How to fortify a Dwarven Mine? (Elfblood Wanderers players, don't read this!)

[Bob Aberton]

Ok, here's the story:

The party has made allies of a clan of the dwarves, the Swifthammers, who are at war with another clan, the Longbeards.


The party is venturing behind enemy lines (behind Longbeard lines) to investigate rumors of a dragon who made his lair in a Dwarven mine called Belarn's Deep. They suspect that the dragon is under the influence of a "Binding" spell, and therefore no threat, but they're investigating anyway.

Thing is, they have to fight their way through Belarn's Deep, which was conquered by the Longbeards and fortified. Additionally, the dwarves trapped the area outside the Dragon's lair so that the dragon, should it ever wake from its spell-bound sleep, can't get out of the mine, and no foolish warriors could get into the mine and maybe wake the dragon by accident. The Longbeards took advantage of these existing traps and added some of their own, setting up a permanent garrison there.

So I need some ideas on how it should be fortified.

Here's what I have already:'

All corridors will be in complete darkness (no obstacle to dwarves, but a big one to the all human party of adventurers).

Little cubby holes will be cut into the wall at intervals. Dwarves with crossbows will be positioned behind arrow slits at all times (except at a certain time, when the guard is changed, the arrow silts will be un-manned for a quarter of an hour)

Collapsing tunnels.

Tunnels will be only 5' tall and 5' wide - fine for dwarves, cramped for humans or elves (or dragons ) This is not so much intentional as more dwarven pragmatism - why waste effort digging 10' by 10' tunnels when the tallest dwarf ever to have walked the earth was only 5'1"?

Pockets of poison gas (stale air). No idea what the game mechanics for this should be...could anyone help?

Pockets of water - one wrong step and the mine is flooded.

Formation fighting dwarves in full plate - large shields and axes/picks/hammers in front, longspears behind them, and crossbows with Precise Shot behind them.

More ideas?

 

[mmadsen]

Naturally I recommend the How would you defend your subterranean kingdom? thread.

 

[Bob Aberton]

Aah, thanks mmadsen...I was wondering where that thread was....I gues that makes this thread pretty much pointless, doesn't it?

 

[mmadsen]

I was wondering where that thread was....I gues that makes this thread pretty much pointless, doesn't it?

Not exactly. There's plenty to discuss when it comes to a Dwarf vs. Dwarf underground war.

Thing is, they have to fight their way through Belarn's Deep, which was conquered by the Longbeards and fortified.

That should, for all practical purposes, be impossible -- for a mundane force. Set it up that way, and make the PCs use magic and trickery to get through. A straight-up fight should get them killed.

All corridors will be in complete darkness (no obstacle to dwarves, but a big one to the all human party of adventurers).

Perfectly natural. That doesn't keep out enemy dwarves at all though.

Little cubby holes will be cut into the wall at intervals. Dwarves with crossbows will be positioned behind arrow slits at all times (except at a certain time, when the guard is changed, the arrow silts will be un-manned for a quarter of an hour)

There's no reason the guard post would ever need to be empty. Would you set up your sentries that way?

Anyway, arrow slits in the walls are almost as good as "murder holes" in the ceilings. I would expect Dwarves to be worried about siege engineers mining through walls, so they wouldn't want lightly fortified tunnels flanking the "real" tunnels just to put archers in them. I think they'd save the arrow slits and murder holes for "gate houses" along the way.

Also, why do they have long corridors at all?

Collapsing tunnels.

Good, but last ditch.

Tunnels will be only 5' tall and 5' wide - fine for dwarves, cramped for humans or elves (or dragons ) This is not so much intentional as more dwarven pragmatism - why waste effort digging 10' by 10' tunnels when the tallest dwarf ever to have walked the earth was only 5'1"?

Naturally.

Pockets of poison gas (stale air). No idea what the game mechanics for this should be...could anyone help?

No area that's mined with passages would collect poisonous gasses -- or, if it did, the resident Dwarves would find a way to ventilate it.

Pockets of water - one wrong step and the mine is flooded.

Underground dams they'd burst to flood their attackers?

Formation fighting dwarves in full plate - large shields and axes/picks/hammers in front, longspears behind them, and crossbows with Precise Shot behind them.

In a tunnel, I'm not sure the spearmen could even turn corners, let alone attack past their allies. Certainly crossbows would be useless in the third rank.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

A few things I like to see in Dwarven fortresses.

1. Traps. There should be pit traps that drop invaders into the latrine caverns where they can slowly drown or be consumed by the gelatinous cubes the dwarves keep for waste control.

