Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen - question - Spoiller!!!

[Mistborn]

Chapter 4

Battle at Steel Springs

Is there any rational reason. why Marshal Vendri went west with her troops? Was the only reason to get rid of the army from Kalaman so that the events of The Lord's Arrival could be played out?

I would be grateful for some good explanation.

By the way, how big is the Kalaman army?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Well you see, it's like this...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You would assume it's because the Dragon Army made a threatening move, and Vendri went to meet them.

 

[Velderan]

It's been awhile since I read the adventure and I never ended up running it so it may explain things a bit differently somewhere else in the book, but the War of the Lance ended up impacting pretty much every part of Ansalon in one way or another. So early in the war when Kalaman was a target, it's reasonable to assume the Dragonarmy forces were launching similar attacks on nearby smaller settlements and having Kalaman send some forces to aid a smaller settlement nearby to the west isn't unusual. I remember there being examples explained of Kalaman receiving faulty intelligence, so you can just convey that they underestimated the threat they faced and made a mistake sending away some of their troops to the west.

I don't know that it ever describes troop numbers in the adventure, but most if not all material covering the War of the Lance portrays the knights as being heavily outnumbered to start with.

 

[Devilbass]

I'm currently running the campaign and wondering about this. I would rather foreshadow that the army is on the move before this occurs.

I'm going to use the "Missing Scouts" side quest to suggest that the dragon army is on the move, or maybe the PCs will find some intel suggesting an attack is in the works. Still want them to go to Wheelwatch Outpost, so I might tie these together. Something like Vendri and forces marching west to meet the oncoming army, with the PCs and small force to retake Wheelwatch to stimy dragon army reinforcements coming from the east.

I've modified the adventure pretty heavily, so I just have to be careful the timeline still fits and this doesn't contradict my other changes.

Did any of you end up with a specific explanation that you found satisfying?

 

[MerricB]

Chapter 4

Battle at Steel Springs

Is there any rational reason. why Marshal Vendri went west with her troops? Was the only reason to get rid of the army from Kalaman so that the events of The Lord's Arrival could be played out?

Well, if you know what time of year it is...

I haven't tried lining up the course of the war to what occurs in the battle, but given their lack of appreciation to the previous continuity, I assume it's just "because."

Being a little less cynical, the Dragon Army has been seen to the west, and Vendri has gone to a strategic position to cut them off.

By the way, how big is the Kalaman army?

Can't be all that big. Kalaman itself is meant to be about 10,000 population according to the best sources we have.

Maybe 1000? Including mercenaries?



Bonus... the historical Siege of Kalaman!

 

[Velderan]

Bonus... the historical Siege of Kalaman!
View attachment 394057

Where did that come from? It looks familiar, but I can’t remember.

 

[MerricB]

Where did that come from? It looks familiar, but I can’t remember.

DL11 Dragons of Glory, the hex'n'counter wargame part of the line!

Cheers!

 

[Velderan]

DL11 Dragons of Glory, the hex'n'counter wargame part of the line!

Cheers!

That explains why it looked so familiar, thanks! I was planning a DL1-14 5e conversion campaign not too long ago before scrapping the whole thing when my group switched to PF2e, so I was looking through all the old modules to figure out what I needed to convert and what was useful.