Mercenaries doing the work of the PCs?

[dreaded_beast]

Here's the scenario. In the Forgotten Realms, my PCs have decided to clear out a badlands area in Cormyr known as the Stonelands in order to gain a barony there. To that end, they have hired a group of mercenaries known as the Red Ravens. They have hired 110 Red Raven mercenaries to patrol the area around their stronghold in the Stonelands and expect them to clear out the area around it, spreading out every couple of miles.

The thing is, the Stonelands are notorious for all sorts of monsters, bandits, goblinoids, etc. Cormyr has spent literally decades trying to police and clear out the area using a combination of the Red Ravens and their own military/police force called the Purple Dragons. That being said, I have told my players during the past couple of game weeks, that the Red Ravens they have hired have been relatively unsuccessful in clearing out the area except for a small area around their stronghold.

Now, my PCs are asking why. They figure that with such a large and well armed force, the Red Ravens should be able to tackle a large amount of the monsters and bandits out there. In truth, I don't see anything wrong with their thinking and the only reasons I can think off for not letting the mercenary plan work is that I would rather the PCs take care off something this large and not just hire mercenaries to do the work for them. In addition, these same mercenaries, along with the military, have been largely unsuccessful in their task. It wouldn't make sense to me if the Red Ravens all of a sudden became "really successful" in clearing out the area just because the PCs hired them.

On the other hand, I can understand the player's frustration at why a decent plan doesn't work. So far, I've been dancing around the issue and coming up with on-the-fly answers like "it's harder than it seems", "these could take many months", "there are too many monsters for the mercenaries to handle", etc. Even then, then players still wonder why at least a small area hasn't been cleared.

Any ides on how to handle this?

I want the mercenaries to be useful, but not take the place of actual adventuring.

 

[hong]

Remember when the PCs were 1st level and could be killed if an ogre sneezed on them? Now consider what 110 of these 1st level people could achieve, in an area of wilderness peopled by wyverns, giants, ettins, trolls, and other creatures. The real question is not why the mercs haven't been able to clear everything out, but why these monsters haven't wiped out the nearby Cormyrian provinces.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

First, the mercenaries are probably mostly Warrior 1's, so they're not going to be terribly efficient in hunting monsters out of caves and the like.

Second, clearing an area as large as the Stonelands requires a massive amount of manpower. Not only to you have to kill or drive all the baddies off, but you have to constantly garrison and/or patrol it. 110 mercenaries is barely enough to get started. Maintaining a reasonably self-sufficient outpost for any length of time is probably going to take about 30 soldiers -- so with that many you could perhaps man three static garrisons who have enough perople for local security patrols, but not much else. 110 is enough for a moderate-sized flying column to put down larger-scale raid, but then they're doing that, who is patrolling the outlying areas, providing security, or doing provisioning and manning outposts.

As a point of comparison, a modern rifle company is about 140 men, and even when motorized they'd have a hard time truly controlling and area 10km on a side, let alone an area the size of the Stonelands. Ditto for more mobile modern cavalry troops -- so you can imagine the difficulties with medieval weapons, transport, and logistics.

Here's what I'd suggest:

- Make them realize the extent of the logistics (feed, water, guarding supply lines, etc).

- Decide on a strategy (fixed garrisons, patrols, etc)

- Use the mercenaries as your plot hooks -- Patrol X stumbles into a large hobgoblin encampment, say. The PC's can direct the mercenaries to dig them out, but it will take the whole band (and meanwhile other baddies slip in past the unmanned/unpatrolled outposts), or else the PCs go in and do it while the mercenaries hold down the cleared area.

In any case, over time it should become clear that they need significantly more troops than what they have.

 

[Sammael]

1. Mercenaries work for money, not ideals or common good. They are notorious for doing as little as they can get away with.

2. Mercenaries have no qualms about switching sides, or taking bribes. If there are more intelligent enemies, mercs can be easily bribed to leave them alone.

3. 110 mercenaries a large force? Hah. Unless they are unrealistically high in level (most should be war 1-3, with a few ftr 3-4 commanders), they are no match for a number of creatures that inhabit that area (such as wyverns).

4. Stonelands are home to MANY Zhentarim-sponsored orc raiding parties. Hell, there should be half-a-dozen Zhentarim spies among the mercs anyhow, which would explain how the monsters always seem to be one step ahead.

5. There are Netherese ruins in the Stonelands. Who knows what kind of arcane magic could be leaking out of them? There are probably multiple portals (even portal traps) as well, allowing monsters to continually re-populate areas that were seemingly cleared out.