Stairs should be deliberately uneven and force the invaders to make balance checks as they ascend or descend. (This was a common feature of European castles).

Some stairs and walls should be illusions or paper concealing dwarven counterattack squads that could appear behind the invaders at the worst possible moment. Small sections of paper wall or steps could also function as hidden murder holes and arrow slits. (This was a common defensive feature of japanese castles).

2. 20 feet or so into the main tunnel, it should turn 90 degrees. The gatehouse behind the tunnel should continue:

G=Gatehouse
T=Tunnel
X=Rock
D=Door
XXGXTX
XGGGTX
XGGGTX
DTTTTTX
XGGGGX

In this configuration, any enemy rounding the corner will have archers protected by arrow slits beside and behind them as well as a defense force in front of them.

3. Portcullises and other means should be used to divide and immobilize an attacking force.

4. Keep the practical use of the areas in mind. . . . and beef up the defenses to compensate for some utilitarian compromises in the defensive nature of the fortress. The entrance to the fortress might be a 5x5x5 corridoor but if the fortress is used for trade or dwarves bring carts full of lumber to power the forges through the door, it will probably be bigger.

Any area that is a library or shrine will probably be lighted so that dwarves can read their holy books, etc. (Darkvision is not sufficient to read--Dwarves could get around this by chiseling their scriptures into the stone walls of the shrine but they probably appreciate the uses of books enough to have some lighted areas).

The forge would need a chimney (probably reaching to the surface) and the entire cavern would need air intakes. The chimney would certainly be well defended however. It would probably be reachable only through a narrow, trap laden chasm and be patrolled by bound Xorn. (If the dwarves were evil, they might bind incorporeal undead into the walls of the chimney to attack climbers). The exit of the chimney would also be into the heated dwarven forge which would be constantly guarded.

5. Magical defenses should not be overlooked. Glyphs of warding set to sonic damage could do double duty as alarm bells and intruder neutralization measures. Unless the defense was geared entirely against dwarves and surface dwellers, some kill zones should be enchanted with daylight (which doesn't bother dwarves but hinders many of their enemies such as drow and orcs).

6. A random trap/defense idea. Poison gas could be contained in thin sculpted glass balls worked into some dwarven stone carving as fruit. They would be embedded far enough into the wall that a dwarf bumping into the wall during his daily duties wouldn't damage them. However, one shatter spell would destroy them all (and, as an added bonus, it would destroy any potions carried by the invaders), releasing the gas into the area. It might even be possible for a squad of dwarves to have already consumed the antidote to the poison (or at least Anti-toxin). They could charge the invaders as they attempted to deal with the poison. For even more wicked fun, the poison gas could reduce visibility as per cloudkill or obscuring mist and the dwarves could have Fire Eyes cast on them by a friendly druid or ranger (and it would work since the manufactured poison would not be magical. If this were designed to defend against dwarves, it would need an extremely high DC poison, (minimum Purple Worm venom)however because of dwarves incredible poison resistance. OTOH, it would be an extremely effective anti-drow/anti-surface dweller defense.

 

[Bob Aberton]

*BUMP* and thanks for the ideas.

Keep 'em coming...

Note that Belarn's Deep was not meant as a living space, nor was originally dug for defensibility, it is actually a played-out mine abandoned by the Dwarves long ago and only reoccupied and fortified by the Longbeards because it makes such a convenient place to attack Clan Swifthammer from, it being originally a Swifthammer mine.

The party's dwarf is the only one who suspects that there is a dragon down there, but can't get the Clan elders to believe her, so the party is going down there themselves to get proof. They are also feverishly trying to find out what the condition is that would release the dragon from its Bound slumber.

The upper levels of the mine would be occupied by Longbeards, heavily fortified, and actively patrolled.

The lower levels would be abandoned, and would incur dangers such as collapsing tunnels caused by rotten shorings, flooding (this part wouldn't have been pumped out since the time of Nar the Bold, a Swifthammer champion of four hundred years ago), poison gas, and the like.

 

[mmadsen]

Stairs should be deliberately uneven and force the invaders to make balance checks as they ascend or descend. (This was a common feature of European castles).

Always good. Castle-tower stairs, of course, ascended in a clockwise spiral, so the attackers couldn't effectively swing their right-handed swords. Dwarf stairs might spiral the other way, since attackers wouldn't necessarily be attacking up.

Some stairs and walls should be illusions or paper concealing dwarven counterattack squads that could appear behind the invaders at the worst possible moment. Small sections of paper wall or steps could also function as hidden murder holes and arrow slits. (This was a common defensive feature of japanese castles).

