War of Dragons - Mac Anu II - Preparations

A small council has gathered within the city of Maihama. The large walled city is one of the few places in Fourlands that isn't /directly/ also a port into the sea itself. Instead, this one appears to be more of a lake-side town with an indirect connection to the ocean.

Within it, final preparations are being made by the Corwen family. The Landers for the most part are planning within the castle itself, and have invited the Adventurers over. Some of the leadership are inside. But another group - this group - has gathered out in the gardens for the time being.

A large battlemap is laid out, showing the city of Mac Anu, and all of its streets - as well as the region around it. Stones are keeping it down, so that the wind cannot carry it away.

The city is half a day's travel away from here by horse. A good distance, but still - it is within striking distance for the various armies readying up.

The last bits of planning are occurring... will any of it change the fate of the battle at hand?

It wasn't common for Kauchemar to be less ostentatious but it does on occasion happen. Like right now, as while she is standing near the map table her back is to it while her gaze is elsewhere. Everywhere and nowhere. Though one in the know might realize she's facing in the direction of Mac Anu. The Nightmare has been standing like that for a while, the only movement being the wind flicking through her punk rock purple mane and tail.

Until eventually she shakes her head. "I can't pinpoint when the actual Event is going to happen, not from here. Just the feeling that it's going to be 'soon'." Her stance shifted slightly to lean against her Grindcore Staff. "It would be best to finish planning while we can to be ready to move out."

Mikage is one of those sitting outside in the gardens. The wind lightly catches her white hair now and again and blows it forward across her face. The Were Fang's eyes are closed and she kneels in a very traditional Japanese fashion, her hands folded along her thighs and her breaths coming even. The pair of crystaline earrings that she wears glow faintly, giving off a certain power that some might be able to detect. It is a power that breaks the Laws of Alba, if only slightly.

"Everything is right on schedule." She speaks, her eyes moving behind her eyelids. "They know the Wave is coming, but they don't seem to be expecting us." Letting out a breath, Miki opens her eyes, then squints slightly as the world in front of her comes back into focus. She makes a soft sound of pain and rubs at her temple. "The Wave has one downside. They are heavily arming themselves to deal with it."

The Ranger continues to rub at her forehead, the effort of having used her Oracle abilities causing the shooting pain behind her eyes. "The Wave should still impact right as we planned. There's no significant change in the sand's flow." She's obviously been observing the Church and likely a few key places in Mac Anu.

    Rizadoman stands back away from the table and the map only because a large bulky lizardman would make it rather difficult to get to the map. Every now and then Rizadoman would look at the map and snort a little or sigh heavily. On his back is the shield and a new umbrella, retracted and slid under the shield as if it was a sword. He looks at those who can see what normal people can not, " So it is coming tomorrow around now then? "

    Staring at the map for a moment longer he looks at the others. "The main task of the wave I believe should be to get people into the sewers. They are long and maze like and if in the confusion we can put people down here they can work their way towards the captured Kunie. We will absolutely need the ability to break the crown down there in the sewer."

Haru is many things. Human. Tall. Hungry. Tired. He has the focus of a sleeping giraffe as he is sitting on one of the garden seats with his body overly leaning on it to the point where his head is looking skyward and his silver hair is freely falling behind him to catch the stray breeze. When he isn't in a Strange Mood he is working hard enough to be a bit high strung. When he IS in a Strange Mood he can see through time and space. A zombie-like hand raises from its rest at his side, "Can't we just look at the Church to tell the exact timing, Kau?" The hand falls. "Spyglasses and what not." Or fancy powers.

There it is with the fancy powers. "Perfect. So the Wave takes the front. We take the back. Shake a Kunie a few times. Melt it into an amorphous liquid. Shape it and supercool it around an alchemical catalyst. Apply an Enchantment effect. Call that batch a win." His mind drifted away from the topic pretty hard.

Chikako hmms softly as she watches all the go-around. She knows what her role will be: Get in there and hit stuff. "You sound pretty confident, boya," she comments to Haru as she watches the planners. "Do you really think the Wave will be that ... considerate? That they won't have guards on the Kunie?" She shrugs. "Think it through."

The Oni shrugs, not caring all that much. She fully expects everything to go horribly wrong from moment number one. So if anything does work out she'll be pleasantly surprised.

Kauchemar tilts her head as Mikage speaks up. She had been focused on her own viewing and not entirely noticed that the Ranger was doing similar. But now it's obvious Mikage had been doing similar, abiet in a different manner. Which seems to have had more clear results. A distance instead of a time ahead. Less prediction, but certainly more accurate in seeing what the enemy is doing.

"Spyglasses can't see through walls Haru," Kauchemar replies with patience after having been made aware of the craftering being in one of those weird moods. "And while my future sight could confirm the other predictions the Wave would occur at Mac Anu, I did not have the time to risk pinpointing the when."

She lifted herself from her staff and turned back to the table. "Possible, Chikako, but we will worry about that when the time comes to it... and deal with them without starting a fight if need be. Escalation will just draw the Guardians to us, and that would be that."