 

[Piratecat]

I think I'd let them succeed - clearing out an area of their own by driving all the monsters into the PC's lands. Then one of the mercs (a leader who was previously friendly) sets himself up as a rival to the PCs, and wages war to conquer them.

In truth, the man has been magic jarred by a lich whose tomb they uncovered; the other soldiers are obeying, which is what soldiers do. But it will make the PCs wonder what the heck is up.

 

[Sammael]

The real question is not why the mercs haven't been able to clear everything out, but why these monsters haven't wiped out the nearby Cormyrian provinces.

Probably because there are a few purple dragon/war wizard garnisons nearby, and small squads of troops are regularly sent out of Arabel to keep the nearby monster population low. And the monsters probably fight each other as much as they fight the humans.

 

[hong]

Probably because there are a few purple dragon/war wizard garnisons nearby, and small squads of troops are regularly sent out of Arabel to keep the nearby monster population low. And the monsters probably fight each other as much as they fight the humans.

It was a rhetorical question, really.

 

[Sammael]

Sure it was.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I wouldn't buy into these Red Raven's being 1st level, that is what you'd expect from levies and green recruits.

Professional mercenary types would be about 2nd to 5th level warriors with a sprinkling of fighter & rogue commanders (3rd to 6th level feels right) with the odd spellcaster to boot. They'd average level 2 or level 3 including the leaders.

If they are the above in competency, the issue is one of time and distance. They need to patrol in sizeable groups or even as a company if the threat is decent enough. Indeed they'd need to be able to rapidly deploy themselves as a company so I don't think that they can be more spread out than a day in each direction from the central castle.

Larger forays to pacify territory within 2-5 days from the castle would have to be rare and based on good intelligence to the nearby threats. Otherwise a force could slip by without an appropriate garrison to stop it. Essentially you would have bands or zones of decreasing security.

I wouldn't worry about the mercenaries being successful, they'll require a constant wage and they will not be able to deal with some threats themselves. Just means the PC's don't have to worry about minor encounters within proximity, so what? Those encounters start to bite badly having to run very quickly.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

Playing Devil's Advocate here (and since I know this is something that is always heard around the boards here), if the Players don't want to take the time to clear out the Stonelands themselves, then why try to force it on them? Don't we always say that the DM needs to modified his/her game to the interests of the players? If they'd rather concentrate on something else, then let them do that and then perhaps let them drop the problem with clearing out the Stonelands into some NPC's lap (of course, he might bleed the PCs coffers dry while trying to solve it, but that is a different problem that can be solved by more adventuring, etc.).

Okay, that was just Devil's Advocate. Here is my opinion on it.

If they don't want to do it, then don't make them (wait a sec, it changes in a minute). Let them see the problems that are arising because they are not actively helping the Ravens - caravans of new settlers trying to get to the PC's demesne are under constant attack (and who wants to move into an area when its so dangerous?). After a while, the Ravens are going to get pissed that these wyverns and hill giants keep attacking them and the PCs are doing nothing about it. The Ravens are there for support and to keep general order and protection. They should be unable to actually ferret out these problems and engage anything bigger then a raiding party of orcs or hobgoblins (the latter of which would probably be about an even matchup).

The mercs are not the United States Marines. They are the Pennsylvania National Guard (no offense to any National Guardsmen out there). Its the PCs who are the heavy artillery.

Of course, don't constantly force the PC's to just have to deal with wyverns, giants, and chimera. Make sure you mix it up. Let them take out a ogre lair that has been pestering the newly arrived miners. Then let them go back and negotiate a deal with a trading company in Cormyr and perhaps locate more mercanaries because they've decided to start up a city where the ogre's lair had been (since its close to the mines). They've had to locate some of their own merc forces there for protection and need more men. Then let them come back and perhaps get some down time. Then its some adventure thanks to a PC's background. Only after that does another problem really introduce itself. Of course things would be happening during those other adventures (some raids, etc.) but nothing so serious as to warrant immediate attention. Suddenly...damnit if those wyvern attacks aren't getting seemingly organized...

Then again, don't let it always just be about killing the ogres or giants or wyverns. Let them make deals with some groups and perhaps turn them against others. Their justification would be that its a temporary evil and latter on the PC's can always turn back and take care of that problem (probably after pitting them again some other enemy to weaken them).

Okay, I'm blabbering now, so I will stop.

Good luck!