All Quiet on the Aeolan Line

[Zafuel]

Chapter 1 - Ignis Century
"The trenches started as supply lines as the two forces extended towards the water. Within months, they had become an intricate lattice of defences. Thus,a new breed of warfare was formed."
- Quintus Salvius

The trench is dirty and muddy, but with a strange, homely feeling. A tower shield, the lightning battle insignia of the Haterian Coalition muddy and dulled, leans against the wall of the trench. Its owner, Publius Papirius Cato, the legatus and commander of the legion, is deep in conversation with another soldier, the Immune Atticus Antonius.

"Yes, as I was saying, the attack gutted the company utterly... The centurion, his optio, all of the lesser officers were killed. The Carbo century's Optio has been running the trench, but we've just brought in another group of officers to replaced them."

The legatus suddenly notices a group of officers have entered the dugout. They have all come from seperate directions, and have only just met.


"Ah, good to see you! There was a nasty rumour going round that your railiner had been hit with a shell. Antonius, this is Eris and Gaius, the suboptios, and this is our new optio Sangius Mens."

Finally, the last figure enters the dugout.

"And this is the new commander of Ignis company. Antonius, this is Centurion Illane."

The legatus hands Antonius a tablet, then says:

"Well, I'll leave everyone to get aquainted. In about an hour, I'll need Illane and your optio to attend a briefing about our current situation. Until then!"

Picking up his shield, the legatus heads out of the dugout, leaving the new "Ignis Century" alone in the trench.

[Exeson]

Sangius strides into the trench, holding his head high. At the mention of his name he smartly salutes before standing easy again. He does not say anything, waiting for the higher-ups to speak.

[Mavian]

Gaius strides in slightly behind Sangius and shakes his head when he sees hims salute. He mutters beneath his breath "You tryin to get him shot boy, you never salute in the trenches. All it does is show who's in command so the enemy can shoot'em. Silly fancy-pants officers who've never seen combat."

[stimpius]

A tall imposing figure, with a swath of blonde hair and a red cloak trimmed with silver strides magnificently down the line. With a heavy flail clasped by her side and the armour following the shapely contours of her body, she draws glances as she walks down the line, towards the strange congregation of people.

"Greetings, i am your new Centurion, Ilane. Any questions about my right to lead shall be answered with force and divine power, so I suggest you do not question, my desicions will be sound, and I have the power of the true God of Mars on my side.

Now that the warning is done, I presume you all have names? I would prefer to address you by name, instead of ranks, I am Ilane."

All of this is said in a slightly imperious tone of voice, and she will offer her hand to be shaken.

[Mavian]

"Suboptio Gaius Ma'am. Just transfered in from the 181st after a brief stop-over for training."

He reaches out a huge hand and gently shakes Ilanes

ooc: (No clue about unit names, but always wanted to be in the 181st :P)

[Moechi_Vill]

Eris, a semi-tall young officer. A chalist statue by rights! A rifle in his hand an ammo belt tucked around his chest, a god of war! A heavy sharp spade is affixed by leather and slung over his back, the saber shines brightly in its sheath. The glint of armour from underneath his uniform is sterling, with a magical brightness and hue to it. His uniform is even half clean, his boots daring with metal spikes protruding from their business ends. He smiles brightly at his fellow officers and shakes the hand of the clerical centurion in turn. He is wearing a little blue cap, but underneath his left arm is tucked a chivalrous helmet with a spike on top of its base. Perhaps he plans to headbutt someone.

"What a bright day! I am glad to meet you all. Suboptio Eris at the Cleric's service Madam Centurion!" He shakes her hand in turn and bows deeply, with an amused smile on his face.

[stimpius]

Ilane

"So out of curiosity what are your guys personal proficiencies? I kep us on our feet, and work out the weak spots and where we can strike, on top of this if the enemy is getting bored and wishes to surrender ill meet them and have a quiet chat and hopefully make them concede as much as they can."

