Civilization

"Ian, what are your thoughts? Travys and the others will be attempting to defeat the Heart in the Abyss today. Shouldn't we go and try to intercept them?" - Kingston

"We beat them once already, it should be easy, right?" - Gibing

"Not necessarily. Like us, they have had a week and a half to prepare their attack, most likely taking us into account since we are their next big threat." - Howard

"Then we just need to take them by surprise with a bigger army." - Gopopo

"Why not just sneak attack them at that point? No need to waste the manpower to defeat them, if we can just kill the more important people." - Stellar

"We can't do that Stellar. It would be too big of a risk for the ones who are attacking them by themselves. There would a high chance that they won't make it out alive if they were to be discovered trying to assassinate their leader." - Yor

Sitting around a wooden table in the Krepost, Kingston, Gibing, Gopopo, Howard, Stellar, Yor, and I were discussing the possible avenues for the eventual conquest of the Abyss. Sam had told me offline, that an insider from Bones informed him that Travys and some other Bones employees were attempting to attack the Heart. Wanting to hear my NPCs' opinions, as well as Kingston's, I brought them here soon after midday, gathering them around the table.

"What is our current status if we were to start a fight with Bones? Are we able to hold out against them if they were to attack us in full force?" - Ian

"Well, it depends, what is our strategy against the Heart? Frankly, I haven't thought of a plausible method to deal with damage to it consistently when it is so far away. Even with all our goblin archers and the hobgoblin archers, there is no way our arrows will be able to kill the Heart. I doubt Travys and his army will be able to do the same." - Kingston

"Kingston, you may think it is impossible but to me, there is a possible strategy to attack the Heart. I'm not saying we will be able to kill it, but there is a chance." - Yor

"Go ahead, Yor. What is your plan?" - Ian

"Celine has tamed a lot of monsters and amongst them, there are a lot of ranged skills, namely the Zivotinjas, Shooting Stars, and Discharge. While the Crizanna's have ranged skills as well, their overall abilities are weaker than the Zivotinjas, as they also have Prismatic Barrier to defend themselves. Celine has informed me about these skills and their descriptions and this got me thinking, isn't the Zivotinjas the best partner in any form of combat?

Not only will they shield you, but they will also do damage to your enemies. The Zivotinjas will be vital when we engage in combat with Travys and his army. Once that battle is done, we will be facing the Heart and while the damage will be slow, the Zivotinjas will also be attacking the Heart, adding to the archer's damage. We just need David here to do the final blow to the Heart with his skill." - Yor

"Yor, that plan is fine and all but isn't the just my thought, thought out more?" - Kingston

"Possibly. There isn't much we can go off since we were only able to get to the Heart once. Every other attempt we tried, we had to stop the level before since another monster now guards it." - Yor

"That monster is a lot more difficult than the last one we had to face. While it is of the same race, its intelligence is a lot higher, making it harder to attack it since it knows that just flying around makes it hard for us to attack it. Not only that but there were several instances where someone could have died to the sneak attacks of Travys's assassins." - Howard

"However, one on one against them, we have the advantage. They weren't that strong." - Gibing

"That's because individually most of them aren't strong. They work better as a unit, where their teamwork can be displayed. Despite the lack of ideas, my own thoughts did coincide with Yor's. The only problem is moving all these Zivotinjas and then managing them for the duration of multiple battles will be quite difficult. They are still monsters, so they wouldn't fully understand the reasons behind our actions even with Celine translating.

Despite that, I think we should attack them head-on rather than try to play around with assassination or backstabbing attempts. With this approach, we need to be very careful with the timing of our attack. We want to catch them off guard, but before they have time to send out scouts and invisible troops to guard the sides. Once they do this, it will make the battle extremely difficult, since we have to be careful wherever we go." - Ian

"I will do my best with Gewari if it ends up being an assassin battle. Would you like me to lay in wait for the enemy or attack their own leader?" - Stellar

"As I said, I prefer if that doesn't happen but… I think you attacking their leader would be better. We should be more than capable of defending ourselves." - Ian

"I'll lead the battle with Howard and David, as well as some demi-humans. We will blast through their front line quickly and reach for Travys." - Kingston

"Wouldn't Travys be at the front anyway? He was at the front when we temporarily teamed up with him and his equipment matched that of Howard's or David's before he transformed. So isn't it more likely that he would be at the front as well?" - Gopopo

"You're right… Then Howard, David, some demi-humans, and I will attack Travys and keep him company. I'm sure his two friends, Song and Tsugi will be right next to him as well, so we need to fight against them as well." - Kingston

"So, how many of us will be going to the Abyss?" - Yor

"Quite a lot, but we need to balance it so that when we leave we won't be attacked by that Tamer village not too far away from us. What is their recent movement Stellar? Have they done anything that we should be concerned about?" - Ian

"The village has grown in number compared to the last time you asked for a report on them. Mainly more monsters have been tamed, however, the residents themselves seem to be busy constructing houses for themselves rather than finding an opportunity to attack. I might be wrong, but I feel like this is just a front, I feel like the tamer knows we are watching him and is currently giving us false information through the civilian movements.

It has also become increasingly difficult to scout around the village. The increase in monsters led to an increase in patrols as well as an extended range. Numerous close encounters have occurred, and we had no choice but to retreat further back and scout from a further distance. Every so often I would infiltrate the village but only for a short while before the Gold Zivotinja notices me." - Stellar

"So you think they might attack us the moment we leave the Krepost?" - Ian

"Unfortunately, yes. I believe they are waiting for that moment. Even if they do not, I believe they would prepare an ambush for us near the cave. Making us have to fight them not long after a difficult battle." - Stellar

"What if we split into two different teams?" - Kingston

"What do you mean, Kingston? We are already small in numbers, but you want to reduce it even further?" - Yor

"That's right, Kingston. Isn't it better to focus on the Heart? It is a more important battle than a battle with a nearby village." - Gibing

"Let him talk. I'm sure he has an idea." - Gopopo

"Well, the tamer village is mainly monsters, right? Why not attack them with our own monsters? We have a significant number of monsters, 47 Zivotinjas, 39 Crinzanna, 58 Xabarils, and 2 Ijagu. Just looking at the numbers we outnumber theirs, but that isn't the only thing we have, after all, we have Luna and the rest of her pack. Right now there are a total of 28 wolves, each more than capable of fighting against a few monsters by themselves.

David is already on his way but if we send a messenger quickly, we can also get Luna and her wolves to come to us. Celine, Kaede, Ken, Rebecca, and a few others will form a second army and attack the tamer village, with the monsters being the main army. We just need maybe 20 Zivotinjas for the first army, but other than that, goblins, hobgoblins, and demi-humans can guard the girls while Ken leads at the front." - Kingston

"Interesting proposition, Kingston. I quite like it as well. Alright, we will go with Kingston's plan. Stellar find someone fast to deliver the message but also bring back Frank and his vampiric beings. They will be a trump card against the tamer village in case the monster army can't handle the battle against the Gold Zivotinja. The rest of us, it is time for you to prepare yourselves for the upcoming battle.

Kingston, tell Celine to get her monsters ready. We march at dusk, attacking the tamer village at night and entering the Abyss at night as well, following Travys's schedule. Luna and her wolves will be here in time and David will also hurry after getting the message." - Ian

"Yes, my lord/Ian!" - Everyone