(invites only!!) Camp of the main army aka Bout camp for the smallfolk team

[Deathslayer7]

ok duskranger. i have approximately 600 gp left and still need to buy a bow and some daggers.

That will leave a little less then 400 gp. With that i can either add it into the troop fund or buy poisons.

Poisons i was thinking of might possibly be ingested poisons. That or blue whinnis which does unconsciousness.

and Light Hero you can change my name to Kaladrin. Please and thank you.

[Yukitsu]

Here are my purchases as of this point in time. This list includes 5 animal companion hawks, owls and bats for fast alert.

This is 2K on the dot.

Spoiler

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360 CR, 14 days: 1008 GP
40 CR 4 spearmen, 20 CR 4 grenadiers, 13 CR 5 serjeants, 3 iron golems, 19 “mechanics”
500 ounces oil: 50 GP
73 long spears: 365
25 slings
40 pounds powder: 500
18 shovels: 36
3 handaxes: 18
150 feet hemp rope: 3

While I do plan on demolishing the fortifications, I do not intend to make it easy, as they will suspect a trap if I don't attempt to fight.

[Wizibirb]

Erall stumbles in looks around and sighs at how much he missed just because he was sleeping.

anyways I am reporting in, I still have 1,000 something gold ((I still need to buy more things (ie poisons basic equipment like rope maybe some other items) but I have bought my armor and weapons.))

I am indeed a changeling cleric (took the one level of rouge for the skill points) I believe that death and i would be best suited for assassination and sabatoge, though I like the idea of creating a flood trap with create water as nothing quite says death like swimming in full plate.

Edit: also @ Gm, do we get preperation time, like we knew they were coming thus we could set up traps and defenses?

and my exact gold count is 1,233.

[Yukitsu]

Military council time!

Discussing the strategy I have in mind for the fortress, I'd like to have your input and of course, whether I do this or not is the commander's call.

I plan on entrenching the south and west walls to prevent an encirclement strategy, forcing the enemy to attack in the north or east. This means I know which walls will be targeted by sappers and siege, and can prepare the explosive charges along the remaining walls. If they believe the partial trench system is a trap, I can still blow up the south and east walls, I simply won't be able to collapse as much of the keep, nor will it kill as many of the enemy. It does insure that I can get the ones that are attacking the walls though.

I will be sending half of my spear brigade into the tunnels with the iron golems to retrieve wood from the forest, which will be cut into pikes to line the bottom of the trenches. The golems will retrieve large pieces of wood which will be used as temporary structural supports. Those will be put in place to keep the building standing while the crew starts undermining the structures foundation. I can get a more complete collapse if the building is missing some of its inner supporting walls, and I intend to stop the whole thing from collapsing prematurely by bracing it with wood, which can be knocked out more readily by an explosion, and the whole thing will definitely go down with the subsequint fires.

I plan on retreating out the majority of my troops using the tunnel, and to have them ready to counterattack after the explosion. To make the place seem legitimate, the iron golems, who can survive both the explosion and the collapsing fortress, will hold out breathing poison into choke points. The 25 grenadiers will stay behind as well to fight at choke points and to light the fuzes, but will retreat when the fuzes are lit.

I plan on leading a charge of the spearmen into the enemy to try to disable as many of their war machines as is possible, preventing them from using them in the final push. We will then retreat back to the forest to recover the grenadiers, then retreat back to the main fortification. If cut off from the main fortress, we will prepare a counter assault force behind their lines, and will attack them in the rear as they gather together to attack the walls.

I will hold out until the walls are actually taken. Otherwise, they'll expect a trap and attempt to bypass us.

Comments? Input?

[Vulaas]

If we have anyone with divination, I'd make an excellent anti-sapper, if I could be aimed for it.

[dresdor]

Olin Rockphil reporting for duty, sirrah.

Might I recommend that if we have the time to prepare our outpost as a trap, I can make use of mother earth to soften the foundations, which would make any attempts to destroy the fortifications easier.

Of course we face the unending hordes of evil, and destroying some of them may not be a worthwhile use of one fortification. Perhaps defending the fort with great resolve, and retreating into the tunnel, encouraging their best warriors to give chase. The same spell could be used to collapse the tunnel if cast properly. Piling rocks and other debris above the tunnel would cause more damage to the horde.

If I may be of any spiritual assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, milord.


