Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

Aurora's meeting room is a bit busy, to put it lightly.

Elena pops in and around, both bodies bringing things and hurrying about. Adrian's sitting here and drinking water, helmet and sword resting nearby. Tepen's sitting as well, eyes closed and focused inwardly. "Come on in," Adrian invites, "We're just discussing our next move."

A few moments later Moore flies in, just behind Jaela.

"No rest for the wicked, I see." Moore says and waves to everyone.

"The wicked are getting creamed out there," Jaela notes with a snort.

Adrian guns down the rest of his mug of water and gestures at the pitcher, "Help yourselves. In short, Elons Rapids are ours. We're preparing to execute phase two of our plan and take the other two cities. Right now we're regathering and assessing what strength we have left."

"Well, I have a feeling they were banking a lot on that stupid assassin to do most of the work." Moore says with a sour face. "I suppose we shouldn't just assume their defenses won't have been reinforced by now."

"The fact is that - oh, a moment. That's Sylvie," Tepen says, focusing inward again.

"Oh, did she go somewhere?" Moore asks.

"I don't know if we can rely on myself or Mirajane for the next part," Jaela says matter of factly. "Same with Sylvie. After we got done with the dogai, I heard someone whisper about the coming of the fated hour. That's probably Taelfagn messing with me via sending magic, so I figure he'd show up at the worst time during the assault."

She shrugs, looking at Adrian. "Luckily, things worked out well with our team troubleshooting the bad spots while you, Mirima and Cresiel lead the actual forces. I'm thinking we can keep this format for the next phase as well."

To Moore, she answers, "I sent her out on an important mission, though with the understanding we'll need her for the coming fighting."

"Yeah, but the second go around's going to be tougher," Adrian says, "We'll be facing fresh forces and most of us aren't fresh. We'll need to factor that in."

Tepen murmurs, "Sylvie's working on it, but one does not simply purchase or demand spells of such magnitude lightly. She's says she's going as fast as she can but don't expect it to be immediate."

Jaela nods. "Let's table that for now. How much of our forces are available, according to Balyss and Priest?"

Moore nods to Jaela then slightly tilts his head at Tepen.


He shakes it quickly afterwards, whatever it is, it must be important.

"Well, the faster we go, the less exhausted we'll be." Moore says. "At least, in theory."

"Most of them. Permanent losses are minimal, as we can heal anything short of death," Tepen says, "Overall our losses are manageable, about 2% of our forces."

"In that case, now's the time to decide if we want to proceed with Brown Well and Silver Chain simultaneously, or deal with Fairwater and Liber in detail," Jaela states. "The devils must be disorganized now, which is an argument for the former. But few understand the terror of an inevitable defeat better than them, so if we crush two towns one after the other while eliminating their elite forces, the morale in the third city may well crumble."

"I agree," Adrian says, "The allure of avoiding a third battle sells it to me."

Tepen merely nods, "The logic is not unsound, if that is the path you wish to pursue."

"If we need it, are Sylica's forces able to send us any assistance for Taelfagn?" Moore asks. "I'd rather overplan for him than underplan."

"Also, something Afina said to me earlier. That while one of us might take a city, we won't be able to hold it without an army. But what if we didn't need to hold it?" Jaela muses. "We could project our forces rapidly through the ships to assault Fairwater while Aurora holds Elons Rapid. In the meantime, we can send Baleruk to burn Liber's defenses to the ground. It will keep them occupied and demoralized, so when we're ready to move in on the naval base we may well be spared a serious challenge. Alternately, crush the base with all we have minus the garrison for Elons Rapid, and Fairwater only has nominal forces and terrified collaborators. Adrian, how was the surrender rate among the collaborators here?"

"About one in four," Adrian says, "With wild variance as well. Sometimes there were too many devils and those that surrendered were summarily executed by the devils."

"Closer to three in ten," Tepen interjects, "Otherwise yes. Some have embraced Hell while others simply feel they have no choice out of fear."

