seasong's Light Against The Dark (FEB 06)

[seasong]

The First Battle of Eastpass, pt III, continued

...No one knew that Hurath would not return, of course. Two days were spent watching the valley, and seeing no orcs. That they had been chased off seemed evident, they merely had to wait on Hurath's return.

The night following that second day, orcs quietly walked up the mountainside to attack. Warning was short, and the perceptive young woman who had spotted the orcs and cried warning was run through by several orc spears for her reward.

The battle was brutal and nasty. Thirty of the three hundred odd defenders died, to two of the orcs, before the orcs retreated, running swiftly and surely down the unlit slope.

When a new warband came upslope to attack, less than an hour later, the soldiers were ready. Gone were the youthful men and women of a few days ago, replaced by dark circled eyes, hard-lined mouths, quiet determination. Spear work became almost mechanical, as tired limbs were forced to continue pushing through gaps in the shield wall, seeking soft flesh.

Athan, particularly, was actively angry. The first fight had been almost cathartic, and he'd killed a few orcs, even. Now, they retreated before wearing down enough for him to punch through their defenses. And he was getting tired, but each fight was a new set of orcs. This wasn't heroic warfare... it was a battle of attrition, between under 350 youths and twice that in veteran orcs.

Merideth had learned a hard lesson as well. She stopped healing as best as she could for each soldier, and instead channeled only just enough to stop their bleeding and keep them alive. She also grabbed a few soldiers who were milling around in the back, unsure of what to do, and told them to start slipping through the ranks and dragging the wounded back to her.

Startled by the new iron in her voice, they did as commanded.

Greppa, in a fit of inspiration, began making mud. When he'd finished, he began looking for the most dangerous orcs, and began casting. "El gan kinos" - a weaker form of shielding energy, reshaped to mimic the motions of his left hand over a distance. Carefully, he scooped up a glob of mud with the mage hand, and then sent it flying over the heads of the soldiers, and plopped it in the face of one of the orcs, smearing it as much into the eyes as he could.

The orc yelled, swung wildly, and fell back, trying to clear its eyes. Ignoring it, Greppa began carrying a glob of mud to the next one.

Swiftly, the orcs fell back. Their best warriors kept faltering, flailing wildly and yelling about the attacking murkh. The fight was no good, so they retreated, once again taking no losses.

Merideth hooted, "Greppa! Good one!"

He just grinned in reply. He was finally going to be useful on the battlefield.

The drums continued to beat, and another warband began jogging up the mountainside to the pass...

 

[seasong]

A quick note: at this point, the players were not feeling particularly hopeless. Merideth had figured out that she could cast cure minor wounds repeatedly without tiring, and while she couldn't keep up with the rate the orcs were dishing damage, she could at least keep the damage fairly distributed. Athan, despite his whining about the lack of heroism, was responsible for forcing a lot of orcs to drop out of the battle, reducing the casualties on Athan's side. And Greppa was really being a pain in the neck to any orc that even remotely seemed to be doing well.

Orcs don't train in blindfighting, it would appear.

Aside from individual accomplishments, however, they also knew that reinforcements were due to arrive any day, and Theralis has a huge military. Aside from the 10-11 thousand youths who were in Service that particular year, every able-bodied adult could was trained to pick up a spear and march to war in need.

What they didn't know at the time, was that those reinforcements weren't on their way, at least not yet.

 

[Caliber]

Very cool story Seasong.

Do you use CR XP awards in any way? Or is it all handled by a more abstract, 1 level = 1 year system?

Also, could you define your magical schools a bit more, or is that as much as you can/want to? I am simply curious what types of magic is really available for each type.

As cool as your house rules are, I know my players would skin me alive if I ever suggested using them, so I am interested in how they go.

 

[seasong]

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm checking over my chronology from last week's sessions before updating, but I should have the next installment sometime today.

And look! Questions!

Do you use CR XP awards in any way? Or is it all handled by a more abstract, 1 level = 1 year system?

