Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

It is a solemn, prepared group that heads into the meeting room. All of the generals and officers are here, seated in groups and ready. Ebony and Morniel sit at the head of it all, awaiting.

Go ahead and intro yourselves. As I need longer due to a tidal wave of DM work, expect this to largely be a set up topic for a day or two.

Moore will enter and take a seat on the side, but trust there will be some explanation as to the potential proceedings!

Afina is of course one of the first there, wearing her usual black outfit with its clashing orange and purple diamond pattern over it. "Everyone's here? Good," she says, looking around. "None of this leaves this room until Aurora moves through the gate. Which won't be to Lifasa, as some of you may have gotten the impression. Instead we're supporting Alicia and Seira in their effort to liberate the world of Benfal from the dominion of the Arch-Devil Semyaza."

She waits a moment for the obligatory shock to ripple out and die down. "Benfal is a world much like ours, and has laboured under devil tyranny even longer. Alicia and Seira have been working in secret for decades to see to its liberation, and we've been honoured with a part in that final battle. But make no mistake, this is for Lifasa. Winning this will free up far more forces from our allies to come to our aid, and as we will be taking and holding ground in the assault rather than simply raiding, it will provide invaluable experience for all of us when the time comes to retake Lifasa itself."

Surraruthru lies next to Kascha's feet, lounging as he listens, and perks up at the mention of Seira.

"As this is something Seira desires, I will throw my full ability in. Do we have any details on what type of defenses and forces we will be facing? What type of magic and tricks Semyaza prefers? How many locations are we striking at?"

Having kept silent as Afina introduced the target for their next raid, Jaela shifts at Surraruthru's question, her rarely-used full-plate almost hitting the edge of the table before she catches herself in time and relaxes back into her seat.

"Afina will go over the details in a moment," she says, looking at the gathered officers. "It cannot be stressed enough that this would be the first time that Aurora would remain outside a safe realm for an extended period of time, nevermind a Prime. How we manage that matters just as much as destroying our opposition in the actual strike."

"Our targets are these three cities," Afina gestures over the table and an illusory map appears of three large cities arranged in sequence along a large river on an otherwise fairly flat and unwooded landscape. "Fairwater, Elons Rapid, and Liber," she names them in turn. "They're to be liberated, and we're to do so in a fashion that attracts as much diabolic attention as possible. There will be no subtlety here, and any devils we draw to our theatre is less for our allies to fight."

"As far as specific opposition goes, Fairwater is defended by irregulars under erinyes supervision - so expect local collaborators for the most part. Elons Rapid is home to the Beautyseers, an elite group of diviners commanded by a fallen astral deva. Liber is their naval base and likely to be the most heavily defended. Given the presence of the Beautyseers though we should expect the devils to respond rapidly or even in advance of our movements as long as they remain a factor."

"Furthermore, we are aware of numerous press-ganged members of the devil garrisons who will surrender promptly to us. Tepen has a list of names, and officers will need to check them via telepathy when accepting any offers of surrender so we know who can be trusted and who will need more careful watch. We have more detailed information on enemy dispositions as well, courtesy of Syala, which will be covered more thoroughly at the end of the briefing. As for the general tactics and unit types favoured by Semyaza's forces, Sylvie, Gold, and Tepen have been helpful there," she nods towards the trio.

"In general they lend towards those who rely on force of personality. Dark paladins, sorcerers, warlocks, 'favoured' souls of hell, that sort of thing. So beyond the generic devil infantry almost all enemies should be assumed capable of spellcasting to some degree or another. They disdain melee in general but again, expect ranks of barbazu and lemures to be used as living shields to preserve them from attack, and the impetus will be on us to get past such defenders and pin their casters down in physical combat where they're less practiced. One tactic they're fond of is employing illusions to make their forces seem much greater and in more advantageous positions, so we should spread out our own soldiers with true seeing or blindsight capabilities, and avoid panicking or over-extending ourselves. I've been drilling the troops on dealing with these tactics a lot in the past week, because in truth it's not dissimilar to how fey fight."

