War of Dragons 2: Setting Out

The city of Mac Anu. The city that was once held by the Palace Lands, and amongst the Landers, has felt their influence, their harsh push the most. Many of the Landers are seeking to live their lives as they did before the occupation. But there's still a nervous undertone to some of them. After all, their reality - their sense of safety beneath a Root City - was shaken.

Thanks to some political talks, various ships of the Fourland Dukedom lay ready to ship out. There's multiple people carrying supplies onto the moored vessels in the harbor.

There's a lot of life going on in Mac Anu right now. Especially for the Adventurers planning to return to the Land of Dragons - the Palace Lands - in order to take the fight to them. To find the source of the corruption that took hold there, and pull it out in order to free the Adventurers. And if not... to dethrone the tyrants.

It's well into Winter however by now, and there's some snow that is making all the efforts harder. It's only 1 degree celcius, bringing it close to the freezing point even on the ground. Though the snow is melting a little ways after touching the ground for now. Still... it's pale, it's white, and it's pure. As is their mission.

Mikage is one of those who is helping to haul things onboard one of the ships. The Were Fang is well known for hating voyages by sea, and there is a clinking sound of bottles that suggests at least one of the boxes that she is carrying may just be a variety of Cyrus sea-sickness potions for the long journey.

A snowflake lands on the tip of her nose, and she scrunches it slightly before setting the boxes down onboard. Rama, being the cat he is, immediately sits ontop of the box. "You aren't going to like this journey any more than I will." She ruffles the lynx's ears.

She pulls her furred cloak up around her shoulders a little, "But at least you're warm." Mikage murmurs, blowing into her hands and then rubbing them together.

Yeowang is, as is her wont, checking the cargo before its loaded, marking each cargo off a checklist before sending the laborer onward aboard the ships. She's wearing a fine white furred coat over her black coat and breeches, and a hood of a heavy cloak pulled up against the cold, though her hands are necessarily out. Thin, elegant gloves don't do as much as she'd like to keep out the cold, but it's enough for the moment. The snow lands atop her, but she doesn't pay it any mind beyond watching her footing.

When they had been forced to evacuate Seeker's Landing, Shiruba had grabbed as many of the maps and documentation they had made as possible. They had been stored away, only to be moved again when the enemy siezed Shibuya, as part of an order to keep information out of the invaders' hands. For a while it was left... probably stashed in a back room of Gwen's shop. Who would think to search a tailorshop for cartography materials and zoology notes?

Now she had gathered up those various materials once more, packed with the other resources to be loaded aship for their journey. While things have certainly changed over there, it at least gives them some information to start working off of for their plans to reclaim the outpost. Then work inland from there.

It was winter. The floof of her tail and neck collar had grown thick for the season, but she had her winter jacket made by Gwen and a lined cloak for her more human body to keep warm with. A snowflake is puffed away. "Hopefully the weather out at sea won't be any worse."

    Rizadoman stands on the pier of the dock with a rather large pelt of an animal wrapped around him and often he would lower his snouth and breath into his hands warm air to try and warm himself. The lizardman physique was not the best for the cold. Looking up over at Mikage and adds his own two cents. "You mammals are both much more suited for this weather then myself."

     Shaking a moment to get the snow off of him he turns to go find another box to move, he just had to keep moving. As he grabs a box he shouts out to Shiruba, " Perhaps, perhaps they had a blizzard at Seeker's landing and had to retreat to warmer lands."

    Fukaziroh hated the whole idea of travelling by ship, at least once she'd actually done so and had a hell of a time doing it. She's gone back and forth a few times now though. This time... it'll be a bit spicier, considering there's a hostile navy out there. But the actual navigation seems to be a solved problem at least. The hatred of Fuka turned out to be much like her typical hatreds; short, intense, and quickly forgotten.

    Her only concession to the cold weather is to snug her regular coat in a little, and to wear a jaunty yellow scarf to provide a little protection for at least part of her ears and cheeks. Fuka seems cheerful at least, those cheeks flushed. "You saying you're cold-blooded?" she asks Rizadoman, snerking. "Does that help keep your breath warm? Or is this some kind of dragon breathing thing?" she asks curiously.

Kaydon hadn't been back in Mac Anu since he had presented the leaders with their weapons. Now he was in a much more clear mindset, he was able to take in the hustle and bustle of the activity in the city. It was nice to see it back in action.

While armored, even Kaydon was bundled up in a heavy fur cloak, and was in his were fang form as usual, the gnoll taking a moment to huddle near a fire after loading a crate onto the ship, "If you think it's cold now it'll be worse once we're out on the ocean. I expect everyone will mostly want to stay below decks."

