Bad Company Holy Crusade One

03-Apr-1995

This report has been distributed to Marshal T Groan, General Wysdumb, Colonel Baddu-Bac, Colonel Moniton, Captain Konstantin, Captain Bosworth, Sergeant Hafnor and Sergeant Sverilix. Hence also included are Warrior Hawkwind, Warrior Snaggletooth, Warrior O'Malley, Warrior Tarrasque, Warrior Drak, Warrior Wyrmbreath, Warrior Duff, Warrior Shadowborn and Warrior Svensvenazuk. DO NOT discuss this Report with any unauthorised Brother.

You have rpobably realised that something big is about to go down. This Report has been circulated amongst the most capable and trustworthy Brothers in order to optimise out chance of survival in the coming months. Some of you already know that my plan was to keep our heads down while we sanctified enough Temples to give us the power to fight effectively. Apart from the odd slip this has worked. In addition you must know by now there have been hostilities between Bad Company and THoS, Void and The SSS - at some point or other.

Eventually I decided to attack all Darksiders with the intention of destroying most or all Darksiders in the four Dark groups. This is the goal of the First Holy Crusade which will begin around the time we visit LOC I.

Things have become somewhat more complicated than this. Originally we would fight on our terms, having the element of surprise. Even so the odds are stacked heavily against us - with a possible sixty or more opponents. It never looked as though it would be easy, and I expected at least some casualties on the part of Bad Company.

Now I hear from Midg that The DAMNED are holding a vote to determine whether or not to attack Bad Company. This is because Midg told Hammerfang that Bad Company had already visited six Temples and had access to another two Cat Temples. It seems they may decide to attack Bad Company before we get strong enought to prove a serious threat to The Dark?! Do not antagonise Midg unless you can kill him outright. We do not need a spanner in the works.

I am not going to argue about this, or discuss what Bad Company should do. One of two things will happen. Either Bad Company will attacked The DAMNED, or The DAMNED will attack Bad Company. Either way The Island is about to see the biggest slugfest (indeed the first slugfest) in its history. Whether Brothers die or not in the forthcoming war is utterly beside the point. Assume it is a foregone conclusion. What matters is that we fight well, without treachery, and are one and all prepared to sacrifice ourselves to ensure that WE WIN.

Before I continue there are several aspects of war we must become accustomed to in order to survive. If we are not successful in these areas then most Brothers will die. Those that do not will be hiding fro a very long time.

Intelligence: Arguably the most critical aspect of war. We must know who The Dark are, where The Dark are, what they are doing there and why they are doing it. All Brothers must contribute to our knowledge of what other groups and Monsters are up to, regardless of involvement in The Holy Crusade. Here is what I know or suspect. Void seem to have split into several groups. One group of ten are about three Turns away from The Broken Shield. Another group are still around the Spear & Club. Yet another group are travelling East from that area towards The Jolly Ogre, together with The Black Knights and part of THoS. It appears as though THoS are having some difficulties. Darkfire stopped running THoS and split off with a couple of friends, basically leaving them to get on with it. The word is that some unknown DArksider has attempted to pull THoS together again. Remember that The DAMNED must be organised to some extent to be holding a vote. Do your best to find out what The Dark are up to in order to add to what we know.

Prospects: I have said this time and time again, until I am blue in the face. Yet most Brothers still fail to realise the importance of Prospects. Look at the facts. If Bad Company had not recruited any Prospects at all since The Ceremony of Strength, we would number two. Essentially the number and quality of Prospects will determine how strong Bad Company is in the future. Make sure you cover every available avenue regarding Prospects. If we all found a Prospect tomorrow, our numbers would double overnight. Prospects are even more important during a war. We will lose Brothers and if we do not replace them we will lose the war. Get me Prospects, especially experienced Prospects!

Tactics: Most of you will have fought other Monsters at some point. But what we are about to experience will be different from all other battles you have fought. There are a few key facts around which to base successful strategies. The most important of there is that it is possible to kill any Monster 'Tween Turns given four Monsters decide to attack him. Thus Bad Company will split into Units of about four Brothers, all co-ordinating their efforts with one another. Once a target is found Devine Monster should be used repeatedly with the express aim of determining both his location and the cycle on which he has his turn processed. When this is known a Unit can attack a Monster 'Tween Turns without the Monster realising what happened until he is dead. clearly, Make Up Turns and Great Fuvite Swords are important if not essential. And remember there is always a defence. For example, it it thought that a Gold Ring will negate Divine Monster. Fire Shield will negate a Fireball. If you come up with any good ideas then be sure to let me know. Skirmishing is the key here - we will not move in a mob unless engaged in an all out assault against a horde.