There's lots of nods all around, and it's Cresiel who speaks up. "Three towns, three forces, I presume? Or will we take them one at a time and leave forces to hold them?"

"I may have a few suggestions. I employed some Anti-Magic Stones to good effect when reaching Secretus. Some of those dropped in strategic locations will open holes in their defenses and reveal illusions. They're not incredibly expensive to produce. I am also willing to put forward a significant amount of my funds towards improving Aurora's defenses if need be. If I recall, there are plans for Holy Wards or a Prismatic wall?"

"That's what we're here to determine," Afina says to Cresiel. "I've been drilling our troops on tactics, but between us we have to decide on strategy. My preference?" she points to the middle city. "Aurora gates in at Elons Rapid and assaults it with all our forces so as to knock the Beautyseers out early on, then leave Aurora and a garrison behind while two forces split off in either direction to attack Fairwater and Liber. Information is power, so eliminating their diviners first will pay off in the long run. This also leaves us well positioned to send reinforcements or retreat from either front if necessary."

"Sorry, you're probably going to get to it, but what sort of reinforcements are we expecting to see from other forces of Hell?" Moore asks.

"We can help determine if there are any spies among the people surrendering!" Calleigh says. "Also, we're good at removing defenses and explosions!"

"Hmm.. A wise choice. They likely have artifacts and ritual circles that empower divination. Taking them over and then repositioning our own diviners there to make use of them will benefit the fight greatly in the long run. The force of personality focus is somewhat worrisome, but liberal use of Mindblank will help there... Most of my fighting was done in the forests, so I'm not sure how city fighting will go. I imagine it to be much like fighting in burrow tunnels?"

"I agree," Adrian speaks up, "A blinded opponent is a weaker opponent. It'll also make them scramble to try and replace what they've lost. As for reinforcements, that's a good question. My understanding is that this is Semyaza's fief and we won't see too much from other devils, but we could be wrong."

"I mean, obviously we don't want to escalate things more than we need to, since if we show up with an army from Celestia it's just asking for Hell to respond in kind, but it may not be a bad idea for us to have reinforcements of our own ready if needed. I'd be happy to help with diplomatic endeavors in that regard if we decide to pursue it as an option." Moore says.

"We might draw our own fans as well," Jaela muses. "But that's just fine." As Moore speaks, she listens before shaking her head with a mild clunk of helmet on armor. "We're the reinforcements. If anyone decides to speak of this to any of our natural allies, it'd be Alicia and Seira, not us."

"Perhaps instead of full reinforcements, something a bit more strategic and less noticeable. A smaller force that fills holes in our abilities? There's certainly going to be reprisals from the Devils after we succeed, so having Celestia geared up and ready to act as a deterrent in that regard may be the wiser option."

Jaela coughs into her fist, asking, "Which part of 'this information doesn't leave the room on our end until we're through the gate' was difficult to understand? No exceptions, for friends, lovers, closest allies and so on."

"The part which makes it taboo to present the idea for Alica and Seira's consideration."

"Well, in that case, I suppose we just have to trust that they have their own contingency plans in case Hell sends more than we're expecting." Moore says with a mild shrug.

"In other words," Gisfal speaks up, "Keep your mouths shut. It's called information security: People can't talk about what they don't know. Let Alicia and Seira focus on that while we take care of business here."

"They've worked on this for decades," Jaela mildly points out. "We only have a part of the bigger picture, and it's up to us to help make the liberation of Benfal a success. Perhaps we should move on to specifics relating to our part in the campaign?"

"Combat in a city is different than combat in the open," Gold speaks up, "Has Aurora done that sort of battle before?"