"I really hope not." Mikage agrees with Shiruba. Despite two years of travel by boat, she hsa never developed any so-called 'sea legs'. "Otherwise it's going to be another miserable journey." Thumbing over her shoulder, she adds, "At least I had Cyrus stock us with potions."

The comment from the resident lizard is met with a slight lift of her lips. "Well, maybe if you wore a bit more layers you'd feel a bit warmer? Cyrus and I were traveling in Fourland last winter, so we had a tailor make up a set of winter gear. For a Snow Leopard, Cyrus hates the cold with a passion."

Taking a moment to swipe through her inventory, Mikage takes out one of the original building maps of Seeker's landing. It had likely been made by a combination of efforts from Shiruba, Jazuhanzu, and Mikage. "Snow will make it harder for us to set up some kind of shelter when we get there, and make it more difficult to cover our tracks." The Ranger is already thinking about what they will do when they arrive.

Shiruba pats her longcoat. "Contrary to what people might think some of the things Gwen makes for me are practical."

Mikage pulls out one of the maps and comments on the snow and tracks. "Good thing Windburn doesn't leave tracks. But if it's cold and windy she won't be able to fly very far or for very long. Still, we can get a view on things from multiple angles." She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe this time I can actually tame a Palace Land animal. My skills were still too undeveloped last time, save some really common things like those damned rat-seagulls that were always loitering about to steal food."

Yeowang nods at what Kaydon says, and comments to Shiruba, "The weather at sea is /always/ worse. I don't know if it's because of the lack of anything to block the wind, the lack of place to get warm," because big fires on a ship are bad, "or what. We must simply plan for it." Rizadoman gets a smirk, and she seems about to make a comment before remembering that he's one of the deep RPers. "Yes," she agrees, and only says, "How odd." She clearly hasn't got the hang of the RP thing.

Mikage raises a good point, though, and she asks, "So, this will not be a direct assault from the sea, but a landing, then preparation and then assault?" Her own plans of Seeker's Landing are likely copied from Mikage's, or from the same source, so she's mostly familiar. She did have a lot to do with the construction there. She smirks about Shiruba's coat, and agrees, "All of our skills have improved, I think. I hope it will be enough."

"If there's one thing I excel at, it's a beach landing." Kaydon is proud of his service, sure he never did a beach landing quite like this one. His had helicopters and tanks.

"But it's too early to do much more than try to draw up a general plan. We won't have any idea what the tides and weather will look like until we get closer."

    Rizadoman places the box on the deck of the ship and secures it before he pulls his arms in close to him under the pelt. "I had slightly hoped that like proper manity members they would have suspendedthe war for the winter. I could have hibernated in my room and the library like last year and we could of picked back up early spring." There is a hint of him trying to make a joke about it but the shivering is enough to perhaps acknowledge Rizadoman's cold bloodness afterall.

     As he is about to move off the ship to get another box he stops and instead moves toward the others. "Getting to the Land of Dragon is a good step in its own way. It would allow us an opportunity to scout out seeker's landing and if needed lay seige and cut off supply lines. We could do further up the coast and land and attempt to come in from there."

     As if some force was reminding Rizadoman of the weather though a cold wind blows and seems to smack the lizardman in the face as it cuts through him and he is forced to shiver, "However Mikage's point is valid, shelter will be a problem. Not many natural shelters around Seeker's landing that are not already occupied and without shelter.... " Taking a glance at Fukaziroh he grins , "We will all wish we knew secret dragon breathing techniques."

    "Ah, I remember my first beach landing." Fuka says with an upswell of fond memory. There she was, fallen face first onto land, just glad to be alive and on solid ground, utterly undignified. Good times man, good times.

    She turns to regard Yeowang, with a glance at Mikage. "I don't think we can know for sure what's going to be there on the far shore." she muses. "We can hope they aren't protecting the Landing, but we probably should assume they might? As long as they aren't defending the shore in force we can probably punch through a weak defense easily enough, secure the Landing, and fortify. But that sounds like a lot of wishful thinking to me. Are they really going to make it that easy for us to attack them? And if they do... what're they up to?"

    Again she turns back to Rizadoman. "I have a secret technique for a body of fire! Maybe I'll teach it to you some day!" she grins. "Hmmm. Maybe they HAVE suspended the war for the winter, and we're about to start it up again?" she offers.

"We may very well need to call upon Windburn and Rama as well as any other animals we can get a hold of. It's a high level area, so monsters and animals might be the perfect distraction." Mikage's hands wear half-gloves, with the fingers bare. She motions to an area north of Seeker's Landing, closer to the 'cheek' of the dragon. "It's probably safest to land here, we should be able to stay mostly out of sight on our approach."