Propaganda: You should all know that successful propaganda can advance our cause no end. We have the initial advantage in that our numbers mean we are the underdog. The Monster in the middle is far more likely to sympathise with the underdog. Make no mistake about the power of propaganda. Once we start fighting The DArk, The SSS will doubtless begin slamming us through MIAB. Since MIAB is the most effective way of communicating with Monsters en masse, bad press can seriously affect Monster's opinions, and hence their allegiance. Contorted versions of events and even blatant lies could easily undermine our cause. We have to accept that it will be very difficult to advance our own propaganda as The Dark own MIAB - what is important here is that Brothers do not make stupid mistakes that give the enemy ammunition. For example, it would seem logical to call every Brother to fight, no matter how weak. But if many inexperienced Brothers start fighting, regardless of their intent, casualties are going to be high. An article by The DArk in MIAB about the slaughter of several Brothers will not point out that these Brothers were inexperienced. The result being The Dark one, Bad Company nil. Propaganda will directly affect Prospects.

Supplies: These will be yet another essential component in the war. The most important being Weapons and Armour, but also worth mentioning are White Lotus Elixir and Shingle Poison. Make sure you have a stock of White Lotus Elixir. Either drop surplus equipment in Temples for the dead, or sell it to buy White Lotus Leaves.

Now I have only just begun to scratch the surface here, but you should have some idea about just how complicated things are going to become. We must communicate regularly, and make sure all our efforts are co-ordinated properly. Our lives depend on it. Indeed our lives will depend largely on the actions of other Brothers. It is one thing to slack off when rebuilding Temples, especially if you have already contributed to many. But slack off during a war and your Bretheren are going to die. FAir is fair. If you decide not to become involved then so be it. But if a Brother joins The Crusade and through inaction or idleness causes the death of another, one of the swords he will meet is mine. If you join The Crusade it is an all or nothing venture. Total commitment. We will have more than enough on our minds without having to run around chasing Brothers up to do their share of the work.

Some of you may remember a line about orders in The Code. Throughout The Crusade you MUST obey orders given by a senior rank. If you fail to do so you will immediately be removed from The Crusade. Obviously there is a great danger that senior ranks could use lesser ranks to do the dirty work, and attempt to lead Brothers into battle, not to follow. And any senior rank caught doing the dirty on his fellows will have just cause to become very worried.

Having said all of the above, contribution to The First Holy Crusade will not be mandatory unless we are attacked first. Of course all Brothers would be expected to help defend Bad Company. But assuming The Holy Crusade goes as planned, it is up to you whether or not you play a part. All Brothers who sign up for The Crusade will be known as Knights, regardless of equipment or statistics. I may introduce an additional category, Lord, for those Brothers that manager to obtain all Spells, a Great Fuvite Sword, AC40, etc - that for which the title Knight was previously reserved.

Do not assume I assume you will join The Crusade. The only three Brothers I have on the list are my own. You must specifically state you wish to join in order to be included on the list.

I very much hope we have a certain amount of time to organise The Crusade, and visit all ten Temples. But this may be cut hort if The Dark decide to attack. I also hope you understand how serious the situation is. If we screw this up it is the end of the road. We will not get a second chance. All that we have worked for will be for nought. I know some Brothers are optimistic about the odds we will face - but I think we would be lucky to get away with fighting less than fifty Darksiders. We are talking about four groups after all. Even if every Brother referenced herin signs up on The Crusade, the odds will still be greater than 3:1. Of course if the worst comes to the worst, those Brothers that wind up on The Crusade could face odds of greater than 10:1. I expect we will see odds of about 6:1.

We will be lucky to survive this as a group, let alone intact. Some of you will die, make no mistakes. Although our best hope lies with the very advanced Brothers, it would make sense to temporarily run any (and preferably all) inactive Brother simply to hurl at The Dark. And if nothing else it seems better to die in battle fighting for the Fuvite Cause than simply give up and drop out as so many Brothers have done. So without further ado, let us prepare for Battle.