"Semyaza isn't greatly popular or powerful," Afina says after that digression. "We'll be more likely to see reinforcements called from across Benfal to our theatre, and possibly a few mercenary bands. We do have information on a few notables which Sylvie can go into in more detail. Most likely we expect to encounter his Prime Minister, Dougalf. A fallen planetar who's capable of 10th circle magic, notably a spell to cause confusion across a mile's radius. Making sure everyone is mind blanked via the arch or close to an angel with a protective aura should counter that well enough, however."

"I'm more worried about the unknown knowns - the devils we can't predict that will be there but are strong enough to be a serious problem." Sylvie says, "We can't really prepare for them directly, only make sure our structure and preparations are robust. Like if Semyaza calls in a big favor from another devil noble and he takes the field against us, say."

"Then we'll have to kick their teeth in, too!" Calleigh says.

"Isn't it pretty annoying how the universe is littered with fallen celestials?" Jaela mutters. "I don't think we can prepare for devil nobles, either. I could try to lock down a pretty large stretch of land against dimensional travel, but it's a tactical means at best. Do you think we won't compare favorably to a devil of that magnitude who's away from his seat of power?"

"If that happens, it sounds like we just have to trust that Seira and Alicia will have done the same." Moore says with a nod to Sylvie. "Since we can't ask for contingency reinforcements ourselves, I think we need to focus only on what we do know and leave the outliers to our allies who have asked for our help. I mean, if a Devil of that magnitude appears, then that may even play directly into their hands." He adds with a nod to Jaela's words.

"Indeed. We're all quite aware of what those types of devils can do and are used to preparing for it. Hit back with a bigger stick, so to speak. For the actual attacks, how do we want to begin them? A wave of ranged bombardment followed by direct combat, or do we want to be more surgical and cause the least damage to the cities?"

"Do we care about collateral or is that acceptable for the sake of liberation?" Ebony speaks up, "It's a question we need to answer, since the cities will have innocents and those in bondage."

"This is liberation, not conquest," Afina clarifies. "It will handicap us yes, but consider it practice for retaking Lifasa. We need to ensure those we save have places to live afterwards, so simply razing the cities is unacceptable. We have some experience in city fighting from our raid on the Burning Aeropolis, but holding ground will be more challenging. I've been drilling our forces thoroughly for the last week on the concepts involved. Ideally we'd like to engage their armies in the field - if reinforcements come from the other two cities as we engage Elons Rapid we'll have a chance to use some of our more grandiose magic, but if they're dug in we'll have to root them out with more precision."

"Hmm.. We could use wall spells to create holding points and channeled routes. That won't let us truly hold areas, but it'll give us anchor points to work from."

"Given the chance, should we try to evacuate the civilians caught on the front lines to our ocean demiplane?" Jaela voices, curious about the opinions on the subject. "Locked away from Aurora's proper in case of infiltrators, but kept safe for the duration?"

"Do we know much about the geography of the cities?" Tepen asks now, raising his voice. "How are they designed?"

"That's a good idea," she agrees with Jaela. "And wall spells are always tactically useful. As for the cities..." she sweeps a hand to clear the overworld map illusion before examining the parchment Syala sent via Ebony, examining the details on Elons Rapid before creating an illusory map at the street level for everyone to examine.

"Well, evacuating the civilians is a good idea, but we'll have to be smart about how we spread out our people who can do it. What about underground areas? Any of those?"

"Gotta be careful with evacuations. Devils would have no problems striking at evacuations in order to divide our forces." Calleigh says. "Easily defensible places are best, like underground caves and stuff. We could gate people away onto Aurora from there."

Surraruthru nods to Calleigh.

"I agree. Something that can burrow the same way a Thoqqua can, or a Xorn. Spells to shape the earth are good choices, too, but I feel that may bring attention where the tunnelers will be harder to detect. We should be wary of gathering too many civilians in a single area either way. A single large spell getting through could cost many lives."

