Calia looks pained. "The Lady is a Mistress, she has completed her journey. Bisharan do not have the concept of Rank. Those with the most power command the most. Each Master or Mistress chooses a Duty. The Lady has chosen the protection of this world as her Duty. Not the protection of it's people, but the world itself. Anything she think is dangerous to the world, she destroys, root and branch. Be that a rogue Drakon, a warlord, a mad Magi, a city, or an entire country. If it is a danger to the world, she will destroy it."
Calea says something, and then there's some back and forth in Bisharan, before Calia continues. "Calea confirms that had you proven your self dangerous to the world, as you were boasting, the Lady would have destroyed you all utterly, and then moved on to destroy your allies, and then moved on to your world as well." She nods to the archer, who is entering through the gates. "The Magi do not follow her out of respect, they are there to die in slowing her down if she decides a populated area is a danger." She tilts her head. "There have been 4 other Ni'Bisharan and 37 Bisharan Guardians who have decided that the Lady is a danger to their duty. All have been defeated in combat by the Lady. Non survived."
I did say to remember your Sun Tzu... Dawn grins, a little shakily at the thought of any one person having that much power. Being under estimated is often a good thing in combat.
Calia doesn't look back as she and Calea go to the stone. "And drawing the attention of the hungry angry Elder Drakon is always a bad thing, in or out of combat."
The two women walk out to the stone, and begin to chant. The stone begins to flow as if liquid, and bits of it form into small square bricks.
"Interresting these mistresses sounds like some of the old local myths I've heard traveling around the world, stories of ancient gods who could erase entire cities." Laine responds to Calia's story before thinking about it.
"Is more like storm off coast that blow away city." Brona says, looking thoughtful, apparently having been watching from nearby and keeping her head down until the Mistress left. "Ni'Bisharan dangerous. Bisharan more so. Older Bisharan get, more dangerous it get, and it only die if something kill. Not grow old. Just is. Like rock." She shudders. "Ni'Bisharan that can kill Bisharan is scary." She looks thoughtful. "But would still rather have to fight Lady than Ancient Bisharan. Ancient Bisharan shape world, create gates, make moon stand still, make island, sink island."
Genie shakes her head in amazement. I would have never thought that so much power could be in one individual.
She then looks around at her companions, a wry smile crossing her face. "Are we done here, or did anyone else want to pick a fight with a demi-god?"
Scott exhales, relieved when the woman goes away, and observes how Calia and Calea melt the stone.
"In short - if she attacks us, we will be dead and if she attacks our base, we will suffer heavy losses. To be honest, I'm glad she decided we're not worth her attention."
Dawn had followed and watched intently as they changed the rock into bricks. She picked one up to get a closer look. She was curious if it was still the same type of rock.
Now that's a neat trick. I don't suppose you could mend the gash in our armor?
Calia shakes her head, her eyes focused on the stone. "I have not yet learned metal spells." Calea asks a question in Bisharan, and Calia responds, then Calea shakes her head, presumably she has not learned metal either.
The bricks appear to be the same as the stone, but are uniform in consistency, with none of the cracks or pits one would expect from natural stone. Also, while the natural stone has streaks in it from having multiple types of stone layered, the bricks appear to be a fully mixed version of the stone, as if it had been melted and stirred to a uniform consistency. Each is also extremely close to the same size as the others. Not perfect as if a machine made them, but as if they had all been made in molds made from the same original, just each minimally varried from the others.
WO Debbs thinks about what the platoon has already been through. "A letter of introduction might be worth having. We seem to be stepping on all the wrong feet lately."
I'd say that is Jacob's call but I'd go along with it.
"I agree we might have to watch our steps carefully from here on untill we know how to treat the different people we meet as we explore more."
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Jacob considers the voices of the crew and says perhaps we can get a letter of introduction and then move to the capital and purchase goods that sell here. Most people find little threat in merchants. Then we can buy the barges with the money we make in merchant wares and move our convey to complete our mission.
I think we still carry some trade goods with us as well. Those might be used for bribes as well as coin, and could be sold as well.
"I'll stay here, won't be of much use in getting the letter."
Scott looks at the cut in their vehicle and sighs. "Can we do something about that?"
"Perhaps I should stay on guard? I can see farther through my scope and keep a bigger area covered. But if you want me to help with the trading I won't disregard that order."
Debbs raises her hand. "I'll volunteer to get the letter if someone can come along with me to who can do a bit of translating." She ponders something for a moment, then turns to Calia.
"So who can do magic? Do you think it's something I could learn, given enough time, or is there a racial element?"