Shifting the map slightly, her finger taps on the parchment. "The area all up and down the coast near Seeker's Landing is woodland, which should make it relatively easy to set up shelter. It's the monsters we need to watch out for. Most of them were raid-level before we left, but I imagine our levels have increased a bit since then so we might be able to post smaller guard groups." She doesn't seem entirely certain of that, brows furrowed.

Lifting her eyes towards Yeowang, a few strands of white hair blow into Mikage's face sa she nods. "I don't think a direct assault would be a good idea. They'd be able to see our approach and be far more prepared for it. I think our best bet is to set an assault by land, and have Fourland bring their ships in as support once we've initiated." Unlike some others, Mikage has no actual tactical training, but she does know Seeker's Landing better than most.

Soujiro Seta is around. Technically he is a Samurai (or Ronin). The notion of going across the sea isn't hitting fertile ground in his brain. The whole ordeal with Ezzo was enough for him and the followup events with the blockade kept it in strong validation. He sips his tea. Of course there could be means of catapulting people ashore. That would be interesting, sip.

The blue haired samurai brews a fresh pot of tea, leaving several cups available and the pot itself for pouring as he wanders over.

"It may be a less familiar land, but we have some of the finest outdoors people amongst the Alliances. We will make things work." Shiruba drums her fingers upon some of the forest markings. "And that's not a bad idea. If we can force them to divide their attention, see threats from more than one angle..." Strategy was one of Shiruba's stronger suits, just normally it was directed against monsters and bosses, not other Adventurers, or Lander armies. And thinking about that last one makes her tail twitch in aggitation. She still dislikes that Landers have suffered from this. On both sides of the battle lines. "But in the end, it's all just general consideration until we have a better idea of what there is to work with. And against."

Yeowang arches a brow at Kaydon, but recalls he was a marine. Nodding about not drawing up a plan until closer, she wonders, "Is there anything we can do at this stage that will help?" She says to Rizadoman, "Keeping in mind that Seeker's Landing was designed like a fortress because it was such a high-level area, I think we should expect to have serious issues living off the land there. We had several pitched battles just to hold the encampment, if you all remember?" But as far as suspending operations for the winter, she says, "You have read too much history. Suspending operations does not happen in the age of trucks and portable heaters. Not even in Korea," which is about as far north as anywhere in the player source zone.

She hrms at what Fuka says, and comments, "If they are alive at all, they will be fortified as hard as they can." As Mikage explains the landing plan, she nods, and agrees about the direct landing making it hard to land by surprise. "I see," she agrees. "That sounds like a wise tactic." And she nods again at what Shiruba says, "If you can capture some of the dangerous animals closeby the Landing, that will be a force multiplier also."

    Rizadoman looks at the wooden deck, the claws of his feet scratching the wood for a moment as he listens and ponders. It all sounded valid and well thoughtout as best as it could. There was one extra bit, clearing his throat a little as he looks at the deck, he begins to speak as he raises his head back up. "I think we should consider not killing anyone in seeker landing. We suppress them, knock them out, but no fatalities. If we pull it off, well it turns a 24 hour notice that trouble occured to possibly weeks without them noticing." It was a possible idea anyway.

     At Yeowang mentioning on what can be done at this stage Rizadoman is struck with an idea, one that causes him to gloss over all that other crazy talk about trucks and heaters. "We can't decide things because we don't know what is going on over there. "Pausing as he glances over at Mikage, "Those with the power of sight that transcends normal abilities could in theory see over there right? Is there anyway that can be used?"

"Well, Seeker's Landing is certainly fortified, but as we've all seen, ourselves... it's not without weak points. It's just a matter of using them to our advantage." It's impossible to know exactly what the Palace Landers have done to the outpost, but even the most sturdy walls sometimes have cracks.

She turns blue eyes towards Rizadoman, her expression skeptical. "We can certainly try, but if it is our lives or theirs, I know who I am choosing." Not that it is a bad idea, but simply a difficult one. "They dedicated a lot of their forces to trying to overtake Yamato, so I'm hoping that means they won't have as much left for guarding a small outpost that doesn't serve them much, tactically." Though it /is/ quite useful to the invading Yamato Adventurers.

With a nod, Mikage taps at the side of her head, "I can get a view inside once we get closer. Not much point in giving myself a headache trying to use that kind of power until we've set up a base-camp."

