[quote]
"Who is left to oppose the Witch and her army?"
"What do their chances look like?"
[/quote]
"Grim."

Emperor Dragan slumped into his throne at the statement from his advisor. The Empire was supposed to be superior, a world superpower; what was everyone doing? How had the world's most exceptional country managed to be defeated by this upstart woman and her ragged band of misfits? They had the world's greatest production capacity, economy, technology, military might...they had it all. Even a- a setback like this could be easily reversed, right? His generals had to be slacking. That must be it. He should fire them and hire someone new.

"Who do I need to fire to make this happen?"

The advisor dabbed a bead of sweat from his brow. "General Kilton was in charge of the deployments in that region."
[hr]
"General Kilton sir, your reports."

"Mm." He grunted and took them from the messenger into his office to read them over with his staff. "Of the ten thousand soldiers stationed there, two thousand retreated alive to Hildegard. Five civilian casualties. Thirty thousand civilians safely evacuated to Hildegard post-battle. Three hundred Imperial soldiers were taken captive; no ransom requested. Five reincarnations awakened and were observed defending the tower for a brief period. Enemy forces allowed them to leave."

He handed the documents to the staff officers. "We were crushed. No two ways about it. We'll have to abandon Ormouth for the time being."

"The tower is an important source of reincarnations. I could have a team of rogues go retake the tower."

"If they could hold it, and if we could count on the appearance of...let's say ten more reincarnations while they do so, I might agree to that. Even [i]one[/i] reincarnation is a force to be reckoned with, but if [i]five[/i] were forced to surrender, that Witch must have an ace up her sleeve. No, I do not think retaking it is a good idea."

"What about aerial bombardment?"

"Read the section about the Witch's forces."

"...50 airships, each carrying approx. 20 wyvern riders, appeared from the fog and opened fire with a new kind of magic weapon. Flaming missiles were observed changing course to precisely destroy defensive catapults."

"Mhm. The Witch must have gotten a hold of Dr. Avant's inventions. Remember the report three days ago describing a new airship fleet constructed at Nazir?"

"I do."

"[i]Three days ago?[/i]"

The lieutenants in the room gasped.

The general nodded grimly. "We have nothing in our arsenal to match that kind of speed, nor weapons capable of matching them. The Emperor foolishly spurned Dr. Avant, and we've been paying the price ever since. I [i]told[/i] that old fool-"

There was an awkward cough, reminding the general to watch his tongue. "Ahem. Anyway, we'll have to combine our remaining forces and put together a defensive solution at Pelinor before she cripples our iron production. Aelred, Othwund, you're on the job."

"Yes sir."

Another messenger poked his head into the office. "General, a message from the Crown for you, sir."

"Hm." The general opened it up. His expression darkened.

"What is it?"

"His Majesty is being foolish again. I'd better go speak with him."