[Zafuel]

Almost as soon as the legatus has left, another figure enters. He seems jumpy, nervous, without the commanding presence of Cato.

"I was told you had a technician? I'm supposed to make sure you know how the equipment works."

[Selv]

All the time the legatus was present, Atticus maintained the attention posture. A slight slouch crept in about the time Ilane mentioned "names" and when Eris remarked on the weather he even glanced at the Suboptio in suprise at his levity.

"Atticus Antonius, Centurion. I'm the century's senior immune."
"I've done some nocturnal mine clearance in no-man's land, but I'm really here because I speak Milonian, ma'am. I've the equipment here to manufacture papers for the Intelligence service, too."

Atticus is of avergae height, but skinny. Though maintained to a reasonable standard, his uniform and gear is a little worn. His accent is very different from Eris'.

[Exeson]

Sangius snorts when Ilane mentions 'divine power'.

"Sangius Mens Volatilis. Necromancer, although I can fire a rifle with relative accuracy."

He choses to ignore Gaius's comment but instead turns to nervous man,

"Ah! perfect, I was going to look for you! Could you perhaps sort me out an alchemical lab?"

Regardless of the man's reply he then sits down and takes out a Latranae board and starts playing against himself. He looks up.

"Well, hop to it man!"

[Moechi_Vill]

Ilane

"So out of curiosity what are your guys personal proficiencies? I kep us on our feet, and work out the weak spots and where we can strike, on top of this if the enemy is getting bored and wishes to surrender ill meet them and have a quiet chat and hopefully make them concede as much as they can."

"The enemy are worthless (combatants)! The only reason they're still around is because it took our group so long to assemble on yonder glorious battlefield!" Eris draws his saber and points at the enemy trench opposite of the group on the borders of the vertical horizon tucked away safely over the edge of the trench.
"Indeed as you have asked my personal opinion Madame Centurion I think we should arrange an assault to storm the enemy bastion within the day! This a pity to be that you must first consult with our impotent superiors to learn of their ineffective plans for the day."

"But who am I fooling? Noone listens to a man of war before he has skewered the fiend in twain nere the legions an eon of time~! Thus I choose to socialize as is only correct among gentlemen of our age and let our Madam Centurion wrestle with the grandest decisions of mind."

Eris settles down with the necromancer, assuming the other side of the board unless the necromancer protests. Oh and he sheates his saber.
"Oh." he suddenly seems to have noticed the Immune, as if it just caught up with him. "So you're the one in command of all our valuables!" he smiles. "Nice to meet you Senior." he salutes from his sitting position, knowing the enemies could not see him from there. "I shall bow..." he adds. "'t would be most gracious if you would not mind to let me finish the game first. After all we are among gentlemen" he smiles and makes another move.
"So what countries are you from fellas?" he directs at the magic-user and senior.

[Exeson]

"My, you do like to talk don't you?" Says Sangius, "if your mind is half as sharp as your words I would indeed enjoy playing you."

He takes his move, "I come from Fael, you?"

Spoiler

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OCC: How would we decide who wins, opposed intelligence checks? I was thinking if you beat the other person by say 10 in the check you win, I dunno, i am making this up on the spot.

[Selv]

Atticus winces at Eris' speech, then quickly tries to regain his composure, blushing slightly and hoping no-one noticed. When the new arrival appears in the doorway, Atticus raises a hand to identify himself.
"I'm the technician, soldier. What new toys do we have?"
For the first time, he abandons Attention and goes over to the new arrival, rubbing his hands together happily.
"I've used most of the standard kit, but perhaps it would be wise to go over the more technical stuff".

((Alchemical lab? Let's see... The field-hospital will have eye-droppers, thermometers, maybe some rubber piping... gas stove we have here, filters from gas-masks... he might be distilling in beer-bottles, but...))He glances at the recently arrived man.
((This isn't his job.))

"I'll see what I can do while you're in the briefing, Optio."

