Mad King's Banquet query - Spoilers!

[amethal]

I'm getting close to running the battle in Act Two.

My PCs are likely to be asked to take out the siege engines. We are given details of the guards and crew of the catapults, but I can't see anything similar for the ballistas.

Do they have crew? (If not, presumably there are currently no horses there to pull the wagons.)

Do they have guards?

Also, they seem designed to take out aerial threats. However, assuming they have crew, is there anything stopping me firing them at cocky, land-bound PCs? (Or vice versa ...)

Finally, when it says half the guards leave their catapults to engage the PCs, what do the commanders do? Do they stay with the catapults or engage the enemy? Or do half do one thing and half the other?

 

[RangerWickett]

We are given details of the guards and crew of the catapults, but I can't see anything similar for the ballistas.

Do they have crew? (If not, presumably there are currently no horses there to pull the wagons.)

Do they have guards?

I'd say there's no need for extra guards at the ballistae. A ballista is less vital, so if there's anyone there, it might just be an engineer, not a soldier. There isn't a need for any crew at night, though during the day each wagon would probably have a crew of three - a driver, a gunner, and a guard riding shotgun (sort of like the Warthog jeep in Halo).

Also, they seem designed to take out aerial threats. However, assuming they have crew, is there anything stopping me firing them at cocky, land-bound PCs? (Or vice versa ...)

The way I envisioned them, they are mounted in such a way that they can't aim down, so their height in the wagon would make shooting ground-bound foes nigh impossible, unless the target was on higher ground.

Finally, when it says half the guards leave their catapults to engage the PCs, what do the commanders do? Do they stay with the catapults or engage the enemy? Or do half do one thing and half the other?

By guards, I meant the combined group of 4 soldiers and their commander. So basically, about half of the catapults will be left undefended as their soldiers respond to the alarm.

Sound good?

 

[amethal]

Thanks for the reply.

It helps a lot to know how you envisaged it.

I'm sure it'll turn into unmitigated chaos anyway once the PCs get stuck in.

 

[Selganor]

My group got really creative in this adventure.

First... they asked Gallo to do a quick check on the outposts via Sending (remember, you can answer with 25 words) if everything was ok. When one outpost didn't reply (the last one) they knew where to go in and that they could expect "invaders" there.

As for disabling the catapults, they got really creative.

One PC asked the catapult technicians of Gallo where one would have to put which amount of acid to weaken the structure that bad so they would break when they were moved (like, when they would put things in motion for the battlefield).
And with the removed/dissolved parts they couldn't be that easily repaired by Mending.

Then this character uses Alter Self to burrow below the catapults (his dwarven sense of direction underground helping him quite well), coming up under the catapults (so even if there was a guard besides the catapult it probably wouldn't notice him), using the acid to dissolve the axles of the catapults so they would be functional but immobile (and therefore also useless).

Oh, and their loss when they had to hold the line?
One footman was wounded below 0 hp, but could be saved easily (because the clerics were not that busy)

So far they really ruled this adventure... but now they are entering the prison (for the first time, so they don't know anything about it)

 

[Rugult]

Sadly my party did not go to battle the siege weapons. Instead they decided the bigger threat was the mage in the enemy camp. What a BRUTAL fight that was let me tell you...

 

[amethal]

Sadly my party did not go to battle the siege weapons. Instead they decided the bigger threat was the mage in the enemy camp. What a BRUTAL fight that was let me tell you...

I'd love to have them do both.

Maybe we could have some peace talks after the destruction of the catapults, requiring a day's truce. The talks fail, so the PCs get to do another commando raid.

(And in my campaign Duke Gallo didn't give them the choice of mission. I decided which one I'd rather run.)

 

[Selganor]

My party did both. One character disabled the catapults (he could always disappear, being a Wayfarer by now, if things went bad) while the rest of the party (who are way better combatants than the saboteur) overwhelmed the mage (they just knocked him out and didn't kill him, after all they might need him to be active when the ragesian army invades)

 

[RangerWickett]

My party did both. One character disabled the catapults (he could always disappear, being a Wayfarer by now, if things went bad) while the rest of the party (who are way better combatants than the saboteur) overwhelmed the mage (they just knocked him out and didn't kill him, after all they might need him to be active when the ragesian army invades)

Wow. I am impressed with your PCs' foresight.

 

[Selganor]

They even tried not to damage the Steppengard army in their parts too much (i.e. no final blows on enemies that are down, ...)