BECMI Chapter 80 – Special Forces in Special Places
I brought forth the image of the Basilica from the illusion and blew up the map of the place’s catacombs and cellars, having the arrangement of what certainly looked to be prison cells pulse for their attention. “By using Mass Resist Fire to make my Company functionally immune to their lasers, the danger to my people will be considerably less than might be expected otherwise. It is a tactic I propose your own spellcasters emulate, using the magic on elite troops tasked to rapidly kill whoever is waving one of the weapons about, expecting to pick you all off rapidly with hot flashes of light.”
It was also a spell I’d sold off to the Wizard’s Council here in the North, and which the local priests also had their own versions of via prayers now, courtesy of the Great Jordie buying it from me for them.
“Skarvald won’t like it at all if she takes the Temple. It’s where all the loot is,” Baron Godfrey muttered under his voice.
“Given how much he’s demanding from the kingdom to train my men, I have no sympathies,” I retorted coolly.
Soft chuckles underscored that. Skarvald was a greedy bastard, and everyone knew it. It was just that he blew through his money as fast as he earned it, he didn’t save it up and lock it away like some.
The amount of spirits he would drink after sacking something like the temple would have to be seen to be believed, if his reputation was any guide, and the drunken rampages and brawls following equally epic.
It wasn’t going to be my problem.
“Judging by what I’ve heard of his past behavior when you include him in this attack, he will order an attack on the temple and ignore his assigned responsibilities. That will be fine, as it will immediately activate the temple’s defenses and likely remove it from active involvement on the battlefield. Allow him to do so, completely waste his time and glory, and we will empty it from within.”
“A lesson he will utterly fail to learn. Best to give him some mercenaries we won’t miss,” the Catcher recommended simply. King Antius just let out a resigned sigh and nodded along with everyone else.
“Do you have any recommendations for the attack, Lady Edge?” King Antius asked carefully, not wanting to irritate his officers, but also eager to pump me for more ideas after my utterly incredible scouting.
“First, trust your officers and sergeants,” I replied evenly, startling them all. “Let them see the map. Tell them where to go in the towns, what to do when they get there, and trust they’ll get the jobs done. The faster you seize the town, the less fighting you’ll have to do.
“If you are going to attack during the light, then I would attack late in the day, just about when they are heading out for dinner, but they haven’t fully shut down. If not then, then early morning as everyone is moving around and the motion of additional bodies will not be noticed for short periods of time.
“You have access to elven, dwarven, and hyn volunteers who can see in dim light. You’ve been making Eternal Flashlights in the design I showed you a month ago. You can very easily mount an attack in the middle of the night and surprise your foes almost completely simply by spreading out your troops with night vision and having them lead the others.
“Your spellcasters should Buff up an elite corps of troops or champions with Resist Fire and direct them to take the lead against the laser-wielders.
“Lastly, Phantom Servants are naturally invisible, but they can catch hurled grenades and either whisk them away from your troops, or toss them back at the hurlers. It is a minor spell, it lasts a long time, and all you need to do is issue a standing order and you can save many lives with it. Think ‘tossing back Fireballs’ and you have the right idea what you are sparing your men.”
That definitely got their attention.
“Spells of mist and fog are not out of line on the marshes, and will vastly cut down on the visibility of their soldiers, the range of their lasers, and best of all, are not unexpected of the swamps. What conceals them can also conceal us and cause greater confusion.
“You are going to need some form of identifying characteristic to avoid accidental in-fighting in such circumstances. Again, the presence of non-humans will be your best sign. I saw none among the cultists or town-people that were not slaves.
“In terms of priority, if you don’t secure the docks, many of those we want to kill are going to sail away, probably with a load of slaves, and just come back once we are gone to rebuild. During the clean-up process, you will have to consider devastating the island or turning it into a permanent redoubt. I suggest the latter, making use of the wealth of the temple to form a permanent Teleport link between it and one of your main military camps, controlled by the far end, and thus a potential far-end naval base and trading center… which can also strike at the slave trade moving to the south.
“If you would rather give up such a prize location, especially with its technological bounty, then I would crack the island open and bring the swamp in to make a point, after stripping it of everything, of course.”
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It was plain that capturing the place and turning it into a stronghold simply hadn’t occurred to anyone, and the thought was electrifying them. “You can make a Teleport connection between, say, Vaus and there?” King Antius asked eagerly. Vaus was the operating capital of the kingdom, even though King Antius spent most of his time around his native holdings, as did much of the Regency Council, his agents, and his advisors, as a result.
The Dungeon of Castle Darkmoor looming over there with its tantalizing loot and dangers was certainly no reason for that, nopers.
“Yes, largely open-ended and without limit. Everything would need to be hand-carried to go through it, but it would be effectively the same as walking next door to transport goods and men completely across the kingdom to the other end of the Lochs. Its value as a trade and shipping center would explode.”
