Baen sample chapters (Spoilers)

Whichever way Velvelig, Sarma, and the others go,
they will have to travel 1200+ miles to get out of
the first world they travel through.
On foot, because there are not enough equines for all
of them (If I counted correctly).

HTM

SYED wrote:They have 2 options, go to Hells Gate and get lost, or head into the other chain that is not on the main path to the front line.
On one hand it allows them to meet up with (chan Baskey's) Negotiation Team, but in hiding how will the ever know to return. The other route offers them a chance of sneaking past the front line to those not likely to simply shoot tyem out of hand hopefully.
I hope they meet that kid voice, that way it gives them a great advantage.
They will likely take as much gear as needed, but would they destroy what they leave behind. It would slow down any search attempts, enough to ensure they cna hide beyond the portal. If they mess with the logistical system not onoy could thry slow down tye seach, they could seriously hamper the supply line to the front.

They don't need horses for all of them, just enough for the slowest, likely injured or wounded, and all the supplies they need. It would give them an advantage over a mainly infantry search group. Cavalry will likely be sent after the runners, but it takes supplies and time to reassign the necessary assets.

The portals the group is aimed at, has to be close enough, so the tracking spells would be messed with. The more time they can buy, the greater amount of resources would have to be invested. With the current conflict it would be a while before that would be possible. The thing is they don't have to hide forever, just long enough for the duke to turn up.

Infantry search group, SYED?
Any serious pursuit will be on dragonback!
(Otherwise it would not be serious,
for the reasons you state.)
Dragons plus Locator Spells catch the refugees real
quickly, long before they can get 1200 miles away.

But maybe, just maybe,
Harshu won't spare any dragons for such a search.
Especially now that he has repudiated Neshok.
In that case, let's compute, infantry might march
at the rate of 40 miles per day, day after day,
so they might reach the next portal in ... 30 days.
Me, I don't like the chances here.
But the Authors decide how it works out.

HTM

SYED wrote:(obviously replying to my post directly before this - h)
They don't need horses for all of them, just enough for the slowest, likely injured or wounded, and all the supplies they need. It would give them an advantage over a mainly infantry search group. Cavalry will likely be sent after the runners, but it takes supplies and time to reassign the necessary assets.

The portals the group is aimed at, has to be close enough, so the tracking spells would be messed with. The more time they can buy, the greater amount of resources would have to be invested. With the current conflict it would be a while before that would be possible. The thing is they don't have to hide forever, just long enough for the duke to turn up.

They would have to arrange food supplies and redeploy the dragons, that would take time. They had to transfer most dragon to that world with greater foraging ability. Their logistical ability is already strained. They might b very dangerous by solitary dragons could potentially be dealt with.

SYED wrote:They would have to arrange food supplies and redeploy the dragons, that would take time. They had to transfer most dragon to that world with greater foraging ability. Their logistical ability is already strained. They might b very dangerous by solitary dragons could potentially be dealt with.

Does anybody have an idea how far from the fort to Hell's Gate? If they could slip back there, iirc there are several unexplored universes for them to choose from.

I think they were intending to go bush and live off the land. That should help with the supplY situation.

Don

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Don, the distance from Fort Ghartoum to HG is given as
1210 miles through Thermyn and 256 miles through a rain
forest in New Uromath, total 1466 miles. Then maybe 50
miles to the nearest Gate that does *not* lead to Arcana,
which would be the one Arthag & chan Baskey used.

If I understand correctly, Syed, the "world with greater
hunting ability" is Thermyn! Toralk would logically base
those dragons at Ghartoum, and send them out from there
to hunt. They might be on their way already, but they
have 2600 miles to travel through Karys and Failcham,
a three day trip plus two rest days.

I still see the chances favoring the Arcanan pursuers,
unless the Locator Spells don't work well, or the dragons
are not used. Those beasts have to hunt for their food,
after all.

HTM

n7axw wrote:at bottom.

SYED wrote:They would have to arrange food supplies and
redeploy the dragons, that would take time.
They had to transfer most dragon to that world with
greater foraging ability. Their logistical ability
is already strained. They might b very dangerous
by solitary dragons could potentially be dealt with.