"Let's take the naval base with our ships and Baleruk," Jaela proposes. "Aurora itself will keep Elons Rapid pacified. A good ratio of soldiers to civilians is one per eighty, I believe? How much of a tax on our troop strength does that put?"

"We have approximately two thousand refugees," Tepen says. "There are doubtless more coming and more being counted and processed."

Jaela coughs into her fist. "We're occupying Elons Rapid, not our own ocean demiplane. I was talking about keeping the city occupied. Can we afford it? What's the estimate for population?"

"Approximately five thousand, pending revision," Tepen clarifies. "My apologies."

Jaela does some quick math in her head, before rounding things up a bit.

"Let's detail a hundred elven soldiers from the reserves for the task of patrolling Elons Rapid in groups, and put Rosa and Tannin on them. After all the battles fought to take the city, we can't let things fall through now. The reserves will have the best concentration, which is really what we need for the task."

Jaela nods to herself, adding, "We'll use the infiltrators to fill up the reserves and the siege groups back to full strength. They can appreciate the chance to wash up the most, I think. Aurora and the reserves will then remain here, while our ships head out for Liber."

"What about Afina's operations?" Tepen asks, "Currently, they're seeing to an underground fortress beneath the city."

"She's with the Infiltration group? Right, no real change there. We'll wait for them to mop up and then break the group up accordingly. If Afina thinks it will take longer than another quarter hour, we'll reconsider."

Okay then, going to do anything pending sewer group finishing up?

Moore will just help out as he can for the time being.

Since there are no objections, Jaela proceeds to outline Operation Silver Chain to those present!

Upon the conclusion of combat operations within Elons Rapid, there is to be a recall of most forces while a hundred elven warriors from the reserves under the shared command and oversight of Tannin and Rosa are deployed to keep the city pacified. The Infiltrator force is to be dissolved, its members returning all other contingents to full strength while the remainder ensures the reserves are back to their original levels or beyond. To account for the losses amongst officers, Ebony is detached from Vanguard to Blocking Force.

Aurora's fleet of ships is left behind to support the pacifying force and serve as a force multiplier for them stationed above Elons Rapid, while Aurora itself heads towards Liber via a pair of lined up gate to and from Astral. The Blocking Force's task will remain the same as it had been for Elons Rapid, and deploy to surround the naval base. The Vanguard task will be rebranded as a Rapid Response Force, and used to clear any stiff resistance to the main drive by the three Siege forces, lead by Adrian, Mirima and Cresiel each.

Any specific information Tepen can share about the base that will customize the assault further? Once we have an acceptable plan of action we can see where each PC wants to go.

"My main suggestion is one overwhelming strike. The base is set up to resist, shatter through and it'll be over quicker," Tepen says.

"To use my earlier suggestion, Siege will follow Baleruk into the breach," Jaela responds with a grin. "I suspect everyone will enjoy this turn of events, except the holed-up devils."

Sounds like a plan, go ahead and give it a quick writeup.

Operation Silver Chain

Forces

Reserves


Aurora's reserves. For simplicity's sake, I haven't reduced 2% of everything, so just reduce losses from them.

Blocking Force


As with Elons Rapid, the blocking force is tasked with encircling Liber and preventing enemies from escaping the base or enemy reinforcements from attacking.

Rapid Response Force


A tactic that worked well in Elons Rapid will now be replicated officially. An elite and swift force of soldiers ready to respond to any stiff opposition by the devils with skirmish tactics.

Siege #0 - Baleruk

Siege #1


Siege #2


Siege #3


The three components of Siege force, broken down to allow for three independent commands to drive deep into the heart of the enemy. Aurora's main assault force.

Pacifying Force: Elons Rapid


The force in charge of keeping Elons Rapid pacified and to discourage any devil resurgence in the area. Roughly at a ratio of a solder per fifty residents, before the ships come into the equation.