I give out awards by scenario, and I treat a year of "life" as a scenario, usually CR 1 or 2. The Battle of Eastpass was essentially a CR 3 scenario per day of actual battle on the front lines, and non-front-liners (the PCs) got 20% of that per day (the PCs are level 2 throughout it). If it was just the PCs by themselves (instead of a fortified mass of defenders who are well prepared for assault), it would be closer to CR 10.

Since I don't give out awards by encounter, I don't divide the XP between participants. It works out to approximately the same advancement rate.

The website gives more detail on this, under Level Advancement.

Also, could you define your magical schools a bit more, or is that as much as you can/want to? I am simply curious what types of magic is really available for each type.

At the moment, I'm doing the spell lists by ear (they are allowed to learn spells that fit their school, background, and 'character concept'), and I have not written much beyond the blurbs. However, I have an esper, healer and arcanist in the group. I eventually have to expand on those, at the very least .

To better answer your question about those three, however:

Arcanists: Evocation, some Invocation, Summoning, Conjuration. There are a few other kinds of spells that might fit, such as teleportations, and "kinetic evocation" (telekinetic effects). At the highest levels, this is more of a political school, as the arcanist begins dealing directly with entities of other planes as a peer.

Esper: Lots of sensory, divining, intuition, second sight spells. Some mind reading & telepathy spells, as well as charm person, sleep, dominate, etc. Basically, powers of the mind over the mind.

Healer: Just that. Cures and inflicts, diseases & poisons, regeneration, etc. At the highest levels, there shall be healing unto the like of which no mortal has seen. If Merideth survives to the high teens, she'll be healing armies, and near-unkillable herself.

As cool as your house rules are, I know my players would skin me alive if I ever suggested using them, so I am interested in how they go.

Heck, I wouldn't suggest you use them just yet. This is playtest .

With that said, the house rules are working out fairly well. One player took the ellini racial package, which is about how I wanted it (one demihuman at most), and everyone has been working out fairly unique characters.

Combat has been... interesting. I partially put together the Battle of Eastpass so I could see everything played out over a lot of rolls. A few things I've learned:

I'm having to rebalance a few of the 1-point weapon feats back up to full 5-point feats, lest Athan become an unstoppable killing machine. Otherwise, this has worked perfectly.

Magic missile is no longer as useful. Orcs average around 24-26 hit points, and the magic missiles do about 3.5 hp per shot, on average. I'm thinking about making them do -1 STR damage per missile, instead, which would make them worth casting again. Fireball at level 10 is going to be nasty (average 35 hp will kill almost any humanoid that didn't buff their HP as they levelled up), but I like it that way.

Shield walls work. I came up with the idea of the orc warbands trading out on assaults because I had to: long-term, a warband of orcs loses against The Wall. And the orcs, on average, are level 3-4, versus the shield guards' level 1-3. I also did some test runs with more orcs than defenders, and while the orcs had it a bit better, the shield wall still cuts them down eventually. For the mechanics I'm using, check this thread on shield & spear walls.

Warfare really makes the low levels fly by. The next update will have the PCs reaching 3rd level. I've got to get their character sheets up on the website soon .

 

[seasong]

The Battle of Eastpass, pt IV

By the fourth day of cyclical assault, Captain Agina was near the end of her rope. The reinforcements still had not arrived, and she called Greppa to her tent.

"I'm sending you to Theralis. I need to know where our reinforcements are, and when they will be arriving. Take one of the other scouts with you, and be careful - it may be that there are more orcs keeping our reinforcements."

Greppa nodded, then asked, "Why me? There's plenty here who are better runners than me."

Agina smiled grimly, "I don't need speed, I need certainty that you will get there and back. You're the sneakiest person I've got, and the least likely to scream your fool head off if you see an orc again."

Greppa just grinned unrepentantly, and didn't ask any more questions.

