our overall effectiveness, through tactics or recruitment aimed at their specialties."

[Anastasia]

"That all sounds fine," Adrian says, "Though I'm not sure if I follow Mei being support. She's more of an all-rounder, she can do all sorts of things."