Darkness Rising

[The Colonel]

Bill sighs and starts directing his uncroaked into classifying and separating the elven corpses by both Class and level saying "Anyone want to help me here?"
(Lv 1 Archers get one pile, Lv 2 Archers another and so on.)

[MarbitChow]

Again, I am aware that we cannot gain the Alt Elves as proper Natural Allies that allow us to pop more...but can they willingly Turn to us after Junetta, Triage, and Wanderus talk to them? Or do they require magical Turnamancy?

Magical turnamancy would be much faster, but both Coil's and Triage's methods can eventually win them over thanks to Stockholm... I mean Erfholm Syndrome. Coil's method about twice as fast, but is likely to make them much more sullen, submissive and passive.

Also, see my question above about Partial Crafting for Golems.

Yes, since you level at the end of the elves' turn, you can begin partial-crafting overnight and continue in the morning once your Juice is refilled. If you could convince other units to part with some Restore Juice potions, you might even finish one or two before the Tenebris turn even begins. Best of luck with that!

[The Colonel]

I'll go with Triage here!

[0beron]

"Sorry friend, I have work of my own to begin." Vinny shrugs to Bill, heading back to 'his' room, toting a bale of hay. In his brief time here he had commandeered the room so to speak, setting up a dressmakers manikin and a spinning wheel. On the wall hung bolts of fabric that he had spun from hay, although he had something different in mind for the particular bale he had at the moment. "Speaking of help though...I could use some more Juice if you folks have potions to spare...I've got a bit of work ahead of me refilling the ranks." Vinny comments.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Junetta, Wandereus and Triage intercept Coil as he's about to lead the Altruist Elves away.

"Careful, Tesla," Junetta warns. "These units are healers, and thus fall under our protection. Without a direct order from Tod, we shall not allow you to 'play' with them until they are turned and can choose for themselves, and we shall not allow your methods to be used to attempt such turning. We don't want them broken."

Wandereus crosses his arms and glares and Coil. Triage offers an arm to each Altruist, and together the group makes its way towards one of the many parlors within the city, where they can speak in relative comfort, out of the view of the dozens of elven corpses.

William chuckles at this sight. Well, it appears someone will get a proper welcome to the side for a change.

[Swodaems]

The battle is over. Time to rejoice.

I believe we have a night of RP usable time ahead of us. Our turn is tomorrow, after the Archons have to leave.

As the battle ends, and before Armolad has disappeared, I shout out "Areolawyn, I wish to speak again with your master." (For those who have forgotten, Areolawyn is the Elven thinkamancer. She and The King in Green are probably using Armolad's eyes to watch the battle. I do have a bracer that let's me make calls, but I prefer to spare its charges whenever possible. I have plans to use both of them later.) The King in Green is probably a bit shocked at the loss of his force. He wasn't taking us seriously before, and has suffered because of it. Now is the time to determine how he sees us and how he sees this war.

Since my plans of hate-spawning ridiculousness recieved a large amount of outcry against them when I posted of them earlier in the thread, I think a touch of solemnity is in order here. (Everyone should feel free to give opinions or ideas. )

I'm thinking the conversation starts with Tod stating that he is sorry if he offended The King in Green when they talked earlier, but that he would say the same thing again given the chance. I tell him that, while our side is indeed territorially ambitous, we have not eliminate and will not eliminate the option of non-violent means to our goals. If my offer is unacceptable as is, then he is free to make a counter offer for us to evaluate. If he has nothing to say, I bid him good afternoon and say goodbye.

We also need to do some talking with Charlie as well. I would like to ensure that our relationship with him remains relatively friendly and we just refused a secret offer from him while preventing him from collecting the full bounty on the alt elves. Since the amount he offered us was the amount he lost, he may already have this down as a 'no harm, no foul', but I wish to make sure. Fortunately, we can invite the archons inside for dinner to discuss things. They have to stay the night anyway.

