LogThe Watch-Jason-9

Game log for the 2020-07-12 session of The Watch, as taken by Jason

Tovy returns to the healers' tent and sees Ealle again. The healer starts talking about a change in leadership and asks if she can count on Tovy's help. Tovy is not enthusiastic. She and Ealle agree not to discuss this topic again.

Tovy goes to report in to Dirdu and sees that the command tent is more crowded than last time. There's a senior Molthas officer she hasn't seen before, and a variety of functionaries. Tovy reports and then comes right out and assures the Commander that she's welcome to spy on Tovy's squad in any way she likes. Tovy then asks to speak to her in confidence, and reports that she was recently solicited to help change the leadership of the Watch. She tries to thread the needle and avoid naming names, and oversteps her bounds enough for Dirdu to bring her up short. The Commander makes it clear that her plans may be deliberately opaque but her only goal is victory. Tovy ends up naming Ealle and also mentioning that Ealle had tried to recruit Lomo. The stick up Tovy's ass is load-bearing. Dirdu dismisses the Sergeant and asks her to send Risoc.

Tovy returns to the camp, tells Risoc to report to Dirdu, and tells Lomo to stay the hell away from Ealle's treasonous plots. Lomo seems to listen, and on request, promises that she'll stay out of Ealle's plots.

By the time Risoc arrives, Dirdu's tent is empty except for a couple attendants. Dirdu removes her veil and asks the Recruit to sit down. Risoc cheerfully announces that the squad is totally loyal. Dirdu wonders how hard her field agent is really trying, and also says that given that Tovy already announced Risoc's mission to everyone in earshot, she's done kind of a terrible job of spying. On the other hand, if she pulls Risoc out, Dirdu will lose face. She tells Risoc to focus on rooting out sedition, and that she can tell the squad whatever she wants about her meeting with the Watch Commander.

Yeli Lets the Shadow In to see if it's possible to rescue Loisa. She finds a shadowed pool of water to stare into, one where the previous Shadow influence killed off the flora and let a dead spot. She thinks about what she could do and sees a silhouette of a prisoner chain, backlight by the sun on a ridgeline, and sort of pans over to an observation post that she recognizes as being not too far off. Yeli rushes to go talk to Lomo.

The Corporal's willing to see her. Yeli describes her vision. Lomo's on board with the idea of a rescue and suggests they both go to Tovy.

Yeli outlines things to Tovy and says they have to leave now to have a hope of getting the job done. Tovy's interested but doesn't want to act without orders, so she decides to try to involve Risoc in her effort to get those orders issued.

Risoc had been trying to pray to settle her spirit, but it's not working. She's still got some guilt from the events at the graveyard. Tovy finds her and gets her cooperation to request orders from Dirdu to execute Yeli's plan. At Dirdu's tent, things are quiet as Dirdu eats, with just some attendants there. Dirdu's not veiled, since she's eating. Tovy lays out the situation, the location, etc, and Dirdu's iffy. Visions are not intelligence, and Tovy knows it, but the Sergeant is worried that if she ignores Yeli's vision, she'll forfeit Yeli's respect and lose more combat effectiveness. Dirdu approves but tells Tovy that it's just her squad with necessary supplies.

As the squad prepares to fight, Lomo explains to Risoc that Tovy's a consumate professional, torn between doing what's right and following orders. Risoc might want to do what's right, but Tovy's going to take shelter in following orders. Lomo reminds the Recruit that the squad supports Tovy, but they also support each other. She offers to be the bad girl if Risoc needs someone to carry that weight.

During the mission, Risoc watches the squad's backs. She fails the roll and adds +1 Complication. Lomo navigates and gets a full success. Yeli scouts and gets a full success. Tovy fails her point roll but gets help from Yeli that makes it a partial. For complications, Risoc chooses "We lost a pivotal asset or territory (We all mark an additional Jaded)" and Tovy chooses "Risoc was wounded during the fighting (mark 2 harm)". The GM chooses "This mission was particularly hard on Yeli (I mark Weary and Jaded)".

Yeli and Lomo have no trouble getting the squad, now down to only four soldiers, into position. The recent battle has reduced local Shadow strength quite a bit and also left them disorganized. The squad takes extra hours catching up with the prisoner train, but it's not hard to track a column of prisoners. They're not trying to be stealthy, after all. The prisoners are guarded by the armored red-mawed figure that the squad has seen before. The creature is whispering to the prisoners, and those he talks to immediately break down in tears, or panic, or otherwise reveal that they've been emotionally crushed.

