Interesting, it seemed like only one lord Lautréamont was going to take immediate action. While lady Taerin, seemed to be more interested in comforting Lady Nicolette. Though the baron's own wife was missing when the news broke out, maybe she was part of the rebellion? Investigating her might prove fruitful. With a smile, Lily decides on her next course of action. But, seeing another lady was mumbling to herself, Lily approaches her first. Wait was she a lady, or the court jester? Pushing those thoughts out, Lily smiles at the weirdly dressed girl, "Good evening, I am Lily Blackwood. Might I also know your name?" She asked politely.
"I'm Viola Allaire...I never really met the Blackwood family in house person, though I was aware of them. It's nice to finally meet you!" Cheerfully she offered her hand to the woman. She had heard stories from her mother. In a lot of ways, while one used brighter colors and the other darker, their methods weren't actually all too different, but the reasons for them, made the two houses like the sun and the moon. "Um..I guess this isn't really the best possible time to be doing greetings and all...but we are all going to need to see each other a lot more often so we may as well all get to know each other so we can get along. Am I wrong here?" Viola had to think on what her families reaction would be to the situation. She'd be surprised if her mother hadn't saw this coming and her brother hadn't already prepared plans for this event. Not common traits for her family by any means. The closest one to a proper Allaire would be her oldest brother, who was off in some foreign land doing some kind of crusade....or probably just hitting on nuns there like dad would. Whatever the cases may be, she was still left the only member of her house present.
"Allaire? I see, no wonder your dress is... unique." Lily says, as she raises her gloved hand to shake Viola's. "The pleasure is all mine, lady Allaire. It is indeed nice to finally meet someone from house Allaire in person." Lily kept her usual smile as she greeted the lady. With a slight nod, she answered, "Right again, my lady. I also think the situation calls for everyone to get to know each other. Especially since the baron is sure to test where our loyalties lie." She says with a sigh. "Though, I am sure the rebels will also ask for us to join them. It would probably be best to prepare defenses for your lands, my lady." Lily adviced.
"Gregrorie IS the defense." Viola placed a lot of pride in her retainer though he had apparently went off to somewhere on his own. She wasn't too bothered by it, but it did make it awkward to assert without him directly there beside her. Her magic was formidable but even she was aware not to rely on it alone. It IS what made her so special over the rest of her family and if she worked hard at it then...it'd be better not to think of all the damage that could be done. "And...if there is one thing my house has been good at it's surviving....but then there's me...I'm not exactly meant for the front lines or things like that....how confident are you when it comes to these kinds of things?"
Lily shakes her head, "But can Gregorie take on the combined army of four nobles? Though I doubt the rebels would focus all their forces in one place, but it is still better to be prepared for the worst." Though it is said the house Allaire is a house of magic casters. It would still take an immensely powerful mage to wipe out an army. Hmm, perhaps I should pay a visit to one of the rebel lords? No, that will be too risky without much information about them. Lily thought to herself. "Ah, that is good news then. My house specializes in gathering information. But I too am confident in my retainer's ability to pretect my domain." Lily then chuckles, "Well it seems you and I are the same, I too am not suited for the frontlines. But I am confident in being able to learn more about the rebels intention. Perhaps we could use it to avoid unnecessary bloodshed."
Nadine Castex finally snapped out of her thoughts. She looked around and noticed that almost all of the present people left, save for two ladies and some servants. She slowly shook her head. "Forgive me my ladies, but I will be retiring now. Tomorrow will be a hard and long day." With that she got up and left the ballroom.
Lily nods, then bows the Nadine, "Good night, my lady." She bade the baron's daughter farewell, before turning to face Viola. "I shall also take my leave, there are a lot of preparations to take. Farewell, lady Allaire." She bowed, then left to return to her own home.
Viola gave her bows to everyone as well, following suit on what other people were doing. "Farewell everyone..." Her eyes danced around the room as she began to mutter herself to again. "But seriously...where is that idiot?" Feeling like avoiding the conversation of somehow losing Gregorie and her sergeant to her mother, she didn't leave the grounds just yet and stepped outside assuming that's where they would be if they weren't with the rest of the party.
