Before the morning of the eleventh day, the first parts of his ideas were in motion. He had slept maybe two hours, enough time to finally spend his free points. Seru had used her own points to try to get the scoop on what everything did. A little Strength (Physical damage and improved muscle power... but more importantly so his body could keep up with his other stats), a little Constitution (He got hurt all the time, after all), a lot of Dexterity and a whole heap of Agility (He needed speed and to be co-ordinated and sneaky). He also spent a few points on Will (to boost his stamina. He'd be running up and down the plains on foot).
Another aspect of the plan also came from Seru, though from her whining earlier in the week. “Like, I bet Mosh and Horton could just get us internet so I could keep posting videos. I'm probably down to 0 subscribers!”
That comment got Corvayne thinking about electronic warfare, and had turned to see if the two tech-savy members of the expedition could perhaps do something to stop someone using modern resources. There likely was no counter if The Raven had a satellite over them, but perhaps they could scramble attempts at scouting them with drones.
Horton heard what he said, then for once looked happy. “This is the kind of information warfare situation that doesn't exist outside of thought experiments! There's no other wireless communication besides your walkies-talkies, oh, which you should NOT use unless it's life or death and you're okay with them listening in. Anyway, we got a one source, one receiver situation! That's always going to make it easier to find a flaw in a Crypto setup.”
After that it started to get to a realm of information warfare that Corvayne couldn't quite get, but Horton was already starting up his computer to design something.
Hence, on the eleventh day of the fall of Ebolt, Horton and Mosh put the finishing touches on a device designed to catch drones. How it worked, why it worked? Corvayne wasn't sure, but according to Horton it was only possible with the pristine airwaves on an undeveloped world.
Grunt on that same day rode out on his new toy.
Corvayne had spoken with him when he was stuck in a funk, at first trying to tap into the same sort of energy they had with Nyx setting up traps against Argyle. He even called Nyx over to offer the idea of doing the same for The Raven, but the man waved his hand.
“We have too much space. The only place we could trap would be ourselves, and even then when they find us they are going to use the hyper beam on us. I have ideas on how to use his army against him, maybe on one of your pity cruises you could take me along and show me exactly what he's wearing, hmm?”
He hadn't understood what Nyx had in mind then, so he had drifted between people that night, eventually talking with Grunt about how he wished they could go on a bike ride somewhere interesting. The high plains had basically just one mountain and a lot of the same dirt, wispy grasses, and rare stones and streams.
Grunt mimed riding a bike and taking out a mailbox with a bat, then stopped and started thinking. Nyx snorted. “Maybe you'll pull an E.T? Fly over the army on your bike?”
Both he and Grunt stared at Nyx. Grunt mimed panning then finding a nugget of gold.
The idea became the GOAT bike (both GOATs; an animal able to scale mountains, and Greatest Of All Time). It was the result of Corvayne and Mosh tuning an Anti-Gravity device to work with a normal bike pedal and tuned to Grunt's weight. He would have called it a waste, but Grunt had in him the soul of a true troll, and the moment Corvayne had heard the little bike bell, he was sure that he didn't need to ask Grunt to find any other way to provoke their enemy. Grunt signaled he'd be using the bike to get at The Raven's supply lines with his hand shaking as he signed, he was so excited. Right after the big plan meeting Grunt had the bike out and started ringing the bell while riding around the campfire, whipping around camp twice before he bolted out into the dark, brand new baseball bats clanking in his upgraded extra-large laundry basket.
Lady Blood Claw left camp for a few days after Corvayne started to pep up, coming back covered in grass and looking exhausted, but dropping in triumph a bunch of sweaty smelling black clothes at Corvayne's camp.
Corvayne looked at the pile of black leathers with black feathers and black furs. “LBC I'll help but I think June is better at washing clothes than I am.... you're turning orange what are they?”
Lady Blood Claw rolled her eyes. “Welcome back Lady! It's good to see you safe!”
Corvayne laughed. “Okay. Welcome back Lady, I'm always glad to see you safe. It means I don't have to pretend to be the level headed one at camp. Better?”
