"I promise to provide only dramatically appropriate running commentary, then, whatever it is I am to be witness to."

"We'll see. Would you like to come down? You're making my targeting officers nervous."

"And we can't have that."

"I'd rather not land in mud, but lead on."

She descends towards the tents. The paths between have plastic planks laid out, so there's really not much mud at all.

Good.

She follows, looking around, mentally cataloging their apparent technology level versus how much of what they're doing is magic.

As far as she can tell, the only person using magic here is Eliese, and even she stops glowing when they touch down. All the soldiers who step aside and salute are completely mundane, and slightly nervous of one or both of them.

So high technology... Limited magic, but what they have is used to good effect...

She grins at the soldiers, following along in Eliese's wake.

"Efficient camp you have here," she comments, lightly.

"That is how I like it. They have practice."

"If you must have soldiers, I suppose it is nice to have them well accustomed to you."

"They learn quickly, or they die."

"A good motivating force."

"Mm." She stops in front of a large tent. "My officers. Try to avoid killing them. Or messing with the displays."

"I'll be cautious."

She pushes inside. An aide near the entrance is about to say something, but she cuts him off by saying "Acererak. Non-hostile," and waves him away. Around the edges of the enclosure, serious people are doing serious things on consoles with brightly-lit screens. A few of the stations are unmanned, showing test images or static camera views. In the middle is a circular table with a three-dimensional image of a spherical planet projected above it. The world seems to have two equally-sized continents on the same hemisphere, the rest of the surface taken over by ocean.

Their position seems to be marked as close to the center of the northern continent. Five clusters of enemies are noted, spread across the east and the south. Eliese moves to the center table, calling for updated positions.

She watches, interested, keeping her hands behind her back as she peers at the displays. She doesn't usually bother with worlds this technologically advanced - but perhaps this'll be a refreshing change of pace. She gets used to their reporting quickly, mentally dissecting the feeds of information, thinking through how she would fight this war... And how the way it is being fought reveals the extent of their military and magical prowess.

This Eliese seems to be doing quite well with what she has. A clever, vicious mind.

Acererak watches Eliese take command with an amused expression, not interfering for now (unless she sees a far too tempting place to teasingly offer advice; Acererak is immensely old, and she's fought more wars than even she can remember - including ones in universes like this).

Eliese is fighting more of a delaying action than a war; she seems to be trying to draw the enemy in closer, giving ground readily. Her officers don't agree with this strategy, pushing for a more offensive approach. Their casualty numbers against the Whitespawned are "unsustainable". Without her or additional reinforcement, they don't have any effective counters.

She brushes these concerns off. High Command has decided she alone is sufficient to solve this problem, and that is what she intends to do. In her own time.

She can certainly think of what she'd do, with her enemy all bunched up like that, overconfident at their successes... Of course, Acererak wouldn't be using soldiers that could complain about their deaths, nor whose ingenuity could throw off her plans. Skeletons make for a much better smoke screen.

And, well, if your intent is for no one to ever put you in any command ever again... Perhaps using harder to replace soldiers isn't the worst strategy...

Still.

"If you wish for less noisy bait," her voice whispers in Eliese's ear (audible to no one else), "Perhaps I can oblige."

She turns her head and pins Acererak with a glare.

Innocent smile.

She shakes her head and says "Smoke and Mirror Images."

She stays where she is and continues giving orders.

She also steps over to Acererak. "What are you talking about?"

"I can turn dead bodies into useful soldiers. Quiet, obedient, recyclable."

"An interesting talent."

"A fun one. And I could even put them directly under your control."

"Perhaps another time. Everyone is nearly in position. The delay is more to make certain my reserves are adequate. Your appearance has pushed the timetable back by about six hours."

"I apologize for the inconvenience."