OOC: Also, is the cheap fort and its basement cut stone? Or is any part of it unworked and unreinforced stone. Same for the tunnel, and it seems obvious that at least some of the main fort is hewn out of the mountainside.

[Yukitsu]

Olin Rockphil reporting for duty, sirrah.

Might I recommend that if we have the time to prepare our outpost as a trap, I can make use of mother earth to soften the foundations, which would make any attempts to destroy the fortifications easier.

Of course we face the unending hordes of evil, and destroying some of them may not be a worthwhile use of one fortification. Perhaps defending the fort with great resolve, and retreating into the tunnel, encouraging their best warriors to give chase. The same spell could be used to collapse the tunnel if cast properly. Piling rocks and other debris above the tunnel would cause more damage to the horde.

If I may be of any spiritual assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, milord.


OOC: Also, is the cheap fort and its basement cut stone? Or is any part of it unworked and unreinforced stone. Same for the tunnel, and it seems obvious that at least some of the main fort is hewn out of the mountainside.

Given the way it's designed, it seems more likely that a force sticking it out would simply be over run if we didn't plan assuming it would fall, as the keep doesn't have much that would less us pick off a lot of advancing enemy forces. If they over-ran it hard enough, we'd be looking at a loss of a fifth of our forces without much to show for it. If we're planning on losing it, we'll kill off some and keep our entire force intact.

If we want to keep it, I'll need another two commanders with me. One with a cavalry force, and another with a group of long range specialists.

[dresdor]

Hmm....I think I must agree with your tactical ideas. You must forgive my...unwillingness to abandon one of our forts with little defense, as I helped to build many of them in this land. But to see it swallowed by mother earth with the corpses of our enemies...that would be a true homage to the divine power I channeled to help create the monolith.

All things from her return to her.

[Deathslayer7]

easier to backstab them while they are sleeping... mutters Kaladrin.

[Yukitsu]

Anyone have any specific plans for the defense of the main fortress?

[dresdor]

Anyone have any specific plans for the defense of the main fortress?

OOC: I suggest defending the deepening wall then falling back to the main keep and awaiting Randalf's coming on the dawn of the third day...

that or we could make some magical rings....or some onion rings...

Behold the +5 Onion Ring of Doom!!!! and Catsup of Unholy Might +3!

[Yukitsu]

OK, so my input.

We don't have superior or less numerous melee troops, and as such, we don't have any particular advantages against the enemy in narrow corridors. Thus we don't have any particular reason to fight in the tunnels as opposed to at the walls.

If we can disable or destroy their siege weapons sans possible the battering rams before they can engage us at the walls, the enfilading positions of the towers mean we'll be able to fire into them causing good casualties before they can take the walls, if they can do so at all. If we have enough troops along the walls, even that will be impossible.

The enemy will either try to tunnel past the wall into the tunnel structures that we have on our flanks, or they will try to climb above us over the mountain, dropping down behind us in the open courtyard. Doubly so if we destroy their siege before the engagement.

For that, we need at least one group of reserves guarding the tunnels, ready to move into the inner courtyard, or to the walls as necessary.

If those defenses are lost, we will likely be outnumbered, and as such, our fall back point should be the choke points in the tunnels. Rooms which are given up must be sapped to prevent the enemy from flanking other divisions as they attempt to drive back the enemy at their respective choke points.

For this, we would be best suited with metalic dragons with line type breathe attacks. They will be our markers for our fallback points, where frontline troops will fall back to them, and where we'll halt the enemy advance. We'll need about a dozen troops per choke point to defend the dragon rotating in and out of combat as it recharges its breath.

There are less expensive options than dragons, but they are the best tool, in my view, for that job.

If those tunnels are lost, we can repeat this process in the redoubt. It may be prudent to sap room 38, and the tunnel north of 31. 31 will be the last stand outpost.

[Wizibirb]

I believe that we should use the fort as a trap, this would also give Kaladrin and myself a much better opportunity to sneak into their camp. With so many dead they may think that we were lucky and survived.

If we could collapse the building as they go through it, and split their forces in two that would give us a much needed tactical advantage. In order to do that, we should set explosives in the foundation (as was already mentioned) and then detonate that as they charge through, maybe leave a group of mercenaries or two behind so that they do not think about it as a trap, then once we have them separated perhaps we could cave in the tunnel and force them to have to dig through it....

unfortunately during this time Kaladrin and myself would be trapped behind enemy lines gathering info/causing chaos (via assassination, poison and general mayhem) then once the horde broke through and began the assault on the main fortress we could sneak back in and give a full report in order to sneak back in I recommend we set up a certain time to meet at a wall and you guys drop down a rope and we climb up, if we are not their within an hour or two you are to assume the worse.

or that was my intention. If our leader agrees I think this will be the best chance for success.