She smiled a little, skin turning a happy pink. “I got the bastard's laundry. Go get Nyx... and I suppose June too. Our little prude won't wear these things when they reek of man sweat.”
After some washing and June making adjustments for Nyx, he was fairly convincing as the figure Corvayne had seen through a spy-glass.
Nyx himself distastefully pulled at a feather. “Well, unless it's my long lost brother I doubt anyone would mistake me for someone so ugly and with such poor sense of style. Black doesn't even blend in as well as other colors.”
Lady Blood Claw poked his shield. “Says a man with a bright red cape who has no idea what this guy looks like.”
Nyx folded his arms. “What does he look like?”
She didn't miss a beat. “Don't know, don't care. I had a goal and I accomplished it.”
Corvayne thought about distances then, and who was moving between camps, and the projects in the new area that were being worked on. “Nyx, it's starting to come together, but I just need a few more little parts.”
The next component came about on the eighth night since the siege. Corvayne was letting Spears rest her head on his legs, trying not to wonder if she had to think about something like keeping her eyebrows shaped or if it was just how she was. It seemed like the sort of question that would tank her self-esteem, which sometimes happened when people pointed out she was a liquid and everyone else was solid.
So instead, he asked something he had been meaning to. “When you blow bubbles of yourself, does it hurt?”
She opened an eye. “A little bit. Like slapping your own face. Not much.”
That out of the way, he had another question. “When we were getting ready, why did you soak those bullets in yourself?”
She adjusted her head and pushed her liquid hair out of her face, letting it fall on one of Corvayne's hands. It was warm, and made him think about when he pushed his hand into her chest to rip those thorns out. Again. His discipline stayed an attempt to repeat that. He knew Spears teased him a lot, but it would be cruel to make a move because he was angry at his girlfriends. Or singular girlfriend. No body knew where Wick's heart was.
She laughed a little. “It can turn something's blood into slimes, but given that we were killing the drakes in a single shot anyway, the extra effort wasn't worth it.”
“Slime? Or did you mean slimes, like... creatures?”
“They are creatures, but not a really potent kind that can trap and kill people once they get out of the body. These are sort of useless pests rather than a threat.”
“... then why did you use it?”
“If not killing a dragon sized enemy by stopping their heart... I had been hoping to use it hit something on a mountain... they can set up an avalanche. I killed a small roc nest like that once, as the buggers eat stone.”
Corvayne put a hand on her shoulder. “Can you tell me more before you go to sleep?”
Spears smiled and closed her eyes. “If you scratch my head, I'll tell you all about them...”
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Corvayne found it sort of soothing himself, running his fingers across her warm liquid scalp and listening to her bring another small line into what was forming.
Not every part of his plan was a huge leap of logic. Mister I didn't need much convincing for what Corvayne had in mind when he approached him on the tenth day.
“I've been waiting for the fliers to show up anyway! Do you think they taste like chickens since they fly? Or perhaps like the griffon bratwurst we had?”
Corvayne got the older man to really smile by looking gravely back at him and saying, “Mister I, I have bad news. We have to go find and grind up a griffon now.”
The monk smiled. “About time you got serious about grilling!”
Shallee and Kirae also didn't need much prompting to tell him that they wanted to pit the entire plains up against The Raven. As Kirae said, “There's not a choice. They either come and take our things and kill us, or we make their life hell.”
Hari he had something else in mind with. He had sparred with assassins and taken out more than a few of the weaker ones, but he suspected that it was some sort of test and that soon they'd stop throwing novices at him. More importantly, there were now people in the camp who knew his game, so he had a simple job for her.
“When I enact the plan, I need you to use a cape like mine and keep showing up.”
She was a little upset at first. “You... want me... you want me to be a decoy?”
Corvayne nodded but then stopped and shook his head. “Not to draw fire, but attention. For a few days, they need to be sure I'm out on the plains causing trouble.”
He spoke with Ears-of-Steel and Reaper-of-Fish and Gary as a set. “I know you don't want to kill people, but how about stealing and arming the population to fight back?”
