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Kyle wanders about the castle.

"Oh. Good. You're back."

Alright. Here's the skip, finally finished.

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After a month and change, basic training is more or less complete, and the camp prepares to move. Other changes were being made, too. Soldiers were being brought in, making the camp bigger by the week. In addition, more of the larger, more specialized tools of war--catapults, siege engines, entrenching tools¹--are being brought in.
Finally, Arendell's borders are crossed. At least, that's what everyone says. You don't really know. It's just more forest or fields to you. Pretty much the first indication that you're in Arendell is when the army walks into a small town and takes control. It's not a big bloody battle, they just showed their numbers and the town surrendered. Several thousand soldiers will do that.

From this new base of operations, supply lines and communication with other such beachheads² are started. Some areas were harder to take; soldiers head out to deal with those, and things go on. You're just waiting for your first assignment. (And, of course, passing the time in ways that probably aren't too important.)
The third night, you find out.

The invasion is by now pretty well settled. The issues in some areas are mostly dealt with. It is the general agreement of the generals that the army should advance before the queen feels cornered. After all, a cornered rat is bad enough, but it gets far worse if, while fighting, it destroys the world.
The queen isn't out in the field of battle, but she has been reinforcing her position with magic. The army of Arendell is being supplemented by monsters of ice and snow, surrounded by small blizzards. These monsters go by several names, but the most popular include icemen and abominable snowmen. They're extremely efficient; they use neither weapons nor armor, but likewise need neither. Their frozen fists and claws can cripple or kill soldiers, while their icy bodies are unaffected by arrows and spears. Only a properly-placed sword strike or similar can harm them at all--and placing them properly is difficult with the flurries of snow shrouding them. Above all...they're disturbing.
Normally, these are rare, with at most several accompanying a group of a couple hundred soldiers. However, due to their effectiveness and just how outnumbered Arendell's military is, the queen has been making more of them. Obviously, this will impede any kind of fighting. This is where you come in.
There are a number of icemen marching to one of the beachheads. The reports are uncertain, but it's a substantial fraction of the total number already in combat. Between morale issues and the sheer effectiveness of that many beasts, a rout is expected if they actually enter combat--especially since the area in question has relatively few skilled swordsmen, since the open terrain favors archery.
The plan, which Prince Hans allegedly thought of himself, is that Finna will lead some soldiers to try and kill or harass the force, while you will attempt to exploit weaknesses they have.
"The hope is that Finna's experience with other witches' minions will let her lead the soldiers to greater success against the monsters, while your diverse skillset will let you find some way to deal with them. Ideal world, the techniques can be adapted to use by more normal soldiers...but even if not, our experts are guessing that this represents a fairly sizable investment of time and effort on the queen's part, and destroying the icemen should set her back. If nothing else, she'll have to reconsider her tactics, which should buy us valuable time."
"Right. There's just one minor problem with this plan. When we're actually in action, I won't be able to keep an eye on you. You all are pretty good at following orders when there are officers watching, mostly..." Her eyes wander to Logan and Kyle in a manner which is less than subtle. "...but you haven't had much chance to test this in field conditions, and absolutely none when there weren't officers around. So, we'll need to select a leader for you miscreants. Glast, Hallis, and Johnson are out for obvious reasons. Tempestmourner is a bit more reckless than I'd feel safe leaving as leader, despite her experience. Emiya isn't serious enough, so if he'll accept, I'm making Moodus your leader. If not...I suppose Tempestmourner's my second choice."
The briefing concludes. This would be a good time to bring up any concerns you have about the mission, complaints about Finna's analysis, or things you'd like to change about the plan.


1: Almost certainly the wrong term, but there has to be something besiegers use to not get shot by arrows.
2: This is also probably an anachronistic term. At least it's accurate.
3: Well, she's a queen most of the movie, but that's kinda minor.

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3. Everyone make a bee-line for the happy mountain Sauna!

I don't think they have enough money for everyone. And saunas are, by nature, an outlier.

We're internet nerds. It's what we're here for.

Indeed. At the point that I'm considering how a Disney princess³ would react to war...

Quote from: GreatWyrmGold on April 04, 2014, 11:16:51 am

Basic Goodses.

Your preciouses?

How else am I supposed to pluralize "basic goods"?

Anyone want to loan me 1 wealth?  Or buy a basic raw from me for 3 W?  I'll support you at the sandcastle contest.

I can't buy anything, but...what kind of terms were you thinking for that loan?

1. Not that much better. See point 3.
2. What, the guards are tiny people and everyone's wearing swimsuits?
3. Have fun freezing to death. Especially since firewood reserves are going to be pretty low in the middle of summer.

Arendele might be an island kingdom, like England or Iceland, and if their ships were frozen, they would have no way off the island. And everyone seemed to arrive by ship. But again, little evidence one way or the other.

True. It seemed more like a Scandanavian area, but that hardly proves anything.
Of course, on the other hand Elsa was running across the ice, so they probably could have, at minimum, brought some kind of vessel to sailable waters like that.

And plus, at least the castle can be used for shelter from the cold. It's much better than just leaving and having a higher chance of freezing to death along with any other nasty things that would be outside civilization.

1. The castle where people could still see their breath when inside? Very warm.
2. What nasty things? Wolves? We saw how much of a danger they are. A couple of them bit Cristof, and it didn't affect him at all. Whatever those things are, they aren't dangerous.
3. Regardless, at the point that you're talking about how we'll be freezing to death in a few days...well, a chance of freezing to death or being eaten by wolves while trying to escape is a hell of a lot better than certain death.

Zakharov is male, GWG.  I'm not sure that would fit Simus.

True. Still, I tend to imagine Simus as looking kinda like Zakharov, even when I remember she's synth. The magic of having human avatars.

Evergreens are not trees. Therefore, trees are not green.