Queen_Dopplepopolis
First Post
ph0rk said:
This is an excellent idea-- I'm looking at the monster man. right now-- can't seem to find the stats for how much an earth elemental can tunnel...
Anyone happen to know that?
Infiltration?! (Your input desired...)
This is an excellent idea-- I'm looking at the monster man. right now-- can't seem to find the stats for how much an earth elemental can tunnel...
Anyone happen to know that?
The_Universe
First Post
As a general note, there hasn't been any traffic in an out of the harbor of note since the invasion. The draconids (who are actually half-dragon lizardy-things and various Yuan Ti) have been living off of the city/the people in the city, and so they haven't needed supplies as of so far.Pyske said:
So, getting them to let a foreign ship up into the harbor, and then raising it to the clifftop may be even harder than normal (but is of course not impossible).
I am enjoying watching all of your ideas take shape. Very entertaining from a DM's perspective!
ph0rk
Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy.
Queen_Dopplepopolis said:
What? i don't have a copy of the 3.5 MM, but in 3.0 they could burrow at their movement. (which I believe is still 20).
There are other summonables that dig faster, but you can planar ally an earth elemental with the task "dig us a tunnel from here to there"
Assuming you packed a cleric in your adventurer's handbag, of course.
Ovinomancer
No flips for you!
The real question here is whether this is a military issue or a heroic one. If it is a heroic one, the your job is to retrieve the sword and duke it out with the BBEG's. Doesn't do much for the city, though.
If military, then you are looking for the liberation of the city as a primary goal, with the retrieval of the sword a secondary objective.
My suggestion will apply to the military goal. First, you must raise the army. Then you must weaken your opponent. Finally, you must defeat your oppenent.
You seem to be doing the first, so I won't elaborate.
As to the second, here's my plan:
Gain entry to the city by either flying invisibly in or sneaking in through the elevator system. Once in the city, identify your targets and eliminate them. Here's the key: your targets of choice are the middle level commanders. Not the top tier, or the line grunts, but the captains in between. Disrupt the flow of communication and prevent your oppenents from reacting quickly to new developments. Hiding in the city should pose little problem as the residents are unlikely to report you to the people that just killed their son and turned him into a zombie. On that note, also target the clerics/mages commanding the undead. With a gutted command system, the next part is easier.
Part three: Liberation
The idea of using earth elementals to tunnel into the city is a good one, but limits the amount of troops you can bring to bear in a short time. Only so many can climb out of the tunnels in a short time, giving the enemy time to react. So, in order for this to work, you must do step two above, and also get your enemy looking elsewhere. Bring your army up in a seige line to gain the attention of the enemy. Judicious use of low level illusions can make your army seem much larger that it is. Silent images representing whole units of pikemen/archers/seige engines/swordsmen should be easy to manage. These will fool even the dragon until he gets in range of his blindsight. As your enemy is looking outward at the advancing army, various members of your party either polymorphed or with alter self pose as the remaining mid level commanders. Your main stike force enters the city through the elemental tunnels at the same time the advancing force attacks. The disguised characters appear in various places on the defenses and issue orders to hold positions or move to intercept the infiltration forces (of course sending them where the forces aren't) and generally sow confusion in an already confused army. When the BBEG's arrive to take command of the situation, jump them.
Do this, and you might not die to a man, but barely.
If military, then you are looking for the liberation of the city as a primary goal, with the retrieval of the sword a secondary objective.
My suggestion will apply to the military goal. First, you must raise the army. Then you must weaken your opponent. Finally, you must defeat your oppenent.
You seem to be doing the first, so I won't elaborate.
As to the second, here's my plan:
Gain entry to the city by either flying invisibly in or sneaking in through the elevator system. Once in the city, identify your targets and eliminate them. Here's the key: your targets of choice are the middle level commanders. Not the top tier, or the line grunts, but the captains in between. Disrupt the flow of communication and prevent your oppenents from reacting quickly to new developments. Hiding in the city should pose little problem as the residents are unlikely to report you to the people that just killed their son and turned him into a zombie. On that note, also target the clerics/mages commanding the undead. With a gutted command system, the next part is easier.