"Ideally, people will keep away from the fighting where they can," Jaela muses. "Those who can't, we'll try to protect for the time it takes them to get to safety, whether in the demiplane or away from the combat."

Addressing the topic of burrowers, she says, "Aurora won't be breached by xorns, but for the battlefield we could field a few with tremorsense. As for controlling the skies, the fleet of ships should be up to the task. They look intimidating enough for the job, and should work better as a single force rather than split apart. Then, they could be sent to take one of the other two targets."

"In that case, we should probably start to determine what sort of teams we want heading for the different sites. It'll make it easier to determine what each one is capable of dealing with efficiently, right?" Moore asks.

Elon's Rapids is a packed, winding city. Buildings on buildings - and the map shows several basements, tunnels and sewers beneath it all. An interconnected mess all told. \

Gisfal studies it intently, "Aye, this'll be a baptism of fire for us in city warfare. Imagine it like a maze full of minotaurs who want to make your life a living hell - you'll have to clear out many pockets of resistance instead of a single decisive battle surrounded by skirmishes. We'll need to use our larger troops on the street level and the skies," he gestures at the illusion, "While saving our more elf sized troops for clearing out the tunnels. Realistically, we don't have to clear all the tunnels right away, but enough that we hold the choke points and can slowly flush them out."

Here he pauses to lean forward on the table, gesturing with his other hand at the map. "Pacifying this sort of area takes time more than anything else, due to the nature of it. Expect ambushes, hit and run tactics and finding even more hidden passages than we expected. City's design suggests that it's old."

"We might consider designating a few of the ships for troop redeployment and evacuation duty. If lines of battle suddenly shift and our people need to get to the other side of the city, using a ship for it will be much faster than trying to slog through the city streets. Same for evacuations. If a group gets isolated or surrounded, having a ship come in for them is better than trying to sneak through active combat. The ships will be targets, but the fighting should also distract the devils from fully focusing on them when they get close."

"In fact, while I wasn't initially in favour of the ships I see that they can be useful for quick deployment of our less mobile forces," Afina agrees with Surraruthru. "Without immediately getting into specifics of who goes where, I was thinking we'd have Aurora gate in here," she points, "At the eastern edge of the city opposite the river, and only a hundred or so feet in the air. Then we could send the ships out fully laden with forces to encircle the city North and South so as to stop anyone from fleeing and slow down any reinforcements from the other two. Meanwhile our aerial forces can emerge directly to assault the city, while those incapable of flight can simply drop down with feather fall spells. All the while Aurora can slowly fly over the top of the city both to keep the gates close to our front line and to erode the morale of the enemy.

Once the ships have finished deploying our blockading forces they can come back both to assist in evacuations and redeployment as necessary. After organised resistance in Elon's Rapids has crumbled we can leave behind a reserve to mop up stragglers and hold ground while we reorganise into two flanks that can march on Fairwater and Liber. The status of those assaults really depends on whether they rush forces in to contain us at Elon's Rapid or if they sit back and dig in to wait for us, so we'll have to be flexible there."

Letting everyone absorb her plan there and think of any helpful modifications or point any flaws in it, she adds, "One more thing, on the topic of devil reinforcements. Beyond Semyaza's own resources, we may draw attention from those involved in Lifasa. Gathgorian may seek to test himself against me, or he may be held back I don't know. But 27 strongly believes the Duke of Destiny will personally engage us when we take part in this battle, and that we're destined to fall against him. If Taelfagn is sighted, everyone is to avoid battle where they can and focus instead on his retinue. Jaela is the only one that can safely fight him, and even the presence of her trump card against his destiny control may see him retreat. For that reason it's of the utmost importance that Jaela be deployed immediately to any location Taelfagn is seen." She looks at Jaela now directly, "It doesn't matter how vital your current circumstances are, even if you're the only thing holding the gates of Aurora itself. Taelfagn must be brought low, and every one of us will do whatever is necessary to see that you get the chance."