Kaydon wanders back to the group after getting a cup of coffea to drink. It's nice and warm, which is a bit helpful, but the chill is still to the bone, "I hate going in with absolutely no intel. So not rushing a well defended beach we know nothing about the defenses of does sound good to me. I'm hoping they'll still be reeling from getting driven out by us and won't have had time to set up defenses..."

Yeowang arches a brow at Rizadoman's idea not to kill anyone at Seeker's Landing to preserve the element of surprise. "It will be a neat trick," she concludes, "but effective if it can be done. Then it will be like what happened to us at the Tenth Wave." In the sense of unable to communicate, anyhow. She nods to Mikage about Seeker's Landing having weak points, and nods again about looking one we are closer. As to not setting up their defenses, she says, "They will certainly know that their forces on this side of the ocean have been uprooted. I am more worried that they set themselves up at Seeker's as a base, and now it's all but overflowing. I do not think they would, Seeker's would not support that many, though they may have landed there before returning to their home ports. We are less likely to catch them completely by surprise, though by not following them immediately, it /may/ lull them into complacency thinking we do not have the wherewithal to pursue them." She does not sound as if she will be betting any money on that, though. "They do not understand that our Landers stand with us, and us with them."

Soujiro Seta drinks that freshly brewed tea. Its not quite coffea. Its better. He is focusing on that sensatation at it tickles his tongue and settles on the back smoothly with a full sip. Soft steam rises off off of the ceramic bowl held in hands so he can really feel the heat. Breathe in the tea goodness. Sip.

There is a candid smile as he listens to the various ideas. Exploiting weak points. A beach landing. Being nonleathal. Sip.

"It'll be fine," is his contribution to the strategic(?) meeting. Really, nothing worth getting turn up over. They will go in, rend people up, and either zip back to a church or zip people back. Souji isn't one to overthink it. "Strike hard. Strike fast. Look out for the person to the left and the right of you." Sip. He is with Mikage. Nonlethal would be nice but if its the difference between an ally getting hurt or an enemy getting cut in half? It wouldnt even be a thought.

Shiruba idly taps the map with a fingertip. "Hopefully we can do something about the intel matter once we make landfall." That's why we have all these rangers and hunters going, right? Well one of the reasons. "And hopefully that we're taking the effort to learn more about the situation before charging will work out for us in the end."

Mikage gives a quick nod of agreement to Soujiro. While the Yamato Adventurers no longer had to fear that they would respawn somewhere under Palace Land control, they still needed to be careful. "Agreed. We need to fight smart and protect each other." There is a slight twitch of her lips, perhaps thinking of something that she doens't quite say outloud.

Then, she looks to Shiruba, "We've got our stealth and observation abilities, and so long as we can get close, I can also use my mini-map relic as well." She offers, "And from a distance, I can observe their movements with that weird power of mine. That should offer a good chunk of intel once we land."

With that said, she looks towards a nearby cart, which obviously belongs to Cyrus. "I... should get back to loading things onboard. And figure out where that damn cat went off to." She is likely talking about the /person/ rather than her lynx, who is now dozing on top of some of the supplies.

"Your power is more useful than mine at times like this, weird or not." Shiruba picks up her pack of stuff. "We can discuss more possible tactics on the trip." She gives a sharp whistle... and after a moment a cry comes from the deck of one of the ships. "Sounds like Windburn already went to find somewhere warmer to roost. Probably should do the same. Talk to you guys later."

Yeowang nods gravely to Shiruba. "We will be doing both things." Soujiro's fatalistic approach draws a frown, though, and says, "A stab in the heart is more effective than a stab in the arm. Our aim /is/ important; too important to leave to chance." She agrees with Mikage and Seta about the fighting smark, of course, but we won't know more, it seems, until Mikage does her investigation thing. Alas, her own talents will not be useful at all, as it requires line of sight, as far as she knows. "Landing in secret is definitely called for, then. Is there any way we can obscure ourselves on our approach?" She nods farewell as Shiruba departs, checking more workers loading supplies and updating her lists.

Soujiro Seta's approach is simple and simple plans are often the best ones. He replies to Yeowang's frown with a smile. "It will be okay," be echoes with a soothing Souji confidence of light and goodness and sparkles. All the sparkles. There is a turn of the head and a slight nod of departure to Shiruba and Mikage. Tea sip. That was the last sip of this particular bowl. The Edo style fashioned samurai makes his way back to the tea set he brought and starts the unhurried process of cleaning it up. One does not rush that which is tea!

Soujiro Seta finishes up the cleaning of his tea set and offers the assembled a smile and wave. The Samurai has a few things left to do before calling it a day/night. Undoubtedly it involves TRAINING and tracking down a ghastly night in a desert!