Dragon quickstep

[Anastasia]

A few dozen soldiers in light armor are here - all salamanders. They glower but none impede you, your way within open.

[Corwin]

Seira checks to see if it's obvious which way she should go to find their commander!

With her Perception 120.

[Anastasia]

Well, there is the giant spike with a fortress on it.

However, one of the salamanders comes forward. "You want to see our leader?" he asks, gruffly.

[Corwin]

"Yes. Are you going to guide us?"

[Anastasia]

"Upwards," He agrees, "Follow, noble ladies and sir."

[Corwin]

Seira smiles at him in gratitude, ready to follow!

[Anastasia]

It's not a fast trip, the salamander only moves so fast. Slow compared to your speed or your companion's speed, but up you walk.

As you do?

"Lady Seira," The salamander asks, "Is it true that you once fought dozens of red dragons at once and emerged triumphant?"

Donald chuckles, "Once? Seira can do that before breakfast and not even be late for her food."

[Corwin]

Nothing really stands up, so they were probably not very powerful dragons. And yet, it's probably true, she did fight a lot over the years and hasn't truly kept track of each battle.

"I find the truly memorable battles to be closer to duels in framework," she muses in response. "If you need to bring dozens to challenge a single opponent, thing probably won't be going well for you, don't you think?"

[Anastasia]

"Enough ants can bury a giant," The salamander declares, "But you need so many ants to do that."

"Yeah, doesn't work so well when the ants keep dying," Donald retorts, "Our enemies always run into that problem."

[Corwin]

"That comparison stops working when you go past the mortal realm," Seira responds, shaking her head. "Take out fatigue, negate the death by a thousand cuts with superior resistance and recovery, and at some point it just stops working no matter than ants in play. As far as you're looking to defeat the target, that is. Other worthy military goals could still be accomplished even across a great divide in strength and ability."

[Anastasia]

"A thousand ants are still nothing to us," Ranbar's the one who speaks up, "One hero's worth much more than that."

The salamander bows his head deeply, "I will learn and understand this, lady Seira."

[Corwin]

"It really comes back to proper planning," Seira voices, deciding to stick with the example. "I doubt there's much of non-divine origin on Ysgard that could take me down, even working together. But at the same time, keeping me fighting here in person for an extended period of time may itself be a tactical victory to my opponents, especially if I'm prevented from giving aid to an ally or overseeing an important project."

[Anastasia]

"You grace me with your wisdom," The salamander intones, "In other words, a force to distract rather than to conquer?"

[Corwin]

"Or to delay me until reinforcements that can take the fight to me properly arrive. Or to force the fight to grow larger than I wish, and perhaps have me strike down a third party along the way. Donald, got other ideas?"

[Anastasia]

"Plenty," Donald agrees, "But how about we get going? I think we've given enough of a free lesson to him, don't you?"