[Mavian]

"I'm not big on thinking and planning Ma'am, but I can lift heavy things. I also fought in the arena for a number of years, so I'm trained in a variety of weapons and combat techniques." He shifts a bit at he lack of discipline among his fellow officers but remains at attention.

[stimpius]

Ilane

"Of for Mars's sake STOP STANDING AT ATTENTION!" She will rap out quickly and with command of authority in her words.

"Now where is that bloody legate to take us to this meeting, im starting to get antsy and wanting to go play with the enemies. And as a warning now, anyone who attempts to desert me, ill kill on the spot faster than the enemy. Is that clear? We are all in this together, we leave no one behind, but im not running a democracy, you follow my orders unless I fall."

With this she will start walking circles pacing even untill she re- erupts randomly

"WHERE IS THIS LEGATE!?"

[Zafuel]

The technician reaches over to the first of the arcane devices; a wall mounted heavy block of iron and bronze.

"Mana condenser." The technicians head bobs up and down as he speaks; he is clearly in his element here. From inside of the the condenser, he pulls two fine strands of metal.

"The condenser'll deal with the power requirements for your other 'quipment, so long as we keep it charged from our end."

"The teline's fairly standard, but you need to watch the reciever. Last optio went clodhopping in, fried his whole left hand on it."

He turns to the stove now, folding open the stone-like casing into a cradle of metal and attaching the leads. He picks up the second set of leads, and attaches it to the teline sat on the table.

"The legatus wants you to keep your teline linked at all times."

He gestures back towards the condenser.

"You can fire it up, right?"

Meanwhile, on the latranae board, Sangius starts by playing a consistent, solid game, but he is matched for now by Eris' sudden agressiveness and then defensiveness. Sangius is one-up on captures, but the game is more or less even.

[Selv]

When Ilane is fuming, Atticus' first instinct is to stand at attention.

However, he is quickly engaged in technical discussion, happily asking all kind of questions of dubious importance- what's the mana intensity? periodicity? are the teline and mana line the same or just shorted at one end? and so on. If not stopped, he'll go on to describe an idea for a machine to send morse over telines using punch-cards and hand-cranks. "I think it'd be a real time-saver on routine evening reports, and free up the teline for high-priority calls. Of course, every century would need a machine, and I can't get the prototype working like I think it should. The damn hydragyrum contacts keep leaking."

[Moechi_Vill]

Eris' expression darkens for a moment as he hears the nation of Fael, but quickly regains his vigour. "I am a patrician of Aeol by my mother's birth, but... I hail allegiance to the principles of Raen. My father emigrated to this wonderfully baroque region and raised me to consider its extreme manners the finest gift bestowed upon mankind, yet my heart lies with our fallen brethren to the east. They will not benefit as immensely from our activities." he pauses for a minute, ignoring the Centurion's death threats.

"However, I shall pay my debt to the country of my birth and I can only bless the Gods for allowing me to do so with such noble an artifact as a volounteer."
He adds a compliment. "Your abilities with the meta-corporeal shall surely make many a Minoran foe surrender their silver coil."

Checkers?

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(1d20+2)[11] (I think Eris would be quite intimately familiar with board games, but on the other hand you started the game. I'd favor a faux modifier in your favor. This here is a blank roll of course. :))
Check! Neg Matey, an 11 is a reasonable game but not good at all. :(

[Zafuel]

The Technician
The technician answers each of Atticus' questions as only a technician can.

"Gaius Agricola was having a look at something like that about a week back. You get all sorts in the support trenches. The miles don't have a clue how to fix any of their kit, so they always overestimate the time it takes to do anything and we always get time left over. Publius was trying to work out a kind of sound-based ranging device for aeropteros; not much succes though, maybe you should take a look." The technician grows thoughtful.

"Actually, Agricola had a kind of hydragyrum tap he got off of a downed scout plane. Maybe you should take a look?"

As he's speaking, the technician fires up the condenser, and both the teline and the stove spring to life. Immediately, the teline starts ringing. He turns to Illane:

"That's probably for you."