Moore nods to Afina's explanation. "I'll do what I can to manipulate things if we see him. I have some ability over that, but obviously not as strong as Taelfagn's. At the very least, I might be able to help protect everyone else if he tries to do anything."

"If Jaela falls or is unavailable, I can contest against him with 21. I know I can hurt him with it," Sylvie speaks up. "It may be best for the two of us to work together, because together, we may well be able to end Taelfagn here and now, forever."

"We'll keep you three together however the assignments work out then," Afina says, "That way Sylvie can handle teleports as needed and you can all engage at once wherever he appears. Simply removing his ability to interfere with the battle is sufficient, but killing our capturing him would be a greater coup than killing Abigor was."

"Speaking of, if Semyaza takes to the field, I would guess our goal would be to get away as quickly as we can?" Moore asks.

"From what I understand, Alicia and Syala intend to battle him personally, and the results will not be kind to anyone on the same continent," Afina looks Ebony's way in case she wants to elaborate. "So yes, in that case we'll retreat to Aurora first and then off the plane. However, 21 should function with its usual efficacy against beings like that, and Semyaza has a peculiar weakness to being seen by True Seeing spells, so bear that in mind if we're pressed."

"C-Continent?" Kascha pales, "Seriously?"

Ebony merely nods. "Yes. There are factors in play, that is all we need to know."

"I like the plan for the ships, with a caveat. I think we should still gate or teleport a few of our more high mobility units into a picket around the city. While the ships will work great, it will still take a bit of time for them to get from Aurora to their drop off areas. Having some skirmishers already there will let them have at least a semi-secure landing area, and we'll have a force that can react if something crazy starts happening.

Like they somehow blast our ships out of the air or render them immobile in some way. A storm or something. Almost any of us in this room who can use magic can summon up either enough elementals or a storm to cause problems. There's no reason to assume they can't do the same."

Surraruthru does perk up at the mention of Seira doing battle personally. "Hmm.. I would like to see Seira rip him apart. From a safe distance, of courses."

Calleigh pats Surraruthru on the side, "Gods fighting usually destroys everything. Safe distance is usually out of sight."

"As it stands, the ships are have the highest mobility out of anything we have available," Jaela voices. "Myself, Afina, a few others could outrun them, but not any of the rank and file. We could gate some of them in at strategic spots around the city, as long as each detachment can manage the spell. But they'd be risking finding themselves isolated, or between two forces if reinforcements arrive swiftly."

"Then each ship needs to be self sufficient," Gisfal studies the image some more. "We have attack from the air and attack from the ground level. The earth elementals should be able to attack from below, right into the tunnels. If we do that, we can cut off and perhaps surprise them before hide holes and tunnels are fully fortified, as well as straining reinforcements further."

"Hmm.. If we're using elementals... Afina, you've been hitting the para-elemental planes, right? What do you think of some of the oozes or lava types helping us out? I'd say fire, but fires and cities mix about as well as fire and trees do."

"What we have is what's in Aurora. Having to incorporate a sudden infusion of new and untested troops to our ranks right now would just cause more confusion than it's worth," Afina shakes her head. "I'm working on something to improve relations with Ooze but it's long term, and to be honest any additions from there would probably cause morale to plummet amongst anyone with a functioning nose. We do have plenty of earth elementals who'll be particularly useful in this environment, though. The water elementals we can have blockade the river, while air elementals serve their usual roles in the midst of our forces. I'd prefer to keep the fire elementals back for Aurora defence - that city could go up in flames easily enough, so best not to risk it."

Surraruthru nods. "Having the water elementals on hand is a good idea. The devils may decide to burn the city when they start losing just to be spiteful. We'll need a way to put them out if they do. What about main targets in the city? Other than the seer stronghold, are there any other areas we need to worry about? Garrisons or supply storage?"