-----

Athan rested against the base of the ravine, well back from the fighting. He could hear the clash of chitin spearhead on Theralese iron shields, and the grim thunk, thunk of the military machine attempting to grind the orcs into submission. He ignored it, kept his eyes closed, tried to relax aching muscles.

It was someone else's turn to fight, right now.

Merideth sat down beside him, all the while keeping a wary eye on the battle for soldiers being hauled out to heal. Healing was needed less and less the past two days, as the defenders got in the rhythm of shield up, spear out. The orcs were fresh, but they were wild, chaotic, undisciplined.

"Hey, you doing okay?"

Athan smiled, lips tight, but left his eyes closed.

"Ah, okay. You just looked, ah, stressed." Merideth stod awkwardly back up, "Let me know if you need anything."

Athan fell asleep immediately. In his dreams, drums.

to be continued

 

[seasong]

The Battle of Eastpass, pt IV, continued

Over the next day, several things happened at once.

Greppa reached Theralis safely, only to discover that reinforcements were not coming. There were orcs at Theralis, and a rather sizable battle going on there. Eastpass, although valued by the city, could be defended by a small group for an indefinite time, while the city was losing soldiers every day, and needed everyone they could get their hands on.

Greppa was barely allowed to leave, himself, to return to Captain Agina.

The orcs at Eastpass, when they realized that no more fireballs were coming, hiked upslope en masse, and began really whaling on the defenders. Merideth began missing sleep rather severely, as the only healer. She catnapped between clashes, catching a few minutes here and there, and healing soldiers in a fog of sleep deprivation.

Athan, called to battle, and not quite awake, managed to walk right into an orcish spear, ripping his gut open and dropping him out of the battle. Merideth healed enough to stabilize him, but only his iron constitution kept him alive.

And then Greppa returned with the bad news.

-----

Another two days, and the shield guards were functionally automatons. Few things can focus your skills like the daily threat of death, and the orcs had come to fear their lock-stepped shields. The soldiers themselves hid entirely behind the shields, trusting the movements of the spears behind them to guide their movement.

-----

And then, finally, reinforcements, of two kinds.

Eastpass led to the north, the primary trade partner of the Theralis valleys. And while Theralis had stored food, they couldn't last through a sustained siege on that and grapes. Thus, Eastpass became suddenly, vitally important, and a thousand soldiers were setn away from the Theralis front, to aid Eastpass in clearing the northern road.

Secondly, however, were the people of the Theralis valleys. All had served in the military during their youth, and they'd spent the past week frantically making spears and gathering into informal companies. Now they'd arrived, ten thousand strong: northern farmers, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, ready to tear into the orcs like a human storm.

War is hell, even for orcs.

-----

The plan, after Captain Agina had been safely over ruled, was to push out of the pass and into the valley, using those soldiers who had shields (perhaps 300) as a wedge.

Then a lot of people would die. But more orcs would die than Theralese, and there were more Theralese than orcs, by nearly a 3 to 1 ratio. Theralese Captains like words like acceptable loss, when it's acceptable to them.

As morning dawned, they began the push.

-----

Athan was put just behind the center of the longspears, wielding a short spear and a freshly healed gut. A pair of youths bracketed him, carrying as many spears as they could. Their job was to hand him spears as he threw them, and to pick spears up off the ground as the shield line stepped over them. Another two dozen youths were arrayed similarly - the goal was to prevent hurt orcs from getting away from the front line to heal.

Merideth followed just behind the longspears as well, accompanied by two more experienced healers. Together, the three of them would attempt to keep the carnage to a manageable level.

Greppa had a pair of youths bracketting him, as well: two hurt soldiers, each carrying buckets of mud.

Captain Agina was chosen to lead the central group. She expected to die.

The push began, shield guards using their shields and the pointy ends of those behind them to force the orcs back. The orcs were, to put it mildly, surprised - they knew the shields as something that held a line, not shoved forward.

