"Then we should begin a strategy meeting now, as long as that is ok with you." I say.

The dwarves briefly discuss the idea and then give consent to begin.

"I'm thinking that despite the numerical disadvantage, we do have other advantages that we should play into. First, we have the advantage of secrecy and information. The other side's plan is at least partially understood, whereas our plans should be easy to keep hidden. Second, we're a mountainous volcanic island. That means that they first have to get here across the water, which can be taken advantage of, then also siege the beaches, and finally, actually find us in the forests and cliffs. The third advantage is pretty simple, but we're playing on our home turf so we inherently should have some informational advantage while fighting."

After Shasta translates for me, Kao sits in deep thought for a few minutes, as does everyone else. Eventually, Kao is the first to speak up.

"I can't deny that this island would be easier to defend than mine, but I'm not willing to simply throw my island away, and potentially give the other side a staging grounds for attacking here."

"What of the other two islands between here and your island? Could they not also be staging grounds?"

"They could, but it'd take extra work, and I don't know that for an army of that size, it would be feasible to spend that long on those islands. The only reason mine works is because it is already set up to send and receive ships."

We all sit for another minute thinking about this problem, before an idea comes to me.

"What if we removed that as an option for them?"

"How would you intend to do that? I'm not going to sabotage all my own infrastructure, they could just repair it."

"We don't need to sabotage it, we simply need to make it unfavorable for them to want to use it. What if you pretend to stay neutral in the conflict. Say that 'Given the circumstances, you won't aid us, but given your military agreements, it would be dishonorable to assist them.' It would be even more effective if they believe your armies could attack them back home, especially if their armies are already out here."

"It could work, but it'd require that I send my troops home, in order to play up to the fact that we're not participating in the conflict on either side."

"Is it possible to relay false information related to where your troops are?"

"Perhaps. Though I'd need to think for a moment..."

Kao pauses in thought for a few minutes before giving an idea.

"It'd be risky, but if we only send back half of the troops, I think I could pull the wool over the eyes of any spies. What I'd do is send all the boats back, but only half the troops, and have the full boats unload at my normal unloading location at one of our coastal cities. The almost empty boats would go to some of my more remote garrisons and appear to be unloading and reloading cargo, but would actually be smuggling most of the garrison onto the ship. Then those ships would go and unload the garrison in the normal location. Then I'd have to shuffle my troops around, which I'd want to do anyway to appear to be positioning for a counter attack should Rathland decide to attack me."

"Pardon if this is rude, but what if you have spies within those garrisons, among your own men, or the men here? A conspiracy is quite hard to keep secret, after all."

"Well, most of the men won't know. I'll simply tell the men that we'll be staging our return to different locations, then half the ships, when out of eyesight of the others, will return here, rather than the mainland. They'll unload the men here, then return to do the cargo run. The individuals at the garrisons will simply be told they're moving assignment in preparation for the upcoming potentiality of conflict, but that we're concerned about their relocation information being leaked, so they need to be tight lipped. Anyone who leaks information will be lead to think its because we're attempting to stay neutral. The only people in on the conspiracy are in this room now. Though, to keep up the appearance, I'll have to be one of the individuals to leave."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Then who would lead your troops?"

Kao nods to two of the other dwarves he brought with him.

"Atatuk Ostark will return with Karta Debroik, and they'll lead my troops in my absence."

I raised an eyebrow, "A relative?"

"No relation, recall how we gain our names..." Shasta replies without translating.

Oh. Right. Their last names are for the location they were born. Wait. I hadn't thought of this before but then would any dwarves born here bear the last name Kembora? I shake my head to drive the thought away, now isn't the time to be thinking of matters like this.

"Alright, so a portion of your men will return. Would it be possible to smuggle extra supplies to the island, or purchase them without too much hassle? I'm mainly concerned with explosives, gunpowder preferably. Part of the strategy I'm starting to think about involves the concept of 'defense in depth'. Fallback position upon fallback position to retreat to, each time attempting to take minimal losses while frustrating our opponent and bleeding them dry of resources. They can't afford to spend weeks or months fighting here, they won't have the food to supply a large army easily here."

"It might be a double edged sword to directly acquire additional gunpowder. If countries that are thinking about staying neutral see you buying a bunch of gunpowder, they might reconsider their neutrality."

"What if we only bought the sulfur?"

"It'd be a bit less risky, but there would still be some risk."

"Before we do that then, I'd like to consult with Konkur. Given these islands are volcanic, I'd expect that there are sulfur deposits somewhere, but I haven't found any. If we can find that, then we can make our own gunpowder. If Konkur has insight, then I'd rather not risk it."

"A wise decision. Given the already large disparity in combat force sizes, any extra enemies could prove fatal."

"Moving to the next topic, I am looking to get some historical information from you, if you know of it. Do you know why you can travel to these islands in winter only?"

"Why, I cannot say, but when the eagles first came here in winter a few years ago, and we sent an expeditionary force out, it was expected to be eaten by leviathans. Surprisingly, they returned back to inform us that your group was here, and you'd taken hostages. We gathered troops to set out, and by then it was late spring. One of the four ships was eaten by a leviathan, so we turned back. We then waited, biding our time to try again if any eagles set out. Sure enough, next year another did, and so we followed. We've since determined that in winter, for whatever reason, the leviathans don't seem to be located between here and the mainland."

"Is there any historical reason or accounts of people trying to sail out this way during winter and being fine?"

"If they did, it would have been a long, long time ago. Everyone knows, or I suppose knew, that the waters outside the continents were deadly. There are tales of attempted expeditions setting out in the early days of the demon invasions, but they never returned."

"This is just a hunch, but there are a few too many coincidences for me to believe that it isn't connected, I think that the large crystals like ParTor are the reason for the leviathans not being present in winter, although the exact mechanism and why it is only in winter, I'm unsure of. In the year before the first eagles travelled was when I completed the first large crystal and installed it within our village. If that is the reason the leviathans don't seem to show up, then I'm suggesting that we actually move both the new crystal on this island and the one we presented you with deep underground, avoiding as much contact with the ground as possible during the eighth month of next year, and leaving them there through winter. I'm hoping that we can maybe use the leviathans to our advantage and cull part of the ships before they even arrive."

"An interesting proposal. How certain are you that this will work in some way?"

"Better than 50%, but not by much. It's just something that we can try that might increase our odds of winning, so I want to try it. Then, come spring time, if we succeed on this island, we'll install the crystal again as can you on the mainland. If we fail, well, you'll be free to do as you please with it, I suppose."

"Well, that sounds like it would probably be worth the risk then. Are there any other conceptual things we should discuss, or should we start the actual detailed planning process now?"

"I think we can start with the detailed planning now."