(1874-01-23) Planned Agression
Planned Agression
Summary: Helena and Ludovic talk about their strategy, his families blade Lady Ruin and sidhe steel.
Date: 23rd Jan 2018
Related: QatunaxStories
NPCs: None
Players:
Ludovic  Helena  

Daemon's Hall, Hellmouth Province
One of the studies of Daemon's Hall has been converted into a temporary War room. A huge Map of the county and surrounding areas is on the wall at the back, and a huge round table has been converted into a strategy styled map that currently has pins and other markers for formations, forts, paths, and other things.
23rd jan 1874

One of the studies of Daemon's Hall has been converted into a temporary War room. A huge Map of the county and surrounding areas is on the wall at the back, and a huge round table has been converted into a strategy styled map that currently has pins and other markers for formations, forts, paths, and other things. Looking it over as battleborn Skirmishers, and a few d'Bartone blackstaffs come running in to give their initial recon assessments. "Hmmm, the old imperial pass would make for a wonderful choke point.. someone send for the Viscount… Time for his excellency to make a choice." She says, wearing a simple red dress with a black vest over it, not as fancy as her ball gown, but still, much more appealing than her usual tunic and trousers that she used to wear. "And make sure this missive here gets to Sir Callahan, tell the old dog I need him ready to set up a base camp on the plains outside the mountains within two days. Three ditched mind, and I want the dug up earth to be support for temporary walls." She instructs.


It doesn't take long for the Viscount to show up. His eyes flick around the room she's in and then he steps inside and moves to lounge against the wall by the fireplace. "Looks like things are going alright in here." he says comfortably, his gaze already flicking over the details on the tabletop. He's already intimately familiar with the other parts afterall. "Is this a proper meeting?" he asks. "Or just between you and me?" He glances to the door and then back to her. "Don't see the others who'd make it proper but." a shrug. Might be i'm early. "With the tourney over Ludovic is back in his cavalier style gear with a voluminous white shirt tucked under a dark yellow jerkin and then finished with a dark yellow knee-length overcoat. The boots are folded down so they end at his knees and he's wearing wearing his hat despite the interior being lit by nothing but whale-oil lamps.


Helena looks up and offers a smile. "Just you, Because you will call the formal meeting once we have a plan of attack, your problem, you just pay me to think about it." She says with a smile as she motions for him to come over. "Okay so, There are two things we can do. One, the least likely, is to send multiple armies through the passes and hope their line commanders don't screw up, since I don't have Kaedon nor chandus as line commanders, and Ramius hasn't been around since mathis…I don't think you'd want hot headed knights to make a mad dash to get as far as they think they can go and thin out their lines. The second idea, is to pick the main pass, put a forward base camp in it, and collapse everything else. Bottleneck the bastards and run them through a western meat grinder. We push them back step by step, and my skirmishers and the blackshafts can easily use traps and other things to easily lead he savages right into a wall of horned spears and Heathen kite shields. It will be slow, but methodical and thorough, and if they get the bright idea to attack en masse, then they will be in for a shock."


"Thanks." Ludovic pushes up from the wall and moves to stand next to her. "Don't mind you getting the credit for your own plans but, gotta be seen to be strong, you know?" He looks over the stuff she's talking about. "No, no big attacks just yet. I only got two goals right now. I need a strong defensive line in case they suddenly decide to get frisky with strong lines of communication and the ability for the groups to back each other up." He grimaces. "Know what I want. Just not done that sorta thing before, you know? And I dont figure it's time to learn on the job when failing matters so much." He indicates the area he's talking about with his fingertip as he goes. "Willing to leave the implementation of that entirely to you. Got new troops to add in an such so my father's line aint gonna be the best setup anymore." He glances at her and then eyes the pass itself. "Yeah. A forward camp isn't a bad idea. I dont wanna just sit back and let them get settled in. I wanna pick up the raids again. Get in, hit em and achieve something and then get the hell out before they can respond. I'm hoping the peace talks will wrap up and we'll get a real force in here come the summer to push them out. For now we just gotta hold and do what we can."


Helena shakes her head. "Holding them in isn't a great idea, it's good, but they get complacent. Raids are good, but maybe if we add galenthian fire to it. There must be a lot of passes we can 'drop' a few gifts down in. War shock is a very real thing. We push lightly if you like, but we have to push, raid, burn, push raid burn push. This forward camp will eventually be our reserve camp, because we will have to make a new one, also, that will enable us to deal with the imperials if they get a head to try what the savages did. I know you like her, but an imperial running around is a security risk."


