Strategic Challenge

[Greenfield]

Under current circumstances, I think the arms and armor are already in the hands of their soldiers. If they were the ones defending the town, and were planning on using armed yomanry to pad their troops, there would be an armory ready to raid or destroy.

Now, consumable items, such as arrows, they might have stockpiled.
Alchemical ammunition for the siege engines would be stockpiled.
Some amount of consumable magic, such as healing potions or Fire Resistance might be stockpiled, but they probably wouldn't be in a "warehouse" or it's tent-like equivalent.

So, why are the Ettins and Orcs involved? Because the DM said so. I suspect that that really is the only reason. Their interest might actually be to destroy the city, rather than capture it, to keep the Humans from re-occupying it.

Or it could be that the Sisters have Charmed a few chieftains, who ordered their people to war. Giant types normally bully smaller Humanoids, which would explain the Orcs' presence.

If that's the case then a selective Dispel Magic or Break Enchantment could unravel their entire strategy. Pop that lynch pin and the whole thing falls apart.

As for baiting them in, retreat and ambush, there pretty much aren't any "choke points" outside of the city.

To let you know, though, Teleport isn't in this game. D-Door is as close as you get.

Scrying or Clairvoyance will work, but divinations that depend on an answer from on high don't. The gods are unavailable.

And that two edged sword works in our favor right now. They have as much trouble spying on us that way as we have spying on them, and we have a much bigger secret to hide: We only have 50 soldiers, period.

If they knew that, they'd be knocking on our door right now. They'd have the city and we'd be hiding in the palace, under siege and/or fighting for our lives.

 

[Dandu]

To let you know, though, Teleport isn't in this game. D-Door is as close as you get.

And Shadow Walk?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

You talked about shutting down demons and dangers within the city.

Any chance you could unleash something dangerous outside the city walls?

Have a spare Flesh Jelly lying around that you can release into the woods, or something along that line of thinking?

 

[Greenfield]

And Shadow Walk?

Shadow Walk is there, though we tend to describe it as a nightmare journey, a stroll by the River Styx, if you will.

Horses rebel and become unruly, and you're quite likely to see or encounter some truly frightening things.

But yes, the party can escape. We've also discovered the previous ruler's emergency escape tunnel, which is how we'll evacuate the troops, if it comes to that.

But group transport, with any measure of precision? Sorry but not going to happen.

Shadow Walk could get us to allies. The imprecision of the landing, however, means that the return trip could land us outside the city. While that would be a very slim chance, considering the size of the city, I'm pretty sure the DM would manage to roll high enough.

Additionally, there aren't a lot of allies we could call upon. We have friends in high places (and low ones for that matter), but they're busy with more important matters than us winning a big prize.

Re-directing monsters sounds promising. We don't have a lot left, and very few of any real challenge, but we did just encounter a pair of Bullette. Perhaps bait them, somehow, in the direction of an enemy camp?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

...we did just encounter a pair of Bullette. Perhaps bait them, somehow, in the direction of an enemy camp?

Oh yes, do this. Originally the Bullette "had a love for horseflesh and Halflings..." if that helps for the luring.

 

[Greenfield]

Hey, my character's an Alchemist. Perhaps he can whip up a batch of Eau de Hairyfoot and sprinkle it over their camp. Perhaps a garnish of tinea pedis* on the side?



* Latin name for Athlete's Foot

 

[Dandu]

In the Warhammer 40k tabletop wargame, Ursarkar E. Creed is a Lord Castellan of the Imperial Guard who is such a tactical genius he may somehow infiltrate ANY unit onto a battlefield and have it appear flanking the enemy in the middle of the game. Even vehicles. Even SQUADRONS of vehicles. Apparently even Titans. This can cause considerable confusion and consternation to opposing forces as, for example, a 45 foot tall Warhound Scout Titan reveals itself from behind a small bush, or they notice that the door they just attempted to open was in fact a Baneblade Super Heavy Tank, leading them to curse the tactical genius of their enemy with cries of "CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!".

Below is an report of his tactical genius.