The Latranae Game
Meanwhile on the Latranae board: Sangius makes a daring move, but is turned back by Eris defense. Catching Sangius off guard, Eris continues to press the attack, but Sangius manages to throw together a defense and the match continues.

Above the Trenches
Suddenly, with a roar of spluttering engines, a dogfight erupts between two Milonian scout planes and a Raen Pteron Legion fighter. Bursts of autogun fire erupt over the trenches, and cheers go up and one of the canvas wings of the Milonian scout catches fire.

[Mavian]

"Sorry ma-am, habit." Gaius drops his rucksack at his feet, and reaches into it to pull out a small book. Leaning up against the wall, he pops it open and begins to read slowly, following the words with his fingers.

[stimpius]

Ilane

"Hello, Centurion Ilane here."

Looking up at the sky, she bellows silently inside watching the enemy plane catch fire along its wing and start its slow spiral descent of death.

[Exeson]

Sangius continues playing latranae, letting the others sort out the immediate problems.

(Great, I'm stuck here with a pious loudmouth Centurion, Someone who can't shut up and a grown man who can barely read. The only non troublesome person here at the moment seems to be the Technician.)

Spoiler

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Intelligence check for latranae : (1d20+4)[16]

[Zafuel]

"Ah yes, this is Legatus Cato. If you and your optio could come for that briefing, that would be most helpful. We're meeting in the third line of trenches, second quarter; my assistant can show you the way. "

The sky is starting to darken now as evening starts to appear. The dogfight continues for a few minutes; then, with a burst of autogun fire, the Coalition plane takes a sudden nosedive as the wing-struts collapse. The plane pulls up, and for a moment it looks like it might survive, but then it dissappears behind a ridge in no-man's-land, and the engine falls quiet.

[stimpius]

Ilane

"Very well we will be there as soon as possible, we'll follow your assistant." She will speak into the phone cradleing it against her neck. Putting the phone down she turns to the Latranae

"On your feet Sangius its time to go find out what the higher ups want us to do then attempt to twist it to suit us so we don't all die horribly."

With that she will turn and look for the assistant again

"Myself and the Optio need leading to the third line of trenches, second quarter, as quickly as possible."

[Zafuel]

As if on cue, the assistant appears in the dugout.

"This way ma'am. It's quite a walk; I'd hurry up."

[Exeson]

With a sigh Sanguis packs away the latranae board and walks o0ver to the assistant.

"lead on then"

[stimpius]

Ilane

Turning to the assistant,

"Well its about time man there was at least a 4 second period between me placing the phone down, and you turning up."

She will say this jokingly and then carry on in a more serious manner

"Well carry on then, time to lead on i do believe."

[Zafuel]

The centurion and optio leave the trench, leaving Eris, Atticus and Gaius alone in the dugout. The Milonian spy-plane continues to circle for a time, but as the sky grows darker and two more Coalition planes approach, it too retreats.

The Briefing
The assistant takes you back three lines of trenches, where you come into a dug-out room occupied by a small number of officers and Legatus Cato. At the back of the room, a huge banner marked with the thunderbolt symbol of the Coalition hangs.
As soon as you enter, Cato dismisses the other officers.
"Well, Centurion. Settling in?"

The Trench
About an hour after Sangius and Illane left, a figure pratically bursts into the trench. Immediately, he turns to the first person he sees, Gaius.
"Where the hell's your commander?"

[Mavian]

Gaius looks up when the man bursts in, before gently placing a bookmark into the book, and standing to his full height. Looking for any indication of rank before he speaks, he runs his eyes up and down the figure for a clue

If higher rank than Gaius says

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"She is in a meeting with Legatus Cato, sir"

If lower rank, he'll say

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Excuse me sir, who are you, and what business do you have with the Optio?

[stimpius]

Ilane

Glancing up at the huge thunderbolt emblem and slightly inclining her head Ilane will stride straight into the dug out room.

"Yes thank you, know down to business I'm assuming you need us to do something? What is it? I assure you we will do it to the best of our abilities."