Part three: Liberation
The idea of using earth elementals to tunnel into the city is a good one, but limits the amount of troops you can bring to bear in a short time. Only so many can climb out of the tunnels in a short time, giving the enemy time to react. So, in order for this to work, you must do step two above, and also get your enemy looking elsewhere. Bring your army up in a seige line to gain the attention of the enemy. Judicious use of low level illusions can make your army seem much larger that it is. Silent images representing whole units of pikemen/archers/seige engines/swordsmen should be easy to manage. These will fool even the dragon until he gets in range of his blindsight. As your enemy is looking outward at the advancing army, various members of your party either polymorphed or with alter self pose as the remaining mid level commanders. Your main stike force enters the city through the elemental tunnels at the same time the advancing force attacks. The disguised characters appear in various places on the defenses and issue orders to hold positions or move to intercept the infiltration forces (of course sending them where the forces aren't) and generally sow confusion in an already confused army. When the BBEG's arrive to take command of the situation, jump them.
Do this, and you might not die to a man, but barely.
ph0rk
Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy.
Ovinomancer said:
I said -many- earth elementals
City is on a cliff, right? Hollow that sucker out!
My mental image was of hundreds of huge and elder elementals bursting out of the ground and the 70,000 troops I told them to get earlier (which they don't need now, but why not be thorough?) pouring out after the elementals and unleashing all hell on the unsuspecting bastages.
However; enough clerics to PA or GPA in some huge earth elementals long enough to dig a tunnel as wide as a football field -and- fight afterwards might be tricky. (And expensive. Greedy Clerics.)
Having a skirmishing force to distract attention while hell boils out of the tunnels is a good idea; but if 10k in men is all you can muster I'd scrap that plan. You'll die. (a -lot- of their troops are worth 10 men side by side, much less on a wall.)
That leaves sneaking in to steal the thingamajig-ultronicus-maximus. I wouldn't fly in, as there are 4 (i'm assuming) largeish dragons hanging out in the city who would probably love some lunch delivered. (you don't want to deal with 4 dragons while flying at 60. just trust me. *rubs scar*)
If sneaking is your plan, I would go with the tunnel option; one large elemental should suffice, and I beleive Lesser Planar Ally would work (That means the money-grubbing Cleric costs less). You'd better hit that stony mother with a silence spell every couple hours though; I'd bet that out of 7650 troops, -someone- is gonna hear it stomping around under the city.
Once you're inside, you're on your own. I'd love to come along, but I've, uh, got stuff to drink, coffee to talk to, and people to brew.
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Archon
First Post
Archonus doesn't like our chances
i have a question. what if one 10th level PC acted as an agent of the Bluestar(another big evil but not the one controlling Oceanus to our knowledge) that wanted to join the dragon army and betray his former Leige? maybe that one 10th level PC could do a lot of the info seeking stuff himself and might be able to disrupt the chain of command from within?
maybe?
mik aka "Sacrificial Lamb"
i have a question. what if one 10th level PC acted as an agent of the Bluestar(another big evil but not the one controlling Oceanus to our knowledge) that wanted to join the dragon army and betray his former Leige? maybe that one 10th level PC could do a lot of the info seeking stuff himself and might be able to disrupt the chain of command from within?
maybe?
mik aka "Sacrificial Lamb"
ph0rk
Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy.
Archon said:i have a question. what if one 10th level PC acted as an agent of the Bluestar(another big evil but not the one controlling Oceanus to our knowledge) that wanted to join the dragon army and betray his former Leige? maybe that one 10th level PC could do a lot of the info seeking stuff himself and might be able to disrupt the chain of command from within?
depends on the DM, and the bluffers, well, bluff
Gynsala
First Post
Why not just let the army take itself away?
You mentioned that you have access to a fairly high level NPC mage, right? Since they've occupied the city but have not found the sword, I'm guessing they don't know exactly where it is. Chances are they are trying to locate it using magical means. Any possibility of simply using False Vision or some such thing to convince those finding the uber-magic sword that it is travelling quickly away from the city? That army (or a significant contigent of it) would pack up and leave in a hurry.
You mentioned that you have access to a fairly high level NPC mage, right? Since they've occupied the city but have not found the sword, I'm guessing they don't know exactly where it is. Chances are they are trying to locate it using magical means. Any possibility of simply using False Vision or some such thing to convince those finding the uber-magic sword that it is travelling quickly away from the city? That army (or a significant contigent of it) would pack up and leave in a hurry.
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