[sblock]"So. Fresh bunch'a recruits straight off the regimental home world, huh? Got your heads full of propaganda and not much else, lemme bet. Well, listen to me and listen good, kids - probably half of what you know is nothing but ambull-droppings, and you'd better get that through your heads now rather than getting a traitor's lasbolt through your head on the battlefield. Now, you pray to the Emperor like you should, and if you don't the Commissar'll blow your head off, and that'll be a mercy compared to what I'll do to ya if I find out 'fore he does - but don't be thinkin' for a second that recitin' the Litany of Protection makes you invulnerable on a battlefield.
Sure, you'll hear stories about brave Guardsmen that charged enemy positions armed with nothin' but their lasguns and their bayonets and won - and I'll even admit that probably a couple of them are true, but in an army that numbers in the billions one or two of ya are bound to get lucky every now and again, so it don't really say much. No, kids, they might make for inspirin' stories, but fanatical charges aren't what win battles. Battles are won by determination and tactics. Lemme tell you about this one time our regiment was servin' under the command of General Creed.
Never a finer tactician has the Imperial Guard ever seen than that General Creed, let me tell you. He came up with plans so devious and cunnin' you didn't even have a hope of figurin' out how he'd done what he'd done 'less he explained it to ya himself. We were fightin' on Kavara IV, what'd used to be a good Imperial world till the taint of Chaos found its way down there and turned loyal citizens into traitorous scum. At the time we'd been shipped off, we thought we were just gonna be helping the local PDF put down a small insurrection, but what with the ways of the warp by the time we got there it'd turned into a full on rebel uprisin' and all the nobles were already dead or in hidin', and another army led by General Creed had arrived to bring it back under control - we'd been missin' so long they thought we'd been lost to the warp, you see, and sent another off in our place - so we wound up joinin' forces an' bolsterin' their ranks.
Now, we got deployed into one of the urban centers that'd been taken over almost entirely by the heretics, goin' through clearing buildings of resistance and tightenin' the noose around their filthy necks. Only been gettin' minor resistance until a couple of hours in, when we stumbled across a fortified plaza that hadn't been in none of the intelligence reports. So there we were, pinned down by enemy fire, usin' rubble for cover and hopin' to the Emperor that'd we get some artillery support soon, when all of a sudden there's a tremendous rumblin' off to the right, soundin' like a column of tanks comin' up towards the buildin' we'd just cleared.
We weren't gettin' nothin' about armored support on the vox, so we was sittin' there shittin' ourselves wonderin' where the traitors had got tanks from, when all of a sudden the front of the buildin' just collapses out onto the street and a damn Baneblade rolls right on out in front of us. One blast from the main gun and it turned the heretic's position into a crater. The vox lights up and we get ourselves a message - "Armored Support courtesy of General Creed", they say. Now that's tactics, kids - we never saw it comin', so those traitors sure didn't. The application of overwhelmin' force at just the right spot at just the right moment'll turn the tide of any battle in your favor.
I took a look at that buildin' again as we were marchin' down the street in the Baneblade's wake, though. Funniest thing, the only hole in it was the one the tank'd made on its way out. How the hell we missed it when we were clearin' the place I don't know. How the hell Creed got it in there in the first place, I'm not sure I WANT to know - but let me tell you, pulling that off must've taken one hell of a tactical genius."
-Sergeant Karls addressing new recruits to the Hirian 204th, shortly before being relieved of duty and sent for psychiatric evaluation due to inexplicable urges to scream incoherently.[/sblock]

The lesson to be drawn from this is left as an exercise to the reader.

 

[Greenfield]

Closure, sort of...

I thought it a good basic courtesy to tell you how this came out.

We found out that the reason they'd been waiting was that all four armies weren't there yet. They were different compositions, wit Orcs and Ettins selected for siege, Goblins for swarm attacks, anothe group specializing in ranged assault, etc.

We spotted the Goblin army approaching, marching in Roman phalanx columns, of all things. Standard bearers were to the front, and an officer corps on wolf-back. While we realized that a pair of spell casters with Invisibility and a few Lightning bolts could pretty much devastate an entire phalanx, the remaining troops would swarm and overwhelm them.

We fell back and attempted the Empty Fortress strategy.

Our archers were placed in high positions watching the gateway plaza on the East gate. We used our variation of the Mages Mansion spell (a variation that creates the structure in the real world) to create, stock and populate a market square (4,500 square feet from the spell, when the Bard bumps his Caster level temporarily) means 300 linear feet of covered market stalls, 15 feet deep, and 45 solid, fully visible Unseen Servants cast in the roll of merchants and townsfolk.)

The Orcs sent in scouts to see what we were up to, and we let them in unmolested.

One of them decided to grab a girl from one of the market shops and was amazed that she somehow slipped beyond his reach. (Attacking an Unseen Servant is really pointless, since technically you don't even get an attack roll). She shrieked appropriately as she ran, he chased, getting more angry and frustrated as he went. She never gets tired, and he does, so...

We talked to him when he was finished playing, asking what he wanted here, other than the girl. He said he was supposed to be looking for specific people, namely us. We introduced ourselves, making light of the death of our Cleric. "He's a son of Jupiter. The last time he died his body was burned, so it took almost three days before he came back. We'll probably see him at dinner."

We proposed a meeting between our leader, the "Lord of the city", and his leader, one of the four sisters. We suggested neutral ground, meaning an open spot in no-man's land where either side could drop overwhelming arrow fire if there was any treachery.

It took a few tries, but their leader agreed. We spoke.

Bottom line, she had a contract to deliver the city to some Abyssal lord in exchange for the soul of their master. She had to have that city.

We proposed an alternative way to free their master's soul. She considered it, saying that she would discuss it with her sisters.

It seems that scout, having seen what looked like a lightly populated but otherwise normal market day, had reported that the city was populated, leading life as usual. He never got beyond the plaza, so he didn't see that the city was otherwise deserted.

The proposal we'd made would either free their master's soul, or breach their contract with the Abyss, and in the process probably get them killed by the Demon lord.

They went for "Door number three". An Abyssal Citadel (floating fortress) appeared above the city, and we were told to get out by dawn, or everything would be destroyed.

We evacuated.

Our troops emptied the armory on the way out, but specifically left the wine cellar that we'd so carefully restocked behind.

We waited in the woods while the armies went in. Then the citadel left.

Now that their troops have taken up residence, they're constrained by city streets. We slipped in at sunset, and are working our way through, guerrilla style. Fighting monster armies with no troops doesn't work. Invading a monster stronghold as a party of adventurers? We're back on familiar ground now. And we even know the lay of the land we're going into.