Ludovic nods at her. "Not planning to sit around herding cows Helena. I just don't have enough men. Even if it wasn't the winter I couldn't attack them hard enough to follow up with your plan. Maybe if we coordinate with County Arkanin, maybe." He frowns a little as she brings up the Imperials. "Why should I be worried about the imperials? Even if they are still around, there is a whole kingdoms worth of Qatunax between me and them." he frowns again, giving Helena a serious look. "What did you hear? Are they planning something?" Another frown, another studying look. "You really think we can push our defensive lines forward just by raiding?"


Helena blinks. "It's called caution, you remember what the Imperials did to Marinor right? one hundred years ago? There maybe a kingdom between us and them, but what's stopping them from pushing as well? and then, once there is only us and them? what's stopping them from thinking they can take us on? I know what a shield wall can do, heck, My preferred fighting style is with a shield, but they train day in and day out with a shield." She says with a frown. "We take back what's yours, and then build a fucking wall, put a huge gate on it, and write 'no savages allowed' simple as that." She says as she exhales. "And it's not just raiding, we have to keep them thinking that there will be trouble, weaken their morale, and when it is time in the spring to start attacking, once the war is over, I can call in more troops for you here, remember, I just brought the battleborn, that's three hundred, I can double that once the kentaire thing is over. Probably see if my countess will devote a few hundred to us as well, the shadowsnakes would be very useful, they would thrive in this setting."


"Alright." Ludovic says when she's done talking. "I wasn't planning to be that aggressive, this early, but this is why you're here. Call the others in for the briefing and we'll start pushing. Lord Clinton d'Bartone, Lord Augin d'Korbina, myself and you will go over the finer details then." He glances back to the map, obviously not entirely comfortable with the plan so far but then he did say he's going to support it. "We'll discuss it with the smaller participants, like Centurion Olivia later." He looks back at Helena. "A d'Cadri arrived today. He asked to be allowed to join any forward camps as a researcher. Said he was alright in a fight and" he shrugs "He's a d'Cadri so he was probably just being modest. They are a pretty martial house. More so than we were, that's for sure."


Helena shakes her head. "Not yet, friday I will have a proper warm meeting and briefing that morning, for now, I sent Sir Boris to get a stable camp outside that pass ready, we need the supplies moved, because when we do this, it's going to be quick and efficient. I don't want others knowing, talking about it, and some 'scout' hearing about it and we end up sending a recon party into a wall of savages." She says as she writes something down and rolls it up, handing it to Ludovic. "Lumber and tools, and please make sure your troops know how to dig a ditch and shore up a wall, there will be alot of labor going on for defenses." She says as she looks back at her map. "d'Cadri wants to study them? There will be plenty of corpses for him to study… I'll get him one of their spears or something."


"Not for a briefing Helena." Ludovic says. "We need to bang out the details. They all bring hundreds of troops to the table so, they gotta know what's going on. In fact, the raging bulls commander needs to be there too. The others, the ones lower down? Those we can bring in last minute." he shrugs at that. "Don't care if Lord Sir whatever his name is gets offended." The scroll is accepted and he gives her a rueful shake of his head. "My men are trained perfectly well Helena. You don't need to worry about details like that. As for d'Cadri, his name is Avellino, and it's just him, not his House doing the studying. Honestly, the studying, is something I've wanted for a while. I gotta know how they did what they did with Mount Tharsis. So you need to make him part of this."


Helena frowns. "Well then you tell them, you're the boss, this is just advice." She says as she doesn't even look up. "Mount Tharsis was probably the same type of thing that cause the massacre at mathis." She looks up at him. "If it's not the same person, then we don't need two of those bastards running around, so when we come across him or her… their ass is mine." She says before looking back down. "You are the commander, you have the final say, just remember, I could have been as good as the blood dragon with a sword if I didnt devote myself to things like this." She says as she continues looking over the map. "Hmm, how good is the river trade? think we can get a secure supply line there and lead it along this road to the pass?"


"Helena." Ludovic says. "I ain't going to assign kills to people. If their sorcerers come into the line of fire then we kill them, any of us." He shakes his head again. "And you are here to help me with the details. So no, I'm not going to just walk in there and tell them - Oh we're setting up a base camp. See you on Friday. There's a lot of stuff that needs working out on top of that." He puts his hands on the edge of the tabletop and looks directly across at her. "How long are you committing to be here, on this front? Last time I asked it was a week but that's obviously changed. How long now?"


Helena frowns. "I said a week, once the forward base camp is established and everyone knows their place and duty, then I'll be back in four corners, until the spring when we really let them have it." She says as she looks across the table at him. "all this stuff that needs 'working out' should be left to you and your quartermaster… please tell me you have a quartermaster?"