“Could such Portals be made elsewhere, Lady Edge?” Pious Godfrey asked eagerly. “The ability to move armies rapidly and reinforce other places would be nearly priceless!”
“Yes,” I acknowledged, steepling my fingers thoughtfully. “The components cost is two hundred goldweight per permanent connection, and I mean in gold, not gemwork. I would be making the gateway out of gold.
“Note that forming such a network also creates a vulnerability. The objective shifts from capturing the far end to capturing the center of the network. Once you do that, all other places are isolated, vulnerable, and can be picked off one by one. Your defenses at the central marshaling point had best be exceptional, and the troops ready to go to any location seeing trouble.
“Also, neutralizing the Portals will become the primary goal of any attackers, and it is not that hard to stop them from being used during a battle. The attackers need merely ring the city, set up a defense against Teleportation, and it will be cut off quickly. Thus, mundane methods of reinforcement will also be necessary, and it certainly doesn’t stop the need for regular patrols.”
“You speak like someone familiar with such networks, methods of travel, and the strengths and vulnerabilities of them, Lady Edge,” the Catcher noticed alertly.
“It is a powerful strategic advancement, Master Kociba. If your foe is not magically adept, it is a nigh-insurmountable advantage. You can have your core army able to move from one end of the realm to the other with great speed, bringing your best forces into every fight. The superior morale and experience alone in your troops will be incredibly powerful.
“The ability to shift cargo from one location to the next without laborious transport methods is another. Your vulnerability to attacks on shipping and supply will be reduced.
“But your opponents DO have magical ability, and they will strike at such things if they’ve any sense at all. The Cabal of the Arcane, the agents of the Iron Graf, the priests of the Khirifi, and the Ei of Hazz all have that magical ability.
“Of course, what that then means is that such sites become lures demanding the attention of your enemies, and thus a way to draw in and destroy their tools. I understand your recent efforts against the Cabal and the Ei have been most fruitful.”
The Catcher nodded once, indicating Marius, the Great Jordie, and several other spellcasters around the room. “We’ve caught several members of the Cabal who had been eluding us. The information gained from Druewal led us to his contacts, and thence to several of the Iberon mages and agents of the Iron Graf operating in our territory. We missed the Cabal’s ringleader, but he is very much on the run, his ability to Teleport making it difficult to nail him down.”
“That is why Interdictions and Stillflights are so important, Master Kociba,” I said smoothly. “Dimension-hopping spells exist at the first Valence of spells all the way to the highest. Spells to aid flight, burst-fly, and jump great distances start at the same time, and come in many varieties. If your agents are prepared to operate without them, and your targets are not, then you have a considerable advantage on them you should be very ready not to inform them about.”
Grim chuckles and nods went around the table. I had been remarkably willing to sell the Blood-bound versions of the two spells, meaning they couldn’t be stolen by any normal means whatsoever. They were very popular in their wide-area forms for shutting down potential avenues of surprise attack, or sudden escapes.
Also, watching a wyvern plummeting down out of the sky to break its bones against the ground, to then be shot down safely as it couldn’t get back up into the sky, was very impressive. Anti-dragon or flying monster defenses were extremely valuable to warriors limited to the ground themselves, and my willingness to part with a defense against magical attack methods was much appreciated.
“You will be creating our Portals there, with your associate Lady Belle,” King Antius said seriously. “Your advice on when and how to attack will be taken very seriously. What are your recommendations as to the plan of battle?”
“The points of dispersal are key, getting everyone out and into position quickly. Those points should be here, and here.” I put one at the edge of the barracks area and town, and the other away from the water in the slave fields. “This is where I will be coming in, and where your elite operators will also be infiltrating. Their objectives will be to take out the sentries.”
The star indicating me vanished, and reappeared below the temple in the halls below, rapidly spreading out and working our way up from below while the temple remained oblivious above. At the same time, the indicated sentry locations were taken out by combinations of stealth, invisibility, flight, or wall-climbing.
“The forces here are there to seize the town and barracks with all speed.” The sentries removed, arrows of motion flowed unhindered out from the next point. The first groups advanced to the far end of the town to secure the docks, the others arching in behind them like claws coming to grasp everything, while others split off to invade the barracks, slave holdings, and storehouses.
“Do you believe you will be able to secure the temple alone?” the Catcher asked cautiously.
“Sir Azure, how many Darkmoor troops do you think you would need to defeat my Free Company?” I asked the knight. “Ignoring myself.”
The Azure Knight just looked at the Catcher. “Hundreds, and those cultists are not Darkmoor troops. Their weapons of light will be useless.”
The Catcher acknowledged the logic, and the fine points of the order of battle began to be worked out.