We're going to have another victory feast tonight. The men are given the chance to eat and drink heartily (Tod's alcohol consumption is limited to one glass of wine, nursed slowly over the course of the night.) The surviving heck pups get steak. We take a moment to say a few good words for Zachary, Baldrick, Adder, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe, and the 2 lost heck pups.

(Given that potentially hurt feelings and alcohol are mixing, we should take steps to ensure that our non-aggression clause remains unbroken. I discretely order the men to avoid the Archons if they feel that they are overly angry at them or can't hold their drink. I also speak to Rolf, Yuri, and Bill and tell them that they are to limit their drinking tonight. Instead, since they are the ones with the best relations to the Archons. they are each to stick to an Archon like glue and make sure that things stay under control even if the Archons start behaving in a manner that offends.)

Triage and Junetta are allowed to decide how to best deal with the alt elves, both for the night and in general.

After dinner starts and we've talked with the Archons, if Creperum has not already called me using his Crown artifact, I call him using my bracer. I give him my account of the battle, tell him my intentions, and ask him to pop two turns of imps at the capital. (I'm asking him to pop 32 imps, increasing the number of scouts we have from 7 to 39. Hopefully this is enough to give us a large amount of warning of impending attacks while also discovering any hidden resources we can grab.)

I also call Zoltarus again and ask if it is time to talk yet. If it's not, when should I call back?


Now for the tactical part.

We now have a large amount of units that need decisions about what to do with their AP. When I laid out the builds the units in Dis city currently have, I had a simple progression in mind for them. The melee units that took beefy and well protected would take well-armed. The melee units that didn't take anything would take heavy at level 2. The zeds would get 2 ap and use it on dance-fighting and well-armed. The garrison warlord would take dance-fighting. The mounts would also take dance-fighting. The garrison archers would take well-armed or beefy depending on what they didn't have.

Now, with the new city management / paragon rules, I'm rethinking alot of those decisions. The garrison Warlord should probably take the regent special to increase Dis city's output. We may want to reserve a few units to use as paragons later. In fact, we may want to reserve almost all of them for that. Paragon requires a level 4 unit and we're expecting our army/side to grow in size. We may want to already be leveling the paragons we want to use to help lead them. I would appreciate input about should be done.

Also, I do intend for us to go after Armolad. My earlier post from the strategy and discussion tread detailing a plan to grab both Armolad and Amandaria alive. (edited slightly.)

My plan to bring them both in:

We're going to have to spend a night (and an elven turn) in the hex.

Tomorrow morning, after the archons depart, we use the imps to find Armolad and Amandaria.

We'll use the Balrug to carry in a small capture group. (Armolad is probably 16 hexes away if she is limited to Amandaria's remaining move. Balrug move=40-16=24) The capture group consists of T. Coil, Junetta, Tod, and a brickbat swarm.

We use T. Coil to stun the pair, then we have Junetta do a pair of space outs. (We'll need to have Junetta do back to back space-outs using delayed actions to pull this off. Since she can't have delayed actions entering the hex, we enter the hex on phase 5 of round one and do nothing but delay until phase 5 of round 2. Armolad can use her actions to get off 4 shots at us, but the brickbat swarm takes all of them. T. Coil stuns Armolad and Amandaria at phase 5 of round 2, and then Junetta does space-outs at phases 4 and 3.) This causes the pair to auto-surrender.

We will need to be on the lookout for any other forces Armolad may have in the hex. We'll abandon the mission if things get hairy. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about Charlie's archons attacking us because of the non-aggression clause in the contract. (If they do attack us, they'll have to pay 100000 schmuckers for it.)

