Didn't Need An Army

[brian 333]

Do you always play characters as chess pieces?

Yes, I do. I came to D&D by way of wargames, and we used it for small unit tactics before I discovered storytelling. Now I freely swap between modes as one or the other offers the best benefit.

Snark aside, this plan is better if everything goes right, including relying on knowledge team Evil didn’t have, like the existence of the Martyrs.
But it’s not the kind of plan Xykon, the leader of team Evil, would go for. It doesn’t fit his character-doesn’t matter if it’s potentially better, he’d get bored and blow it up.

Team Evil does not need to know about the Ghost Martyrs. They won't go anywhere near the throne until Kubota is in charge, not for fear of ghosts they don't know about, but to avoid the most powerful living paladins. If Kubota does not discover the ghosts when they take the throne, TE will when they arrive to begin the ritual. They can run out of the room and Redcloak can take the time to figure out how to dismiss them or destroy them. They might need a few tries.

And Xykon sat in that city for many weeks playing with O-Chul. Why should he be any less patient in this scenario?

An additional problem with all these slow maneuver attempts is that it means that Shojo and Sangwaan have quite a lot of time to figure out what's going on and counterplay politically, which seems like a game TE is spectacularly badly set up for. Kuboto may well be able to politically outplay Hinjo, but that's pretty thoroughly irrelevant as in this model, Shojo is still alive and in charge and there's no particular reason for Miko to kill him. Frankly, a big part of the defense of Soon's gate is somewhat accidental, in that the honor of a paladin is being tempered by the pragmatism/populism of a very competent ruler, but it does exist and trying to fight Shojo politically is just a massive mistake for TE, as it is almost the opposite of their skillset (though I suppose technically Xykon must have an extremely high Charisma).

But I guess I'm confused by what the question is. Is it, how could TE have taken the gate intact and performed the ritual without the army? Or is it, how could some other potential threat take the gate semi-permanently, which is what Soon had to be counter-planning for?

Obviously, TE fleeing Dorukon's, not finding an army, and arriving at Azure City is the scenario I'm contemplating.

Sangwaan , the guy who didn't see TE coming with an army, will see them coming without an army? When RC and Xykon are actively doing what they can to go unnoticed?

I agree politics is TE's weakness. That's actually why I seek out nobles in the city to be my proxies. Basically, TE does magic and murder, promising great things to Kubota in exchange for a few weeks in the throne room when he takes over. Kubota picks targets, spreads rumors, and builds alliances.

I said you are controlling them through proxies, I didn't say they were defending the throne. In this scenario you need to have control over them to induce them to inaction, so they don't defend the throne from you. That is the primary reason. That said...



I mean, potentially. We only hear the political details we need to for the story so the broader politics outside of Azure City never really feature, but back when O-Chul joined up we know that there were refugees fleeing a nearby empire ruled by evil dragons and there's a pretty sizeable Hobgoblin nation with an existing grudge that is close enough to reach Azure City within a week of marching that in this hypothetical you haven't recruited, so it's reasonable to assume they are not all friendly.

And hey, the city that controls all the fanciest trade routes just had a massive coup and this new Lord Kubota doesn't seem too bright. If you're a hostile power, maybe you smell blood in the water. If you're an allied power, maybe the exiled Hinjo and the remaining Paladins say "hey, we just got overthrown" to an old ally and where in the canon timeline they see an evil lich who just rolled over the paladins and the city's army with legions of hobgoblins instead they'll see a city with an untested new leader and weakened by internal divisions.

This isn't some isolated wizard's lair or a pyramid in the middle of the desert that nobody even knows about, Azure City is a big target and what you do there will attract attention.

This actually has no impact on my plans. Assume these other armies show up. Assume they do defeat the Azurites before TE can complete the ritual. They come storming up the stairs... and follow the bouncing ball. Darn, now we have to start the rituals over.