    Merek seems to think about it, dressed up in his dark attire while he pulls the hood up along his spiky ponytail. The man nods to everyone, "I don't know why it was thought this would be a great idea," he notes, though he doesn't really comment anything else, while he takes the time to watch people. "I want to know if we managed to make it easier for the people of the city to escape."

"We have a plan based off of active and current information, capable people to carry it out, and a cause to rally behind," Haru says to Chikako as his head rolls towards her, "its as formulaic as lime, soda, and silica. Nothing to it but to turn up the heat."

To Kau's response about spyglasses, Haru sharply raises his hand and points upwards, "Yet, Kau." Magical X-Ray spyglasses. Yes. Yes. Wait. No. Hand drops. Wait. Maybe. No. He loses a good three minutes to that one.

"Do we know exactly where the Kunie is being held yet?" Carbon asks, as he stands near the table, overlooking the maps. His own scouting had been poking at the patrols around Mac Anu for a couple of weeks, but with the wave coming it would undoubtedly change things up, "While I agree getting into the sewers needs to be a priority, we'll still need to know where we're headed once we get there."

Mikage looks towards Haru, her eyes still half-lidded as she tries to ward off the worst effects of using her power multiple times over the last few days. "He's in one of those weird moods, isn't he?" She asks, "He's starting to sound like Cyrus when he nerds out about things." She continues to kneel, but her posture slackens slightly, the earrings having now returned to their usual color.

"Unfortunately, without some kind of knowledge of /where/ we're looking at, I can't really focus my power onto it. Even a short time gives me a splitting headache and that place is a labyrinth." The girl pauses, giving an audible 'oof' as Rama decides that since she is done, that means her lap is a good place for him to sprawl. Petting her lynx companion, Miki adds, "Not that I think I could see into one of those places. They seemed... disconnected. Or at least, set appart from the rest of Alba."

    Rizadoman steps back from the table and paces for a moment, his tail flicking or slapping the ground here and there. " The guardians are still a factor. We can not actively participate with the wave people to fight the palace landers. So the question I have for the room is as followed, do we help repel the wave? At the same time if the scythe person could drive any of the palace landers out of Mac Anu..." Rizadoman trails off and looks at the two ladies with ancestrials ties to Delphi. "We appreciate all the information you have both gathered, we can not ask for more."

     Rizadoman stops and looks over at Merek, "I had a cousin, he would always talk about this source of great mud and how he was going there but after waiting and waiting to do it the mud had dried up and was no longer there. " Rizadoman waits to see if the anecdote to settle before he explains it, "Point being, if you wait you may miss an opportunity. The actions that have happened have happened, now we must make the opportunity work." Looking at the others he speaks to the room, " I think we need to establish the rules for this engagement, expectations, those sort of things. Does anyone have an opinion? "

"Yes, I do believe he is," Kauchemar replies to Mikage. "Haru doesn't distract easily, normally."

Then she shakes her head a bit at Rizadoman. "I know most of us don't like it, but we can't really get involved in fighting the Wave. It's likely the Palace Land forces would just ditch it upon us like they did to drive our allies out of their own nation. Only if they decide to abandon the city should we have people ready to step in... Otherwise depending on it to distract them from our operations is moot."

"Likely our best bet," she steps closer to the table, staff resting against a shoulder as she uses the other hand to tap at the map thoughtfully. "Is to get into the sewers first, and look for signs of where our unwanted company have been. Searchers, diviners... even our Oracle System Artes," a nod back to Mikage now that she's in on that info, "could be used, more effectively when we are 'in the area' rather than staring across time and space from afar. And while the opponent will likely be distracted, that is no reason we should entirely discard subtefuge."

Chikako spends several moments pouting at the thought of there -not- being a fight, and misses part of the conversation. Not that, to her opinion, there's much to miss, at this point. Everything is about how to -find- the people that need to be thumped, not the actual thumping itself.

"So what if they -do- abandon the city? Do we move in to protect it? Or do we focus on the Kunie?" It's only one of dozens of things that they'll likely need to address tonight, but it's a place to start.

Haru goes in sequence as he straightens up on the garden chair, "We don't know the exact location of the Kunie or the entrance to the Kunie's place. There is only a vague understanding, which is the sewers. We know that from when Mac Anu was taken." He takes a flask from inside of his jacket and takes the top off, sipping on something bitter. "So we have to do what Adventurers go best: improvise and explore. The Wave presents a distraction for that time table."

Next up, Mikage, as he says, "It is a real pane in the glass to focus right meow, so you are probably right." About being in a Weird Mood. He checks his own status effects to confirm it. Yup. There it is, starving and tired. He sniffs himself too in the 'Ive been wearing this a while, is it still good or should I do laundry' sort of way.