One braced step at a time, the line surged out of the narrow pass, and began a downslope descent. Orcs who turned to run were brought down by hurled spears; orcs who stayed to fight found themselves beating on an iron wall while spears poked out of closely covered slits. Orcs began to die, and the wall marched on.

For several minutes, this continued, until the shield line reached the point where it could no longer cover the entire battle field. Then, the line stopped and held, while the ten thousand fresh adults got into position, and prepared for the hard part.

-----

The orcs were not idle, however. The Bunahken tribe, in particular, devised a cunning strategem. As other tribes retreated before the Theralese war machine, they hastily chopped down a number of sizable pine trees, and began stripping branches off.

The trunks were laid out, and cut to a manageable length, and then they waited for the Theralese to begin moving downslope again.

-----

Finally, everything was as ready as it could be. Athan's two assistants had handed off their extra spears and retreated behind the second wall, high in the pass. The injured were similarly removed from the battle. Two spears arranged themselves with each shield guard, and prepared to keep as much formation as possible. Merideth and Greppa got as close to center as possible, praying that the warm bodies around them would keep them alive while they cast their spells.

The army advanced.

The battle was more chaotic now. Defenders at the edge of the shield wall fought more desparately, and a wall of spears barely kept the orcs at bay. Attention shifted to these edges, and soldiers began to die. Orcs died faster.

As they began to get near the bottom of the slope, a ragged cheer formed, and the Theralese war machine continued to grind its way onto the northern road.

The Bunahken made their move. At a dead run, they came out of the forest, hauling a half ton of battering ram with them. Dozens of orcs on each side, they broke cover and charged the line of shields. A number of spears were hurled. A number of Bunahken fell. But the rest continued the charge.

When the first tree hit the first shield, the sound was, by some quirk of fate, almost a pure tone, like an iron bass gong. The shield guard carrying it never noticed - his shield had slammed into him at something close to twenty miles an hour, and he'd flown backwards several feet, unconscious, through his spear comrades.

Nor was the tree stopped. It punched through the first spear soldier's gut, mostly splitting his torso in half, and grazed the leg of the longspear behind him, shattering the thigh. The orcs continued the charge, deep into the shield line, as people dove to either side trying to avoid the tree.

And then the charging orcs lifted their spears from their backs, and began to slaughter... as the second and third trees hit, with less pure tones, the shield wall.

In the space of six seconds, the tide turned.

to be continued

 

[seasong]

A few metagame notes:

1. We didn't roleplay out the whole fight down the mountainside. I assumed an even distribution of good and bad rolls, and just described what happened. The shield wall, as I mentioned before, works very well as long as both ends of the wall are tethered. We did roleplay out the battering ram, some representative rolls, and what people were doing during the battle.

2. The Theralese people never even considered forming into a circle of shields, and the players never mentioned it. It would have been more defensible, but far slower, and would have given the orcs an opportunity to surround them, or move past them to the defenders at the pass.

3. Athan was a monster. We rolled out about two dozen throws and treated that as a representative sample, and he just wasn't missing. He's going to be sung about, no question. By humans and orcs alike.

4. The look I got when the battering rams came charging out of the forest was priceless. Greppa momentarily switched back to lesser shadow killer in an attempt to distract the lead orcs, Athan threw his spear for all he was worth, Merideth fretted. And then the first one hit, and the PCs began to look around for how to best retreat. Never ever underestimate a primitive people that do war for a living.

 

[seasong]

I have based the kobold on a mixture of the D&D dragonkin and the older myths from which the name is stolen. The original kobolds were more similar to the house elves of Harry Potter than the strange cavern dwelling humanoids they have since become.

March of Kobolds

The kobold is a small humanoid, reptilian in nature and slender of build, that socialize in small social groups called a march for their tendency to stay on the move.