After Armolad and Amandaria have surrendered, we bring in extra forces for protection:
Cupid has the move to make it to our position without aid and could even participate in the capture.
Using both their move to reach the 8 hex mark and a balrug pick up at the 8 hex mark, we can bring in up to 4 8-move heavy units (Will, Rolf, Yuri, and one other). (Balrug move =24-8-8= 4)
Lastly, we can use up the Balrug's last 8 move ferrying in 4 more regular sized units (these will have ridden 12 hexes on naughty kitties to a spot 4 hexes away from were we are) (I'm thinking Wanderous and 3 others, possibly zed archers that take well-armed and dancefighting when they level.) The 4 naughty kitties they rode on will need to stay by themselves for the night, but we can give them a bit more protection by using the 2 remaining kitties to bring in a couple more troops. Comet (the only flier besides Cupid) could join this group as well.

After everyone has been ferried to the hex, we should have enough strength there to be relatively safe. We wait out the elves' turn and then bed down for the night.

On the turn after the capture, Tod will ride Amandaria back to Dis city with Cupid managing the leash. The Balrug will drop Wanderous and the other 3 riders back at their mounts and then return to pick up T.Coil, Junetta, Armolad, and the Brickbat swarm before heading back to the city. The 4 heavies walk 8 hexes towards the city and the Balrug can ferry them back to Dis city from there.

We'll turn Amandaria ourselves and send Armolad back to Tenebris via Balrug. Creperum hires Rihanna again to turn her.

[Exate]

As the last of the Breatharian infantry falls, Yuri moves to the edge of his tower, avoiding stepping on the corpses of the archers who croaked in front of him, and lets out a booming laugh. The scene of carnage on the battlefield below him, dozens of enemy units rendered into nothing but battered and wrecked objects, feels like a beautiful work of art- and all the more so with their own low losses. The absurd bonuses that the deaths of the altruistic elves had been granting the Breatharians had begun to worry Yuri, his warlord's mind screaming about their potential to tear through the towers and infantry opposing them, but Tod's clever tactics had seen them through in the end. Whatever his faults in interpersonal matters, and given the man's criticism of Yuri's dealings with the archons and diplomatic aggressiveness Yuri wondered at times if he'd popped with some form of dateamantic curse, it was clear once again that Tod was a master of the battlefield who had well earned his title as Chief.

This felt doubly true, in fact, as Yuri's eyes went to the captured altruistic elves with the side's casters swarming about them. The deal that Charlie had offered had seemed like an easy way to get money from something they could not avoid anyway to Yuri, but Tod had been bolder, more ambitious. He had not only slowed the elves' deaths but managed to capture some of them outright so they could be an asset to the side- a fantastic coup from a difficult position. Leering at the two captives' departing forms as they are so-very-carefully led inside, Yuri mentally reaches for a crude pun regarding assets and difficult positions but abandons it half-formed. He's never been much for wordplay, anyway; the joy of witticism hardly compares to the joy of action. Later he'll see how fantastic those elves are.

But there is business to be done for the moment; first, to deal with all these wonderful corpses. He turns and jabs his finger at various units and stacks, voice booming out orders. "You! Fetching croakamancer bodies in battlements. You, you fetching bodies in field. You lot is taking gumptions for..." he pauses a moment, then leans off the tower and shouts to the departing Vinny. "Dollamancer! Wanting gumptions, or burning for party?"

Whatever that answer, it should be quickly resolved, and with matters in motion Yuri gives a pleased nod. All work should be done soon enough. With a moment to spare, he looks up at Rona with a large-toothed grin. "Next time tiny women will be sweeter with offering, yes?"

[0beron]

Vinny stops mid-stride, counterbalanced by the bale of hay, and ponders for a moment "Why yes, I could make use of one, please have it carried to my workshop! The rest are all fair game to you."

[MarbitChow]

Rona grins back at Yuri, and says "It's too bad we're forced to rest in your airspace tonight, but if you're up for it, I could show you a few 'sweet offerings' before we must leave your city tomorrow."

-------------------------------------

Thinkagram between King Creperum, Tod and Yuri

A short time after the Breathairian turn ends, Creperum contacts Tod and Yuri nearly simultaneously, linking them into a 3-way communication.