"I have an opinion," Haru says, shocking nobody in the process, "we focus on the sewers and do not engage topside until I have cracked a crown off of a Kunie, then move to the next phase where we neutralize the Palace Landers, and finally the Wave. It is a bit backwards from our normal methods, but think of it like a natural disaster. In War the weather and elements are used to turn the tides of battle. Windy conditions and Sun with archery. Floods and muddy terrain with heavy infantry. The high ground." Always have the high ground, young Skywalker. "It may be an uncomfortable truth, but the event is a phenomenon that is going to happen and its up to us smart people to use it wisely to do the most good with it."

"Rescuing the Kunie should be the top priority, assuming they do not abandon the city, as they could re-activate the guardians to assist us in driving them out." He also does frown a bit, "And in that same vein we must make sure not to engage any of their forces that could trigger a Guardian response."

Mikage begins to swipe her hand in the air, the one that isn't currently petting Rama, that is. She seems to be scrolling her inventory until suddenly a potion appears in her hand. She downs it, then sends the potion bottle back into storage. It doesn't really seem to take much other than the edge off the headache. Her blue eyes look to Merek. "I've already spoken to some of our contacts on the inside, and they're going to make sure that as many civilians are out of the way and safe as possible."

She shifts then, causing Rama to yowl as he is unseated. Pushing to her feet, she stretches her legs out, and then her arms over her head. "The Wave is going to hit where it hits, it's up to us to use it to the best advantage we can."

Walking over to join the others around the map. "Between my power and my combat map relic, I'll probably end up working logistics for us rather than being at the front of the fight." She scrunches her nose at that. "It's for the best, but I hate not being able to bring some pain where it needs to be delt."

She looks at the map, then shakes her head, immediately regretting the gesture. "They won't abandon the city, at least not until we reclaim the Kunie for our side." Rama decides that is the point to put his paws on the table, as if he had something important to say. "It's their last real hold in Yamato."

    Merek thinks about it a little, though he doesn't really have a lot to add. He does cross his arms while taking the time to listen to everyone, "I don't know that I will be able to do a lot besides let people escape. I have the power to grant speed to an entire town worth of people. Data Drain probably will not be useful here, and not any of the combat abilities."

    Rizadoman nods along with Haru's brief bit of clarity and then looks at Mikage and starts to dig through his inventory. " I hate this thing I can never find ...anything." Rizadoman sights and closes his inventory before he speaks up, "As was mentioned the sewers are a maze, we had a map of them around at one point. Perhaps Orcbolg has it, that would be beneficial. "Looking at the group he adds, " Last time I was in those sewers there were monsters down there, goblins and a dire alligator. We need to be wary of whats down there and be prepared for potential combat. However we will need to make sure we have plenty of shields in case we have to defend from palace landers."

"Like I said, we can't do much about the Wave or the occupation until we have the Kunie out of their control. Conflict should be kept to a minimum until then." Kauchemar doesn't have much else to add to that. "But once it is safe for our allies to engage, things will change in our favor quickly."

"Mmm," the Oni-girl muses. "Where do the sewers exit the city? If we can get in that way, we can hopefully avoid most of the fighting."

There is a look of sympathy that Mikage casts towards Rizadoman. "Mine is mostly full of monster drops I find, and all the potions Cyrus throws my way, sometimes quite literally." What is it with that Alchemist and tossing potion bottles around? Like something out of a video game.

"There will probably be defenses down in the sewers. Not just monters, but Palace Landers as well. So there will probably be plenty of use for people who can fight." The tone of voice from the Ranger suggests that she really wants to be among those searching for the Kunie, but this is just one of those situations where she is better served for everyone by remaining behind and using her power to keep track of all the goings on, since Oracles can communicate and bypass the usual chimlink restrictions.

She nods to Kauchemar. "I think that's the key. Solve the Kunie issue while most of their forces are distracted above. Then move in after. I think most of our forces will be waiting in the wings, hoping we can turn this opportunity to our advantage."

That unrestricted communication aspect is also why Kauchemar is intent on going with, so they have one on the 'inside' as well. It helps that she's good with Darkness and Sneaking though. Or be the 'tank' if the need arrises, but she's pretty sure too much fighting will be determental. "If and when we do fight, we need to be fast and effective about it. Drawn out combat is not our friend right now." Then she gives a glance towards Merek. "Be careful about trying to help people escape. Too much movement by people might tip off the enemy."

Chikako can't believe she just suggested avoiding fighting. She actually relaxes when Mikage reminds everyone that the tunnels won't be undefended. "Sounds to me like we have a plan. We should probably have some folks outside the city as a distraction, but... mmm. Maybe not. The locals might complain about us not helping deal with the Wave."

Haru doesnt have a lot to add that hasn't already been covered. He rocks in the chair, kicking it up on its back leg to get an idea of how much the debuffs are impacting his balance. "Sounds like there is a plan," he says. Really its the same plan, but it is good to go over it before one does it. Keeps it nice and fresh in the ole brain pan. He says this at about the same time Chikako does, giving a bemonocled stare her way. "So long as we can call the changes by ear, it will be fine. Plans dont survive contact with the enemy for long."