OOC:
I will be writing my back story now, and finalizing my equipment/spell list.

[Yukitsu]

That plan would involve half of our forces beyond the primary reach of the main fortifications to complete a plan that I would warrant myself capable of accomplishing myself. Unless you plan on leaving your infantry behind and doing subterfuge against enemy officers without the support of your soldiers.

If the former, I would request that the commander assign either the two of you, or myself to the fortress, and not both. If the latter, I would request that you aim primarily at the enemy leadership and their siege equipment, and coordinate the assault with the charge of my own division for the sake of your own safety.

[dresdor]

The problem at the moment is lack of intelligence. We don't know where the enemy is going to go or what his plans are. Similarly, the enemy doesn't know our intentions.

If I were planning the enemy invasion I'd skip the small fort all together. It is not a target of significant worth (clearly to us as well as we're willing to blow it up as our first plan) and is too small to hold out against siege without resupply and support. A quick thrust at the main fort would catch us with at most 80% of our forces, and most likely by complete surprise.

Again, if it were me I wouldn't be using artillery or siege engines, but rather sabotage to open the gates and gain access to the fort. Honestly I'd be using a unit of sneaky creatures or a PC with spells to blow apart a gate or melt through the stone walls around our gate. I think our main keep is in enough danger that we cannot become complacent or rely on our enemy to fall into our trap.

That said, if we have reliable intelligence that they are using siege engines or heavy equipment of any kind I can use my domain spells to ruin the nearby roads and slow their advance, giving us time to be reinforced (if that is still a rule in this game).

We also must realize that if we kill off some of their Officers, morale will falter as their best and strongest are destroyed. A strong officer is unlikely to die in the collapse of a building. We also must be sure to always gib the enemy. As a cleric I can assure you that a little healing will turn a nearly dead mob into a fighting force in short time. Recovery of our wounded is also of vital necessity (and makes me wish I had thought to buy a wand of CLW) for the same reason. This will strengthen our morale.

Tactically, I recommend we go ahead with rigging the small keep as a trap, but we need intelligence to plan our next move. Perhaps some hit and fade attacks with calvary or archers (or mounted calvary) would garner both information and encourage enemy casualties and desertion.

[Yukitsu]

As we require at the least a token garrison until it falls, I think that we'll have to make do, in the event that they bypass the fortress. That said, I do have the means to overlook a vast area for recon and early warning purposes, and will know the composition of their forces if they attempt to bypass me.

If they do so, I'll know of it. And if so, I will pick a time that I deem most opportune to attack them in the rear to prevent them from gaining momentum against the forces. Caught between such a hammer and an anvil, I have no doubts that they should fail!

However, you do have a point on the issue of subterfuge. We will need to assign someone to counter intelligence duties to prevent a premature hole opening in our lines.

[dresdor]

How about we just say our fort was designed for gnomes and other small creatures, then we only have to deal with crawling medium sized creatures and small things. :-p

[Yukitsu]

I believe the foe consisted in large portions of various forms of goblins and kobolds, so they would have as much to gain of that as us.

As well, we can't discount the possibility of shape shifters amongst us. Of course, true seeing is beyond us at this point in time.

[Duskranger]

I could have counted wrong, but according to me we are tpentitled to 180 Cr of creatures, while the attackers may have 300. With these numbers it would meen 18CR in the fort, rest in stronghold. One of the rules is that the outpost needs to be conquered before they can push through. Stronghold is more important. Our two sneaks will be in the forest with some scouts, delivering messages from outpost to stronghold. as soon as outpost falls, grenadier squad gets message duty. the scouts need to have a maildove.

[Yukitsu]

I could have counted wrong, but according to me we are tpentitled to 180 Cr of creatures, while the attackers may have 300. With these numbers it would meen 18CR in the fort, rest in stronghold. One of the rules is that the outpost needs to be conquered before they can push through. Stronghold is more important. Our two sneaks will be in the forest with some scouts, delivering messages from outpost to stronghold. as soon as outpost falls, grenadier squad gets message duty. the scouts need to have a maildove.