Brona nods at Debbs. "I can talk for you. Anyone can learn small magic, if work hard enough. Must have natural talent for it to learn big magic. All Bisharan and Ni'Bisharan learn magic. Huma only some can learn big." She holds out her hand, and concentrates on the palm, and a small bit of air begins to spin on her palm for a few seconds as she chants under her breath. Then the spinning goes wild and flutters away. She wipes some sweat from her forehead. "Was only thing I learn from town Witch. She say I better with axe than magic."
Brona steps into the LAV and grabs the sack with the coins and then escorts Debbs to get the letter.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Debbs and Brona return an hour later holding an ornate scroll with wax seals and a leather case around it. The caligraphy on the letters is oddly familiar, similar to English letters, but not quite the same.
By the time the hour is up, the two sisters have reduced the massive rock to a pile of bricks stacked up in the field, a small boon in money for the farmer, who has sense showed up and thanks them profusely for their good work.
Debbs shows the ornate scroll to David. "Here it is, sergeant. Hopefully this will make things a bit easier for us in the future and avoid further ... shall we say, misunderstandings with the local populace."
Debbs will then tend to any mechanical issues the vehicles might have until the platoon is ready to depart.
As the group loads up and gets under way, Calia is quiet. After an hour of following the northern 'road' which is more of a packed dirt trail, she speaks. "Something The Lady said has confirmed some thoughts I had had. You are, none of you, Elites. I believe you can make up for that due to your equipment, it gives you a very large advantage in battle. However, that advantage will vanish when you begin to face the elite Imperial troops."
"Maybe," agrees Scott. "But if we - "pretend soldiers" - won't be able to complete the task, our countries will send the elite troops, much better skilled and equipped than us."
Calia nods. "As I would expect, however, that does not address the loss of the lives of your current battle host. Then again, perhaps your Empire also uses their cannon fodder for the initial stages of a war?" She tilts her head. "Are you here as the expendable force to investigate the enemy's true strength?"
"We are a compromise." Scot glances at their commander. Guess it won't hurt much to tell her. "Our world has many major powers. Our country is one of them and can't just send the real elites. Or else, everyone would send their elites. So they send us - civil defense forces, "weekend warriors". A compromise."
The fact that they had been sent in instead of a few battalions of armored infantry had been worrying Genie for some time. I wonder if central command has underestimated the threat posed by these people. Calia is correct that we are certainly not the elite.
Hearing the warrior speak, she chimes in with what Baker is saying. "We are not expendable. In our military, nobody is, at least that's what we are told by our commanders. There is also politics involved in the decision to send us, which always complicates things."
And we grow more elite every day, partially thanks to you Calia. We are learning your languages and customs, and are making friends with the locals. Daniel says with a smile. That makes us more valuable. I am sure you see that.
Calia shakes her head. "You misunderstand me, I am not trying to make you feel inadequate. I am trying to find out what your people plan to do when the Empire begins to produce more Elite soldiers." She holds up a finger. "The empire's military is very large, and consists of Low Level forces conscripted from it's vassal states. These are primarily cannon fodder, and are considered disposable troops. These are the troops that entered your world, and whom you slaughtered in your first and second battles with them." She holds up a second finger. "Then there is the Magi, their second level of assault force. These are the ones you decimated in your initial attack, what I had thought was a brilliant opening gambit, but after listening to your talk with The Lady, I now believe that it was sheer luck on your part." She pauses. "To translate the level of power the Magi have, on average, I can kill 3 average Magi in combat without endangering my life. I can kill 6, but there is a good chance I'd be crippled in the fight. Seven or more would kill me, although I'd decimate their numbers. Calea could take on 4, 9, and 10 at the same level. The Lady could take on 20, 50, or 60 at the same level."
She pauses to let that sink in, and then continues. "Then, there are the Knights of the Realm. Individually each Knight is less powerful than a Magi, but they number over 10 legions. The exact numbers vary, but the Empire tries to maintain 10 full legions. It's likely you may have taken out a cohort or two in your battles. The Knights are the backbone of the Empirial Host. It would take 50 Knights to kill me. For purposes of power levels."
She then holds up a 4th finger. "Then, there is the Imperial Elite. The Imperial Elite are taken from the best of the best of the Knights, and then are further enhanced by the Imperial Wizards. The Imperial Elites are the most powerful of the Imperial Army. They are used when the Impire and the Bisharan clash. Imperial Elite are on an equal level with me, on average. They are the reason that The Lady has not yet exterminated the Empire."
She holds up her fifth finger. "Then there are the 10 Imperial Seals. These are the most powerful of the Elites. It would take Two Seals to kill The Lady."