The King speaks, "Tod, that was extraordinarily well done! You continue to reinforce my faith in you as Chief Warlord. I can't wait to see what you can accomplish with even more arrows in your strategic quiver, for Foolamancer Nemo will be returning home shortly. In addition to being able to make use of his talents again, he's stumbled upon a Luckamancer caster and a gobwin ally, as well as additional mercenary units.

"And while my confidence in you is without question, I'm minded of the phrase 'Don't fell a tree with a sword when you've got an axe handy'. I've seen both you and Yuri engaged in communications and negotiations, and while your tactical acumen is without parallel, I believe Yuri's mindset and temperament will serve our side better as Chief Diplomat.

"Yuri, as Chief Diplomat, you are now responsible for communications and dealings with all other sides. In exactly the same way I trust Tod with all tactical matters, I entrust you with all of our negotiations, both with neutral and friendly sides and those that are actively hostile to us. Discuss the tactical ramifications of any treaties you wish to enter into, but final negotiating authority shall rest with you."

The King agrees that information is key to victory, and will queue up Imps for the next 2 turns. He asks that the Royal Guard be returned, and mentions that the Altruist Elves would make a good addition to his personal protect as well. Since the side is now starting to attract more attention, decapitation becomes a more realistic possibility.

-------------------------------------

Thinkagram between Tod and Zoltarus

Zoltarus immediately starts screaming as soon as the connection is established, "TOO SOON, I SAID! You have not read my diary yet. The circle is not yet complete. Why do you keep pestering me?" and terminates the call.

[ETheBoyce]

T. Coil is going to suggest to the king that we try and convince IX not to take the deal immediately and instead to try and drag out negotiations as long as they can, giving every inclination they plan on actually accepting the deal but are playing hard to get. The Green King clearly wants to crush us so instead of taking his immediately offered terms they should push for even more than offered, everything that Breatharia agrees to becomes a base to ask for more things, this benefits both our sides. An additional option is to demand only accept short term peace deals, albeit with harsher penalties, to force the KiG to constantly keep his forces on his other border for fear of a deal ending and Ix just rolling him when he's Nomming us. The reason Ix should do this is because the offer itself is a clear ploy from a weakened side. The deal more heavily benefits Breatharia because while the return of lost units and time to rebuild is nice Bretharia gains those benefits in addition to putting down what is in effect a rebellion in its own lands. Accepting the deal as is is a short-term gain for Ix while allowing the KiG to regain sturdy footing, given that Breatharia recently captured an Ix city fighting Breatharia at full power seems like a potentially losing proposition for Ix so forcing them to fight two wars at once, or a war on two fronts depending on future alliances, seems like it would be a much better long term plan for Ix.

T. Coil is going to try an suggest this by thinking at his king really hard in hopes of the King noticing and Thinkagramming him, or he'll tell Tod so he can tell the King himself; telling Tod is a last resort option as clearly Tod is in over his head when it comes to diplomatic negotiations and thus would likely not relay the information properly.

OOC: Just reminding you that this happened, also agreeing with Tod's plan to capture Armolad.

T. Coil was not pleased, yet again he was being prevented from properly practicing his art and craft. This was not much like the Tenebresia he had turned to, they were acting like their enemies! What would it matter if the Altruist Elves were broken!? Better they should feel the full weight of what T. Coil could do for when they were assisting him in the future! The Shockamancer growled as his mount descended the tower and headed out onto the battlefield to examine one of the fallen Gumptions. He would experiment on both its corpse as well as the Skull of the Bone Dwagon to see what differences their were between the two, why could he stun a walking tree but not a walking skeleton? He would also snag a normal corpse for further study if he could. In any event T. Coil would be far more sullen than he would otherwise be, he had Turned so easily because he thought this side had it's head on straight, but it was looking more and more he had exchanged one foolish side for another. The eventual choice of a Chief Caster would no doubt signal exactly the true colors of the King.