The guys looked confused but Ears-of-Steel laughed heartily. “I suppose you're about to ask us to do something silly, like become bandit bandits?”
Corvayne just smiled.
Even the Spider seemed to know what he needed. Twice a day she had started dragging him off to do odd things, things he was strangely bad at. It was about day nine he started mastering the weird little muscles she had been pushing him to use and train with, as well overcoming odd exercises with poles and the spider blinking around hurling pool balls at him (did they have a pool table somewhere? Or was it just loot from The Tower?) every time she saw him moving like a painful rendition of red-light green-light.
He had started to slip into [Agility] mode now as a habit to keep up with her, and then he had been forced to use [Strength] for explosive movements, slipping into [Vitality] and every time The Spider would effortlessly start beating him until he used a trick better, all coming together as he realized The Spider was also teaching him to be even more stealthy, to just know when to move and when to be still. To be aware of when she saw him as reflex.
His plan had solidified by day ten after the fall of Ebolt, but Hari's comment about being a decoy spurred his love of dumb stagecraft. The final piece had been trying to figure out a way to get The Raven to miss his first shot. Mosh heard the idea, and laughed at it, saying it was stupid... then thought about it quietly for a good minute, then started laughing saying it was really, really, really stupid, and it would never work, but that he LOVED it.
At some point Mosh talked to Wick, or Wick had heard him, because Mosh told him she had put her weight behind it. Smoke and mirrors to trick The Raven, but only once. It was up to Corvayne to find out how he fired the weapon, then remove that from the equation.
All those encounters with his friends, as he pulled himself out of his funk, got him thinking to what he had seen. So he called the meeting on the tenth night, and everyone was there. Ears and Reaper were in their pajamas, getting ready to sleep, and June had slumped over her table, dead tired from working non stop to keep the camp running, but it was fine. Varia put a blanket over her, even while her gaze was firmly on Corvayne.
A few of the villagers and soldiers were there too, watching him. Some of the soldiers nodded in respect. He couldn't tell what made the villagers stare, only that it made him want to scurry back into the dark. He couldn't, because most of all, across the fire from where he was standing on a rock, Wick sat on top of a bench looking at him over clasped hands. No emotions. No urgency. Just an even stare. Corvayne looked for friendlier eyes in the crowd.
He saw Lady Blood Claw, glowing blade held for heat. Nyx nodded at him. Grunt was in the back, almost invisible from the fire. He saw Brines sitting with Bearer-of-Burden. Even Growl-Whine was there, shifting her eyes from two to eight to six and back as she waited. Before he got cold feet, he stepped up to the fire and started talking.
“So, the first thing I have to do, before I talk plans, or strategy, is ask if you are willing to fight with me. Most of you signed up for a fun trip to get rich, or an adventure to get strong. If you wish to go back to Cascadia, we have dozens of bikes now, and I don't blame you. However... what I've seen out there is chaos. Madness. Evil. It makes me angry to see helpless people die, and while I cannot fix everything, I will not turn away when I can do something. So... if you are willing to fight with me... I have a plan.”
He looked at Wick, and Hari next to her. The elf's face was determined. Wick was still stone faced, but stood. Her voice was icy and as regal as he'd ever heard her as she said, “If you are not willing to fight, you can leave and we'll pay you out. There's no sitting this out. This is the very rot I saw in The Collective as well: Those who think the lives of others are a game. I do not think it is an accident we are here the moment we are needed.”
She nodded at Corvayne, and went back to sitting on the table. For a moment Corvayne looked and saw that no one had stood up.
Nyx finally called out. “Hurry it up Corvayne, I wanna know what the hell you've been having us do this last week!”
Lady Blood Claw snorted a little, shifting her glowing blade. “Yeah, We don't got all night. What was my laundry for?”
He nodded, allowing himself a little smile. “We face an army of nearly a million irregulars, lead by The Raven. They dismantled a kingdom before we got here and are now swarming through the one we're standing in. His biggest strengths are his huge force of irregulars, enough men to drown us out if he gets them all pointed our way. On top of that, he fielded a weapon that previously seemed to be property of the empire, a beam I'd expect out of a capital ship. We cannot let him bring either one against us. All his other assets... are hidden. So we will reveal them out by striking at his oversized army where they are weak. Where any army is weak.”