Tovy and Yeli have a bonding moment during the approach when Yeli looks nervous right before we engage the enemy. Tovy tells her she did a great job getting them this far, and that the plan is going to be a success because of her. Lomo and Tovy share a moment when the Corporal notices that her Sergeant might be distracted by politics. Lomo's worried that Tovy's not entirely focused on the squad anymore, and she's nervous. Yeli has a moment where Risoc's been wounded, and the odds are turning against the squad, and Tovy has to order them to retreat even though only have the prisoners have been rescued. Risoc sees a Shadow soldier trying to backstab Lomo, tries to rush to her defense, and gets injured herself. She and Yeli share a moment when Yeli rushes to help her up and keep her safe.

The Crimson Grin and his forces fight hard, and it's only help from the freed prisoners that tips the odds in favor of the Watch. The prisoners that the Shadow monster spoke to do not help - they're unable to help themselves, even. Of the Watch forces, only Risoc gets significantly hurt. The squad rescues Loisa and many other prisoners, but others are killed by the Shadow to stop them escaping, and some others are simply stuck in the coffle. At least one Northern Legion command who had been a prisoner is killed in the fighting. The squad escapes and makes it to friendly lines with about half the prisoners.

Returning to the camp, Tovy reports to the officer of the day (Lorru and hands over the rescued prisoners. Lt Cmd Lorru's pretty confused at first but she sends for healers, food, water, etc. It also turns out that she had no idea that Commander Dirdu had authorized any such mission. Tovy goes to report in.

Yeli finds that Loisa is among the rescued, and is not among those that the Crimson Grin broke down, but she's shaken and might need some medical attention. She admits to Yeli that she was afraid to even pray for rescue, and Yeli reminds her that the squad looks out for one another, and she means it.

One of the healers approaches Risoc and examines her. The healer asks if she really was part of a raid on a prisoner column. She's amazed at this turn. So many people have died that she'd stopped hoping to see people return from captivity. She's about to dress Risoc's wounds when Ealle tells her that she'll take over. Ealle tells Risoc that it was brave of her to fight on this rescue attempt, and then tells her to watch her back with Sergeant Tovy. Risoc asks what she has against Tovy, and the healer says that it's clear, from all the times Tovy and her squad members have reported to her tent, that Tovy's trying to win glory on her squad's backs. Risoc doesn't see it that way.

On the way to report to Dirdu, Tovy tries to figure out how to prove to Dirdu that she is loyal and not under Shadow influence. She knows this is proving a negative, which is a tricky proposition, so maybe she needs to figure out what happened to Rezi and explain it to Dirdu. Unfortunately, that probably means letting the Shadow in. Dirdu's not in her tent, but one of her attendants tells Tovy where to find her. She's meeting with Northern Legion command elsewhere in the fort, and seems surprised to see Tovy. She's pleased but also maybe a little concern that Yeli had such a useful vision. Tovy reports on the Northern Legion Commander she saw killed, and one of the other Northern Legion officers recognizes her and says that her loss puts them behind. Dirdu tells Tovy this was good work.

Lomo gets a little drunk and introspective, and ends up in a one-sided conversation with a squirrel.

Risoc leaves the healers' tent and starts thinking about how to be accepted by the squad. The subject really weighs on her mind. No promising answers come to mind.

By the time Tovy returns, Lomo's having her squirrel conversation. Tovy asks if they can talk person to person, not Sergeant to Corporal, and dumps all over her about how Dirdu's suspicion makes her doubt herself and the value of all her success. Lomo's a little taken aback by this expression of doubt, but realizes that Tovy's still commited to the watch, she's just not used to not being admired and appreciated for her success. She needs Lomo to be a rock for her so that she doesn't have to worry about the squad's loyalty.

That night, a runner summons the squad to Dirdu's command tent. She announces that she had a chance to talk to the rescued prisoners, and she's impressed. The squad seems to be good at mission planning, so maybe they need to be given more opportunities to do so. She promotes Tovy to Lt Cmdr. She then asks Yeli if it's true that she planned the mission, and Yeli confirms, saying that it was probably her close bond with Loisa that gave her insight into the situation. Dirdu says that she was hoping for more insight into how the mission happened, but she can believe that the bond between squad mates might do it. Dirdu then tells Tovy that if she has more ideas for missions, Dirdu is all ears, and that they should rest up and get ready for more combat.