Well. Huh, that's not good. Time to trap the town?
There are many other solutions. Probably should talk to the Mayor. If the orcs go to war, the party and traps aren't likely to phase them. 30 vs Potentially 100+...
There are many other solutions. Probably should talk to the Mayor. If the orcs go to war, the party and traps aren't likely to phase them. 30 vs Potentially 100+...
Oh yeah, good point. I think the big question here is: Are the orcs going to hold to an agreement?
Totally metagaming (as Miriam is not in the interrogation room):
If a only a partial group of orcs return with little to no loot, the orcs leadership might realize that there is actually resistance so they might get cautious.
If the number are 100 to 30, they trying to defend a full fledge assault with fail. The only solution would be some kind of guerilla warfare.
Cut the head and the body will fall. Eliminating the leadership usually eliminate the menace.
Ah, I wish my simple farm girl who knows nothing could come up with these ideas ....
There are other opportunities, petition Hulberg for aid, or talk the towninto switching allegiance and ask Glister for aid. Attack the orcs, reinstigate hostilities between the monster races on the area, etc
Not to mention just the possibilities of building the defenses of the city up, creating a killing field around it (by clearing the brush and getting Natalia to design traps), praying for an earthquake to bury them all...there's lots of options!
Agreed with all the solutions but to determine a course of action, we need intelligence.
Make no sense to try to booby trap the town if the orcs will attack tomorrow. IF they are not, it would. Also, if the tribe as a lot of young ones and their mothers, we have more leverage if needed.
Hard to come up with a plan with so little information.
Also, I am not sure how much the PC know about the political alliances.
We have to interrogate the orc leader we captured; he'll have more details. And yeah, I don't think the party and Linwood can handle this on their own.
We have to interrogate the orc leader we captured; he'll have more details. And yeah, I don't think the party and Linwood can handle this on their own.
We don;t know until we have more intelligence on the situation.
Agreed with all the solutions but to determine a course of action, we need intelligence.
Make no sense to try to booby trap the town if the orcs will attack tomorrow. IF they are not, it would. Also, if the tribe as a lot of young ones and their mothers, we have more leverage if needed.
Hard to come up with a plan with so little information.
Also, I am not sure how much the PC know about the political alliances.
The party has already learned that Hulberg and Glister are rivals, and that small town become effective vassals of them for protection against larger threats. Linwood is pledged to Hulberg, but the city has been able to offer little aid due to its own troubles.
Things you are about to learn
Glister has offered aid, but their demands are quite steep, vassalage, and over double the tithe. Ahh, I'll just do it IC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavelcade
Not to mention just the possibilities of building the defenses of the city up, creating a killing field around it (by clearing the brush and getting Natalia to design traps), praying for an earthquake to bury them all...there's lots of options!
This made me laugh. There are many possibilities, including walking away and leaving the city to its fate...
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeIncluded
We have to interrogate the orc leader we captured; he'll have more details. And yeah, I don't think the party and Linwood can handle this on their own.
He may have more details, but the capturedorc is very forthcoming. And this Orc is near death and unable to communicate without healing.
I thought this orc regained consciousness on the way back to town, but couldn't put up a fight? And no, the only way Natalia's running is if it's hopeless and they're about to die. What? You shouldn't have expected her to fight to the death, she is a rogue after all.
I thought this orc regained consciousness on the way back to town, but couldn't put up a fight? And no, the only way Natalia's running is if it's hopeless and they're about to die. What? You shouldn't have expected her to fight to the death, she is a rogue after all.
The Orc is at -7 HP, hard for him to do anything. Being drug across a couple of miles of terrain isn't helping his injuries, and it causing a single point of nonlethal damage knocks him out again. It's pretty reasonable that he isn't coherent or healthy enough to be interrogated.
The Orc is at -7 HP, hard for him to do anything. Being drug across a couple of miles of terrain isn't helping his injuries, and it causing a single point of nonlethal damage knocks him out again. It's pretty reasonable that he isn't coherent or healthy enough to be interrogated.
Oh, okay. And the hill giants are attacking and a hooded one? Oh dear, oh dear.
Shiny talks some talk but he's not one for long term planning, so it wouldn't make sense for him to come up with the plan.
Metagame, it sounds like we have a few options, including:
Setting traps around the city and preparing it against a siege. Trouble is there's not a lot to do in the meantime, so we'd probably combine it with another plan.
Infiltrating the orc's camp and killing the leader. Would rely on stealth and diversions- illusions from Shiny to distract while the quiet and deadly members like Natalia, Valen and Kurt sneak in for the kill. Really risky (though at least we have some intelligence on the camp).