* * * * After days of gathering levies, the army gathered. The baron ordered a march on the rebel's stronghold. And after days of march, the army arrived at the place. The in the front of the fort - it's south side, there were fields, now empty, devoid of any activity. The fort's east and north side were covered with forest and the west side was forest and swamp. The baron, now wearing his plate armour, looked carefully at the walls bursting with life. "The bastards are holed up. We do have a numerical advantage, but it's negated by that damn walls." baron turned to the lords and ladies present. "If we can't think of something to lure them out or break into that damn fort, we will have to storm it - and that will be bloody."
What am I even supposed to do? I don't know anything about fighting. But I guess if I was going to avoid a fight from breaking out... "Well, if it's alright for me to speak...you could have a few people and their retinue pretend to defect to their side. I'm not really good for the front lines...but there is actually a lot of damage I could do before the battle even starts. The gate doesn't even matter. I can just weaken the walls so they can be broken and we can have people just creep in from behind. They'll be on alert and stuff, probably expecting that newcomers will sabotage things...so you also want someone who is good at those kind of mind games, right? They can break down their army or get orders confused. Then...mmm....well...I don't really know what after that." Her suggestion was in an overall casual manner. She wasn't fully expecting anyone to go along with it. While she still wasn't meant to be leading armies on the battlefield, Viola still possessed a bit more cunning then she'd like to let on. Of course, she was neglecting to mention that most of this plan was just intended to reduce the chances of her becoming a battle casualty.
Reana sighed as she examined the fort. To Reana's right was standing her older sister Teara, while to Reana's left was her head maid-slash-personal guard Sophie. The rest of their small force was behind the three of them. “I don't like this.” Was Reana's first comment after she finished her examination. “Warfare is not one of my strengths, but even I can tell that the best course of action would be to siege the fort and starve them until they surrender or die. But it doesn't look like the baron is interested in a prolonged siege. This might get very bloody very fast... Any ideas, sis? Strategy and tactics are your thing, not mine...” Reana asked her sister after hearing the baron's words, but before she could get an answer someone else spoke up. That's lady Viola Allaire, if I remember her name correctly. Her idea is not bad – but pulling it off might be difficult... Reana decided to wait and hear if there will be any better ideas before saying anything.
Against an enemy Richard von Stryker preferred a straight fight wherever possible. If he and the Baron's forces were to meet the rebels in the open field in honorable combat he had no doubt in his or his men's ability to gain victory. He also had no qualms about digging in and setting up a siege of the rebels fort, but looking around he saw no great siege engines. No catapults. No ballistae. No trebuchet. Thus any sort of attack on the rebel fort he knew would end in disaster. But the words of one of the mage ladies- Allaire? he surmised rung within his head. "My lord." Richard spoke up, "The Lady Allaire's suggestion could be sound. If I could infiltrate the rebel stronghold with a small detachment of mages, and some armed soldiers, I have faith we could use their magics to terrorize the rebels out of their fortress and onto the open field where our forces would crush them."
Albert looked out onto the field seperating their forces from the stronghold, fearing it would soon be stained in blood and strewn with corpses. Gone was the fine attire from the ball many days prior, the young night was stainding in full plate armour, a white and blue plume on his helmet. Any solution to this battle, that did not involve a direct assault on the keep, would be preferable. He looked to the other nobles at the Baron’s side, thinking how best to use their resources at hand. The jester was speaking sense, but feigning defection might be far too risky. Lord von Stryker was on the money, in Albert’s view. ‘Aye, I agree with Lord von Stryker. A small detachment might be able to sneak by through the forest under the cover of night and scale the wall,’ Albert nodded, ‘If they could cause a fire or—even better—assassinate the usurper, the enemy might ride out to meet us on the battlefield, or surrender without a fight.’
The baron steps forward and looks at the fort. "We don't have time for the prolonged siege - if countess Véronique Deniau hears of this rebellion, she might decide to intervene. And considering that there is no love between us, she might take rebels' side." The baron turned to present. "And my supporters might pay the price as well." The baron turned back, to lords and ladies. "The plan is sound. The question is who would be the bait, and how to gain the rebel's thrust?"
Lily frowned as the battlefield has been set. The young noblewoman disliking open combat, but had no choice but to join lest she be branded a part of the rebellion. Luckily her retainer would know what to do in times like these. Then Lily heard the suggestion of espionage, where she grows excited at the chance to join. Listening to everyone's suggested course of action, Lily grins as the baron called for someone to be the bait. She steps forward, "If I may my lords, and ladies. I will be the bait, for I've no real use out in the battlefield. As for a plan on how to gain the rebel's favor. I trust they will be looking for allies, maybe some supplies will be enough to please them." She suggested to her peers, "But, if someone else has a better plan. Please speak up." She added while looking around to see if anyone had any better ideas.
