A taste of the southern wind (Jaela, 89 days left)

[Anastasia]

"It is possible Auril made a mistake, but Auril is not stupid." Morniel points out, "While always possible, I find it the least likely answer." The faintest smile appears on Morniel's face, "I welcome a chance to study this, plus I can hardly mourn Auril's influence being lessened."

After that he clears his throat again. "Pardon. No, Adrian needed advice on a possibly problematic recruit. A succubus named Lucy claims to be free of evil and wants to come to Aurora, but it being on Elysium is tricky. Adrian's handling it, going to see her in Brightwater since the Silverbrow Consortium verifies this story."

[Corwin]

"I guess we did find Candy on Water," Jaela muses. "Maybe have her around just in case? Anyway, you're free to look into Auril's offer further if you'd like."

That said, Jaela heads to collate the information about Harkin so she could come up with an action plan.

[Anastasia]

It's an analysis of an area called the Arklea Plains. It's ringed by mountains and narrows to become a long pass through a mountain range, giving it importance as a defense against land-based invasion. The biggest weakness is attack from the air, part of the purpose of the Burning Aeropolis is to defend against that for it.

The troops are generally focused in a series of small fortresses as the pass narrows, with complex, interconnecting tunnels leading to various caches, murder zones, hell scapes and perhaps even to Arklea's Wall, the main fortress at the narrowest section of the pass. It's set up to be defended from either side.

Go ahead and ask questions from here for details, work on plans or what have you. This is just a short taste without getting bogged down in details yet.

[Corwin]

Since its weakness is aerial attack, let's focus on that. Is there an interdiction against dimensional travel above the main fortress, and if so how far up does it extend? How close are the nearest fortresses to it, and what sort of troops can they send in aid? Do we know of any exotic spells or conditions upon the area?

[Anastasia]

There is, he wasn't sure how far it was, but probably not more than 900ft. Maybe 999ft.

Do you mean the little fortresses mentioned or a bigger fort?

Nothing too exotic, just a well defended point in Lifasa.

[Corwin]

The main fortress is described as being in the center of a network of tunnels and killzones and smaller fortresses. I want to understand how far the closest smaller fortresses are to it and what forces they hold. Intention is to bomb them upon approach if possible, or ignore them if they only hold a couple guards.

Are there any automated defenses that we could seize? If so, where are they controlled from?

To confirm, Harkin spends his time at the main fortress? What sort of garrison does it have? How about any 'special units'?

[Anastasia]

The complement of soldiers varies from 50 to 200 for most, but a couple of larger ones at the midpoint do exist. The closest smaller fortresses are approximately 2 miles away.

No, nothing like that. The closest is devil SLAs and while infinite, they aren't automated, no matter how regular devils are about using them.

When he's there, yes. He isn't a lot, he's covering but it's not his big base of operations. If he is in the area, it's where he'd be, though. It holds a few thousand troops and can surge to several times that as needed.

[Corwin]

Time to focus on the layout for the main fortress. Locations for barracks and armories, times for shift change, patrol patterns around it in the air. Points of entry, too.

[Anastasia]

The fortress is a square. Towers at the corner, tall walls for defense and manning. It becomes a series of smaller squares as you go deeper, each one able to be defended down to the final inner keep of four rooms.

The barracks are in the interior, about midway. The armories are likewise.

There are three rotating 8 hour shifts for guards, fairly regular and overlapping patrols with few if any weaknesses.

Besides suicidal tunnel entrances, there's one main gate to the west and one to the west. That's it.

[Corwin]

"Elena," Jaela speaks into the air. "Can you tell me whether Gisfal or Afina are available for a consultation?"

[Anastasia]

"Afina is," Elena pops in. "She's working in the forges but she interrupts that all the time."

Elena's wearing an airy, light sundress now. She uses a handheld wicker fan to cool herself.

[Corwin]

"Ask her to meet me for final planning, will you? Also, nice accessorizing!"

[Anastasia]

"Thanks," Elena smiles and waves it at you, before going off.

Soon enough, Afina is with you.

Go ahead, Jaela.

[Corwin]

"I don't think we need to go for something too complicated, here," Jaela tells Afina, gesturing at the map of the main complex. "The closest enemy forces are two miles out, and they shouldn't have more than a couple dozen fodder total. It'd take them a while to reinforce the fortress traveling through their tunnels, so a blitz attack seems like our best shot."

She indicates the four towers at the corners. "I propose we bring four trusted aides who could each take a guard post on their own and prevent any patrols from getting too close until we're done, while the two of us break right through the ceiling and the surrounding levels without bothering with the corridors and hit the barracks, then proceed to the inner sanctum."

Jaela moves the larger map closer, then. "To be on the safe side, we'll plane shift a thousand feet above the fortress to dodge any teleportation blocks and plummet down from there. I don't see a way to ensure Harkin is around, and they have overlapping patrols but dispersed guard posts, so I don't see either us either sneaking or using that nasty surprise you gave Willah. Thoughts?"

[Ebiris]

"Even if Harkin's not there, every fortress we destroy gives him one less place to hide," Afina says, looking over the intelligence and Jaela's notes. "The four taking those guard posts all need to be able to teleport so as to quickly reinforce each other or evacuate depending on whatever response they garner. Otherwise yes, simultaneous strike with them attacking the guard posts at the same time as we attack the main fortress. We can disintegrate our way through the floors to reach the inner sanctum, eliminate any resistance, then level the place with earthquakes and tornadoes."