How Would You Defend A Mountain Fortress? (Volume II)

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Zenon wrote:
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Quote:

"Can we focus on any faults of the Valloreans and use them to our advantage? One I can think of is their pride (and you know what they say about pride, it goes before the fall). Another is their zealousness. Can we get them to over-extend? Make them "see" what we want them to believe and they will because they expect it?"
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End Quote.

Yes to everything Zenon! Indeed, the Valloreans are very powerful--after all, they are the greatest empire in the West--and they have been successful at maintaining their empire for some two thousand years now. They have a magical standard for every legion. They have harnessed their resources for war, and they are very, very good at it. They are specially trained in the legions to love the Vallorean Empire, to believe in it, to live and die for it. This is reinforced when they suffer from death and struggle with the enemy--since Vallorea was *invaded* they have seen first hand, with their own eyes, what will happen to their families if they are not successful. Thus, that adds to their determination even more. Then, according to the Vallorean Pantheon, their religion that they have regular services with every week--the Vallorean Empire is righteous, holy, and blessed by the gods for their divine mission. Thus, their religious instruction reinforces their confidence and their zeal.

Having said all that--indeed, pride and zeal can be manipulated against them. Notice that while throughout history, they have lost battles before--they just have never lost a war. Thus, one can imagine how manipulating their pride and their zealousness could result in some significant advantages and gains--if you can craft such a scheme carefully enough!

I love it Zenon!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Sarellion]

@SHARK

What do we know of the enemies leaders like the characters. Do they have some personal preferances in their tactics and strategy?
Is there any dissension in the command structure (like dissatisfied officers or generals) we could use to our advantage. Perhaps some lower ranking officers have other ideas and we could use persuasion of the magical kind (if it is possible through all these spells) that their ideas would save the battle. In reality it would be used to our advantage.
What are the rules of engagement for the Vallorean Empire. Are there any flaws we could know of and exploit?
Is there any possibility to change our tactics? Our undead troops are more of a liability than a strength. The best the vampires could do is to dominate animals and send them to battle.

 

[Maldur]

About blowing up the fortress!

We have a trapped lavaflow underneath the fortress.
Does this mean the area is vulcanic? Can we use that to our advantage?

What protections do the legions banners have against flying blobs of magma?

 

[sword-dancer]

Perhaps we should remember one thing.
The fortress hadn´t win a war against the VE, the ressources are cclearly not available, or Í´m to blind to see them.
They had to buy time for his vampiric kingship, and then hopefully to serve as an anvil on which the hammer of the new army smash the legions.

So one Question is important.
How long must they hold, is it possible and maybe reasonable for the legions to block the fortress and go on?

 

[CRG]

Keep the bulk of our forces NOT IN THE FORTRESS.
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I guess I don't see the obvious benefit. Are we afraid of getting magically nuked?

That's the first step. The second is more along the lines of the "draw them into a trap" idea. If we're not there we can nuke it when they get near. Can anyone say Volcano? It would be really nice if our actual troops were stationed, say off-plane.

"Dust off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

I'm just thinking we need to go binary to begin with - either we ARE the land or the land is just a foothold for us. If we ARE the land then we are druids, elemental priests or wield powerful natural magics to punish the heck out of anyone who gets within our sphere of influence. If it is just a foothold then we exchange such barrages with the Valloreans while they march towards an end-goal of the mountain fortress which is essentially a ploy.

Related note - is Distance Distortion still in the PH? I don't have it in front of me. And that 2nd edition spell that let you mass-hide an army ... the illustration showed them all looking like a bunch of trees...very cool.

Another nifty twist for the PCs to deal with might be a trench complex fully "Guards and Wards"-ified. Not much tactical strength beyond a gimick but might make a fun session for the PCs.

 

[mmadsen]

Speaking of vivid images, what are some evocative scenes or images we'd like to work into the scenario? I'm fond of my Fire Giants with chainmail satchels of cannon balls and smoldering coals. I also like the Rain of Fire.

We have to do something with the pool of magma -- perhaps leave an unprotected patch of castle floor, really a trap door, over it, so the attackers might teleport to their deaths. Certainly the Fire Giants could have some fun Bull Rushing Valloreans into the lava, grappling them and holding them under, etc. You thought being dunked in the swimming pool was bad...

I like deadly archers on Wyvern back. Maybe we can fit three (Small) archers on one Chimera? Manticores are ugly, but they work. With enchanted bows, flying archers can sharp-shoot from as far as the eye can see.

I like the Midnight Legion of Vampire Spawn. I also like the notion of Vampire crypts throughout the countryside. Since Vampires can travel in gaseous form, their crypts don't even need real doors. And imagine the traps!

At some point we have to swarm the Vallorean camp with rats, wolves, and bats. I don't know how to get much mileage out of it, but we need to find a way.

 

[Maldur]

Plagues, virlent diseases, poisons.
Keep the clerics of the legions on the defensive.

the more spells they need for protecting against those things they cant pray for offensive spells, and they have less magical healing, so are less inclined to engage.

That combined with the constant fear for ambushes and traps should decrease the legions fighting potential.

 

[mmadsen]

Plagues, virlent diseases, poisons. Keep the clerics of the legions on the defensive. the more spells they need for protecting against those things they cant pray for offensive spells, and they have less magical healing, so are less inclined to engage.

But each squad (of 13 soldiers) has a 12th-level Cleric. With 4+1 3rd-level spells per day, I don't see disease and poisons as much of a threat. How is a disease ever going to hit any kind of critical mass if the first sick guy is cured immediately? And the second? By the next day, the Clerics have all their spells back.

 

[Nifft]

Raw Chaos

Could we invite some Slaadi into our homeworld -- perhaps into the middle of several of thier cities?

They're not evil, so the anti-evil wards won't work. But they're pretty damn inimical to human life...

Is there any chance of an Epic spell, Slaadi Spore (or some such similarly vile name) which spreads an airborne version of the Blue Slaad's disease ability? We'd only have to hit a few villages minor to create a distraction for the Vallorians.

If we can split up thier forces, we stand a better chance of killing some of them.

-- Nifft

 

[Maldur]

But each squad (of 13 soldiers) has a 12th-level Cleric. With 4+1 3rd-level spells per day, I don't see disease and poisons as much of a threat. How is a disease ever going to hit any kind of critical mass if the first sick guy is cured immediately? And the second? By the next day, the Clerics have all their spells back.

Still the first day the squads get sick. The next day clerics prayed for the right spells. So a part of the spells are not available for combat/healing spells. Small groups raid the camp. So some legionairs die, the disease is reintroduced by the raiders. Next day the same thing. And the next....

You still deny 13 spells cast in offense or defense as they are needed to combat the virulent red pox. Next day do the same thing with a poison. etc etc . If your lucky raids reduce the number of clerics. Increasing the load on other squad-clerics. Decreasing combat effectiveness.

Hopefully reduced stats/ damage uses up other spellslots.