Don n7axw replied:
Does anybody have an idea how far from the fort to
Hell's Gate? If they could slip back there, iirc there
are several unexplored universes for them to choose from.

I think they were intending to go bush and live off
the land. That should help with the supplY situation.

Don

-

Howard T. Map-addict wrote:Don, the distance from Fort Ghartoum to HG is given as
1210 miles through Thermyn and 256 miles through a rain
forest in New Uromath, total 1466 miles. Then maybe 50
miles to the nearest Gate that does *not* lead to Arcana,
which would be the one Arthag & chan Baskey used.

If I understand correctly, Syed, the "world with greater
hunting ability" is Thermyn! Toralk would logically base
those dragons at Ghartoum, and send them out from there
to hunt. They might be on their way already, but they
have 2600 miles to travel through Karys and Failcham,
a three day trip plus two rest days.

I still see the chances favoring the Arcanan pursuers,
unless the Locator Spells don't work well, or the dragons
are not used. Those beasts have to hunt for their food,
after all.

HTM

I agree with this post that the odds are with those hunting the mutineers.

But my wager would be that they get away. It makes for a more interesting storyline that way.

Don

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n7axw wrote:
I agree with this post that the odds are with those hunting the mutineers.

But my wager would be that they get away. It makes for a more interesting storyline that way.

Don

-

The biggest problems for those hunting the mutineers are likely to be timing and logistics. Obtaining and organizing the forces to seek them will take time (likely several weeks), then there is the trouble those forces will cause for a logistics train that is already stressed to near its limits. Remember that there is the Sharonian flanking attack that we know has been initiated.

For their superiors to know they have mutinied will take at a min several days, then a day or two to chose what units to send after them, then the time to get orders to those units and transit time. It is clear that the Arcanan forces are close to the limits of their logistics.

After the initial investigation at the mutiny site, Arcanian Dragon search parties would be at Ft. Ghartoum and aimed towards Sharonan bound gates.

Then the Arcanian search battalion would spread out around Ft. Ghartoum towards the best hide outs with food/water on the Ft. Ghartoum universe.

Only after those searches turned up empty would the Arcanians start searching back chain towards Hell's Gate.


If unicorns can cover 20 straight line miles an hour for 10 hours a day. That is 200 miles a day.

A week after the mutiny they are 1,400 miles from Ft. Ghartoum.

Assuming the straight line distance travel -- to stay off Dragon airways -- halves that, we are still talking 700 miles in a week.

The Arcanian search parties didn't get to Ft. Ghartoum for _several weeks_ after the munity.

NB: Barring ill luck, the search radius for an all unicorn transported Arcanian travelling party is too great for Dragons with personal locating spells to locate, given more than a two weeks head start.

Mil-tech bard wrote:After the initial investigation at the mutiny site, Arcanian Dragon search parties would be at Ft. Ghartoum and aimed towards Sharonan bound gates.

Then the Arcanian search battalion would spread out around Ft. Ghartoum towards the best hide outs with food/water on the Ft. Ghartoum universe.

Only after those searches turned up empty would the Arcanians start searching back chain towards Hell's Gate.


If unicorns can cover 20 straight line miles an hour for 10 hours a day. That is 200 miles a day.

A week after the mutiny they are 1,400 miles from Ft. Ghartoum.

Assuming the straight line distance travel -- to stay off Dragon airways -- halves that, we are still talking 700 miles in a week.

The Arcanian search parties didn't get to Ft. Ghartoum for _several weeks_ after the munity.

NB: Barring ill luck, the search radius for an all unicorn transported Arcanian travelling party is too great for Dragons with personal locating spells to locate, given more than a two weeks head start.

Gets worse, once you locate the mutineers, you need to bring overwhelming firepower to ensure their recapture (or elimination). This is likely to be equal or larger numbers in practice. Where are the Arcanans going to find a large enough force at short notice to do this type of security at short notice? For Harshu and Neshok this could be the same type of nightmare that Spartacus was for Rome.