Squad up till 10 CR total.
Platoon = 3 squads.
Company = 3 platoons.
Battalion = 3 companies.
Regiment = 3 battalions.
Brigade = 3 regiments.

10x3=30 per platoon
30x3=90 per company
90x3=270 per battalion
270x3=810 per regiment
810x3=2440 per brigade.

6 of us, so up to about 405 CR each. I'm taking 360, as it's our 20%.

[Deathslayer7]

I could have counted wrong, but according to me we are tpentitled to 180 Cr of creatures, while the attackers may have 300. With these numbers it would meen 18CR in the fort, rest in stronghold. One of the rules is that the outpost needs to be conquered before they can push through. Stronghold is more important. Our two sneaks will be in the forest with some scouts, delivering messages from outpost to stronghold. as soon as outpost falls, grenadier squad gets message duty. the scouts need to have a maildove.

not sure i quite understand you there.

and if i wanted to buy feather tokens would that really count as a magic item for a single one?

[Duskranger]

10x3=30 per platoon
30x3=90 per company
90x3=270 per battalion
270x3=810 per regiment
810x3=2440 per brigade.

6 of us, so up to about 405 CR each. I'm taking 360, as it's our 20%.

I do not know how I got the number than. In that case I will try to find some cool uses of units. Every squad needs a dragon shaman. And golems are always nice, give me some sorcerors. or wizards, so we can fireball an area.

[Wizibirb]

I have 1,0301,136 gp left for troops request some trops and I can purchase them

[Yukitsu]

I do not know how I got the number than. In that case I will try to find some cool uses of units. Every squad needs a dragon shaman. And golems are always nice, give me some sorcerors. or wizards, so we can fireball an area.

If anyone can toss a poor lieutenant a few pretty pennies, I could do with some funds for a few dragon shamans added as elite musicians and flag bearers.

[Duskranger]

At first: Yukitsu, I advise you not to use the golems for the defense of the outpost, as we will almost surely lose them there. They probably will not fit trough the escapehatch. Further your troops are oke'd and I must say well thought about.

For the sneaks: hire some rogues. Give them bows and arrows and take care that they follow guerilla tactics. Hit and run.

I will spend my money on the following stuff I think:
Weapons (must look what and stuff)
Couple of iron golems.
Some fighters (lvl 1-5)
Dragonshamans (lvl4 (breathattack and such) (as squadleader)
Some lvl 5 wizards to fireball the opponent. After they exhausted there supply they will be worthless though.
This will prolly be my list of things to buy/hire.

[Deathslayer7]

I have about 600 gp left how many rogues can that get me?

[Wizibirb]

I am still confused on the buying the people, just tell me what I can buy or my gold and I will be happy. and we have to leave a certain percentage at the main base correct?

[Duskranger]

I am still confused on the buying the people, just tell me what I can buy or my gold and I will be happy. and we have to leave a certain percentage at the main base correct?

I think the only person who knows what's the worth of people is Yukitsu sadly enough

[Yukitsu]

At first: Yukitsu, I advise you not to use the golems for the defense of the outpost, as we will almost surely lose them there. They probably will not fit trough the escapehatch. Further your troops are oke'd and I must say well thought about.

I don't plan on them getting out. I'm prudent enough to know that I'm going to need a sacraficial rear guard, and golems being non-sentient are the perfect choice for that role.

[Yukitsu]

I am still confused on the buying the people, just tell me what I can buy or my gold and I will be happy. and we have to leave a certain percentage at the main base correct?

In theory, you can buy as many troops as you want, and you won't have to worry about payment. I run a tight ship and have prepared a complete roster of payment for the duration of the siege, which is 14 days. In theory, food is a concern to some degree (if we lose our food stocks) which is why my troops will be mostly adamantium bodied warforged.

Cost of every unit is CRx2.8 GP for the length of the siege as predicted. If it runs longer, remember, you don't have to keep paying dead troops, and as the goodguys in a siege we have some lenience. In practice, you can get a massive suicide squad of unintelligents with slam attacks, ram them down the enemy throat on day 1, and not worry about paying them.

Units that you can't pay will desert, with some leeway. If we attack the enemy paymaster, we'll basically win in one masterstroke, but odds are he'll be the most fanatically defended and most carefully watched.

Edit: Where in the hell did our recruitment officer get to?