Strategy

Aurora's fleet of ships is to be left behind to support the pacifying force and serve as a force multiplier for them stationed above Elons Rapid. Meanwhile, a gate will be opened into the Astral, and from it several more that lead towards positions surrounding Liber. The Blockading Force will be dispatched through all land-locked approaches to the naval base, while Baleruk will depart through the gate coming from the sea side. Aurora will follow suit a minute later, traveling through the two gates to emerge behind Baleruk if a breach had been organized in the defenses. In the unlikely event Baleruk was unsuccessful, the Aurora will seek to use the gate on the opposite side of the city and make use of the focus of the defenders upon Baleruk's assault.

Siege forces 1 through 3 will be deployed from Aurora into a single, massive assault into the base. Once perimeter had been breached, each force will move under the guidance of its leader (Adrian, Mirima, Cresiel). Primary objective is securing the base and defeating all devil opposition in the area. Secondary objective is managing this with such overwhelming force that devil resistance in the region falters, and collaborators are driven to surrender. The Rapid Response Force will be dispatched when called upon by any of the Siege commanders to clear out a blockage, and deploy to crush localized devil resistance in strength.

Looks good. I'm going to see about the sewer scenario then get you all moving in the morning.

Sewers is going to run long since they're dealing with that fortress. We ready to go here?

I'm good.

One small problem: Bubbles, Dana and Misalea are with the sewer party right now.

Operation Silver Chain

Forces

Reserves


Aurora's reserves. For simplicity's sake, I haven't reduced 2% of everything, so just reduce losses from them.

Blocking Force


As with Elons Rapid, the blocking force is tasked with encircling Liber and preventing enemies from escaping the base or enemy reinforcements from attacking.

Rapid Response Force


A tactic that worked well in Elons Rapid will now be replicated officially. An elite and swift force of soldiers ready to respond to any stiff opposition by the devils with skirmish tactics.

Siege #0 - Baleruk

Siege #1


Siege #2


Siege #3


The three components of Siege force, broken down to allow for three independent commands to drive deep into the heart of the enemy. Aurora's main assault force.

Pacifying Force: Elons Rapid


The force in charge of keeping Elons Rapid pacified and to discourage any devil resurgence in the area. Roughly at a ratio of a solder per fifty residents, before the ships come into the equation.

Strategy

Aurora's fleet of ships is to be left behind to support the pacifying force and serve as a force multiplier for them stationed above Elons Rapid. Meanwhile, a gate will be opened into the Astral, and from it several more that lead towards positions surrounding Liber. The Blockading Force will be dispatched through all land-locked approaches to the naval base, while Baleruk will depart through the gate coming from the sea side. Aurora will follow suit a minute later, traveling through the two gates to emerge behind Baleruk if a breach had been organized in the defenses. In the unlikely event Baleruk was unsuccessful, the Aurora will seek to use the gate on the opposite side of the city and make use of the focus of the defenders upon Baleruk's assault.

Siege forces 1 through 3 will be deployed from Aurora into a single, massive assault into the base. Once perimeter had been breached, each force will move under the guidance of its leader (Adrian, Mirima, Cresiel). Primary objective is securing the base and defeating all devil opposition in the area. Secondary objective is managing this with such overwhelming force that devil resistance in the region falters, and collaborators are driven to surrender. The Rapid Response Force will be dispatched when called upon by any of the Siege commanders to clear out a blockage, and deploy to crush localized devil resistance in strength.

Okay, where will Moore and Jaela be during all of this? Attacking the other city or something else, since I don't see them there and want to be clear I have all my ducks in a row.

As I said PCs are free to choose the positions they like! Jaela will be in overall command of Siege and travel with Mirajane. Sylvie, once she's done, will rejoin me.

Cool. Moore?

Let's have Moore go with Jaela and company so we can be the Anti-Dick of Destiny squad

Awesome. New thread for you two incoming.