A kobold standing upright is a hair under three feet tall and 20 pounds, with a beak-like snout, large yellow eyes, and a very flat cranial profile. A small ridge of horns overhangs the sides of the skull, with a particularly impressive pair sweeping rearward from the back of the skull. Their necks are slender and delicate, with a heavy fold of loose skin. Their torsos are not entirely upright, and their skinny arms and legs look better designed for running on all fours. They possess a stiff tail that has two positions: horizontal and 45 degrees upright. Kobolds have the same coloration as dragons, and are believed by many scholars to be the results of experiments in the bioessences of dragons.

Kobolds are masters of stealth and trickery. Tracking them is almost impossible, and they are cunning as foxes in leading an unwary hunter into treacherous obstacles, ambushes, and worse. Like their dragon kin, they can make themselves almost impossible to spot in natural settings.

Despite their small size, kobolds are swift runners: they move 15 feet on two feet, or 30 feet on all fours.

Socially, kobolds are best suited for the service of others. They are clever, efficient and hard-working, but often lack personal initiative or drive. In the service of a Great Cause, they can be almost fanatical, but lacking such, they tend to do the bare minimum required to get by, settling into sub-agrarian poverty.

Amalan's Kobolds

The dragon Amalan is known to have a march of kobolds in his service, but it is unknown how many. They hunt the wilder areas of the valley woods, and occasionally raid grapes and the rare chicken.

The kobolds are more fond of wines than grapes, however, and many farmers have found that if they leave a bottle every so often, the kobolds can be helpful in an unseen, quiet manner. Typical aid is difficult to pin down, but claims range from herding forest predators away to weeding vegetable gardens in the dead of night.

The only real contact Theralis has had with the kobolds was thirty years ago, when Amalan warned the city to clean their water more thoroughly - he sent a kobold representative named Urmrat to give the warning. The city wisely heeded the diminutive creature's advice, and nothing more was ever heard.

 

[seasong]

Sorry about all of the "continued" bits. We ran this as one part of the campaign arc, but the telling is getting a bit long.

The Battle of Eastpass, pt IV, continued

Near the bottom of the mountain, some eight thousand soldiers, about a tenth of which were barely adults. A quarter mile upslope, the safety of the narrow pass. All around, the swirling chaos of a thousand Bunahken orcs.

In theory, eight thousand soldiers should be able to take on less than a quarter their number, even if the enemy is bigger and stronger. In practice, it was a rout, and a slaughter.

Youths and adults both gave up any pretense at fighting, and attempted to flee up the mountain to safety, as seven foot plus humanoids, armed with chitin-tipped spears, stabbed and slashed and stomped.

Halfway up-mountain, Greppa could see Captain Agina's standard drop, and could hear her clear, cold voice cutting through the thin mountain air.

"TO ME! RETREAT TO ME!"

As many soldiers as could grouped around her. Some had retained their shields, most had not. Drawing her sword, Captain Agina began the messy business of carving a path through the few orcs that had made it so high, back to safety.

Greppa ran, but a small group of orcs interposed themselves between Greppa and his mud bearers. They pushed their spears to his neck, and watched his hands carefully, but did not kill him outright.

Greppa wisely refrained from rash moves, and kept his eyes open. The orcs tied his hands and gagged his mouth.

What he saw was disheartening. The orcs were not even trying to kill anyone anymore. They were cutting them off from the line of retreat, forcing surrenders, then tying them up.

Greppa saw Merideth attempt to run around them, and an orc easily three times her mass body tackled her. He saw Athan, trying to hold off three orcs with a broken spear, desparately keeping them away from a fallen soldier. One got around behind him, and swung the butt of its spear to the back of Athan's head. He went down bonelessly. The injured soldier, they killed out of hand.

After that, perhaps half of the force that had gone down the mountain made it back up. Most of the rest were captured and tied.

The slaves were marched into the forest, where the orc forces encamped.

 

[Caliber]

Very cool. Thanks for the links you posted.

I was interested to note that you offer a somewhat reduced price on many feats when they are taken to only apply to one weapon.

I take it Athan loaded up on these?