I see Dwarves using solid, but secret, doors. Paper and illusion just aren't solid enough for such earthy folk.

As I've said before though, any such flanking tunnels present a vulnerability -- or at least another path that has to be guarded. Imagine your attackers spotting the secret door, popping it open (or tearing it down), then cruising right into your stronghold the easy way.

In this configuration, any enemy rounding the corner will have archers protected by arrow slits beside and behind them as well as a defense force in front of them.

Think in three dimensions! The arrow slits and murder holes can be to the sides and above. The passage can wind up or down, not just left or right. Imagine climbing a ladder while spears jab you from the sides and boiling oils pours on you from above. Heck, imagine climbing a ladder that's simply been oiled. (That seems a bit more Goblin than Dwarf though.)

Portcullises and other means should be used to divide and immobilize an attacking force.

Very Dwarf. Big, heavy gates.

Keep the practical use of the areas in mind...

I'm glad someone brought this up. Imagine how secure a theoretical castle could be -- until you realized it was uninhabitable.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Tunnels will be only 5' tall and 5' wide - fine for dwarves, cramped for humans or elves (or dragons ) This is not so much intentional as more dwarven pragmatism - why waste effort digging 10' by 10' tunnels when the tallest dwarf ever to have walked the earth was only 5'1"?

Why 10'x10' tunnels?

1. Because mining picks and battle axes are typically used overhand, not swung from the side.

2. Dwarves build to impress. Small tunnels are for goblins and other lower life forms.

3. 5' wide isn't much room for a mining cart to get past miners.

4. Even dwarven tunnels need to be braced in some places. Using heavy timbers, you'd probably end up with a 4' wide x 4'6" tall opening at those points.

5. If somebody attacks, do you want a single line of guys fighting in the hallway? Would you want to be the guy who gets stuck in the front of the line? In a 10' hallway, you can at least have guys fighting side-by-side. Add a 10' ceiling, and the back ranks can throw grenade-like weapons over the front line onto the enemies.

 

[mmadsen]

Re: Re: How to fortify a Dwarven Mine? (Elfblood Wanderers players, don't read this!)

Because mining picks and battle axes are typically used overhand, not swung from the side.

A 4' Dwarf doesn't need a 10' ceiling to swing a one-hand axe. He does need some headroom though.

Dwarves build to impress. Small tunnels are for goblins and other lower life forms.

True -- but probably only the Great Hall and other important structures are wide and airy.

5' wide isn't much room for a mining cart to get past miners.

Do primitive mines have mining carts? Wheelbarrows?

Even dwarven tunnels need to be braced in some places. Using heavy timbers, you'd probably end up with a 4' wide x 4'6" tall opening at those points.

Humans have doors shorter and narrower than their corridors. By the way, corridors are a very modern architectural feature. Historically, buildings consisted of adjoining rooms. Even Roman apartment building didn't have corridors; you just entered from the outside.

If somebody attacks, do you want a single line of guys fighting in the hallway?

Probably. That's the easiest thing to defend, a chokepoint.

Add a 10' ceiling, and the back ranks can throw grenade-like weapons over the front line onto the enemies.

And they can throw grenade-like weapons behind you.

 

[Bob Aberton]

Why 10'x10' tunnels?

Because this is a played out mine we're talking about. The dwarves dug small, cramped tunnels because there was no point to spending the effort building larger tunnels in a mine.

1. Because mining picks and battle axes are typically used overhand, not swung from the side.

and 1' foot of room (figure a typical 4' dwarf in a 5' tunnel) should be enough. This was mine remember. Its point was not comfort or defense. Its point was to mine. Of course, the Longbeards may have widened the tunnels just a little bit to make fighting easier, but widenening a whole mine's worth of tunnels take a long time.

2. Dwarves build to impress. Small tunnels are for goblins and other lower life forms.

Because it used to be a mine, and there's no point to building an open, airy, impressive mine. Its just wasted effort.

3. 5' wide isn't much room for a mining cart to get past miners.

Dwarf-sized mines use dwarf-sized mining carts.

4. Even dwarven tunnels need to be braced in some places. Using heavy timbers, you'd probably end up with a 4' wide x 4'6" tall opening at those points.

So what if the miners have to squeeze through in a few places? This mine isn't built for comfort, remember. Plus, choke points are good, as mmadsen pointed out.

Still, good ideas all around, keep 'em coming and all.

But remember, this was originally a mine, not a fortress.