She pauses again, and then continues. "That does not include the Sisters of the Forest, who are each on the level of an Elite, and who's senior commanders are at the level of Seals. They are allied with the Empire against all invaders, save Bisharan. So, I ask again, can your people take on such a force? More importantly, can you survive such a war. I do not ask this to make you leave your posts, I asks because I have allied myself with you, and I wish to know if we actually stand a chance."
Laine lights a cigar while listen to Calia explain how the army of the empire is set up, blowing out smoke he says. "Sounds like in our current state we are in way over our head and it would be suicide to not run from most of these people if we encounter them in an unfavorable situation. But on the other hand we won't know if we can take them on untill we meet any of them, if our bullets can harm them I'm sure we can take them down in a combined effort. If not I think we have to learn some of the tools of the war from this world to improve our odds of winning this war."
You know, in high school I always played a caster. Guess we see if we can learn how now?
Calia shrugs. "I did try to warn your 'Central Command', but they did not seem to take my warnings seriously. I hope that you can convince them of the danger after meeting The Lady?"
Genie nods at Calia's comment and chuckles, saying "It'll certainly be included in our final paperwork, you can be sure of that."
She then turns to Dawn and smiles. "I always played the elf rogue with lots of skills. Guess its no surprise that I eventually became an engineer."
Assuming I put this in a report, it'll be listed under "know thy enemy." Dawn grins, well Genie, between the two of us, we should see if we can work some wonders melding this with our tech.
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please be sure to list the different level of troops and their skill levels for our report and what we have witnessed as being true to that scouted report. Jacob says as he listens to all the information and then he says to be precise we have what you would call magic that we have not employed and elites as well that are at much higher capacity for taking out enemy forces. I am not over confident but that is why we are here scouting the enemy forces and putting out rally points for later
Genie nods to Dawn. "I hadn't even thought about the possibility of combining technology and magic. Certainly something to look into."
She chuckles and scratches her head. "I just can't get my head around the fact that magic, like storybook magic is a real thing. If it works on our world, I wonder if it was ever practiced on Earth. And if it was, then why is it still not practiced?"
The conversation peters out, and turns to other things as the convoy moves on north east. The road the convoy follows isn't really designed for vehicles this heavy or big, but people move off the road to let them pass. They draw a crowd wherever they go, both militia and villagers.
After a day of travel, they are about 2/3rds of the way to capital city. Brona points to a large building on the side of the road. "That is inn. We could stay, get bath, meal. Park Ell Aye Vee and Tru'k in pasture behind Inn."
I'll bunk in the vehicle Jacob, if that helps. But jot meals do sound good.
The inn is a two story affair that sits on the road in the middle of nowhere. There's a few buildings around it, a large and obvious barn, what looks like two small croft houses, and several small outhouses.
Next to the barn, a large field is surrounded by stone pillared fences made from some strange stone that looks like poured concrete. Iron grates extend between the posts, six foot high each. Inside the field, a dozen or so obvious sheep and a small herd of cows graze contentedly. In a separate field, off to the side, a pair of bulls and a pair of rams contentedly chew. There are stone and steel pallisades with heavy roofs scattered throughout the field.
At least, they are all contented until the convoy gets close, and then they all begin bleat and moo, and then race up under the pallisades, leaving cow patties and sheep dung in piles behind as they run.
As the convoy parks, four armed men in leather armor come out of the inn, each armed with a bow, and with heavy looking swords on their hips. A woman with a crossbow and an apron follows them, looking red faced and angry.
Arrows and bolts begin to pelt the LAV and the convoy trucks, and the locals are yelling and screaming at the trucks.
Cocking her head, Brona laughs. "They think you monsters here to eat sheep, men, and cows."
"I'll stay at the inn also, I like to see how the local cusine is." Laine adds in.
"Sheep and cow is standard meat back on earth but men is only eaten by crazy people and some tribe communities. What do we do?" Laine says as he duck from a arrow.
Calia giggles. "They think your vehicles are monsters, they don't realize people are in them. We thought much the same originally when we first saw them. As did the people in town, until I came out of one. Try using your speaking outside device."
"Hot meal does sound nice. Let's hope the locals won't be too aggressive after we come out. They might think we're demon worshipers or something."
Genie grabs one of the mics for the outside speakers and hands it to Calia.
"Calia, can you please translate?"
When Calia is ready, she continues.
"Please stop firing your weapons. We mean you no harm. There are people in these machines."
To prove her point, she quickly sticks her arm out of the top of the LAV and gives a friendly wave.
"Please lower your weapons and we will show you that we mean no harm. We are travelers from a distant land and are riding in horseless carriages. We have come to trade for food and lodging for the night."
Dawn checks that the back is clear and opens the rear hatch. She steps out and steps to the side, staying behind the LAV. She quickly waves a hand up and out from cover, Stop shooting! she yells out in her broken common.