"Several," Gisfal says, "We've already marked them. Food's less important, we need it and the devils don't. Best not to destroy it if possible, we can make up the shortfall but it's a strain. The devils are regular with garrisons and organization, we have a good idea of where they are and how to attack them. Supplies are generally in garrisons, which is good for logistics but poor for defense, since it's a single point of failure."

"Good. If we're liberating the city, the survivors are going to need supplies. Do we have any plans to put people in leadership positions until the people of the city can pick their own leaders? They'll need help with food, rebuilding, and probably healing. Or counseling at the least."

"That's not our concern. We take the cities and hold them. Once the devils are gone, I'm sure the existing resistance has plans for a transfer of power but that's out of our hands," Afina says.

"Speaking of noses and water elementals, what would they think about attacking through the sewers to supplement the burrowing earth elementals? Blockading the river is fine, but it likely won't need all of them." At Surraruthru's question, she adds, "Our cafeteria and casting Heroes's Feast should be enough to feed a city easily enough for their transitional government to get its feet up."

Surraruthru turns to Jaela, "That's a good idea. If it all goes wrong, they can flood the system and flush them out."

"Sylica and their allies have plans to deal with the aftermath, Surraruthru," Ebony adds, "Our role in this is to make war, not to repair the peace afterwards. Much will depend on how events play out."

"We'll need a good leader for it, someone who can swim and breathe water," Adrian points out, "We need to settle on who goes where and commands what, too."

"That sounds closely to you volunteering to swim in the sewers, Adrian," Jaela notes with a grin.

"Not a chance," Adrian retorts right away, "Someone who can breath water and swim naturally, ideally."

"Afina and make you something for that."

"And is also small enough to fit through tiny sewer tunnels," Afina says dully. "And don't even think of suggesting I do it, that's a tragic waste of my skills."

At Surraruthru's point she admits, "Those nimblewrights I had plans for would be useful in numerous situations for these battles, but what ifs don't help us now. I certainly can't just make a golem fit to lead our elementals on its first sortie, no matter what kind I make."

Bubbles sighs loudly, "Unfortunately, it seems this skill set matches my own. I'll do it. A dreadful task, but one I can endure."

"Alright, so we're going into specifics. I want Mirajane with me, since we've got amazing goldenfire synergy, and it might be important if Taelfagn shows up. Adding in Sylvie and Moore, and I'd be best-placed in command of half our ships. We'll control the skies directly above Aurora and expand our zone of control while also deploying troops and picking up whoever needs to be evacuated. Mirajane and Moore would have a decent chance of spotting and countering the diviners, and if we manage that then I'll take them out with Sylvie. If another group manages to bring them down, I'll default to keeping our forces safe from ambush and enemy reinforcements, and deploy our own reserves to areas that need it."

Afina looks briefly disappointed but then gives Bubbles a brave smile. "I'll make sure we both take part in attacking the same target for the other two cities, then," she says since Bubbles did want to fight alongside her.

OOC interject time. At this point I'd like to start seeing formulated plans for Elon's Rapids. Let's get plans, who goes where and all of that sorted out. This doesn't need to be done IC at this point, so start hashing it out.

One sec, I almost forgot.

At this point Ellese clears her throat, "Is...is this a bad time to say I fear I cannot participate in this battle? I been dreaming of the Seladrine and other forces, I feel inexorably called to be elsewhere soon."

"Where's that?" Jaela asks her. Depending on the destination, Ellese would need support....

"Poor timing, but we have enough resources to be flexible," Afina nods reluctantly to Ellese's wishes.

"Arvandor. I have to go, Jaela. Alone. Thank you so much, but this battle has to be my own. I have to save myself now." Ellese smiles, "I'll win and I'll be back."

"We'll be waiting for you."

Ellese and Vivantha are out, the rest are in?

Correct.