Viola had took a quick glance to try and locate her brother or mother. Either one might have useful input. In a rare situation, she actually felt that she had made a suggestion that wasn't entirely stupid. Just how to go about it doing it was another question. She wasn't a strategist and didn't even really expect people to seriously consider anything she said. However, it would be losing too much face to not follow through with her own idea. While she did feign how dense she was at times, it wasn't entirely an act on her part either. So she chose to just hear herself talk and see if her ideas made any sense to other people. "Well...they will want to be winning other houses over so maybe I should go? But they won't really just accept anyone....hmm...supplies would be a reasonable option. You could poison food too but they might be thinking somebody would do that....unless we give them actually useful supplies. I guess, the other thing would be to convince them the defector already killed a supporter...but then the "dead" person would have to make sure to pull back from where they could be detected and pretty much be benched and forced to keep out of sight until the actual fighting...you could probably just get something round and magically make it look like someone's head. If it works, then delivering it as a present would have to make it pretty clear whose side the defector's are on, right?"
After listening to Viola's words Reana got an idea – though she wasn't sure how practical an idea it was. “Well,” she began slowly as she considered the possibility “one thing a fake defector could offer is information – though I am not quite sure what sort of information would be of interest for the rebel leaders. Maybe... news about non-existent reinforcements coming to help the baron? Would they believe that sort of thing?” She made a brief pause. “Alternatively the defector could claim to have discovered some sort of secret that made them betray the baron – but can't think of anything believable...” She made another pause. “One thing we should NOT do is try to give them poisoned food. They might decide to check for that sort of thing by giving the food to the would-be defector. But giving them regular food or drinks and poisoning them later might work... At least I hope so.” Reana finished speaking and looked at the other people gathered there, waiting for their reactions.
Albert listened to the other nobles, but didn’t quite agree with their plans. ‘While the plan to send a defector does sound reasonable,’ Albert said, ‘I think, the time to play at infiltration and deception has passed, the lines have been drawn. They were probably weary of false defectors before but on the eve of battle? Who’d be crazy enough to breach our lines and defect to the side which is surrounded and outnumbered? They do not have the luxury of taking their chances with “defectors” coming to them now.’ He looked to the map of the battlefield in the tent, ‘They way I see it, sneaking a small team beyond the wall to sabotage the traitors is our only option if we want to end this before the Countess steps in.’ The young knight looked to the auburn-haired Lady Blackwood and smiled at her, ‘Your volunteering is admirable, Lady Blackwood, but I’m afraid you’d just throw your life away playing a defector.’
Reana listened carefully to what the young man was saying. His name is Albert de Lautreamont, if I am not mistaken. He makes a good point. “When you put it like that...” Reana began “I think it depends on why they rebelled now. If this is something they have been preparing for a long time and declared open rebellion only after their preparations were complete, then they likely feel pretty confident and are not looking for more allies. In that case any would-be defector will be seen as just a way to weaken their enemy.” The young sorceress made a brief pause to let the other people consider her words. “On the other hand, if something forced them to rebel now, before they were ready, then they might be desperate enough to accept new allies, no matter how suspicious a defection might seem. But that brings the question what could have made them rebel now instead of later... We don't have enough information, so perhaps it would be best to try infiltration first? A few spies to check out the inside, listen to what people there are saying, maybe even some sabotage such as poisoning food and water, or setting a few fires? We can always try the 'fake defector' plan later...” We really need more information before making any real plans... but will the baron have patience for this sort of thing?
Lily carefully listened to her peers, smiling at Albert as she says, "Thank you for your concern, my lord." She bowed her head slightly. Looking between lady Reana, and lady Viola, Lily began to speak, "Poisoning the supplies will be a terrible move, especially if someone is trying to gain their trust. And while their reason of rebelling is unknown, if what the baron said is taken into consideration. They will be defending until the countess' reinforcements arrive." Lily puts her gloved hand under her chin to consider their options, "While infiltrating is possible, the problem will be how they would sneak inside the fort undetected. If I may, I think the best option would be sending a false defector. True they may see it as suspicious. But, what if they promised supplies, and troops? What if the defector was instead an envoy, for the other lords and ladies under the baron, promising our troops will defect to their side once the battle begins."