Corvayne paused, knowing that there was a tempo to this. He wished he smoked just to have a little prop to justify a pause. Instead, he looked to his audience, glowing against the dark by firelight, then held up a hamburger.
“He, and his huge army, all need to eat. We're going to cripple his army by shattering his supply lines. I want to see everything he has coming at us running backwards to protect his lines, and I want us to be frustrating and confusing those resources every step they take, forwards or backwards. Our main advantage is both our personal strength relative to his troops and that we have twelve hover-bikes that far out perform anything we've seen out of his mobility. I've yet to see him use elite troops or high powered adventurers, and Hari has told me that Osteria's remaining adventurers are mostly silver ranked and gold. The same sort of people we handily defeated before.”
“So, we are going to be nightmares, shadows, misquitoes. We're going to attack his food by going after his back line. Grunt, Myself, Lady Blood Claw, Spears especially are going to be aiming to cut off his food. We let Hari, Undine, and The Spider skirmish. Gary, Bearer and Ears, I want you guys to start off on defense up here on the plains. Patrol, keep raiders away with rockets and gunfire. We don't need to get them all, Bell's got a message going to the capital. Varia... I know you don't like me but I need your help with more earth works. It's part of a plan for Mosh to work on.”
She folded her arms. “Walls wouldn't help us much.”
“They don't have to be that strong, it's for a decoy. Reaper and Brines, I want you to be our home guard. We have an anti air gun and I want you to try and take out anything that flies too close. Heck, give Shaelle and Kirae and Bell practice time.”
Reaper nodded. “I ain't about picking a fight, but I've been talking with those folks you picked up, you know? I ain't going to run from one either.”
Brines looked around. “Pardon my language, but this Raven guy sounds a real jerk.”
Corvayne nodded. “Mister I, can you be our other solution to fliers?”
Turning he saw a sly smile. “Oh yes. Don't worry. I might need a bike, can't walk everywhere up here, but I love a good quail hunt!”
“You'll get it.”
He turned to Nyxion. “I have a special job for you, Nyx. Relating to the now clean laundry. His current system has messengers, ones that don't make it into camp. We're going to abuse that and try to issue orders to retract his men.”
“I sense I'll either love this plan or hate it.” Nyx folded his arms but was grinning.
Corvayne kept going. “Spears, if you can direct your pests to his roads, do it. Otherwise, I want you to try to hit the bridge and his roads with your pals. We're going to use some of our fancy magic items to decimate his biological air force, and hi-tech tricks to knock out his electronic vision. I want him blind, confused, angry, and hungry. When you're cleaning up his men, remember our goal is to scare the shit out of them. Leave one guy alive every time. Make a pattern of it. It's important too.”
Hari raised her hand. “But what about the big beam? Sooner or later he's going to figure out we are here and bee-line for us. Or just hit us when we get too close.”
“I suspect that he's not able to just use it whenever he wishes, but either way nothing we do goes near his camp. Our focus is on his information. He will see this place, and come here eventually... but we're going to disrupt his first shot. My plan also involves me taking the majority of the risk to make sure he doesn't get a second one.”
Wick nodded at him. “Do not fail. You don't have my permission to die Corvayne.”
“I have no plans on dying.” Corvayne stated simply. Especially not before Wick told him what the hell was going on. “Any questions?”
Seru raised her hand. “You didn't explain how you're going to stop him from firing his hyper-beam.”
Corvayne felt himself grinning. “Well...”
As when he had suggested the crux of his plan to Mosh, the entire camp groaned. Except Grunt, who was slapping his knee. The soldiers and villagers didn't get it, save one of the engineers who was thinking about it seriously and nodding.
Lady Blood Claw looked angry. “I can't believe that you are hinging the most important part of this plan on a trick that should only work on three year olds. I can't believe that I think it might work, either.”