Well, Surraruthru is probably the second best dispeller we have. I think there's only a +1 difference between him and Jaela. The Tapestry lends him to being in a small-ish team and powering them up, I can connect 9 people to it right now. Other than that, standard wizard tricks with monk stuff; the amulet he just got bumped his attacks to 38/35/28/23, before magical buffs. So I guess for him a strike team to take out big casters or something? I don't really have a preference here.

Tryll and Calleigh specialize in infiltration and area denial/control, with a minor in huge explosions and mass healing at a fraction of the cost. They are very good in small strike groups and barricade groups. They're also willing to go with Bubbles to help her stay safe, as water does not bother them.

He's going with Jaela, but for reference Moore is a buff bot and swiss army knife. He's also good at talking.

I can add NPC summaries if you need them.

I have good ideas on all of them, but having a summary might be cool for future reference. Stick it in the Aurora topic or something if you have time for it?

Also do we know if the Beautyseers have a specific main base in the city and where it is?

Operation Radiant Shadow

Forces

Reserves

The reserves will remain within or close to Aurora for the purposes of defending it against counterattack or infiltration, as well as providing forces that can be quickly despatched to any trouble spots, and so comprises a mix of slow heavy units with fast mobile groups.

Blocking Force

The blocking force is tasked with encircling Elons Rapids and preventing enemies from escaping the city or enemy reinforcements from attacking. Due to devil teleportation capabilities it should be expected that these will mostly be fighting mortal collaborators barring the event of heavy reinforcements which will most likely want to mass themselves for a push into the city rather than risk being destroyed piecemeal by teleporting in separately. By using the new airships for deployment, mobility is less of a concern and this force will be further augmented with those who's powers are too destructive for city fighting but would prove ruinous to any armies massing on the open plains.

Vanguard

The vanguard will be the first to attack Elons Rapid and will move swiftly to take and hold various strongholds and strategic points around the city. This is the most dangerous role as they will be unsupported and isolated for the beginning of the battle, and so much of Aurora's elites will be concentrated here.

Infiltrators

While the vanguard attacks in force at devil strongholds, the infiltrators will attack from below using a mixture of earth movement abilities and aquatic movement through the city sewers so as to cut off hidden lines of reinforcement and supply while undermining structures that the vanguard are having trouble dislodging. Predominantly made of those with special movement modes.

Siege

The bulk of Aurora's forces will be deployed here to take the city block by block, capturing and holding ground so as not to grow overextended or cut off while steadily linking up with the vanguard wherever they're found.

Strategy

Prior to arrival, the infiltrators and half of the blocking force will be gated to the Northern and Southern portions of the riverside outside of Elons Rapids. The blocking force will immediately begin deploying and providing cover for the infiltrators who will access the city either via subterranean movement or accessing the sewer tunnels via the river. Once these have all been passed through the gates, Aurora itself will gate to the far side of the city and deploy the remaining half of the blocking force who will move to link up with their remainder on either flank of the city.

The vanguard will deploy next, split into teams to begin capturing strategic points within the city. Finally the siege force will deploy to capture the area surrounding Aurora's arrival point and spreading out from there. The airships used to ferry the blockade force will circle outside of the city to return to Aurora without being caught up in the battles below, after which they can be used for fast deployment of reinforcements or to evacuate civilians out of the battlezone.

As our control over the city spreads, Aurora will slowly float over and above so as to keep its main gates close to our front lines, this will ease the movement of reinforcements/evacuees/prisoners and avoid leaving our forces overstretched. Quarter is to be given to enemy forces who request surrender, though confirm names of any prisoners with Tepen via interplanar telepathic bond, as any not on the list provided by Syala will be deserving of extra security.

Once the city is secure under our control, forces will be reorganised into a garrison to hold the city and defend Aurora and two separate flanks which will march on Fairwater and Liber under Operation Brown Well and Operation Silver Chain respectively. Details on those assaults are forthcoming and their exact layout will depend on how devil forces respond to the attack on Elons Rapid and the extent of casaulties suffered by Aurora.

/me salutes.

Locking thread.