Empires of Ashes Reboot

Mordred smiles but doesn’t look up from his writing
“Archers, they will likely start off as a screen. Denying and slowing the enemy advance until they are forced to fall back. “

"If your life matters to you so much, you are in the wrong profession."

yenefasi shoots back, without breaking eye contact. "Caltrops. they've got those too."

“Then I’d expect them to be used against the enemy, to slow their advance and allow your archers time to loose another volley or fall back”

"That will create a no go area for our own cavalry however, so i would instead suggest we use them to carpet the enemies approaches under cover of darkness, perhaps even poison the barbs."

“Perhaps, it depends on how they are deployed. Caltrops are as much a threat to men as they are to horses. If the enemy must advance over treacherous ground, it will be a slow one as men attempt to avoid losing a foot. This will make then easy targets for our archers. By time they rout, the area will be full of corpses meaning our cavalry will be able to pursue with only minor concern. Though the use of caltrops will be determined by the battlefield.”

"...Quite." She is obviously unnerved by mordreds use of the word minor.

Akari: Light infantry are useless in a real fight anyway.

Yenefasi: "By real fight, I assume you mean the senseless melee?"

"Nothing senseless about it"

"I beg to differ. Why risk your life in a crush when the enemy can be defeated by starvation, fear, or arrows?"

“What about when you run out of arrows, or if they salley out to meet you?”

"You can do arrows without light infantry. They're just chattle. Chaff. A means to slow the enemy with their lives as the cost."

"Well firstly, don't run out of arrows. War is supply, none of this honour and heroics fluff."

"That only applies in a siege."

“Or a campaign”

"What else is there but a siege and campaign? Besides this boyish concept of a field battle." she says dismissively.

“If you are under siege and your enemy can afford to try and starve you out, you must salley out and fight in the field no? When you raid enemy supply caravans, you must fight them”

"When you raid an enemy caravan, you overwhelm them in the dark, if you are in a position to be starved under siege, you have made a mistake. An open battle is the worst move a general can make."

"This is what loyalty to purse over anything else gets you, Mordred. Cowardice so great you will find any excuse to avoid risk. I'm surprised you can even draw your weapon without being afraid you may cut yourself."

Mordred laughs and looks up at the pair

“The worst move a general can make is being too afraid to fight his foe. Do you believe that an open battle is just two armies walking into eachother?”

She smiles, wide and Cheshire, pulling the fruit knife from her belt. As she speaks, she twirls the blade, flashing in the sunlight pouring in from the tall windows, bright as her teeth. "I do not fight if i am not going to win. But if i am going to fight, i make sure, i am going to win." On the last word, she flicks the blade into the air, watching it tumble handle over blade, holding out one insolent finger in its path... The blade lands handle down, then drops flat into her palm.

Akari glowers, spitting at the floor. "Never trust mercenaries mordred. There is a special place in yomi for their suffering."

“Victory is never assured”
Mordred stands up, this time looking to Akari
“Akari, why is it that you distrust mercenaries?”

"Why?" *she glares at mordred for a moment* "Because a warrior, a soldier, fights for a cause. For their people, for their nation, or for their lord. For something greater than they are. They kill, and risk their lives for something they believe in. Mercenaries fight only for their purse. They enact death and suffering on the men and women who do fight for something greater than themselves, for the sake of a few coins. War is grim, painful, and horrific. But why you fight is what matters, what drives you to feats of glory, what brings out the best, or worst in us. It shows us who we really are. *she glares at Yenefasi again* You kill the brave men and women of other nations, or the cowering slaves forced to war by their kelthrovi masters, for your own enrichment and nothing more. And you don't even have the decency to give them the chance to defend themselves as all men deserve. You disgust me like none other than the kelthrovi slavers."

For once Mordred is actually silent, simply nodding as Akari speaks

Yenefasi's smile does not falter, it is rather obvious she's had this sort of venom thrown her way before. "War is a profession like any other. If you are good at something, never do it for free."

LI: She will likely kill you if you continue to antagonise her, mercenary.

Yenefasi: "She will not Clavae, i have a fruit knife." She waggles it between her thumb and forefinger menacingly.

LI: I do no jest.

Yenefasi: "Neither do i..."

LI:...I would not test her.

Yenefasi smiles at LI. "I suppose you're right, she may not be paying, but she is technically a client."

Akari's glaring continues

Trajan glances at Ket, eyebrow raised

Ket shrugs, evidently not willing to embroil himself in the sword measuring contest.

She smiles at akari, knowing that this is by far the most abrasive thing she could have said, while retaining the veneer of politeness.

Trajan: if you're...quite finished.

“Do we have a map of the terrain surrounding Stracia?”

"We do. Why?"

“I’d like to look at it, work out potential routes the enemy may take and where best to engage them”
He takes the letter he was writing and quite neatly folds it up before summoning one his guards and silently ordering him to have the letter sent immediately

Trajan: very well.

“That and I’m curious”

Ket: "Stracia lies alone, with nought but savanna for miles around."

Mordred: “No villages or anything? Farmsteads?”

Ket: "It is a cursed place. There are other ruins, but no farmer would settle nearby."

Mordred: “Cursed?”

Trajan: so the kelthrovi believe.

“What sort of curse?”

"the sort that involves dragon based genocide"

“Ohh, my favourite”
His face practically lights up at the mention of dragons

"Stracia, as you know, was the capitol of the empire of the same name. It was burned first for its sins."

“So the people believe that the city is still a target?”