[0beron]

Vinny returns from toting his hay in order to assist the warriors with delivering one of the Gump's corpses to his workshop, and looks over at T. Coil somewhat anxiously. "Um, I have a bit of a favor to ask. You see, since I just leveled, I got a host of ideas about new things I can do, and I was about to start work on developing a new type of Golem. Unfortunately I don't have the Juice to complete it, so I was hoping you or one of the other casters could spare a Juice potion." Vinny explains somewhat nervously, on the one hand very much liking T. Coil's style for inflicting pain and tacking action, but on the other wary of the caster's apparently foul temper.

[CroverusRaven]

Anyone mind if I take over Donovan, and maybe change out his Dance fighting with something else as he feels overcome by a strange feeling of loss and drops his tools, his arms growing in size and his armor changing its natural signamancy.

[BLANDCorporatio]

(IC)

Alcohol and steady hands do not mix. I'm a tee-totaler.

The plan for seeking out Armolad is most agreeable. However, why is she to be sent all the way to Tenebris? I can teach her the value of glorious death in battle right here.

And for what it's worth, Yuri, William was among those who, near battle's end, insisted on getting some alt. elves alive.

Because it was a challenge. Unlike what archery the elves have thus thrown at us. Very disappointing. The one archer warlord we've encountered was a coward who abandoned her troops to the slaughter. Such dishonor, for once, merits the methods of T. Coil. Unlike the brave Alt. Elves who stood by their comrades even when under fire from, supposedly, two sides.

Supposedly. I hope our welcoming group of casters and turned units will remember to inform our new captives that they are alive thanks to our generous efforts, despite the treachery of their own king. If not, I plan to drop by on their party and remind them of it.

We're a simple side. *eyes Coil* Or we should be. Treachery and torture for its own sake are decadence. Death is pure. Face it with courage and you might live for another day. It will find you regardless. Welcome it as a friend.

[MarbitChow]

Supposedly. I hope our welcoming group of casters and turned units will remember to inform our new captives that they are alive thanks to our generous efforts, despite the treachery of their own king.

(Seeing as how both of those units are currently warded thanks to the Tenebrisian efforts, and one was healed back from near death after absorbing a full blast by an Archon (only surviving because of a previous ward), rest assured that they are WELL aware of your efforts on their part. )

[BLANDCorporatio]

Rubbing it in won't hurt.

Besides, their king indulging in a bit of 'lateral thinking' with inspiration bonuses is something that may be news to them. Believe it or not, who'll tell, but doubt will be sown and turning eased.

[Swodaems]

"And while my confidence in you is without question, I'm minded of the phrase 'Don't fell a tree with a sword when you've got an axe handy'. I've seen both you and Yuri engaged in communications and negotiations, and while your tactical acumen is without parallel, I believe Yuri's mindset and temperament will serve our side better as Chief Diplomat.

"Yuri, as Chief Diplomat, you are now responsible for communications and dealings with all other sides. In exactly the same way I trust Tod with all tactical matters, I entrust you with all of our negotiations, both with neutral and friendly sides and those that are actively hostile to us. Discuss the tactical ramifications of any treaties you wish to enter into, but final negotiating authority shall rest with you."

The King agrees that information is key to victory, and will queue up Imps for the next 2 turns. He asks that the Royal Guard be returned, and mentions that the Altruist Elves would make a good addition to his personal protect as well. Since the side is now starting to attract more attention, decapitation becomes a more realistic possibility.

Tod grimaces slightly at Yuri's promotion then decides to make the best of things. He had been expecting something like this ever since the negotiation with the elves and it's a relief to get it over with.

"I'll send the elves to you as soon as our healomancers finish convincing them to turn. However, I must beg your pardon if the royal guards aren't back in Tenebris until 3 turns from now. Judging by the amount of move on her mount, the enemy warlord in charge of the force that attacked us cannot be more than 16 hexes away from Dis city. I have a plan to capture her that requires the Balrug for the next two turns. Hopefully, I'll be able to send your guards back after that."