Heading out to Hulburg to petition for aid. Shiny's charms, both natural and magical, might be able to persuade them to help more than their messengers could. Maybe if we do them a favor with the hill giants they'd lend us aid, though time is short and our skill is low. (On the other hand, Shiny Giantslayer, warrior and cartographer, is just itching to take on a giant!)
Heading to Glister, similar situation.
The most practical solution would probably be splitting the party, some heading to Hulburg/Glister and others staying behind to defend, but that's really bad for the story!
Not to mention we take huge risks every time we split the party. We've only got one healer and Natalia's UMD ranks aren't nearly high enough to risk taking control of the KUAS. And while I love the idea of Natalia stalking invisibly through the camp before springing up from behind a bush to stab the orc in the neck, it's even riskier. Not to mention there's that unknown hooded guy who's almost certainly pulling the strings. I wouldn't do an infiltration of the camp at our level; if Morton got overrun then a direct raid would be suicide.
I like a combination of options 1 and 3/4, and as you can probably guess, Natalia and I are itching to test out her skills. We need a list of all the supplies Linwood has to offer; I'm sure that in this situation the mayor will give us whatever we need to defend the town.
Also, a fifth solution would be to return the orcs, sans items and gear. This may stave off a direct attack for a while, though it may now. Regardless, we can't handle 40-80 orcs by ourselves.
Another soluition would be to in addition to trap, ambush the scouting group to think out the heard.
We could combine with some guerilla attacks to drop a few and then withdraw to make their number manageable when they reach Linwood.
OK SUPER METAGAMING HERE:
Could it be that Linwood is doomed regarless of what we do? I once ran a game when the first town the heroes where supposed to defend was doomed and all they really had to do was to delay to allow an escape. MY guys simply refused although I sent them the entire kitchen sink. They ended up dying and telling me I was a terrible DM. They never thought about pulling out.
Also, a fifth solution would be to return the orcs, sans items and gear. This may stave off a direct attack for a while, though it may now. Regardless, we can't handle 40-80 orcs by ourselves.
You think that a cleric of Gruumsch, a chaotic evil god who loves only slaughter, will hold off an attack because we had mercy on three of his soldiers?
Another soluition would be to in addition to trap, ambush the scouting group to think out the heard.
We could combine with some guerilla attacks to drop a few and then withdraw to make their number manageable when they reach Linwood.
OK SUPER METAGAMING HERE:
Could it be that Linwood is doomed regarless of what we do? I once ran a game when the first town the heroes where supposed to defend was doomed and all they really had to do was to delay to allow an escape. MY guys simply refused although I sent them the entire kitchen sink. They ended up dying and telling me I was a terrible DM. They never thought about pulling out.
We would definitely want to take out the scouting group. On the other hand, the point of a scouting group is that even if they're taken out, there's still plenty of soldiers for an invasion.
As for Linwood- it could be that the only option is escape, and it's not even metagaming to think that (to the contrary- it would be metagaming to assume that the heroes can always find a way to defeat the villains!). We should bring up the option with the mayor ("Would your people be willing to escape if it meant their lives? Is there another city that can accept you as refugees? We can protect your population from danger along the road." etc.)
You think that a cleric of Gruumsch, a chaotic evil god who loves only slaughter, will hold off an attack because we had mercy on three of his soldiers?
I think that what Coffee tried to say was that if they will automatically attack if no one shows up after 5 days, having a couple of them or just one coming back telling them how we kicked their butts might delay them for a day or two.
We would definitely want to take out the scouting group. On the other hand, the point of a scouting group is that even if they're taken out, there's still plenty of soldiers for an invasion.
As for Linwood- it could be that the only option is escape, and it's not even metagaming to think that (to the contrary- it would be metagaming to assume that the heroes can always find a way to defeat the villains!). We should bring up the option with the mayor ("Would your people be willing to escape if it meant their lives? Is there another city that can accept you as refugees? We can protect your population from danger along the road." etc.)
agree on the scouting group but if they do not come back, the army might be more cautious which buy us time.
Another soluition would be to in addition to trap, ambush the scouting group to think out the heard.
We could combine with some guerilla attacks to drop a few and then withdraw to make their number manageable when they reach Linwood.
OK SUPER METAGAMING HERE:
Could it be that Linwood is doomed regarless of what we do? I once ran a game when the first town the heroes where supposed to defend was doomed and all they really had to do was to delay to allow an escape. MY guys simply refused although I sent them the entire kitchen sink. They ended up dying and telling me I was a terrible DM. They never thought about pulling out.
I will say this. The town is savable through a variety of different mechanisms.
Also, I'll add ...
Option 6: Reinstigate hostilities between the local monster races. Would at least buy Linwood time. Even if thee was a tentative truce, it's likely to be fragile.
RSS Feeds: 
Re: OOC Toes In The Water II
I think the big question here is: Are the orcs going to hold to an agreement?
