Setting Things In Motion

"Gah!" Saya said in frustration as she missed a step, again, and sunk up to her knee in the muck. "I hate this!" She hissed.

"Shh," Roman said as he and Risty pulled her up and out. "I know it's been tough but according to Darlene we're nearly there."

The going had been tough for some through the swampy marshlands. Those who were agile, strong or tall managed well like he, Risty and Knives. Speaking of Knives managed the best out of them all simply leaping and running lightly from tree to tree most of the time with her impressive ninja like skills as easily as a squirrel or similar creature. Similarly Darlene and her scouts had few enough troubles.

Saya's shorter stature though made it difficult for her and poor Burt with his stocky build simply sank. In Burts case Malty had used her Zweite Power magic a couple of times to strengthen and give him speed and Agility to get him unstuck.

"Thanks," Saya said trying not to grumble and sighed. "Sorry I'm deadweight."

"Nonsense," Risty said then smiled. She didn't let go of her and instead picked her up. "There we go!"

Roman tried to bite back a chuckle as Saya turned as pink as her hair. "What do you think you're doing?!" She hissed quietly.

Risty shrugged carrying her like a princess easily. "We're nearly there. You need to be rested for what's to come. It's no trouble. You're light. I'm not smart like you are... but I am strong. Let me carry you awhile, alright?"

Roman nodded. "She makes a good point. I'll take turns carrying her with you, Risty."

Saya bit back a retort. Risty was only trying to help her. It was actually a friendly gesture and she hadn't even teased her about it either. "Okay... fine... Thanks, I guess," she said still blushing a little. "Can you not... carry me quite like this though?"

Risty smirked. "Sure... would you rather be thrown over my shoulder instead?"

"No!,' Saya whispered quickly. "But maybe... piggyback wouldn't be so bad?"

Risty nodded setting her down and kneeling. "Alright," she easily agreed. "Hop up."

They proceeded onward like that towards their target. As troubling as the terrain was it was a good natural defense for the village they were approaching and Roman could see why they'd picked it. The area was teeming with wildlife in abundance. Fish, snakes, reptiles and amphibians along with larger creatures. They'd skirted a wide berth around the larger predators like crocodiles and even had to hide from a large spinosaur feeding on another creature. It had made for a long and very tense moment, hiding and listening to the massive carnivore tearing flesh and crynching bone until it had finally finished it's meal and wandered away, satiated. Their trip hadn't been completely fortunate and without incident however.

They'd lost one of their number to a Fallout East Coast Gulper hanging from a tree for a surprise attack. They'd defeated the large Far Harbor mutant creature by ganging up on it but... it had been too late to save their comrade. They'd quickly divided up his gear before the drones came to retrive him. Roman ordered his tokens and claim to his Character, a Azumanga Diaoh Sasake waiting back in camp, remain unclaimed and even quickly transfered the unfortunate fellow some of his own tokens in hopes that the man would have enough to keep his Character. Several others including Darlene followed suit and gifted their departing comrade some tokens while others gutted the monster gathering its loot and materials for the communal good. They were extra careful after that with watching and Knives scouting out the trees for other potential hazards.

It was even trickier as the sunset and they made their way forward in the darkened gloom... but eventualy....

"We're almost there," Darlene whispered pointing towards a grassy knoll with a pair of Willow tree's heavy with hanging moss and a distinctive rock. "It's just a couple hundred yards over that rise."

Knives jumped to the tree and looked then signaled to Roman and he nodded holding up his hand to signal a stop and gather the formation around him there. Once they had he quietly said, "Alright this is it. We part ways here. Raid team take five and ready yourselves. Archers and skirmishers, spread out and take defensive positions."

"Good luck," Darlene whispered. "We've got your backs."

"Thanks," Roman said setting down Saya and while crouching, creeped up the rise to look at their target. There was an earthworks berm built-up that had long sharpened stakes stuck into it angled outwards then a crude wall and beyond several tall structures, huts on stilt like platforms surrounding a central watch tower, illuminated by torches and presumably fires below. There was one hut that even from here appeared much larger than all the others and, oddly, what appeared to be a single tall central watchtower. "We'll need it," he muttered. It wasn't like it was a huge fortification or village for that matter, it appeared a fair bit smaller overall than their own and their defenses were definitely much weaker, but it was their biggest target yet and likely contained a larger number of players and Characters than their current ****.

For success they would need to maintain the element of surprise on their side to pull this off... and to have it go well and not end up a messy pitched battle, they'd need to be able to pull off as many of the raid teams objectives successfully. And the sooner, the better. Somewhere offshore the rest of their allies and Carlos were waiting in darkened boats.

"Balls," Burt muttered joining him in looking. "How do you want to do this?"

Roman nodded and backed down the rise to the others. "Ok," Roman whispered. "First we need to infiltrate. Thankfully their defenses aren't too tight. We'll approach in a group and I'll cover us with illusion. That'll be the easy part. Once we're in we need to split up and achieve several things. First is taking out the sentries on that watchtower and optionally as many others as we can. Secondly is try to eliminate as much of their leadership as we can. Finally thirdly making a big commotion and sow chaos. At the least we want to draw attention away from the shoreline and ideally we get them to come chasing after us."

"That's where 'Whore' and I come in," Burt said with a grin and nudged Malty who gave a **** smile and nodded. She really hated her names. "Leave it to us!"

Roman nodded but reminded them, "Not too much damage. The emphasis is sowing chaos. People split between putting out fires and the rest pursuing us. If we can do the latter we fall back and try to provoke them into giving chase and lead them into an ambush set-up by Darlene. Best case scenario we lure out their main **** as Carlos takes the village and we have them trapped between the proverbial rock and the hard place."

Saya nodded grimly. "And the worst case scenario is we're trapped in there on our own. It's a good plan though... if we can pull it off."

Roman nodded. "That is the worst case scenario. We're trapped, cut off from everyone else and the alarm goes up and our friends sail into a shit storm... so..."

"Don't let that happen," Risty said cracking her knuckles.

They all nodded. "Right," Roman said.

"I'll take the watchtower," Knives volunteered. "I can scale it quickly and quietly."

Roman nodded. "Right. That was my thinking. I want Saya to go with you and cover you and then us with her crossbow. She's a fair shot and it'll be a good position for her. Once she's done that I want you to continue to take out any sentries you can find as quietly as you can."

"Understood," Saya said. She knew she was the weak link and her shooting was best done in optimal conditions. Roman had assigned her to the ideal spot from which to do so. A high stable platform. Essentially turning the central watchtower into a sniper nest. Their opponents really should have constructed multiple smaller ones around their perimeter instead like they had constructed at their camp. They had done one large central one, likely as a big early project while building the berm wall then, either hadn't gotten around to making more yet, or had simply gotten lazy and decided that it was 'good enough'.

"I take it I'm with you then?" Risty said grinning fiercely.

Roman nodded. "Right. We're going to go hunting their leadership. If we can sever or impare their critical decision making process that'll be a big factor in how they respond to the chaos that follows."

"Sounds good!" She said hefting her heavy Morningstar. "And they're likely to be strong opponents!"

Roman chuckled softly and nodded. "It's a good bet. Everyone... take a moment to check your gear and eat something. We head out in five. Understood?"

"Aye," they quietly whispered.

[Roman Stark - Knives Chau - Saya Takagi and Risty

Will Return In

Infiltration

Coming Soon]