"Yuri, during the capture operation, there will be an opportunity for a member of the capture team to have another conversation with The King in Green before they enter Armolad's hex and initiate combat. I had planned to be a member of the capture team myself, but this may be a good opportunity for you to declare your new position to the elves. Do you wish to lead the capture team?"

Thinkagram between Tod and Zoltarus

Zoltarus immediately starts screaming as soon as the connection is established, "TOO SOON, I SAID! You have not read my diary yet. The circle is not yet complete. Why do you keep pestering me?" and terminates the call.

I have read this man's diary. At the moment, Junetta is reading it.

On turn 7, after the call to Zoltarus: At some point when the Archons aren't in hearing range, I tell Junetta about the call and ask her opinion on the fact that Zoltarus is still alive. I also ask that she read over his diary and see if there is anything in it that does not make sense to her as a former Breathearian caster. (Did the Diary give the names of any other Breathearian casters that Junetta did not include in the group of currently alive ones that she knows about? Did it name a former chief warlord or ruler?)

Noted. Since she still spends most of her relaxation time with Wandereus, she won't make it through the book nearly as quickly as you did. Expect results after Turn 10.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a decent conversation out of him within a couple turns.

T. Coil was not pleased, yet again he was being prevented from properly practicing his art and craft. This was not much like the Tenebresia he had turned to, they were acting like their enemies! What would it matter if the Altruist Elves were broken!? Better they should feel the full weight of what T. Coil could do for when they were assisting him in the future! The Shockamancer growled as his mount descended the tower and headed out onto the battlefield to examine one of the fallen Gumptions. He would experiment on both its corpse as well as the Skull of the Bone Dwagon to see what differences their were between the two, why could he stun a walking tree but not a walking skeleton? He would also snag a normal corpse for further study if he could. In any event T. Coil would be far more sullen than he would otherwise be, he had Turned so easily because he thought this side had it's head on straight, but it was looking more and more he had exchanged one foolish side for another. The eventual choice of a Chief Caster would no doubt signal exactly the true colors of the King.

During T. Coil's experiments, Tod decides to sooth things over with T. Coil. In his own special way.

Tod walks over to where T. Coil is practicing his arts on a gumpton's corpse and says "Hello. I'm sorry if I've upset you with my decision to let Junetta and Triage handle the two most recent prisoners. The two of them made a compelling case as to why they should be allowed to have control of these two prisoners. However, they won't be in charge of all prisoners and you will get your opportunity in turn. In fact you may even get it tomorrow."

"I am planning an operation that intends to capture the warlord that fled tomorrow. I want you to be a part of it. Your skills will be of great use. Both in combat," in a suddenly darkened tone, " and in the proceedings afterwards."

"You see, Armolad is a level higher than either me or Yuri. If she had access to my bracer, she could boost her leadership bonus to 6. With the title of Chief Warlord, she would have a hex wide bonus of 3 as opposed to my 2. If she makes a bid for the title after she is turned, she could get it based on that advantage."

"I do not think that would be a good thing for our side. Armolad has already proved her ineptitude in battle merely by choosing to fight this one. Her mount had the move to let her scout this city and return to her troops with the information that they were severely outmatched here and should wait to gather a bigger force. I desire to remove the threat of her making a bid for chief warlord, however, I am loathe to croak her as she would be a better asset to our side alive."

"This is were you come in. I want you to use your skills to convince her that any ambitions she has towards my position would be a bad idea."

Again, I am aware that we cannot gain the Alt Elves as proper Natural Allies that allow us to pop more...but can they willingly Turn to us after Junetta, Triage, and Wanderus talk to them? Or do they require magical Turnamancy?

Magical turnamancy would be much faster, but both Coil's and Triage's methods can eventually win them over thanks to Stockholm... I mean Erfholm Syndrome. Coil's method about twice as fast, but is likely to make them much more sullen, submissive and passive.

How fast are we talking here? Are there any side effects to either method besides mood changes? (When we turned Wanderous and Junetta they had fuzzy memories afterward.)