"Ah still a week." Ludovic nods and straightens up. "In that case I want you to give me a detailed plan of your recommended defense line, a detailed plan of the forward camp you've got in mind, including supply and communication lines, and this push you have detailed. I'll need plans for that too. I know enough about command to implement it from that then. River transport is very good here in Aequor and I have a large number of light cavalry types that can easily be used for communication lines." He gives her a brief, wry, grin. "Sorry I thought you were staying from the way you spoke. I'll be happy with that, and you can avoid talking to the officers too. For payment." He considers a bit. "I can tell the others that you authored those plans and I can gift you some cattle. Sound good?"


Helena blinks. "Cattle and credit… It's a start." She says with a wry smirk. "Does d'Korbina happen to have a Sidhe steel blade in it's vaults? Not to keep, but to borrow maybe?"


Ludovic blinks at this question. "Nobody, and i mean nobody, would ever lend you a Sidhe steel blade."


Helena blinks. "Cattle and credit… It's a start." She says with a wry smirk. "Does d'Korbina happen to have a Sidhe steel blade in it's vaults? Not to keep, but to borrow maybe?"


Ludovic blinks at this question. "Nobody, and i mean nobody, would ever lend you a Sidhe steel blade."


Helena chuckles. "I said blade, not axe or hammer. Besides, if you did have one, I'd marry you and convert right now just so that I could use it in combat." She says with a very wild look in her eyes. "Well.. convert openly anyway."


Ludovic gives Helena an amused smile. "Much as I appreciate your eagerness to get hold of Lady-Ruin. You are married."


Helena slowly she advances on him. "So it's true!" She says, slowly stalking him like a bear who sees a nice fat fish. "Let me see it…"


Ludovic tilts his head back and laughs. "You have no end of ambition do you Lady Helena?" He grins at her, not backing up an inch despite her mannerisms. "Lady Ruin is somewhere very safe, intended for my Georges, but maybe, when I get all these things you promised, I will let you see it."


Helena pushes him against the wall, nose to nose with him, the look in her eyes starting to glow. "Do you know what a sidhe steel blade could do in my hands? Do you know what I could do with such power?" She says as her hands ball up against his shirt. "Show me." She has a one track mind.


Ludovic grunts slightly as he's pushed into the wall, his eyes meeting Helena as he makes it clear he is not subdued. "I'm not showing you anything when you're like this."


Helena frowns and let's go of his shirt. "And I thought you liked it rough." She says as she brushes out the wrinkles in his shirt. "Suit yourself." She says as she walks back over to the table and looks down at her map. "Besides, I doubt anyone would let a heather ever have a sidhe steel blade, it's as much a target on your back as a boon… but such a boon."


"Was that you're idea of foreplay?" Ludovic quirks his eyebrow up, his mouth smirking. "Because I thought it was an attempt to intimidate me in a way that would have most viscounts cut off your head."


Helena chuckles. "No, that was me having a lapse of judgement and really wanting to see your sword." She says. "if I wanted to intimidate you, I'd rip this table in half without the use of magic." She says with a smile. "Don't tease a sword master when there is a possibility of a blade that will make them give up their life's work for."


"Yeah. I figured it was just a lapse else i'd have killed you." Ludovic says easily as he makes himself comfortable against his bit of wall. "You know nothing would make me give up my families blade though. Nothing. That sword means to much and the stuff its made of is pretty much irrelevant. Its old, but there's nothing wrong with that edge." He crosses his legs at the ankles, letting the wall keep him upright. "So." He grins knowingly at her. "About liking it dirty.."


Helena chuckles. "You wouldn't kill me, because then you'd have to wait for ramius to come down here, since he is the only other person who could do as good of a job as me. Unless you want the betrayer, but he might just take what he conquers, my duchess knows that all to well." She says with a snicker, it's known she isn't happy with the old prune. Should sokar turn on kaedon, she would easily convince Sonya to ally herself with tarris. "No sidhe steel sword, no dirty time." She says as she looks up with an evil smile.


"I can command this myself Helena." Ludovic points out. "Just because I saw an option to trade for the use of your skills doesnt mean I dont have them myself. We have a trade here, not an act of charity." He pushes off from the wall and gives her shoulder a light squeeze. "Guess you just don't do it for me Helena."


Helena chuckles. "Probably, you don't like women on top, granted, I'm also not a sniveling little slip of a woman who faints when you talk about raw sex." She says with a wink. "But as you said, I'm married, and those vows are held until there is a sidhe steel sword in my hand." She says as she stands up and gives a yawn. "But I shall turn in for the night, I promised my squire sword training in the morning, I'm sure the whole fortess will be around for that." She says with a smirk.


Ludovic laughs. "Don't much care for those either." He gives Helena's cheek a tap and then moves away, heading for the door. "Might come watch myself. Never claimed you weren't nice to look at."

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