OP duck sick

>>6165384
Each mortar-team sets up somewhere on the hillside, in whatever position they can find that offers both a little cover as well as some degree of line of sight towards where they will be firing. You stop at each turn, offering a direction and range for them that targets a flash in the darkness. One by one the artillery that’s managed to start firing back at the two armed corvettes in the harbor are hit, some after a few tries, and you hear the callouts in turn.

“No hit!” one team calls out. A second team makes a similar call – a mis-fired round forces them to stop firing early.

You can see from the top of the hill that the enemy has begun relocating, with some of the artillery realizing that the explosions around them were targeting them from another angle.

>Rely on the few remaining mortar rounds to eliminate the remaining artillery that you can see and target from here.
>This will require a combined effort – infantry will withdraw from covering the mortars and advance into the port.
>Everyone will need to move forward – that means this is a job mainly for the infantry now.
>Other?

>>6165390
>>Rely on the few remaining mortar rounds to eliminate the remaining artillery that you can see and target from here.

>>6165390
>This will require a combined effort – infantry will withdraw from covering the mortars and advance into the port.
But keep a small infantry reserve to deal with infiltrators.

>>6165390
>>This will require a combined effort – infantry will withdraw from covering the mortars and advance into the port.

>>6165390
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 10, 6, 4 = 20 (3d10)

>>6165991

Rolled 8, 7, 2 = 17 (3d10)

>>6165991

Rolled 9, 8, 2 = 19 (3d10)

>>6165991

>>6165991
“Cameron,” you decide, “I want infantry to pursue those targets the mortars missed. What do you need to make that happen?”

“The remaining mortars would have to offer a rolling barrage,” Cameron tells you, “such as they can with what rounds we have left. At least a token force of infantry should stay with the mortar crews to secure our rear.”

“Anything else?” you press.

He nods. “I’ll stay with the mortar crews. When they’ve finished I’ll have them move up as well.”

“Then we’ll be going,” you declare. “Catch up when you can.”

Cameron responds with a salute.

…

It’s a downhill charge over rough terrain, through sparse trees, and then suddenly out into the open at the base of the hill. The barrage is fairly well-timed, so that the mortars fall not long after the soldiers break their cover and make for the nearest buildings. There are a few isolated shots fired before explosions drive the few would-be defenders into their own cover, and by the time the mortars are through you and your fellow warriors have already crossed. Several soldiers stop and crouch, firing at windows as the last of their comrades continue the charge. The maneuver cost few enough lives to be counted on one hand, and once completed it allows you to break down the infantry into groups small enough to canvass the roadways and alleyways, systematically chasing down and flanking the remaining artillery.

…

By sunrise your charging infantry have become de facto occupiers.

There was some damage to each of the corvettes which came with some casualties, and the barge was a total loss. You also lost plenty of soldiers – including, in the end, Major Cameron. He fell as the mortar-crews and the infantry left with them brought up the rear of the charge down into the port facility, which he must have known would be a maneuver bound to produce casualties. Indeed, half the men who stayed with him were either killed or wounded.
>1/2

>>6168001
Your own cohort only suffered wounds, and while the only one that came close to being a problem was a stray bullet that creased Serana’s skull from behind there was plenty of less dramatic blood shed among your number.

In exchange for those losses, the garrison here was utterly defeated. Even the men who Cameron’s unit ran into in the night lost much of their will to fight when they realized how badly the battle overall had gone in their absence. Weapons now lie abandoned in piles, and men along with a few women here and there sit in neatly-ordered rows with varying degrees of despondence evident in their expressions.

[So what now?] Serana asks you silently – convenient, as you wouldn’t wish to speak aloud in front of the prisoners. Not at this precise moment, not when you’re strategizing with your most trusted companion.

[Hard to say,] you admit. [There’s always a question of appearances of course.]

[Of course,] Serana repeats. [Have you decided how you wish to be seen?]

That certainly is the question, seeing as even now this interminable conflict is just drawing to a close – not actually ‘finished’.

>I think it would make sense to let them stew a while. Make them eager to settle accounts.
>I want them all gone as soon as possible, and that means putting them on civilian boats.
>We’ll gather their highest-ranking officers for a more formal, permanent arrangement.
>Other?

>>6170742
>>We’ll gather their highest-ranking officers for a more formal, permanent arrangement.

>>6170742
>We’ll gather their highest-ranking officers for a more formal, permanent arrangement.

>>6170742
>>We’ll gather their highest-ranking officers for a more formal, permanent arrangement.

>>6170742
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6 (3d10)

>>6171659

Rolled 8, 6, 18 = 32 (3d20)

>>6171666

Rolled 6, 3, 6 = 15 (3d10)

>>6171731
Oops, I thought is was 3d20

Rolled 4, 2, 7 = 13 (3d10)

>>6171659

>>6171659
[Gather the seniormost officers,] you decide. [Let’s make this formal.]

…

A colonel, along with a handful of majors and lieutenants, are the soldiers which your allies (and in honesty, your temporary collaborators) identify as being relevant to the conversation which must take place next.

“Let me begin by making this abundantly clear,” you growl. “This war is now over. Within our homeland the largest of your forces has surrendered, the Asarakam now know of this place and your presence here. And now, your main logistical port has fallen. If you would like to rebut any of these points now would be the time.”

There’s a prominent pause.

“Well then,” you continue. “I’m going to take some input on a topic where you may have superior experience.”

The colonel, highest-ranking among the survivors, speaks for the whole. “And why should we cooperate?”

“There won’t be any reprisals,” you shrug. “But neither will we be be inclined to do you any favors. Imperfect information may also lead to problems down the line that, our own intents aside, might cause problems for you and your subordinates too.”

Another pause.

“Then what, might I ask, is your aim?”

“My aim?”

“Your endgame,” the colonel clarifies. “You must want something more than simply shipping us off like so much unwanted luggage, otherwise why would we all be sitting here like this? Well, tell us what it is so we can know whether or not to help you get it.”

Straight to the point, then.

>I intend to establish normalized political and economic ties with the mainland.
>I want to make sure that no mainlanders ever, under any circumstance, return here again.
>Justice. For myself, my comrades and friends, my kingdom. Everyone your organization used.
>Other?

>>6174222
>I intend to establish normalized political and economic ties with the mainland.
Isolation will only lead to the mainland gobbling us up further in the future once they invent bombers

>>6174222
>>I intend to establish normalized political and economic ties with the mainland.

>>6174222
>I intend to establish normalized political and economic ties with the mainland.

>>6174222
>3d10 best of three

Rolled 6, 2, 8 = 16 (3d10)

>>6175028

Rolled 10, 9, 6 = 25 (3d10)

>>6175028

Rolled 1, 7, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>6175028