[Lord of Monies]

Brick levelled. He wasn't sure he deserved it as he had offered no contribution to the battle at all. He stood by the shockamancer the whole fight but enemy archery were focused elsewhere and Coil was already well defended sitting on his mount and flanked by the brickbats. On the other hand, though, he had to feel some happiness that his charge hadn't taken a single hit in the entire battle. Perhaps in the next battle he would have more use, but no reason to not be active in the meantime.

The croakamancer had called for a hand with moving bodies. With nothing else to do, Brick happily set himself to work by piling up the bodies. He focused on the actual bodies instead of the skeletons. Brick held no bad feelings against the croakamancer or the crafts of his skill, but something about picking up a skeleton wierded him out a bit. Bodies stayed in place over his shoulder anyhow. He had a feeling the skeleton would slide off or something.

[MarbitChow]

"I'll send the elves to you as soon as our healomancers finish convincing them to turn. However, I must beg your pardon if the royal guards aren't back in Tenebris until 3 turns from now. ..."

The King informs you that haste is not required, since he does not believe he is in immediate danger. He tells you to send them back when resources permit.

I have read this man's diary.

I know that you have. Zoltarus' response remains un-retconn'd.

How fast are we talking here? Are there any side effects to either method besides mood changes? (When we turned Wanderous and Junetta they had fuzzy memories afterward.)

It's an inexact process (unlike casting); it could take dozens of turns, or it could take only a few. Using the 'friendly' method gets the best results, as the unit embraces the side whole-heartedly with full information intact. Turning-via-shockamancy leads to the units lying or omitting data if they feel they can get away with it, although they'll always obey an order to the letter; it typically only takes 3-5 turns.

[Exate]

Since my plans of hate-spawning ridiculousness recieved a large amount of outcry against them when I posted of them earlier in the thread, I think a touch of solemnity is in order here. (Everyone should feel free to give opinions or ideas. )

Honestly, while I thought it was a colossally bad idea at the time, at this point that die is cast- Tod might as well stick to his guns in-character. We're not going to be able to patch up that relationship with a few nice words, the King in Green thinks of us as a much lesser side (which we are) so he won't make concessions, and we can't actually accept any kind of truce or pact because they're the only side that we can take cities from at this point. Maybe there will be a bigger world map rolled out one day which gives us cities other than theirs to access/attack, but as of now our literal only route to expansion is taking their stuff. They know it, we know it; there's not a lot to say. At best we could provoke them into moving faster or thinking that we're going to move against a specific city next.

We also need to do some talking with Charlie as well. ... Fortunately, we can invite the archons inside for dinner to discuss things. They have to stay the night anyway.

As Rona points out, we're not allied with Charlie and they're off-turn, so they can't leave our airspace. They're stuck flying all night; we might be able to pass them some rations or something if we want to be nice and we can certainly talk with them, but they can't come inside.

We now have a large amount of units that need decisions about what to do with their AP. ... I would appreciate input about should be done.

I'd propose that the no-longer-zed archers bank their AP in anticipation of eventually moving toward an Inspiration build, which requires Leadership, Paragon, and Regent. It will reduce their effectiveness in the near term and some- or even most- of them are probably going to die before they get there, but being able to pop elite garrison and/or zed archers would be invaluable. They're only 4 XP away from becoming archer warlords, in any case, which would make the whole lot of them much more useful.

The only other unit I see in the listings who can pursue the optimal build for that is the garrison warlord, so we might as well have him chase it down- he's unlikely to level quickly, but I'm not so optimistic as to think that Dis City won't be assaulted again. Regent for him would be the logical next step in that.

As for the rest of them... I don't see a problem with the original progression you laid out. If they make it to level 4 they'll take Paragon and hopefully boost our forces thereby, but we simply don't have the troops to keep them protected as they level. It'll just be down to sending them into the fire and seeing who isn't burned to death on the way. That said, the ones with 12 XP can probably be earmarked for less dangerous jobs if possible.

My plan to bring them both in:

This seems workable. However, it does eat up our next three-four turns with this- what will our city be doing during that time? With the King in Green now aware of his forces' loss, it's vitally important that we move on to our next objective quickly, before he has a chance to fortify. I believe we've discussed previously how Rainbow Springs is a natural rallying point for units from a half-dozen Breatheairian cities; I would very much like to take it before they can use it as such and make it virtually impregnable.

Vinny wants a Juice potion

In-character I have no comment on this as it seems like caster business, but out of character I'm not seeing how expending a resource that takes as much effort to create as a juice potion on doing your crafting just a little bit faster is remotely justified in this case. We don't have any pressing, immediate need to get more mooks as quickly as possible. If you can craft golems that can deal siege damage (even golems with natural Mining Picks) my feelings on this may change slightly because we could really use some cheap units capable of breaking down walls, but as long as they're essentially basic infantry not so much.

Vinny stops mid-stride, counterbalanced by the bale of hay, and ponders for a moment "Why yes, I could make use of one, please have it carried to my workshop! The rest are all fair game to you."

"Da!" The warlord glances at the fallen gumptions, then clarifies his orders to the troops. "Taking least smashed gumption to dollamancer. Others to hall; make bonfires."

Rona grins back at Yuri, and says "It's too bad we're forced to rest in your airspace tonight, but if you're up for it, I could show you a few 'sweet offerings' before we must leave your city tomorrow."

"Ha! Am always up for you. Will look forward to morning." While the archons were without a doubt tricky weasel women with shockamancy in their smiles, Yuri couldn't help but enjoy their company- if only because they went to such pains to ensure that their company was enjoyable. It was a shame that they couldn't be actual allies. As he bid Rona farewell for now and moved to finish overseeing post-battle cleanup, Yuri wondered if the dark archons that his own side would one day pop would be anything like them.

"I believe Yuri's mindset and temperament will serve our side better as Chief Diplomat."

The promotion comes as a serious shock to Yuri- while he had felt that he handled Charlie's archons well enough both in the initial negotiations and in the turns following, there was a far cry between that and being put in charge of the side's diplomacy! And now he was being expected to be as much of a genius at talky battles as Tod was at proper fighting. "Is-" But his king had faith in him. He'd seen their actions and made his decision. Didn't he know best? "...honor, great King." He held his face steady- apparently being able to do that would now be in his job requirements- but it was the most terrifying honor he'd ever had.

"Yuri, during the capture operation, there will be an opportunity for a member of the capture team to have another conversation with The King in Green before they enter Armolad's hex and initiate combat. I had planned to be a member of the capture team myself, but this may be a good opportunity for you to declare your new position to the elves. Do you wish to lead the capture team?"

The heavy warlord strokes his chin with a massive hand at the offer. If all went according to plan, it would make for an opportune moment for an introduction... and there would be little need for Tod's bonuses, whether he came or stayed behind, unless something went massively wrong. "Plan is good. Will need to talk to grass king for findings of elf plans, soon. Will lead team." He gives a glance at the Chief Warlord's bracer as a rather important point occurs to him. "If running talking battles, is needing thinkamancy for use. Erf is large place, cannot always be walking to talks. Chief Warlord is needing item Leadership bonuses- but something soon, yes?"

[0beron]

Vinny wants a Juice potion

Out of character I'm not seeing how expending a resource that takes as much effort to create as a juice potion on doing your crafting just a little bit faster is remotely justified in this case. [We don't need more troops, unless they can do Siege.]

Well I still stand by my plan that Bill and Vinny should power-level by seeking out wild encounters or Elven scouts. In a few levels, I actually will be capable of making Siege Golems, so that's one reason to rush. Also, we are preparing to brace ourselves against attack from three directions, so upkeep-free units are great.
Whether this is worth a potion is admittedly debatable, however I do want to point out that we have been reluctant to use them so far in combat because they take an action. So I would far rather that they go to me if the alternative is constantly saving them for a rainy day.